Research and Planning - Friends With Benefits Film Titles

Titles:

• 0.16 seconds into the trailer, the production company is shown but only quickly. This is used to give away the genre of the film and possibly the budget. Whilst watching film trailers some audiences maybe familiar with the different types of production company's for example, when seeing 'Dreamworkds' or 'pixar' most people will familiarize that the film is going to be an animated family film, rather than something of the horror or action genre.

• The font is big and bold meaning it stands out for the audience to see, and the use of colours (orange and white) connects with the genre of the film, romance, and is continuous throughout the trailer. The beginning of the letter from each word is in orange and in capitals which catches the audiences eye as it's bright. By changing the colour of the first letter of the word it connects to the audience by defining to them this is what the film is about. The titles are scrolled quickly onto the screen from the left and this is a typical feature in a film trailer. I am thinking about using these different title affects in my teaser trailer as i reckon it would look affective and realistic.

Narrative:

• The trailer does not include a voiceover however, the characters are the ones who are talking and giving away the storyline. My group and I will soon discuss whether we will use a voiceover or not.

• As the film is a romance, the audience can usually guess the typical narrative. The film doesn't really have an in depth storyline and so it is easy to guess how the story will end. (good friends, with benefits, fall in love).

• In this film trailer there is a lot of dialogue used, seeing as their is no voiceover, this in some cases can ruin the trailer as it may give away a big chunk of the plot. However, this film is a ramnce and not a horror which can use very little dialogue to keep the audinece tense. In my own film there will be dialogue used but not so much that the whole plot line is revealed.

Research and Planning - Common Features of Trailers

I have researched into the common features of film trailers and have included the different features below.

Aprooval Screen:

The screen shot above is a features which is included in many film trailers such as the film Something Borrowed. This feature is featured usually within the first few seconds of the trailer, however some film trailers may feature it half way through the trailer. To make our film trailer look authentic and affective, this feature will be used.

 

Credits:

The screen shot above is another common feature which is featured towards the end of the film trailer, showing the producers, main actors etc. This is also featured to draw the audience in, by showing them the main actors etc which will encourage the audience to want to see the movie. Possibly because they have seen another film with the same actors in and thought it was a successful film. This is an affective feature and by including this into my own trailer, it should hopefully ensure a more realistic film teaser trailer.

Production Company:

The screenshot above, is again another common feature of a trailer, which is the production company of the film and is included occasionally at the beginning of the film trailer. My group and I are most likely going to include this feature, as it addresses which audience it will appeal to straight away and also because we want our trailer to look as realistic as possible.

'Coming Soon' 

One of the most common features of trailers is that they include some sort of release date, this may be an actual date or just 'coming soon'. Above I have print screened what this feature looks like in film trailers, this screen shot is taken from Friends With Benefits film trailer. When editing together our film, my group and I will have to keep this convention in mind, and to choose whether we include an actual date or 'coming soon' however, as we are going to produce a teaser, rather than a trailer, 'coming soon' maybe more affective than a date. This is usually because teaser trailers are released further in advance before the actual film is released, as it is just giving you a 'teaser' clip of the film and not giving out too much information i.e the date it is released. By including this into our teaser trailer, it will create a more realistic approach.

Research and Planning - Checklist #1

Research

• Soundtrack research (non copyright music)
• Costume and location research
• Actors and props photos
• Audience Research (typical audience member and similar films)
• Uploaded YouTube videos of teaser trailers and titles analysed in detail
• Upload YouTube videos of similar genre films analysed in detail
• Institution research (Paramount etc)
• Certificate research
• Font research for magazine/poster etc
• Film Magazines researched and analysed
• Teaser posters researched and analysed

Planning

• Own film idea brainstorm
• Own film treatment
• Shot lists
• Questionnaire (and feedback)
• Photos etc of filming
• Diary of filming/editing etc with photos and screen grabs
• Mood board
• Storyboard - animatic
• Script
• Practice titles created and uploaded

Research and Planning - Filming Task

• Our recent assignment that we were set in our media lesson was to test out the new camrecorders that we will be using to film our teaser trailer with, these new cameras are different to the old cameras. The new camera's are different by which they are a lot smaller and easier to use. In a way they have better quality and ensure we are able to prevent camera shakes as we will need to produce our teaser trailer in the best quality possible to make it look affective. Throughout filming we used a tripod and found that the new camera's are a lot easier to connect to the tripod than the old camera's were and also found that we had a lot less camera shakes. For this task we were assigned to use the phrase ''what are you doing here''? in three different settings and changed the mood for every scene. We then had to edit together the three different mood settings using different affects etc on Adobe.

• The first setting is of a long shot of myself walking into the science block using the phrase ''what are you doing here''?. We decided to add 'lightning effect' to this particular scene as we wanted to play around with the use of different effects that are available on Adobe. The second shot is a medium shot set in the common room, whereby oli uses the phrase ''what are you doing here''? facing towards ambrose. We used an effect which is different to many of the other effects which is called 'Green Screen Key' whereby the screen is divided into 4 different boxes. The third setting is used outside and is a long shot, whereby Kate is hiding behind a wall and is joined by Sarah who walks round the corner using the phrase ''what are you doing here''?, we didn't use an effect for this scene due to Kate standing up against a blue building it makes the whole setting look blue. Inbetween the three different scenes we have included 'spinaway =3' which is used to overlap the scenes from one to the other, this is effective and is used in many films.

