Questionnaire findings

My questionnaire gave me the opportunity to understand what my target audience like to see in their trailers, which will help me in producing a teaser trailer that will apealm to them. As a result of my research into similar media texts, i already understand the codes and conventions of action movie trailers.

During my research i focussed on a range of genres, in order to give me a broader understanding and also allowing me to choose the genre that appeled to me most.

I understand that my target audience...

• Are mostly within the age range 16-30 and are therefore young adults,
• 20 out of 60 of the people in my research prefer true story films, based on the facts,
• 3 times as many people were male than female and therefore my target audience will be mostly men,
• most of the public find out about new films from magazines, this is closely followed by TV.

How do you find out about new release films?

What is your favourite genre of film?

What is your gender?

How old are you?

Questionnaire

This is a cppy of my questionnaire. I placed copies of it around my school, in the main library in town and also in various Cofee shops around the islnad. Due to the short space of time and a few anomalous results, i obtained a total of 60 results. These results will be displayed in later posts, along with what they have enabled me to understand both about my target audience and what they want.

Target audience research

The target audience of my trailer is likely to be young males, because of the nature of the film and the sport aspect. As well as young males it will be anyone who is interested in extreme sports, or BMX likewise.


Someone like Studio 411 is likely to distribute my film, a smaller company when compared to such giants like Universal. They distributed films like 'Travis Pastrana: 199 lives' which is a similar style thing based on the sports of motox and freestyle motox.


ESPN films (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) would be the most likely kind of company to make my film, they often make sport orientated films like "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story" - a film documenting the life of Nascar driver 'Dale Earnhardt'. This is a film of similar style to mine, a film about a BMX rider and how he made it in the sport of BMX.

Nearly the end of September...

The research section of the coursework is now pretty much over and it's time to start the planning for the majority of October.What i have found from my research will aid me in the planning stages and also in the construction.

The research has helped me alot to understand the codes and conventions of real media products. For example, teaser trailer are roughly a minute to a minute and a half in length and invole quite a lot of effects. Teaser trailers have a great deal of diversity and no two seem to be the same, no matter what genre. Magazines on the other hand often follow the same codes and conventions, the titl is always at the top and the cover lines down the side, with the main cover line slightly bigger and bolder. The main image cover the majority of the front cover.Film posters are much more like trailers in the fact that they vary hugely. But in general, they feature actor names and a catching main image full of effects. The title, by nature, is always bold an clear.

Now i need to move on and begin to think alot more about my initial ideas and choose some actors and settings. I am going to stick with the first idea of a teaser trailer for a true story film about an athlete.

Harry Brown - trailer analysis

This is the link to the Harry Brown trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVOSfHFNlcI

Harry Brown is an action film, and we can see this from the meanings within the trailer. The trailer itself is quick and involves a lot on the side of guns and explosions. It is set in dark lighting to give it a more sinister look. There are a lot of things in this trailer which i like, and there is a lot to be learnt about the codes and conventions of real trailers.

• One of the first shots in the trailer, after the establishing shot, is the following one. In it we see a darkly lit face to the side of the screen. This tells us that there is something important about this character. He is a famous actor and as a result the film is being sold by the star appeal of him as a purpose. The fact that we only see half of his face is almost saying this guys so famous you don't need to see his whole face to recognise him.

The camera is also looking up at him, which gives the impression he is somewhat important.

• The trailer features a lot of quick cutting which makes the trailer seem to go with a lot more pace and excitement. This makes the audience concentrate and also highlights the action genre of the film.
• The lighting of the trailer is dark the whole way through, which puts a more sad and more upsetting spin on everything. In the dark everything seems worst and more scary, the fact that it is dark, again, scares the audience and makes them feel slightly uncomfortable.

• The next couple of screen shots show some of the mise en scene that is involved in the trailer in order to establish it in the action genre. For example, we see explosions and guns. These are things that we would associate with no other genre other than action.

• The way in which Harry appears the most in the trailer tells us that he is the most important character in the play and is central to the story line.
• One thing that I noticed when watching the trailer was the use of shot reverse shot. This is a feature that we see in continuity editing, and as a result the audience get a sense of perspective, but at the same time are kept concentrating on what’s happening rather than what the editing is doing.

• The final shot of the trailer is of Harry Brown himself holding a gun, the camera is looking up at him and as a result we understand, as an audience, that him is in a position of power.

