BBFC

As I have began filming my trailer I need to understand what age rating would be most appropriate. I n order to do this I looked at the British Board of Film Classification and used the guidelines to rate my own trailer. As I already understand that 'U' and 'PG' films can be viewed by children from the age of 4 I decided myself that this thriller would be too unsettling for children potentially as young as that, therefore 'U' and 'PG' have already been ruled out.
A '12A' is suitable for ages 12 and over and therefore if anyone is younger than this it is down to the legal guardian whether it is appropriate to see, knowing you must be at least 12 to view the film on your own. A '12A' contains very mild violence and language and there may be occasional sex scenes, the film cannot be too disturbing if rated a '12A'.
A '15' would be able to be much more disturbing than a '12A'. Below are some of the things that can be found in a '15' rated film as quoted by the BBFC.

•   strong violence
•   frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
•   portrayals of sexual activity
•   strong verbal references to sex
•   sexual nudity
•   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
•   discriminatory language or behaviour
•   drug taking

An '18' is the most extreme rating and the most 'disturbing' or 'upsetting' a film can be as it is only suitable for adults. Below are a few things found in '18' rated films as stated by the BBFC.

•   very strong violence
•   frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***') and / or very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’)
•   strong portrayals of sexual activity
•   scenes of sexual violence
•   strong horror
•   strong blood and gore
•   real sex (in some circumstances)
•   discriminatory language and behaviour

After taking this all into account I feel that my trailer should only be rated a '12A' although it is a thriller and will be found scary, it is not too disturbing and language would be extremely mild. However as I still have more editing and filming to do a will decided on a more specific age rating when my trailer is fully completed.

Different Trailer Types

After researching into what different trailers are out there I found that there is three main versions, these are;

Teaser Trailer - Is a short feature of an upcoming film and usually last 15-30 seconds.

Action Trailer - An Action trailer advertises an upcoming film through either home TV or the internet and approximately lasts 1-1:30 minutes

Theatrical Trailer - A theatrical trailer is the final use of advertisement, these are seen mainly in cinemas and are used to promote the whole movie. They are usually first shown close to the release date of the film and the last between 1:30-2 minutes

My trailer will be a Theatrical trailer as it will be fully completed and used to promote the whole movie. It will also be the correct length of time.

Inspiration from Popular Thriller Trailers

I decided to research into some successful Thriller movies over the years in order to give myself a clearer idea on exactly what genre my Thriller would be. I found that 'Taken' was an Action thriller, 'Woman in Black' was a Psychological thriller, 'Die another Day' a Crime thriller and 'Maze Runner' a Mystery Thriller. After comparing these trailers I have come to the conclusion that my thriller will most likely be like a Mystery Thriller.

Different Camera Angles for my Trailer

These shots below are a few of the main shots I intend to use for my trailer. However when I begin filming I am sure I will use a lot of different shots and not just stick to these - although I believe these may be the main camera angles throughout. I believe these shots are effective when focusing on the main character and can allow the audience to develop an emotional connection towards him. Most of these angles are also successful at showing the surrounding locations the trailer will be set, this will help determine it is a trailer due to the different locations it will be based in. The close up is also able to clearly show my actors emotions and facial expressions, this can add to the dramatic intention of the trailer overall.

 

Different shots from alicecooke

Researching AS/A2 Trailers

When watching other A2 media trailers on youtube I found a lot of them were more like a 2 minute short film, I found they did not have different scenes and all stayed within the same location with very slow cuts. After watching a Grade A media A2 trailer and other popular film trailers on youtube, I found they were a lot more effective and looked a lot more like a trailer as they cut to different scenes and different locations – quickly. Because of the different scenes it is easy to understand it is a trailer, promoting a film, whereas if it is all filmed in the same location with the same clothes and people, it begins to look like an extremely short film that usually gives away the entire plot.

Here I found two different Thriller trailers, I found the first one was the most effective as it has quicker and different shots showing different scenes, whereas the second trailer is continuously in the same scene and is more like a short film and gives the story of the film away.

Planning my plot

By planning out the entire film first it meant I could create a more effective and mysterious trailer as I knew the entire plot, therefore I could add in the best shots into the trailer to create the best tension and mystery. I decided t create a film about a new boy starting a school, I decided there would be a lot of students that randomly go missing every month from this school, however no one understands why – this is the mysterious part of the film. I decided the missing students will have something to do with the teachers, however in my trailer it will not be obvious which teachers are really involved with the missing students and if in fact they are at all. My aim is for the new boy at the school to figure out exactly what is going on. As I have a basic plan for my film I decided to ask my class members if they had any suggestions on anything else I could add and also to help me choose a good name for my film, to do this I created a survey.


Through this survey I could decide on a name for my film, the most popular one chosen was ‘Silent Students’ therefore this is what my film shall be called. I only received a few simple suggestions back, however I spoke about these suggestions and adapted on them with my teacher and other students and it was decided that;
Within the school, to keep the teachers secret we decided there would be posters around the school promoting ‘No mobiles’ and ‘No talking in the corridors’ this was so no students could have any communication, I decided this to help link it in more with the name. I also decided this would be the opening shot of my trailer, a panning shot of the corridor showing all the posters and school rules. We then started discussing the teachers and I decided that I did not want them to be actual qualified teachers, I discussed this and eventually decided on the idea that they would be scientists, taking the students for some kind of organ testing and research. Finally I decided that for my trailer I did not want the audience to assume that every student missing has been killed, because of this I decided I wanted a small news report in the trailer reporting on one of the missing students being found. However this student has no memory of what happened to them therefore keeping the mystery of the film and not revealing all within the trailer.

A2 Research & Planning Opinion on Thrillers

This is a short video discussing Thriller movies, I decided to do this as well as a questionnaire as I felt people would be able to go into more depth on a video giving me a clearer idea about peoples ideas on thriller movies. Through this video I will take what is being said and use it to influence my final Thriller Trailer. One of the questions I ask towards the end of the video is for their opinion on the popular Thriller movie 'The Woman in Black' being a 12A age rating, 3/4 agreed that this rating was acceptable and explained their reasons, whereas one disagreed and believed it should be at least a 15. I decided to do some research and see if their were other people who agreed with this, these are some quotes I found; 'I loved watching it but I thought it was totally inappropriate for 12 year olds to be watching!' 'I'm 15 and i went to see it and its not something a 12 year old kid can watch. This is definitely more adult kind of film.' 'I was shocked when i saw that it was rated a 12A.' The video and research each show that there were various different opinions on the age ratings for this jumpy Thriller, therefore when creating my own thriller, I will take this into consideration when giving it an age rating.

Thriller Questionnaire

           
Thriller Questionnaire

I created a questionnaire based on thrillers to help me get more ideas on how to make my thriller the most effective and whether it meets people expectations. Below are the results I received, I will use these to help me create my trailer. Each answer enabled me to develop more successful ideas regarding my trailer, I was able to understand what people look for in thriller movies and apply this knowledge when creating my trailer. Overall this will allow me to effectively create the trailer with an understanding of peoples preferences and dislikes.