• Overall, my group and I found that this was a useful and affective task as it showed us how these camera's can be used and how they have quite a good clear image which is affective as we do not want the image to affect the video footage. I am looking forward to using these cameras during the period of filming our teaser trailer.

Research And Planning - Composing Music

Today in our media class we were assigned to try out a music composing site called Cubase. This involved playing around on the software, finding out what it is used for and all of the different audio tracks that you can record and play. After my group and I had spent some time playing around on the software, it has made us want to go the extra mile and to be able to compose our own music for our teaser trailer. As none of us are musicians, we have decided to ask a close friend who is willing to help us compose the music. We are hoping to compose audio tracks that will relate to the genre of our film, romance.

What is Cubase used for

• record and edit information (e.g record from your keyboard)
• record and edit audio information (e.g record vocals, guitars etc)
• mix and playblack audio tracks all at once (the amount is only limited by the power of your computer) and create a stereo mix to burb to a CD
• You can add countless types of audio effects to your recordings
• Enhance your arrangement with many instruments that play within Cubase, such as ''Halion One'' (this has lots of sounds, such as pianos, bass instruments, strings etc.)

Research and Planning - Choosing Between Producing A Teaser Or A Trailer

Now my group and I have thought about the finalized genre for our film (romance), we have been assigned to think about whether we want to produce a trailer or a teaser. We have analysed many teaser and trailer films and have come to the conclusion that we would like to produce a teaser. We would like to produce a teaser because we feel that if we produced a theatrical trailer, it will take a lot longer and there is a risk that it would go on for too long and it may bore the audience, or start to look like the beginning of a film. Therefore, we have decided to produce a teaser, as we feel it will be better due to the fast paced editing, lots of shots (close ups, medium shots, long shots, establishing shots) which we hope will be able to interest and appeal to the audience.

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.
Below I have attached the three different mind maps which we created in the software 'Mind Manager'.

Research and Planning - The Strangers Teaser Trailer

• Above i have posted The Strangers teaser trailer, which introduces very little information on the film and it is also a lot shorter compared to it's theatrical trailer. The teaser trailer cannot be made clear as to what the exact story line is, however it contains some of the most scary and jumpiest parts of the film, giving a bit of an idea to the audience as to what they think the story line is about. This is what a teaser trailer always consists of, showing the audience the best parts of the film, which is made to draw the audience in so that they will and watch the film at the cinema. This teaser trailer also represents the genre, narrative and target audience of the film. 

• The trailer starts off by showing different images of houses, whereby underneath each house there are words for example, the sentence spells out 'Some people choose a house for the neighborhood or the schools, or the size, but some people choose a house for a completely different reason'. The first few images of the different houses are very un-stereotypical of the types of houses you would find in a horror film however, until you see the last image of a deserted haunted house with a red cross over it, the audience then realize what the genre of this film is, horror. The first few images that are shown right at the beginning of the trailer, there is non-diegetic music that is played over them which is not stereotypically scary as to what you would usually find in a horror film however, as the images are suddenly changing, the music starts to change into a more horror theme style. As the trailer progresses, the audience are now fully aware of the genre of the film, this is also done through the use of dialogue 'You're gonna die'. The target audience would range from 15 and above due to it's certificate being 15+. 

• The narrative of the film, is a young couple staying in an isolated vacation home, who are terrorized by three unknown assailants. 

• The unique selling point of this film, would be for the main purpose of having a successful, well known actress, Liv Tyler. Which makes the film appeal to a wider audience, possibly towards the more male audience, due to Liv Tyler playing the vulnerable victim. The genre of the film is horror, which usually appeals towards the male audience. 

• The music throughout the trailer creates a feeling of imposing dread and fear towards the audience. The music relates towards the different actions that take place in the setting. 

• Medium and long shots are used throughout the trailer to show the audience where the film is taken place (abandoned house, woods) however, some shots are very quick, meaning the audience is given a brief idea as to where the film is taken place although, it puts the audience into the question of what is really going on?. By showing the audience fast moving shots, it makes the audience want to see more. The pace of the trailer is reasonable due to it being a teaser trailer and not a theatrical trailer, the pace of the teaser trailer is 1.15.

• The dialogue that is used is fearful ''your gonna die'', this keeps the audience aware and scared throughout the trailer however, if the audience are feeling scared during the teaser trailer, you know that the audience will be on the feet throughout the film. The type of dialogue that is used is stereotypical to the kind of dialogue you would find in a horror film.

• Credits are added right at the start of the trailer and added throughout. Half way through the trailer a credit is used which grabs the audience ' inspired by true events'. The font is in big, bold, capital, white letters to stand out and which it stays continuous throughout the whole trailer. 0.58 seconds into the trailer, you see the word KILLER in bright red lipstick which is clear to the audience that the 'killer' has written it on the mirror. This is extremely stereotypical of which you will find in a horror film, many of the 'killers' will do this sort of thing when they are wanting to torture a victim. Red is a stereotypical colour which is always used in a horror film at some point to indicate danger.

• Overall, I would say that this trailer uses the typical conventions of a teaser trailer succesfully. It has done this by the use of, quick and fast editing shots throughout the trailer and how the trailer managed to represent the genre of the film (horror) within the first few seconds of the trailer which overall, I would say is one of the most important features of a teaser trailer.