Trailer, Poster and Magazine - Final Typography Choices

As a group we have chosen what font we want to use for our productions. Together for our magazine, poster and trailer we have 5 different fonts that we are going to use. We chose these based on our research into other similar productions and chose what worked best with our plans.

Trailer, Poster and Magazine - Typography

As a group we need to decide on a typography to use on the poster, magazine cover and in the trailer. We are using the website http://www.dafont.com/ to look for different fonts as possibilities.

Font one:
We thought this font would be good to use because of its distorted look. It has the conventional look for our paranormal theme.

Font two:
This font differs from the first one ,the drips look like blood which makes us think that it could be easily confusing in making our audience think that our film is in the horror genre.

Font three:
This font although simple, it appealed to us because of how bold it is. The scratches through the font give a sufficient scary effect to go represent our genre without looking like it belongs to horror.

Font four:
This font has a distorted damaged effect making it looking like it has been in a bad situation, this relates well to our genre of thriller. The font would also stand out in the trailer as it is still quite bold.

Font five:
This font also has the distorted damaged effect that links it to the thriller genre making it a good possible font for our title. The font is also still bold even though it is more damaged than font four and being more damaged gives a scarier effect.

Trailer Planning - Final Music Choice

After shortlisting for the sencond time we managed to finally choose our 4 pieces of music. We chose Dnager for the neutral track as we can cut the middle of it to keep it neutral with a mysterious undertone, we then chose Finding The Body for thge scence where Lucy pretends to be posessed, this had to have a really scary haunted feel, Then we chose Condemmed as our fast tempo action piece for the sequnce of action shot towards the end of the trailer and finally we chose Grim Reaper as our mysterious end track.

Trailer Planning - Music Choice

When choosing our music we had a choice of 150 different music pieces. Beth then took them home and shortlisted it down to 50 of the best ones for our trailer.

As a group we went through all of the 50 and short listed again our favourites. We had to choose them based on the speed, weather it fits the genre. We also had to think about choosing different pieces to fit different parts of the trailer.

We needed, a neutral track for the beginning of the trailer, a track with a build up to a fast tempo action type sound and finally a mysterious sounding track to end the trailer.

Trailer Planning - Final Production Logo

As a group we looked at the choices of logo and decided that the Name with the stars surrounding it looked the most professional of them all, and so have decided that this will be the logo that appears at the beginning of our trailer.

Trailer Planning - Production Logo Plans

These are the chocies of production label logos, that will flash up at the beginning of our trailer.

As a group we narrowed it down to two choices between the logo with the name below the yellow star and the logo with the name in the ring of stars. We have decided to choose between these two logos becasue we feel these are the most professional looking of the 5 logos.

Trailer Planning - Production Labels

Paramount Pictures is an American film production and distribution company, founded in 1912 and currently owned by Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio. Paramount is consistently ranked as one of the top-grossing movie studios.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. is an American producer of film and television entertainment. One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York City. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is one of the six major American film studios as of 2010. The company was founded on May 31, 1935, as the result of the merger of Fox Film Corporation, founded by William Fox in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures, founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Raymond Griffith and William Goetz.

This research will be helpful when we design our logo and shoose the name for our production label.

Final Magazine and Poster Choices

As a group we have chosen our final designs for the Film poster and for the Film magazine front cover. We have chosen these by looking at our whole groups research into the two types of promotion of films. We have chosen these ones for the conventions that they follow and we believe that they will look the most professional.

The only thing we will be changing is on the magazine cover, we will be moving the magazine title to the top of the cover as we feel this is more conventional of a magazine.

Poster - Second Draft

These are mine and my group members second drafts for the poster, these were better informed by further planning for our film, we have now decided on some of our cast and we have a definite name choice.

Poster - First Draft

These are my first drafts of a film poster for our film. I have lightly annotated them to explain my ideas. My friend who does art has drawn the image and title for me follwing a plan I made for her, this is beacuse I can not draw and wouldn't be able to show my ideas well enough.

Magazine Front Cover - Second Draft

These are mine and my group members second drafts for the magazine front covers, these like the posters were better informed by further planning.

Magazine Front Cover - First Draft

Here I have done my first drafts of a magazine front cover, featuring our film.

Trailer Planning - Final Cast

These are our final cast choices and there audition videos that we origionally took. We went with these five people becasue we felt that they would work well together and professionally. They also are all in the immediate friend group making it easy to arrange a filming date.

Trailer Planning - Cast

To choose our cast we will be working partly with and partly against the feminist theory. Budd Boetticher summarises the view: "What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance." This is where our trailer goes against the feminist theory as our trailer infact has no male roles for our female characters to come second to. However we want our traile rto comply with part of the feminsit theory that being of Laura Mulvey she says "In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness," This means that when choosing our cast we will be looking for the girls classic attractivness.

