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O F F I C I A L  O F F  T H E  L E A S H  T R A I L E R

O F F I C I A L  O F F  T H E  L E A S H  T E A S E R  T R A I L E R

FINN HANLEY 1824

I worked with, Sam De Bruin 1815, Matt Heyns 1828 and Ben Richardson 1853

Our brief was to make a promo package, consisting of at teaser trailer, full trailer, film poster, and social media pages for a film. The title of our film is 'Off The Leash'. Off The Leash is a Horror/ Thriller film about how Covid-19 struck the UK, which as a result forced the government to take serious action by putting the nation into lockdown. 

Synopses of our film:

Many people are fed up with the intensive lockdown regulations, stating that it is a restriction of their freedom and a way for the government to take ultimate control of the country. As a result, there has been a group of people committing violent crimes to show their disrespect to the government. This group of people are wearing animal masks to hide their identity but also as a method of intimidation, because there has been many news reports highlighting this group as a threat. The animal masks are also significant because this group feel the government are treating the population as animals because they feel they are being kept captive. Therefore, they say “if the government are going to treat us like animals, we will act like animals”. The lockdown regulations allow for each person to be outside for an hour each day. After having seen the news on the reports of people wearing animal masks causing havoc, four teenage boys set out looking for the group of people wearing animal masks. Boredom and typical impulsive teenage boy behaviour is the reasoning behind their decision to go into the woods. 

Camerawork:

One part of the film which I set up was at 01:01 - the scene of all four characters walking through the frame. I came up with this idea, so I wanted to take control of the position of the camera. As we filmed on Matt Heyns' iPhone 12 PRO, featuring 2 12MP wide, 7 element, 26mm focal length features, we were able to capture effective shots at a high quality. I didn't have a tripod at the time of filming so I had to improvise with the nature around us. I used a tree stump, next to the filming location and had to continually adjust the position of the camera as it kept on falling. Through repetitively filming the same shot, I was able to create a shot which I was satisfied with and the group were satisfied with as well. The device allows us to film in 4K resolution which gives the film a crisp, high quality picture, giving the audience the best experience when viewing our trailer.

Editing:

The device we edited on was Matt Heyns' MacBook PRO and used the Final Cut Pro X application in order to edit and piece together our production. As a collective group, we surrounded the laptop in order to input our ideas for the trailer. Personally I wanted to make an edit at 00:34. When we were editing, I wanted to make the clip shorter in order to make the event more frightening and intense. I handed over my idea to Matt, so that he could make my desired edits after I gave him careful instructions. At the end of this, we could make the edits and as a group we collectively agreed that we were satisfied with the results, with no qualms.

Lighting:

Most of our trailer was filmed in the forest which meant we filmed during the day to give us the maximum amount natural lighting. For other scenes in our trailer, we used the darkroom in school to capture close up shots of the animal masks. I took charge of the lights, within the darkroom, as I had previous experience of using them. This meant, when on set, I could adjust between the white and red lighting when needed. This meant the process was swift and effective. The red lighting was key for the shots, as it created suspense and tension and made the animal masks more frightening.

Directing:

I took charge of certain scenes, including some of the darkroom and adventure scenes through the forest. I took charge of some of these scenes because I had imagined a scene in my head, prior to filming. I wanted to try and capture this scene I had imagined as I felt it would suit the trailer well. I directed some of the opening scenes, and explained to the group my ideas and how I wanted them to be filmed. At times, I would direct scenes that I was involved in, which meant I needed to give the chosen camera man the correct information prior to filming. In the end, the scenes which I directed came out successful and were key scenes in our trailer.

Social Media Page - Tik Tok:

I developed a Tik Tok page '@offtheleashmovie'. Through this page, viewers can find further information about our trailer, including certain behind the scenes footage on the set. It is a page where viewers can also find footage of our star actors, which the wouldn't be able to see in our trailer. Through hashtags, viewers can also connect with each other with the hashtag I created - #OffTheLeash

^ MY CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION IS IN THE PAGE ABOVE ^

 

OTL! FILM POSTER

FINAL POSTER: OFF THE LEASH!

 FIRST POSTER: OFF THE LEASH!

SOCIAL MEDIA: TIK TOK

YOU CAN ACCESS MY TIK TOK PAGE HERE

SOCIAL MEDIA: TIK TOK by Finn Hanley

CONSTRUCTION: CHANGES

 

CONSTRUCTION CHANGES by Finn Hanley

CONSTRUCTION: EDITS

 

CONSTRUCTION EDITS by Finn Hanley

CONSTRUCTION: REFINEMENTS

 

CONSTRUCTION REFINEMENTS by Finn Hanley

CONSTRUCTION: REFLECTIONS

 

CONSTRUCTION REFLECTIONS by Finn Hanley

DEVELOPMENT: FILM POSTER

 

REFINEMENTS FILM POSTER by Finn Hanley

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

Off The Leash! is set in a an imagined society where there is great suffering or injustice, in which the public is deprived of the freedom to travel due to a recent outbreak of the coronavirus. From this, a group of young boys protest against the government, asking for freedom, dressing up in animal masks to protect their identity.

