Research and Planning - Mind Maps

Over the last few lessons, we were assigned to research further into our research and planning for our finalized film project. This included making three mind maps on you're choice of different film genres, my group and I chose the genres horror, action and romance. After creating all three different genre mind maps, we had to come to a finalized decision on which genre we are most likely to produce. This assignment has become very useful to my group and I, because before we had been set this assignment, we started to think about doing an action film this year however, we have found that by doing this assignment it has made us realize how hard it would be to produce an action film. We found it particularly hard to come up with some good ideas as to what we would include in an action film and made us realize do we really want to make an action film? However, we could think of many ideas for horror and romance. In conclusion, my group and I found this task useful and we have come to a decision as to which genre we feel will help us get the best grade possible, and help with learning how to produce a different film genre. The new genre we have chosen to produce is Romance. We are yet to decide on a finalized plot for the film however, we have managed to put ideas into a mind map which we will relate to, to help us think of a good exciting plot.

Research and Planning - One Day Film Trailer Analysis

• I have posted the trailer 'One Day' which introduces very little information on the story line, along with representing the genre, narrative, target audience and along with many other aspects to the film.

• The trailer begins by playing soft romantic music and showing a clip from the film which has dialogue. The dialogue that is used for example, ''when we were at university I had a crush on you'' hints to the audience already the genre of the film. The audience straight away know's that the genre of this film is romance, this is done through the use of dialogue, music and the way the two main characters are represented i.e cuddling and kissing in a way that two people in a relationship would. This hints the target audience would range from the age 16 and above.

• The Narrative of the film is two characters meet eachother at uni, they become close friends, slowly dirft apart and move on from one another, later on they both realise their in love, ends with a tragic accident and the girl dies.

• The unique selling point of this film varies. One of the main unique selling points would be for the fact that one of the main characters is a very well known actress, Anne Hathaway, which makes the film appeal to a wider audience. Also that the genre of the film is romance which usually appeals to women rather than men however, the film is not a stereotypical romantic film. Another aspect of the film which is unique is how the film is used as a timeline (going back in time). Lastly the most important unique selling point for the film is the fact that the film is a novel which has become successful and well known.

• The music throughout the trailer is romantic and a fast pace at the beginning to show the setting, however the pace then starts to slow . This is accompanied by a voiceover who is telling the story ''on the day they met, Dexter and Emma never imagined how their lives inerside over the next 20 years'' leaving the audience to want to find out more, and to know exactly how the film ends. The music reflects on the type of mood in the film i.e when Emma and Dexter are kissing the music reflects the mood (happiness) however, when you see Dexter looking down and troubled ''I need to speak to someone, not someone you'' the music changes.

• Medium and long shots are used briefly to show the audience where the film is taken place (Scotland, London) though the shots are very quick, meaning the audience is given just a brief idea as to where the film is taken place. The pace of the film is fairly slow due to how long the actual film trailer is, (2 minutes and 37 seconds) which is quite long for a trailer. Some shots are longer than others, but by showing only small glimpses of the film, it puts the audience into the question of what is really going on?, which trys to grab the audiences attention to make them want to watch more. For example one bit in the trailer, Dexter and Emma decide to go skinny dipping, this would make the audience intregued and wanting to find out what happens.

• The dialogue that is used is loving for example when Dexter says to Emma ''I'm so much better when you're around'', this is used to show that Dexter trusts Emma and shows that he has passionate feelings for her. The type of dialogue that is used is stereotypical to the kind of dialogue you would find in a romantic genre.

• Credits are added to the trailer towards the mid-end of the film such as 'Friendship and Loss'. The font is the same throughout all the credits (bold with white font) with powerful words 'Power' and 'Love' to stand out to grab the audiences attention to keep the credits remembered, so if the audience look back on the film they will remember that it was about 'friendship and loss'. The types of words that are used in the credits 'love' give away to who the film is most likely to be targeted to, teenagers and women.

• Overall I think this trailer is effective because it ticks off the main conventions of a film trailer, quick shots, fast and short paces throughout the trailer, it manages to represent the genre (romance) and shows the audience to who the film is targeted to and uses great parts of the film without revealing too much of the plot line, wanting the audience to be intrigued to find out more.

Research and planning - taken teaser trailer

My group and I have decided to change our genre this year to action, as opposed to doing another horror production. We thought it would be good to try and produce a different genre this year as it will set us a new challenge. To understand the conventions of a teaser trailer, I am going to analyse the film 'Taken's' teaser and trailer. I have chosen to analyse the two different trailers to see in what aspect they obey the conventions and also the effect of them on the audience and also because the genre of this film is action.







