Advanced Productions.A2 Media Studies.Amelia Gould.

Basic information.

I have chosen to create a trailer for a new film accompanied by a poster and a front page of a film magazine, which will feature my film. There should be a sense of cohesion between the three products.

The genre of my film trailer will be thriller/horror as I feel I will be able to be more creative by using the conventions or even breaking them to suit the desired trailer.

The name of the film is called ‘Blind Reason’, I chose this name as it allowed it to give the right message across to the audience about what the film is going to based on. As there is a reasoning for the happenings but the individual is too blind to see it or face the fear ahead of them.

Research

To be able to make the decision on what I was going to do for my film I had to conduct a series of research that would allow me to have an understand of the convention portrayed within a thriller but to also see what conventions of films that were broken in a successful or none successful way.

Trailers I analysed; Magazine I analysed; Posters I analysed;

The Blair Witch Project Jennifer’s Body (Total Film) In Time

The Purge Avatar (Total Film) Avatar

Paranormal Activity 4 Superman (Total Film) The Amazing Spider Man

Programs used to make the trailer, magazine cover and ancillary task.

Adobe premiere was used to created the thriller trailer.

PSE Photoshop Elements was used to create both my magazine cover

and poster.

In what ways does your film trailer develop or challenge

form and conventions of real films and trailers?

Contains rhetorical questions to allow the audience to take in the information and become involved.

Using rhetorical questions helps me to draw in my intended target audience in who I believe would be interested in my trailer. With the rhetorical questions involved being realistic it will help to make my trailer more personal and relatable to the audience due to the fact of knowing that everyone would of heard random noises in their houses. So therefore it will allow them to think back to moments when they have heard some and questioned what they really are despite it being in the past. Doubting real life situation can make individuals fear momentswithout the help of a film involving the situation.

Using the fade in and out transition effect on the rhetorical questions clips allowed there to be a more subtle atmosphere which could potentially be seen as creepier. And allowed the audience more time to take in the situations that were being questioned by them.

With the rhetorical questions, I believe there is an even larger impact on the audience with the white text being placed onto a simple, plain background. This is because it allows the text to stand out instantly on the screen and have an impact. I made sure that the font was clear but still fitted the thrilling theme to my trailer to help give off the right message from the beginning.

Having the background also helps with the

creepy atmosphere for it works

well with the transition of fade in and out for it make and subtle change from scene to scene (also it

to flow).

Contains a variety of different shots of each scene that I intended to use.

Having more shots to choose from when beginning the editing stage of the trailer task as it allowed me to have more choice when it came down to it all. It meant I was able to select the best clips for each scene whether the selection process being down to the quality of the filming (was there any unwanted movement or noises?) or even if it actually fitted correctly to the moment and flowed properly with the rest of the trailer or not. You can see a variety of clips here;

For example; I tried different techniques for the garden scene, when looking at my story board I planned to show my character’s face outside in the garden and have a whole section of the trailer dedicated to it. But in the end I incorporated the whole intended scene in my rhetorical question section and use a few seconds as I felt it built more tension more than a whole scene, otherwise I felt it was more like a film itself. But I didn’t realise any of this until I had the actually shots to work with on adobe premier. You can see a variety of clips for the garden here;

I made sure in specific areas more trailer didn’t flow and contained ‘little teasers’.

I understand that although some trailers make sure their clips flow throughout and trailer to allow it to make sense by being in order. But the majority in the currently filming market don’t when I carried out my research of different trailers in my desired genre (thriller/horror). So with this I am developing but also challenging conventions with the editing technique of cutting scenes in specific moments and swapping to another one similar or completely different. Here you can see the different cuts that have been made;

For example; as soon as you see something move in the loft I have made sure that I cut it so the audience are unaware of the outcome (no spoiler) and I place it next to a simple and peaceful clip. I believe doing this allows for tense moments to sink in and make an impact on my intended audience. I think having simple clips allows to show the realism to the film to help with the realistic side. Audiences enjoy having the realistic fear factor to a film as it allows them to feel more venerable yet they can remain safe, but it can also make them doubt themselves at movements that have occurred for them in day to day life happenings. You can see the loft scene is cut randomly here;

Hand-held shots and tripod shots.