The protest group consists of 4 young boys, all with different views on the topic. The set up their protests in the woods and the surroundings, using large placards, flags and flares to show their anger. A news reporter describes them as violent and warns the public that the woods is now a dangerous place and strongly advises people to stay away. The woods is the protestors chosen location due to the fact there is a sense of no laws, being hidden away by the trees, with no clear paths and with no civilisation. The woods are also home to wild animals, which makes the location feel like a natural habitat for the protestors.

For our promo pack, we created a number of different products for consumers. Our products consisted of a number of different T-shirts and iPhone cases. We chose to do iPhone cases because our target audience research concluded that the majority of viewers would have an iPhone device. These products that we are selling 'brands' our film and it gives us good exposure for our production. Having a number of different products on our store meant that audiences have lots to choose from and we can cater for a variety of people. Our independent film companies, Chambers Productions and Mind's Eye Productions respectively have unique company logos and brands which we used throughout the trailer and also through a variety of our social media pages including Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram and FaceBook. These social media pages have allowed us to share and showcase our talent and behind the scenes footage of our filming on set. It allows viewer to get familiar with the characters and build a rapport with them which is key because we want our viewers to be involved and hooked on at all times. Audiences are more likely to stay hooked with the film if they have a pre-built relationship with certain characters.

Our production engages with the 15-25 age group as we felt it suited their interests the most. We also wanted to create lots of horror and a number of jump scenes which meant any viewers that were under the age of 15 might not like the film which meant we would have received negative feedback. Our target audience is open to everyone, as we feel like there is a wide variety of people who like the horror and thriller genre and I feel like my trailer comes under both of these. Therefore, our trailer will get lots of exposure and lots of people will want to watch. My production team used an original soundtrack, custom designed for our film trailer as our original soundtrack had to be taken down. This worked in our favour as we finished with a unique soundtrack which makes our film stand out and the fact that it was custom designed to suit our trailer makes it flow smoothly. Our main trailer engages with audiences due to the fast-paced editing a long with the popular soundtrack we used.

Our film challenges and uses different codes and conventions. After studying a number of different trailers of well-known films, one convention that stood out to me was intertitles. I took inspiration from this and when it came to my trailer, I added different intertitles. Our film was a thriller / horror film and one convention which I saw a lot in this genre of films were jump scare scenes. This meant that I felt it was necessary to include at least one scary scene in our trailer. After my research, I knew that films are required to produce a BBFC age verified certificate which is what I included at the beginning of our trailer. Trailers also are different to films in terms of continuity. To keep audiences engaged with the trailer, there needs to be a lack of continuity, however it needs to be made exciting and thrilling, especially as ours is a horror/thriller. For us, there needs to be the horror elements involved, like jump scares and fast-paced music. Therefore I added as much thrilling content as possible into our trailer, without giving away the whole plot line. This means that I would make a successful trailer, as audiences will want to come back and watch the full film if they enjoyed the trailer and were engaged. Not only researching trailers, I researched a number of different posters from films like Tenet, Inception etc. which gave me inspiration to make my own and take different techniques from their posters and integrate them into mine. I created a sleek poster with the subject being a man holding a smoke bomb. I felt like this worked well because the protestors in our trailer are seen holding smoke bombs so the poster had a link to the trailer. Billing blocks and awards were also spotted throughout the posters I researched so I took this into my own and added a professional looking billing block at the footer of my poster and spread out a number of award logos towards the header. Another way in which I challenged codes and conventions was the current time period we used for our film. Off The Leash! is set in lockdown where the viewers of the film will be able to create a rapport straight away.

FILM POSTER

 FILM POSTER - OFF THE LEASH!

REFINEMENTS FILM POSTER by Finn Hanley

FILM POSTER ANALYSIS 

OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE

For our film OFF THE LEASH we wanted to create a line of merchandise. This is useful because it creates it supplies two key elements. First of all, the money involved. If people are looking to buy our products, we will be earning money from these sales. This allows us to recoup some of the costs involved in the production of the film. It also increases the profitability of the film. The merchandise allows for free marketing. If consumers were to purchase a product, that product is then exposed to the public. If customers were to walk around in public with one of our products like a phone case or t-shirt, lots of people are going to see it, giving the film 'free' marketing. When people see the film art, or even just the title, they will associate it with our film and it means they are likely to visit our social media platforms or look at content related to the film. Some of the products that we are offering include phone cases and T-shirts. Both the products come in a variety of sizes and colours, allowing for a wider range of consumers. We want to allow everyone to access and use our products, so offering a wide availability means we are more likely to sell the product.

