Costume Research

 These are the kinds of costumes we were able to view by searching online. These are typical nurse uniforms ranging from the 1940's to the 1970's. They are fairly basic outfits , which don't have a complex design. They are mostly plain and without detail, for our own trailer we would most probably aim to recreate the middle and last photographs. Using blue blouses and white aprons it should be simple to re-create. We could possibly sew on a medical red cross for extra detail. We will also consider finding clothing from charity shops for out outfits, which we will later show on our blogs.


If we do stick with the theme,and costumes become difficult to find, we may even consider hiring from fancy dress websites and shops.

Our Market Research

We composed a questionnaire to a random selection of 15 people. Our first question was: Which names do you prefer for a psychological thriller, which is about a boy who's whole life had been a lie? You have multiple choice, so please pick the ones that stand out the most for you. This is the analysis of that survey.

Seeing as "Deception" was the favourite, we had to ensure there was not already a movie that contained this name. However, I found that there was a film called Deception in 2008. We then had to make sure there was not a film called "Delusion". However, this was also a film made in 1991. Our third favourite was Enclosed, which we all agreed to use, as there was not a film made of this, and it was an audience's favourite choice. Our second question was: In a psychological thriller, which one of these themes would you most expect to be in that genre of film? The answers were:

This shows that the most favourited by the random sample was Paranoia, which our psychological thriller film did contain. Discovery and betrayal was also a key theme that people thought was neccessary, which we also included. We then asked: What types of props would you expect to see in a psychological thriller film, based in an asylum? You may give more than one answer. The answers they gave were as shown:

This now gives us an idea on what we can include in our film trailer. The next question asked was: What kind of costumes would you expect to see in a psychological thriller film, based in an asylum? You may give more than one answer. The answers were:

This helps out figure out what an audience would expect to see in our film trailer, so we can meet codes and conventions. We then asked: If you like psychological thrillers, what other kinds of psychological thrillers do you like? [if you do not like them, please say No Comment]. Their answers were:

Our next question was: If you like psychological thrillers, what other genres do you enjoy watching? [if you do not enjoy psychological thrillers, please say No Comment]. The answers were:

The next question asked to our random sample was: What is your favourite film and why? [Please do not include any psychological thrillers that may be your favourite, and pick a different film. The answers were:

Our next question was: What makes a film trailer for a psychological thriller stand out most for you? The answers were:

Finally, our last question was: What type of things do you expect to see, stereotypically, in a psychological thriller trailer? The answers were:

From this survey, we have a lot of ideas we can use for props, music, locations, and what people would expect to see in psychological thrillers, so we can fit codes and conventions, and maybe even challenge some with our plot in our trailer.

Trailer Pitch

Pitch from harrevs



This was our trailer pitch presentation, which we presented as a group to our teachers and classmates. The pitch features our key ideas, our updated plot which we have devised as a group, and costume/setting examples which we hope to use when filming. We extended our ideas vocally when presenting, rather than solely reading from the screen. We also included sound tracks and evidence of our genre research, showing that we understand horror/psychological thriller conventions. 

Research for the media pitch

http://thetimechamber.co.uk/beta/sites/asylums/asylum-history/the-history-of-the-asylum

As our idea revolves around a sensitive issue, we were careful as a group to conduct research into the history of old insane asylums, and mental illnesses.

The website gave us information on how patients were treated in the past. It was extremely informative, and even helped us learn about the differences between the treatment of males and females. Hopefully this will help us create a more accurate portrayal in our film trailer. It has also given us a better idea of scenarios which might occur in an asylum setting. Ultimately, we do not want the audience to dislike the patients, but to feel sympathy for them instead.

Trailer Analysis for "The Conjuring"

During my research and planning I completed an in-depth trailer analysis for "The Conjuring." I chose this trailer to analyse as it fits the genre I am interested in working on.

My individual plot idea

Genre: Psychological Horror.

-A man moves into a new town with his family as a result of his new job. He is a supervisor at a mental hospital, but him this is not unusual as he has had similar jobs in the past.
-It becomes clear that there is something wrong in the town, every morning at 5am the animals in the fields are noisy and disturbed.
-One morning, a dead lamb is found in the swing at the park, the townspeople become concerned, wondering who could have placed it there.
-A few days later, multiple animals are found hanging in the woods. People begin to suspect that one of the mental patients could be the culprit.
-One night, the man's family drive down to the hospital to pick him up from work, as they are intending to go to a party straight afterwards.

-There is a delay and twenty minutes later he still has not finished work, so his wife approaches the entrance but everything is dark. The doors are wide open. She walks through the door using the light from her phone, immediately after she steps inside, the doors close. She is trapped inside.
-The film becomes a story of her escape as the patients have taken over the asylum and locked up the staff. Some torture the staff, whilst some have escaped.
-Throughout the film, the audience are shown shots of nuns whom they assume are praying for the safety of the townspeople.
-It is later revealed that they are providing refuge for the ringleader who sparked the rebellion in the hospital. It turns out that he is the secret son of one of the nuns, whom she had been forced to give up for adoption many years ago.
-She feels guilt as she knows that the man (who's the main character) is in fact the father of the boy,  but he's never been told.
-The son has found out about his family history elsewhere after a lifelong obsession with knowing that he did not fit in, and feeling lost. He believes that his real father did know about his existence all along and voluntarily had him adopted, and is driven insane by the thought, causing him to spark the rebellion.

Research

In order to choose a film genre, and also to contribute to my research of film trailers, I have watched a selection of film trailers using YouTube.
Some of which include:

Psychological Thrillers:

Shutter Island.
The Silence of the Lambs.
The Ring.
Saw.
The Butterfly Effect.
Orphan.

Action Movies:

The A-Team.
Kick-Ass.
Skyfall.
Terminator.
Independence Day.

Comedy:

Ted.
The Heat.
Mean Girls.
Dodge ball.
Anchorman.
Hot Fuzz.