When I had my hand-held clips in my trailer I was challenging forms and conventions of filming as my scenes aren’t steady, level or don’t follow specific techniques. For example; Rule of 3rds, angle positioning, lighting techniques, reaction movement. I done this more to highlight to my audience when it was normal tripod shots were in place instead of it being shown through casual hand-held camera, that was actually visible when the tripod shots were taking place. With the change in views (from tripod to character) I made sure that all the tripod clips contained a variety of techniques correctly to inform the audience properly. You can see an high angle shot of my protagonist here;

For example; when my character goes up into the loft you see exactly what she would being seeing (characters perspective) and when she climbs into the loft in the following climb you see her climb in and up as the camera pans across as she travels forward, the camera has been placed at a mid height to allow the character to remain ‘normal’ instead of superior or inferior. Seeing the whole length of the character also allows the audience to view a larger area of the background surroundings are visually see more instead on a selected area. You can see this below;

This goes for the sofa area as well, the tripod shots zooms in onto the main character who is sleeping at the time and quickly reacts in another scene shown when she reacts as she is awoken by something. Where as when I use the hand-held camera moments you either see personal clips, close ups or untechnical shots. But with the style of my film trailer I am able to break the conventions successful and get away with it as it works effectively due to the thriller/horror genre I selected to follow. Using the hand-held shots also allows the effect of realism to help portray the messages being given off from the beginning. You can see my example below;

Continuous music

For my trailer I decided to pick a specific kind of music that would be able to develop my trailer successfully. I decided to edit the chosen music to make it fade where I felt other sounds/noises were more important to the scene being played and would then subtly fade the music back into contexts with the trailer as it continued. For example, when I played the clip of a doff opening I faded the music out so the audience were able to hear the door creaking. This helped to emphasis the noise as nothing else could be heard. Although both sounds are there to help with the theme of the trailer if they were played together the impact wouldn’t be the same as the audience wouldn’t be able to focus on one area. Below you can see the door and the sound changes;

The only time I cut out the music completely was at the very beginning on the trailer, where the Production company was produced but as the play back clip. The reason for this was to throw the audience off what theme the trailer was going to be but also because there was sweet and subtle music being played in the pay back clip which made you feel comfortable and happy. So if the selected music was playing in the background it wouldn’t of given off the right message to the audience. I chose to use a playback moment as it informed the audience who was going to feature in the film and allowed to know the characters a little better. I develop this idea from the two trailers I analysed; The Purge and Paranormal Activity 4. I must admit I found the technique extremely effective.

Building Tension.

Building tension in my trailer is critical, as without tension it wouldn’t draw my audience in and therefore wouldn’t interest them into seeing the actually film. Which the whole purpose to a trailer is to help sell and promote a film (advertisement). Tension isn’t just built from one area in a trailer it take a lot of different things to make it successful, you need a mixture of;

The music (does it fit the theme and clips it is playing with), The transitions between each clip (how they fade in and out), The pace between the slips (the time of each transitions decrease to build up speed), Using the correct body language in the clips (breathless speech and body language), Plenty of teaser clips (to show detail but not enough to spoil the actually film), And although not all the trailers I researched into contained day to day activities I believe it developed my trailer as it allow me to portray the realism that was intended in my film. So even though I challenged conventions with the technique I feel it developed my film positively.

How effective is the combination of your main product and

ancillary task?

My Trailer.

When creating and developing my trailer I made sure that I bared in mind different filming techniques/rules, editing techniques to try and portray the right message I wanted to give across to my target audience. I decided to make my target audience 16 to 30 years old, of a mixed gender who are of a middle class. This is so I able to interest a mass market of people.

To help me give across the right message about my trailer I also created a poster and a magazine front to help boost advertisement and to also show more of a background of my trailer before the target audience potentially see the actually film.

