Research on Independent Cinema

I wanted to further explore the different aspects of independent films compare to mainstream films. Research that I gathered was from a media studies revision book. The was as I wanted to come to a conclusion to whether my teaser trailer is mainstream or independent.

In my research I gathered information about independent films. It was said that "independent films will break the rules of traditional narrative and experiment with new or different ways of telling stories to create meaning in non-realist way." From this I understand that the narrative have an auteur style, this is what makes a film independent as typical conventions have been challenged by the director. One of the first film makers to move away from realist film was French director Jean-Luc Godard. He wanted to "expose the constructed nature of cinema and challenge his audience in order to make them reflect on their own lives as they watched."

Although independent films have been commercial advertised as much as mainstream films, this is what has made a few independent films successful. One of the most famous is The Blair Witch Project. It has the independent factors like unknown characters, handheld camerawork, direct address to camera, and lack of resolution.

Compared to mainstream films the narrative is used differently in an independent film, these include :-

• Action may be explicitly broken into chapters, as a novel.
• Narrative sequence is disjointed in some way.
• The narrative is not resolved.
• Well-known actors are not used.
• Audience cannot empathise with characters.
• Close-ups are not used often.
• Characters move 'outside the frame'.

Overall my teaser trailer may have aspects of both mainstream and independent films. The narrative (storyline) is mainly mainstream, this is due to the fact that the characters are represented stereotypically. However the way in which the narrative is put together has aspects of independent films, such as the flash backs, and the whole idea of it being a "dream", which leaves the narrative unresolved.

Teenage Magazine.

Here are a few magazines that I have decided to look at, as my targeted audience are teenagers. Therefore glamour and cosmopolitan are the main magazines that target the same audience. Both these magazines, are glamorous and give the women their confidence boost. The language used is quite informal, this gives the magazine a more relaxed and casual feel when reading.

Photoshop 2

Theses are similar photos that I would like to take for my magazine front cover. I want the actor to give a more personal appearance, as I would like the audience to feel like they have a connection, and relate with the actor. This will be done through the use of text, as it will be an interview on what she thinks about the film and also if it is relevant to her life.

Soundtrack Research

I have researched a few soundtrack for my teaser trailer, one which is particular interest to me is the soundtrack from Twilight.
Below are two YouTube clips, with the soundtrack of twilight, one of which is the original and the other is the piano version of it.



This one above is the original soundtrack for Twilight, and the one below is the piano version. Although twilight does not fall under the genre horror, it is a romantic fantasy, with adventure. The instruments used in the soundtrack give away a fairytale feel to the character, this is a similar technique that i wish to represent the main character.



The soundtrack is to long and repetitive, therefore I will be using snips of it, were I feel it is appropriate in my teaser trailer. This is because I want to give a combination of emotions for viewers, not only a fairytale atmosphere. I want my target audience to feel the fear in the eyes of the actors.

Classification and Genre Research

Classification Research

BBFC Website :

As my film is targeted for teenagers, aged 15 - 20 years, i wanted to research what makes a film rating to be 15. The BBFC (the British Board of Film Classification) is an independent, non-governmental body, which has responsibilities over cinema since 1913, and over video since 1985. Moving image material is submitted to the BBFC for rating, where it will award a ratings certificate which identifies what audience age range the material is suitable for. Below is a print screen from the BBFC homepage, classifying what a 15 rating stands for.

Looking at this classification, it gives me a more wider understanding of what my audience would expect to see in a film rated 15. Below is a statement that I found on the website with details on what the genre horror is classified as by the BBFC.

Psychological Horror Definition

BBFC Website:

"The use of frightening elements which might scare or unsettle an audience is part of a long tradition of story telling and film making. Many children enjoy the excitement of scary sequences, but, where films are targeted at a younger audience, classifications decisions will be taken into account such factors as the frequency, length and detail of scary scenes as well as horror effects, including music and sound, and whether there is a swift and a reassuring outcome. Older audiences often pay to see a horror films because they like being frightened or shocked at such works are classified at an appropriate category to ensure that the young and vulnerable are protected from too intense an experience."

Wikipedia Website:

Photoshop

In this photoshop session were able to experiment with photos that adapted to the genre of our product. Therefore I took a few photos that i could then experiment with on photoshop. Below is one of the photos I particularly liked, and have changed a few things through the use of photoshop, as it allowed me to put across the atmosphere and genre of the teaser trailer.

In this image of Huma above was taken during the day, meaning there was much sunlight. this made it difficult to give the "skoopy" effect that i wish to send across to my audience. However the sunlight has made it easy for different shades to focus on the image, what i want to stand out the most. in this image i wanted to focus on the facial features. This was due to the fact that I wanted to put across the genre of the trailer which is psychological horror.

The photo above shows the outcome of what I have done while using photoshop. I was able to make Huma the focal point of the image, due to the use of laying. Layering an image allows you to add shades or darken the picture in the ares you wish. I was able to control the darkness of the layers by changing the capacity, the higher the capacity percentage the darker the layer. To apply the layer you would have to use a brush, which also changed size. As the image size was quite big and the area that I wanted to darken was also a large amount I found it easier to use a larger brush size.

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