Analysis: Teaser Trailer

Analysis - Magazine Front Cover

Analysis - Film Poster

Film Magazine Front Cover

Film Poster

Equipment

We will use a digital camera to take recce shots and to take our individual images for my promotional poster and film magazine front cover.

This is the camera that we will use to film all our our teaser trailer footage, there will also be a tripod used for when we need it.

We will be regularly using a computer to regularly update our blogs and keep a record of our progression.  We will also be using computers to create our individual promotional posters and film magazine front covers.

We will be using iMacs to edit our collected teaser trailer footage and we will be using the iMacs to create our final teaser trailer.  We will also use the Macs to incorporate sound into our footage.

I will use photoshop to create my promotional poster and my film magazine front cover.  We, as a group, will be using photoshop to create our production company logos.

Powerpoint has been used to incorporate recce shots and slideshows of any photos taken.  We also used powerpoint to display our storyboard.

Blogger has been used to regularly post the progression of our A2 media coursework.  It has allowed us to display all aspects of our coursework and many different media platforms can be incorporated into our blogs to make them effective and detailed.

Prezi has been used as an alternative way of recording market research and other blogs.  It allows variety and detail throughout my blog and shows that I am capable of using a variety of software.



Production Journey: Magazine front cover

Here is a quick powerpoint to show the different stages that I talked about in the production of my magazine front cover.

Production journey images

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Draft of Magazine Front Cover

I have created a draft for my magazine front cover inspired by the layoutof Q magazine.  I will use the paper draft as a rough template to base my product on and will save me time through enhancing my planning skills.

Production Journey - Poster

Production journey of poster

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Draft of Poster

I used a draft for my promotional poster designed on the ideas I had come up with.  The draft will give a template to base my real promotional poster on which will size me time and enhance my planning skills.

Elaboraton of Poster Idea's

I decided to elaborate on the last point in my poster and the inspiration gathered from the source code poster image.  As the trailer incorporates the idea that the main character is teleported from one location to the other, I have decided to look on google for any tutorials of how to produce an image that will reflect this idea. As I was using photoshop to produce my film poster I searched for "face shatter effect photoshop". This is the tutorial that I found;

Shatter effect tutorial

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I have decided to use the shatter effect on an image of the main characters face as I feel it is the most appropriate affect to give the illusion that the character is being transported somewhere else.  I think that the shatter effect makes the image look like it is being transported in pixel form and with the main character holding the phone it will allow the audience to relate this image with what happens in the film trailer, therefore showing synergy between the film trailer and the promotional poster.

Poster Ideas

Theme Music

The music we felt would be relevant for our film trailer would be a piece of music that followed a drum and bass genre.  We took inspiration from the Chase and Status End Credits.  We could  not use this song as our theme for the trailer as it is copy righted.  We attempted to create a piece of music on Garage Band on the Mac's.  After a few attempts we came to the conclusion that we did not have a range of sounds that we could access to create an effective track.  We then decided to look at websites that offer unprotected tracks that have been already created by individuals.  We browsed the website to look for a track that followed the theme of drum and bass.  We applied the track to the trailer and edited it so that certain beats fell on the cuts that occured within our trailer.  This emphasised the effect of the cuts and added tension and drama.  We insterted sound effects on top of the track eg. the phone ringing and the 'wooshes' from garage band to allow the reader to understand the events that occur throughout the trailer.

Website : http://www.looperman.com/

Issues with Filming

We had an issue with our planned filming, as a group of three we rquired all group members to be present when filming.  One of our team members was absent on the day of filming therefore we had to require the help of another sixth form student to carry out the duties that our third team member would have.

There was also the other issue of conflict between the team members.  We had not delagated roles to all team members therefore there was a slight issue of deciding who would film as all team members wanted to.  W solved the issue by all team members filming each scene and then picking which one was most effective when it came to editing the footage.

The third issue was creating the effecs we had planned to include in the teaser trailer.  We planned to incorporate a scene where the antagonists would appear from behind a car that was driving past.  This effect was difficult to create with the materials that we had.  As we only had my car to use to drive past it did not look effective as the car was not tall enough to cover the actors therefore we will not use that particular piece of footage within our teaser trailer.

