Poster: Second draft

Although I recently posted a first draft of our film poster, I decided to work on a second, improving things we felt were lacking in the first. These things included:

- The font being too simple- we felt it was boring and didn't accurately convey the light hearted tone of the film.

- The lack of a certificate or date for the film, making it look less realistic.

- The arrangement of the text on the bottom- we felt it didn't look professional and would be better central.

So, with these things in mind, we created this draft of the poster (still on the simple Paint tool, so again, the picture is not high quality).



We feel that this poster conveys the comedic tone of the film more accurately, and with the inclusion of the certificate gives a greater indication of who the film is aimed at. The font is far more suited to the genre- it is bouncy and youthful looking, and shows immediately that the subject matter of the film is not serious.

In order to get audience feedback regarding this draft of the poster, I have created a discussion board on our group's Facebook page to ask our peers their opinions on the poster.


As people reply and give their views, I will print screen them and add them to the blog.

Shooting: Problems

Although we managed to shoot some footage for our trailer in October, we have gotten to the point where we have begun to edit it and deduced that we need to refilm certain sequences. The problems we encountered were:

- Poor sound quality in a clip where our characters are running.

How we could solve it: We could either refilm the sequence and position the microphone closer to the characters, or try to use the footage we have and record the dialogue again in a voiceover, editing it into the scene in post-production.

- A shaky camera lens in a shot of our characters walking, due to our tripod being broken and thus not secure.

How we could solve it: Refilming the sequence seems the only option in this situation, as it isn't something we can easily disguise.

- Availability of actors- one of the boys we used in our trailer lives in Stamford four days a week, and this tightens our filming schedule.

How we could solve it: We could utilise the time we all have off from school and college by doing our retakes during the Christmas holidays, weather permitting.

- One of our actors, Sophie, has cut her hair since shooting, providing issues with continuity.

How we can solve it: We will have to either reshoot every scene invovling Sophie, or find a way to cover her hair in the remaining scenes- perhaps a comedy hat to fit in with the themes of the film.


UPDATE:

We need to refilm certain parts of our trailer, but have found issues with availability of actors and continuity (mainly due to our main actress having had her hair cut).

We were brainstorming ways of getting around this, and came up with an idea derived from the trailer for new teen film, Easy A. Although the plot is completely different, the dry humour and sense of parody may attract a similar audience, and a technique used in the trailer may be the answer to our problems.

Throughout the trailer, the main character, Olive, speaks directly to the camera, almost like a video diary. This would mean that we could film our actors seperately and when they were available, and it could also explain continuity errors, as it would be made obvious that the videos were made in hindsight.

Here is the trailer for Easy A to demonstrate what we mean.

Poster/Webpage Image

We have made a final decision regarding the image we intend to use on our advertising products for the film (above). We feel that the image above conveys enough about the film that it could be used promotionally- we can tell that the characters are not the so-called 'cool kids' you would find in a typical teen drama, but the bottle of vodka visible in-shot is out of place amongst them, giving a hint as to their situation. The pattern on Anthony's shirt is also visible in this photograph, and the red spatters could connote blood, implying the danger they find themselves in. Both of these indicate that the protagonists are out of their depth, and that the humour lies in this fact. We intend to use a tagline to further this humour and make it clearer to the audience.

We also liked the fact that the photograph is reminiscent of promotional material used for the first series of Skins (shown above.) Skins was proven to be universally popular amongst our target audience, as revealed by the surveys we took. We felt that this picture pays homage to the image in a way, and this will subconciously connect with Skins fans and make our film appeal to them more.

This is a very basic mock-up of what we would like the poster to eventually look like. This was only done using Paint, so the image quality is not very good and the variety of fonts, colours and effects were very limited. However, we wanted to demonstrate an idea of composition.




We also decided to make a mock-up of a webpage. Again, this image is of low quality and has all the same problems as the poster, but we wanted to demonstrate where we intended to place things and show what we intend to include- e.g. the links to social networking sites, which we found were important in promoting a film intended for a teenage target audience, and a 'Soundtrack' tab, which, to a degree, provides a ready-made audience made up of fans of the artists you have included.

Costume

My group carefully considered how we were going to dress our characters. Below is an annotated photograph of our three main actors and the outfits we chose for them.

Above all else, we wanted to both comply with and violate conventions of the teen drama. We complied with them by giving our characters a stereotype to fit into- they are 'geeks' or 'nerds' and we dressed them accordingly, in sensible clothes. We wanted them to wear simple jeans, plain T-shirts and hoodies (in Sophie's case, a lumpy, shapeless man's jacket.) However, the reason that we did this was to subvert stereotypes about the genre- typically in teen dramas, the main characters are the 'cool kids', and are highly sexualised accordingly. We wanted the 'geek' stereotype to assume the role of the 'cool kids' without taking on their behaviours, thus we wanted to convey our character's innocence and naivety through their clothes. We felt this also heightened the absurdity of them finding themselves in such a dark situation.

