Research and planning september podcast

Research and planning: Trailer analysis

What is a trailer?A film trailer is a short promotional advert for an upcoming film. The trailer for the film should encourage us go see a film and should give a taste of what the film or movie is going to be like. The trailer should be able to grab our attention because of the images which change really quickly and make the viewer want to concentrate otherwise we may miss something.

Music, sound effects and speech from the film are combine to create an exciting mixture for the viewers. The combination of moving image and sound is a very effective way of attracting the viewers to see a film.

What is a teaser trailer?
A teaser trailer is a shorter version of a movie trailer which is created/made to grab the attention of the audience, getting them excited about an upcoming film. Teasers are typically released months before, sometimes as much as  14 -18 months before the expected release date of the film, and they are used to build anticipation and curiosity about the films they advertise. Teaser trailers can be seen before feature films in some movie theaters, and they are also released online and shown on television. approximately a teaser trailer lasts between half a minute and a minute.

What is a montage?
A montage is an editing technique in which shots are juxtaposed in an often fast-paced fashion that compresses time and conveys a lot of information in a relatively short period.

The things included in a trailer?

Release date

The peaks from the narrative are to create suspense for the audience.

Voice overs
titles used in between

The title of the film

certificate at the beginning for warning
Studio name.



Good trailer



this is a good trailer because the location choice is reasonable and fairly achievable and similar to ours as we have decided to do it in a park.



Bad trailer :


this is a bad example for our trailer as it cannot be achieved, there is use of technology,  it has to do with space and rockets, its also has explosions this is a trailer we cannot not try to make as it is unachievable so its a bad trailer for our location choice and setting.

Reaearch and planning: Audience questionnaire chart review

These are the reviews we got from our audience questionnaire research we did concerning our horror  trailer.

Research and planning : Audience questionnaire answers

This is a sample of our audience questionnaire after being handed out to specific members of our target audience . We gathered their feed back and used it to create a chart review.

Research and planning : Audience questionnaires 10 queations

This is a sample of  the questions we came up with for our audience questionnaires before it was filled in by a member of our target audience .

Research and planning : IDMB

 

 

 

The top 10 horror films of all time are shown in the screenshot above. I can now look at the trailers and plotlines for these films in an attempt to pick one that  similar to the trailer am making  and

From this list of   horror genre films above  I think our trailer is like 'House at the end of the street' because it has some similarities like murdering and moving into a place, whereas for us it's moving into a park.

 

Research and planning: prezi presentation

Target Audience For Horror Genre Trailer on Prezi

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Target Audience For Horror Genre Trailer on Prezi

Research and planning : Theories of audience compared

The  hypodermic model : is a model of  communication  suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. An example of this can be the effect  of technology on individuals.

Cultivation theory : is a social theory which examines the long-term effects of television. "The primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people spend "living" in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television.



Desensitisation theory  : when  an individual is exosed to particular ting and gets used to it they become imune to it.




Copy cat theory: copying and doing excately what you have seen like children copying actions from video games or movies.




 Uses and gratification : is an approach to understanding why people actively seek out specific media outlets and content for gratification purposes. The theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion .

Research and Planning : Meeting with partner

  I had a meeting with my  partner to decide which two parts of media language we would both like to work on in order to make  our movie trailer good, so we decided that when making out movie trailer she would handle editing and cinematography while I did Mise-en-scene and sound.
 we also talked and decided on our location as that is a significant factor in making our movie trailer.We decided that for our location that we are going to do it outside of college in Hyde Park near to college as this place is perfect to be filming as it is mostly dark. Also we both like horror genre so we've decided to do horror genre trailer.

 

 

Research and planing :poll junkie

Research and planning: trailer analysis feedback

I put up a post on facebook asking friends for help out on choosing a trailer  for my genre and trailer analysis post and these are some of the feedback i got from the post on facebook.

