How to Pick The Right Tone, Shots and Music

This is a Prezi I have made from my work in class on choosing the right tone, shots and music as well as different things that can be important to a trailer, including music and editing, etc.

Selection of Actors

Main Protagonist - Ansel Elgort

We decided to choose Ansel Elgort as the main protagonist in our film as he has been cast in some successful films recently (in the last couple of years). Also, he is rather young (24), which fits in with our film as the characters in our film are all quite young, especially, the protagonist and his wife. Ansel Elgort has featured in films like Divergent and Insurgent, and is rather well known for his role in the films, Baby Driver and The Fault in Our Stars

Main Antagonist - Jesse Eisenberg

We chose to use Jesse Eisenberg as the main antagonist in our film as he usually plays the role of the villain, and does so rather well. He is a little older than the other actors at 34, but is still rather young. Jesse Eisenberg is largely known for his acting in The Social Network, Batman Vs Superman and Now You See Me.

Protagonist's Wife - Hannah Murray

The protagonist's wife in our film will be played by Hannah Murray. We decided to use Hannah Murray because she is quite young (28), looks quite innocent, which would fit in with the character she is playing in our film and she has acted in multiple thriller films before. Hannah Murray is known for her roles in TV series Game of Thrones and Skins, as well as the film Detroit.

Behind-the-Scenes Antagonist - Rami Malek

We also decided to have another antagonist, but one that isn't shown as much as Jesse Eisenberg's main antagonist, a character that effectively pulls the strings from behind the scenes, a sort of puppet master type character. We thought that Rami Malek (36) would fit the character role well so decided to cast him. He has acted in TV series Mr. Robot and films like Battleship and the Night at the Museum Trilogy.

Henchman 1 - Jon Bernthal

One of the henchmen in our film will be played by Jon Bernthal. We chose to use Jon Bernthal as, although he is older than the rest of the cast at 41, he fits the profile of a strong, brawny henchman. Compared to the other henchman and the main antagonists, he acts as a binary opposite and he conforms to the stereotypical henchman, brawn over brains. He has also previously acted in films of a similar genre to ours, like Sicario, Baby Driver, Fury and The Accountant.

Henchman 1 - Dave Franco

The other henchman will be played by Dave Franco (32). Compared to Jon Bernthal's henchman character, he has a much smaller build, meaning he doesn't conform to the stereotypical henchman. He is also an extremely well-known and recognised actor and has acted in films like Now You See Me, Bad Neighbours, 21 Jumpstreet and Nerve.

Selection of Props

We also needed to decide on what props we were going to use in our trailer. Since our film is an thriller with elements of action and crime, we would need to include weapons to conform to the conventions of the genre.

Weapons - We will need to use some weapons as our trailer is a thriller, specifically with elements of action and crime. We could use guns to imply there is a level of danger and violence in our film. We could also use melee/hand-held weapons like bats and knives, etc. Again to show the violence of our trailer.

Phones - Phones are another prop that could be used, they can be used for scenes where characters talk over the phone and we could also show a dropped phone with a cracked screen in the kidnapping.

Bags and Tissues/Cloth - For the kidnapping scene, there are a range of ways we are thinking of carrying out the kidnapping, we could either have the antagonist put a bag over the protagonist's wife's head or we could get the antagonist to sneak up behind the wife and hold a tissue over her mouth to imply there is a chemical on the tissue/cloth.

Cars - Finally, we could use cars for multiple shots. Firstly, we could use a car in a get away scene of some sort to increase the amount of action in our film trailer. We could also use a car boot to show the antagonist or his henchmen preparing weapons.

Selection of Costumes

The majority of the costumes used in our trailer will be dark to conform to the clothing often seen in thriller films.

Suits - Suits will be used as they give a professional feel to the characters, and some characters will need to appear professional in our trailer as we can oppose them with less smart/professional looking characters.

Undone/casual Suit - We could use an undone/casual suit in our trailer to make the characters contrast with the full suits worn to make the characters look even more unprofessional.

Balaclava/Scarf -  Using a balaclava or a scarf that will cover the face will be used on the main antagonist of the film to show/signify that he is menacing, sneaky, cunning and even violent.

Dressing Gown/Pyjamas - A dressing gown or pyjamas could be used to connote the innocence and vulnerability of certain characters.

