RESEARCH: MISS SLOANE POSTER ANALYSIS

TREATMENT AND TOP LINE

WORKING TITLE: RISK

The topline: four students Stephanie, Aaron, Cara and Richard in need of some quick cash respond to an advert for being guineau pigs in medical research. They report to a lab and chat nervously. Soon they are prostrate on beds, in patient gowns, being injected / swallowing tablets under the watchful eye of two doctors. A cutaway shot suggests some hallucinatory experiences.

The trailer cuts to Stephanie in her ktichen the next morning suddenly receiving a text. The phone screen looks like a game with a challenge / task. The screen goes black. Stephanie feels compelled to follow the instructions. She is told to break a few laws on the way (such as steal money from her mother's handbag, snatch a scooter left on the pavement, throw a stone at a window). She is surprised at her own behaviour. Her task is to surprise a stranger by breaking into their house.

She finds that the stranger's house belongs to Aaron. They exchange greetings. A text arrives simultaneously on both their phones, instructing them with the next task. This one is harder. It involves persuading someone to take a high-level selfie. The screen goes black. They carry out the task. The person falls to their death and they realize that they are in the power of a mind control drug.

The topline (one elegant sentence): A student who has take part in a drugs trial finds herself being controlled through the instructions appearing on her smart phone /tablet which forces her into increasingly dangerous situations that endanger her life and that of total strangers.

The big question: will the students resist the mind control drug before further challenges cause further traumas?

PLANNING: OUR TREATMENT

As part of my research into how to devise a treatment, I watched a FutureLearn video presented by Frank Ash.

 For Frank Ash, Creative Consultant who has taught storytelling and creativity techniques to teams across the BBC and beyond, it is important to focus on the audience: what will interest the audience? How will the narrative develop?

I decided to watch FutureLearn on YouTube which showed how Frank Ash would set up a treatment for a film. He said that you need to be interested in what you are creating and make sure that other people will be too. I feel like this information, will help me in creating my own trailer since I will follow these guidelines.

"So, if you’re aiming for your film to reach a large audience online, making sure it has universal appeal will be key"

TOP LINE DEFINITION: Think about your favourite book or film or any ‘good story’ you recently watched online, could you sum up its narrative into ‘one elegant sentence’ to provide its ‘toppling’

BIG QUESTION DEFINITION: What was its big story question, and how important was it to your appreciation of the text?"

STORYBOARD

Since we wanted to explore new technologies we decided to find different websites that could help us in the planning of our film trailer. We found a website named StoryboardThat, which creates digital storyboards in a comic-strip style. After creating one storyboard strip from a scene in our film using that website, we eventually decided to not use it, since we believed it would be much easier to add detail, since the website already has loaded images and we cannot customize. Therefore, we decided to draw the storyboards by hand rather than using digital technologies.

A three-part comic strip made using StoryboardThat

RESEARCH: 'THE QUEEN OF KATWE' TRAILER

I watched the trailer for the upcoming biographical drama film, 'Queen of Katwe'.
The genre of the film can be split between two distinct genres. One genre being biographical since the film is based on a real girl from the slums of Katwe, Uganda, and the other genre being family drama, since there is conflict between Phiona and her mother on her achieving her dream of becoming a chess champion.

It is clear to see that Phiona is the eponymous, Queen of Katwe, since she is the main character and protagonist of the film and the trailer follows her journey from Uganda all the way to the World Championships. Other characters which are seen among the trailer is Robert, who we assume is Phiona's best friend since he introduces Phiona to chess and teaches her how to play and is very optimistic and encourages her to follow her dream. Phiona's mother is the polar opposite to Robert, since she is controlling and feels that dreaming of "big things" is a waste of time.

The location and setting of the film is conveyed very well throughout the trailer, since in the opening seconds, a title of 'Katwe, Uganda' comes up, which immediately shows to the viewer that it is set in a urban African area, since Katwe is a shanty town. The large number of slums and busy streets, further emphasize how Phiona is so small and that she is trying to follow her dreams in a place that hectic.

There is a POV shot, whereby she is looking through some wood of a slum and witnessing the chess pieces roll on the table. This look of imagination and wonder, shows how Phiona is curious about chess, which is what begins her dream to become a champion.

The clothes which are shown throughout the trailer, for Phiona are either long dresses or short sleeve shirts and skirts. This is the similar attire of all the other women in Katwe, since Phiona is part of the working class and cannot afford expensive clothes. The song in the background of the trailer is 'Thick Skin' by Leona Lewis. The lyrics of the song can draw a parallel to the synopsis of the film, since she has to keep fighting against people who are bringing her down and succeeded on her own terms.

RESEARCH: 'MILK' TRAILER

I watched the trailer for the bio-pic film, 'Milk' and analysed in a SlideShare presentation.

MILK - TRAILER ANALYSIS from Alexdavies44

RESEARCH: CAROL POSTER ANALYSIS

RESEARCH: 'CAROL' TRAILER

I watched the trailer for the critically-acclaimed film, Carol. I was engaged with the two and half minute video, which portrayed a subtle, yet passionate forbidden romance through slow piano music and transitions between the two main characters, Carol and Therese.

Carol - trailer analysis from Alexdavies44