Changes to Billing Block...

When we started to create our film poster we decided to maken a few minor changes to the billing block before placing it onto the poster. This included choosing a narrower font for thw writing of our billing block. This was because we felt that the narrow lettering tiedf in with thw thriller genre of our film and this was a commonly used font in other billing blocks we researched into. Another change that we made was changing the colour of the billing block. Rather than having black writing on a white background, we changed it to a black background with white writing. This tied in with the black background colour we chose to use on our film poster.



Changes Made to Film Title...

After deciding the title of our film was going to be AWOL we discovered that this title was already a film that was made in 2006. Because of this we had to rethink of what we could call our film. We started to do this by thinking about different words that had a similar meaning to AWOL. Using a thesaurus we searched and found these options: 

Absent, Missing, Deserting, Wanted, Truant, Absconding, Disappeared, Gone, Present.

With these options we found that most of them were already titles of films. Because of this we had to again think of other options available to us. We then thought that ‘Unauthorised Absence’ would work as a title for our film. This was not already a known film and we felt that it was a similar meaning to AWOL that also connected to our target audience. Unauthorised Absence is a term used within schools for when a student is absent from school without an authorised reason. By naming our film this we are connecting the commonly known phrase with our 16-25 years of age target audience who would all be familiar with the term because of either still being in school or having left a couple of years beforehand. Along with connecting to the target audience, the new title also links into being similar to our original title because the meaning of it which is:

An Unauthorised Absence is any absence that has not been approved by the authority in charge.

This would link to the storyline of our film because the character who gets kidnapped is the made to be seen at the age of 17. This is the age of which a young adult would be in sixth from or college, linking to the term used in school we have chosen to use or our film title.  

Filming Clips For The Trailer...

To create our trailer we first of all needed to film the clips that we intended to use within the trailer. To do this we used a variety of people and locations and filmed different scene on three different days. Each day we captured different shots which allowed us to have a variety of shots and we were also able to capture all of the shots we wanted to capture to use in the creation of our film trailer.

Filming day 1: On the first day that we began filming to capture the clips we needed to create the trailer for our films promotional package , we filmed in the a woods as well as some areas on roads to capture the scene walking up pathways. To film we used a tripod and video camera which allowed us to capture detailed filming to use within our trailer. The filming done on the first day was all the scenes that included the character ‘Jane’ within our film.

We filmed using natural lighting to capture all of our shots. On the day we filmed it was quite sunny meaning that there was plenty of light available to make the scenes filmed visible when captured on the video camera.

Filming Day 2: On the second day of filming we captured all the shots that we needed of the other character, ‘Brooke’ which is the character within our film that gets kidnapped by a hooded figure. To film these scene we used the same wooded location to fill the kidnapping along with using areas of roads to film some walking scenes. The difference with filming these scenes was to include the hooded figure in interesting ways. We wanted to show the hooded figure within shots of her walking to build tension and mystery within the trailer. We tried a number of different ways to show the hooded figure including having them sit on a wall, step out from behind a tree along with others. These clips are shown below.

Filming Day 3: The final day of filming we had was to capture scenes of a hooded figure doing free running stunts. We chose to capture clips like this because we knew a person who was willing to be part of our trailer rand had the skills to add some stunts into out film trailer. We used different angles to capture these stunts including a low angled shot of the hooded figure running across a roof.  When capturing these shots, along with experimenting with angles we also made sure that we had the camera in a position that meant that the face and identity of the hooded figure was kept secret. We used this same theory on the second day of filming. Keeping the hooded figures identity secret was essential in building the tension and creating mystery within our film trailer. 

Poster Design

This is the rough copy of the layout we plan to use to create our film poster. Due to our storyline having one girl searching for another we split the two characters on the poster. We placed a silhouette of a girl seen tied to a chair through a key hole on the bottom, this was to represent the character brook and how she is captured by a man and held hostage with a lot of other girls who look similar to this. This part of the storyline will not be shown within our film trailer because this is the main storyline of our film and during our research our feedback told us that the target audience did not want the whole plot of the film given away in the trailer. Due to changes within our storyline we removed a character so we decided to replace the mid shot of the two girls at the top with a close up shot of the singular  character who is trying to find her friend. 

Filming Locations

To film the footage needed to create our filming trailer we plan to film in three different places. We need to show a wooded area, streets and housing as setting within our film trailer. The Majority of the trailer will be shot within the wooded location. We have selected location that are accessible to us along with the actors, suitable conditions for us to film in and that are similar to locations that we had in mind when creating the story line for the film. 