Selection of Locations

When planning our film trailer, we needed to choose where we would film and what we would film at these different locations. We chose the following locations to give different connotations to the audience.

Tonbridge Park - We chose to use Tonbridge park as a place to film our trailer as there are areas that could be used to show the protagonist's wife's innocence. Ideally, the weather will be sunny and bright and we could use a shot of her looking over across a field with the sunset behind her. Also, the bridge leading to Tonbridge park could be used as a location for filming. We could have an over-the-shoulder tracking shot of the protagonist's wife.

School Lecture Theatre - The school's lecture theatre could also be a good place to film as there is a fold-out wall that could be used as a backdrop. Also, there are lots of chairs and desks there, so if we needed to create a desk or create a sort of office environment at all, we could rearrange the chairs and desks. Another area in the school's lecture theatre that could be used for filming is the school's storage cupboard, this could be used for the interrogation scene, as since the lighting of the room is quite dark, we could experiment with a torch from different angles to see what lighting gives the effect we desire.

School Field - Similarly to Tonbridge park, we could use our school field to film on as it is an extremely large area and we could use it for a range of our shots. For example, we think it could be a good idea to film the kidnapping scene and the lead up to the kidnapping on our school field.

Someone's House - To avoid just using school facilities, we could also go to someones house to film. We could experiment with the different areas of the house to see what scenes we could film.

Scripts

Here are the scripts for some scenes in our film trailer. We decided to make the dialogue/scripts quite short as the pacing of the film trailer will be quite quick to follow the conventions of the thriller genre.

Here is the script for the scene where the antagonist (Luke) first gets in contact with the protagonist (Ryan) regarding the bank heist or 'job'.

Luke – I have a proposition for you. Would you be up for one last job?

Ryan –I retired 5 years ago. So, no.

Luke – It’s the biggest job we will be a part of.

Ryan – I’ll consider it, but no promises.

This is the script where the protagonist opts out of the heist and the antagonist states that the protagonist should be look out for his family.

Luke – Have you made a decision yet?

Ryan – Yeah, not interested

Luke – This is your last chance

Ryan – I have my family to protect

Luke – Don’t expect this to be the last time we speak. Keep an eye on your family.

Continuing, this is the script for when the protagonist calls his wife (Frances) to warn her about the threat of the antagonist.

Frances - Hey

Ryan - Hi, I’ve just been offered a job

Frances - You didn’t take it did you?

Ryan - No, but we have a problem

Frances - How do you mean?

Ryan - I declined the job, but he said something that concerns me.

Frances - Like what?

Protagonist - “Keep an eye on your family.” Meaning you.

Our Film Plot

The protagonist, Harry, and the antagonist, Charlie, are partners in crime and have an illustrious criminal history. However, things between the close-knit partners turn bad when Harry's wife, Lucy, decides she has had enough of the life of crime, despite all of the wealth it brings with it.

Harry tells Charlie that Lucy insists he leaves the life of crime behind and help build their family. However, Charlie has already planned a heist and it is one of their biggest yet. This leads to a confrontation between the two partners and Harry discovers Charlie is desperate for money and needs to pay off his debts to another crime boss otherwise him and his family's lives are at risk.

Harry still refuses to take part in any heist, which leads to Charlie using his henchmen to kidnap Lucy. Now Harry is now given an ultimatum, do the heist and get his wife back, or continue to refuse and potentially never see his wife again. Harry reluctantly agrees to do the job. Harry and Charlie carry out the heist, meanwhile, Harry is still cautious and tries to locate his wife.

How We'd Show This in our Trailer

There are a few enigmas that we could create within our film. For the ending we could end our film trailer with a cliff hanger by not specifically showing whether Harry actually gets his wife back and whether or not the heist goes successfully. Another enigma we could create within our trailer could be whether Harry actually decides to do the heist in the first place.  

Our storyline/plot will also conform with Todorov's theory of narrative. Todorov's theory argues that narratives always follow a three-part structure of:

Equilibrium (balance) - Disequilibrium (disruption to the equilibrium) - New equilibrium (resolution)

Audience Feedback From our Film Pitch

Here is a Prezi we have made on the audience feedback from our film pitch. The Prezi includes positive and negative feedback, feedback on the title and the film pitch presentation itself.

Our Film Pitch

Here is our recorded film pitch regarding our film. We have included different aspects of our film, like the characters and the plot of the film, as well as the setting/locations and target audience of the film.