Thursday, 8 December 2011
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Monday, 21 November 2011
Recee
Act 1 of my trailer involves my main character outside of Wandsworth Prison, because of the difficulty of filming outside such a secured site I chose not to recee there, so that when I go to do my real filming I will be able to go out film the scene quickly and sufficiently without any problems. This is the same situation as a scene in my montage of shots at the end of my trailer when Luke and Stacey are emerging from a local pub. This again is not in my recee and will be filmed for the first time when I go out and do my final filming. It was therefore vitally important that I planned thoroughly in my storyboard, shotlist and use of locations.
Graphics Planning
Graphics are an integral part in trailers to help tell the narrative and to attract audiences. The graphic seen above is taken from the trailer for 'Shame', a simple white text graphic on a black background is a technique that I plan to use because of it's simplicity and it stands out as it breaks up different scenes. The words used are also vital in attracting an audience, here this graphic is used early in the trailer as it grabs the audiences attention early so that they do not flick channel or divert their attention away from the screen.
Though with 'Shame' being an American production with a big production budget behind it, there are other film trailers that use the white on black graphic to help the audience understand the narrative better. This graphic seen above is taken from the trailer for the film 'NEDS', a low-budget British film that highlights the simplicity and gritty nature of the film by using graphics with no glitz or glam.
From looking at a number of trailers, there is a recurring theme ... the use of separate graphic screens to help tell the narrative or show off awards that the film has won. Something which I have paid particular attention to in graphics in trailers is the use of colour, background images, font and terminology. In the trailer for 'Descendants' the graphics seen are put on a patterned blue background with images of Hawaiian flowers. The graphics here help establish location and perhaps themes of the film with the colour blue normally reflecting a cool, fresh theme whereas grey may represent an eery, moody, gritty theme.
The ident scene above is taken from the trailer for 'Shank', an urban action film set in the decaying future London. Again the use of white on black, however this time I want to draw attention to the font and effect used on the words. The slight glow and smudge to the writing gives the ident a sort of futuristic look to it, which can also be seen in films like 'Star Wars'. Although I am not going for a film set in the future I believe the font here with the effect is something that I may look to use in my trailer.
A recurring scene in my trailer is a running scene with my main character where drama is heightened and a feeling of determination is established. Having looked at the trailer for 'Shame' I saw that these running scenes may be the best time to put in some reviews of my film, with just a few words from famous magazines or newspapers.
The background is darkened and the graphics are emboldened and stand out because of their white colour. The terminology is vital as these words are going to stick in the minds of the audience as they are influenced as to whether to go see this film or not, and there is no greater influence than positive reviews from respected magazines.
The final graphic of my trailer will be the arrival of the title of my piece, the billing block and the date that my film is due to be released. This screen shot seen above is taken from the trailer for 'London River', having used white on black throughout my trailer I would want the final graphic of my piece to be no different. There are effects used on these graphics again with a slight fact to the edges of the words. This is something that I would aim to use because I believe it gives the graphic something extra rather than just being writing on a screen, it gives it some depth.
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Shooting Schedule
Date | What to shoot? |
October Half Term | Recee |
3rd December | Scenes with Luke and Best mate |
23rd December | Scenes with Luke and Stacey |
5th January | Scene at Wandsworth Prison |
This is the outline of my shooting schedule for my trailer. The dates of shooting my trailer were influenced by the availability of my actors, the availability of my loactions, weather conditions and also availability of technical equipment. For instance, when shooting my recee recently I had to cancel a day I had planned to do filming because of the adverse weather conditions outside with heavy rain and strong winds, the technical equipment were liable to be damaged so I cancelled the day of shooting.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Sound Research
The opening to my trailer is very slow-paced and emotional. Luke Ryan has just come out of prison and his life really doesn't show any signs of improving, as he ponders over what to do with his life now as a three year stint in prison has turned him into a more matured individual. The opening scene outside the prison gates as Luke looks down to his hands and sees a picture of his young daughter is one which really grips the audience, and therefore I needed to choose a track which would have the same effect on the audience as the images being shown on screen. An example of a track that I want to use is that from the film, 'The Social Network', the opening scene in this film is of Jesse Eisenberg, playing Mark Zuckerberg (the creator of facebook), being dumped by his girlfriend and then in retaliation writing on his blog his real opinions of his now, ex-girlfriend. This opening scene is filled with strong emotions of love, frustration, anger and jealousy, and the opening mood to the film is supported by the slow-paced "Hand covers bruise" track seen above. This dramatic, slow-paced track is one that I would like to be used in my trailer because it will heighten the contrast between the pace at the beginning of my trailer and the end of my trailer when things begin to quicken and build to a climax.
The second type of track that I plan to use in my trailer, is in Act 2, when Luke is approaching his ex-girlfriend, Stacey Greene's house. The pace begins to build in Act 2 as more of the narrative is revealed and an argument takes place between the two main characters in my film. The purpose of this act is to enlighten the audience to more of the narrative and outline the mood and atmosphere of the film. This track seen above is a slow acoustic guitar performance which suits the slow, emotional, thoughtful, romantic beginning to my film. This track will also help build to the climax of a montage of shots at the end of my trailer.
My final act will be accompanied by a track similar to the one seen above in the film trailer, 'Never Let Me Go'. The shots used in my final act will be a montage of clips showing the struggle that Luke Ryan has to prove to his ex-girlfriend that he is worthy of being accepted back in to her life. There are scenes of hope where Luke is seen enjoying time spent with Stacey, yet there are also scenes of despair as Luke turns back to his old ways and is seen holding an innocent man up to a wall. With my film being a romantic drama, this sound clip called, 'Chalk Stars' is an ideal track for my final act as it is a very moving piece of music that builds in pace and therefore completes the ending to influence the audience to go see this film when it comes out at the cinema.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Studio Research
Film London
“Film London is the capital's public agency for feature film, television, commercials and other interactive content, including games. Our aim is simple: to ensure London has a thriving film sector that enriches the capital’s businesses and its people.”