Phone Cases

T-Shirt

SOCIAL MEDIA (TIK TOK)

 

I took up the task of running a Tik Tok account for our film - OFF THE LEASH. This allowed me to set up the account and make videos to show the public. I took the art from our various social media profiles and used it for our profile picture. This is so that everyone that sees the video and sees the account will be able to see our movie art. I created a Tik Tok account because the platform is one of the most used in the world. Releasing videos on this platforms allows our content to be exposed to lots of people. Tik Tok is used by a younger age group so I made our first video with this in mind. I wanted to create a fun and dramatic video to keep the audience interested. With the younger age audience, they are more likely to become uninterested quicker. Because of this, using fast paced editing and loud music will keep the audience interested throughout the duration of the short video. Throughout the video I added a series of short intertitles. I showed that this project was from the same people that created SUSPECT. This can lure in former audiences of the previous film and we will have an already built up audience.

PLANNING: COSTUMES

 

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PLANNING: PROPS

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PLANNING: RISK ASSESSMENT

 

Risk Assessment	Hazard Proposed	Hazard posed to whom	Risk Level	How Risk was Controlled
Journey to location of filming.	Walking from Esher to the woods  and back from to Esher from the woods– cars.      Travelling via train to and from Esher – big step between train and platform, fast moving trains, public behaviour.                  Travelling via car to and from Esher – be aware of other drivers and pedestrians.	All 4 of us.               Sam, Finn                              Ben, Matt	High               Medium                              High	We took extra care when travelling to our site of filming, always looking both ways when crossing a road.   Sam and Finn will take extra care when entering and exiting the train making sure to check how big the gap between the train and platform is. Make sure to stand behind the yellow line on platforms. Avoid public confrontation.   When driving always check your mirrors and stick to the speed limit to reduce chance of accidents. Always look for pedestrians.
First Aid	Tripping/falling when filming in the woods.           Falling ill/sick Lack of vision - animal masks greatly reduce vision.	All 4 of us               All 4 of us All 4 of us	Medium               Low High	Take care when walking on uneven surfaces. We will carry plasters at all time to accommodate for any cuts.   Taking appropriate measures to help individuals who feel unwell i.e. calling their parents or getting them water. Walking slowly through woods when filming.
General public	Theft - drone, laptop, phones. Assault	All 4 of us                 All 4 of us	High High	Always carry items in a zipped up bag and never leave unattended when filming. Always checking we still have our valuables.   We will walk through public areas as a group of 4 in order to look less approachable. Will not speak to any other members of public.
Public incidents	Terrorism - caught up in terrorist activity leading to injury or confusion. COVID-19 lockdown - preventing us from filming.	All 4 of us All 4 of us	High High	We will follow given government guidelines and be aware of our surroundings so we do not get lost. Make sure everyone knows emergency contacts if needed e.g. 999. Making sure everyone follows covid-19 government guidelines and not breaking the law. Waiting until after the lockdown to continue filming.

CONSTRUCTION: MAKING PROPS

For our trailer OFF THE LEASH we wanted to create a sequence of shots, showing protestors holding banners and placards. Therefore, I needed to make relevant props for this scene using different technology. 

The first prop I created was the placard. A placard is something you see in almost every protest so we thought we would make the relevant props. During the construction of this prop, I had time to think about the message we wanted to present. I found spare wood of different sizes which allowed us to piece the placard together. I nailed two flat planks of wood together and then used a sharpie to write the message. The first message showed "Boris Lied People Died". The message on the other side showed "Freedom". These messages would be relevant to the topic of our trailer about lockdown and the outrage caused from it.

For the second prop, it was a more complicated and advanced prop. I obtained a large piece of white cloth and cut it to the correct size needed for our catchline. Creating a stencil using a Computer Aided Design software. After we created the stencil we stapled the stencil onto the white cloth so that it wouldn't move and the lettering would be precise.  I used a red spray paint for the lettering "Transparent Animals" and then used black spray paint for the outline of the crow. I used a crow on our banner because one of the animals in our trailer is a crow and I felt that the crow framed the words nicely and also looked intimidating. Our trailer consists of animals like penguins and pandas which I experimented with,  however they weren't as intimidating as the crow which we ended up using. Overall I thought the props came out very successful and will be effective in our trailer.