• When the police come into the trailer it becomes lighter, which puts a more happy and hopeful spin on the situation. This could be said to symbolise the police as a form of hope and salvation within the film.

• The trailer has certain occasions where it fades to blank and writing is seen, these is a common theme that you would find in teaser trailers and it is something that i will need to consider. Not only does this add dramatic effect, it also tells the audience that there has been a change in place or time.

Rescue Dawn poster

The following poster is for a film called Rescue Dawn; it is a film from the action/drama genre as you can tell from the poster.

·      The first thing I notice with this poster is the large section of light in the centre, we are unsure what it is caused by but it is there to grab our attention and make us focus in on that point.

·      The yellow and orangey, warm colours tell us that the film is set in a hot place and this is backed up by the palm trees surrounding the light.

·      This light in the centre, as well as grabbing our attention, could symbolize hope within the film. Since the helicopters are flying in the light, perhaps it is them that offer that hope of happiness.

·      The dark sections around the light could, on the other hand, envisage some kind of threat within the film, which surrounds this hope. The black offers a much more dark and cold twist to the movie and tells us how it is not all straight forward.

·      The man at the centre of the poster towards the bottom is reaching up to the sky, which creates this image of him looking to the light for help and reaching out of the dark treacherous area.

·      Other than this, the poster follows many of the codes and conventions, with the title and the names etc. also the way in which one image fills the whole poster is something that is commonly found throughout film posters.

Empire - August 2008

• The main image is of Harry which gives the impression that he is powerful and important.
• The broken glasses help to translate the action genre of the film to the audience as we begin to question how and why they are broken.
• The magazine front cover features dark and cold colours which give it somewhat of a sinister aspect and make the audience feel uncomfortable.
• The smoke effect in the top right corner of the front cover gives the image of mystery and slightly disorientates the reader.
• The way in which Harry is all cut and dirty in the main images tells the audience that he has been through some kind of incident and the action genre is established.
• The magazine front cover follows the codes and conventions of magazine covers, in the way that it has a very clear title, many cover lines and even a strap line under the title.

TOTAL FILM - Megan Fox

• Much like the Empire magazine front cover with Megan Fox on it, this copy of Total Film has a white background which gives the magazine a lighter look and also makes you concentrate on the main image, in this case of Megan Fox.
• The main image is dressed in quite revealing clothes for a from cover which would attract a target audience of young males to buy the magazine or see the film.
• As with the majority of other magazine covers, the main image overlaps the title, adding an aspect of depth to the front cover.
• This cover features many cover lines, which is a code and convention of magazine front covers.
• The main image has to sides to it. Almost as if there is an evil side and a good side. The left hand side features blood and the right is just normal. This makes the audience feel slightly uneasy and distinguishes the genre of the film as horror/action.

Toy Story 3 - Poster

This is a poster, much the same as the one for the Simpsons. It relies upon you as an audience already understanding something about the film. Toy Story 3 is an animation film, created for children, that has a comedy twist.

·      The poster reveals it comic nature through the fact that the slinky dog is tangled around the large plastic 3.

·      The poster uses bright colours in order to establish the genre as comedy/childrens. The bright colours create an image of happiness and therefore tell the audience something about the film.

·      These bright colours also stand out from the plain black background and make it more eye catching for the person looking at the poster.

·      The smile on the dogs face also helps to establish the genre somewhat, as it also creates an image of happiness and laughter, whereas the characters image featured on a war film poster would be sad or vengeful.

·      The codes and conventions of film magazine posters are not always followed on this poster, it does have a black background which is commonly found, but it doesn’t have a title or actors/characters names anywhere on it.

·      The only other thing that it features is the date in the bottom left corner.

The Simpsons Movie Poster

·      This poster is simple and therefore creates a childlike image, which establishes the genre as a childs film.

·      The poster plays on the fact that children have already seen the Simpsons and know the characters, and so we are reminded of homer’s love of donuts when we see this picture of him stealing one from the title. This tells the audience that the film is also of a comedy nature.

·      The plain background of the poster makes the image and title stand out, and as a result this makes it more eye catching for the audience.

·      The codes and conventions are not fully forfilled here, for example there is not one main image that cover the majority of the poster and there is a plain white background. On top on that, the names of any actors/characters appear no where on the poster itself.

Inception Poster

This is the poster for inception, a recent action film.

·      The use of red for the title makes it stand out against the pale, bluey background image. This is done to make it obvious to the audience what the title of the film is.