As a group we met today and discussed possible people we could feature in our trailer, we looked at the drama students who would be good for the acting roles, the parts with the dialogue. We also looked at the people who live close to our possible locations for shooting, and the people who would be comfortable working together, the image of the people isn't too important as we will choose there clothes and do there makeup how we want it in the trailer. This is our short list of cast and later as a group we will narrow them down even more to get our final cast members.

This is Annabel Roberts, we short listed Annabel because she is of the right age for the role and because we feel she would be confident enough to perform in front of the camera and the group of people we will be filming with.


This is Bethany Joyce, she has the glamourous, star quality look, and altough in this picture she is rather dressed up, for the trailer we will dress her in casual clothes and have her in more subtle make up. Beth is also part of our imediate friendship group and therefore we would easily be able to arrange times for shooting the trailer with her as we spend our time together anyway.

This is Eleanor Failes she like Beth has the star quality sort of look. Eleanor also does drama A2 therefore making her a good chocie to place in the trailer, if we do cast Eleanor (which is most likely) we would give her one of the main roles in the trailer. Eleanor is also part of the imediate group and she also lives close to our shooting location so would be able to get there easily.

This is Imogen Clapp she has a different overall look to the other girls however this isn't too much of a problem becasue we will be dressing and doing the make up for our cast, Imogen is also the right age for the role she would be cast in.

This is Katie Leask she is a confident person so we have no worries that she would feel unfomfortable acting in front of everybody, she is also of the right age and although we are taking care of the look of the cast she naturally has the right look for the role.

This is Elizabeth Hopkins she is also part of our imediate friend group and so she would be comfortable to act infront of us all, Elizabeth has the typical blonde teenage girl look very good for our type of film trailer.

This is Lucy Jane Smith she is also part of the imediate friend group and she is an A2 drama student therefore we would have no worries about her confidence infront of the camera. We would probably cast Lucy in one of the major roles in the trailer.

This is Samantha Caunt being part of the main friendship group she has alot of confidence around us and wouldnt have any problems acting inf ront of the group. Samantha also has a good look for the trailer, personally i can imagine her in the film that we are shooting a trailer for, Samantha also lives close to the shooting locations.

This Georgie Lewis she is a very loud and enthusiastic person making her a good choice for a role in our trailer as she will not get embarrassed. Georgie also lives close to our chosen locations and so will be easy to access when needed. Georgie has a different look to the other girls with short hair, giving a needed asthetic variation in the cast.

Trailer Planning - Ouija Boards

A Ouija board also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with letters, numbers, and other symbols, supposedly used to communicate with any spirits. It uses a movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a séance. The fingers of the séance participants are placed on the indicator, which then moves about the board to spell out words or become physically manifest.



As a group we are going to make our Ouija Board as we dont want it to be a real one for personal preferences.

Trailer Planning - Props

Our trailer requires three main props which are the phone, the knife and the car. As a group we have looked at options for all of these props.

First we looked at the phone:

Phone 1

Phone 1 is a very old style phone. This old style would add to the effect of isolation as it represents that the house is away from modern technology. This phone would also be good becasue it would create a good sound and asthetic when the girl slams it down.

Phone 2

Phone 2 is a mobile phone, although it is modern and all the girls would have one it takes away the sense of isolation becasue for it to ring it would have to have signal which would suggest you were in range of a telephone mast. It would also be hard to film as mobiles are so small.

Phone 3

Phone 3 is another landline phone but is very modern, this does't fit in with the victorian style of the house and adds too much of a technological feature to the atmosphere. Although unlike phone 2 it is bigg and bold so would be easily seen in the shot.

Phone 4

Phone 4 again is a mobile phone presenting the same issues as the other mobile. Using a moblie would also present issues when shooting the scene when the girl slams down the phone as on a mobile all you do is press a button, however on a mobile you would be able to do a shot where we filmed the phone screen to show an unknown number addig partly to the atmosphere.

We have decided as a group that phone 1 is most suited to our situation. This is becasue we need it to be effective when the girl slams down the phone and we want the phone to relate to the style of the house, as it is set in a holiday home it would not be the most modern phone.

Next we looked at choices of knives:

From left to right:

Knife 1

Knife one is qute thin making it realistic to set in a kitchen and the wooden handle fits in with the old styling of the house.

Knife 2

Knife two is a bread knife with a serated edge not he typical style of a knife chosen in a film. this knife is bigger than knife one making it easier to be seen in the shot, however it doesn't come to a point like normal knives and so probably wouldnt be picked as a waepon.