We also wanted to emphasise the rural setting of our trailer. Commonly, teen dramas are set in gritty, urban surroundings and feature streetwise teenagers taking on dark situations. In order to contrast our protagonists' innocence with the grit of our antagonists, we thought a country setting would be more appropriate. As noted on the photograph, the girl's jacket especially panders to this theme, as it connotes dog walking and a simple, rural lifestyle- quite the opposite to the drug dealers that our characters find themselves involved with!

Risk Assessment

My group have completed a risk assessment- we considered the possible dangers posed by our filming and came up with solutions or ways around them.

Webpage Analysis

Today, our group began more detailed research on the webpage that we have to produce as part of our brief. To deduce what the common themes were on webpagesfrom our genre of film, I annotated a few- pages for Cherrybomb, 4321 and Shank.


These are printscreens of the webpages for the aforementioned films. I have added annotations on what I considered to be relevant aspects of the pages.




(Click to view larger versions of the images and read the annotations I have made.)

Common threads throughout the pages were:

Links to social networking sites- Facebook, Twitter etc

- For the purpose of spreading information about the film- it encourages fans of the film to show their support for it and in turn, the page is more likely to be viewed by friends of the fans and so on.

A prominent photograph of the actors (the same one used on the posters)

- Cross-marketing; the same photo is used on all of the advertising material to make it more well known and ingrained into the minds of film fans. In several cases, the most famous actor (e.g. Noel Clark in the 4321 webpage) is the most prominent as big stars have a built-in fanbase.

Soundtrack listings

- The Cherrybomb webpage lacks this (perhaps due to being low-budget and not being able to afford licensing for music) but both the Shank and 4321 pages have a page with a complete list of songs featured in the movie. The purpose of this is that fans of the music featured in the film may be inspired to watch it based on it's inclusion of something they already like.

Shooting

Day #1: Cuckoo's Hollow/ Gunthorpe Garages

During the half-term holidays, my group and I came together to begin filming our project. We decided that it would be best if we used actors for the film and the three of us focused entirely on filming.


The main locations we used were Cuckoo's Hollow in Werrington and a set of garages in Gunthorpe, which we chose to use instead of a set at Walton as originally planned. The reason for this change is that the Gunthorpe garages looked less decayed, and based on the idea that our film is a comedy, we thought it would be funnier if the story was set in a very leafy, green Suburbia kind of setting.


These are our actors: Anthony Race, Sophie Wardell and Joe Stimson. We dressed them all in the similar costumes of jeans and jackets to make them look both similar and entirely plain- we didn't want them to look sexualised in any way.



This is a photograph of Dan positioning Joe in frame for one of the scenes in the trailer.

This is an image of our characters after they have been drinking in a humourous scene. We took some better quality photographs on the camera and are considering using this as our promotional image on both the poster and the webpage because it sums up the 'misfit' social position of the characters.



This is a photograph of Kayleigh, myself and our three actors after a hectic day of shooting!

Prop List

"A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is any object held or used on stage by an actor for use in furthering the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set decoration and a prop is use. If the item is not touched by a performer for any reason it is simply a set decoration. If it is touched by the actor in accordance to script requirements or as deemed by the director, it is a prop."

- Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_prop


For our trailer, we are going to need certain props to enhance the drama or comedy on screen.
As we obtain each prop, I will tick (✓) them off.

A sports bag ✓ filled with money
- A sports bag will not be hard to obtain. However, we obviously would be unable to use real money for the scene, so we plan to find a 'specimen'picture on Google and print off several copies to use.

Vodka bottles ✓
- There is a scene where our characters are getting drunk to celebrate the fact that they have discovered all of the money. For this, we will use empty vodka bottles washed out and filled with water.

A water gun
- For a comedic scene. We willl be able tobuy a small plastic water gun at a pound shop.

A car ✓
- For another comedic scene where our characters are overtaken by an old lady who is on foot. One of our group drives and owns a car, so we will likely use that as it is the simplest way.

A dog ✓
- We need a dog to chase one of our characters up a tree and bark at it. Again, two of our group own dogs, so we will choose based on the most obedient one (and the least threatening!)

Music: Final Decision

Based on our last-minute choice to shift the theme of the film from violent and Kidulthood-esque to a more comedic fare, we now feel that the D-Mindz song we were going to use is not appropriate. To reflect the lighter tone our film has now taken, we wanted more jovial music.

When searching for unsigned artists, we discovered Trip. We felt that his song, 'Who's That' had the perfect feel- it was fast and a little bit heavy to represent the action, but the lyrics are humourous and about a social misfit.



After hearing this song, we unanimously decided it would be perfect for the montage in our teaser trailer.

Here are the lyrics. The highlighted portion is the part we intend to use.

