Audience Profile

Final Narrative Idea

Narrative Outline 2

Audience feedback

Narrative Outline 1

Key Concepts: Narrative (Mr Love)

Key Concepts: Genre (Mr Love)

'Art of the Modern Movie Trailer'

The most important feature of a Movie Trailer is the soundtrack. The soundtrack can affect the mood of the trailer, giving it an emotional impact on the audience. This can result in the audience feeling hatred towards the villain or root for the protagonist.  It can also affect the pace of the trailer through fast pace editing and the choice of soundtrack. This is a feature which is irresistible to use over and over again by trailer producers.

An example of David Gale's modern piece which makes the audience feel inspired or heart broken includes trailer's such as Milk, The Iron Lady and Munich.

In most modern trailers, "The shots are shorter and shorter and shorter, and more fragmented", ".... the average length of a shot in a film has been shrinking every single year". This has been studied by the film historian Wheeler Winston Dixon. This significant change can be seen in the trailer below, where the use of fast jump cuts has increased to intensify the mood of the trailer.

An example can be seen in the trailer Fast and Furious 8, which uses a vast amount of fast jump cuts to intensify the action scenes in the film. Fast cuts are mostly used for the genre; action to present how fast paced the scenes are.

Terminology 

THE TURN LINE - This is when the music drops for a single line of dialogue. Usually between one or two characters. This builds and can cause change in pace, mood or element.

An example of a turn line is seen in the trailer, The Circle. The most recognisable turn line in this trailer is at 1.41. The pace of this trailer changes throughout by the use of various soundtracks.

THE RISE - This is the big, crescendo which most trailers builds up to. The rise usually happens after the turn line.

An example of the rise is seen in the trailer Divergent, throughout the trailer there is action and some aspects of romance scenes. The rise begins after a peaceful scene, the title of the trailer then appears, creating a crescendo, building up with fast cuts. A lot of action shots and scenes are shown, only a glimpse of them can be seen to create tension. The rise is at 2.00.

HITS - The use of dramatic drum booms in a trailer.

An example of hits being used is in a trailer is the trailer below, Marvel's guardian of the galaxy. This trailer uses the use of hits through out the trailer until the near end of the trailer. Loud bangs are used accompanied with loud background music. This makes the scenes appear very dramatic. The use of hits used in this trailer can be seen as over used, but others can argue it makes the trailer impactful to the audience. It is uncommon for trailers to use lots of hits throughout the trailer.

THE BUTTON - The scare or joke effect. Its usually used after the main title, building into a casendo.

The button is used in the trailer Tomb raider, the button starts with a beat and a few sound effects after the main title appears, then the joke happens. This builds a casendo, it then ends with another another thud sound effect to end the trailer. This humour effect makes the audience remember the last dialogue, the humour within the dialogue leaves an impact on the audience as they would've laughed or giggled. The button is most likely to be used in most genres except for horror.

Reference;
http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2012/01/15/145227280/the-art-of-the-modern-movie-trailer

The ultimate how to guide to make trailers

The purpose of trailers

The most important purpose of a trailer is making people want to see the film. A theorist called John Ellis suggests that trailers presents a narrative image of a film. A trailer should tell the audience what the film is like, giving the audience an idea of the film. Other media products such as posters and other marketing materials help deliver to the audience of what the pleasures of the film is. To attract the audience the film needs to offer something new.

The unique selling points

To have a good start to planning a marketing campaign, the film distributor must decide how they will present the film to a potential audience. We would need to ask ourselves, what sets this film apart from all the other film that are released. To decide what the USP is the film distributor will have to look at the storyline to see how different it is from other films and what the key points and elements are of the narrative. The USP of a film helps potential audiences understand what they might expect when they see the film. The visual campaigns such as trailers, and posters will stress the USP and give the audience a ‘narrative image’ an idea of the film.

The target audience

Another important aspect for constructing a movie trailer is deciding who the target audience is for your film. Target audience is a specific large group of people who might go and see a film. The target audience is important as it will affect the ‘where’ and ‘how’ of the marketing campaign. For example, we may ask ourselves ‘where to advertise and promote the film?’ and ‘how to reach that specific target audience?’. The film has to take into consideration of the USP against an understanding of age, gender and lifestyle. The target audience can vary from one film to another. It is important to do some research and compare previous films with their audiences. Although a specific target audience is important, we should aim to attract a wide range of different people. This is referred as ‘crossover’ or ‘break out’ films – films which appeal to more than just the target audience.

