1. Proposal
Idea summary:
A man and his family living in their suburban home are awoken
by fire outside. They draw back the curtains to see utter
devastation amongst their street. The family’s house begins
falling down and the father is knocked unconscious. The
trailer then jumps forward to him walking around a destroyed
wasteland, meeting various people along his journey to find
his family. On the way he faces huge adversity due to the vast
landscapes and gangs he comes across.
Narrative:
My movie/film introduction will follow a stones structure
(linear narrative) from Todorov’s theory. This is a common
theory amongst movies and is how fairy tales are commonly read
to children, beginning, middle and end. This allows the story
to develop and grow as you learn more and more along a simple
story structure. The characters are introduced (beginning),
how they’re affected by what happens (middle) and finally the
result of what has happened (end).
Characters:
A family (Mother, father, daughter) and other minor characters
are introduced as the story develops. E.g. gang members, one
of the characters old friends etc.
Locations:
Woods and/or open field (night-time), open areas surrounded by
trees and dark shapes adding an eerie affect to the viewing.
The wooded area is dark and mysterious, moving trees and
strange noises due to wind or animals adds to the eeriness of
the scenes involving the woods, additionally as the wood is
vast and compact there is a lot of it the viewer cannot see
and therefore their imagination runs wild.
2. The town areas/streets/car parks are all built up areas that
would commonly be populated. The absence of people will add to
the effect the film is trying to portray (loneliness).
Furthermore these places at night are eerie as everything
looks as if it has been immediately abandoned.
Costumes/Props:
Protagonist (Family) Costumes:
These costumes will change as the film progresses, for example
at the start the family will be wearing normal everyday
clothing e.g. jeans, t shirts and hoodies. Whereas as the film
continues these same clothes will become ragged and grubby as
they are worn out more and more. Finally, the clothing will
age with the characters as you can see their gradual decline
throughout the trailer.
Antagonist (Gang) Costumes:
The gangs will only appear later in the trailer and thus their
costumes will already be ruined and dirty. They will have been
out in the wasteland for a long time and thus the effects will
be shown through their costume. They will have; jeans, t
shirts, jumpers, various head wear, boots and jackets.
Additional equipment (props):
Fake blood, any weapons/ tools e.g. axes, hammers and garage
hardware. Backpacks and survival gear e.g. medical kits,
tents, cooking stoves, lighters, food, water and a torch.
Soundtrack:
Eerie soundtrack, typical disaster/horror music e.g. strings
and orchestra, quiet background music with off notes to allow
for suspense. Most disaster/horror movies/films have out of
tune music or notes that are next to each other that don’t
quite work, this adds an element of fear or as if something is
misplaced within the movie/film itself. Additionally, the use
of loud high pitched notes when something shocking or sudden
occurs to add a ‘jump factor’ to the movie. Finally, long
drawn out drones for landscape shots add to the scale of the
3. shot within the frame and can therefore be extremely
effective. This also can be used to show the scale of the
destruction throughout the movie/film.
Effects:
Fading transitions and dark blurred filters to show contrast
to bright blood and lights. Additionally, filters that make
footage blurry allow for suspense to build as it is unclear
what is happening. Other effects will include the use of green
and yellow filters to add a more arid feel to the landscape.
This will allow the shots to look more post-apocalyptic and
thus increase the effect the shot has.
Editing:
Slow fades between shots to show the scale of the journey and
to show the passing of great lengths of time. This adds to the
idea of a long journey that the character has undertaken.
Other transitions such as shot revers shots will be used to
show shock or devastation from a character. Finally, jump cuts
will also be used to show a time scale element to the
film/movie as the journey is the longest part of the trailer.
Target Audience:
The target Audience is 18 or above as this fits with the
horror conventions. Most disaster/horror movies and films are
either 18’s or 15’s and therefore this follows that suit. My
movie/film will draw in my target audience by including what
they are looking for in this type of movie e.g. gore, violence
and destruction. This will also help make my movie/film stick
with the traditions of a disaster/horror by adding a fear
factor that the audience are looking for. Furthermore, I
intend to add in vast landscapes and a narrative my audience
can relate to so that they become enthralled with the
storyline.