Who's that sitting at the bus-stop
Look at his mug shot
Looks like he's been mugged off
Woken up at night by the guard dogs
Plus he's got a pile of old broken alarm clocks


I can't even be bothered to
Read a book, write , clean or to cook
Feel like I’m Steve Mcqueen on foot
Look in my cupboards nothing but cheese and custard
My feet reek like Dijon mustard
So who's that sitting at the bus-stop
While his mums dog take a pee on his Dunlops
I lost my cherry to the solo in November rain
And I’ll always die hard like I’m John Mclane
So come on traffic lights go green
And come on STD test be clean
And pretty please Mr. Washing machine
Do your thing and take those funny stains off a my jeans
So come on mum, just leave that prick and
Come home sis at least for a bit
In school I was cool with geography and punch-ups
Picked on by the boy with the transformer lunch box


Who's that sitting at the bus-stop
Look at his mug-shot
It looks like he's been mugged off
Woken up at night by the guard dogs
Plus he' got a pile of old broken alarm clocks


Ey yo I stuff down a big fat breakfast that'd be fit for a builder
I got a crush on the waitress here a bit like Hillsborough
So when I dust I tip a couple of silvers
But I 'aint got a chance 'cos she looks like a film-star
But one fine day I’ll be a wealthy fellow
And then my piss-streak will a healthy yellow
But until then it's just me and my neighbours cello
Don't put your drinks on the table, please use my demo


Who's that sitting at the bus-stop look at his mug-shot
Looks like he's been mugged off
Woken up at night by the guard dogs
Plus he's got a pile of old broken alarm clocks


So I guess it's just me and the fruit machine
would someone please turn down the human-league
I’m trying to win some loot to get a new TV
So I can sit around all day and watch QVC

Final Storyboard

This is a final, more detailed and annotated version of our storyboard. We have cut out some scenes due to impracticality, and moved some around in the chronology, but otherwise the storyboard remains more or less unchanged.

Storyboard

Now we have our idea firmly in our mind and have the audience feedback to gauge what they are looking for, we have begun storyboarding the trailer. Obviously, a trailer shows all of the best shots in the film in order to lure the audience in, so we need to think carefully about what we want every shot to convey to give a fair picture of the film.

Based on our audience feedback, we amended the tone of the film somewhat. Comedy was cited as the most popular for boys and girls alike, so we have added several amsuing elements to the storyboard- slapstick comedy and sarcastic dialogue. The premise is exactly the same, but instead of our main characters being savvy and streetwise, they are socially inept and hapless, which is the main source of comedy. We intend to play up the angle of them being misfits and being the wrong people to be caught up in such a situation.

We like the genre of 'dramedy' for this genre, as British films tend to be incredibly serious and gritty. The light hearted feel of the film will hopefully encourage people in our traget audience to see it becauyse it features the things those surveyed said they wanted in a film.

Questionnaire and Analysis

We wanted to find out what it was our audience was looking for in the trailer we are making, so we compiled this questionnaire and gave it out to thirty people between the ages of 16 and 20, our main target market. What we hoped to find out was:

- What gender our project would most appeal to, and how to make it more friendly to both
- What genres are popular so that we can include elements of them, eg. comedy, romance?
- What would make people want to see our film?

We have also created a Facebook group to this end, so we can gather qualitative feedback from our target audience.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=638384457#!/group.php?gid=152168054819075

Males aged 16-20

All watched films at least once a week if not more.

Most popular genres for males were Action and Comedy.

Least popular was Horror.

Teen drama's popularity tended to sit somewhere in the middle of the popularity spectrum.

They agreed that a good trailer and good actors were the best way to make them want to see the film.

The ones that did actively seek out trailers tended to see them on TV or YouTube.

Skins and The Inbetweeners were the most popular teen dramas from this category.

Females aged 16-20

On average, the girls watched films once a week.

Most popular genres were Romance and Comedy.

Least popular were Action films.

The actors and the reviews were the most important factors in girls making a choice to see films.

Majority of girls didn't actively seek out trailers, but saw them the most in the cinema or on TV.

Skins, Kidulthood and The Inbetweeners were the most popular teen dramas.


Based on these results, we can gather that our main market for the film is teen boys, who were more open to the idea of a teen drama. Across the board, dramas Skins and The Inbetweeners were popular- Skins features a set of hedonistic youths involved in sex and drugs, elements of which will be simple to incorporate into our feature. The Inbetweeners is about awkward teenage boys, which will be harder to incorporate, although we will include some elements of comedy in our trailer based on this finding.

In light of the popularity of Skins with both sexes. we plan to modify the tone of our characters- whereas we had previously planned to make them quite working-class, in the vein of Kidulthood, we will now make them more quirky and individual like the characters. Although it is difficult to convey seperate personalities in a trailer, we are going to try and convey characters kooks through their costumes, hairstyles and lines.

