Storyboarding

The key to making a quality and professional looking teaser trailer is planning and storyboarding is argubly one of the most important aspects of planning what you are going to film, from what type of shot you are going to take down to what angle you are going to take it at, what sound will be in the scene, what sound you will be adding to raise tension down to how you will break up each shot with effects and titles, no matter what you decide to do it must be planned. Here I have made a rough but detailed storyboard of what I hope to capture in my teaser trailer and how I hope to put it together.

Certification of my final Idea

My teaser trailer would be aimed at a target audience of 18, I believe that to make my film as realistic as possible that there would be elements of torture in it to show the things he is willing to do to get his son back and to show his emotional pain in losing his son. Here are the guidelines that the BBFC have for an 18 certificate film:

Suitable only for adults

No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema.
No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video.
In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC’s public consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Exceptions are most likely in the following areas:

• where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence
• where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault
• where there are more explicit images of sexual activity which cannot be justified by context. Such images may be appropriate in ‘R18’ works, and in ‘sex works’ (see below) would normally be confined to that category.

In the case of video works (including video games), which may be more accessible to younger viewers, intervention may be more frequent than for cinema films.

Sex education at '18'

Where sex material genuinely seeks to inform and educate in matters such as human sexuality, safer sex and health, explicit images of sexual activity may be permitted.

Sex works at '18'

Sex works are works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation. Sex works containing only material which may be simulated are generally passed ‘18’. Sex works containing clear images of real sex, strong fetish material, sexually explicit animated images, or other very strong sexual images will be confined to the ‘R18’ category. Material which is unacceptable in a sex work at ‘R18’ is also unacceptable in a sex work at ‘18’.

It is clear to me that from what I intend to include in my final production that I would have to settle with an '18' certificate as most of the rules for an '18' apply to what I am likely to include in my final film.

Whole Film Synopsis

My thriller film is about a hardworking marine who is forced to leave the army following the tragic loss of his wife to become a single parent to his young son, Private Daniel Brown (played by Craig Smith) has not been able to spend much time with his son due to him serving his country and blames himself for why he could not be there for his wife. He steps up and masks his torment to make sure he does not project any of his pain onto his son. Dan starts to get his life back on track when his life is once again turned upside down, his son goes missing and he is left with nothing more than a calling card left by the kidnapper. This tips our ex marine over the edge and though he has not spent long in the army he was top in his unit in close quarter combat and small arms fire making him an efficient and silent potential killer. This movie follows the protagonist’s quest to find his son and take down the men responsible for his kidnapping, as well as his transformation from law abiding citizen to anti-hero vigilante. His mission makes him face his own previously dormant demons in this gripping action thriller and our hero discovers that the closer he comes to finding his son the more he unveils about the corrupt organisation responsible for the kidnappings.

Teaser Trailer Ideas

My first idea was to do a crime/action thriller based around the kidnapping of a man’s son, where the main protagonist must hunt down the men responsible through any leads he has to find the whereabouts of his son. The hero finds that the closer he gets to finding his son the more he realises the extent of the criminal underworld leading this operation. This movie would follow an everyday man and his transformation into an anti-hero, some of his methods may be unorthodox but his only concern is finding his son, no matter the cost.

My second idea was to do an action/adventure thriller film about a group of parkour ‘movers’ that transport items and money between gangs, things take a turn for the worst when a deal goes sour and the product they were meant to deliver gets stolen, both gangs blame the group and the hunt starts for them. The group must attempt to work together despite their differences to evade gang hit squads whilst at the same time trying to clear their name by finding out what really happened. This film would feature adrenaline rushing parkour style chase scenes through built up urban areas.

My third idea was to do a horror/action thriller based on a post apocalyptic Britain, were a zombie outbreak has spread and taken over civilisation as we know it. The plot of this story would follow a group of survivors that have set up their own camp and are trying to build a civilisation again, but danger lurks around every corner and as night time comes, these undead mutated beings flock in search of food. The film would also follow the strengthening and weakening of relationships within the group and how they work together to protect those closest to them.

My Ideal Target Audience

Here I have created a profile for who I think my target audience will be, what their interests are, how they look/dress and why they are into thriller films. In the picture above I have shown a group of casual dressing teenagers that appear to be into sports, I think that audiences that like to watch thrillers often enjoy the thrill they get from watching them, I therefore think that they enjoy other ways of thrilling themselves such as playing sports and like some elements of risk. Thriller films take these elements of risk and show a world in which taking risks and doing outrageous things leads to the main characters bettering themselves in some way, these main characters then project themselves onto the films target audience and makes them want to be just like they are by making the protagonist someone to aspire to, they are usually put into a very difficult position where the likely hood of success is very slim and the situation looks hopeless but they still manage to overcome their problems through perseverance, I believe that thriller films target audience may feel the same way about themselves, that they are never ready to give up and therefore see themselves in the protagonist which makes the audience relate to the film on a far more personal level.

My ideal target audience would be teenagers to young adults of ages 15-25, I believe that this demographic is an accurate range of target audience ages that are most likely to want to watch thriller films or be able to watch thriller films, many thriller films are given age rating certificates of 15+ due to the more mature content that tends to feature in many thriller films. I believe that more students want to watch thriller films as they are still learning and thriller films are usually far more complex and clever, stimulating the minds of its viewers which I believe students crave in the gaining of knowledge.


I believe that my target audience will expect to see many enigma codes throughout the teaser trailer, theses are used to make the audience question what is happening or going to happen in the trailer and is key when it comes to entriuging its target audience into wanting to find out more about the film. My target audience will expect to hear gripping audio which starts out slow but then builds up a faster pace as it reaches the climax of the trailer, the audience will expect the same effect to happen with the pace of editing. My target audience will expect to be told about the actors that feature in the main production as well as who the the company is that produced the film.

My Chosen Genre

For my teaser trailer I have decided to go with the thriller genre, I chose this genre of film because I think I enjoy thrillers the most and feel the most comfortable about what to do to make my teaser trailer a thriller. This will also help to keep me motivated throughout making my teaser trailer as thrillers sound the most exciting to make.  The fact that thriller films reach a far greater target audience through the use of many different subgenres also helped to sway me towards wanting to make one because of this vast variety of different films.