This quote is taken off Film London’s website and it shows that this production company would be ideal to have for the production of my film because of the location of my film, with all scenes taking place in the urban capital city of England. They are there to support aspiring and emerging directors who make low-budget films located in London and to give them the economic boost to offer the film the best possibility to become successful in the low-budget, indie film market. Films that Film London have given financial help to include Shifty(2008), Foxglove(2009) and Gin & Dry(2010).
Film4
“Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established.”
This quote taken directly off the Film4 production company website tells me that despite Film4 being involved in the production of such high-budget and well-known films such as The Iron Lady(2012), The Inbetweeners Movie(2011) and The Eagle(2011); they also give financial support in the production of lesser known directors’ films and up and coming British talent. This is evident in their role in the production of films such as Richard Ayoade’s Submarine(2011), Attack the Block(2011) and Tyrannosaur(2011). Therefore, this along with other British production companies that offer financial support to films which show off British talent would be ideal in the economic backing for my film because of their ethos to help unknown, unheard of British talent become successful.
DNA Films
This is a British film production company founded by Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew MacDonald. It has given financial support to a number of relatively low-budget films compared to the millions spent on Hollywood blockbusters. Films that it has given financial support to include Never Let Me Go(2010), The History Boys(2006) and Love Actually(2003). These films have gone on to be both successful in the UK and in the US, despite my film not particularly being aimed at an American audience, with the financial support from a number of British production companies there is no reason why my film cannot be successful in the US like other low-budget British films which offer the Americans an insight into British culture and filmography.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Locations
The opening scene takes place outside the front gate of Wandsworth Prison with the emphatic prison walls being the backdrop to the shot with Luke emerging from doing his time. This location was ideal to use once I had decided on my plot because it is easily accessible from my home therefore meaning that my actors and the equipment will not have to be travelled long distances. The entrance to the prison is fairly stunning as one can see in the picture below and when choosing to use this prison instead of Brixton Prison I decided which one looks more obviously like a prison from the outside because of the inability to go inside the prison. From this picture and with the costume and attitude that Luke portrays in the opening I believe it is easy to establish what this building is.
After this opening scene to my trailer the plot takes us to an urban house where the main character, Luke approaches the front door, knocks and awaits a reply. A young woman opens the door and a heated discussion between the two takes place at the front door step. The house I have decided to use, again is very easily accessible for all actors but it also shows the audience what type of film this is. The main character hasn't come out of prison with loads of money and opportunities and approaching a million dollar mansion, he's approaching an urban, terraced house in a London suburb. This location will be the symbol of hope for Luke, seeing as to be taken back into his ex's life he must gain her trust and be let into her home, therefore this house is seen later on in the trailer during the montage of clips as Luke runs by.
As the argument on the door step unfolds, the young woman brings up Luke's past and the consequences for his actions, for instance going to prison for 3 years, leaving his pregnant girlfriend to bring up a child by herself, and now the child has no idea who her father is or what it's like to have one. As the young woman talks about his past we cross-cut to a scene in a dark room where Luke and another man are seated on a sofa with a table in front of them with the pair dealing out money on the table into different piles. When edited, this scene will appear in black and white to confirm to the audience that this is in the past and is meant to signify the type of things that Luke was in to and why he went to prison. The location for this scene is in a living room which doesn't look too flash or have any obviously expensive equipment or furniture to keep in step with the low-budget, gritty nature that this film is trying to portray.
The final location used in my trailer also takes place on the common, with shots of the main character, Luke, running in a tracksuit up and down a pathway. There is a similar look to the previous location by the bench with dark, sinister lighting as Luke ponders over what he should do, whether to carry on trying to prove to his ex-girlfriend that he is worth taking back and that he is a changed man or whether to turn back to his old pals and risk going back to prison but on the other hand get the thrills of making decent money through his selling and usage of drugs. The lighting of the whole trailer is fairly low-key and I believe that this adds to the urban, gritty nature of what my film would be like. Especially is this evident with this location; the dark nature of the underpass and a lot of grey with the concrete and walls, with the grass and leaves the only thing supplying some colour to this scene.
As the argument on the door step unfolds, the young woman brings up Luke's past and the consequences for his actions, for instance going to prison for 3 years, leaving his pregnant girlfriend to bring up a child by herself, and now the child has no idea who her father is or what it's like to have one. As the young woman talks about his past we cross-cut to a scene in a dark room where Luke and another man are seated on a sofa with a table in front of them with the pair dealing out money on the table into different piles. When edited, this scene will appear in black and white to confirm to the audience that this is in the past and is meant to signify the type of things that Luke was in to and why he went to prison. The location for this scene is in a living room which doesn't look too flash or have any obviously expensive equipment or furniture to keep in step with the low-budget, gritty nature that this film is trying to portray.
Another scene in my trailer takes place between the same men seated on the sofa in the previous scene in the living room. This time the two men are seated on a bench on a common discussing their differences and Luke is trying to be persuaded to return to his old habits and forget about his and ex and his daughter. The location below fits in with the gritty nature of the film with a bench which doesn't particularly look two comfortable and the shot from behind the bench certainly shows off the look of a London suburb which heightens the urban feel to my trailer.
The final location used in my trailer also takes place on the common, with shots of the main character, Luke, running in a tracksuit up and down a pathway. There is a similar look to the previous location by the bench with dark, sinister lighting as Luke ponders over what he should do, whether to carry on trying to prove to his ex-girlfriend that he is worth taking back and that he is a changed man or whether to turn back to his old pals and risk going back to prison but on the other hand get the thrills of making decent money through his selling and usage of drugs. The lighting of the whole trailer is fairly low-key and I believe that this adds to the urban, gritty nature of what my film would be like. Especially is this evident with this location; the dark nature of the underpass and a lot of grey with the concrete and walls, with the grass and leaves the only thing supplying some colour to this scene.