The overall verdict on teen dramas is that our target audience would watch them only if the plot interested them. We think the concept of ordinary, relatable teens finding themselves entangled with gangster types will be interesting- in fact, there was a storyline similar in the first series of Skins, where the character of Sid found himself in trouble with a drug dealer.

Locations #2

We have been searching for locations in Peterborough that would be good to use in our trailer. Our main priority in finding a location was somewhere with urban decay- a worn down, decrepit place reflecting the corruption and darkness of our plot. However, we had an idea about contrasting this with one of two shots in a beautiful place in order to make the decay look even uglier.


This location will be used for a comedy scene where a character is stuck up a tree. We selected it because it has low branches and will therefore pose a minimal health and safety risk.



This location will be used to film a scene of a character being chased by a small dog in a comedic fashion. We chose it because it is a clear path in a reasonably quiet area.


This is the alleyway that the characters emerge from at the very beginning of the trailer. The bush to the right is where the characters will find the money. We chose this alley because it manages to look both suburban and unkempt at once.


There is a scene in the trailer where the characters run past these garages. We chose them because they are battered and not particularly attrative, which represents the grittier world our goofy misfits find themselves caught in.

Poster analysis 2: Kidulthood

I am going to analyse this poster for Kidulthood, a film with similar themes to our project.

The colours used in the poster are all dark- the setting is almost completely grey and even the sky is dark and cloudy, immediately conveying the sinister tone of the film. The characters are also sitting on a rooftop , perhaps to indicate their precarious position in life and the risks they constantly take by being involved with underage sex, drugs and violence.

The figures in the poster are the main characters. In the centre are the two characters that the film revolves around- putting them in the middle of the poster shows their importance ('central' characters.) The character Becky (3rd from right) is balanced the most precariously on the edge of the roof, reflecting her 'live for the moment' approach and reckless behaviour. The main antagonist, Sam, is positioned at the far right of the image, holding a baseball bat to hint at his violent nature.

The only text on the poster is the title, credits and a pull quote from a review written by Touch magazine. The use of a pull quote is effective because it gives an idea of the kind of movie it is (e.g. this one is 'powerful and moving', so the audience realises that the film won't be a comedy) and also, the five star rating shows that it has some critical acclaim.

All the characters on the poster are teenagers, so one can assume that the main target audience for the piece is also young people, the 16-24 demographic.

As our film is influenced by the grit and potency of Kidulthood, we want to take inspiration from this poster. We like the use of dark colours to convey the subject matter and the hint at violence via the inclusion of a baseball bat. We also find the use of a pull quote effective, and may attempt to utilise that technique.

Location

Now we have settled definitively on our idea, we need to start thinking about where we are going to film it. Given the nature of the film, we feel we need to use gritty locations that convey the bleakness of the character's predicament.

This mood board gives an idea of the kind of locations we want to use. We want to use a setting with lots of graffiti and battered-looking buildings to represent urban decay. A lot of these images also feature backdrops of council estates and tower blocks to represent the lower economic background of our characters. The inclusion of a picture of a fast food joint also indicates this, as the characters are eating junk food instead of nutritious meals, presumably because their family lives are less than traditional.

All that's left to do now is find locations in Peterborough that have these features and can accurately convey the connotations we want.

Mood board

In considering the kinds of shots that are used in teaser trailers, I viewed several in the teen movie genre to get some ideas. Here, I have made a mood board, comprised of shots which I found effective and thought we may be able to take inspiration from.

This mood board consists of shots from Skins, Kidulthood, 4321, Fishtank, Cherrybomb and Garden State, all of which (except Garden State) are British teen dramas. Lots of the shots feature females, and are therefore mainly intended to serve as inspiration for our female character. Some of the shots I found inspiring for angles (such as the shot of the character from below from Kidulthood, in the middle on the far right), some for setting (e.g. the shot at a campsite from Skins, top on the far right, or the shot at the underpass, also from Skins, middle right, second from bottom) and some for the content (like the close up of Michelle's eyes from Skins, top on the far left, or the picture of the girl crying from Fishtank, second from bottom on the far left)

This is another mood board I've made, this time featuring shots from Misfits, Nearly Famous and Skins, all British teen drama series. This time, the mood board has pictures that are more male oriented, serving as inspiration for our two male characters. Shots I found particularly effective include the one of Owen from Nearly Famous crying (bottom far left), the extreme close up of of Nathan from Misfits drinking a bottle of vodka (middle of centre left) and the shot of Nathan from behind brandishing a gun (bottom far right).

Most of the shots on both boards feature dark lighting, indicating the realism and the dark tone of British movies and TV in general. Also, almost all of the shots are either mid-shots or close-ups- this is likely because it would be inappropriate to use establishing shots in a trailer, particularly a teaser, which flashes by exceptionally quickly.

