Research and Planning - Teaser Trailer Conventions

Taking into consideration our trailer has to include a number of things in the making, which are going to be:

• The title of the trailer
• Release date
• Production company name
• Plenty of peaks
• Hint of the story line
• Voice over/Subtitles
• Maybe the certificate

Research and Planning - Audience feedback on Questionnaires

To gather more information that will hopefully help me plan my teaser trailer, me and Chelsea created a questionnaire that we handed out to 10 people, and all their results have helped us realise the ideal for our trailer. Here's an empty question sheet to show the questions asked, and then a completed one which we particularly liked as it had basically the same answers that we want our trailer to be like.

 

We mainly liked this because it consists of things we want to include like:

• Fast paced
  The weapons we'd use
• The clothing

We'll obviously take into consideration all the responses, as they're the audience and we aim to please the audience - but we will tweak some things that are going to make it unique etc.
I've made some charts on a next post and will go into further detail on them as to what's influenced us and what we will tweak.

Research and Planning - Group meeting

So far, me and Chelsea have decided that within our production group, I'm going to do the cinematography and sound whilst Chelsea does mis-en-scene and editing.  We've discussed so far, what we're going to include within our trailer, and have a rough idea as to how things are going to run.

Research and Planning - IMDB Charts

So I went onto IMDb top 250 to find out what's viewed the most, and went to the genre 'horror', which is going to be the genre featured throughout my trailer.  Funnily enough, Resident Evil (the movie I've analysed below,(, came number 1, showing me that there will be a large amount of viewers.  This proves great because Resident Evil comes very close to the same as what my trailer will be - female role, actiony, male horror, kick ass etc. I did the same with 'action', as I'll also be using this genre, and similar movies showed up again... AS WELL as Resident Evil, again!

Research and Planning - Target Audience for my trailer

Target Audience on Prezi

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Target Audience on Prezi

Research and Planning - Audience Theory

The 'hypodermic' model

This theory states that the message being shown from the media, is instantly received and understood from the audience, so suggested by other people it's like a needle inflicted upon a person.

Cultivation theory

This theory states that the more something is previewed or exposed, the more influence it has upon the audience and we'll start to believe it more.  If the television told us something like the world was going to end in 2014 constantly, the entire society would start to believe it the more times it's shown/said.

Desensitisation

This theory suggests that the audience can be influenced by the amount of violence and we're becoming more desensitized due to this. For example, movies in the older days were less gorey and reality like, whereas nowadays we're shown Saw that makes some viewers question whether people can actually do that, out of the movie etc, so we're paranoid.

Modelling or copycat theory

This theory states that the public copy what happens in the media or on games into real life scenarios. We're basically being copycats of the media and doing what they model.  An example of this would be how much blame GTA gets for crimes linked to their scenarios. (London Riots).

The uses and gratifications

Lastly, this theory suggests that we the audience, take what we want from the media and use it and leave out all the rest of what we don't need.  We're our own choosers on what information we need and don't need.

Research and Planning - Certificate rating of my trailer and movie

Our actual movie would be rated 15, due to violence and some gore/bloody scenes due to the genre it is.  It would also include some form of strong language that people younger than this age wouldn't be able to view.  However, there's no extent of this language or violence that makes the movie an 18.






However, for our actual teaser trailer, the certificate would be a 12 as there's only so much you can show on national TV as it's available to all ages.  This kind of benefits the movie as it opens up to the vast majority of the population, providing more viewers in the future, for the movie. Only minimal amounts of action scenes would be previewed, along with a little bit of violence, but nothing too bloody like what would be witnessed within the movie.  Strong language will most likely be non-existant within the trailer as well.

Research and Planning - Asking the population across the nationnnnn.

I asked Twitter what 'horror/action/thriller movies I can analyse for my media' and these were the responses I were given.

Research and Planning - Analyse of teaser trailer 2

The second teaser trailer I'll be analysing is Sucker Punch, brought to the cinemas in 2011, age rating 12A. I've chosen to do this trailer because it fits into the type of movie I'd like to create, with it being non realistic and action packed with a female role.

Genre

The theory I mentioned from my last analysis, is the same theory within this movie.  This would be Carol Glover, stating the final girl will be terrorized throughout the movie, which is correct.  Baby Doll (the main character within this movie), is a young innocent girl taken to a home where she becomes tortured into her thoughts and battles her way through them, making the audience interact with the movie more than it would compared to a male playing this role.  This movie portrays an un-stereotypical female, who's actually "kick-ass" instead of being all sweet and innocent all the time.  This will attract a wider audience as it appeals to people as a 'different type of movie', that's bound to be different compared to a male action packed movie.