The trailer

Out of all the marketing materials to advertise a film, producing a film trailer is the most cost-effective. However, it is a good advertising method to captivate the audience on websites and TV-spots through moving images. A trailer is important as it reflects what people expect to see at the cinema. A trailer consists scenes and extracts from the film, this creates awareness and make the audience want to see the film. It creates a ‘WOW’ factor. A trailer consists of different elements to engage the audience, this includes moving images, graphics and voice overs to give the audience a sense of the narrative image. It can also give the audience a sense of genre and what the storyline of the film is about.

When creating a trailer, you have to ask ourselves multiple different questions and do some research of existing successful trailers. Looking at existing trailers that are successful in the market already will give you a general idea of the conventions of a trailer and what the audience expects. Most trailer are 2 min long, this is enough to give the audience a sense of narrative of the film. You would also have to analyse how many shots are used within a trailer and approximately how long each shot is. This would help you when it’s at the editing stage of producing a trailer. Looking at existing trailers also gives us an idea of what elements of the storyline is told and not told. By looking at existing trailers we can take inspiration from them and have a general idea of what your trailer is going to look like.

The very first stage of producing a trailer is having a complete narrative of our film. In the real production industry, the editors will watch the entire film and select scenes and dialogue to help create a narrative image. When creating the narrative, we have to think about what we’re trying to bring across to the audience, what is the idea of the film and what is the narrative image. Introducing the characters and ensuring the audience can recognise the genre of the film is important to contributing a sense of narrative.

Creative choices

After writing the completed narrative and having a sense of what the narrative image will look like, you have think about what you’re actually shooting and if there is going to be voice overs, intertitles and background music to give the idea of the genre.

Filming

To ensure the process of editing is easy for us, we have to use multiple different shots which we could then choose from. To be able to do this you have to shoot a variety of different angles and shots for one scene. This will make it easy for editing as well as exciting to watch for the audience. The different types of shots may include, medium, long and close up shots or shots filmed through a window, door and behind objects. This makes the shots more interesting and intrigues the audience.

Music

The genre of the film is reflected by the type of soundtrack you use for the trailer. The music used should reflect the mood and feel of the film, this will give the audience a real feel of the film, which in some cases can cause the audience to cry, smile and laugh.

The edit

When editing it is important to choose your soundtrack first, with this you can then edit the scenes and images by following the beat of the music, this will help construct the trailer. When editing you have to also consider if there is going to be dialogue used, and if yes, which part of the trailer. This applies to any voice overs and intertitles. When using dialogues and voice overs, you have to ensure the background music is dipped down so that the dialogue and voice overs can be heard clearly. Another aspect to be wary about is the length of the shots, lots of short shots edited together is much more impactful than very long shots.

Completed trailer

When you have finished editing your trailer, we have to look back at the whole trailer and see if there are shots that are too long or short and if you can change it to make it more interesting.

To ensure the audience has a sense of genre of the film, we can close our eyes and listen to the trailer. From this we should be able to make a sense of the genre and what the trailer is about through the voice overs used, dialogues and music.

You have to also ensure the trailer is not too long or short, the maximum time length is 2 minutes, if the trailer is longer than this time length then you would have to go back and edit some parts out.

The last thing we should consider after producing a completed trailer is if your trailer matches your short synopsis. The trailer should meet the key point of our narrative and consider if the shots used gives a narrative image to the audience.

Reference:  'Media Magazine, Ian Wall. April 2014'

Summer research - Film 2

Chosen Movie 2:
Film title: Charlie. St Cloud
American  Fantasy Romance Drama



Another example of 'Charlie St. Cloud' movie posters"

Media language - The use of 3 words in the title can be seen in the posters, this is a common convention for a fantasy/romance drama film. It ensures the title is not too shot or long, but has great meaning behind it. The text is written in a simple, clear and bold font. Some words are more bold in width as compared to others which gives emphasis to those words. The colour of the text follows the colour scheme of the movie poster, colours from the nature are used to co-ordinate with the theme of the poster. The brown colour used in the first poster and the blue used on the second poster, both stands out infront of the bright background. This makes it clear to read. The next largest text on the poster is the actors name "Zac Efron", Zac Efron is a well known name in the film industry and is popular amongst the girls, his name is a method of advertising and attracting female audiences which is the target audience for romance drama films. 