Music- Local Artists

"Music helps set the tone and mood of the trailer. Usually the music used in the trailer is not from the film itself (the film score may not have been composed yet). "

- Wikipedia article on Trailers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_(film)

We have started to seriously consider the music we need to use in our teaser trailer, as we want it to convey something both about our characters and the genre of our film, and our target audience. Thus, we wanted the music to feel 'young' and modern- we thought a rap/ hip hop track would probably get this across the best.

We have found a local artist who produces the kind of music we would like to use, D-Mindz. His song Monster is sung from the perspective of a boy who is destroyed by his love for a girl, with lyrics connoting violence and anger,tying in with the drug dealers.



These are the lyrics of the song:

Monster
How should I feel
Creatures lie here
Looking through the window x2

I'm surrounded by the darkness
And the harder that I try to break free the more it tightens on this harness
I try ripping it, it's so sickening
All these creatures in the carpet I'm living in

You tried screaming for help
But I had my hands wrapped round your mouth, I felt frightened of myself
I had your heart in my palm, I can do what I want
So I tear it apart, what I felt necessary

I turned into something I didn't wanna but you made me so cold
And now I'm sitting here, the record's playing, and no one's home and
Hey, I didn't mean to break your heart
We all make mistakes, I'm the one you'll regret forever, babe

Monster
How should I feel
Creatures lie here
Looking through the window x2

You're my poison, you're the toxic, running through my veins,
You're the puppet master with the strings through my brain,
But then I broke free from your hold
You've never seen a hot boy turn this cold

You wrote me a love note to make me feel better
At the bottom of the page, I found blood on the letter,
At the top of the page was a smiley face sulking,
Man, I never knew a girl so insulting

It's all jokes and laughs until you get your hopes smashed by broken glass
And you're sitting on a cloud still floating past
Til the bullets smoke past and don't you crash,
You could try reversing memories
If you went back a century we'd still be enemies
I hate you, but should I keep that a secret or introduce you to this side of the truth?

Monster
How should I feel
Creatures lie here
Looking through the window x2

Take a little bit of heartbreak, a little bit of vodka,
I'm still in love with a bitch called karma,
I got my nails so deep in her flesh,
If I ran, I could rip the heart straight from her chest,

And it's lust with neglect,
I just wanna f*ck you, girl, I don't need your respect
And my attitude is very ugly
And trust me, you wouldn't dare to love me

It must be the drink, it must be the scars,
It must be the girls I find in bars
But I never seem to find the right one,
Somebody dial 911
I hate you, I hate you
I hate you, I hate you
Forever, babe

There is a lot of violent imagery in the song ('But I had my hands wrapped round your mouth, I felt frightened of myself', 'I got my nails so deep in her flesh, If I ran, I could rip the heart straight from her chest') which its in well with the theme of our film.

Webpages

As the third part of our project, we need to create a webpage for our film. I have looked at the webpages for films in the same genre.

Kidulthood (2006)

http://www.tuftweb.com/kidulthood/

This is the homepage of the webpage for Kidulthood, an important film in the teen-drama genre. It is mainly comprised of a large e-poster promoting the DVD release of the film, but at the bottom are tabs such as 'About Kidulthood,' 'Press,' 'Soundtrack' and 'Forum', giving fans of the film a chance to interact with one another and critics of the film a place to post their opinions as well as giving the fans the chance to download songs they heard on the soundtrack. The element of the interactive would make the website attractive to teens, who are the main target audience of the film.

Cherrybomb (2010)

http://www.cherrybombmovie.net/

The homepage for the film Cherrybomb is slightly more basic, probably due to the film being more low budget. However, what is has that the Kidulthood page doesn't is links to social networking websites Facebook and Twitter, allowing teens to connect with the film and share information about it with their friends easily. I think this is a good idea, and one we should utilise on our webpage.

Fish Tank (2009)

http://www.fishtankmovie.com/

The homepage for Fish Tank has both links to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter (as the Cherrybomb site has) and tabs with information 'About The Film', 'DVD Release' and so on (as the Kidulthood page has). This, in my mind, is ideal- when we create our webpage we would want to combine information about the film with links to other sites so that fans can share our information with others.

Posters

"When analysing a poster, you should consider the following broad questions before you start to focus on the details:

What are the main colors used in the poster? What do they connote?
What symbols are used in the poster? Do you need audience foreknowledge to decode the symbols?
What are the main figures/objects/background of the poster? Are they represented photographically, graphically, or illustratively?
Are the messages in the poster primarily visual, verbal, or both?
Who do you think is the intended audience for the poster?"

- http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/Blockbuster/posteranalysis.html

As part of our project, we are required not only to make a film, but a poster and a web page as well. In this post, I am looking at the conventions of a movie poster and the ways in which they are used to attract an audience.

I am going to analyse this poster for Skins. Although it is a TV series, not a film, this poster conveys a kind of darkness that would be ideal for our film. Having a prior knowledge of the series (this poster advertises the second season) I am aware that the girl in the picture has also been embroiled in a love triangle between the boy in the bed and his best friend. However, just from looking at it, you can see that she is vulnerable- both from her make up, which is smudged as though she has been crying, and the fact that she is in her underwear, leaving her exposed. She is also wearing ripped tights, perhaps implying a negligence toward herself. This situation is similar to our character.