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Audience Interview
From this interview I was able to establish a niche audience that I had not previously considered. My target audience is primarily women aged 15-24 but what I had not previously considered was women of an elder generation than my target audience. From this interview with my mother I found out that her generation predominantly watch Romantic or Drama films because they have read the novel of which it is based on. Another point which came up from this interview is the idea that the elder generation are less inclined to go to the cinema to see the latest Blockbuster and they are more likely to go to the cinema to see the latest British film. Therefore, this means that I must take into consideration the 40+ audience when I complete my film trailer because they will be intrigued to see how new British, low-budget talent is doing in the film industry.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Audience Survey Analysis
The results from my survey clearly showed me that when planning a Romantic Drama, my target audience will most likely be a Female dominated one, and therefore when thinking about where to focus my film on I must take into consideration that my core audience will be Female. However, other results from my survey showed that most of the men that took my survey had in fact seen some well-known Romantic movies, and their excuse for it was that they had been taken to see it by a woman. This is a niche audience that I must consider when trying to target a range of audiences.
The results from my survey regarding how people find out about upcoming films showed that the majority of people of today find out about films via television trailers, word of mouth, posters and billboards and online trailers. The one which I pay most attention to here is that of people being influenced by billboards and posters, considering I must make a poster for my film, I must pay particular attention to how I want my film to portrayed seeing as a poster is a key way to getting people to see your film.
This doughnut graph just heightens my feelings on the fact that my target audience for my film in this country will prefer my film to be low-budget and British. The percentage of people that took my survey that enjoy Indie film surprised me and maybe this will be something that I have to take into consideration when filming my camera shots and deciding on the mood of my film.
These results from my survey are key to deciding whether to say that my film is based on a novel. Having looked at other Romantic films I have seen that the majority of them have been based on best-selling novels and therefore when the film comes out, it will already have a niche audience of those who have read the novel. From this I can see that most females that took my survey do enjoy reading Romantic novels.
This final graph tells me when making my trailer what I must focus on to attract the biggest audience. For example, here it is clear that most of the people that took my survey are influenced most by camera shots, the mood of the film and the narrative. This reminds me that my trailer cannot just have nice shots and a relaxing soundtrack, it must also have a good narrative and a mood which will interest people.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
3 Plot Sequence
Act One
• Young male emerges from Wandsworth Prison in grey tracksuit.
• Grey murky day, man looks up and surveys the streets, been in prison for 3 years so takes some time to take in the new environment of the outside world.
• Looks down to his hands where he is holding a cross, signifying his finding of faith in the prison, and in the other hand a picture of a young child.
• Graphics telling us about this film being based on a best-selling novel.
• Slow paced piece playing lightly.
Act Two
• Fade away to new scene; same character is walking up towards the door of a house, slowly.
• Soundtrack is changed with this scene, with a slow, building track.
• Woman comes to door and heated conversation between man and woman evolves.
• Conversation enlightens audience to a previous relationship between the two and we find out they have a child aged 3. Script such as “You’ve been away from our lives for three years, and you expect to walk straight back into it, we’ve coped well without you. Your child doesn’t even know who you are”………….. “I’m a changed man, please, just give me the chance”. Door slams shut!
• Scene of main character and his old friend sitting on bench discussing whether his ex is really worth this and whether he should forget about her. This old friend is the one who means good for his friend but leads him back to his bad past.
Act Three
• Graphics are introduced as pace builds, adding to the storyline to help the audience understand what this film is about.
• Main character and old friend seated on sofa dealing drugs, this scene will be edited in black and white to signify this being in the past.
• Shots of man running in rain, pondering over broken relationships and thinking about ways in which he can prove to his ex and child that he deserves that second chance. As he runs past her house every day, he leaves a rose in her post.
• Dark scenes, setting a mood and atmosphere as graphic asks the audience “Can he hold off old traits and redeem himself”
• Montage of shots including main character holding a man up against a wall in a threatening manner, attempting to mug this man of his possessions. Yet this scene is in stark contrast to a scene of main character and ex-girlfriend emerging from a pub laughing and enjoying each other's company.
• New track, very fast paced, emotional and powerful ending.
• Final shot of ex-girlfriend seated on her stairs, head in hands, looking distressed over the re-appearance of the main character in her life.
• Trailer ends with graphics saying the release date and title of the film.
• Young male emerges from Wandsworth Prison in grey tracksuit.
• Grey murky day, man looks up and surveys the streets, been in prison for 3 years so takes some time to take in the new environment of the outside world.
• Looks down to his hands where he is holding a cross, signifying his finding of faith in the prison, and in the other hand a picture of a young child.
• Graphics telling us about this film being based on a best-selling novel.
• Slow paced piece playing lightly.
Act Two
• Fade away to new scene; same character is walking up towards the door of a house, slowly.
• Soundtrack is changed with this scene, with a slow, building track.
• Woman comes to door and heated conversation between man and woman evolves.
• Conversation enlightens audience to a previous relationship between the two and we find out they have a child aged 3. Script such as “You’ve been away from our lives for three years, and you expect to walk straight back into it, we’ve coped well without you. Your child doesn’t even know who you are”………….. “I’m a changed man, please, just give me the chance”. Door slams shut!
• Scene of main character and his old friend sitting on bench discussing whether his ex is really worth this and whether he should forget about her. This old friend is the one who means good for his friend but leads him back to his bad past.
Act Three
• Graphics are introduced as pace builds, adding to the storyline to help the audience understand what this film is about.
• Main character and old friend seated on sofa dealing drugs, this scene will be edited in black and white to signify this being in the past.
• Shots of man running in rain, pondering over broken relationships and thinking about ways in which he can prove to his ex and child that he deserves that second chance. As he runs past her house every day, he leaves a rose in her post.
• Dark scenes, setting a mood and atmosphere as graphic asks the audience “Can he hold off old traits and redeem himself”
• Montage of shots including main character holding a man up against a wall in a threatening manner, attempting to mug this man of his possessions. Yet this scene is in stark contrast to a scene of main character and ex-girlfriend emerging from a pub laughing and enjoying each other's company.
• New track, very fast paced, emotional and powerful ending.
• Final shot of ex-girlfriend seated on her stairs, head in hands, looking distressed over the re-appearance of the main character in her life.