Plan for Second Session Filming

As we encountered difficulties with our first filming session that prevented us collecting all of our footage, we have planned to carry out a second filming session where we will gather all the filming footage we require to create our teaser trailer.

Problems with Filming

For our first session of filming we planned to capture all the chase scenes that will occur in the teaser trailer.  We managed to capturte one chase scene but still had problems with the footage.  We had to spend the majority of our time changing the camera settings to the correct ones and also figuring out how to direct the actors to create a effective and succesfull shot.  After an hour, we had to cease filming as the weather turned to a turrential down pour.

Camera Angles & Shots

I decided to create a short consolidation of examples of shots I am planning on incorporating into my teaser trailer.  I feel that a mixture of these shots will allow my camera skills to be shown through the trailer but they will also allow me to capture the footage in the most effective aspect possible.

Risk Assessment

Before we commenced with filming our trailer content we needed to fill out a risk assessment form.  This needed to be done to ensure that we were covered for any accidents that could of occured when off the school premises.  The main risk was due to the high angled shots that we wanted to incorporate into our trailer therefore the filming equipment and camera person needed to reach a high level to ensure this camera angle was portrayed effectively.  As this involved myself climbing onto a surrounding wall of a building that was atleast 6ft high it scored highlyon our risk assessment.  The other risks were just everyday accidents that could occur and were easily avoidable, therefore scored low on the risk rating. 

logos

Presentation1

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Tag Lines

For our trailer, promotional poster and film mag cover we needed to create a tag line to incorporate onto these media platforms.

All of these taglines have an aspect of 'mystery' to them.  As a group we thought that all these taglines leave the audience wanting to find out what they are about e.g. "answering the unknown", they want to know who the unknown is.

Even though we believe that all tese tag lines would be effective, we have chosen the tag line as 'would you run the risk?' 

We will incorporate the other three into our teaser trailer  as we feel that it would be effective to have them included in the voice over.

Storyboard

As part of our planning of our teaser trailer, we constructed a rough storyboard to allow us to have something to follow to aid the production of our trailer.  This will allow us to keep the time we are filming the shots that we need to a minimum.  This is due to our filming equipment needing to be shared between other A2 groups therefore our filming time is limited and we need to be as efficient as possible when filming our shots.

Story board

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Main Character Selection

For the selection of the main character we choose three potential males.

We chose these males as we were looking for potential characters that had a masculine complexion.  Each male looks sophisticated and all appear well groomed.  These would portray our main character image well and would be easily associated with the image of a main character.  Our final choice was the top male, Ben Lacey.  We came to this decision as he is the oldest and may be more mature about the tasks that we ask of him to perform.  He is also a drama student so will be more comfortable infront of the camera and may pull off the tasks we ask of him more effectively and will understand how to change his behaviour, posture and emotions with relevance to the story line and situation he is in.

Photo of Alternative Location

This is a photo of the alternative location we found instead of using Richmond Castle.

Easby Abbey

Recce Shots 2

These are the pissible locations that we found.  they are all located in a small town located near to where we live.  This will allow us to acces the locations easily and wuickly when filming our teaser trailer.  The locations are all similar with no major differences therefore our trailer will flow and have continuity.  The locations will match our film trailer as they are realistic and are modern, lived in locations.  There were some choices that we made from researching our locations.  We have decided to not use the castle as a location to film.  We originally thought that it would be the ideal location for an effective over the shoulder shot off the top of the castle.  We can to the decision that it would be extremely difficult to create this and would be extremely time consisting as the castle is only open on certain days and at certain times.  There is also an admission charge of £4.10 for each person to enter the castle grounds.  We have come up with an alternative location that will still have the same ‘eeriness’  as the top of the castle but is free to enter  and can be entered at any time, this location is Easby Abbey.