I decided to have my protagonist as a teenage girl as she is relatable to target age group and can also portray vulnerability . To help give across the typical teenage message I made sure there were plenty of different props (room colouring is purple, Zac Efron pictures, pretty décor wallpaper.

Having day to day clips in my trailer was also important as it allow me to make audience felt the realism from the surroundings as well as the hand-held footage.

Pre-Plan.

Before I started to make my trailer I wanted to create a pre-plan so I was clear on the basic idea I wanted my trailer to contain. I knew I would have to change a few things as I progressed through the project but having the pre-planned meant creating my storyboard was easier.

When creating the pre-plan I had to make sure that my trailer was between 1minute 30seconds to 2minutes long. I wanted to involve as many different shot types and clips as possible in my trailer without giving too much away to the audience, fore the whole purpose of a trailer is to tease.

Looking back on my pre-plan now I only used a minimum of the key points I put down as some of the shots were not possible to create or they didn’t give off the effect I wish for them too. So I either just erased the clip or replaced it with something more effective.

Script.

After I created my pre-plan I designed to make a script so my selected actors knew what they had to say. I realised that trailers don’t contain much speech so I filmed more than what I needed so I was able to have a selection of different clips to put together.

On my script I also added the scenery, which was my own house as it meant it was an easy location for my actors to get too. I could move objects about without a worry, I knew where everything was and I could also film different scenes whenever I wanted too with or without my actors.

I also made a note of what my actors where wearing so if shots had to be retaken they had the same clothing so when in the final trailer the editing quality is to a high standard and looks more professional to the target audience.

StoryBoard.

Once I had created my script from the pre-plan I began to make my storyboard as I had more of a clear idea of what I wanted to create at the end of the project. Comparing my pre-plan to the storyboard shows that even my initials ideas were developed or removed due to the message I released I wanted to give across to my target audience.

As you can see from the story board there are a lot of black screens, this is so I can inform the audience what genre the trailer is and also to give them time to take in the scene they would of viewed before and let it impact them. With the black screens I have added rhetorical questions (as you can see from the storyboard also) this is so I can connect with the audience and make them feel as if they trailer can relate to them (with the help from the other techniques I have involved in my trailer).

Looking at my storyboard now there are a lot of shots that I have stuck to and I feel they have come over more effect than I originally thought. There were areas that didn’t work but as I mentioned before I expected this as this change once filming actually begins.

My Magazine Front Cover.

When creating my magazine front cover I had to make sure;

I had an original name for my magazine company. My feature article image portrayed the right message to the audience. The cover featured the film name. Had up-to-date information on it. Featured plenty of pull-ins to draw a large audience into reading it. Variety of fonts, sizing and colouring.

This is so I could make sure I make my magazine cover looked as realistic as possible, so when I planned my drafts I took all these points into consideration so I could do exactly what I intended too.

Draft Designs

As you can see from my draft copies of my magazine covers I made sure my feature article image was the main feature on the page. This is down to the magazine covers I analysed when my research was taking place, it looked very effective and caught my eye instantly and I wanted to create the same effect with my magazine cover.

I decided to name my magazine ‘Trailer’ as it a versatile name that suits the filming industry. Both the rough pictures I drew where taken from scenes that I planned to film in the shooting for my trailer so I was able to have y actor in the characters mind set to portray the message I wanted correctly. And can tell my target audience a little bit about what the trailer features without them seeing it already.

The text I plan to have on the cover was too a minimum so it didn’t clutter the page or take away the interest away from the feature article image. I just made sure the film name and little information was featured.

Final Magazine Front Cover.

As you can see from my final piece of the magazine cover I stuck closely to one of my drafts but also including a few ideas from the other too.

I used a variety of colours for the text /font that I thought suited the colouring of the edited feature article image to allow a relationship with the whole magazine cover. I made sure I used the door space effectively by adding the extra text as it separated it from the rest pf the text that was about my trailer (the feature article image).

I enjoyed creating this piece of work as I had a background from previous task I have been set which meant I was able to experiment with different tools and effects to make my magazine more of a statement as well as remaining realistic. I think the analysis of other film magazine helped with this area of editing.