• Trailer ends with graphics saying the release date and title of the film.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
What are the conventions of your chosen film genre and which aspects of trailers in this genre influence you? Refer to examples
When it comes to making a film, it is the job of the distributors to set up a marketing campaign that will be appealing and will arouse interest from the general public or audience. The marketing campaign consists of a number of different techniques which will aim to attract a vast audience to go and see this film; posters offer the audience a vision of what this film may be like and radio adverts offer the audience an audio, but in the eyes of all the most powerful weapon in the marketing campaign, is that of a trailer or teaser trailer because it combines an audio and visual to give the audience a real idea of what this film is going to be like. The trailer will often consist of the most appealing aspects of a film, for instance in the trailer for ‘The Dark Knight’, the most notable part is a shot of a truck being flipped up into the air and onto its roof, this shot was probably the most expensive to shoot and is the most stunning, and therefore must be put into the trailer for this Hollywood Action Film.
Taking these conventions into consideration I had to pay special attention to choosing a genre for my film, I eventually came to the conclusion that I would be doing a trailer in the Drama Genre. First of all I had to look at the conventions of a Drama Film, then look at trailers in that genre and then finally decide whether I would want to place my trailer into a sub genre of a Drama Film. However, to start off with I looked up the common conventions and themes that are associated with my genre. A drama film is one that normally focuses on a character or characters struggle at a certain point in their lives and then shows how they deal with the emotional times that follow. Dramatic themes usually centre on things such as alcoholism, drug addiction, class divisions, poverty, racial prejudice or violence. Having looked at these common themes I came to the conclusion that none of them particularly fell in line with what I was trying to achieve and put across to the audience with my film. Therefore, I looked at the sub genres of a Drama Film and I paid particular attention to that of a Romantic Drama where the themes are more centred on the struggles of love between two people, with strong conventions of passion and emotion which usually lead to a very powerful narrative. This appealed to me more and consequently I have decided to create my film trailer in this genre.
Having now decided on my genre, I had to look at film trailers in this genre and gather ideas from them which I can then put into my own work. Examples of trailers that I looked at in this genre were ‘The Notebook’ (2004), ‘Another Year’ (2010), ‘One Day’ (2011), ‘Romeo + Juliet’ (1996), ‘The Time-Traveller’s Wife’ (2009), ‘Dear John’ (2010), ‘Message in a bottle’ (1999) and finally ‘Remember Me’ (2010). A common theme amongst romantic-drama films is that they are usually based on successful novels, specifically ‘The Notebook’ is based on a best-selling novel and therefore a niche audience of people that have read the book is established because they are more likely to be interested in going to see how the book has been transformed into a film.
When looking at the distributors and producers of these Romantic Dramas, they are commonly created by big Hollywood names such as with ‘Message in a bottle’ this was distributed by Warner Bros. Staying with this film, a fact that stands out is that of the release date, the 14th February otherwise known as Valentine’s day. Other films similar to this have been known to release their films on Valentine’s Day so that couples can be encouraged to go see it together on the day as a romantic occasion. When thinking about the release date for my film I will take this into consideration.
When looking at the distributors and producers of these Romantic Dramas, they are commonly created by big Hollywood names such as with ‘Message in a bottle’ this was distributed by Warner Bros. Staying with this film, a fact that stands out is that of the release date, the 14th February otherwise known as Valentine’s day. Other films similar to this have been known to release their films on Valentine’s Day so that couples can be encouraged to go see it together on the day as a romantic occasion. When thinking about the release date for my film I will take this into consideration.
‘Another Year’ was the winner of three major film festival awards and the producers of the film decide to put that graphic right at the beginning of the trailer to make sure that audiences on the television don’t quickly change the channel, because automatically they are interested in learning more about this highly-acclaimed film. This is an example of ways in which producers heighten expectations.
I chose to include ‘One Day’ in my collection of trailers that I have looked at because not only is it based on a novel of 2009, it also has another good selling point in the choosing of the actors to play the two main roles: Anne Hathaway plays the main female role and she was well known before this film for roles in ‘Rachel Getting Married’ and ‘Love and Other Drugs’ where her performances got her nominated for a Golden Globe. This wealth of experience meant that the film now had a USP in the form of an established actress. The leading male role Jim Sturgess was a much lesser known actor than Hathaway before this film but the success of this film may bring about a platform to launch his acting career.
The narrative is established in a number of different ways, usually through images of the film and sound clips which help to enlighten the audience to what this film is about. However these are not the only ways that a trailer can establish its narrative. For instance, in ‘The Notebook’ the narrative is told through an actor reading a supposedly fairy tale of a couple and their lives together, however the fairy tale is later to be found to be real. ‘Romeo +Juliet’ also has a narrator describing the narrative but this is supported by the use of graphics which come up with a line or sentence that helps the audience to understand the narrative more, this is also evident in ‘Remember Me’.
Producers also like to establish the mood of their films in a number of different ways, most notably is the use of a backing track or tracks. For example; in ‘The Notebook’, a romantic piece played by an orchestra with violins and a piano sets an up-beat yet emotional atmosphere; in ‘Dear John’ it begins with a slow paced, relaxed acoustic guitar piece......as a complication is established the mood changes and an emotional well-known Snow Patrol track is used; in ‘Another Year’ a harp piece is used in the beginning to suit the mood of romance and sympathy, this is interrupted with a faster piano piece when the narrative quickens.
In conclusion, when it comes to my chosen genre there are a variety of ways that I can establish mood, expectations, narrative and the genre itself. To be specific, I believe it’s the powerful nature of the narrative and the strong use of emotions which attracts me to choosing this genre for my film. Especially when one can express these emotions through a number of different ways in a trailer such as the use of actors, music, images themselves, graphics, script, locations, props, camera angles and the mise-en-scene: this freedom to show powerful narratives, images, expressions and others through a trailer is what made me choose this genre.
Monday, 27 June 2011
Trailer Research - Romantic Drama
The Notebook (2004)
Institutions
- Distributed by New line Cinema – A Warner Brother’s division, major American film studio.
- A Gran Via production – Small, only real success-to-date was this film.