Recce Shots

Today, me and my group planned  to go and find possible suitable locations to film our teaser trailer.  We will be looking for urban areas eg. towns and streets as well as woodland and isolated areas.  we will take pictures of each location that we find to pin point and compare which locations would be suitable for each shot.

Planning

Main Idea

The name of the film is not yet decided, this will be determined by the market research we will carry out.  The film is based around an interpretation of the life of a middle class business man but with a twist.  The twist is that he finds a mobile phone and takes it home with him.  The phone begins to ring and when answered he is teleported to a different location.  This is where the film becomes active and mysterious.  The mobile phone belongs to two villians therefore it is them that are ringing the phone knowing that the phone and whoever has it will be teleported to them.  They want the phone back but the business man doesn't want to give it up.

Location

To make our production effective we will need to film the trailer in realistic locations that have not been minipulated for the camera.  Ideal locations would be; a forest/woods, run down warehouse, the streets, alley ways, house and offices. 

Props

Our movie is very much set in real life situations with a twist therefore not many propa will need to be used.  Some props will be used to make our trailer more interesting and dramatic with the use of props such as, guns, cars and of course a mobile phone.

Costumes

The main character will be dressed in either a suit or casual clothing as the character will be a middle class business man.  The villians in this trailer will be wearing detective like clothing e.g. long mac coats, hats and suits.  This will allow them to look mysterious but in a modern way.

Transport

Transport will not be an issue for me and my team as two of us have our own  transport therefore travelling to find and film in different locations and transporting equipment carefully will be possible.

Actors

The majority of the actors we  will be using will be male.  The main character will need to be a male in atleast his late teens as he needs to portray a mature, masculine business person.  The villians will also need to be the same age as the main character otherwise our trailer will not look realistic. 

Technological Equipment

To successfully create our film teaser trailer we will need a camera with sound equipment, a computer or laptop with ample editing software e.g. Mac, photoshop to create posters etc for marketing.

Teaser Trailer Vs Theatrical Trailer

For our media coursework we were asked to create a promotional package for a film idea that we have come up with.  We had the choce of either creating a teaser trailer or a full theatrical trailer within this promotional package, as well as two individual ancillary tasks.  As a group we have chosen to create a teaser trailer as we feel that we will not have enough time to create a full theatrical trailer and incorporating our time into producing a teaser trailer will result in it being better qaulity therefore more effective and successful.

Film Magazine Front Cover

All the information I have concluded from the questionnaire researching the film poster, I will incorporate into the production of my film magazine front cover as both of these products will need to include similar conventions and detail.

Analysis of Market Research - Audience Response

As a group we created a set of questions to ask a selected few of our target audience to obtain some audience feedback and to collect information to help us create the most suitable and effective teaser trailer in relation to there thoughts and prefereations.

These are the questions that we asked them:

1.What do you think the thriller sub-genre is?

2.Do you think the main character of the film should be male or female?

3.What genre of music do you think would best suit the genre of the film?

4.What makes sci-fi thrillers appealing to you?

5.In a teaser trailer how much of the story line do you think should be revealed?

6.The chosen title of the film is itinerant, do you think this is suitable? If not can you suggest any appropriate titles?

The response from our audience was what we expected.  The overall favourite sub genre was sci-fi thriller.  As a group we predicted that this would be the chosen answer because of the element of the phone and technology.  We predicted that a male would be the desirable main character for the trailer as it is extremely rare that a female character would star as the main role in a film like this one.  The desired music was similar to the music chosen in our online survey therefore we are certain that we should incorporate this into our trailer as our audience feel that it will achieve the most effective sound for the trailer.  We need to ensure that our trailer involves an interesting story line and surprising as our audience finds these aspects of a trailer most appealing.  At the beginning of our audience response interviews we had come up with the film title of ‘Itinerant’.  Although we, as a group knew that the word meant moving from place to place, the audience was clueless and found the title irrelevant.  As a result of this, as a group we have decided to brainstorm different film titles that will be more suitable for the film trailer that we are making and relate to the film more obviously.

