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.

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.

Final piece

My final piece of film below:

Preliminary task

This was shot for my preliminary task for my media studies A level course

Evaluation 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?

I feel that during my preliminary task I new only very basic skills in camerawork and editing and almost none in sound and lighting. During the preliminary task I didn't use any mics for my dialogue and I didn't use any lighting. I used some editing techniques such as cross cutting to show for example a man walking up to a door and then a hand turning the door handle linking the two. I also followed the 180 degree rule and used shot reverse shot. I didn't do anything much more complicated than this and my preliminary task was very short and simple.

In my final piece I stuck to the basics but also explored a lot more techniques with lighting and sound. With sound I used a directional mic for my dialogue and also used the mic from the camera so that I could choose which one I thought sounded better. In the end the camera mic sounded better in most of the scenes and the directional mic in only one. I am glad I chose to use both the camera and the directional mic because otherwise I could be stuck with sound that doesn't sound very good. With the lighting I added filling lights to some shots and main lights to other ones. With both of these I used kaiser battery video lights. I had a helper to hold them most of the time but when it was just me and my actors I held them, I used the shutters around the edge of the lights to change the amount of light on the actor's faces and also the position of the lights to portray different things such as overhead lighting to give mystery with the detective as because of his hat it created a shadow on his face and hence you couldn't really see him. I also used back lighting for a shot to create a silhouette of the detective which worked well creating more mystery and combined with the mirror next to him I think looked quite professional and it achieved what I wanted it to. I used some more techniques for camerawork than I knew back when I did my preliminary task. In my final piece I used camera positioning such as high shot and low shots, establishing shot and also tracking and movement. I have learnt that using a high angle shot on a character shows the characters vulnerability and perhaps that they are weak or inferior. The low angle shot is the opposite showing power. An establishing shot would introduce the location and let you know where the characters are. Tracking shots and movement shots are a little too complex for my film however I have learnt how to do certain shots such as zooms and panning but not used them in my film. I've used editing techniques such as fast paced to keep pace up and action and then slow paced editing to create tension and focus on what's going on in the scene, like the shot where the detective enters the building via the staircase and he's a silhouetted figure. I've also learnt how to use final cut pro x to a higher level than before. I now know how to put effects onto my shots and how to reverse some shots. I also know how to lift the colour on a shot or change the colour to something different. I've learnt how to sync the sound by using a clapper board and also how to add sound effects. I've also improved a lot on continuity and tried very hard to keep this the case in my final piece however there are still some aspects of the final piece that aren't flawless. For instance the lighting frequently changes as it's very hard to have a shot with lighting from far away as you would be able to see the light and the person holding it whereas if you're close up you can hide the person holding the light and it isn't an issue. This is what i've done in various scenes which I thought was fine during filming but then when looking back on my scenes I realised that the continuity was a problem, however didn't have time to fix this. There was also a shot that was meant to come after a night shot that was shot during the day time, this too I didn't have time to fix but I managed to use various different shots and add effects on to make it darker and so the continuity didn't look too bad in the end.

Evaluation 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this film opening?

I have learnt a variety of useful things about technology. Through the process of making my film I've used many different pieces of technology. I've used:
Blogger
YouTube
Final Cut Pro X
HD Video Camera
Directional Mic
Tripod
Battery Lights
I have learnt to use these very well and they have helped a lot along the way. I've used blogger to upload a lot of my essay type questions and the progress on my film and my whole year of media has been based mainly around this website. I've used YouTube to upload rough cuts and final products of my film as well as evaluation questions i've answered visually or orally. I've used Final Cut Pro X to edit together my final piece and rough cuts along with questions i've answered and preliminary tasks. I've learnt how to edit fairly well and learnt several techniques such as cross cutting, continuity editing and sound bridges. I've used the HD Video Camera to film everything i've used. I've learnt techniques with this as well like zooming, panning and framing. I've also learnt camera positioning such as high shots to show vulnerability or low shots to show power. I've used the Directional Mic to record the audio files in my film. I've learnt via preliminary tasks how to use the mic and how to optimise the recorder so that the audio is of the best quality. I've used a Tripod to keep my camera still whilst filming and i've learnt how to use the level so that the camera isn't lopsided on the ground. I've used battery lights to light some of the scenes that were too dark. I've learnt how to use these so that the scenes aren't too dark or even too light, i've learnt different lighting techniques to show different things such as top lighting is flattering and filler lighting.