The picture is comprised of half naked couples, all kissing or posing in a sexually suggestive manner- only the girl and the boy in the background are not, symbolising loneliness and alienation of a kind. The room is also in a dishevelled state, with the wallpaper hanging off in chunks, which might again represent the state of mind of the girl in the poster. Although foreknowledge isn't particularly necessary to understand the main aims of the poster, those who do have it can understand more quickly the reason for the state of the room and girl (her boyfriend had been hit by a bus in the previous season finale.)

The colours used are all dark- mainly grimy browns and greens. Along with the dishevelled state of the room, this would seem to indicate a grittier setting and implies that the content of the show will not be very picturesque, something we also want to convey in our poster.

This poster does not use the technique of a tagline- it relies on the image to give the impressions it wishes to convey. The gratituous amount of flesh on show indicates a more adult target audience. The show is aimed at the 16-24 age bracket, and the poster, with it's depiction of young, attractive and half naked people fits in with the conventions of this.

Thoughts about shots

This is one of the last shots from the 2003 movie Thirteen. The scene represents the girl, who has escaped from the pressured lifestyle she had previously been involved with (not quite a violent gang, but a rebellious, drug using crowd) letting go of all the negativity in her life up to that point. She is on a merry-go-round (holding on to her childhood innocence?) and screaming, venting her frustrations at the life she chose.

I think a similar shot would make a good opening to our teaser trailer- it would represent Cassie's character ridding herself of the drama that has been surrounding her.






The other images capture some of the tone that we hope to emulate in our work.They include teenagers, mostly lone shots to capture the feeling of isolation, and including a lot of smoking to show their disregard for social taboos and laws, but also some shots of them together to represent their camaraderie.

Potential Music 2

I have been conducting more research into what music would be most effective in our teaser trailer. Here are a few more of our options.

Calvin Harris- I'm Not Alone (Doorly Dubstep Remix)




Again this song is a dubstep remix of a reasonably melancholy tune, mixing the sadness in the lyrics and tone of Harris' voice, singing lyrics that tie in with the themes of our film ('God, I can't do this anymore' could represent the group's struggle to escape from the mistake of taking the money) with the edgy, urban vibe we were seeking to create.

Example- Kickstarts (Bar 9 Remix)



Yet again, this song is a dubstep-type remix of a pop song. The lyrics talk about being in love but feeling uncertain ('Avoid the obvious, we should be facing the truth') but, unlike the original song, this version has an ominous feel to it, fitting with the tragedy in our movie.

Swedish House Mafia ft. Pharell- One (Your Name)



This song is a house track with a heavy baseline and a clubby vibe, but lyrics like 'You just killed me,' which might represent the emotional turmoil of our characters. It is also fairly current and so would connect well with the generation of our target audience.

Placebo- Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush cover)



This song has quite a different vibe to the others we have considered, but we thought it could also work as it is quite chilling in tone and the lyrics would fit in well with the trailer we are making.

Potential Music

Over the summer, I have been considering what music would be most effective in our trailer. We want to achieve an edgy, urban vibe to correspond with the themes of our film, so we thought the genres of rap, hip hop and dubstep would be the most effective and would reflect the vein of the film the most effectively. Here, I have gathered a selection of possibilities.

D-Mindz- Monster



This song is a rap song with lyrics about a man being destroyed by his obsession for a woman, fitting with the themes of a love triangle. The lyrics 'I turned into something I didn't wanna, but you made me so cold' fit in with the thmes of violence in the film. Also, as the song is by a local musician, there are no issues with copyright.

Imogen Heap- Hide & Seek (Dubstep Remix)



The original version of this song is very bleak, using no instruments, only Heap's voice and an autotune machine, with lyrics speaking about loneliness and abandonment. However, the dubstep remix adds the edgy urban vibe we were seeking, and strikes the right balance between the melancholy (as the film is tragic in nature) and party-esque.

B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams- Airplanes



Again, this song features rapping, but features female vocals talking about needing a wish, adding the layer of melancholy necessary and relating to the group's predicament and wishing that they had never taken the money. However, we felt that the beat may be a little bit slow- we wanted something a little more fast paced to represent the pace of the film.

Cherrybomb

Recently the film 'Cherrybomb' came to my attention- a film intended for a teenage audience also featuring a love triangle between two boys and a girl. Although more in the vein of Skins than Kidulthood (as ours is) the similarity in premise led me to consider how such a film was marketed.

I found the original teaser trailer online. It is 1 minute 39 seconds long, so on the longer spectrum of the teaser trailer, but it utilises the technique of no dialogue, only music. For this film- something where the premise is fairly obvious- I found this extremely effective and it made me want to watch the film.

