Planning

Mary Nzeh

In this slideshow is a documentation of all the work which I put into my A2 media coursework; during week one.

Week one:

0 During the first week of my media coursework, my group and I (kianna and Elizabeth) had to firstly ensure that we choose a task to work on.

We chose to work on trailers. However, although we had some basic knowledge of this film genre we then had to do some deep rooted research; Doing this allowed us to learn the codes and conventions of thrillers. As well as giving us ways in which to use them appropriately in our trailer. For instance the use of lightning, through appropriate research we would be able to know which scenes work well with dark lightning and which do not. This meant we looked and studied a couple of thriller trailers I choose to research and analyse four trailers; insidious, the ring 3, don’t be afraid of the dark and the roommate. (which would be viewed to you later on in my blog)

Planning and decision making

Week 1:0 Also, during this first week, my group and I also had to ensure that we all agreed on the

fairy-tale to modify and make into our own. Here are the fairy tales which we were willing to work on:

Goldilocks and the three

bears

Little red ridding hood

Cinderella Sleeping beauty

Snow white

After all the brain storming; we finally decided to work on the well known fairy tale: little red riding hood. In the next slide are a reasons why we chose fairy-tale little red riding hood .

Reasons for our fairy tale choice.

0 We chose little red ridding hood as it is a very well known fairy tale, which could be classified “edgy” as the theme and moral of the story can be modified in many different ways. For instance, into an adult version, a hunted version and even a romance.

However, having said this, little red ridding hood as been modified many times. Which almost makes it almost common. However, my team and I did not want a fairy tale which is classified common we wanted to be creative and different. During this contemplation, I noticed that little red ridding hood wasn’t modified numerous times because it is common, but rather because it is almost very easy to manipulate and even play around with.We also chose this fairy-tale because we were determined to change the gender stereotypes attached to the this particular fairy tale. We wanted to show women as strong and determined individuals rather than the timid, shy and “ditsy” character which little red ridding hood played. On this note, we had to change and mify the narrative to suit this brave character which we wanted her to play. We began to list out a couple of actions which she could take to portray this:• She could save her grand mother rather than the huntsman• She could kill her grandmother • She could fall in love with the huntsman but however, be the one to save her grand mother

0 Having chosen the fairy-tale which we will be working on; we then had to think of a movie genre which we will be modifying it into.

However, we found this a bit of a challenge as we had to brainstorm a few genres which we would be willing to work on and the narrations behind them. These ideas have been demonstrated below

Romance; whereby little red ridding hood falls in love with the

huntsman

Thriller: whereby little red riding and the

huntsman fight to save the grandmother

Comedy: whereby little red ridding hood gets lost on her way to her grandmothers and

has an adventure

Horror: whereby little red ridding hood kills

her grand mother rather than the wolf

Finally, we chose to modify little red ridding hood into a thriller. We chose this because little red ridding hood is rarely modified into a thriller. Rather its always been modified into horrors and romances. This genre would allow us to be creative and different, because it is something different.

Things to think aboutHaving chosen little red ridding hood, we had to think about:0 representations 0 Narrative0 Characters- protagonists and antagonists 0 Audience (audience and reading )0 Sound and music

Mise en scene: this includes lighting and colour, setting, props, costumes, hair ad make up, body movement, body language, expressions and movements. The use of appropriate Mise en scene would improve our trailer a whole a lot. This would/could determine how successful our trailer may be . For instance, an interior shot of a dark room, flooding with deep red light as well as props such as status and crucifixes become frightening, creating the thrill in which the genre is signalled. Having said this, we are definitely taking the Mise en scene very serious and have assigned kianna to ensure that all Mise en scene is appropriate for a scene as well as impacting to the genre of the thriller.

Representations: due to our new narrative of our chosen fairy tale; representations have become key elements to our trailer. This would determine how our audience may read certain connotations. Due to this, we would have to take symbolism very seriously as it could be classified an easy to way to add an additional meaning or significance; from a producer to an audience. (when applied and used correctly.) With this comes my knowledge of my supposed audience, as I would have to be aware of exactly what my audience stereotypically would like to see in a movie (then adding it to the movie- almost pacifying them)Also, through my representation comes stereotypical representation, whereby I represent some characters in my trailer in a certain way due to their social groups or even gender. For instance the huntsman may be very manly and masculine. Other stereotypic representations which my group and I would have to consider throughout the course of the trailer: • Accents• Women and their knowledge• Male and masculinity • Representation of old people • Character representation • (And maybe) archetypes

Audience (audience and reading): my group and I would like for the audience to use a preferred reading method to read the trailer, that is; to get a certain amount of thrill from the trailer as we intend. Although we may not be making a movie, we would like to convey to the audience that the trailer is in fact a thriller trailer; for a thriller movie as it would create a certain fear or suspense. To achieve this, we would have to avoid our target audience to read the trailer in an opposionnal manner. To do this our trailer must have a sense of realism. When thinking about audience, I would also have to think of my intended audience, and how I would like to represent them. We have chosen young individuals from the age 15-21 to be our target audince. This is because we are aware that they are more or less likely to go and watch thrillers as they seek thrills and excitement. We have also done some research on the ages given to most thriller movies and found that most thrillers such as don’t be afraid of the dark’s age certificate was 15.

Don’t be afraid of the dark

Red lights:

Black swan

Narration: Due to the fact that my group and I have decided on a genre to modify our fairy tale into; (thriller) making a narrative to suit this genre becomes almost easy. With this comes the use of certain characters and their relevance to the story. For instance, the use of a protagonist and an antagonist. We have made changes to the original fairy tale little red ridding hood. Changes such as: • Turning the wolf into a witch- unlike in the original story, the wolf was the antagonist. However, we have

modified this as it much easier to act out. Also, we lack the use of appropriate resources to add a certain realism to the character of a wolf. So turning this character into a witch, helps to add a modern twist to the story as well as keeping it vintage/old.

• Instead of the huntsman being the only on to save the grandmother, the huntsman and little red ridding hood do so-As being an all female group; my group and I are very displeased with the original story of little red ridding hood as it plays women/girls out to be weaklings and helpless as they constantly need the help of a male to save them. eg: the grandmother and little red ridding hood were saved by the huntsman. This would help to neutralise the gender differences between men and women without making one more supirior than the other.

• Instead of little red ridding hood to wear a red cape; she wears a red dress- this change was solely made to add a modern twist to the fairy tale. We also made this change to add a sense of contrast to the entire story. As it then looks like she (little red ridding hood) would be the typical fairy tale girl who is ditsy and helpless, however, as the trailer develops she almost acts like the huntsman. We have done this to contradict the stereotypical representation of women.

Sound and music: sound effects (in general) can be classified as one of the most important factors of a trailer. As they add suspense, climax, create a mood. They single can make the audience read the trailer in a just as the director/ producer intended (preferred reading). Sound effects play a major part to thrillers and horrors. For instance a common sound such as the squeak of a can add a whole lot of scare to the viewers as it helps to increase tension. Here are a couple links to some sound effects which my group and I think may be useful when creating our thriller trailer as they may add a sense of thrill or suspense to or trailer. You can just copy the link.

Stair Gate Hinge Squeak Creak 003

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/soundeffects/doors/

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/soundeffects/clocks/

Clock tick 002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MieJ6EOpxlQ

Lullaby