Goals 18/12/12

In January I will be continuing to edit my trailer which is almost complete. I will be adding narration, recorded over the christmas period to finalise the trailer. I will then use stills from the production or take new stills to create the poster and magazine front cover.

Goals 27/11/12

Today I found an appropriate audio track for my trailer and will continue to edit the footage with this audio, next lesson.

Theories

One of the theories I will be trying to get across is Vladimir Propp's Character Theory. This suggests that all filmed text has a specific set of character types in them. In my text I will try and incorporate a Protagonist an Antagonist and a Victim. Based on my Genre it is essential that these are present to relay the full picture to my audience. 

The second theory that is key to my genre is Enigma codes, these provide the mystery aspect that I need to relay to my audience.

Film Magazine Front Cover Plan

Possible Fonts

Bourne Identity Poster

This film poster fits with the Conspiracy part of my genre, the over all theme fits a very Police/Spy look as it includes finger prints and GPS tracking that is very obvious from the first look. The predominately blue background is scared in areas by many sepia tone screen captures of film scenes. One section of the poster is dedicated to names of the producers and cast etc. The main actors name is in Bold and it is directly stated that he is going to be the main character of "Jason Bourne." The Tag line present on this poster is "He was the perfect weapon, until he became the enemy" gives the consumer an instant indication of what the film is about in 1 sentence as well as being a catchy tag line. The central character image is an action shot of the main character who is getting the consumers attention by being highlighted with the GPS tracking circe. This central image is of low quality which could suggest that it has been made to look like it is from a CCTV camera for added effect and to give the user another hint on what the film is about.

 

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer Deconstruction

As the scene opens we get the mandatory BBFC/MPAA title citing that the trailer has been verified for all audiences. A dark background is used to instigate the theme of darkness through this film, various industries appear in the same design and style highlighted by the dark background for the publishers behind the film. This is accompanied with a sound bridge of chanting and clapping that opens the first scene.

Slow pans and short takes are used to show some key scenes present in the main film, these scenes and accompanied with an eerie silence where only the American national anthem can be heard, this anthem is recurrent and provides an excellent backing to all the following scenes.

As the trailer progresses there is a narration/sound bridge in place as a slow zoom onto a presentation plate, this along with the high class decoration would seem to show the male character that enters the scene is in fact wealthy, the next scene shows the narration is coming from a shot reverse shot sequence that follows the 180 degree rule.

The next scene keeping with the dark theme is a darkened city skyline that is being panned quickly; a “banging” sound effect is used to transition from this to the name of the Director that is in keeping with the style of the other text.

The next scene starts off with a slow zoom to the front of the manor, again giving the impression we are dealing with a high class of individual, in this scene many scenes of the film are being shown in quick succession due to the fast paced editing. The national anthem has its volume severely reduced as the background audio as what looks to be the main villain accompanied with a very dark set, these scenes are long takes and the editing has slowed down considerably.

Another Narration/sound bridge is used to back the action going on in the scenes; this action is primarily tracking shots and is again very dark in the nature of explosions and literal darkness. The music is also accompanying the theme of darkness as it has changed to a dull drone suggesting a climactic event is upon us. The characters are in medium close up for these shots.

In the next scene chanting begins to form with the droning tone to form the background sound for the rest of the scenes, in these scenes a slow pan is used with a high focal range and has the dark theme again spreading to the release of prisoners. Medium close ups and tracking shots show the proposed villain enter the stadium with another dark set being used. Another tracking shot accompanies the fast passed editing to follow the main male character to what looks to be another prison, thus continuing the dark impressions.

In the next scene all of the chanting and background sounds come to an abrupt end as a dark silhouette of the main villain in medium close-up triggers an explosion, this then starts a slowdown of the editing and a long take emerge. An even “punchier” drone accompanies the tracking shot of an American football player running from the explosion. The scene uses a fade to black as the editing speeds backup, as the main villain threatens the main male character with a muffled audio effect applied to his voice. These scenes are still very dark in nature, physically and literally. Amongst these scenes a tilt down tracking shot is used. As the chanting resumes as the background audio effect, “banging” sounds transition from scene to text once more, with the text keeping the same style as the other text, this and the following text include taglines common through trailers such as “next summer.” The whole trailer end with fast paced editing cutting in time with the beats of the chanting in the background until it ends abruptly. When it ends a famous audio segment is overplayed as an animation brings the audience almost into the screen and shows the famous “Bat Logo” which in turn shows “good” at the end of an “evil” trailer.