Camera - The images on the posters are very similar, as the images are medium close up shots of the main characters. The two shot on the second poster is a very common shot and image for a romance drama film, the image is used to represent their relationship and is an image which gives the audience an idea of what the film is about. The location of the scene is usually used as the second main image in a fantasy film, as it is the place where magical things happen.

Mise en scene - The mise en scene in the two posters, show two images, the first main image is of the main character, in both images he looks up into the sky, looking angelic because of the high key lighting. Bright colours and sparkles are used to create the heavenly and magical aspect of a fantasy sub genre film. The characters eye colour matches the background colour, which makes it pleasing to look at. The second image is of Charlie and his brother, on the left side the image is in black and white, this could indicate the past. There is also a sailing boat, the boat suggests it is an important significance to the movie. 

Editing - There has been editing done on the posters, editing such as making the outside of the main image fade out to white to connect with the second image and changing one side of the image black and white.

Representation - Overall, the representation of the poster shows different relationships by using two images in one poster, this leaves the audience curious. The use of colours from the nature makes the poster look innocent and angelic, the high key lighting supports this. The background of the images shows great significance, as it has been edited to try and bring out the story of the film. Using a long shot image is a common convention for a fantasy sub genre film, it gives an idea to the audience what relationship the characters have by looking at their body language.

Charlie St.Cloud Theatrical Trailer:

Director: Burr Steers

Release Date:

Genre: Fantasy Romance Drama

Starring: 8 October 2010

Distributor: Universal Pictures, Relativity Media

Plot: Charlie St.Cloud is a young man overcoming by grief at the death of his younger brother called Sam, Charlie ended up working in the cemetery his brother is buried in as a caretaker. Charlie gets to have a last special bonding with his younger brother by meeting up with sam each night, playing and talking to him. Things changes when Charlie meets a girl, he is pressured to choose between keeping the promise he has made with Sam or dating the girl he loves.

Media Language - The media language in the trailer used is the words added in between the short clips, to inform the audience of the significant information of the trailer. There is very limited text used, the only text used were "This summer", to notify when the movie is out, "Zac Efron", to promote the movie by advertising the fact that the popular and well known star will be the main cast. This will interest those who are a fan of Zac. The media language does not say much about the film.

Camera - There are a lot of different scenes used in the trailer, this includes, long, medium, close up, extreme close up and two shots, as well as establishing shots to show the location of the scene. Other shots would be panning and tracking, which follows the actions of the characters.

Mise en scene - The mise en scene of the trailer is simple, all props used are props used in our daily lives, this is because it is a drama film, therefore requires a realistic approach. The trailer starts off with a happy scene where Charlie and Sam is seen sailing, it shows their brotherly bonding. This could indicate that the film is based on the relationship between the two brothers. The title uses feminine colours such a light blue text on a beige background, this is to attract female audiences. All the scenes are shot in natural and high key lighting, this is to bring out the livelihood of the activities the brothers do, and to make the trailer look happy, as realistic as possible.
Editing - The words in the trailer are edited to appear on the trailer in a fancy way, where the words would move in a slow up and down motion, this reflects back to sailing and the motion of waves.  There is also a magical soundtrack used for when the title appears, this suggests something unordinary will happen. The transition and how the short clips are put together are smoothly transitioned together to make the trailer look well put together and to let the scenes flow nicely. There are a lot of shots edited together that are shot in the same scene, this is to let the audience see every aspect of what is going on in the scene, this makes it exciting and intense to watch.
Sound - The sound used for this trailer follows the conventions of other fantasy romance drama films. A lot of non diegetic sound is used such as different soundtracks to help emphasise the scenes and to set the mood. For example, a happy and upbeat soundtrack will be used for a happy scene. There is a car crash scene in this trailer, for the sound of the honk and crash, non diegetic sound is used so that the sound is more dramatic and clear. Diegetic sounds are also used, this is the sound we hear when filming the trailer, for example the conversation and speech of the characters. The music builds up in the trailers when something exciting or dramatic is happening, however if there was a sad scene the music will not be upbeat, but slow and pessimistic.

