Pre-Production Sheet – Silent Hill
Hey everyone,
This is my pre-production work that I completed about trailers and research on similar films already produced in the same genre as ours. This is the work:
What is a trailer?
A trailer is a form of advertising, which is created for a feature film which will be released in the future in the cinema or on DVD. It features footage that will be released in the full feature-length film which will show the audience the actors, scenes, plots, locations, genre and the outline of the story.
Where might a trailer be seen? How will different formats affect the viewing of the trailer?
A trailer might be seen:
In a cinema: normally a full length trailer, a few months before the film is released – also they are normally specialized. For example, if you go to the cinema and see an action film then they will show action trailers for upcoming films, therefore it attracts the films target audience.
On T.V.: rarer, not often. – normally only teaser trailers, all different genres, however time sequenced, horror/thriller film trailers or 15 and over films, are shown after a certain time (normally 9pm) at night to reach their target audience. Whereas family films or romantic/chick films are shown throughout the day and at prime time to attract there target audience.
Internet: – every type of trailer, behind the scenes, extra footage/outtakes, teasers, posters etc for all genres, therefore making accessible to the public.
Watching it on the internet is more personal which therefore would only affect one person at a time. Yet in the cinema in darkness with more people watching it (an enclosed audience) means you can get a more affective atmosphere so its more affective for a horror/thriller film because it can create a more scary/creepy atmosphere so it then has a bigger impact on its viewers.
What are genre conventions?
Genre conventions are what an audience expects to find in a film or what the audience has become accustomed too and therefore what we think a film in that genre should be like. This could either be about form (shape and layout), structure (the sequence of events), and also style and content.
Watch trailers for films in your chosen genre, analyse them in terms of their style, music, stars, plot, editing, graphic etc.
starts off calm,
normal voice over of mother,
innocent girl,
piano music in background
flowing, smooth editing
day time/evening – pleasant
then changes to dramatic silence
screams
nighttime
shouts
dramatic bright lights
looks like a completely different place
isolated
supernatural atmosphere/element
dramatic piano and string music – non diegetic – tension building, very mysterious
fast editing , cuts, jump cuts,
fading in and outs of scenes/transitions
heat beat sound effects/music – dramatic, suspense
flashing editing/flashing between scenes
very dark style, very graphic, scary, dramatic
Plot: After trying to find out why her daughter is having weird dreams, they both end up in the confines of a strange desolate town called Silent Hill. After her daughter goes missing, the mother must experience the mysterious events that happen in this town to save her daughter.
Cast: Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Jodelle Ferland.
Events:
1. Mother and daughter sat outside, evening time talking about the daughters dreams.
2. Them traveling in a car, and suddenly crash.
3. The daughter disappears.
4. The mother goes searching for her, and learns about the fire that happened 30 years ago and about a girl who looks exactly the same as her daughter
Questions these events give us
1. Why is she having these dreams? why is this place so significant that her mother wants to find out about it?
2. What was it that made her swerve the car? Was it real? Why was the stereo not working properly?
3. General – why? where?
4. Why is there a girl who looks exactly the same? Who is she? Is she the same person?
There is a strong narrative in this trailer that tells the audience about the story and explains certain aspects of it without revealing all the main parts at the same time, selective knowledge. However there is enough narrative to intrigue you and draw you in to watch the film.
What is the difference between a teaser and a full trailer?
A teaser trailer only lasts for about a minute and gives only a quick sneak peek of the film however a full trailer you learn about the outline of the story and some short clips from the film itself and are usually between 1-2.30 minutes
Silent Hill Promotional Poster:
As you can see the same dark atmosphere is conveyed well in this poster of Silent Hill because of the simple background which is just a block color (black). The girl’s face as you can see has had the mouth removed, which adds to the chilling unknown setting for this poster and which is also portrayed in the trailer. The girl appears to be quite innocent and a normal good student, its pure natural nothing is wrong, until you see that she has no mouth….This poster therefore goes against the norm of children, we expect them to be normal, innocent and happy yet in this poster it shows the opposite.
The trailer for Silent Hill relates to our film Lower Than Bones, because:
* Both films is about a normal girl, there both roughly the same age.
* Both set in mysterious locations which have unknown dangers.
Lindi
Lower Than Bones The Movie 