Analysis Of Market Research - Teaser Trailer Questionnaire

Question 1

From these results, I can colclude that the majority of our target audience would be interested in a psychological thriller.  This tells us that the genre of our film is suitable for our target audience.

Question 2

This question was to ask the audience their thoughts on the most suitable title.  The obvious favourite was 'Withheld'.  From these results we will ensure that we will incorporate and use these results by calling our film Withheld as that is the title that our target audience percieves to be the most suitable and effective.

Question 3

The results from this question will give us a rough idea of the sounds and instruments that the audience will find most effective when viewing our teaser trailer.  The sounds and instruments chosen are mostly the 'basey' sounding percussion instruments eg. Guitar and Drums.  These instruments will allow us to create a trailer that sounds dramatic and intense. 

Question 4

From these results I can pin point that the presence of the film title and the editing techniques used are deemed the most important factors to creating an effective teaser trailer according to our target audience.  It will be important that we take these results into consideration as we need to ensure that our teaser trailer is effective and appeals to our target audience.

Question 5

These results tell us, as a group, that our target audience think that a black, blank screen at the start of the teaser trailer would be the most effective way of opening the trailer.  The black, blank screen will create the feeling of mystery and will entice the audience to carry on watching the trailer.  As we want out trailer to appeal to our audience we need to ensure that this is taken into account when creating our trailer to ensure it will appeal to our audience.

Analysis Of Online Questionnaires

Question 1

From this response it suggests to me that the colours that I need to incorporate into my film poster are black, grey, white and red.  From this I can conclude that from an audience's point of view, monochrome colours with a contrasting vibrant colour will be most effective to reflect the genre of the film.

Question 2

From the results of this question, according to the target audience, a simple, basic and subtle disign and layout.  I agree with this result as I feel that a subtle, decluttered poster will be more effective than a busy overcrowdede one as it will allow the audience to pinpoint the important information and images on it.

Question 3

The results of this question is fairly varied however I agree with the answer with the highest percentage.  The target audience suggested that a full body silhouette would be most effective to use on a promotional poster.  By using a full silhouette image of the main character will allow the audience to familiarise themselves with the character and gives them an image that they can recognise.  The fact that it is a silhouette keeps the identity of the character a mystery and adds suspense to the fact that the audience will need to go and view the trailer to find out the identity of the character.

Question 4

The results show that font 4 is the most popular choice for the film poster.  An image of all the 4 fonts are displayed below:

Even though the most popular font with the target audience is font 4, I am choosing to ignore these results as I feel this font will potray more of a horror theme than a thriller theme.  Personally I feel that font 3 will be the most relevant font as one of the main objects in the trailer is a mobile phone and the font resembles the font that is used for numbers on a phone.

Question 5

From the results of this question I can conclude that the target audience found relevance in all the aspects of institutional information to be incorporated onto the film poster.  Regarding this I will ensure that I will include the title and tag line of the film as these were the two most voted aspects.  I will also include the production company as it will allow the audience to have a level of expectation of what the qaulity of the film will be and the date of release will allow tell the audience when to expect the film.

Market Research

As part of our market research we conducted two questionnaires on a survey website.  The questionnaires were conducted to reveal what would be the best ideas and conventions to include when filming and editing our teaser trailer.

http://www.sureveymonkey.com/s/HS65WJX

http://www.sureveymonkey/s/LW2XK83

Editing

Different types of edits

Transitions:

·         Fades

·         Dissolve

·         Wipe

·         Spiral

·         Shutter

·         Cut

·         Other digital effects

Cuts:

·         Fast cut

·         Jump cut

·         Cross cutting

·         Action match cut

·         Axial cut – similar to jump cut but moves closer or further away from the subject

What effects the type of editing used?

·         Genre

·         Pace of action

·         Sound used

·         Create illusions e.g. danger

·         Emphasise important objects

Marketing

Editing is used in trailers and TV adverts to advertise the film.  If editing is not used effectively then the audience may perceive the film in a different way to what it should have been therefore attracting the wrong audience.

