The genre I've decided on is horror, with the sub-genre either being thriller or psychological. Therefore I've researched some of this genre's plots and come up with some new ideas inspired by some of these. A lot of psychological horrors contain things like possession and ghosts/ demons.
1st Idea:
- A troubled old man rocking backward and forward in his rocking chair, smoking and drinking, quietly humming to himself.
- You see hints that something is with him in the room, or outside through the window.
- There's some build up then it eventually kills him and leaves him there, still rocking.
- Police investigation scene about the murder. They find nothing.
- Cuts to a family moving into the house and them being happy they got a new house.
- Then fast edits through different scenes in the house where the family get terrorised by this demon.
2nd Idea:
- A man is walking in the woods listening to his iPod, you see hints that something is following him and he is getting a bit nervous and keeps looking over his shoulder.
- Eventually he stops and turns off his iPod, shouts out something like who's there and then it kills him.
- A police investigation scene the following morning and they can't find anything, a special ghost hunter is also there and concludes it's supernatural.
- They ward off the forest to keep people safe just in case it is supernatural even though the police don't believe it.
- Teenagers sneak in at night to drink. It's all happy until one of them gets pulled out of the circle from the shadows and havoc ensues.
- There's 6 of them and they die off one by one with perhaps one survivor. During the last bit of the trailer there's jump cuts and fast edits between different bits of action and tension alike.
Monday, 16 September 2013
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Horror Trailers Techniques and Coventions essay JB
Explore the genre and conventions of your chosen media text. How do you plan to adhere to or develop these conventions?
The genre I have decide on is Horror. The sub-genre of this being either a thriller horror or a psychological. I'm going to focus on 5 trailers; The Ring, Grave Encounters, Paranormal Activity, The Cabin in the Woods and The Purge. Each of these trailers have many different conventions and techniques that I will explore in this essay and how I plan to adhere to or develop them.
One of the main conventions i've noticed in these 5 trailers is the use of words on the screen to give the audience an idea of the plot. This is used in Grave Encounters, The Ring and The Purge. The Cabin in the Woods and Paranormal Activity also use words on the screen but they use it more as a way to introduce extra selling points and less to tell you the plot. The pictures below are examples of these. I could adhere to this convention by explaining my plot broadly to the audience in this way and possible introduce an extra selling point such as "From the director of -insert movie name here-".
Another technique I saw used widely was the use of fast paced short shots cut together with straight cuts. This was used to increase tension and keep suspense and the feel of action. It was used in every single one of these trailers an example being in The Ring at 0:56 until around the end of the trailer. This trailer is shown below. I would adhere to this technique fairly easily by increasing the number of shots I take and editing them together very quickly one after another in an attempt to copy this and keep tension and suspense/the feel of action.
One convention I didn't see much use of was a main actor being in most shots to bring in an audience of his or her fans. However one of the trailers did use the producer as an extra selling point as he was presumably particularly famous, this part of the trailer The Cabin in the Woods is pictured below. This would help because if people have seen another one of this producers films and they liked it it would work in the same way a famous actor would and bring in more audience. Another example of this is in The purge in which they again mention the producer, but instead of mentioning a name they mention he's the producer of paranormal Activity, which might help more as more people would know the film than the producer behind the film. This too is pictured below. I could adhere to this convention by using either an actor or a producer as an extra selling point, bringing his name up on the screen perhaps at a pivotal moment in the trailer.
Another technique used widely in these 5 trailers was the use of a tense soundtrack. It was used in every single one of these trailers and i'm pretty sure it'd be hard to find a trailer for a horror in which there is no soundtrack whatsoever. Most of the music is not just a soundtrack but tense music with a lot of effects of for example people breathing heavily and screams thrown in with it to increase tension. The soundtrack is used to help the trailer be more effective by increasing tension and suspense. It's designed to create an ambiance and make it scarier for the audience. I could adhere to this technique by using the sound effects available to me on my editing software or perhaps by recording my own and using these combined with a music track I find or one I could make that creates tension. The trailer with the most notable tense soundtrack is linked below and the track is played throughout.
The remaining trailers that weren't linked during the essay are linked below.