Above I have posted 'Taken's' theatrical trailer and below I have posted the teaser trailer.
Taken was a very successful film at the cinema, especially with a wide range audience. I love the dark camera shots within the trailer and the fast snippits of action leaving the audience wanting to know more, however the timing is impecable as the audience are left 'teased' and in suspence as they do not know the end of each scene or how the plot will end. I think this is something that my group and I want to encorpret into our teaser trailer, as it provoks a large emotional vibe from the audience.


Both trailers are fairly different to eachother, the threatrical trailer is roughly about 50 seconds longer than the teaser trailer. Each trailer provides minimal information, however the threatrical trailer provides more of the plot than the teaser trailer. The teaser trailer provides a lot less speaking as it trys to give little as possible away to the audience, wanting them to come back for more and to watch the film itself. Both trailers show similar scenes to the film, however the teaser trailer shows faster shots and cuts to the scene than the theatrical trailer does.


Taken serves as an excellent starting point as to what a teaser trailer should include. Firstly before running into the action of both of the film trailers, the production companies are announced being '20th Century Fox' and 'Europa Corp'. The audience will get the vibe that the trailer most likely will be aimed towards a mixed age range from the age 15 and above, as the past films produced by '20th Century Fox' such as The Dark Knight, was aimed to a similar age range and was a huge success.
As the action of the film progresses through each of the trailers, introducing the main characters, the audience understand the gist of the film without revealing too much of the plotline, making the audience want to know more.


I feel that both trailers are a great success, as they show all the conventions that attract the right audience without giving to much of the plot away and I feel that my group and I will be able to benefit from taking some of the conventions into our own teaser trailer and hopefully be able to add our own twist to our film that we decide to create.

Research and Planning - What are the different conventions between a Teaser and a Trailer?

Today my class and I begun our A2 course in media. For our first class we were assigned to list what is a teaser trailer and what is a trailer? we were also asked to list the different conventions between the two.

What is a trailer?

- A trailer is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film, that will be exhibited in the future cinema.

- The term 'trailer' comes from there having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening.

- Trailers did not last long at the end of the films, because patrons tended to leave the theatre after the film had finished, but the name had stuck. Trailers are now shown before the film begins.

- Film trailers have now become popular on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, as well as on the internet.


What is a teaser trailer?

- A teaser trailer is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming films, television programs, video game or similar, usually released long in advance of the product, so as to 'tease' the audience.

- Teaser trailers, unlike typical movie trailers, are usually very short in length, usually between 30-60 seconds and contain little information, if any, actual footage from the film, making the audience interested and 'teased'.

- Teaser trailers also provide the name of the film, the genre of the film, the release date, and the target audience the film is aimed at.


Different conventions between a teaser and a trailer

- Teaser trailers are usually under 1 minute, whereas theatrical trailers are usually between 1-2 minutes

- A teaser trailer contains much shorter and faster editing

- Teaser trailer contains minimal information i.e 'coming soon', whereas a trailer trys to give you more of the story line

- A trailer is a lot more likely to include the director, actors and produces of the film

- Theatrical trailers are made for a purpose to show you the best bits of the film

- A teaser trailer and a theatrical trailer will contain the genre of the film

- A teaser trailer is non linear, whereby they don't follow a time line e.g the order of the film whereas a theatrical trailer will

In order for the teaser trailer and the extended trailer to be judged successfully, depends on the amount of people attracted to watch the film at the cinema. If the film does well at the box office, then the trailers have obviously been successful in getting an audience to see the film.

Research and Planning - AS Coursework Reflection

http://sarahbarnes-mediaalevel.blogspot.com/
•          Digital Technology

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

 Ways in which my group and I used media technologies in the construction and research of my planning and evaluation stages, was by using blogger on the Internet to create a blog to keep progress of my research and planning, which also allowed me to use the internet to find out more information about opening sequences to films. I found this media technology useful in which it helped keep me up to date and I was able to access the work at home and at school. This gave me a balance of how much work i was able to put in at home and at school which I feel I managed to achieve successfully.

For the construction part of digital technology my group and I used cameras, tripods and the computer software Adobe Premiere Elements, which enabled us to complete the opening sequence of our films and also to produce story boards. On Adobe Premiere Elements we edited together our film footage, this gave us the option to cut scenes together, take parts of footage that were not neeeded out, put in different effects, speed up/slow down footage, reverse footage and enter in inter-titles.

A way in which my group and I decided would be an appropriate way to look at the media technology that we had used, would be to take photos of us holding the equipment. I have uploaded the photos onto my blog which i have posted below:

•         Creativity

How did you use media forms to come up with something new and original?