Selling Points
- Based on a best selling novel – a niche audience is already established (i.e. readers of the novel)
- Big studio in New Line Cinema behind it
- Two main actors are young and rising stars having won, in the case of Rachel McAdams “Best breakthrough female performance” for her role in Mean Girls earlier that year at the MTV Movie awards. In addition, Ryan Gosling was nominated in 2002 at the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards for “Most promising performer”, for his role in Murder by Numbers.
- James Garner and Gena Rowlands brought a host of awards and experience in the film industry with them, and therefore must appear in the trailer.
- A love story which everyone can relate to
Establishing genre, mood and expectations
- Romantic settings, in the country with big houses, and natural light
- Non-diegetic soundtrack romantic, classical piece played on piano
- Cross-cutting between past and present, the story is narrated to help establish mood
- Pace builds as narrative unfolds and problem is established, contrast in close-ups of joy and happiness when they’re together and the dark, iconic scene in the rain sets a powerful atmosphere.
Successful?
- I believe this trailer is successful because it reaches out to every audience for everyone can relate to the story.
- The use of close-ups in particular, on the lead actress showing her times of joy and sadness, I believe makes the trailer more powerful and interesting, and overall draws in viewers.
- I think the “based on the best selling novel” part should appear earlier in the trailer, so that audiences do not change the channel, as within the first few moments of the trailer there is no acknowledgement of awards or why someone should go see this film.
Target Audience
- All ages, because of the narrative which everyone can relate to. However the 15-24 year old age bracket will probably be the target audience because of the casting of roles and this age bracket is more understanding to romantic films such as this.
- There is also a niche audience of an elder age who can relate to the elder characters.
- Finally, being based on a novel, a niche audience of those who have read it will be established, because they will want to see how the novel is transformed into a film.
How is the audience targeted explicitly?
- Use of graphic, highlighting that it is based on the novel
- Focussing on not only the youthful two main characters but also showing the elder characters to target both audiences.
- Set in and around World War 2 which explicitly attracts the elder generation who can relate to those times.
Another Year (2010)
Institutions
· Thin Man Films led the production together with Film 4 and Focus Features International.
· Thin Man Films - production company set up by Mike Leigh, relatively small, but with 8 successful feature films before this one, such as Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
· Film 4 – They develop and co-finance films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK.
· Focus Features International – art house films division of Universal Pictures
Selling Points
· The official selection at three big Film Festivals
· Well known director in Mike Leigh
· Cast who have worked with Mike Leigh before and produced good work, in film and television.
· In particular, Jim Broadbent, who has won a host of awards in his career and appeared in films such as Harry Potter and Iris
· Passionate and powerful narrative…”The power of this film creeps up on you by stealth” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.
Establishing genre, mood and expectations
· Non diegetic sound is calm, slow guitar piece which suits the narrative being portrayed.
· Shots of elderly couple going about normal day life is sweet.
· Pace builds with piano piece and introduction of character who’s life is not as smooth as the others, tears and this music tell the audience that this film isn’t just about the boring lives of a couple.
· Use of graphics telling the audience the awards that this film has won and the graphic telling the audience the name of the director and his successful previous work, heightens expectations.
· Final use of graphics such as quotes from critics also heightens expectations
· Laughter and comic lines establish perhaps that it is a “feel-good” film, mixed in with the dramas of everyday life.
Successful?
· The focus on something, which seems so boring and mundane, yet still makes one feel it in the heart is a product that is successful.
· The trailer cleverly tells the audience that this film has been well received at film festivals near the beginning so that the audience does not lose interest.
Target audience
· Elder generation who can relate to main characters and the narrative
· Retired couples that can understand the dramas and troubles of life that these people are facing in the film.
· A film to watch with your partner because it focuses on the relationship of a couple.
· Film lovers that pay particular attention to winners of film festival awards
How is the audience explicitly targeted?
· Casting of characters that suit the roles that an elder generation can relate to.
· Graphics highlighting awards that this film has won at famous film festivals
· The film does literally revolve around the life of a couple and their friends around them, this is highlighted in the trailer by the use of graphics and shots.
Monday, 20 June 2011
Trailer Research
INCEPTION
1. What cinematic techniques are used to establish mood and tone?
The obvious cinematic technique used in this trailer for 'Inception' is that of CGI or computer generated images. This establishes a target audience and enlightens the audience to what this film is like. The specific use of CGI of the street turning over on top of itself, is used in this trailer because it is the most memorable shot in the entire film. This technique is also used in 'The Dark Knight' trailer where the truck flips up and crashes to the road with a thud, this shot is used in the trailer because it was probably the most expensive scene to shoot and is fairly stunning.
The non-diegetic sound of the soundtrack over this trailer is loud, building in pace and sets a tone of excitement and anticipation of the release of this film because this film looks high-budget and exhilarating.. The music builds to a climax to the point when the narrator gives the line which shows the audience basically what the film is going to be about. Finally, the music is synchronous at the last clip of the trailer to the appearance on screen of the date of release, this dagger of sound shocks the audience and tells them that "summer 2010" is a going to be big!
The majority of the shots included in this trailer are shot with low-key lighting. This helps set a mood of a dark and sincere film which is coming in the form of 'Inception'. It will not be a "feel-good" film or a comedy where you go and come out of the cinema feeling happy and cheerful. The mood set in this trailer is one which tells audiences that they will have to think during the film and at certain points it may be difficult to understand. This is portrayed in the trailer by the use unimaginable events and confusing terminology which literally blow one's mind.
2. How does the trailer establish the themes and narrative?
The use of a narrator in a trailer is commonly used in american trailers, to establish the narrative, specifically in this case the use of Leonardo Dicaprio speaking over complex camera shots, unbelievable CGI and his expansive use of terminology helps add to the theme of this film being big budget and fairly difficult to comprehend.
Another way the trailer enlightens the audience to the themes and narrative of this film is by using graphics saying "Your mind is the scene of the crime", most audiences struggle to multi task and probably cannot take in the importance of the words of the narrator and the importance of the images on screen. Therefore, the trailer contains a sentence which captures the main theme of the film and gives the audience something to take away which will stick in their mind and help them to establish the narrative of the film that they decide whether to go see or not.