Research and planning : Analysing trailer 2

Genre: I choose this trailer because it is an example of The genre of horror is shown in this movie trailer in many different ways, from the costumes and locations, to the colours and over all character appearances. The costumes portray the horror genre as they are dresses casual and unprepared which is typical for unexpected tragedy in horror films. The locations shown in the trailer range from a dark  buildings with slight grey to make it look foggy, to abandoned houses and buildings this can be typically associated with the horror genre, as they have elements of fear and danger about them. The characters that are featured in this trailer also give the impression that the genre of the film is horror, as two of the characters are seen holding on to one another  which is quite horrifying.  the young female character in the trailer appears all the way through the trailer as the central character who is left alive at the end.


Narrative :

The story of the film is about a young girl who was born in a place that got burnt down and when she was a kid she was giving up for adoption now away from home living with her new family as she grows older spirits from her past and her place of birth starts to hunt her in her dreams because they want her to come to her place of birth to set the the spirits of the dead free  but evil is determined to stop her at all cost. she was however forced to go to silent hill because they had her dad so she went to go look for him. this is filled wit psychological terror and plays wit primal fears.                                                

Representation: The gender representations in this trailer seem to be unconventional as the female in the trailer is the lead character and she sort of put up a fearless front and is determined to find her dad she can be sen as the hero of the movie the lady going to rescue the man because he is represented as weak and vulnerable in this trailer. also the man of doom with the mental head and giant weapon is a typical streotype of men because they are seen as bigger and stronger and more dominant.


Audience :The audience of this trailer is young adults and teenagers ans some parents who like horror genre however keeping in mind the movie is age rated 18, I believe the audience will be people over the age of 15 - 18. However, I believe the primary audience that this movie was targeted at was 18 to 24 year old adults most likely females ,  I believe the target age was 18 to 24  the main audience gender would be female, as the female character is seen as the hero and the roles the charccter play in terms of gender is unconventional  the target audience would be people that love horror movies an like to see women as a significant dominant character in movies.


Media Language : Cinematography

Close ups are used a lot in this trailer to convey the emotions of the characters and show their fear and horror, or similar emotions, to add an element of horror to the trailer. wide shots was increasing the tension as it was used to show he entire scene and things around the main characters letting the audience know about their location and terrifying them . High angles are used on the vulnerable characters and low angles are used on the powerful characters, to show who are going to be the main characters in the movie. The shots are kept at eyelevel with the young girl character, signifying that she is the one the audience will watch the movie and become most attached to and see the movie through her perspective. There are zooms in the trailer to show the emotion and realization of things by the characters, heightening the tension.

Editing

Jump cuts are used in the trailer to give the impression of something being wrong and increasing the tension for the audience. Fast straight cuts are also used to give the impression of panic and add to the horror genre of the trailer. fade at the beginning and end of the trailer Titles are used in between the montages of clips to add suspense to the trailer and help tell the story through the trailer. 

Sound

  The diegetic sound switches to non-diegetic and back again throughout the trailer, as the film is filled with terror  and the were slashing noises screaming, panting, and different voice tone from the characters which is what you would usually associate with a horror genre film.

Mise-en-scene

The clothing of all the characters are rather casual and normal, adding an  element of unexpected dander  to the film purely through costumes. Most of the shots are in low-key lighting, associated with horror, to show the dark nature of the film. The locations shown in the trailer, such as the big  town burning with internal flames and ash everywhere abandoned houses and schools with which horror can be associated with , which cause tension in the audience.

Research and planning : Analysing trailer 1

Genre: this is a horror film trailer it involves violent scenes and also involves psychological terror , you can easily tell this is a horror movie because of the frightening images, the sound, low key lightening and most especially mise en scene also at the start of the clip the subtitles saying  '' behind her smile and inside her body'' gives the audience an idea that she not who she seems and there more to her. you can also tell she the main character in the movie as the trailer revolves around her.

Narrative : this movie  is about a teenage cheerleader who gets taken over by an evil spirit after a group of young upcoming musicians try to use her for a ritual so they can become famous but the ritual required a female virgin and it all went wrong as she was not a virgin and the ritual wasn't performed properly she found herself craving human flesh and killing boys, she became immortal and her wounds heal almost as soon as they had occurred she was no longer human inside her body lived a demon.