Representation

I definitely approve of Laura Mulveys theory of 'the male gaze' within this movie, as Baby Doll and the girls around her, are dressed in a way that's attractive and appealing to the audience - grabbing more attention.  The way the movie's filmed, it shows the girl's being an attractive dominant role, nothing weak and vulnerable as that wouldn't appeal to a wide audience.

Narrative

Propps theory of character types could be related to this teaser trailer, as the hero is identified as the main character which is Baby Doll - yet her 'girlfriends' could be classified as the princesses as Baby Doll seems to be the one who acts as a guardian or leader over them and they follow - so they're still a relevance of importance within the movie. The villain is the place she's being brought to that's making her challenge these thoughts, and this could also be known as the 'false hero' as at the beginning the woman states "you're safe, it's all safe" whilst she's being brought here.  However, you cannot distinguish other character types such as the father or donor etc.

Audience

For this trailer, the audience can be also passive and sit back and watch the action, although I do think there is some kind of story given through the voice overs, I don't think the audience are supposed to analyse too much, due to the action they can be passive. I think this movie will be targeted at 15's and also appeal to any social or gender.  I don't think an older age range would watch this movie as action and the whole 'female' as a hero who's seen to appeal the "male gaze" won't appeal to an older generation.

Media Language

1. The beginning the lighting is dark, yet the voice over is saying "you are safe, you're all safe". This implies some contrast between the good and bad, whether the place is actually evil due to the dark atmosphere and so are the people as they're trying to convince others they're safe
2. White uniforms implies to the audience it's some kind of medical hospice
3. Non-diegetic sound added when a fight kicks in provides a sense of battle and action within the movie
4. Grahpical visualisations of monsters implies a action, horror and fantasy theme, intising the audience
5. Mis-en-scene of the group of girls costumes differentiate themselves from "reality" when in action, intreges the audience
6. Diegetic sound of narrative and characters speaking provides a sense of narrative for the audience

Research and Planning - Analysis of teaser trailer 1

The first teaser trailer I'll be analyzing is the new Resident Evil: Retribution movie.
The movie has not been rated yet but after looking at the other trailers, I'd estimate it being around 15 or 18 as it's now being exhibited in 3D. I've chose to analyze this movie as it matches the genre that I'd like to create in a trailer myself - the whole female lead role and monsterified, action type movie.

Genre

This movie is classed as a horror sci-fi, joint with action as well. Because of genre, the audience for this movie will be open to a vast majority. Carol Glover's theory, states the fact the final girl will be terrorized throughout the movie, I could say this theory could be applied to this movie as the main actor is the woman who survives throughout the movies, but in a strong unique way - not the innocent way, whilst other humans die off etc yet she lives and battles on which isn't stereotypical.

Representation

Laura Mulveys theory states that at the other end of the camera, everything is based on the male gaze. I'd say this movie definitely applies to this theory as the main character is the one who survives and is portrayed as 'sexy' due to the action she battles through etc.  Her clothing to suite this genre is also applied to this, wearing skin tight clothing that's all in black and glossy etc - it gives her the dominating look, and men like this image within this genre of movie.

Narrative

Following most trailers, you can follow Todorovs theory within this trailer. There's an equilibrium right at the beginning, showing normality of how the world is and how eaach person from each country has 'their own world'. However, it doesn't show you what to expect until the camera goes onto another part of the earth, that's dark - showing disruption.  This part then links into cuts of the movie that grabs the audiences attention, building up adrenaline from the action.  However, there's no 'equilibrium resolved' as the clips pick up pace, keeping us on the edge of our seat and thinking what's going to happen next, etc.

Audience

For this trailer, it's just action packed so that audience can sit back and be passive, just to take it all in and watch the fast paced action as to what's going on etc. Personally I think this film will be aimed at rating 15 and can be watched by any gender and social classes.  There'd be an audience age range though of those viewing this as I think mature people of an elderly age wouldn't particularly choose to watch a movie with such fast paced, upbeat action.

Media Language

Mis-en-scene

1. The lighting changes from light to dark when the world swaps sides, to show the difference between the good and the bad - providing an image to the audience of what's going to happen.
2. The graphical monsters and large machinery of guns and helicopters etc implies the action filled within the movie, and pumps the audience up.
3. Alice's (main character) outfits appear to be more exotic compared to people who aren't the leading role, providing differentiation from the 'normality' of others as she's "the killer/dominant one" on this side of the world. It kind of makes the movie look more 'bad ass' and demanding for viewers.

Research and Planning - Poll Junkie

Research and Planning - Questionnaire graphs

From the questionnaires we took we decided to conjure some graphs and picked out certain questions we liked best and the responses to them.

We definitely preffered this as our protagonist is so far female, and this suites us perfectly :)

 

We origonally prefered voice over compared to titles considering our trailer is so far planning to be actionified, and we'd prefer it if it wasn't subtled down with subtitles to make it look 'horror'. 