My Film Poster.

As well as created my magazine cover I also had to create a poster that would also boost the image of my trailer. So I had to have key points to make sure I included certain things:

My feature article image portrayed the right message to the audience. The poster featured the film name on it. A pull-in quote. Had to the same font as what was used in the actual trailer. Had film credits for realism.

when creating my poster there are less things to feature as it is just about your trailer so other information doesn’t needed to added. With a poster the image had to do all the talking so I made sure text was kept to a minimum.

Draft Designs

As you can see from my draft copies of my poster I made sure my feature article image was the main feature on the page and the small amount of text was visible but not too much. This is down to the posters I analysed when my research was taking place, it looked very effective and caught my eye instantly and I wanted to create the same effect with my poster.

All three of the rough pictures I drew where taken from scenes that I planned to film in the shooting for my trailer so I was able to have y actor in the characters mind set to portray the message I wanted correctly. And can tell my target audience a little bit about what the trailer features without them seeing it already. As you can see one of my design was similar to one of my magazine cover s so I could consider continuity and the audience would instantly recognise the image if they saw it wherever.

The text I plan to have on the cover was too a minimum so it didn’t clutter the poster and take anything away from the feature image that should do all the taking for the film. I just made sure the film name and the credits were featured.

Final Poster.

As you can see from my final piece of the poster I didn’t stick very closely to any of my first draft and only took elements from all of the drafts I designs.

I didn’t use a variety of colours for my poster as I wanted everything to be subtle against the image so I kept it to black and white to also follow the message I wished to get across to my audience. Blurring out the antagonist from the trailer also plays on the element of mystery I wished to portray in he trailer as well as the ancillary tasks. I kept the same font selection as my trailer for the poster to enforced continuity with my work so it was easily relatable to each other .

I enjoyed creating this piece of work as I had a background from previous task I have been set which meant I was able to experiment with different tools and effects to make my poster more of a statement as well as remaining realistic. I think the analysis of other film posters helped with this area of editing.

Overall.

Overall looking at my final trailer product as well as my ancillary tasks it is clear there is a link in between them all. As I made sure the font for the film’s name was the same and coloured in white. This was also done so the audience could see the name and relate it straight away to the different areas they might of seen.

With my poster and magazine cover I wanted there to be a difference between them as I wanted my audience to see the different areas of my film. With the magazine cover I wanted it to show the protagonist looking vulnerable as it would draw the audience in to reading it as they would want to know more of why she was looking like it. And with the poster I wanted there to be a sense of fear portrayed as you are unable to see the antagonist features you cant help but want to know who they are. I feel in both on these tasks the image has a strong impact.

All the message I wanted to get across have been successful as it all plays on the film name ‘Blind Reason’ and plays of the mystery that is bought across in my trailer.

What have you learned from your audience

feedback?

To understand what my audience felt about my trailer, magazine front cover and poster I put together a second survey that allowed my to know what the audience liked about my film trailer and what they would possible change about it.

For this I used the same audience who took part in my first survey that was about what they wanted to see from a thriller trailer. I used the same audience as it allow me to understand if I done the things my audience was after and suited their expectations from my thriller/horror trailer.

I had 20 individuals take part in this survey.

1. Are you Male or Female?

As you can see from the graph to the question I tried to ask an equal amount of male and females as it would be a more fair result to taken.

As having male and females take part in the survey I would be able to understand what males necessarily felt about my trailer, what they liked and what they didn’t. I the same with the female audience.

I would also know if either felt a connection with the protagonist or not and could understand whether it would due their gender.

45%

55%

Male Female

2. How old are you?

80%

10%

5%5%

Under 10 years 10 to 20 years 21 to 30 years 31 to 40 years 41 to 50 years 51 and over

As you can see from the graph to the question the majority of my audience I spoke to was between 10 and 20 years old (80%) this is because of the age range I was trying to appeal to as my target audience as thriller/horror films mostly interest the younger generation. This is why the 21 to 30 year olds are my second largest result (10%). Although there are a few other older age groups who took part so I was able to see if I also appealed to them as well.

