I N S P I R A T I O N

S O U N D T R A C K R E S E A R C H

Soundtrack Number 1 - I found this soundtrack on soundcloud.com and think it is effective in that it has a funfair/circus vibe and does have that creepiness that the original circus theme tune 'Entry of the gladiators' by Julias Fucik has:



I don't think we would be able to use the original version of this song due to Copyright, but we need to research more into this because it would be perfect for our trailer as it is recognisably circus themed and sounds really creepy, mixing the idea of innocence and horror, as it sounds innocent. It is juxtaposing and would be perfect for our horror film trailer.

I also like the idea of having some diegetic sound in the trailer and I think a contrast of this and a non-diegetic soundtrack would be really effective. I found this video on Youtube which has been made by someone experimenting with sound, and I like the effect of the diegetic sounds, and think we could possibly record some similar sounds for our trailer. We could have sounds of people setting up the circus, or lorries driving in, or audience applauding etc.

C I R C U S O F H O R R O R S (1 9 6 0) T R A I L E R

T R A I L E R :




P O S T E R :

F I L M T I T L E D I S C U S S I O N

Hattie and I had a brief discussion in class about possible titles for our film. I suggested something surrounding the theme of a 'Circus of Horrors' and we came up with the idea that the title could be in a different language. So we tried to find different translations of 'Circus of Horrors' using Google Translate and found the French translation: 'Cirque de Horreur', which we thought sounded quite creepy and thought it could link to the circus and funfair company perhaps being French. We also discussed whether the title 'Circus of Horrors' could be a possibility, which we though sounded quite good but also said sounded a bit too literal and we might want a more abstract or less obvious title.

I have also just done some research and found out that there is a 1960's film already named 'Circus of Horrors'.

This isn't however a final decision on the title, and we will have to also have another discussion about it including Melody to make a final decision concerning titles.

S Y N O P S I S

SYNOPSIS

Genre: Horror

A mysterious travelling Circus and Funfair company are coming to town. When the shows are over and the excitement has worn out, they pack up and leave, moving on to a new destination. As they begin to set up on the green near his house, ... (Need to decide on character's name and gender), a teenager bored with his/her mundane, regular day to day life, seeks excitement. He realises and seizes the opportunity to run away to the circus. As he enters the world of the Cirque de ... (Need to decide on name of circus company), things are not what he expected. He is soon to discover that the ‘innocence’ of the Circus is not as it seems, as he discovers the frightening and horrific backstage goings on. With audience members disappearing and kidnappings occurring over the five day period of the show, suspicions are raised. People are also going missing from the Funfair, a sideline to the Circus itself. You may get on the ghost train but never come out at the other end. People are snatched from carousel rides. One minute they are there, the next their horse is without a rider, before the music has even stopped playing and the carousel has stopped turning. The manipulative, evil Ringmaster is drugging his performers and ordering them to kidnap and murder audience members and town folk. ...  (Name) finds himself in dangerous, drug-fuelled situations, spiralling out of control. Will he be able to expose the Circus for what it really is or has he already got blood on his own hands? With evil clowns, frightening candy floss kiosks and murderous big wheel operators with unsteady hands, you are welcomed to the Cirque de ... (Need to decide on name of circus company, if you dare…

Storyline summed up:

-Travelling circus comes to town

-Ringmaster is in charge of everything, drugs his performers and orders them to kidnap and murder circus visiters and town folk

-People go missing in the towns

-Circus then leaves mysteriously, never gets found out

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R E S E A R C H : N E T H E R L A N D S C I R C U S

As a group we have decided to go and visit the Netherlands National Circus on Ealing common at some point this week, without buying a ticket, but just with the intention of checking out the location and perhaps shooting some establishing shots of the outside of the circus or the circus being set up, people arriving etc.
In order to find out whether the circus has actually arrived on Ealing Common yet, and whether they have started setting up, we tried to find a phone number for the circus, but we couldn't find one anywhere, even afetr calling 118 118 etc. We then decided to call businesses that surround Ealing Common on the off chance they may know whether the circus have actually arrived yet. We called a few restaurants and hotels and they all seemed to think that there was some activity on the common and they seemed to think that they had arrived.
We haven't found out as of yet whether the Netherlands National Circus allows filming and we will have to investigate further, perhaps asking when we go there this week.

' T H E J O K E R '

Heath Ledger as 'The Joker' in 'The Dark Knight 2008'

S T I T C H E S 2 0 1 2

T R A I L E R :



P O S T E R  A N A L Y S I S :

T H E F U N H O U S E 1 9 8 1

I have found this film that has a similar feel to what out trailer could be like.


TRAILER:



FULL FILM:

Z I P P O S F I L M I N G P O L I C Y

I went on Zippos Circus' website (Zipposcircus.co.uk/policy) and have found out that 'Non commercial photography and video filming is allowed but without flash for safety reasons.Commercial photography and video filming is not permitted without prior agreement and payment of a location fee and performers fees.'