The genre I have decide on is Horror. The sub-genre of this being either a thriller horror or a psychological. I'm going to focus on 5 trailers; The Ring, Grave Encounters, Paranormal Activity, The Cabin in the Woods and The Purge. Each of these trailers have many different conventions and techniques that I will explore in this essay and how I plan to adhere to or develop them.
One of the main conventions i've noticed in these 5 trailers is the use of words on the screen to give the audience an idea of the plot. This is used in Grave Encounters, The Ring and The Purge. The Cabin in the Woods and Paranormal Activity also use words on the screen but they use it more as a way to introduce extra selling points and less to tell you the plot. The pictures below are examples of these. I could adhere to this convention by explaining my plot broadly to the audience in this way and possible introduce an extra selling point such as "From the director of -insert movie name here-".
Another technique I saw used widely was the use of fast paced short shots cut together with straight cuts. This was used to increase tension and keep suspense and the feel of action. It was used in every single one of these trailers an example being in The Ring at 0:56 until around the end of the trailer. This trailer is shown below. I would adhere to this technique fairly easily by increasing the number of shots I take and editing them together very quickly one after another in an attempt to copy this and keep tension and suspense/the feel of action.
Another technique used widely in these 5 trailers was the use of a tense soundtrack. It was used in every single one of these trailers and i'm pretty sure it'd be hard to find a trailer for a horror in which there is no soundtrack whatsoever. Most of the music is not just a soundtrack but tense music with a lot of effects of for example people breathing heavily and screams thrown in with it to increase tension. The soundtrack is used to help the trailer be more effective by increasing tension and suspense. It's designed to create an ambiance and make it scarier for the audience. I could adhere to this technique by using the sound effects available to me on my editing software or perhaps by recording my own and using these combined with a music track I find or one I could make that creates tension. The trailer with the most notable tense soundtrack is linked below and the track is played throughout.
A very interesting take on a horror film is Grave Encounters. The trailer makes it seem like the film is a true story. The film itself is filmed in a documentary style but it's fiction which it's fairly unusual. They've pulled this off by creating a trailer that one would see on TV for a documentary which immediately pulls the audience in as it's something they've never seen before. It would be very difficult to pull a trailer like this off without it seeming as though you've completely stolen this films idea and so because of this and the fact that it would be fairly hard to do I'm not going to do something like this although I might use some of the films other convention that don't like to the plot of the film. The trailer is shown below.
One convention most film trailers use is the introduction of the people behind the film. They usually do this by flashing the names of the producers, directors, actors or institutions on the screen for a second or two. In Grave Encounters this is mentioned at the end very quickly after the title of the film. I think this is because they want to still give the trailer the feel that it's a true story and therefore there wouldn't be things like a director. In The Cabin in the Woods one institution is shown on the screen, Lionsgate, when the trailer goes from a happy start and then it turns dark at this point. This is pictured below. The use of introducing things like the institution at pivotal moments in the trailer is used widely in trailers everywhere and is a convention I could definitely adhere to.
In conclusion there are many different conventions and techniques used in each of these trailers each one being used in a way to sell the film or increase tension and suspense or the feel of action. I could adhere to most of these techniques in my product and perhaps develop a couple if I had the resources, for instance a better soundtrack would require a better sound producing software. It would be fairly easy to adhere to them and would help my trailer look like the real thing and if it were the real thing they would definitely help bring in more audience.
The remaining trailers that weren't linked during the essay are linked below.
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Essay on trailers JB
Explore the genre and conventions of your chosen media text. How do you plan to adhere to or develop these conventions?
My chosen media text is a film trailer. There are many conventions in this area as there's so many trailers available to see. During the research stage i focused on 8 different trailers. The genre of these trailers where either comedy or action, with one being a mix of both. These genres are the most widely used in the film industry and so have the most conventions.The trailers I watched and analysed were Kick-Ass 2, Fast & Furious 6, Oblivion, After Earth, World War Z, The Internship and The English Teacher.
