Film Title

For the title of our film we considered a number of different names. We took inspiration from the films ‘Taken’ and ‘Gone’. Both films have short a simple names that are effective after understanding the plot of the film. We wanted a one word title for our film as well so we looked for different meanings of the words Missing, Taken and Lost.  Below is a list of all the names we though of as possibilities for titles for our film:

Unknown

Hunted

Departed

Unidentified

Disturbed

Troubled

Uneasy

Distraught

Lost

AWOL

Vanish

Out of all of our possibilities the word we decided to use for the title of our film is AWOL. We researched into the word and after learning the meaning of the work we felt that it would be perfect for the title of our film and fit in with the story line.

The word ’AWOL’ means one of two things:

1.Absent from where one should be but without intent to desert

2.Also stands for ‘Absent With Out Leave’

We decided to use the ‘Absent Without Leave’ Meaning. To make this clear the title will have full stops between each letter of the work to show that each letter stands for a different work. 

Film Title: ‘A.W.O.L’

Storyboard

This is the storyboard that we created as a rough idea of the shots we planned to incorporate into  our film trailer. We plan to use a range of different shots to create an interesting and tension building trailer for our Thriller Film. 

(Some of the locations shown within this storyboard are not accurate. This is due to the software used to create this storyboard having limited setting options.) 

This storyboard is a rough idea of the shots we intend on capturing when filming for our film trailer. we chose to use a range of shots at different times within the trailer to show a range of shots which will help in creating tension within our trailer to fit in with the conventions of a thriller film. there are different reasons for why we chose specific shots to use within our trailer. For Example:
Split Screen Shot: we chose to use this technique within our trailer to identify the characters in one shot. rather than having the two girls within the same shot we felt that using two different shots and showing a split screen with them would be a good way to start of the trailer as well as being a good technique to identify the characters of our film. 
Close Up Shots: We plan to use close up shots within out trailer on the main characters faces because we want to show emotion within the trailer. This will help in showing the story line of our film as well as building tension for the audience.

After completing the storyboard for our trailer we made some changes to the story line of our film. Because of this the storyboard was not accurate anymore. the parts that we planned on showing within the trailer were similar to those that were shown within this storyboard. A main change made was with the characters. Rather than having three characters within our trailer we cut down the three girls to two girls. One girls gets kidnapped and the other tries to find her. 

Another change we made to this storyboard is that we plan not to have any Diegetic speech within our trailer. The only speech we would use would be the speech used within the voice over we plan to use within the trailer.  

Production Schedule

This is the production schedule that we will be following whilst creating out film trailer, magazine cover and film poster. This will help us keep track of what we are doing on each different day along with the actors that will be needed and the props that we will use in different parts of filming in a day. Not all of the dates available for filming have been filled in. This is because we plan to use these day for any re filming we might need to complete after our initial filming sessions.

As a group we are planning on starting the filming for our trailer this weekend on the 25th January. during the filming on this day we will also be taking a range of photographs to use within our film poster and the magazine cover that we are also creating.

Due to changes made to our film story line, we had to make some changes to our production schedule. To start with the locations we planned to film at changed. instead of using the locations stated, we instead are now going to use a wooded area, street pathways and a house/cafe setting. We have found all of these location and know exactly where we are going to film. 

We had to push back the start date of our filming for multiple reasons. The first was that due to the changes made we had to make sure we knew the changes we had made and that we had a clear idea of what we were filming with the new story line. Another reason we started filming later than planned was due to the weather. On days that we planned to film the weather was raining hard which would have been difficult conditions to film in due to loud winds and high amounts of rain which would have interfered with the filming. this weather also made it hard difficult to film in a muddy wooded area and because of this filming as delayed for a couple of days until the weather improved.   