Sound

Types of sound:

·         Non diagetic – sound you do not expect to hear

·         Diagetic – sound you expect to hear

·         Orchestral – orchestra music

·         Voice over - narrative

·         Dialogue – speech between characters

·         Sound effects – enhanced diagetic sound

·         Music

·         Theme tune

·         Sound bridge – sound between two cuts

What affects type of sound you hear?

·         Genre *

·         Pace of action

·         Location

·         Character

·         Prop

·         Narrative

·         Target audience *

·         Editing

Marketing/ cross promotion:

·         Theme tune

·         Ringtones

·         Quotes/ catchphrase

·         Soundtrack  *

            (* the most important)

Larry Crown:

·         Genre – romantic comedy

·         Target audience – late teens, adults

·         Expected sounds – lots of dialogue between characters, narrative of Larry Crown, diagetic sounds, soft romantic music along with bubbly music to go with comedy parts of the film

Mothers Day:

·         Genre – psychological horror

·         Target audience – late teens, young adults

·         Expected sounds – orchestral music to create jumpy sounds and sound effects to create tension.

Trailer Analysis - Bourne Identity

Inspiration

From analysing the promotional package of trailer, poster and magazine front cover of the film 'Source Code', I have concluded that I will use this film as the main source of inspiratrion for both of my ancillary tasks.

I will use what I have learnt from analysing them to influence how i create and edit my magazine front cover and promotional poster to allow my products to target my chose audience and reflect the genre chosen of action sci-fi.

Trailer Analysis - Source Code

Theatrical trailer analysis source code

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Analysis: Magazine front cover

Analysis: Source Code Poster

Analysis source code poster

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Analysis - Taken trailer

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene used throughout this trailer allows the audience to view the characters and content within the trailer to be realistic.  The use of casual, everyday clothing such as jeans, t-shirts and jumpers gives a sense that the events shown in the trailer can happen in everyday life and this it should be viewed upon as not a fictional storyline but a problem that may occur and what people may have to deal with at some point in their life.  The use of real cities and buildings allows the audience to have some sense of orientation and establish the differences between the cultures of the united kingdom and france.  Interestingly, the two main characters appear to be of similar age as to what the target audience will be.  This allows the audience to relate to the characters that they will be viewing.

Editing

As the storyline of the film needs to be shown in the trailer the majority of the cuts are of medium pace so enoguh is given away to the audience to allow them to come to a decision on their thoughts of what the full film will be like and what content it will contain, however these cuts are not too long as the producer will not want to give away too much of the story line so the audience still remains inquisitive and has an incentive to go and view the full film.  There are moments within the trailer where fast cuts are included.  These are minimal but frequent and occur mostly near the end of the trailer.  The fast cuts are used to add suspense and also give the illusion of fast pace.  The illusion of fast pace will be reflecting the fact that majority of the content within the film is action based e.g. chases between the father and the kidnappers.  The fact that they increase in intensity allows tension and suspense to build as the trailer goes on leaving the audience at the highest level of suspense dramatising the content which will potentially increase their desire to go and view the film or buy products.  Each cut is shown in chronological order in relation to how they will appear in the film.  This not only adds to the realism of the film but also allows another editing technique to be used; fades.  Fades are used between each cut to show the passing of time.  As the cuts are shown in chronological order with fades, or otherwise passing of time, inbetween each cut entices the audience to guess what is going on inbetween the content shown and the reason behind the events. 

Camera Shot/Angles

The majority of the camera shots used in this trailer are mid shots of the main characters; these being, the father and the daughter.  This allows ther audience to become familiar with the characters that will be involved in the majority of the screen time.  With the audience being familiar with the audience allows the audience to recognise any products involved with this film e.g. posters, magazines, screen savers etc.  There are also close ups used to enhace the increasing familiarisation that the audience will have of the characters as it allows the audience to feel connected with their gestures and emotions allowing the audience to feel the same emotions as the characters therefore more involved with the film.  There is also a close up teamed with a zoom on the mobile phoen the daughter uses to talk to her dad.  This close up and zoom is used to signify that the audience should view this prop as having high importance in this film as this phone is the man way of communication between the father and the kidnappers.  There is an establishing shot used along with a pan to allow the audience to be familiarised with the settings and places where the events are occuring.  By establishing the setting will allow the audience to understand the differences in language, bahviour and way of life portrayed in the film.