Main conventions in this movie trailer -
The fast scenes that last no longer than 15 seconds is one of the main conventions of this movie trailer, this ensures it does not give away the whole movie. Another main convention is "Zac Efron", this is to advertise and promote the film using the actors name. This will attract female audiences. The codes and conventions of a fantasy film is that it focuses on the drama and magical aspect of the movie mostly, the producer wants the film to have an emotional effect on the audience therefore various emotions and unexpected events will happen that can change the mood of audience. It leaves the viewers feeling sympathetic and surprised.

The screenshots above shows the various different shots the trailer has included, each of these different shots are important to make the scenes have an impact on the viewers. The audience is presented with an establishing shot, medium shot, extreme close up two shot and a close up shot. These shots makes the scenes more dramatic which makes the scenes intense.

This movie trailer will be able to help me with the editing of my own trailer, I have learnt a lot of fast cuts are used for exciting and uplifting scenes which I should consider. There is also a lot of different shots and angles taken from the same scene, then edited together. This makes a massive difference to how the viewers perceive the trailer. I have chose this trailer as I am going to create a trailer with the aspects of fantasy.

Summer research - Film 1

Chosen movie 1:

Film title: me before you 

British Drama Romance

Romance movie poster conventions:

• Feminine colours such as light blue, pink, red and white to attract female audience
• Main image of couple in intense love 
• Background of the poster would be where the main location is or where the couple met

Media Language - The use of the lower cases in the title, which is shown in the poster, creates an informal approach to the audience as well as represents their intimate relationship. It is seen that a close relationship automatically results in an informal approach to one another, which is why lower case letters are used. The effect of the use of lower case letters also makes it smooth to look at rather than harsh. The font of the title is very sophisticated and classy, which complements the genre of a romantic drama.  The use of white text/beige text makes it clear for the audience to read. The meaning behind the title connects with the storyline of the film, "me before you" indicates how the girl was before and how she is now after she has met the guy. The small sized text beneath the title is for advertisement purposes, as it shows the audience that me before you is based on a bestselling book. This is in a red font, to make the sentence stand out amongst the other smaller text, showing the producer wants the sentence to have an impact on the audience as well as the movie. "Based on the New York Times Bestseller", shows the success of the previous media work, this creates excitement and makes the audience expect this movie to be as good as the book, therefore motivating them to want to watch the film. Other media languages are used to inform the audience of other actors and actresses that are casted in this film. The company logo and name is at the bottom of the poster, it is in grey/white font to make it visible and stay out on the dark background.

Camera - The image in the poster is a medium shot of the couple who is the main cast of the film.

Editing - Editing has been done to the images, the actor and actresses has been photoshopped so that their face is smooth, any blemishes and eyes bags are edited out. This is to make the characters look good as well as make the film poster look high quality.

Mise en scene - The mise en scene in the poster shows a couple, female and male in their late 20's or mid 30's, who are starring in the movie. The two characters, are intensely in love with one another as it can be show through their posture and body language. The lady is sitting on the man's lap whilst the man is holding onto her waist, they are both intensely looking at each other making eye contact, this shows their intimate and love for one another, therefore indicating that this is a romantic drama. They are both smiling which suggests they are happy. The high-key lighting makes the film uplifting and exiting to watch. This is a common convention of mise en scene for a drama romance film. The clouds used for the background creates a heavenly feel which again supports the romantic factors of the film. 

Representation -  To conclude, the representation of the poster shows a charismatic and lively appeal due to all the feminine and bright colours used. The pastel colours used for the clouds in the background like orange, white and light blue and high key lighting makes the poster look heavenly and bright. Overall the poster "me before you" contains various conventions which a romantic drama would consist of.  These conventions will appeal and attract to the right audience which is mainly female audiences.

Me before you Movie Theatrical trailer - 

Director: Thea Sharrock
Release date: 3 June 2016
Genre: Romance, Drama
Starring: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Matthew Lewis, Jenna coleman, Charles Dance, Janet McTeer
Distributor: Warner Bros, New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Plot: Lou Clarke is a quirky and young lady who is finding a job, she is a cheerful girl and is put to test when she becomes a caregiver for Will Traynor, Will is a young wealthy banker who is paralysed from an accident two years ago. Will's cynical outlook on life changes as Lou shows him how much life is worth living, their bond with one another then becomes deeper.