Our Project: A Poster

Another part of our A2 project involves creating a poster for our film. I have decided firstly to gather a selection of posters from the genre of our film and see what conventions emerge.









Another possibility we considered was spoofing a famous poster of a more traditional, wholesome, American teen movie as opposed to the grittied, British fare we are trying to capture. We got this idea from the documentary, American Teen- the poster for the show spoofed the famous Breakfast Club poster.












From what I can gather from these examples, it seems the posters of almost every teen movie feature a big group of teenagers, usually attractive ones, dressed in whatetever clothes display their social status, or often semi-clad to promote sex appeal, as shown in the Skins and Tormented posters, and even in the poster for Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

All of the posters for British teen movies make use of dark colours, probably to indicate the bleak and gritty content. This is a stark contrast to the warm, friendly colours used in the posters for the American teen movies, likely to promote the films being reasonably family-friendly.

Analysis of a Teaser Trailer- 4321 Comparisons

In order to better understand the teaser trailer, I am analysing those that I find of films from the genre we intend to use in our trailer. I thought a good way to do this would be to compare two seperate teaser trailers for the same film, 4.3.2.1, and see the different ways in which the film was promoted.



This teaser was released first, in late 2009, with the film's release set in summer 2010- being released half a year before the film's release makes it a traditional time to release a teaser trailer. At 49 seconds long, the trailer certainly fits in with the conventional length of a teaser.

This particular trailer makes use of the technique of showing various, quickly cut shots set to music, enabling the audience to get a feel of the film without giving the plot away b featuring dialogue (only two lines are heard: one at the beginning, spoken by Emma Roberts, and one at the end, spoken by Tamsin Egerton, and neither of these give away plot details aside from hinting at the violent undertones of the movie.)

Again, this teaser does not contain any original material, but for the same reason as the Kidulthood trailer that I previously analysed (written, directed by and starring the same man, Noel Clarke) this is likely due to the relatively low budget of the film.



This trailer was released two months after the previous trailer, in February 2010 (the film was eventually released in May). A totally different technique is utilised in this teaser; the use of a short, relatively unimportant but comedic clip is used, to give people a flavour of the film (so from this trailer we realise it features young, urban English people) without giving away plot details.

At 32 seconds long, it is shorter than the other trailer, which is unusual, as trailers tend to get longer as the release of the film gets closer, but the length itself is in keeping with the conventions of a teaser.

Personally, the first trailer would be the one to generate my interest in the film, as we are shown the cast, the setting and get more of a feel of the tone (the film is actually about the group of teenager's encounter with a gang of violent diamond thieves) that I did not feel was present in the second trailer.

Analysis of a Teaser Trailer- Kidulthood

In order to better understand how to create and recognize teaser trailers, I am going to analyse this one, a trailer for the 2006 film Kidulthood, because it is in a similar vein and aimed at a similar audience to our proposed first idea.



Firstly, the length of this trailer is 1 minute- compared to the length of the theatrical trailer for the same film, which is 2 minutes 46 seconds long. The teaser also obeys the convention of not giving away any major plot points- nothing in the trailer is mentioned of the young girl's suicide, which is the catalyst for all the movie's events, and only gives the merest hint of the strong theme of gun crime in the film, with a quick flash of a gun at 0.43. However, it manages to give the audience a strong flavour of what the movie is about, and who it is aimed at.

This teaser trailer does not feature any original material, but this is likely because the film was relatively low budget and the makers could not afford to film extra material. A voiceover is used, however, which enables the trailer to include dialogue, but not any of the lines from the movie, enabling the trailer to give a summary of events without, again, revealing important plot points.

The teaser was released in late 2005, with the film being released in March 2006. This breaks the convention of teasers being released long in advance of the actual movie, but again, this may be due to the movie's budget constraints (only £600,000 was allocated to the film.) Anothe possible reason could be that as the film is aimed primarily at teens, it was released later so as to keep the film fresh in their minds.

Overall, the Kidulthood teaser is in keeping with the structural traditions of a teaser trailer- it was simply released later than most.

This teaser is going to be influential for us, as our film has similar themes and will include similar violent imagery and bleak landscapes. However, we intend to use music instead of a voiceover, as we feel it will be more effective for our action-driven plot and will better represent the pace of the film.

Conventions of a Teaser Trailer

I have examined several teaser trailers and there are certain conventions present throughout almost every one I have watched.

- Commonly, teaser trailers are very short- between 30 seconds and 1 and a half minutes, compared to the length of an ordinary trailer being 2-4 minutes long. This is to generate hype for a film long before it's release and increase the public's anticipation for the film.

- Teaser trailers are usually released many months or even years before a film is released- as the name suggests, they are intended to 'tease' the audience because they can't see the film. The teaser trailer for The Da Vinvi Code (2006) was released before a single scene of the movie had been shot.




