Social Media Accounts

In order to promote our film, we created a Facebook page and a Twitter page. Using social media can be a good, free way to reach more potential audiences and get people hyped and talking about the film. On social media, pages can be created for upcoming films in order to give a variety of different information to the audience, such as potential release date, insight into plot, and behind the scenes material. After the film has aired in the cinema, the page could also be used to promote the release of the film on DVD/Blu Ray and the soundtrack on CD. Here are some examples of blockbuster films on social media:

Here is the Facebook page for the book to movie film, Me Before You.

Here is an example of the way that Facebook has been used in order to promote a screening event to see the film before general release at the cinemas. The post includes links to the event, and the film poster, which also includes the date for the general release of the film.

Another example of the use of social media to promote an upcoming film is T2 Trainspotting:

Here it can be seen that there is a variety of different information available on the page, including release date, tag lines and plot details, video trailers and links on how people can purchase tickets to see the film when it is released in the cinema.

Therefore, we have created Facebook and Twitter pages for our upcoming short film, Haunted.

 

Here is the Facebook page in order to promote the film, which includes a general plot line overview, a release date estimation of 2017, and links to other social media for the film.

In order to draw the audience in into potentially seeing our film when it released, we upload sneak peaks of the production to the Facebook page, in order to create hype. Here is a recent entry of behind the scenes photos.

We also created a Twitter page for the film too, which includes links to our blog, brief information about the production company and the film, and additional behind the scenes photos, in order to allow the audience a sneak peak.

Here is a tweet on the Twitter account showing a peak into the editing process of our film to potential audiences.

Character Profile: Burglar

The burglar is wearing a mask and so his identity is unknown, this means we don't know his age or occupation and his identity remains a mystery.
The appearance of the burglar is very mysterious as we don't actually see his face. He is wearing a ski mask, all dark clothing and carries a knife. The dark colours are to convey his dark side, portraying him as the antagonist. The mask is the conceal his identity which creates fear of the unknown amongst the audience characters.
The burglar is very significant in the story line of our film as his burglary going wrong is what causes Chloe to be killed. This overall creates the entire plot of our film as Chloe believes her cousin, Amy, was the one who was killed.

 



Location Photos

Location Photos
Barnsley College

We have chosen to have scenes of our film set in Barnsley College, as it is apart of a very vibrant and busy Town Centre. It will serve us as a professional place to shoot our film. Whilst we are filming in other locations, Barnsley College will help to show variety in our locations and create contrasting mood reflected by the different environments. The change in setting will also be key in progressing the story forward and allowing for development in order to be successful.

House

For our film, we will also need to film inside a house, as this is where the location of the murder of the main character, Chloe, will take place. In the house, two locations will be used for scenes within the film. When Chloe is stabbed, this happens in the kitchen, as the burglar breaks into the house from the back door. The opening scene of the film takes place in a bedroom, when Chloe wakes up to see Amy staring at her. We chose this location as it looks normal and average which is what we want to convey in Chloe. Chloe is just a normal teenage girl who believes her best friend/cousin has died and so we don't want to convey her home as being abnormal.

Bedroom where Chloe sees Amy in the door way

Kitchen where Chloe is killed by an intruder

Cemetery

Our final location is at a cemetery, which is the location of where Chloe believes Amy is buried. Chloe visits her grave one day after a bad day at college, however, a twist happens when it is revealed that Chloe is dead, and she didn't realise it. We chose this location because grave yards are often associated with bad emotions and being quite creepy and so this is an ideal location to create an eerie atmosphere in our thriller film.

Analysis of 'The Silence of the Lambs' Film Poster

Shooting Pack 04/01/2017

Filming locations: Leah's house
The characters that will appear in these scenes are Chloe, Amy and the burglar.
Storyboard for this filming day:

Location photos for filming today:

Here is the script inserts for the scenes that we will be filming today:

Shot list for filming:

There are a variety of different props that we will need for shooting, including a ski mask, a knife, and fake blood:

Risk assessment includes using a knife during the scene where Chloe gets stabbed by the burglar, as we need to be careful no one is hurt during the production. Additionally, we will be filming in general public locations, so we need to make sure other people's activities are not disrupted, and be respectful to other people around us. In case of bad weather, we need to make sure the equipment is protected.

Research into film posters

I am doing some research into psychological thriller film posters, to see if there are any conventional themes presented throughout film posters for a variety of different films.

Firstly, I have found four film posters that are from psychological horror and thriller films; The Silence of the Lambs, Orphan, Jacob's Ladder and Insidious. All of these film posters have one common theme, which is that every film poster has somebody's face in the centre of the poster. This could provide intrigue into who the character is, and what is going on in their life. For example, in the film Orphan, the main character is a 'little girl', and because of the tag line 'There's something wrong with Ester', it makes the audience wonder what is going on with the character, as from the film poster, she looks like a young child, who appears to be disturbed in her life.

What makes a successful film poster? For a film poster to be able to draw in the attention of the audience, there are a variety of different things that will likely be on the film poster. A film poster needs to be able to draw in the audience, give some information about the film, and easily be able to distinguish what genre the film possibly is. Generally, on a film poster, there will be;

• The name(s) of the main actor(s)
• Point of focus on the main actor
• Background images, such as a house
• Title of the film
• A tag line, such as in Orphan "There's something wrong with Esther"
• BBFC certificate
• Billing block, which gives a variety of different information to the audience, such as the distributor, production company, main actors within the film, possible release date, and how the film can be viewed, for example, 3D. For the billing block, the information is written in the font, Steel Tongs.

Here is a picture that shows a basic outline of how to create a film poster, and where to put the information required, such as tagline, actors and the billing block.

 



Film posters that relate to our genre

Here is the film poster for The Others, which is a film that has a similar plot line to our own film.

Benefits of the Internet and Short Independent Films

The internet can be extremely beneficial for small independent films. This is because it allows there to be a platform for free advertisement, and the internet is also able to reach a larger demographic, simply due to the fact that the majority of people are able to access the internet through the use of technological convergence. An example of technological convergence is the ability for people to be able to access things, such as the internet through the use of smartphones, where budget options are available. The use of web 2.0 means that we are also able to quickly and regularly update things about our film and keep the audience engaged.

Firstly, we are able to use the internet to be able to promote our film. Web 2.0, which includes social media, allows us be to able to create pages for our film without having to spend any money. For example, we are able to use Blogger, Facebook and Twitter easily, as creating an account is simple to do and also free. Through the use of Web 2.0, audiences are easily able to follow accounts, such as on Facebook and Twitter, and set their smartphones to be able to get notifications when the account posts something new.

This is incredibly useful as people who make independent films will not have money to spend on marketing and promotion techniques to get people hearing about their film. However, instead, we can easily create a social media page and share posts about our film, especially since we can share the posts with our own friends, and they can pass it on to their own friends. Because of this, we decided to create a Facebook and Twitter page, particularly as our potential audience demographic are young adults, and most young adults will likely use these social media platforms. As the potential audience may also share the posts with their friends, this means we are also more likely to give us a platform to have our questionnaires seen by a larger demographic, which will be more useful when needing to get feedback on the various stages throughout our film.

The internet also allows us to be able to keep our audience engaged through the use of posting on social media, as we can share posts about when we were filming and editing the film. We are also able to post teasers, which will allow the audience to be keen and excited about the eventual release of our film. By using social media, it also means that the audience is able to regularly keep updated about what is going on with the progress of making the film.

Another useful benefit of the internet is that we were able to use the internet to be able to share our viral marketing advert on, which can allow our potential audience to become engaged in the film, and wonder what the plot is about, from the viral marketing hints.