Media language - The media language used in the trailer above are words used in-between the short clips, such as "based on the best-selling novel", this sentence is also seen on the movie poster, which is used to promote the fact that the movie is based from a best selling booking. This will appeal to those who has read this book, making them want to watch the movie. It gives the audience anticipation that the movie will be as successful as the book. Other words used in the trailers includes "live boldy", "live well",  "just live". These words appear at the near end of the trailer, they give a vague idea of what the movie is about, not too much information which gives the film away and not too little, where the point is not brought across to the audience. 

Camera - The trailer uses different variety of scenes, such as extreme close up, close up, medium shot, medium close up, long shot, over the shoulder, panning and establishing shot to show the location and characters.

Mise en scene -  The mise en scene for the film is ordinary, as it is a movie based on someones daily life, therefore normal daily props/object will be used to bring realism to the movie. There is various different locations used to film this movie, the main location would be Will Traynor's house, other settings and locations would include, the hospital, job centre, park and church. These various locations shows the audience that it is a normal day to day drama movie, which the audience can relate to. The colours used throughout the trailer are bright and colourful colours, the use of bright red is used for the background of when the words/text are transitioned in between the short clips, this indicates the movie is a romantic drama film. High key lighting is used throughout the scenes, this makes the trailer more vibrant and cheerful, which reflects back on Louis Clarke quirky and cheerful personality.
Editing - The editing of the clips has been edited so that there is a smooth transition between short clips, there is no fast cuts as this would give a different effect to the movie. In each clip it is edited so that there is something happening, e.g an event or conversation, this keeps the trailer exciting and not boring to watch. The words used in the trailer has been edited to stand out against the bright red background, it is in black/white simple text to ensure its clear to read, these colours contrast against each other. Some words has a simmery and glow effect around it. The glow around certain words makes the audience focus on those words more, it leaves an impact to the audience, making them even more curious about the movie.
Sound - The different sounds used in the trailer for me before you follows the common conventions of a romance drama film, both non-diegetic and diegetic sounds has been used in the trailer, non-diegetic sounds includes the soundtracks used to lift up the mood of some scenes and to tell the narrative of the trailer, the voice overs of the characters are also used to give a more in-depth understanding of the characters and what is happening. Diegetic sounds includes the sounds of what the characters are doing and saying, e.g the sound of running, making a cup of tea, talking etc. These diegetic sounds brings realism to the film. With both of these sounds used it convinces the audience to sympathy with the characters, which sometimes causes the audience to laugh, smile or cry whilst watching the film.

Main conventions in this movie trailer - The main conventions of this trailer is that the "girl meets the boy", this is a main convention for a romance drama film, it follows the structure of a male character meeting a female character, and eventually they fall in love with each other. There is also a disequilibrium, which is shown at the middle to the end of the trailer, where they end up distancing themselves because of something. This is also one of the main conventions romance drama trailers follows. The colours, voice overs and sounds used gives it away to the audience what the film antagonist is. The short clips do not last more than 12 seconds, meaning the audience can only get a glimpse of each scene, this makes the audience curious and want to watch the movie. The codes and conventions of a romantic film, focuses on the sub-genre, romance drama. The codes and conventions of a romance  drama is that something bad and good happens in the film, these good and bad events are events in which the audience may be able to relate to, it makes the audience feeling sad, happy and excited. Which is the purpose for a romantic film.

The screenshots above, are scenes in the trailer which can help me when I make my own trailer. I have screenshotted, an establishing shot, an extreme closeup, over the shoulder and a two shot. These are the shots and scenes which I think are common conventions within a romance drama trailer, they show clearly how intimate both the characters relationship are and shows how happy their facial expression is. This trailer and other romance drama trailers will inspire me and enlighten me to come up with good ideas and help me to edit a professional looking trailer. The sound tracks used creates different moods and atmosphere to the different scenes which helps bring out the drama and realism. A small amount of text is used, whilst voice overs and soundtracks are used a lot.
I have used this movie and trailer because I am planning to use romance features and conventions in my own trailer.