Finally the end text appears and all of it remains in the same style used throughout par the titles in which dark lettering is highlighted by the white background possibly showing a break from the “evil” and “good” as arrived. Each changing text frame is also accompanied with the same “banging” audio transition used thorough as the final tagline is show along with an informative section for the audience as the film is available in IMAX. 

1)    What representations are made in this text and how are these constructed?

A definite good versus evil representation is shown with the dark nature of the trailer contrasting to the bright ending to the trailer possibly showing that good prevails in the end in the form of the Batman.

2)    Is an Ideology implied in this text?

A strong point of view that could be taken from this film is the fact that many evil acts seem to be easily committed with the city being p[powerless to stop what is happening, and the film encourages that people “Rise” to this evil particularly the main character.

3)    Why have you chosen your text and how may it inspire your production?

I have chosen this trailer as it will help me with the construction of a trailer including backing sounds and sound effects as well as continuing a house style thought out. It also helps as it shows me how a theme i.e. the darkness theme can be shown throughout so well. It also shows how the main antagonist can be shown through minimal screen time.

SKYFALL Film Trailer deconstruction

As the trailer starts opens we get the mandatory BBFC/MPAA title citing that the trailer has been verified for all audiences. This is then followed by the industries that are publishing the film. A violin backing track is then introduced as the opening scene fades in from black.

The opening scene as many British connotations and the UK flag is heavily visible with the proposed main character in medium longshot, this also features a narration/Sound bridge, at this stage the editing is very slow and the takes are long. There is a dark theme through these opening scenes literally and physically in the lighting and theme.

The next few scenes are very short takes and of fast paced editing, the dark theme continues through the dialogue and mise-en-scene as anything related to shooting and death is highlighted white literally in the shooting range as it is lit with bright white light, the overall scene is well set up in almost symmetrical fashion.

In the next scene we see a an almost clinical looking interrogation room in which a fade to black transition breaks up two distance shots of Long Shot and Medium close-up. This scene starts an almost three way shot reverse shot sticking with the 180 degree rule and in Medium Close up. One frame amongst this conversation introduces a flashback scene with a “bang” sound effect, with a dark mise-en-scene, that makes the audience use their mind to try and picture what that frame was showing, which is another interesting device this trailer uses to engage with the audience. The violin background music suddenly draws to a climax when the film’s title is introduced and is portrayed as something bad to which the backing track ends abruptly with a “Bang” sound effect. The camera distance is then pulled back to Long Shot as a fade to black ends the scene.

In the next scene a new sound backing sound track is introduced as the scene fades from black to be a helicopter camera quickly zooming and panning the dark city skyline as an establishing shot, this is again dark, linking in with the running theme the editing has now increased in speed and the takes have become shorter. The backing music contains 2 main phases and for each section the action in each specific scene matches to that beat for example, the first gunshot scene that includes the main male character being shot in medium close up and with a tracking shot.

The next scene featuring the coffins shows a female character in long shot and a close focal range accompanied with a tilt down movement. The following scene uses the backing sound track again to show the main male character in two different filming distances effectively with no zoom required. The next few scenes include many medium close up scenes of the main male character as well as some high angled shots and continues the dark theme both with the lighting and the nature of the scenes. Throughout the scenes there seems to be an orangey effect/ filter applied to the trailer. And just before the main title appears on screen we get a very fast edited zoom on a silhouetted character accompanied with a “swoosh” effect.

When the main film title appears on screen it has a “dissolve in” effect applied to it and the editing has been slowed down to give it some presence. This is accompanied with a new sound track that is very “punchy” in nature with a dull base tone. The following scenes are again edited together very fast and have many short takes, for instance, about 3 different shots of the main male character setting up his gun are shown from many angles in quick succession. These shots have both a visual and audible transition with non-diegetic metal on metal sounds and flashing white lights, these scenes work well with the blue tone of the background. This scene features another narration/sound bridge as the main character speaks over the scenes until he appears in medium close-up.

The trailer ends by increasing the pace of editing yet again and showing a montage of individual clips from the film that are very action orientated, this is accompanied by a very action orientated backing track that comes to a quick climax. The trailer then shows the famous “007” logo and never mentions James Bond as the brand is now so large the almost every viewer would recognise this logo, it only needs to sit solitary on the screen in the same font as the other on screen text and people automatically register it.

1) What representations are made in this text and how are these constructed?

Again this text is very dark in nature with the physical lighting and overall tone of the film. The film seems to be heavily British in nature although other places are explored. No clear good vs. evil is shown but is hinted to through the dialogue.

2) Is an Ideology implied in this text?

 There is a strong ideology of “violence is the answer” and is the only way to defeat the evil. However this film is meant to be an action film thus these ideals apply.

