INSPIRATION

SOUNDTRACK RESEARCH

ENTRY OF THE GLADIATORS is the original circus theme.
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.

CIRCUS OF HORRORS

Relevant film Jessie found.
 

TITLE DECISIONS

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

I wasn't in for that lesson, but I really liked the decisions they had come up with, although we discussed shortening it to 'CIRQUE'

OUR SYNOPSIS

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

LOCATION INFORMATION RESEARCH

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 after 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.

Character Inspiration

Stephen King's IT

Character Inspiration

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

The funhouse

 

This film that has a similar feel to what out trailer could be like.

Zippo Circus filming policy

Jessie 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

GENRE ANALYSIS

Horror from MelodyBS

LOCATION RESEARCH

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, we 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.

G r o u p M e e t i n g :Hattie, Jessie 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

Stitches from MelodyBS

I analysed a trailer that relates to my groups idea as it is focused on a creepy clown.

 

I made this moodboard showing our groups ideas for our trailer. I collected images and audio and I used windows movie make to put it together.

I analysed different horror movie trailers.