 This is a good age range as we're aiming to create the trailer around a 15's, so hopefully this will attract a large amount of viewers.

We also liked this response as we're looking to do a montage for our editing, and not something of a specific sequence like a slow, tense horror movie.

Research and Planning - Test Poster

Just created a test movie poster that's genre is linked to the one I'm going to be creating just to see what I can remember from photoshop etc.

Basically I've used the adjustments tool mainly, by editing the main photo so the brightness and contrast is adjusted so the face is pale and the blood's highlighted to emphasize the whole 'zombie' theme.
I've edited the main title so it's engraved and stands out from the background.

Simple tools I've used are things such as text box, or the cropping of the age guide which did have a white background but I used the lasso tool to get rid of it on the image's own layer, so it sits on top of the main background.

Research and Planning - Interviews

We picked out some key points in these answers that helped us realise our choice of movie is perfect. For example, everybody we interieweed like the choice of the zombie apocalypse - nobody chose the abandoned house, which is great for us because this is what we wanted to do all along!
I liked the choice of weaponry people chose, as there was nothing "girly" in there about it, considering they all said a female leading character was the best.  We liked the whole ' heavy military ' weaponry idea as it would make our character look more "badass" and hopefully therefore make our trailer seem more proffessional.
We particularly liked the 2nd interviewee, as she had a  good idea on the outfit.  We don't want anything that's  going to cover up the skin a lot and turn down the sex appeal, and so something tight and skin revealing would be perfect.
We also liked the 3rd interviewee for his choice of location.  A destroyed city is what we're kind of aiming for - along the lones of deserted and bio-hazard posters everywhere to make it seem destroyed.  If it was taken in a house or somewhere like that, it wouldn't give the whole "zombie outbreak" effect, it would just be pretty random and a pointless location to ruin a potentially good movie.

However, one interviewee also said that they'd like it to be an 18 with "blood and guts" everywhere.  Unfortunately, me and my partner don't have the budget to make this happen, and the effects that we could use if we had the money.  It's something we'd achieve if we wanted to, but right now we're looking to aim for the 15 certificate as we know we will get vast audience within this age range.

Research and planning - Interview questions

For our A2 Media project we have to make a trailer, and have come up with two ideas for it which are either a classic zombie apocalypse featuring a female Laura Croft main character, or the usual kidnap of a teenager. Our questions are based on the zombie apocalypse genre, and have come up with some questions:

• What sounds effects would you expect to hear in a movie like this
• What certificate do you think would be appropriate for this movie and why?
• What would be an appropriate location for this movie? E.g: A school, woods.
• What would you expect a trailer for this film to be fast or slow paced?
  Is having a female lead role for this film a good idea?
  How can w make our zombies more scary? What should they look like?
  Any props you'd expect to see? Weapons etc,

Research and Planning - Planning of pitch

 I created a plan of pitch, consisting of different sectors that my trailer is going to consist of and what genre etc.

We basically had to come up with 2 plot ideas that we'd choose from, and so far me and Chelsea (the person I'm working with), is keen on the first idea as it's something we'd enjoy to do and can make it realistic. 

Choosing locations for our plot ideas is the main concern for our trailer as we need somewhere we're going to be able to film it, so realistically speaking we're keen on the idea of an abandoned ally in town somewhere.  There's loads of places that would make the trailer look brilliant but a place like an abandoned work site would be too risky to film on, for eg, so we've stuck to this for now.

The list of ideas for cinematography goes on, and to say at this moment in time that we're only going to use certain shots is wrong but for now we know some main shots that are going to be taken.  Because our trailer is going to be quick and upbeat, the shots need to be fast paced one halfway through the trailer, but at the beginning it's going to be slow paced ofcourse - to gather attention from the audience.

Sound effects for our zombie will be the usual horror screetches and upbeat soundtrack that gets the audiences blood pumping.  Sound effects will be used from the props such as high heels and gun shot noises, but the effects will be emphasised to create a better thrilling atmosphere.

Research and Planning - The Chase/The Test

We had to create a short scene that aloud us to use the editing tools.
The video consists of different editing and cinematography shots that show the story line of the chase.

The camera tilts upwards at the start and then pans a lot, following the actors where they go and their persepctive of things.
We decided to use a cut away where the camera is no longer on the actors perspective, it is just following from around.  A shot reverse shot was used to show the criminal he's chasing, and then we used a cut away to show his movement from the stairs and reduce time.
Another jump cut's used to a different location, to show that the chase is still continuing and then loads of shot reverse shots are used to show their chase until they meet one on one - forming a two-shot scene.
At the end we decided a slow-paced movement would be best to show the action going on within the movie, and how fast the "stunt" would of been in normal paced.  It highlights the action all-in-all.