Throughout all of these trailers I saw many conventions that were very vivid. The main one I saw was the use of the main famous actor as a selling point. The two trailers that this was very obvious in was After Earth and Oblivion. Will Smith in After Earth was in pretty much every shot shown and was used to attempt to bring more audience who are fans of him in. The same technique was used in Oblivion with Morgan Freeman and Tom Cruise, them both being shown in almost every shot. This technique was also used in World War Z and a few others. This technique is very effective in the way that it brings in more audience because if the actor is very famous then all of his fans would come and see the film he's in. This works quite well not in just getting people to come and see it but in reviews as well because most actors take on similar roles to their previous ones so the fans coming to see the film would enjoy the film as it would be similar to ones they've seen before with the actor in. In my product I could adhere to this conventions by using one of my actors in most of the shots and having his name enter the screen on it's own at a pivotal point in the trailer.
Another way in which they sold the film was mentioning the institutions behind it. They usually try and mention the biggest ones behind it to bring it the most attention. An example of this is Kick-Ass 2 in which they mention Universal is behind it in the trailer but it isn't until the end that they also mention about Plan B and Marv Films, who are less well known and there isn't point mentioning them earlier on. World War Z also mentions it's institutions but decides to put them all up one by one after another during the trailer at a key turning point. The idents are usually shown right at the start or right at the end. This helped sell the film because a lot of people know about institutions such as Universal even if they don't really know what the company does beyond making some famous films. Mentioning that institutions such as Plan B and Marv Films are behind the film as well could be beneficial because some film goers might want to help out less well-known institutions and some frequent indie film goers might already know these institutions and like the type of films they produce. It gives the audience a sort of idea as to what kind of film it's going to be just by looking at the institutions behind it. In my product I could develop this conventions by having my own institutions flash up at the start or at the end of the product mentioning a variety of indie-type institutions to appeal to that type of audience and give an impression to what my film is going to be like.
A more obvious way in which they sold the film was by making the plot line clear and explaining the story background well. They all did this in different ways all of which I could adhere to. The trailer of Kick-Ass 2 and Oblivion establishes the storyline through the use of the voice-over. Where as Fast & Furious 6 and World War Z tells it via the use of dialog and scenes. I could have either of these techniques in my product however as it's harder to do a voice-over I think I would be leaning more towards telling the story via dialog and scenes.
A convention that seems simple but was part of every single film was establishing the genre. This was done by for instance the use of jokes in the comedy genre, an example of this being Kick-Ass 2 in which the genre is shown by the music stopping then the punchline of a joke is heard and then the music starts again, which is used in many films. Another example is the use of scenes with explosions and fast cars in the action genre for instance in the trailer for Fast & Furious 6 which contains many scenes with fast cars and explosions. One final example for establishing the genre in this kind of way is in Oblivion and After Earth which establish the genre of both of these as Drama/Sci-Fi by the use of props that look futuristic and the use of space scenes and tense close ups.
Another convention which they use in some of the trailers is adding extra selling points by for instance saying "From the director of -insert a successful film here-". An example of this is in Oblivion in which it says "From the producers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes". I could adhere to this convention in my product by saying something similar to this however because of copyright reasons would have to make up the title of a film that's meant to be successful.
In conclusion there are many different conventions used in these trailers that I could adhere to the main ones being the use of main actors and the introduction of the institutions behind the film. It would be easy to adhere to these conventions and would definitely help my product look like a normal film trailer and potentially bring in more audience if I were to release the trailer properly.
A more obvious way in which they sold the film was by making the plot line clear and explaining the story background well. They all did this in different ways all of which I could adhere to. The trailer of Kick-Ass 2 and Oblivion establishes the storyline through the use of the voice-over. Where as Fast & Furious 6 and World War Z tells it via the use of dialog and scenes. I could have either of these techniques in my product however as it's harder to do a voice-over I think I would be leaning more towards telling the story via dialog and scenes.
A convention that seems simple but was part of every single film was establishing the genre. This was done by for instance the use of jokes in the comedy genre, an example of this being Kick-Ass 2 in which the genre is shown by the music stopping then the punchline of a joke is heard and then the music starts again, which is used in many films. Another example is the use of scenes with explosions and fast cars in the action genre for instance in the trailer for Fast & Furious 6 which contains many scenes with fast cars and explosions. One final example for establishing the genre in this kind of way is in Oblivion and After Earth which establish the genre of both of these as Drama/Sci-Fi by the use of props that look futuristic and the use of space scenes and tense close ups.