But thriller/horrors are more unrealistic than a drama fro example so a more mature generation would prefer to see something like that due to personal interests.

3. What was your overall impression of my trailer?

For this question I left it as an open so I could get specific audience feedback on what they honestly thought because if I have optional answer I wouldn’t of got the same usual information that I received

On the left is a few examples of what some of the individuals thought. Looking at the quotes it tells me I achieved what I wanted too because I wanted my audience to question themselves due to the realistic effect it gave off. The music was placed to help set the tone of the situations and there was also senses of mystery.

“There was a sense of realism to the trailer”.

“The rhetorical questions made me sit and question myself”.

“I didn’t know what type of film it would be until the music kicked in”.

“I want to know what that thing is, what is it doing?”

4. Did you feel yourself answering the rhetorical questions featured in the trailer?

As you can see from the graph to the question that 75% (15 individuals) found themselves answering the rhetorical question that were put in place amongst my trailer. The ones who did were in the 10-20 and 21-30 year old age range which is the target audience I was wanting to interest.

The 25% who didn’t find themselves doing so, when asked why they said because they know a thriller/horror isn’t realistic and couldn’t take it seriously. This was the older generation who took part in the survey who were there to inform me if I could appeal to them as well as the younger generation.

75%

25%

Yes No

5. Did you think the music/sounds suited the trailer?

As you can see from the graph to the question everyone who took part in the survey thought the music suited the trailer perfectly. This is because they felt it help set the film genre because as soon as it faded in after the playback scene they were instantly aware of what genre the trailer was going to be based.

This is exactly what I wanted to portray to the audience as the play back was there for background information as I wanted a sudden cut to an opposite so it made an impact.

100%

Yes No

6. When the heartbeat was added, did you feel more tension?

As you can see from the graph to the question 90% of the individuals I asked to take part thought the heartbeat added more tension to the trailer. When asked why they said because something new was added and it was a indication to expect something more the trailer. So put them on the edge of their seats as they waited to still be shocked.

The 10% who didn’t feel more tension said it was because they didn’t realise the heartbeat fade in as they were focusing on the clips that were taking place.90%

10%

Yes No

7. Did the trailer hold you attention the whole time it was playing?

As you can see from the graph to the question there was only 5% of the audience who didn’t have the attention held by the trailer the whole time. When I asked them why they said they didn’t enjoy thrillers due to them being unrealistic (was the older generation) but they said I could of added an little bit more to create a larger fear factor to the trailer.

The 95% who had the attention focused on the trailer said they just wanted to know what was going to happen next so couldn’t not look away and know they’d have to see the film to know as nothing was truly revealed.

95%

5%

Yes No

8. Did you think the text fitted the thriller/horror genre?

As you can see from the graph to the question 1005% of the individuals who took part in the survey thought my text suited the trailer/magazine front cover/poster well as there was just something about the font that had a harsh feel and wasn’t a friendly thing to look at. So before the trailer really begun they knew once they saw the text it wasn’t going to be a happy ‘Rom-com’.

The colouring of the font also help as it contrasted well against the dark (black) backgrounds so stood out to them instantly.

100%

Yes No

9. Did you understand the story that was forming in the trailer?

As you can see from the graph to the question that 15% of my audience didn’t fully understand the storyline that was forming in the trailer, 5% of these individuals were the ones who didn’t pay attention the whole time and the other 10% said that it was because nothing was given away in the trailer. Which some of them liked as they would be surprised if they went to watch the final film , where as the few that didn’t said it was because they like to know a bit of what its about before they go so they know if it would be for them or not.

85%

15%

Yes No

10. What would you change about the trailer?

As you can see from the range of responses I left this question as an open answer so I could receive personal feedback from my audience on what they would change and keep the same about the trailer.

A lot of the comments I received I expected as a few of the comments had occurred in pervious questions that I had asked them. Although it was suggested to provide more information I feel that a trailer is there to tease and not spoil the actual film so I wouldn’t give want to give too much away from the trailer.