3. How does the trailer establish genre?
From the trailer the audience may find it difficult to establish a genre because it probably falls in to so many. For instance, the high budget and expansive use of CGI probably makes the audience believe that this film is going to be a big american blockbuster, and I believe it does fall into this category. However, the use of fast-paced exciting music and a sense of a pulsating narrative make this film feel as though it falls into the thriller genre. Finally, the use of unbelievable concepts and images by using CGI probably makes the audience establish this trailer in the sci-fi genre as well.
4. Who is the target audience and how is the audience targeted in this trailer?
Undoubtedly, the target audience for this film is the 15-24 year old age bracket. The use of complex computer generated images certainly attracts this target audience rather than older audience because younger audiences are probably more welcoming to new technologies and even when they are, like in this case inconceivable, they often find it easier to comprehend.
The casting of this film was important and the use of Leonardo Dicaprio as the narrator, as well as being in the film itself, appeals to the target audience rather than casting someone like Michael Caine for the role. The rest of the cast is also fairly young and this encourages the target audience to see the film as they can relate to them, and this is shown in the trailer by shots of Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
5. What is the reason/effect for using the director's name and previous work?
Having Christopher Nolan's name in bold and telling us his previous work in the form of the hugely profitable and widely appreciated film 'The Dark Knight', this enables the crew behind the making of 'Inception' to establish a niche audience of followers of Christopher Nolan, because of his incredibly successful previous work. Therefore, before the film has even been made or the trailer even released the film will already have huge publicity for being Nolan's next film and especially as he is following in the footsteps of 'The Dark Knight' by making this next product a sincere, high-budget, exciting thriller. Consequently it is vital that they include his name in the trailer.
SALT
1. How does this trailer promote and focus on the big star?
The opening shot is a close up on Angelina Jolie's face playing Evelyn Salt, already the audience have established the unique selling point of this film. The opening shot is followed by a sequence of different scenes, where in every one Jolie features and although other characters appear they are not present in every scene and are therefore just supporting roles.
2. Action films are thought to appeal to a predominantly male audience. How does this trailer target both female and male audience separately?
Angelina Jolie being cast as the main part in Salt automatically establishes an audience of the feminist kind as they probably feel they can relate to her slightly more than to a male lead role. Female lead roles in action films are much less common than the casting of a man because the male audience is widely expected to want to go see a hard-hitting action film. However in the casting of Angelina Jolie, she brings the history of success in the form of the Tomb Raider and therefore proves that having a woman lead role in an action film brings about success at the box office because it appeals to both genders.
The male audience are attracted to the casting of Angelina Jolie as a leading role in an action film because of her history of success in Tomb Raider which is considered a quality action film despite the unique casting of a woman. Another thing which may draw the male audience to see this film is the casting of Angelina Jolie who is considered an extremely attractive actress and therefore one whom the male audience may and enjoy going to see in "action".
3. How does this trailer use editing to create atmosphere?
The opening to the trailer is rather slow-paced with the editing as the mood and atmosphere of the opening scene begins to be established. However, as the narrative evolves with the questioning and cross-cutting between this scene and another, begins to evolve the pace of the editing begins to pick up with extremely fast paced editing close to the end with a sequence of shots from different scenes showing Jolie just in her underwear and therefore the contrast of the scenes, from what seems as being a slow paced start building to a climax at the end and consequently creates a suspenseful and exciting atmosphere.
HEARTBREAKER/ L'ARNACOEUR
There are a number of differences between the three trailers for the same film......most notably the voice over used in the three separate trailers. For example, the voice over in the English trailer is an american man outlining the narrative of the film and does not use any excerpts from the film which are used in the European and French trailers. The voice over in the English trailer highlights to the English audience that this film may be French but the narrative and comedy in the film can still be enjoyed no matter where you are from. The voice over in the other two trailers are notably in French to appeal to those niche audiences, however in these cases they are sound clips from the film, from the main character. The use of two familiar songs to the English audience in the English trailer in 'Time of my life' and 'Wake me up before you go go', this is dissimilar to the European trailer where a guitar piece is used.
The genre established in all three is fairly obvious as the comedy in a sequence of clips is shown, a number of shots in all three also show the main character in different relationships with a number of women, maybe showing us that this film falls into the rom-com category. The shots are similar throughout all the trailers with the iconic shot of the main character and his crew walking through an airport.
1. What cinematic techniques are used to establish mood and tone?
The obvious cinematic technique used in this trailer for 'Inception' is that of CGI or computer generated images. This establishes a target audience and enlightens the audience to what this film is like. The specific use of CGI of the street turning over on top of itself, is used in this trailer because it is the most memorable shot in the entire film. This technique is also used in 'The Dark Knight' trailer where the truck flips up and crashes to the road with a thud, this shot is used in the trailer because it was probably the most expensive scene to shoot and is fairly stunning.
The non-diegetic sound of the soundtrack over this trailer is loud, building in pace and sets a tone of excitement and anticipation of the release of this film because this film looks high-budget and exhilarating.. The music builds to a climax to the point when the narrator gives the line which shows the audience basically what the film is going to be about. Finally, the music is synchronous at the last clip of the trailer to the appearance on screen of the date of release, this dagger of sound shocks the audience and tells them that "summer 2010" is a going to be big!
The majority of the shots included in this trailer are shot with low-key lighting. This helps set a mood of a dark and sincere film which is coming in the form of 'Inception'. It will not be a "feel-good" film or a comedy where you go and come out of the cinema feeling happy and cheerful. The mood set in this trailer is one which tells audiences that they will have to think during the film and at certain points it may be difficult to understand. This is portrayed in the trailer by the use unimaginable events and confusing terminology which literally blow one's mind.
2. How does the trailer establish the themes and narrative?
The use of a narrator in a trailer is commonly used in american trailers, to establish the narrative, specifically in this case the use of Leonardo Dicaprio speaking over complex camera shots, unbelievable CGI and his expansive use of terminology helps add to the theme of this film being big budget and fairly difficult to comprehend.