So we should be able to film if we needed to at Zippos Circus.

LO C A T I O N R E S E A R C H

Another possible setting could be a circus training school or trapeze school, for example, as this could be a good way of finding performers who may be willing for us to film them and we could do close ups of them and their equipment so that it looks as if we have filmed in a Circus environment. I have found some of these kind of schools in London.

The Circus Space:

'Located in Hoxton, London, five minutes from Old Street tube, Circus Space, housed in the Shoreditch Electric Light Station, provides a unique facility for artistic development, rehearsal and the staging of events.'

I will contact them and ask if it would be possible to come and film some of the equipment and maybe even performers. Hopefully we could arrange something as this could be a really good setting.

Aircraft Circus:

Harrington Way
SE18 5NR

Will also contact here about possible filming opportunities. While on their website I found this video that ahd some really cool filming and angles which we could use as inspiration for our film. With people wearing masks I think these kind of shots could be really scary and really effective in our trailer:



I also found out from their website that there is the Greenwich Circus Festival 2012 coming up on the 14th, 15th and 16th of December which could offer good opportunities for filming as well.

G E N R E A N A L Y S I S : H O R R O R

 

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

We are having some trouble trying to figure out how we are going to be able to film inside an actual circus and how accessible this will be, and whether we will need to get permission etc. from the circus company as filming may not be allowed. After looking on the internet a little bit, I've found some images of the outside of a circus on Ealing Common (where the Netherland National Circus will be until 2nd Nov).

We could try and do a lot of the filming outside the actual circus itself, focusing on the backstage element to a circus and the people behind the scenes. (Circus lorries, performers outside smoking, evil behind the scenes characters, kidnappers, etc, where all the scary stuff happens) We could also have more of a focus on the funfair aspect of the trailer as its more accessible to us for filming.

I N S P I R A T I O N

G R O U P M E E T I N G

G r o u p  M e e t i n g :

Today Hattie, Melody and I had a meeting to discuss ideas and finalise our overall theme and genre for our film trailer and brainstorm a bit about our individual ideas. We decided to go with the horror genre as we feel that we would find the typical conventions of this genre useful and that we could make it visually really good. We can also use a lot of interesting camera angles and techniques and there is lots to play with and experiment with. These are a few things we came up with in a quick brainstorm:

 

Scary travelling circus/Fairground

 

-Mirror maze

-Lions

-Kidnapping

-Ghost trains

-Scary Ringmaster

-Abandoned animal cages

-Creepy clowns

-Abandoned circus and rides

-Circus of horrors/freak shows
-Masks
-People coming up to camera
-Fast cuts
-Flashing, intense lighting

We also researched a bit into potential settings for our trailer, and did some research into when travelling circus' and fairgrounds would be coming to London:

-http://www.visitlondon.com/events/detail/26829221-netherlands-national-circus-at-ealing-common

-http://www.irvinleisure.co.uk/funfair-events/?entry=150
-http://www.irvinleisure.co.uk/funfair-events/?entry=121
-www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com
-http://www.gorillacircus.com/news/photos/regents-park
-http://www.zipposcircus.co.uk/

Zippos Circus - Wood Green
11th Oct - 16th Oct

Zippos Circus - Chingford
18th Oct - 23rd Oct

Zippos Circus - Cambridge
25th Oct - 30th Oct

 

 

M O O D B O A R D

                         

Using gathered photos, imagery and film clips found in research, I have created a visual mood board in order to begin to put our ideas into a more visual format and make them come to life. I used Windows Movie Maker to create this visual montage and have gathered images and film clips from the internet (Youtube, Google,Tumblr, blogs etc). This moodboard will now also provide us with inspiration for our trailer and something to look back on to remind ourselves of our initial ideas. By doing this it has really helped to visualise what our trailer might look like and has helped to make us feel more organised in terms of our planning and research. We now know what direction to go in, and to look at a circus/fairground/fun fair theme, including things like creepy clowns (typical horror convention e.g. horror film 'IT' by Stephen King), freaky performers, odd characters, puppets and empty, and abandoned, fairground rides. 

T R A I L E R A N A L Y S I S x 5

                     

I chose to analyse a range of different genres of film for my first initial set of trailer analysis, as Hattie, Melody and I were still undecided as to which genre to make our trailer suited for and we wanted to explore both independent arty films such as 'Le Havre', which I particularly liked the style of, and films in the Horror genre such as 'The Woman in Black' and 'House at the end of the street', in order to make a decision. From doing this trailer analysis, I have realised that it is clear that the horror genre has a lot more typical conventions, and is a lot more exciting to film and produce, with lots of interesting angles, special effects, props, costumes, make up etc to explore. Horror is the genre we have now chosen for our own trailer that we are going to create.