PLANNING: COMP LIST

 

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PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

I started by investigating how brands define audiences in preparation for creating my own audience for my production. For example, I saw how Bauer Media, NME and Sky defined audiences. This helped my produce my audience profile.

To plan how to reach your specific target audience you need to know who they are and what their interests are. You create an audience questionnaire to research the age, gender, ethnicity and social class of your target audience. You also find out what their media needs and wants are so that you can create a film that will satisfy them. Ultimately in order to market your movie you have to find out the best way to reach your target audience. To show how your research has helped with your planning, you have answered the questions below with pictures to support your post. 

1. Who is my primary target audience?

15 - 25 unisex

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer?

Our audience are likely to prefer horror films like, The Conjuring and The Blair Witch Project

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?

My audience would have access to streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime in order to watch films. The audience are going to be exposed to advertisement and information about films on social media sites like Instagram, Twitter and FaceBook.

4. What brands do they prefer?

I feel like our audience would be interested more of the mainstream, popular brands. They would wear popular sports brands like Adidas and Nike and be interested in the mainstream music artists. To access screenings they are most likely to visit the Odeon.

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition?

One of our USP's for our film is the found footage we use. Found footage allows our audience to feel connected with the characters as we watch the film through the eyes of one of the characters. With the audience feeling a connection to the characters allows them to create a rapport with them and it feels more personal.

6 . Why should my audience watch my film? 

My audience should watch my film because it's not traditional. It is not the same as other horror movies, and my film will keep my audience hooked throughout.

 

PLANNING TARGET AUDIENCE & SIMILAR FILMS

 Kezia Williams, of Entertainment One UK, on the FutureLearn Film Distribution by the Film Distributors Association, speaks about how film distributors build a 'comp list' of comparable films that their target audience would enjoy. 

She highlights the importance of knowing your target audience. She asks questions like "what drives them to the cinema" and "what interests do they have". She also says distributors will compare data of films that are similar in their genre, selling points and story. The target audience and budget is formulated from what box office take was like with previous films and the types of audience that saw those films. The target audience can be analysed to find the gender gap, and which cinemas the target audience usually frequent.

The genre of our film is a mix of action and thriller.

Similar films include:

- Prisoners (2013 Thriller/Crime)

Prisoners is a Thriller/Crime film about a man who kidnapped a fathers daughter. The father ends up torturing the kidnapper to get to the bottom of the case. The film offers a variety of violent scenes including graphic torture scenes and police chases. This film appeals to audiences who are interested in crime films. The story line is exciting and filled with action. Prisoners amassed over $120million at box office, with nominations for the Empire Award for Best Thriller and more. One of prisoners USP was the cast for this film, including star names within the industry like, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano

- Inception (2010 Action/Sci-Fi)

I believe this movie is similar to the one we intend to make due to the similarities in genre, which is a an action/thriller. Inception was a film directed by Christopher Nolan, someone who has already achieved big success in the film industry from the Dark Knight and other movies like Interstellar and Tenet. Inception had a range of selling points, however, one of the main selling points was the strong cast consisting of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy. Another selling point was the extremely sophisticated use of sound, created by renowned composer Hans Zimmer. It is clear to see why this movie amassed $836.8 million through the use of high production values and large production budget. The target audience for this movie was supposedly equal for all genders, in the sense that it doesn't have to appeal to specific gender norms. However, a marketing campaign that was carried out for this movie was on the Empire magazine, whereby there are over 570,000 men reading this magazine frequently. Therefore, this is one way in which the creators of Inception showed their knowledge of their target audience as statistics show that over 86% of readers that saw the advertisements for Inception in the Empire Magazine went on to watch the movie when it was released.

Today we carried out similar research.

seconds KEZIA WILLIAMS: Really important to understand who your audience is and what motivates them and what’s going to interest them and drive them to go to the cinema. So you start, often, by examining similar films that have been released in the past– comparable films is a way in which we refer to them in the industry– and create a set that we can then look back at data so we can look at lots of different data and do research, really, on those comparable films to identify who the audience was on those films. So it might be that we look at demographic data and think about, did it skew more male or more female? What’s the age group that it appeals to?

0:46Skip to 0 minutes and 46 secondsDoes it have multiple different audiences that that can appeal to? And there’s lots and lots of cinema-going trends that you can dig into from that comparable set. We’ll also look at box office data to understand regionality, to look at the cinema-going skew– so did more people go to a certain cinema chain to see these comparable films? Right down to which cinemas performed. So it might be that there’s a cinema in London that had a fantastic box office share, and that’s an important aspect for us to consider. And then once you really understand who the audience on those comparable films were, you can start to talk about the differences and similarities between those films and the film that you’re working on.