Another way the trailer enlightens the audience to the themes and narrative of this film is by using graphics saying "Your mind is the scene of the crime", most audiences struggle to multi task and probably cannot take in the importance of the words of the narrator and the importance of the images on screen. Therefore, the trailer contains a sentence which captures the main theme of the film and gives the audience something to take away which will stick in their mind and help them to establish the narrative of the film that they decide whether to go see or not.
3. How does the trailer establish genre?
From the trailer the audience may find it difficult to establish a genre because it probably falls in to so many. For instance, the high budget and expansive use of CGI probably makes the audience believe that this film is going to be a big american blockbuster, and I believe it does fall into this category. However, the use of fast-paced exciting music and a sense of a pulsating narrative make this film feel as though it falls into the thriller genre. Finally, the use of unbelievable concepts and images by using CGI probably makes the audience establish this trailer in the sci-fi genre as well.
4. Who is the target audience and how is the audience targeted in this trailer?
Undoubtedly, the target audience for this film is the 15-24 year old age bracket. The use of complex computer generated images certainly attracts this target audience rather than older audience because younger audiences are probably more welcoming to new technologies and even when they are, like in this case inconceivable, they often find it easier to comprehend.
The casting of this film was important and the use of Leonardo Dicaprio as the narrator, as well as being in the film itself, appeals to the target audience rather than casting someone like Michael Caine for the role. The rest of the cast is also fairly young and this encourages the target audience to see the film as they can relate to them, and this is shown in the trailer by shots of Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
5. What is the reason/effect for using the director's name and previous work?
Having Christopher Nolan's name in bold and telling us his previous work in the form of the hugely profitable and widely appreciated film 'The Dark Knight', this enables the crew behind the making of 'Inception' to establish a niche audience of followers of Christopher Nolan, because of his incredibly successful previous work. Therefore, before the film has even been made or the trailer even released the film will already have huge publicity for being Nolan's next film and especially as he is following in the footsteps of 'The Dark Knight' by making this next product a sincere, high-budget, exciting thriller. Consequently it is vital that they include his name in the trailer.
SALT
1. How does this trailer promote and focus on the big star?
The opening shot is a close up on Angelina Jolie's face playing Evelyn Salt, already the audience have established the unique selling point of this film. The opening shot is followed by a sequence of different scenes, where in every one Jolie features and although other characters appear they are not present in every scene and are therefore just supporting roles.
2. Action films are thought to appeal to a predominantly male audience. How does this trailer target both female and male audience separately?
Angelina Jolie being cast as the main part in Salt automatically establishes an audience of the feminist kind as they probably feel they can relate to her slightly more than to a male lead role. Female lead roles in action films are much less common than the casting of a man because the male audience is widely expected to want to go see a hard-hitting action film. However in the casting of Angelina Jolie, she brings the history of success in the form of the Tomb Raider and therefore proves that having a woman lead role in an action film brings about success at the box office because it appeals to both genders.
The male audience are attracted to the casting of Angelina Jolie as a leading role in an action film because of her history of success in Tomb Raider which is considered a quality action film despite the unique casting of a woman. Another thing which may draw the male audience to see this film is the casting of Angelina Jolie who is considered an extremely attractive actress and therefore one whom the male audience may and enjoy going to see in "action".
3. How does this trailer use editing to create atmosphere?
The opening to the trailer is rather slow-paced with the editing as the mood and atmosphere of the opening scene begins to be established. However, as the narrative evolves with the questioning and cross-cutting between this scene and another, begins to evolve the pace of the editing begins to pick up with extremely fast paced editing close to the end with a sequence of shots from different scenes showing Jolie just in her underwear and therefore the contrast of the scenes, from what seems as being a slow paced start building to a climax at the end and consequently creates a suspenseful and exciting atmosphere.
HEARTBREAKER/ L'ARNACOEUR
There are a number of differences between the three trailers for the same film......most notably the voice over used in the three separate trailers. For example, the voice over in the English trailer is an american man outlining the narrative of the film and does not use any excerpts from the film which are used in the European and French trailers. The voice over in the English trailer highlights to the English audience that this film may be French but the narrative and comedy in the film can still be enjoyed no matter where you are from. The voice over in the other two trailers are notably in French to appeal to those niche audiences, however in these cases they are sound clips from the film, from the main character. The use of two familiar songs to the English audience in the English trailer in 'Time of my life' and 'Wake me up before you go go', this is dissimilar to the European trailer where a guitar piece is used.
The genre established in all three is fairly obvious as the comedy in a sequence of clips is shown, a number of shots in all three also show the main character in different relationships with a number of women, maybe showing us that this film falls into the rom-com category. The shots are similar throughout all the trailers with the iconic shot of the main character and his crew walking through an airport.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Sunday, 3 April 2011
7. Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
We set out on completing our preliminary task with very little planning - a few pictures of where we were going to be filming, the camera angles we were hoping to take and also what we were going to say. Looking back on it I could see where this lack of planning effected the task itself. This therefore showed me the vital part which quality planning would take in our final task. So I and my partner made sure that when we went out to film our final piece, we were prepared with everything which would aid us in creating the final product that we had wished for. There were three main topics which I aimed to focus on while filming to overall give us a better final product; these were time management, the technology - camera angles, lighting, sound- and also how I managed our actors. The latter was something I could not attempt to plan for until the day of filming came around, however, the other two my partner and I trialled in our reccee.
The reccee, I saw as being a huge learning curve, as we were able to establish the mistakes and plus points which we had achieved while filming. Most of the technology was fairly new to me, so by giving it a trial run in the reccee, I was then able to film the main task without holding our actors up. We were able to work out the approximate time that it would take to film our main task, and therefore, when it came to the day of filming the main task we were able to determine what time we think we would have to start filming. Next, we had to try out our camera angles, lighting and sound which we had planned for in our shot list and storyboard which we brought with us for guidance. Everything seemingly went well, and we were happy with what we had achieved for our reccee, however, when watching our recordings back we realised that our microphone had been too close to a high electrical power source and therefore gave out a loud, high-pitched screech! Fortunately, with it only being a reccee we were able to correct this for our main piece. The lighting and camera angles we had used came out nicely, and again the importance of in-depth planning was proven to be vital.