- Often, very little is given away in teaser trailers- either a short, sometimes comedic, scene is posted to give a flavour of the film without hinting too much at the plot, or a series of very short clips flash up on the screen set to music, so that no dialogue is heard. (The trailer for The Da Vinci Code, as mentioned above, features none of the actors who were in the film, only a voice over giving a brief synopsis of the plot).

- It is also worth noting that teaser trailers often include unique footage that does not appear in the finished film. This tends to be because teasers are released so far in advance of the acual movie, sometimes shooting hasn't even begun, as with the example above, The Da Vinci Code. Pixar, an animation company, are famed for their use of original material in trailers, used to amuse the audience and give a flavour of the film without revealing any plot elements at all.

Brief & Initial Ideas + Audience Feedback

The brief we have been given is to create a promotional pack for a new movie, including a teaser trailer, and either a poster, a magazine cover or a website homepage.

We have three ideas for what kind of movie we could create the promotional pack for. We intend to ask our audience for feedback regarding which they would most like to watch.

Ideas

Idea #1

This idea is recycled from one we seriously considered using during AS media, until we decided that it didn't draw enough attention as an opening. However, for a trailer, we feel it has potential.
The idea features three lead characters- two boys and a girl, all aged about 17-18, the target audience we are trying to appeal to. The girl is in an abusive relationship with Boy A, but truly wants to be with Boy B. Near the beginning of the film, she inadvertently reveals this to Boy A, which results in him waging war on Boy B. The ways in which they get at eachother become more and more dangerous until it's too late, and the film ends with a funeral of one of the boys.

This idea is inspired by films like Skins and Fishtank, set in 'rough' areas featuring working class youths. We thought this would make a good trailer in the vein of the Skins TV teaser. We even had an idea for a tagline- a Jean-Paul Sartre quote, "Hell is other people."

Idea #2

The second idea we came up with fit into the genre of 'stoner buddy comedy,' in a similar vein to Pineapple Express or I Love You, Man. The idea involved a pot-smoking social misfit and his cool, womanising dealer being somehow stuck in an enclosed space together, although we haven't yet worked out where or how it would come about.

However, we were slightly dubious of this idea because as none of us are writers, we felt we would struggle to come up with any lines that were amusing, and therefore this idea may be difficult. Also, we thought we may have trouble casting the part of the dealer (we had someone Russell Brand-esque in mind).

Idea #3

The third idea that we had was to create a trailer to accompany the opening scene of Blackout, the film my group and I made for our AS project. We thought that, as a dramatic pscyhological thriller, it would make an interesting trailer, and we also have plenty of foreknowledge of our characters and the kind of places to shoot the trailer.

However, as in our original plot, Matthew became a fugitive and was frequently chased by the police, we thought this may be difficult to film. We were also unsure whether it would be a good idea to use the same idea, as we wanted to try something new. We thought it might be bette rfr us- and we might learn more- by attempting a different genre.

Idea #4

This idea is in a similar vein to the first, but has a slightly more Kidulthood-esque vibe as opposed to the sleeker, more Skins like tone of the first.

In it, a group of teenagers find some money in the middle of the street. They take it and spend it all on cars, clothes, drink and parties. The drug dealers find out that their stolen money was taken by a group of teenagers and hunt them down. The group end up accidently killing a member of the drug gang , landing themselves in more trouble. The group try to run for their freedom, both the police and the gang are after them and want to bring them to justice- only one can be the winner...

Of these four ideas, we like numbers one and four the best, as we feel they will be easy to relate to for our target audience of teens.

Audience Feedback

Our audience, a class of 17-18 year olds, responded best to ideas one and four, just as we thought. They said they found them more relatable and accessable, as the characters are their own age, and that the plot ideas of those two seemed both the most developed and the most interesting. Now, we just need to decide which of the two ideas to use. We plan to ask a different focus group which idea of the two they prefer.

We have also made a Facebook group (http://tinyurl.com/33ke76s) where we will post discussions about the film and ask teenagers what they think we should do in order to gain more ideas about what our audience want. Here is a print screen of a discussion asking them if they prefer idea #1 or idea #2 (idea #4 in this post)




These were the common criticisms, and how we plan to address them:

- "Examiners are getting bored of marking hoodie films, so they might lower your grade because of it".
We are going to attempt to play with genre conventions so that our film stands out from the others and hope the examiners like the originality.

- "You need to make sure that your Trailer is long enough, so that it doesn't look like you haven't done much because you are lazy- not because it is the convention"
Teaser trailers usually last for between 30 seconds and 1 and a half minutes. In order to cram in as much work as possible and show that we have thought everything through, we are going to make a trailer that is on the longer side.

- "How are you going to make your Trailer original?"
We are going to try to twist the conventions of both teaser trailer and genre and make them work for us, resulting in a unique product.

After much deliberation, we decided to go with the fourth idea- that of the teenagers finding te money.