Storyboard

This is our storyboard we created when we filmed our trailer, we had to draw what we wanted the scene to look like on the left side of the page, followed by the shot type and music soundtrack used on the right hand side.

The storyboard we created was very important to all of us that we do and draw exactly how we want to lay out the footage we shot on the night, the 30th of October. We made sure that when we mapped our schedule out we had a storyboard to go with it, just so we had a template to set our trailer onto, this made it easier for us to decide how and what we wanted to do amongst the group working behind the production of the trailer.  

Soundtrack Analysis

Our soundtrack for our trailer is the 'Halloween' theme song. Halloween was a horror film in 1978 which would go beyond the boundaries horror movies had previously set. The films theme song was influential and would set the mood for a slasher horror film. This music adds suspense and creates a horrific atmosphere, these are the main reason we have chosen to do this sound because for our horror themed trailer this would go well with the moments and suspense camera angles.

 

We wanted to create an eerie atmosphere as our trailer is dark and atmospheric in the way so the audience would enjoy and be attracted top the scenery which had a good combination with the sound in the background. With this soundtrack we also wanted to add in other sound effects over the top of the themed music to create atmosphere, to show were we was at that time and these specific sounds went well with what was happening on screen. For example we included a dog barking sound effect which was put into effect when we was going through the woods and found a 'BEWARE OF DOG' sign on our way. The sound we used is below:                                                                           

Another sound effect we included was a 'ambient rain sound' effect that was used to show what the conditions were like the might we went out and filmed. The footage we have could not show this therefore we got the sound off a reliable source on 'youtube' and added it to our trailer. This rain sound helped us develop the scene we plainly had to make it polished, providing a better scene overall. The sound effect we used is below:   

All of the sounds we used were chosen to go perfectly with the movement and camera angles we used to create a trailer that we thought in the end was the best we could have edited and produced. 

2 film trailer analysis'

Batman The dark knight rises:

The 2012 batman the dark knight rises trailer includes many codes and conventions in relation to promoting the film and successfully advertising it to the general public. The films trailer interests fans by including quotes and images they would understand and therefore can relate to. For example the images including main characters within the film such as Batman himself, bane and cat woman, this will be used to entice people in going and viewing the whole screening and witness a blockbuster cinematic feature. The companies behind the production and distribution are shown at the beginning, as the film trailer starts by showing the DC, Legendary and Warner Brothers logo's quickly before proceeding to show the full length trailer. The genre of the film is crime fiction/ action thriller and the trailer should show the extent of what to expect when going to view the film, the trailer will then show some key points in the film without giving away too much, telling us the general aim and objective of the films basis, basically the plot. Throughout the trailer the content includes dark features which is use to analysis as 1 of my 2 film trailers.

REC:

'Rec' is  2007 horror film distributed by filmax and fox. The film is promoted very well as the trailer combines  a few of the scariest scenes with the main story and plot of the film, not just showing scary bits of the movie but also giving the audience a reason for them to go and see it, a plot line in which they will watch and want to find out about how the characters unfold. The codes and conventions include dark scenes putting across to the audience the main genre that is horror as the trailer is fearful and will scare audiences who pay to see the whole film. If a horror film was to be put across and promoted by distributors to audiences for this genre the film 'rec;' would be a good example of how to do this in the certain format.

2 Film magazine front cover analysis'

my posters I have chosen to carry on the dark theme by selecting to analyse both batman and inception film magazines. The 'empire' film magazine produced 2 batman magazine covers in promotion of the new blockbuster 'the dark knight rises'. This is aimed at men as the camera is pointed directly at the main characters faces showing facial expression and costume, showing who's is the bad and who is the good, therefore the reader will get a clear insight of what to expect when going to watch the film. The cat woman front cover is more aimed at men as she seems revealing at the pose is that of fetishism within the business, gaining male viewers, however at the same time keeping that older family reputation, as it being the last installment in the franchise the fans would want to know how the sequel will conclude. 'Empire' magazine also produced a bane magazine cover showing marketing in making the reader perhaps want to by the three as future collectors items etc.