When we had shot our main task and uploaded our footage onto a Mac, I felt as though I was learning something new to do with the Final Cut Pro video editing software every day that I used it. The inability to use it would have ended up with an uncut final piece, spanning over 20 minutes and therefore, learning to use the software, which I had no experience in before this year, was one of the most important skills learnt since making the preliminary task. To be specific with new skills I have learnt on the software; starting off I had an uncut preliminary task which had to be captured for it to be uploaded onto the software, then roughly cutting the footage so we had a feeling of continuity editing in my piece. However, since then, for our main task, I have acquired many more skills and uncovered countless effects on the software to try and make my final piece as good as possible. These included having to use a "Hum Remover" effect to, not surprisingly, remove a slight hum which we had with our sound recordings, learning how to apply graphic titles over the top of our footage and also layering these same graphics using "Boris titles". Unfotunately our first sound recordings came back with a strong hum which we decided was too much and therefore, did a re-recording of the sound using digital audio recorders, this was also a new technical aspect which I had learnt since my preliminary task. Finally, for our audio tracks at the beginning of our opening and the music box track, we had to download them off "freeplaymusic.com" and then overlay them over the footage; fading them in and out using special sound effects. This was a completely new are for me and something that I had no experience in just after the completion of my preliminary task.
JK
The reccee, I saw as being a huge learning curve, as we were able to establish the mistakes and plus points which we had achieved while filming. Most of the technology was fairly new to me, so by giving it a trial run in the reccee, I was then able to film the main task without holding our actors up. We were able to work out the approximate time that it would take to film our main task, and therefore, when it came to the day of filming the main task we were able to determine what time we think we would have to start filming. Next, we had to try out our camera angles, lighting and sound which we had planned for in our shot list and storyboard which we brought with us for guidance. Everything seemingly went well, and we were happy with what we had achieved for our reccee, however, when watching our recordings back we realised that our microphone had been too close to a high electrical power source and therefore gave out a loud, high-pitched screech! Fortunately, with it only being a reccee we were able to correct this for our main piece. The lighting and camera angles we had used came out nicely, and again the importance of in-depth planning was proven to be vital.
When we had shot our main task and uploaded our footage onto a Mac, I felt as though I was learning something new to do with the Final Cut Pro video editing software every day that I used it. The inability to use it would have ended up with an uncut final piece, spanning over 20 minutes and therefore, learning to use the software, which I had no experience in before this year, was one of the most important skills learnt since making the preliminary task. To be specific with new skills I have learnt on the software; starting off I had an uncut preliminary task which had to be captured for it to be uploaded onto the software, then roughly cutting the footage so we had a feeling of continuity editing in my piece. However, since then, for our main task, I have acquired many more skills and uncovered countless effects on the software to try and make my final piece as good as possible. These included having to use a "Hum Remover" effect to, not surprisingly, remove a slight hum which we had with our sound recordings, learning how to apply graphic titles over the top of our footage and also layering these same graphics using "Boris titles". Unfotunately our first sound recordings came back with a strong hum which we decided was too much and therefore, did a re-recording of the sound using digital audio recorders, this was also a new technical aspect which I had learnt since my preliminary task. Finally, for our audio tracks at the beginning of our opening and the music box track, we had to download them off "freeplaymusic.com" and then overlay them over the footage; fading them in and out using special sound effects. This was a completely new are for me and something that I had no experience in just after the completion of my preliminary task.
JK
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
A wide range of different media and software were used in making our final piece:
Blogger.com – this was used to update and post our individual work in the planning and evaluation stages.
Freeplay music – this is an un-copyrighted website where we were able to search for particular genres and styles of music, therefore easily find sound to suit our film. We could then download it and add it on to the footage.
Google.com – a search engine used to obtain images which could be used to support our planning. It also allowed us to search the internet for films similar to ours so we could be inspired and research different production companies.
YouTube.com – this site allows you to search for videos therefore we were able to look at a variety of different film openings which then gave us ideas for our own film opening. We were also able to analyse these openings in order to see what worked well and what was less effective.
IMDb.com – the internet movie database was a really useful website for research into other films, actors, characters and production companies since it provides a huge amount of information for most films.
Tripods – these were vital when filming since they ensure the camera is held steady so the shot does not appear handheld and shaky. This means the film has a more polished and professional look. We used the tripod throughout our piece, and as the legs were adjustable we were able to film at a range of different heights and angles. The tripods also allowed us to pan, as seen in the opening shot.
Final Cut Express – this is the software we used to edit and produce our final piece. The software was extremely detailed so allowed us to cut each scene down to the perfect time. Furthermore, this software enabled us to add effects to our piece, such as a Low Pass which we added to the scene in the hall in order to make the characters’ voices sound more clear and slightly echoic which we felt helped initially to build the tension. We were also able to add titles using‘Boris’ so had a large choice of fonts which we were then able to edit and add effects to.
Apple Macintosh Computer – we used this computer to edit our film usingFinal Cut. The extra large screens meant the editing process was easier since everything could be cut down really precise.
Panasonic HD Camera – we used this to record our final piece and also for the recce footage so we were able to learn how it worked in order to get the best possible shots.
Kaiser Video Lights – we used both filler and main lights in our final piece to give a more glossy effect and help to set the tone where possible, since at the beginning we used high key lighting where as at the end it was low key as the themes in the film became darker.
Rode Stereo Microphone – this was used throughout the opening to pick up ambient and diagetic sound.
Rode Directional Microphone – we used this in conjunction with the microtrack to record the scenes with dialogue since the sound was much better quality this way.
Boom Pole – the directional mike was attached to this so it could be directed nearer to the sound being recorded in order to obtain a better quality.
Microtrack – this was an incredibly useful piece of equipment regarding sound. We firstly used it to record the music box since this sound was not available on freeplay music. We also used to microtrack to record the dialogue in some scenes so the sound was more audible.
Overall I feel I can now confidently use this equipment/software, a lot of which I had never used before. Since we both have PCs at home, it was difficult to first adjust to using mac computers, however once we learnt the basics we soon found it much easier to control and edit our piece in Final Cut.
KDS
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