Representation : this trailer portrays a different representation of women and its not similar to the typical stereotype the media always portray them as in films and magazine in this trailer/movie the women are perceived as strong although demonic but they are seen as the one in power and males are seen as the victims because she kills boys as they are her target so they are seen as preys in this trailer. also was also sexualized in this trailer being a cheerleader, looking pretty and sexy which is one of the stereotypes the media portrays about young girls in films.

Audience : the target audience for this movie/trailer would more likely be students and young adult as the story line is based on a young cheerleader and happenings around school especially to male students, the audience also have to be interested in watching horror films and be able to deal with the terror involved in the clip. women/young females might like this movie more because it portrays women as strong, smart, willing and defensive and they are not the actual victims in the trailer. young males might like it because women are being sexualized and the main character is seen as sexy and beautiful.

Media language :  Cinematography
Close ups of characters and zooms used to show facial expressions of realization, shock and fear, instilling those emotions into the audience too. The master shot of the girl in the river swimming and the close up of her face looking creepy and unusual at beginning sets the theme and tone for the entire trailer and film, the wide shot of her performing at the school game in her cheer leading outfit gives the audience a sense of who she is and what role she plays in the movie. eye level shots are used to shows the facial expressions of her victims showing they were of same age group. medium close ups of her using seduction to get her male victims and pov shots of her attacking and killing her victims.
we also had a two shot when two students talk about her being evil.

Editing

Fast straight cuts are used in clip when she moves in to eat her victim (the guy in the school shirt in the woods) this builds up suspense and anticipation within the trailer. there was lots of fade in and out used in the trailer in order to show different scene to infuse fear and psychological terror to the audience. it also uses zoom to zoom in on the victims and show their facial expressions as well as play on the audience primal fears.

Sound

They used non-deigetic music in most parts of the trailer and at the beginning of the trailer the voice overs talks in a creepy voice reading the subtitled texts on the black screen creates  suspense and tension immediately setting the tone for horror film. the diegetic sounds of lights suddenly shutting off along with screams from characters shown in the clips has the intention of making the audience jump and induce fear, as its of the horror genre. voices can be heard in time with the fades, adding suspense and tension to the trailer.

Mise-en-scene

The clothing of all the characters are  casual and normal, adding an  element of unexpected dander  to the film purely through costumes. Most of the shots are in low-key lighting, associated with horror, to show the dark nature of the film. The locations shown in the trailer,is mostly the school showing what going on in and around the school and how it works with the movie thereby giving the audience a link to the miseries in the trailer 

Research and planning : audience interviews answers

 After listening to my audience interview feedback she said that:
she would expect horror to be rated 18
she would expect it to be about ghost teens and psychopathic horror
the colours red black and white for horror
she said we can advertise it in bill boards Internets and you tube.
she enjoys the jumpy feeling she gets from watching the movie.
she liked paranormal activity and the grudge.

















 A 15 rating depending on the graphic
would associate it it with blood and violent screaming
should be more bloody and involve psycho.
the colours red and black would suit the genre
can advertise it in horror conventions, blogs, and the internet.
should have lots of graphic content and psycho thriller.
















 should be rated a 15
can include blood, violence, and murders.
they prey on the weak
red black and blue just dark colours.
on the internet and you tube.
yes she like horror because ts entertaining.


After coming up with some interview questions we carried out some audience interviews asking people around the college what they think about horror genre and what the like or would associate with it and overall we got that:

They would associate horror with dark colors and low key lightening
creepy locations to freak out the audience and play with their fears
blood, wounds, running, panting a struggle for survival
lots of screaming to terrify the audience
its should be just a normal trailer not a teaser trailer
and should not be  more than 2minutes.

Research and planning: Genre interview questions

1. which certificate is suitable for horror genre?

2. what would you associate with horror genre?

3. what would you mostly like to see in a horror movie?

4. what colors and techniques would you associate with horror genre?

5.where do you think is a suitable place to advertise a horror film?

6. Do you enjoy watching horror films? if yes what do you like about it?

7. What type of horror do you like?

8.would you prefer a teaser trailer or a normal trailer? how long do you think it should be?