Another film magazine cover that is in keeping with my chosen genre would be the 'total film' front cover of the blockbuster film 'inception'. The front cover is very dark and shows the lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio in a neutral way, almost as if he is 'day dreaming' which is in keeping with the style of the blockbuster film, which focus' on dreams. The film magazine's title is big and colorful in contrast to the actual front cover which is dark and mixes the blue with the black colours as the lead character is surrounded by a concept in the city again because the film is based around architecture and concept. The works 'Film' in the main title of the magazine has the top of buildings as this has a lot to do with inception, therefore the magazine will want to show every aspect of the film to try and promote it on their film magazine front cover.

Peer assessment feedback

In order to improve my work i will add the missing work to my blog, this includes 2 trailers, 2 magazine covers and a sound trailer. The blog could include more in depth media language, explaining what some of the words in the blog mean. Intertexual references and descriptive writing could have been used a bit more throughout. Need to include a post regarding the genre of your film comparing different aspects. This information will be useful towards my A2 media blog.

  

Film poster analysis

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The poster for 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' is in fitting for the genre i have picked for my own film poster, that being the genre of 'horror'.

In this poster it shows a young girl scared in a bed with her grasping her bed covers whilst a hand with knives is used just above her face, this connotes that it is a horror film as by this picture alone we could identify that this image would be used in a poster to promote a scary film and be set to be a horror film. The film was made in 1984 and its retro style in reflected in the poster. It shows freddie appearing out of the darkness.

The image uses a lot of dark colours mixixing in with the reds to connote blood and blues to connote night time where in the film this is a key feature in the events that unfold. The image below:

Seven

The film poster for the 1990's horror thriller 'seven' shows two Hollywood a listers on the front cover, and the seven deadly sins are all listed in front of the pair, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt.     

The poster shows a lot of dark colours to show the genre of the film, and the face detection shows the two actors as wearing smart clothing behind the darkness and having a certain look in their eye which tells us they are detectives. 

The 1995 film had a big impact on the thriller/horror genre and the poster connotes fear and a story for the audience to understand and work alongside the detectives to work out the summary of these strange horrific events that take place in the film.
The image of the film is below:

  

Paranormal Activity

Paranormal activity is a 2007 and is also a dark ghostly horror film.

The poster like the two i have chosen reflects on the events that were taken place on the film, it shows a bed were a man and woman lay and the door open with a shadow showing towards the camera that is picking up this footage.

The poster connotes darkness as their is no light but the red writing that says 'paranormal activity'. This red writing is to symbolize the genre the film is in, therefore from the poster and name of the film followed by the colouring we can tell this will be a horror film to be shown in cinema's in the near future.
The image of the poster is below: 




    

Genre Theory 

Genre in the dictionary is 'a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality'. 

Other people have different theory's about genre for example;

• Daniel Chandler (2001) says genre comes from the word 'class' or 'kind'.

• Barry Keith Grant (1995) Barry believes genre is something familiar and something what becomes and has recognisable characteristics.

• Jason Mittell (2001) Jason believes that genre is used to sell products to the audience.

• Rick Artman (1999) Artman argues that 'genre offers audiences a set of pleasures' these include emotional pleasure, visceral pleasures and intellectual puzzles.

• Christian Metz (1974) Metz argued that genres go through a typical cycle of changes during their lifetime.

• Steve Neale (1995) 'Genre's are processes of systemisation' that means they change over time.

• David Bordwell (1989) 'any theme may appear in any genre'.

They are theories for genre. I believe that genre allows audiences to make choices about what products they want, i have also learnt that genres tend to have sub genres, for example romantic comedy. 

