Audio Commentary of Official soundtrack

Here is the commentary of the official soundtrack which we applied to our trailer...

One of the main features which make a trailer is the soundtrack, it has the ability to have an impact on the audience  - to make them experience the emotions we want them to, for example, feeling scared and anticipation...

The commentary script

"The beginning of the music starts at an average speed with two deep pitched 'boom' sounds which foreshadow the traumatic events that will occur to the protagonists. We thought this would be an effective start as it will work well alongside the three girls before they are taken.
After 20 seconds the beat of the music stops suddenly and low pitched drum beats are introduced. The continuity of the beats act as a countdown to the action, they also signify the idea of a sudden shift in the equilibrium. We believe that this worked well as it evokes a conventional feeling of anticipation which is commonly felt in thrillers.
Between 27-44 seconds, this section of the music is quite a long interlude. this also tells the audience that there will be a shift in the equilibrium. Therefore, making the audience pay attention to everything they see, in order to anticipate the traumatic events which will be later introduced in the trailer. This part of the soundtrack is conventional in a thriller and is effective in reinforcing our message - that fate does not discriminate and nothing goes according to plan.
From 44 - 58 there is a change in tempo for the action parts. It increases in volume and speed to show the chase scene. This is a vital part in our soundtrack as we intended to sync it with fast paced shots.
After that section the volume increases even more and is therefore introducing a more intense feeling of anxiety. our intention for making the tempo intensify is to overpower our audience's sense of desperation. We wanted the pace to symbolise a heartbeat, seeing as generally when people feel scared they experience a "heart raising moment" when you can physically hear your heartbeat in your ears. The overpowering sound of the track aims to do just that as it is really effective in emotionally moving our audience."

Evaluation of Our Filming

As the trailer is shorter and has to represent the plot to the audience within a 1-2 minute time frame, it has to display an array of shots and filming techniques that will help the audience to decide whether our film is something that they would like to see in the cinema.
During the planning process for Queensdown Warren we had to produce a storyboard and it was from this that we said we wanted to include live footage from a hand held camera, which one of the girls in the back of the car would be filming.

We thought that this would be an effective technique to use as it would help to put our audience into the shoes of these girls who are subjected to the cruel attacks of the sadistic men. In addition, as we decided to film from the victim's point of view (which is what the participants of the survey said that they preferred), this shot would help reinforce the stance that we chose.

In contrast to the live footage of the girls in the car, we filmed on tripods also in order to gain a steady and fixed shot when needed. For example, on extreme close ups and long distance shots, as this is when every movement is most recognizable to the eye.

Here is a list of some shots we have managed to feature within our trailer...

• panning shot
• Establishing Shot
• Long distance
• Close Up
• Low angled shot
• High Angled Shot
• Point of View Shot
• Medium distance shot 
• Slow Motion Shot

Out of all of the types of shots that we have used, most frequently close up shots can be seen. This is effective and vital in a thriller genre as anticipation is mainly built by looking closely at details and noticing something is not right. As an example, the moment when the equilibrium shifts is when a close up shot of one of the men's feet steps out in front of the girl's car.

Out of all of the shots we applied to our trailer, some may say that there is one shot in particular that is not effective as it is very unclear and is a little confusing to the audience as to what they are witnessing - this is when the central character's friends are getting tied up by the tree. We decided to include this shot as it displayed the severity of the situation which drew the girls into the deep woods, also it helped to highlight just how dark it was when this event would have occurred and the shot would heighten the levels of fear felt for the protagonist.

Musical Inspiration

Providing music to our trailer is a major development in the construction stage and a lot of research was needed in assessing how music in thrillers are composed. With this is mind however, we looked to and drew inspiration from soundtracks which have been included in trailers such as Sherlock Holmes but they had elements within them that would not sound out of place in our trailer. By listening to  2:03 - 2:45 within E.S. Posthemus - Unstoppable track, it gave us the idea to synchronize the music with fast paced shots to create the heart raising, energetic feel. Furthermore, around the 2:35 mark, we thought it would be striking to bring together audio and visual elements and link them by timing pressures. This was an idea in which we felt very confident in as we thought it would work extremely well in evoking the heart raising feeling. In addition, it would aid us to create a tense atmosphere.

In addition, whilst we were in the research stages of our work, we momentarily diverted our attention to The Women in Black trailer starring Daniel Radcliffe, and felt that this trailer was exemplar in creating an eerie and impacting soundtrack. This trailer enacted as a source of inspiration to us and we aimed to create a soundtrack that manages to duplicate a fraction of its intensity. This trailer is an iconic contemporary horror movie and in replicating some of the trailer's aspects we thought this would further us in technical ability and help our work to connect with the audience.

At 1:14 on wards, this is where we drew most musical inspiration from and is where we came up with the idea that we could synchronize our shots with the music.   

Magazine Development

Below is one of our very first drafts of the magazine cover, and we did not choose it for a variety of reasons. For example, the position at which the girl is holding, mirrors that of the one she is pulling on our official film poster. We thought even though this would show a continuity between our two media products, it would rather give off the impression that we had ran out of ideas... And whilst mentioning continuity, the outfit which she is modelling is not what was shown in either the trailer or the poster. In addition, another downfall of this draft is that we would be unwillingly challenging conventions of film magazine covers, this is due to the fact that this shot is taken with an action-like stance. However, despite all of these points, we did decide as a group, that we think that it would be effective to keep the barcode and grey arrow-like shape as it was, because that positioning is conventional for the Total Film brand and would help us to get ever closer to resembling a professional magazine cover.

This image marks the first time that we applied this photograph to PowerPoint so that we could add subheadings, a tagline and the barcode. As a unit, our general overview of this draft is that it is a mixture of good and bad points. Firstly, the benefits were that the image we thought, was proving to be effective as it gave us enough space to put the Total Film logo in and that in terms of images, we really liked how all three girls are giving strong eye contact to the reader, as if they are directly looking and enticing them in. Furthermore, we assessed that the brightness of the image really allowed the title Queensdown Warren to stand out so that the audience can clearly see what film this image is supporting.
In light of this, we believed that overall the tone of the magazine was too dark and did not look as bright as the professional magazine covers managed. Another contributing factor as to why it was decided we needed to Photoshop this image, was that the scratches into the metal container did not look accidental as you can make out that a " 2 A 2 C " is marked above the girl's head on the left.

Finally, this is my group's official Total Film magazine cover. As can be seen, the scratches are not visible to the audience which eradicated one of the disadvantages previously stated. Instead, now all that can be seen is a burnt, scratched effect on the green container which looks effective and as if youths have mistreated it. Also, beforehand we had queries as to whether the image was too dark for the magazine, however having edited this three person shot, we increased its brightness so it would now not look out of place admist the Total Film brand. The negatives of this magazine cover is that the fonts do not look effective at all as they do not follow the conventional fonts used on the professional covers. However, the text is relevant and following the stereotypical pattern that is usually featured on a front cover.

In conclusion, this final version successfully completed what it was set out to do, inform people of the impact which Queensdown Warren had on these three girls as something did not go according to plan. This can be noted by the helpless expression on their faces and the dirt marks on the middle girl's jumper. 

Media Theories Applied to Queensdown Warren