My group and I used media forms to come up with something new and original by researching into other horror films on Youtube to get inspiration and ideas for our own film. We were inspired by the films 'Halloween' and 'The Strangers', inwhich both films followed a similar meaning and story line to our own film. After researching into what is used in the opening sequences to horror films, my group and I chose parts that we thought worked well from other films e.g Halloween, which helped create our own opening sequence to our film.

•          Research and planning

How effective was the research and planning that you undertook in helping you to create your media product?

The research and planning that my group and I undertook, in helping to create our own media product became very affective and helpful throughout the proccess of creating our media product. The research and planning was affective as we looked at many different films to get different ideas of what to base the media product on, by looking at different aspects of horror films i.e the type of characters, settings, times of days, different types of music, costumes and props etc. This gave us an idea as to where it was best to place different types of music depending on the type of mood at the time in the film, especially when we wanted to show tension starting to build up.
Looking at different films helped with choosing the fonts, Names for horror films, texts and colourings to show clearly to the audience the genre of our film i.e, red to represent danger. Research and planning also helped with representing how vulnerablle characters in a horror film should be portrayed for example, timid and scared, this can be compared with Shannon Sossamon who plays the main part in One Missed Call. My group and I feel that what we used worked well as it was stereotypical ideas of a horror film for example, we decided the name 'Paranoid' for our film which shows clearly to the audience what type of genre the film is and also by the use of black and red that are used which are stereotypical colours that are used in horror films.

•          Post-production

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After completing our final media product and having to show the opening of our film to an audience, we were given audience feedback. Hearing other people's opinions helped us to see the positives and negatives of our work and what could be done differently in this years A2 media product.

The negative feedback such as, in most horror films they manage to show the scene whereby they show the victim in the mirror and the killer standing behind them, and maybe we could have worked a way of trying to do that to make it look more effective or not. Also the effect that we used throughout the film might be quite off putting towards other audiences and may not be so popular. We have learnt from this negative feedback that on our next media task we will plan carefully the type of effect we will use, so that it attracts all audiences. These negative feedbacks my group and I have taken into consideration and will reflect on what we choose to do in our next media task.

The positive feedback that we recieved such as, people thought the non - diegetic sound had a good theme to the genre of the film, by how the music managed to build suspense and tension and also how the setting and genre builds up suspense  too which all worked well together. One other positive that we recieved was the use of editing techniques and how the contrast in the colours makes it look like something in a dream by making it look affective. My group and I were pleased with our audience feedback and have taken all our feedback onboard.

• Using conventions from real media texts

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Ways in which my media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products is used in many different ways. The use of dialogue and music which is used in all films. My media product also uses different techniques of shots and angles to make it seem more like a real media product for example, close ups on significant objects and characters for the storyline.
By only having the one character in the film this challenges conventions of a real horror film, as it suggests the vulnerable female character has to try and survive throughout the whole film, and how they challenge what is coming at them. We also used titles which are used in real media products, they are used to show the title, credits, actors, directors and producers in the film. We used a similar location to other horror films such as woods and abandoned house, which is more realistic. We also used similar costumes and props which you would find in most horror films i.e a knife which most characters would use as a weapon and also for the 'killer' to be dressed in all black which is stereotypical for a killer in this type of genre.
Most importantly the story had to seem realistic to the genre, which was horror so we included a vibe of suspense and tension towards the audience.

Above Sarah has taken a photo of myself holding the camera equipment that we used to film our opening film. We used the camera to record the action within our opening film, this included a variety of shots, movements and angles displayed within our film. The cameras that we used tended to be reliable and recorded much of the action in fairly high quality, although not in the quality that my group and I would have hoped for with our opening film, due to the camera not having a flash light to be able to film in the dark. If we had used a more better quality camera I believe that we would have been able to improve the quality of our work and changed a few things around, however the camera had some good limits that we were able to work with and my group and I were still able to produce a good amount of work.

The microphone on the camera wasn't that affective to what we would have liked, for example the camera would pick up background noise however, we managed to edit that all out by using copy-right music which we downloaded from Audio Network and our editing equipment to make sure that the background noise did not effect our product.

My group and I used a tripod to steading out our shots whilel filming. This managed to help us achieve a professional effect and a better viewing expperience for our audience.

Blogger was the main piece of media that we used to create our coursework and record the progress that we have made throughout the year. I used windows paint to print screen images and upload them into paint. We also used youtube to find openings of the same genre films to our own. To be able to access youtube we had to create an account and upload our own videos onto this such as our opening film and preliminary tasks, which meant people were able to give feedback on them.