My initial idea focused on the theme of kidnapping. An intruder enters the school on a stormy day (use of pathetic fallacy) and begins to follow two students. The camera cuts to low lit scenes where shadows of the antagonist follow the two protagonists as they take out their day to day activities. Staying later than the school day, the two teenagers notice a man outside the classroom with a camera pointing towards them (a shot reverse shot of the camera looking at the protagonists along with footage of the protagonists looking at the man could be used). There will be a jump cut of the characters running frantically down the stairs to exit the school, loosing their equipment as they run (camera could be positioned on the floor to see their feet) We will hear the amplified sound of the characters breathing, along with them frantically searching through their bags to find their phones. The trailer cuts to a black screen to indicate they have been caught.  The camera will cut to a close ups of them tied in a room with a single light, rope around their hands, duck tape sealing their mouths etc. in a small and confined space along with a smashed iPhone which was hidden in the characters pocket. The audience will view clips of torture scenes along with police interviews and frantic searches for the teenagers. Using the iPhone, a video message is sent to another friend, seeing the struggle to send the message due to an extreme close up of ‘limited service’ and the stress felt by the protagonists. Police eventually track the message using hi-tech equipment to a location, however the victims have been moved and continue to move every 4 days. 

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There is a jump cut to the end of the school day with the student in detention. There is a change in depth of field in a point of view shot, having focus on the character and then the focus changing to the jacket owned by the police officer. Knowing the student is up to mischief the teacher shouts “Mr …” and we see a close up shot and tilt as the jacket falls. The camera cuts to another close up to a shot of a USB found in the jacket, as the students put it in his pocket.

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There is a close up of the USB being inserted into the laptop. The camera cuts to a wide/long shot of the bedroom dimly lit, the only light source being the laptop. There is a cut to a low angle shot looking up at the laptop and the top half of the models face, the shot zooms in focusing on the eyes of the student as they read the contents of the USB. The non-diegetic sound builds up peaks as the character utters “holy shi…”

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We cut to the next day at school behind the gristwood, a four shot is used as the camera pans around inside a group of boys. The main boy/group leader informs his friends of his findings from last night, and pitches a plan to make money to his friends. The camera cuts to the boy phoning the M.I.6 agent with his friends surrounding him. There is a cut away to the agent in his office as he answers the phone.

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There is a low angle close up of the agent as he answers the phone (diegetically and asynchronously), “Hello? This cuts back to a close up of a smartphone on the table which is on loudspeaker, and the camera moves and zooms out. They inform the M16 agent that the USB has been stolen; the boys then say “I thought you would be concerned with your stuff?’. This then cuts back to the M16 agent – “these guys are clearly professionals”. This then cuts to a montage of the boys, one is drinking milk out of the fridge, one is falling off the chair etc.

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The camera then cuts to a room full of smoke to show their youth. This cuts to an image on a computer of the protagonist house, which then fades into the shot of real life footage of the house. There is then a knock on the door, “are you mr…” “yes I am”. The brother then gets kidnapped due to miss communication and there are very few hints which suggest that this happened. “I’ve got the body’ the M16 agent says to the director, the camera then cuts to black.

Then cuts to a final montage which includes,

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Cuts to a black screen

 

To reinforce the authority and position of the police officer/MI6 agent, he will dress smartly in uniform to represent the police to be a strong force which intimidate others to reduce the number of crimes in the local area. He will stand tall with his shoulders back, showing his strength and intelligence. During the kidnapping scenes, it will be more effective to film during the evening/night time when the sky is foggy to scare the audience and make them question any bad actions they make in the future.  Furthermore, the character being kidnapped should wear ‘nerd-like’ clothing to contrast with his brother and to show that anyone can get themselves in a difficult situation (even the smartest can’t get out of certain situations)! 

 

We have decided to include a clip where our main protagonist is looking at his computer screen where there is a main focus on his eyes. His eyes will be moving in side to side as he reads the document, however we will increase the speed of the footage to make it fast motion. This is designed to highlight his shock after his major discovery and make the audience wonder about the content on the USB. 

 

Sound effects such as the ringtone of our characters phones will be added to our trailer, adding a sense or reality plus excitement as the audience question what is being said on the other side of the line. Sometimes ringtones and their vibrations can be quiet, thus we want to enhance this by using additional sound effects. Also, we will enhance the sound of the police man/MI6 agent knocking on the door to show his authority and power in this situation by adding a sound effect (downloaded from an external site from final cut or used from the media technician)!

 

We will have a male police officer/MI6 agent as we would like to conform to the stereotypes of men in power, trying to be dominant in all situations and be perceived as higher in authority than everyone else. One of the students will be a girl, subverting stereotypes as stereotypically the majority of students stick to groups of the same gender. Girls often gossip, however by being surrounded by boys she will take on some of their character traits to subvert stereotypes. 

 

In regard to the actors used in our trailer, my group and I will try to portray the backgrounds of the students of lower and middle class families. This conforms to stereotypes of students in state schools as only upper class teenagers will go to private schools, paying large sums of money to have an “excellent education” Furthermore, the protagonist and his friends will be members of the upper school and aged between fifteen and seventeen years of age. This age range will suit our film idea the best as in this stage of life individuals can be both highly intelligent but sometimes behave in a naïve way. 

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Having a female as the teacher who features in our trailer, we are conforming to the stereotypes associated with women and their careers as traditionally the majority of teachers were female as they were considered more patient and maternal. However she will be a woman in power at the beginning of our trailer, subverting her stereotypes as she will be dominant over students and other teachers (including those who are male) in most scenarios. Continuing on the subject of gender, the protagonist will be a young adult who conforms to stereotypes of a teenager, being portrayed as the ‘class clown’ who is rebellious and constantly misbehaves. The police officer will be a man, supporting stereotypes associated with the emergency services and those who have more authority within society. Men are stereotypically stronger, braver and more ‘mentally stable’ than women and we would like to show this throughout our trailer. 

Using the script we can have an idea of what camera shots and angles we would like to use when filming certain scenes due to what they are meant to say on the script and their body language. For example, when the protagonist’s brother is being kidnapped, the MI6 agent will be positioned in low angle shots to make him look more authoritative and stronger than his victim. Contrasting with this, the brother who speaks innocently will be positioned in high angled shots to make him look inferior to his kidnapper. 

Having a clear and detailed shooting script we will be prepared, along with our actors for filming. As a result, the filming process will be much less stressful for all. 

Completing the ‘location findings’ document, we will know where and when to film certain scenes to achieve the best footage and shot as possible. Knowing that we want to film a scene where students are walking through the school gate (we will either us a crane shot or a long high angle shot from a window) we will use the location finding document to ensure we choose the correct time to film to reduce the number of safety hazards (especially when using the crane as it is an awkward and heavy piece of equipment)! If we film at the peak time of 8:35am many students will look up at the camera and the crane rather than walking as if we aren’t there, whereas times such as 8:20am there may only be a few students to film, thus our footage won’t be as effective as we want. Due to these factors we will have to decide on a time that has a balance between the two. This particular shot was inspired by the Perks of Being a Wallflower trailer. The location findings will also inform the team of the positive and negative factors or certain areas, reducing and ruling out certain ideas and refining the ones that are most suitable. 

Finalising our risk assessment forms will help us to understand potential safety issues when filming or taking photos, helping us to reduce and minimise these factors so that we film in a safer environment for both us and others. 

We will make bookings with the media technician to use certain pieces of equipment and to ensure that they are free at the desired time and day before we finalise our filming days with our actors.