Another convention which they use in some of the trailers is adding extra selling points by for instance saying "From the director of -insert a successful film here-". An example of this is in Oblivion in which it says "From the producers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes". I could adhere to this convention in my product by saying something similar to this however because of copyright reasons would have to make up the title of a film that's meant to be successful.
In conclusion there are many different conventions used in these trailers that I could adhere to the main ones being the use of main actors and the introduction of the institutions behind the film. It would be easy to adhere to these conventions and would definitely help my product look like a normal film trailer and potentially bring in more audience if I were to release the trailer properly.
Friday, 21 June 2013
Industry Research JB
Kick-Ass 2
The institution for this film is Universal along with Plan B and Marv Films. Only universal is shown obviously in the trailer because it's the biggest one. The key selling points of this is the fact that it's a sequel so the trailer is partly showing what happened in the last film so that the audience remembers it. The trailer doesn't focus on famous actors but it does mainly show the two main actors and in the credits towards the end it mentioned three main actors and Jim Carrey which is an extra selling point. The genre is Drama/Comedy this is shown through the use of jokes as is the mood. The expectations of the film are established via the voice over. The target audience for the film is 15-21 because there is some swearing and violence and jokes that would appeal to this age group. I think it's mainly targeted at boys because of the violence and the nature of the jokes but some girls would see it as well.
Fast & Furious 6
The institution is Universal shown very briefly at the end. The trailer focuses more on the story and the action of the film than on who made it or who's in it. The main selling point is the amount of action and girls. There are a couple of fairly famous actors but the trailer doesn't focus too much on them and doesn't even mention their names. This is mainly because it's the 6th film of the franchise and so most people already know who's in it and what it's going to be like so the trailer is focusing on making it look bigger and better than the previous 5. The trailer establishes the genre of Action/Drama by the amount of action shots and fast paced editing between them, also by the cars, girls and guns. The mood is established by the dialogue and the shots and the expectations are almost already established by the other 5 previous films but the trailer makes the expectations larger by showing so many action shots. The target audience for the film is guys aged 15-21 because of the amount of girls, cars and explosions.
Oblivion
The institution for the film is Universal. The main actor is Tom Cruise and the main selling point for the film along with Morgan Freeman. The filming of the trailer mainly focuses on Tom Cruise, him being in almost every shot. The other thing the trailer focuses on to sell the film is Morgan Freeman's voice by having a voice over in the background for parts of the trailer. They also add in other things to sell the film such as "From the producers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes". The mood and genre are both established by the action shots used and the music soundtrack. The genre of the film being Drama/Action and the expectations are a film similar to the ones Tom Cruise does as he usually does very similar films. The audience is aimed to be people aged 12-25 as there's some violence but not a lot in the trailer and no swearing. Also aimed at both boys and girls because there are lots of action scenes but also a side romance story.
After Earth
This film's institution is Columbia Pictures. The main selling point is the main actor Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith who are both very famous. This is perhaps the only selling point of the film besides the actual plot. The trailer focuses mainly on Jaden Smith but whilst having Will Smith's voice in the background. The voice over explains the plot of the film and sets expectations and mood as does the soundtrack. The genre is established to be Drama by the use of many shots of scenery and slow moving shots along with some but not much action. The target audience for the film is both boys and girls aged 12-21 because there's not much violence or swearing and the story isn't focused on just action there's a bit of a relationship story between Will and Jaden who you can't tell from the trailer but could be playing father and son.
The institution for this film is Universal along with Plan B and Marv Films. Only universal is shown obviously in the trailer because it's the biggest one. The key selling points of this is the fact that it's a sequel so the trailer is partly showing what happened in the last film so that the audience remembers it. The trailer doesn't focus on famous actors but it does mainly show the two main actors and in the credits towards the end it mentioned three main actors and Jim Carrey which is an extra selling point. The genre is Drama/Comedy this is shown through the use of jokes as is the mood. The expectations of the film are established via the voice over. The target audience for the film is 15-21 because there is some swearing and violence and jokes that would appeal to this age group. I think it's mainly targeted at boys because of the violence and the nature of the jokes but some girls would see it as well.