Film Synopsis

Three friends arrange to meet up (Rose, Frankie & Brooke). Two of them turn up (Rose & Frankie). But the third does not (Brooke). They wait for her. An hour passes so they try to contact her but cannot. They start to worry. They travel to Brooke’s house. She is not there either. Her parents have not seen her all day. She has run away before so they are not as concerned. They go back to where they met check she wasn’t running late. They find a phone ringing on the floor. It’s Brooke’s. There concern grows. They travel to the police and report her disappearance. Police cannot do anything until after 24 hours and with no evidence. Rose and Frankie look through Brooke’s phone. They find a text that mentions a car park.  They spot a small piece of paper sticking out of the phone. It is a map. This leads them to a car park. Brooke is not at the car park but they see marks in the dirt of the car park that look like someone has been dragged away. They follow these tracks and find a bracelet on the tracks. It is Brooke’s. There is a photo with the bracelet. The photo leads them to a service station. The two girls think that Brooke is trying to lead them to her by leaving clues. At the service station a man recognises a picture of Brooke. She was there less than 5 minutes ago. They check the toilets and find another clue. The number plate of a car is written on the mirror. They search for the car. They see it drive away. They quickly chase after it in their car at a distance. This leads them to a house in the middle of the countryside. They see two men take Brooke inside. One of the men leaves the house and drives off. The two girls find an open window and sneak into the house. They search for Brooke. Whilst looking around there are moment where the two girls nearly get caught by another man that is in the house. They find a locked door. They look through the keyhole and see Brooke tied to a chair. They then search for the key to the door. One of the kidnappers is sitting on the sofa watching telly. The key for the door is on a table next to him. Rose keeps a look out and Frankie snuck up behind the sofa to reach the key. Tension builds because Frankie is so close to being caught and the man looks suspicious. Frankie manages to reach for the key. The two girls travel back to the locked room and open the door. The girl in the room is not Brooke. It is another girl that has the same hair and eye colour and looks exactly like Brooke. At this point the girls help this girl and then go to open another door. At this point they realise that there are multiple girls that all look the same being held hostage in this house. After searching in four different rooms they eventually find Brooke. There is then a load noise as the man realises that the keys are gone. Rose and Frankie hurry to free Brooke. They hear footsteps heading towards the room. Brooke sits back down and acts like she's still tied up whilst Rose and Frankie hide in the room. The man enters the room to check with a spear pair of keys. He checks the room and then leaves again locking the door behind him. The Three girls escape out the window of the room they are locked in. Throughout the time searching for Brooke within the house, Rose was filming on her phone. This footage shows all of the other girls trapped in the house. The three girls take this footage to the police to get help for all of the other girls trapped in the house. The police investigate, free the other girls and arrest the two men for there crimes

Billing Block

When researching into billing blocks for films i noticed that all billing blocks contain the same information. The genre of the film does not contribute to the contents of the billing block. because of this i researched into what a billing block contained. Below shows the billing block for the film 'Inception' this film is in the same genre as the film we are going to be creating a trailer for so i decided that the contents of this billing block would be a good outline of the thinks that needed to be included in the billing block for our film trailer.  

I used the same information within this billing block to create a billing block of our own. we changed the names of the production team and actors and filled in our own information. The production company and film distributor for our film will be to same as seen within the example billing block. After researching we found that these companies had previously released films of the same genre as the film we are creating a trailer for.  

The font of this Billing Block works well and allows all of the information within the Billing Block to be seen clearly. The layout also works well and follows the conventions of a real film Billing Block. 

Font Research

For the fonts that were needed within our film poster and magazine cover we decided to research through fonts and choose some that we felt would work well on the two items. We chose a range of different fonts and decided on the one in which we felt would work best for each item. The poster and the magazine. We also looked into fonts that would work well for the billing block. Below shows a list of fonts in both lower and upper case, we used this list to choose suitable fonts to use within items in our promotional package. 

Questionnaire Research

During our research we decided to conduct a questionnaire to find out what different features and qualities that our target audience wants to see in a thriller film. We asked 20 questions to 15 people in different age ranges. The majority of the people that we asked were within our target audience. This was so that we would have the best knowledge about what our target audience expects to see within our thriller film trailer. We also asked a mixture of male and female participants so that we knew what was expected from both genders. 

Here is a copy of the questionnaire that we asked our participants to fill out: