2. My group consists of three people; Me, Maheni and Raissa. On our first meeting we started
discussing fairy tales we remember from our own childhood and the moral to the story etc.
We did not choose straight away what story we’d be working on as there was so many stories
to choose from! This step was discussed and openly worked on as a group, so we was all
sharing ideas as what we would like from our trailer no matter what story we chose to do.
We then decided to go with Thriller genre; but of course as we develop our thoughts and
idea there will be some sub genres. We was all aware that fairy tales are known by everyone
due to their happy ever after endings so we decided to make a twist to whichever story we
chose and work on the idea that it had to be thriller. We chose this because, if we did a
thriller based on a fairy tale – it’s like showing the audience a side they never knew or even
recognise for that matter, and this is what makes it interesting; the fact we can ‘surprise’ the
audience and give them something they’re not expecting using the conventions they
unconsciously know about.
We was aware of the limited number of characters we have access to, but we also discussed
to speak to people in Maheni’s Drama class to act in our trailer. This would be great, not only
because they have experience about acting but also because they must be pretty good at
it.
3. Firstly, as a group we looked at all the possible fairy tales we could use and interpret it into
our own. For example, Red Riding Hood, Cinderella , etc
And many more...
4. After researching in depth various fairy tales, we decided to do Hansel and Gretel. Our
decision was mainly based on the fact we knew not many people would actually go
for a story like Hansel and Gretel and also because we was aware (due to our
research) that there has not yet been made any recent interpretation/adaptation of
Hansel and Gretel… Unlike, Red Riding Hood (Most recent adaptation is Red Riding
Hood – out in 2011, which the name was kept original) and also to the story of Snow
White (which there now is Snow White and The Huntsman – out in 2012)
After we chose the fairy tale and we was determined about what we was doing, we
then discussed changes we would make to the original story. We all discussed and
equally decided that we would keep loyal to the original story as much as possible.
Reason for this is that, although everyone knows the story as said before there has not
been any interpretation made so we don’t really have anything to challenge or work
on to make it different. Meaning, if there was already an adaptation we would have to
look at ways to make it different (our own) so we could just say that our trailer is just an
up to date Hansel and Gretel, nothing more as we are not planning to change much
apart from the fat that obviously it would be more modernised and perhaps the props
used.
5. All of us in the group knew the story which made it easy to work with. The highlight of the
story is that the kids are abandoned by the father – influenced by the mother, which causes
the two kids to get lost in the woods by themselves and come across a witch.
CHARACTERS:
We focused on how many characters we need (this was a priority, as we have limited people
who would be willing to be doing it) and based on the people we have, we have to make it
as realistic as possible i.e.: The family – all characters must be the same race, at least the two
kids because we decided we only need three characters – Hansel, Gretel and the witch.
Yes, the father will be present in the story especially when he leaves them in the woods but
we decided we can have an ‘unknown figure’ and just use a manly voice. This is ideal
because the less people we have, the better! Meaning, there will be less hassles for when we
meet up to film and so on and we won’t have to worry so much about people turning up.
6. So far, all decisions that have been made regarding the planning, initial ideas etc
have been made as a group which shows good skills of teamwork and independent
work at the same time; as each individual researches one thing and then feeds back.
But during one of our meetings, we have briefly discussed the roles. So far we settled
down for, Maheni would be the director, Raissa would be the editor and I would be
the Producer.
7. The roles and responsibilites of the Director
are...
Firstly they have the most authority/overall control over the project
Works closely with the Editor and the Producer
Responsible for turning the script into a sequence of shots
Decide camera angles with the Editor
They work both with the crew as well as the cast
May conduct rehearsals
Work on the storyboards and make adjustments where needed
8. The roles and responsibilites of the Editor
are...
They also work both with the cast and the crew
Selects shots to create a finish product
Most arty side to the production
Make final decisions along with the Producer and the Director
They work with sound, image, dialogue, visual effects, actors perfomance
etc
They must have knowledge with the programs/softwares that are going to be
used
9. The roles and responsibilites of the Director
are...
He/she deals with budget and financial issues
Works with both Editor and the Director
Works with the cast too
Deals with props etc
Organises meetings (for shooting), time and location