Fast & Furious 6
The institution is Universal shown very briefly at the end. The trailer focuses more on the story and the action of the film than on who made it or who's in it. The main selling point is the amount of action and girls. There are a couple of fairly famous actors but the trailer doesn't focus too much on them and doesn't even mention their names. This is mainly because it's the 6th film of the franchise and so most people already know who's in it and what it's going to be like so the trailer is focusing on making it look bigger and better than the previous 5. The trailer establishes the genre of Action/Drama by the amount of action shots and fast paced editing between them, also by the cars, girls and guns. The mood is established by the dialogue and the shots and the expectations are almost already established by the other 5 previous films but the trailer makes the expectations larger by showing so many action shots. The target audience for the film is guys aged 15-21 because of the amount of girls, cars and explosions.
Oblivion
The institution for the film is Universal. The main actor is Tom Cruise and the main selling point for the film along with Morgan Freeman. The filming of the trailer mainly focuses on Tom Cruise, him being in almost every shot. The other thing the trailer focuses on to sell the film is Morgan Freeman's voice by having a voice over in the background for parts of the trailer. They also add in other things to sell the film such as "From the producers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes". The mood and genre are both established by the action shots used and the music soundtrack. The genre of the film being Drama/Action and the expectations are a film similar to the ones Tom Cruise does as he usually does very similar films. The audience is aimed to be people aged 12-25 as there's some violence but not a lot in the trailer and no swearing. Also aimed at both boys and girls because there are lots of action scenes but also a side romance story.
After Earth
This film's institution is Columbia Pictures. The main selling point is the main actor Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith who are both very famous. This is perhaps the only selling point of the film besides the actual plot. The trailer focuses mainly on Jaden Smith but whilst having Will Smith's voice in the background. The voice over explains the plot of the film and sets expectations and mood as does the soundtrack. The genre is established to be Drama by the use of many shots of scenery and slow moving shots along with some but not much action. The target audience for the film is both boys and girls aged 12-21 because there's not much violence or swearing and the story isn't focused on just action there's a bit of a relationship story between Will and Jaden who you can't tell from the trailer but could be playing father and son.
World War Z
Paramount. Plan B. GK Films. Skydance Productions. These
four institutions are shown at 40 seconds into the trailer at the key turning
point. The idents flash up one after another with a sound effect ‘boom’ in the
background. The four idents are also shown at the end of the trailer. They depend
on the famous actor Brad Pitt as a general code. In this particular trailer the
selling point is the famous actor Brad Pitt. He’s a famous Hollywood actor and
the trailer revolves around his role in the film, almost every shot with him in
it. The genre of the film is an action drama and this is established through
the soundtrack that creates tension.
The Internship
The film's institution is 20th century fox who's ident is shown right at the start of the trailer. The main selling point for the film is the two famous actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. These two actors are fairly well known. The trailer focuses mainly on these two actors having them in most shots. The genre for the film is established through the jokes told and is defined as a comedy. The mood is also defined through this and also via the soundtrack. The expectations are already defined because the two actors usually work together in the same type of film so you can already imagine what it's going to be like. The audience for the film is probably guys and girls ages 12-21 as it's fairly childish humour but that appeals to both genders.
The English Teacher
Cinedigm and Tribeca film are the institutions for the film. They aren't very famous institutions and so the film's budget doesn't look too big and therefore there aren't really famous actors starring in it. The film's main selling point is the actual film and the storyline. This is because of the lack of famous actors to draw in audience members. The genre of the film is romantic comedy which is shown through the main characters dating scenes at the start and the occasional joke along with kiss encounters etc. with other male cast members. The mood for the film is also lighthearted but also with some emotion. The expectations are made through the use of the storytelling through the trailer and the type of actors who are starring in it. The audience for the film is probably mainly girls aged 15-21 because of the hefty romantic side compared to not much comedy.
Research on trailers JB
David Coultas on making movie trailers.
Trailers are a central part of the film. They establish the genre, mood and expectations of a film.
"Give them the pitch, not the precis" - Most trailers are around two minutes long and films around two hours so you can never tell the whole story. Most people think of trailers as just the best bits of the film but it's more like pitching the film to the audience. You try and cover as many aspects of the film as you can to express the full experience but imposing a new structure on it.