Knife 3

Knife three is the most classic of the four knives having the biggest blabe and coming to a neat point. This knife looks most weaponly of the four and would be easiest to use when shooting as it is the most visable.

Knife 4

Knife four is the smallest of the knives and in my opinion looks more like a knife that would be used in a street crime movie.

We chose knife 3 becasue of its classic film knife appearence and becasue it will be most visable in the shot.

Finally we looked at the cars:

Car 1

Car one is a black Fiat Punto, this is a typical student car so would be a good choice for our trailer, however this car belongs to Beth Kavanagh one of the group members and becasue of us having a shot within the car someone else would have to be driving it, this would present insurance issues. This car is also black so would be difficult to see in the night.

Car 2

Car two is a silver Ford Fiesta, again a typical student car however more modern than car one. This car belongs to Annabel Roberts of one our possible cast members, if we choose this car we will have to have Annabel in the trailer as we would need her to drive it avoiding insurance problems. This car is silver so would be more visable in the night that car one.

Car 3

Car three is a white Fiat 500. This is the most modern and expensive of the three cars and would not tupically be a students car becasue of how new and expensive it is. This car belongs to Samantha Caunt another of our possible cast member and like Annabel if we choose this car we will need to cast Samantha to avoid insurance issues. Becasue this car is white it will be easily visable in the driving scenes.

As a group we decided on car 3. This is becasue of how modern the car is, in teenage films they don't usually have a typical student car but it is more likely that they will be driving a BMW or Mercedes, as no one we knew had either of these we went for the best and most modern of the three cars we looked at.

Trailer Planning - Shot List Choice

As a group we decided to go with shot list 1, this is because we thought that the final out come will look more professional, this shot list will also be easier to film.

Trailer Planning - Shot list 2

1) Producer label flashes up
2) Shot of car coming up the road
3) Text -"Starring Eleanor Failes"
4) In car - in the style of found footage, Dialogue between the girls about the holiday as they pull into the driveway
5) Establishing shot of house
6) Girls walking into house dialogue between two girls about the house
7) Text "Lets play a game
8) Shot of girls pouring drinks(Ouija board visible next to the glasses)
9) Start Ouija board - one girl pretends to see something out the window
10) Girl shows she joking - other girls gets angry and throws board on floor - dialogue
11) Door slams- girls look shocked
12) Text- "if your brave enough"
13) Girl go to investigate
14) Door slams again
15) Girls all look at each other
16) Lights flicker of girls scream - 2 second silence
17) Flashing shot of girl running down stairs looking frightened
18) Girl grabbing knife (flustered)
19) Girl being pulled from under bed
20) Girl running through woods away from us
21) In the style of point of view- girl running through woods
22) Girls enclosed into a corner by the 'spirit'
23) In the style of point of view- close up of her face as she screams "what are you?"
24) Text- Title appears
25) Text- "do you wanna play" - tag line appears
26) Text -Date release

Trailer Planning - Shot list 1

1. Production label flashes up
2. Pan of car driving past
3. Text - Starring Eleanor Failes
4. In the car found footage girls excited about weekend away
5. Establishing shot of house with car pulling into the drive
6. Girls walking into the house two remain by the car and there is dialouge 'i have heard stories about this place' second girl 'oh don't worry it will be fun'
7. Text - lets play a game . . .
8. Shot glasses birds eye view shot with ouija board visable when they bring down the glasses
9. Girls doing the ouija board and one acts possesed everyone panics
10. Girl possesed laughs because she was joking, another gets angry and throws board on the floor and says 'this isn't even working, lets just stop'
11. Phone rings and girls all look
12. Text - If your brave enough . . .
13. Close up of girl picking up phone hears white noise
14. Girl slams down phone
15. Girls all look at each other scared
16. Lights turn off and all the girls scream
17. Flashing up images ... girl running up the stairs looking behind screaming
18. Girl runs in to kitchen and frantically grabs a knife
19. Door slams and girl runs up to it to try and open it screaming 'What are you'
20. girl running through the woods looking behind her
21. Point of view shot chasing the girl through the woods
22. girl trips
23. Point of view shot getting closer to the girl zooms into her face as she screams 'Somebody help me'
24. Title 'Darkness Awakens' fades in
25. Tagline 'Do You Wanna Play' fades in
26. Release date '20th July 2011' fades in

Trailer Planning - Name Choice

When choosing the name as a group we went through alot of choices:

1. 68


2. Ouija


3. Norwood Lodge


4. Tupwood Lane


5. Tupwood Gate


6. Paranormal Forces

And we finally decided on Darkness Awakens'. We choose this name becasue it refers to the eveil spirits as the darkness and they are awakened by the ouija board, this we thought didnt give to much of the film away in the title, but it still had enough relevance to give an idea of what the film may be about.