“I would want to see a few more day- to-day clips of the main character”

“I’d like there to be a few more jumpy scenes that would make me panic and worry”

“I’d like to have a bit more information on what the film was about, so I knew if it was for me”.

11. Do you think the magazine front cover fits the trailer?

As you can see from the graph to the question every individual who took part in my survey thought my magazine front cover suited my trailer. When I asked them why they thought so some of the responses ranged from “because it had a clear connection between the trailer and you could tell from the feature article image there was fear yet mystery being given off” to “the effects on the cover caught my eye and I could recognise the character even with the editing technique”.

This is exactly what I wanted the audience to feel when they saw the front cover.

100%

Yes No

12. Do you think the poster fits the trailer?

As you can see from the graph to the question the individuals I used also agreed that my poster fitted my trailer. When I developed their answers into discussion they told me why; “the writing on the poster matched the writing in the trailer which meant I could clear link the two” or “the sense of mystery by not seeing the face plays on the part where you don’t know who the ‘thing’ is throughout the trailer”.

Like my magazine, this is exactly what I wanted as the right messages and effects were given across and portrayed correctly to my audience.100%

Yes No

13. Would you go and see the film based on seeing the trailer, magazine cover and poster?

As you can see from the graph to the question that 95% of the surveyed individuals would happily go and watch the film from the trailer, magazine front cover and poster because the trailer managed to pull them so they are caught up on the mystery portrayed and wish to find out more and why!? They also said the fact the magazine and poster gave off the same fear and mystery meant that there was a continuity between them all.

The 5% who didn’t want to see the film said it was because thriller/horror genre films don’t interest them.

95%

5%

Yes No

Overall Analysis of Feedback.

After collecting back all the feedback from the individuals who took part in my survey I feel as if I gave them what they were after from filling out the first survey that involved me actually making the trailer.

The negative feedback will allow me to work on the problems and improve them for the future, but most of the negative comments came back from the older generation who actually stated they didn’t actually enjoy thrillers as it isn't a genre for them due to the unrealistic storylines. Although when asked they said the hand-held camera footage and rhetorical questions did get them involved and make them doubt some situations, this can be taken as a positive as the right effect was achieved.

If I were to remake my trailer I will consider adding more areas that would inform the audience more of what was going to happen in the actual film, so everyone could have an understanding of what is going to happen but not too much!

I am also pleased will the feedback I received of my poster and magazine front cover as it confirmed to me that the effects, shots used and fonts were used successful to advertise the film correctly to the target audience.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and

research, planning and evaluation stages?

Construction and Research.

I used Youtube and Google to help me research existing trailers as well as film magazine cover and film posters. By having the new technology available to me allowed my to construct my research easily and saved me a lot of time for it was constantly available to me depending on when I wanted to studied it as I knew it was always be there and was very unlikely to be removed in the future. This meant I could constantly flick back to areas that interested me and take ideas from the existing trailer, magazine covers and poster and develop them to have my own personal touch on them

From my construction and planning stage I was also able to define genre types with the help of the internet, this was so I knew what the right conventions were for my desired thriller/horror trailer. I could then also view statistics to see the popularity of my chosen genre before I constructed a survey for individuals from my target market to take part in. and once they had completed the surveys for me due to new technology I was able to put my results into graphs on a computer so I was able to see in percentages and visually sections to work out what was going to be best for my trailer in the eyes of my audience.

Planning.

I created a pre-plan, script and storyboard for my trailer and then created rough draft copies of possible front cover magazine and posters to then promote my trailer more. I scanned everything I drew or wrote up on a computer. I done this so I could draw exactly what I wanted too and then compare the existing work I had used for research to my own personal ideas.

I also used a digital camera for blocking this was so I could have still shots of intended scenes that featured in my storyboard so I don’t have to waste time when shooting my final trailer fore I’d know what angles and positions worked. As well as it allowing my to have a clear view of what I want and could make any changes sooner rather than later as I had the shots I could work with. Event though I was open to change I made sure before I started working on y final piece that I had a basic idea constantly visible in my mind so there was always some form of structure.

Evaluation.