"Don't give them an opportunity to say no" - Most trailers are made up of three acts. Act 1: 25 seconds, sets the characters up and the world they live in. Act 2: Shows where they're going, Act 3: Give a glimpse of how things will continue without ruining the story. Introduce elements to capture people beyond the film's obvious audience. Internet trailers are specific in whom they are aimed at but if the trailer is going to be at the cinema it's appeal needs to be much broader. Some ways you could do this is use editing to make the film seem more fast paced than it is or add in higher class music to make the film seem a higher budget than it was, for instance a very rich orchestral piece for a low budget film. You accentuate the positive, if a film is upsetting or disturbing you translate it to "moving" by putting in emotional music or put the word moving in reviews. You try and make it as appealing as possible and never give the whole story, keep them guessing.
"There's no such thing as overselling" - Even if it's a bad film you still make a good trailer. It's pulling together a vision of the film that you're hoping may be the experience for some people.
"You've got ten seconds before they go back to their popcorn" - Right at the start the trailer needs something to draw the audience in like a line or a look or a sound that will get as many people in as possible. You have to use shots that get across really well what the film is about. Sometimes you can use shots from an early cut of the film in a trailer that works really well but in the final film they're not even used.
"Buy some music" - If you have the budget, music is incredibly effective. Fifty percent of the time the music wont even be used in the film. With the right music it can produce a gut reaction of yes, I want to see this. Some well known tracks cost up to £100,000 to the artist to be used in the trailer.
"Your job is to be invisible" - In movie trailers a voice over will be a gravelly american. This is because if you let the audience notice the voice over it immediately becomes a trailer. You want to give the audience a window to the film but it's carefully constructed to give a particular view, and you don't want the audience to know that. For instance if you used a british voice over everyone would notice and it'd become another character, which is not what you want. You just want to tell the story and have people think, that looks like a good movie, instead of, that looks like a good trailer. If an american voice over isn't appropriate captions are used instead.
Trailers are a central part of the film. They establish the genre, mood and expectations of a film.
"Give them the pitch, not the precis" - Most trailers are around two minutes long and films around two hours so you can never tell the whole story. Most people think of trailers as just the best bits of the film but it's more like pitching the film to the audience. You try and cover as many aspects of the film as you can to express the full experience but imposing a new structure on it.
"Don't give them an opportunity to say no" - Most trailers are made up of three acts. Act 1: 25 seconds, sets the characters up and the world they live in. Act 2: Shows where they're going, Act 3: Give a glimpse of how things will continue without ruining the story. Introduce elements to capture people beyond the film's obvious audience. Internet trailers are specific in whom they are aimed at but if the trailer is going to be at the cinema it's appeal needs to be much broader. Some ways you could do this is use editing to make the film seem more fast paced than it is or add in higher class music to make the film seem a higher budget than it was, for instance a very rich orchestral piece for a low budget film. You accentuate the positive, if a film is upsetting or disturbing you translate it to "moving" by putting in emotional music or put the word moving in reviews. You try and make it as appealing as possible and never give the whole story, keep them guessing.
"There's no such thing as overselling" - Even if it's a bad film you still make a good trailer. It's pulling together a vision of the film that you're hoping may be the experience for some people.
"You've got ten seconds before they go back to their popcorn" - Right at the start the trailer needs something to draw the audience in like a line or a look or a sound that will get as many people in as possible. You have to use shots that get across really well what the film is about. Sometimes you can use shots from an early cut of the film in a trailer that works really well but in the final film they're not even used.
"Buy some music" - If you have the budget, music is incredibly effective. Fifty percent of the time the music wont even be used in the film. With the right music it can produce a gut reaction of yes, I want to see this. Some well known tracks cost up to £100,000 to the artist to be used in the trailer.
"Your job is to be invisible" - In movie trailers a voice over will be a gravelly american. This is because if you let the audience notice the voice over it immediately becomes a trailer. You want to give the audience a window to the film but it's carefully constructed to give a particular view, and you don't want the audience to know that. For instance if you used a british voice over everyone would notice and it'd become another character, which is not what you want. You just want to tell the story and have people think, that looks like a good movie, instead of, that looks like a good trailer. If an american voice over isn't appropriate captions are used instead.
Thursday, 2 May 2013
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