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Pre-production - Mise-en-scene planning:

Costume
What will your characters wear? What is the costume supposed to communicate to the audience? How does this link to your Statement of Intent in terms of creating representations?


My characters will wear professional style clothing as they are going to be presented to look older and have jobs. As one of the friends is buying a house so she will have to look like she is working with a good job. The costumes will also change when the friends are going to be shown at different times of day like in the evening in their pyjamas or in casual clothes when together. This links to my statement of intent as the girls are seen as vulnerable in this unknown setting that they have recently moved to.

Lighting
How will you light your trailer? Day or night? Interior or exterior? If outside, can you use streetlights, shadows, reflected sunlight or other creative techniques to achieve the lighting style you want? If inside, experiment with creative lighting techniques using windows, blinds, artificial lights, phone flashes and more.


My trailer will have lighting which will be usually kept low in order to convey the horror element of the trailer. This will have scenes from late evening to early morning so I may have shots of the sunlight or an early morning sky to portray to the audience, about the time of day. I may also use windows to show artificial lights and shadows in the background to build up to my jump scares. I will include backlighting and spotlighting, for example, someone trying to find something in a dark room.

Actors
The first thing you need to plan is your cast - who will be in your production and which characters will they play? Try and cast people who are reasonably similar to the character they are playing (both in age and personality). Next, plan their placement and movement in key scenes in your trailer. Do you want them to appear trapped in a claustrophobic close-up? Or isolated as a tiny person in a wide shot?


In my production, there will be around 3-4 characters as two of which will be friends and the characters who will give advice about whether or not to move in. There will be different personalities present as one of the characters will be known as the non-believer which means they will be presented as much more careless.  There will be other characters that give us background information and also a character who will play the estate agent in my trailer.  There will be close up characters in my trailer e.g Nyrah will be shown to be finding something and incredibly nervous and whilst looking back a shot of her face will be conveyed with her sweating and breathing deeply. There are going to be parts where the house will be shown and Nyrah will be looking around getting familiar with this house and her finding things related to past life about this house. There will be some shots that will convey Nyrah and Aria as being trapped and feeling claustrophobic due to the unknown spirit dominating the house. I will have low angle shots to convey the characters as being inferior and vulnerable.

Make-up
Plan any make-up you require - this could be particularly important for horror trailers.

As my trailer is more to do with a realistic type of story not much makeup will be required. The type of make I will be using to convey conventions of horror are the lack of sleep and trauma this will be signified through dark and sullen eyes. This will be further indicated by tears and eye make smudged. This will help audiences achieve enigma and heighten the tension as it will purge audiences emotions. I may also use blood by showing different cuts that the characters get and blood dripping to the ground and also being shown in random places like on clothes or the bed. This will set mystery codes for my audiences and interest them further.

Props
What props will you require? Remember, you can't use anything that might resemble a weapon in a public or school location (this is VERY important). Well-planned props can help to communicate genre and character quickly - vital in a short trailer.


I will need a photo of a previous couple that lived in the house and some books to convey the characters professions.
I will also need a knife when one of the characters tries to defend herself whilst she walks to the door.

Setting
This should already be largely planned using your script. However, now is the time to specify exact locations - if a classroom, which one? How will you arrange it with the teacher? When will you film there? For external locations, try and take pictures of settings or use Google Maps and Google Earth. Spending quality time planning your locations can make a huge difference to the professionalism of your film.


For my setting I will be using a house and rooms within it most will be interior setting and some will be exterior. I will film during the daytime and will be using my friend's house. As I will be presenting a house that will be bought first I will be presenting different shots of the house which will have things placed on it covered. This will give audiences the idea that this character is about to move in or thinking to bu this house. When my character does move in wide shots will establish boxes placed within the household to convey that this character has just moved in.











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