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Monday 21 September 2009

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Teaser Trailer Analysis



The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, and written collectively by Hooper and Kim Henkel. While presented as a true story involving the ambush and murder of a group of friends on a road trip in rural Texas by a family of cannibals, the film is completely fictional. He produced on a budget estimated around $140,000, Hooper cast relatively unknown actors for his film, drawing people mainly from the areas surrounding the Texas filming locations. When the film was completed, Hooper struggled to find a distributor for the film because of the graphic depiction of violence; when he did secure a distributor the MPAA gave the film an R-rating, instead of the PG-rating Hooper had intended. Upon the completion of post-production, filmmakers found it difficult to secure a distributor willing to market the film, due to the graphic content.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre teaser trailer uses intense heartbeat to increase the mood of the scenes that flash on the screen. It makes the audience feel on edge. Because of the short clips used, they fade in and out of focus, and show a dark mood. Because of the scenes that are shown, the storyline isn’t given away, which makes the audience wants to go and see it.

At the start of the trailer, a date is flashed on the screen which makes it seem like it is real life, and this actually happened. The main car/van is driving alone on the road with a dirt track and dust rising as it continues into the distance. It quickens the pace, and keeps the audience in suspense, and gets them ready for what is happening.

Friday 11 September 2009

Location List





Winchelsea Country Lanes

Pett level beach

Meadows in Guestling

Our Pitch

Our pitch went quite well, but I think we needed to know how to present out ideas more and have more concrete ways to get our ideas over to the audience. I think since we did this presentation we have cemented ours ideas a lot more, and we all know what we want to achieve, and how we will do so.

Monday 7 September 2009

Lament: A Modern Sonnet

We chose a traditional sonnnet because of the romantic effect it gives. To the audience, the sonenet will represent a love poem, and in our film it does, until it goes wrong. This shows the contrast between love and our horrific tragedy which in some twisted way it is about a girls love for a boy and him breaking her heart. This is the sonnet we will use and what we will base our film around -

First glance, I see your beautiful brown eyes.
I fall immediately under your spell.
Slipping into a dream, I hear love's sighs
The dream turns out to be a living Hell.
When you said you loved me, did you mean it?
Your lie is poisionous as blackened sin.
Your
beauty cannot hide your soul, the pit.
Release the demon that has lain within.
I've looked into your eyes to find your soul
Wherever it has gone, I do not know.
Your mind controls the 'shell' it plays the role.
Your love is ice, as you know how to show.
Though you have proved the demon, played the role
I find all beauty in your broken soul.

S. Alan Burgess

Examaning the Sonnet -

'First glance' - Straight away they are over taken by what they feel
'I fall imediately under your spell' - Like magic of the heart
'Slipping into a dream, I hear love's sigh' - Like love is a real person taking over them. Living in the shadow of this 'person'.
'The dream turns out to be a living hell' - Finally realised there is a bitter side to this emotion.
'When you said you loved me, did you mean it? - Questioning this persons beliefs and feelings, because all of a sudden its turned sour.
'Your lie is poisonous as blackened sin' -
'Your beauty cannot hide your soul, the pit' - Darkening the emotion of love.
'Release the demon that has lain within'
'I looked into your eyes to find your soul, wherever it has gone I do not know.
- This shows the total contrast between the start of the poem and the middle/end. This is the same as our film - the contrast between happy, and sad.
'Your love is ice, as you know how to show'

The Sonnet - Where's Your Destiny Written?

Inspiration -
- The Notebook
- Ps I Love You
- The Edge Of Love
- Atonement
= The perfect fairytale life

- Saw
- 28 Days Later
= The imperfect (everything goes wrong) life

Genre:
- Horror

Characters:
- Ben DE Havilland - Main Man
- Charlotte Russell (Me!) - Main Woman
- Catherine Jefferies - Little girl, pure, innocent, white dress heart-broken!

Elements we need:
- Sound directors
- Lighting

Audience Response:
- What films do you watch?
- Do you like this idea?

Planning Our Film -

Genre Of Film -
We have decided to make our film fit into the horror genre. As a group, we know more about this genre and we are more interested in the films as a whole. We could also make a horror more orginal and our own.

Storyline -
The main storyline is that of the contrast between the perfect/happy life between a couple and then how it turns into being a horrific scary scenario.

We want it to be based around a Sonnet which is still an ideal romantic element where a couple are happy with shots of them with friends in feildsand on beaches, laughing and joking with them and finally reading the Sonnet which releases an ancient curse written by a young girl who was heartbroken by being torn away from the love of her life.

House - quickly grabs book - frantic
- Picnic basket
Meadow - Read book
- Destiny love story
Beach - Campfire
Evil poem falls out
Read poem out loud
Flashes of them - Scenes of them running
- Enhanced breathing
Looks up
Girl in white dress - In water
Couple run
Poem left floating in water

Tagline -
- When does a sotry become reality?
- Have you ever read a story that become reality?
- Where is your destiny written?

Name -
- The Poem
- Clarity
- Transparent Destiny
- Epic Poem
- Sonnet In White
- The White Sonnnet
- The Transparent Sonnet
- The Perfect Sonnet
- Sonnet
- The Sonnnet - The makes it sound powerful and keeps the focus on the one sonnet included in our storyline.
We wanted to get the message of innocence and purity into the title because of the young girl in the white dress, for this reason we came up with names such as
  • Sonnet In White
  • The Transparent Sonnet
  • The White Sonnet

so we could convey the girl as being a virginal, moral person, which would help to enhance the image of things going horrifically wrong. We didn't feel these names were too catchy enough, and therefore it would persuade the audience not to go and see the film once they had viewed the trailer.

Todorovs theory of narrative -
His basic thinking of narrative was that it started of perfect, went wrong and then went back to normal again.
Todorov argues that narrative involves transformation. The characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption. There is always a beginning, and middle, and an end, and that's how the audience minds work.

In a way, our film will go against this. It will start of happy, and perfect, and then it will end showing the bad effects of love.

Juxtaposition - an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.

Our film will do this. It will show the contrast between love and hate, and how suddenly in can all go so wrong.

Films we used for inspiration -



The Notebook -

The Notebook is a film based around a book, and directed by Nick Cassavetes who has won numerous awards for his many films. He is well known for his drama/romance films, which have been named chick flicks, but still audiences draw in to see his films in the box offices.

The trailer starts of with soft music coming before shots of the characters - this instantly gives the audience an insight into what the film is going to involve. It is quite classical which represents how love is like this. Always the same. Then a voice over starts to tell the story. It sounds like a trusting voice, and then begin the shots of the main characters in the country side. The first few shots are done in slow motion in time with the music, and show the characters laughing and joking, as the story intensifies, the music gets higher, and more exciting. The lighting in bright, and shows the two main charcters at there best. The make up is soft, and elegant, and nto over done.
However, even in the trailer we see the difference and struggle between two families, and a great love affair. When the pair are at the dining table surrounded by the girls family, the male character is dressed in black, whilst the others are dressed in white. It represents him being the odd one out, and how they look down on him. The audience get to see the struggle of the daughter, and how she goes against her parents. When the music intensifies even more, the charcters are introduced at the peak, and there is a shot of them in main focus.The title of the film is the introduced in a handwriting typeface, which makes it seem more relevant to the subject.
It last for 2.17 seconds, which is quite long for a trailer, but it involves many shots and introduces many characters. Despite it giving the audience an idea of the sotryline, it doesn't give it away, and still leaves them with un-answered questions, such as what happens? so the main purpose of the trialer is fulfilled beacuse it gives the audience an idea of the storyline without giving too much away.