3) Why have you chosen your text and how may it inspire your production?

I have chosen this text as it explores many different aspects of integration with the audience such as the inserted content that lasts for 1 frame so to tease the audience. The ability to just show a logo and influence so many people is also very noteworthy and I can now see was it can be done. I also can take different ways of lighting to add effect and I can also use different sound techniques to add effect as shown in the trailer.

This movie poster is fairly simple in nature but has a big effect on the audience, this inspires me as it shows how such a simply shot and designed poster can affect an audience is such a profound way. This has further effect as the Korean actors are unknown to a British audience. The Body Language of the two sisters gives this poster added mystery as it appears one of the sisters is alive but the other is dead however the blood is covering both of the sisters. The "mother" of the sisters is holding the child that is alive which could suggest that this family is broken inside ad people are taking sides. The tag line in this poster is almost hidden as it is in the same font as the characters clothing it is on top on, the wording of this again shows that there may be a divide within the family.

Magazine Front Cover

Empire Magazine is labelled as the "Worlds Biggest Movie Magazine" and is very famous. The simplistic front covers with a high resolution image along with the "Empire" heading being covered most of the time, is very effective. Buzz words such as "ultimate" are increased in size over the rest of the cover and is in a different colour to the rest of the text. In this case red is being used to attract the audience toward it. In my Magazine front cover i could take some of these design aspects and use them in my own way to create a professional front cover.

The Posession trailer

This trailer gives an excellent effect on the audience by using an enigma code in the form of the box. It is suggested that this box is what the film is based around and through CGI the effects of this box becomes apparent, these scenes are quite gruelling and not something could replicate with what I have, but it is a contrast with the last trailer proving that although the CGI is good, the previous trailer provides more mystery.

This could also help with my film idea its self as it contains a mysterious element.

Original Script

(The film will start with the camera doing a 360^o pan of the trees. The camera will begin to slow towards the end of the pan to show a girl coming out of the trees, this will be a very long shot. She will begin to walk towards the camera until she has walked past it.)

(The next shot will be of the back of the girl in a long shot from the point of view of someone in the bushes.)

Sound: A twig breaks (sounds extremely loud)

(Girl looks round medium shot, extreme close up on panicked looking eyes. Close up of the girl shaking her head begins to walk away)

(Camera is the girls’ point of view, hands come around and cover the camera (this represents someone putting their hands over the girls eyes)

Male voice: Guess who.

(Camera goes back to the third person’s point of view showing another student -male- with his hands over her eyes. Girl spins around over the shoulder close up of the boy’s face).

Girl: You moron Cameron you nearly gave me a heart attack.

Cam: (laughing) Sorry Jade but that was to easy.

Scene 2  

(long shot of the back of Bede facing the path, using the walk into space have the two characters walk past the camera, having an animated discussion)

(Keeping the characters in medium long shot they walk while disusing what made them nervous)

Cam: what has you all jumpy.

Jade: sorry but I haven’t felt right since what happened to Danny.

(They stop. Over the shoulder shot from Cam’s point of view with a close up on jade’s face)

Cam: Jay you know that his death was ruled as suicide so don’t worry about it.

Jade: I had known Danny since I was four years old he would not have commit suicide.

(Cam starts walking again shaking his head).

Scene 3

(The two of them standing on the steps looking up at the school)

(teacher comes out of one of the alcoves)

Teacher: (yells) Hey you two

(cams point of view looks at the teacher)

Teacher: (angry) my office now.

Jade: God I hate this place

(They walk into the building. Zoom out to an extreme long shot showing the school. As the door closes you hear a shrill scream.)

The House at the End of the Street

This trailer shows many effects that can be applied to a horror film trailer to effect the audience in a variety of ways, the strobe effects combined with short takes allows provides a teaser to the audience about who the main antagonist will be, without spoiling the film in its entirety. This also shows how different camera effects can really improve a basic shot e.g. the fish bowl effect on the forrest. This trailer matches the conventional horror film trailer as its structure and use of short takes and fast editing is very reminiscent.

Idea for coursework project

My initial idea for the A2 media coursework is to produce a promotional package for a film, including an advert, a promotional section on the frontcover of a magazine and a promotional poster. I will take inspiration from professional and well designed advertisements that can be found easily on YouTube along with examples of all the other promotional aspects of the products that need to be produced. I was initially thinking of using my AS coursework as a basis of creating my trailer as it was a horror. The horror/Conspiracy genre is easier to do than e.g. action as it does not require any explosions or special effects that cannot be created in our circumstances