Narrative theory

The main narrative theories include:

• Props theory- Character roles
• Barthes theory- Action, Enigma and Symbolic codes
• Todorov theory- See below
• Levi Strauss theory- Binary oppositions

Todorov's theory is explaining in the image below:      



There are also different styles of narrative theories such as\ a linear structure, open structure, closed structure and circular structure. The image below reflects these structures in more detail:

Planning

Advanced portfolio checklist

ADVANCED PORTFOLIO

RESEARCH AND PLANNING  /20

RESEARCH

NEEDED	I’VE DONE, FINISHED & UPLOADED
2 TRAILERS
2 FRONT PAGES
2 POSTERS
1 QUESTIONNAIRE
Golden Trailers
Recut Trailers (Edit and Sound)
Genre Research
Terminology

ORGANISATION

NEEDED	I’VE DONE, FINISHED & UPLOADED
Production schedule
Venue Lists
Actor Lists
Prop Lists
Costume Lists
Daily Planning sheets
Venue release forms
Risk assessment forms

PLANNING

NEEDED	I’VE DONE, FINISHED & UPLOADED
Storyboards – from groups
Shotlists
Chapter sheets for takes
Lists of shots running order
Filming Log
Poster Mock-up
Magazine front cover mock-up

Trailer

We decided to go with the horror aspect for our trailer, therefore we will need to do research and look up on horror trailers that were seen as very scary, and finally use this as inspiration for our own trailer that we will produce soon. A trailer to show the style of genre we have chosen to display through our own trailer is below:

Paranormal Activity 3:



Paranormal activity 3 is a perfect example of what sort of trailer we want to develop. That being very atmospheric and frightening for the audience watching to believe what they are seeing. We want to create a cinematic atmosphere, the viewers watching want to watch more, therefore making it as good as we possibly can to have the best trailer on the course.

The genre that we have chosen was the one that appealed to us most, the one we would enjoy and be the best at creating over the period of pre production.

Golden Trailer Awards

The golden trailer awards is an annual award ceremony which picks out the best trailers throughout the year and puts them into a category fitted to their genre. Horror was our chosen genre and we looked up what won the best trailer to make sure that we were to focus on what to do and what effects to add in order to make our horror trailer the best we could make it.

The film that won the horror category in the golden trailer awards was 'The devil inside' the link to the trailer is below.

History of film trailers

Film trailers have evolved through the years making them more enjoyable and exiting for audiences everywhere. At first film trailers were very simple and just basically showed a quick preview  to try make people want to go and see the new film out within that short time period. For example on Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' the trailer was simply Alfred the director of the film walking around the area he filmed the movie explaining what the movie was about and what audiences should expect when going to see it. Below is the link that will take you to the trailer.

  

Now trailers are much more prestigious and they even have an award ceremony for them, this is called the 'golden trailer awards'. For example on the new 'Batman rise of the dark knight' film this trailer teases the audience and tries its best to convince us that we want to spend our money and go to see it. The trailer is jam packed full of adrenaline and exiting moments that fans will enjoy and appreciate when the film finally comes out for release late July. The film trailer link is below.

  

Importance of editing and sound in a film trailer

In a film trailer producers can manipulate shots they have taken and fit them into near enough any type of genre they would like depending on the music and editing.

Editing: The editing is important in creating a trailer as this will give the audience the opportunity to see some of the best, most exiting shots from the film, not into too much detail, which will evidently make them want to go see the end product.

Sound: The music put over the editing on the film trailer will reflect on the genre this film is, for example a horror will have slow, anticipated scary sound, where as a action film would have a high, fast pace score  in keeping with their genre's.

Notice the editing and sound used in this inception video above, used to make the trailer look the best in its certain genre and to make people want to go to the cinema to view the film. Without editing and sound this trailer would simply not wow audiences enough to want to go see a 'blockbuster' film.

Introduction

Welcome to my Media A2 blog, by the end of the year i will be producing a film trailer, film poster and front cover of a film magazine.

1. Film trailer: For my film trailer i will direct a video in which will star the people i wish to work with on the overall project. This video will be a film teaser and as a group we will be able to choose a genre we would like to develop this video on.
2. Film poster: For my film poster i will be creating this on my own, making sure i hold a detailed and inviting picture in which would make people want to look at and therefore proceed in going to view my film.
3. Front cover: I will be designing a glossy magazine cover in which will hold the article of the latest and most anticipated film out, this will be of the film i would have created a trailer for and a poster.

After all of my work i will hope to achieve the best grade i can by creating an enjoyable film trailer, inviting poster and glossy magazine cover.