Sound

The music used for this trailer is minimal.  The majority of the sound is dialogue between the two main characters.  This may be due to the fact that there is no text superimposed onto the screen to explain the storline therefore dialogue is the main way of allowing the audience to understand the content that they are viewing.  The minimal sound that is used is mainly sound effects that compliment the cuts that occur.  These sound effects used are of high pitch and dramatic therefore, along with the fast cuts where they are used, adds to the intensity and enhances the suspense that is building up.  The sound effects used also help to reflect the genre of the film to the audience.

What I Have Learnt

Three things that I havelearnt from analysing this trailer and I will incorporate and consider when constructing my own trailer are;

- Use costumes and clothing that suit the purpose of the character and reflect the realism this needs to be created in my trailer e.g. everyday clothes

- Use fast paced cuts to add tension and suspense, also to portray that the content of the film will be fast action paced

- Use close ups and zooms to signify to the audience that the objects are an important factor within the trailer and film.

Certification

As our target audience is aged between 15-25 we need to ensure that our trailer is edited correctly so it would qaulify to be certified a 15.  I researched the BBFC website for the criteria that we would have to consent to while editing our trailer.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/

To make our film suitable for the viewing of people aged 15 we need to ensure that no violent action is shown that could be immitated by the target audience.  We need to consider this as our film is an action film and includes chases we need to ensure that no physical or verbal violence is included.  This should not be a problem in the trailer as we will not be using any diagetic sound.

Genre & Target Audience

Film Poster Analysis - Jumper

The promotional film poster for Jumper is simple but effective.  The image of the two pyramids frame the character and draws the audience's eye to him, also the concept of placing the person on top of the Egyptian Sphynx places him above everyone and most other objects, this signifies his importance aswell as the fact that the Sphynx is a major landmark and a spectacular sculpture that is known all over the world.  The Sphynx is used as it a place that not many people would consider to be and would not be a place where people would commonly be seen, especially on the top of the Sphynx's head.  This supports the film tag line that is included on the poster; 'anywhere is possible'. 
The entire poster is presented in a sepia colour tone.  This not helps tell the audience the location, environment and portrays desert like colours but also helps set a time of day.  The sepia colour tone is an effective way of symbolising the colours of a sunset and strongly shows contrast between light and dark areas creating shadows that we would expect at that time of day.  This gives a sense of realism.  The conditons of the hitorical landmarks shown by the intense shadows revealing detailed cracks, lines and damages signifies the age of the landmarks consequently revealing that the image was concocted recently.  The subtle glow that surrounds the image of the person and the light background contraststhe darkness of the image.  This also aids the portration of his significance and importance he will play in the film.
The white colour used follows the colour theme of the poster but is still slightly contrasting to the darker sepia colours to allow the text to stand out to the audience.  The title of the film is in the biggest and boldest font is this is the first bit of text they should read to let them know what the poster is about.  As the importance of the text decreases so does the font size and severity of boldness.  Other text that is obviously larger than the rest is the two titles of previous films that the director of 'Jumper' has also directed.  This tells the audience the standard of film they should expect.  Other text includes institutional information as well as the films official website.  This entices the audience to research about the film in more depth as the poster does not reveal alot about the film leaving and the darkness of the character leaves the poster seeming mystical and mysterious.  This factor as well as the font and the blont lined images  help portray the genre, being sci-fi thriller, to the audience.
From this analysis I have decided to use some of the techniques displayed when producing my film poster.  I will keep my my promotional poster simple and bold.  There will also be an image of the main character to familiarise the audience with who will be in the film.  A tag will also be used as I feel it is a good way of understanding the poster and relating it to the trailer and film.  It also helps recognise the film. All these techniques will aid me to portray the genre of the film - sci-fi/thriller.