The first location we have chosen to film in is Foxburrow Woods. This location is a large wooded area which will allow us plenty of space to filming in different locations within the woods. Before filming at this location we will need to make sure that it is safe. Due to wet weather conditions, we will need to make sure that the location is not to muddy and slippery to film in. preferably we will choose to film on dry days to make filming safer all together. 

The benefits of using a woods as one of the locations within our trailer is that there are may features seen within a woods that contribute towards the genre of our film. thrillers conventional contain a remote area as part of the locations seen within the film. This location our trailer acts as the remote destination that adds the mystery and eery effect into the trailer that is commonly seen within thrillers. Woods contain restricted viewpoints and are easy for people to get lost in if they do not know their way around. Woods are also associated as danger places by some people, especially at night due the the fact of not being able to see your surroundings. This theory is also applied to woods within the day time, especially to woods that are not publicly used. 

The second location we have chosen to film at is streets based around Tyler Drive. We plan to show simple clips of our two characters walking along the street. due to the fact that most of the scenes within the trailer will be filmed in the woods this location is only needed for a short amount of time and to capture short clips. When filming here we will take positions of the camera into consideration so that we do not capture unnecessary surroundings and so that cars do not block the shot of the camera. 

   

The final location we have chosen to film at is a house/cafe location. For the trailer we need shots of the two characters in an everyday surrounding to show there normal lives before their days are turned upside down by the kidnapping of one of the girls. We do not have a specific location for this in mind we just plan to have both actors sit in different locations and act like there everyday lives are happening as normal. 

Changes Made To The Film Synopsis...

After completing the film synopsis for our trailer, we asked a couple of people what their thoughts about the synopsis were. after receiving feedback we realised that there were sections of the story line that did not make sense and that were not meeting the conventions of a thriller film. Because of this we decided to re-think the story line and made a few changes.  One main change that we made was the fact that we removed a character. Rather than having two people in search for the missing girl, we decided to have just one looking for her. we also changed location from multiple destinations to simply basing the clues found in a large wooded area. we felt that this would work better for the scene of a thriller film and add more mystery to the trailer. when filming the trailer we plan to film within the woods during the day so that the characters within our trailer will be seen clearly and the filming will be clear and visible. 

The New Film Synopsis:

Two friends arrange to meet up (Frankie & Brooke). One of them turn up (Frankie). But the second does not (Brooke). She wait for her. An hour passes so she try’s to contact her but cannot. Frankie starts to worry. She travels 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. Frankie go’s back to where they arranged to meet to check she wasn't running late. She finds a phone ringing on the floor. It’s Brooke’s. Her concern grows. She goes to the police and reports Brooke's disappearance. Police cannot do anything until after 24 hours and with no evidence. Frankie looks through Brooke’s phone. She finds a text that mentions a specific location within the woods that they are both familiar with.  She arrives at the area within the woods and find dirt marks that look like someone has been dragged away. This gives Frankie an idea of where to start looking for Brooke. Whilst following this trail she finds a bracelet on the floor. It’s Brooke’s. She continues looking within the woods. She also finds a scarf that belongs to Brooke stuck in a tree. At this point she has a feeling that Brooke is trying to leave her clues so that she can find her. Eventually Frankie comes across a  small house in the middle of the woods. She sees a man take Brooke inside the house. Frankie finds an open window and sneaks into the house. She searches for Brooke. Whilst looking around there are moments where the Frankie nearly gets caught by the man that is in the house. She finds a locked door. By looking through the keyhole of the door Frankie sees Brooke tied to a chair. She then searches for the key to the door. The kidnapper is sitting on the sofa watching telly. Frankie sees a key on the table next to him and she thinks it’s the key for the locked door. The key for the door is on a table next to him. Frankie then sneaks up behind the sofa to reach the key. Tension builds because Frankie is so close to being caught and the man looks suspicious. She manages to reach for the key. With the key she goes back to the locked room and opens 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. Frankie helps this girls and then  goes to open another door. She realise's that there are multiple girls that all look the same being held hostage in this house. After searching in four different rooms she eventually finds Brooke. There is then a load noise as the man realises that the keys are gone. Frankie hurry's to free Brooke. They hear footsteps heading towards the room. Brooke sits back down and acts like she's still tied up whilst Frankie hides in the room. The man enters the room to checks all the girls using a spear key. He checks the room and then leaves again locking the door behind him. The two girls escape out the window of the room they are locked in. Throughout the time searching for Brooke within the house, Frankie was filming on her phone. This footage shows all of the other girls trapped in the house. Frankie and Brooke 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 man for his crimes. 

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’