Research and planning: photoshop challenge

 I had to do a photoshop challenge set by my teacher  on making a film poster to test how much we know and remember from last year when we made our college magazine and music magazine, and doing this challenge was quite hard at first but after doing the basics of the poster it was then easy to remember most of the other skills i had learned  before and how to apply them some of the skills i used in making this film poster are :

- unlocking the background photo so I can use it
- taking images off the internet and uploading it to photoshop
- adding the logo of a company in this case i used universal studios as they are a big company and are vertically and horizontally integrated.
 - I also put the release date and the movie website.
- I also had to choose the fonts for the poster so it suits the genre of the film poster.

Research and planning : Regulations and censorships

 

We have decided to rate our movie a 12A because we want our movie to be able to have its trailer shown on television and in the cinemas to create better publicity and because our movie trailer would be quite scary and filled with terror as we are doing our movie based on a horror genre  so we think making our  movie from 12 with an adult just to make sure parents and legal guardians are aware About the content of the movie before allowing young children watch the movie and they can get an idea of what the movie is like from the movie trailer.

The actual movie would be rated 15 as the movie would be more appealing to the older audience and based on the story line our movie is going to have psychological terror as it about a group of students who try to take a short cut home from school one day seeing as they were running late little did they know that along that path layed a psychopath in wait for his next victim driven to insanity by his mind and thoughts brutally killing and torturing anyone that goes through his path. This movie would be filled with bloody violence and bad language. Which is what teenagers would be intreasted in and more likely want to go see in the cinemas.

Research and planning : The Pitch

Research and planning : The chase

About the clip : The clip is about a teenage girl who trying to make it to school on time after waking up late, little did she know that her day was not going to go as planned around the corner was a stalker who kept following her and watching her every move. she was terrified and tried to get away from the stalker but she kept following her. She ran to school for safety and stopped to rest as she was out of breath only for the stalker to sneak up behind her.

Cinematography : for this clip we used close up's to show the face of the girl and tell the audience/viewers her emotions and feelings, there was also some point of view shots of the stalker watching the girl from various places as she tried to get away from the stalker. there was also a worms eye of the girl when she looked up and saw the stalker looking down at her from a birds eye view. there was also a long shot of the girl when she ran out of the room, and a close up of the door, there was also a zoom in of the stalker up on the balcony

Sound : we used Non-diegtetic sounds  that was coming off screen and we choose not to use a creepy song despite the fact that she was being stalked we made the sound more interesting  because it sounded tensed and was right as there clip could been seen as tensed but was right  for the clip as it was about a chase sequence the sound would keep the viewers interested and entertained. also at the end where the editing slows down and we could hear the heart beat of the girl it raises the tension as the stalker slowly sneaks up behind her and he audience wondering what her fate would be.

Editing : we used different editing transitions like ellipses of time to show the girl running and also expansion of time to show the stalker walking up slowly behind her this make it look more creepy. there was a fade into black at the end of the clip to indicate the the clip. there was also a use of dissolve from the 1st scene where she runs out the door to her running in the streets into school.there was also a few jump cuts when she starts from the bottom of the stairs a close up of her shoes and she back at the top of the step and also a straight cut of her running into the door and being followed behind.

Mise-en-scene : there was the use of high key lightening as the clip was made during the day and the girl was trying to get to school in time using the college was a good location setting, and also the stalker was dressed like everyone else just casual this helped her to blend in with other people and not be so  obvious or noticed easily.

Improvements : it would have been better to use a proper camera attached to a tripod and used more editing transitions and proper cinematography like panning to be able to move the camera at a more stabled pace ans also had more time to practice and get familiar with the  instruments and sort for proper locations and put more time into planning and organization in order to make it look better and also focus more on the mise-en-scene to make it look more real and bring the characters to life.

Good and bad points : the filming was not so good and rather unstable, it was quiet jumpy and needed more of editing to make it look good. it was made in a short time which is quite good for a 1st try under a short period of time. i was good learning how to use Imovie and getting familiar