·      The way in which the photograph is framed shows the character at the front to be more important than the rest, because he is more central and larger.  However, the audience can tell that the characters are a group and may work as a team at some point during the film. This is done to give the audience an insight into the film and the plot.

·      The pale colours of the main image create a cold, dark feeling which puts the audience in an uneasy position. This contrasts with the light coming from the background, which could symbolize hope throughout the film.

·      The image is altered to bed up at the back because it establishes somewhat the genre of the film. We as an audience understand that this is not a normal action film, there is something else to it.

·      The fact that some of the actors are holding guns tells us that it is an action film, or at least that there will be moments of gun fights or gun shots during the film.

Inception - teaser trailer

A link to the video can be found below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DwuVKfjctk

The trailer for Inception is quite slow in nature and concentrates on the strange more abnormal aspects of the film in order the makes the audience feel uneasy. The music is slow in order to keep the pace of the trailer down. As with many other trailers it uses titles to add to its effects.

• The opening shot of the trailer is an establishing shot in order to tell the audience that this is where the next shot will take place and to set the scene.

• The next shot of the trailer is the following one, of a main character. The audience are lead to believe that this is someone important by the fact that we are introduced to him so early. The close up shot allows the people watching to see his emotion and therefore gain an understanding of the situation.

The importance of the character is reinforced by his continual appearance throughout the trailer. as you can see from the screen shots below.

• The lighting throughout the trailer is quite dark, which puts are far more sinister aspect on the situation and leads the audience to feel slightly uncomfortable. As a result, the genre of the film is translated to the audience without them knowing it.

• The wierd abnormal side of the film is shown through close up shots, and long shots to offer a sense of perspective on the scene for the audience. This also makes the audience feel like they are part of the situation, and as a result it is made more dramatic.

The shot above uses a canted angle in order to represent to the audience that there is soemthing not right.

• As with the majority of film trailers, this film uses titles with loads of effects in order to narrate a story to the audience. As well as this it tells us that there has been a change in place or time. Screen shots of some of these titles can be found below.

TOTAL FILM - Harry Potter

• The first thing i notice on this cover is the effect around Harry himself. This highlights his importance whilst also translating the genre of the film as sci-fi. As well as this it emphasises him as a figure of hope in the movie.
• The action pose of the main image tells the audience that this is also an action movie.
• Harry is clearly the most important thing on the cover as he is the biggest and most central thing, this tells the audience about his character and his role int he film.
• The dark patches around the edges could symbolise a more sinister side to the film and contrast to the light surrounding Harry.
• The image partially covers the title, which is a common theme throughout magazine front covers.

EMPIRE - June 2008

• This poster uses much darker colours in comparison to the megan fox one, which establishes a different genre and also appeals to a different target audience. This is because certain colours are associated with certain social groups.
• The more animated title also translate the genre across to the audience, the effect matches in with the main image ands tells us that this featured film is in the action genre.
• The Hulk is central to this cover, which tells us that he is important to the film and must play a huge role. The action shot also gives us an insight into his character.
• The bold text of the cover stands out very clearly, but also tells us a lot about the genre within the cover, bold writing is often associated with films of the action genre.
• The brighter section of the wall around the Hulk highlights him and makes him appear more important and also maybe even a figure of hope. This contrasts to the darker more sinister sections around the outside of the cover.

Indiana Jones Poster

·      The poster uses many warm and bright colours to tell the audience that this film is set in a warm place and makes the audience thing about being too hot, as a result we sympathize with the character in the midst of it.

·      The way in which the man is central to the poster tells us he is important and we should concentrate on him, and the bright outline around him makes him appear almost godly and powerful.

·      The fact that the skull behind him is so big tells the audience that it is powerful and frightening; this makes the audience feel uneasy, especially when we can see that the man is unaware of its appearance.

·      The light in the poster could symbolize hope in the film, but this contrasts with the skull in the middle of it, and therefore the audience is left confused and slight disorientated as to what will happen.

·      As with many film posters there is a dark section around the edges, which along with symbolizing the darker, harsher aspects within the film, makes the writing stand out much more because of the contrast in colours.

Harry Potter Poster

·      The dark colours of the poster reflect the sinister nature of the film and tell the audience that this is an action film, not a romantic loved up film.

·      The fact that Harry is put right at the centre of the poster tells us that he is a central character to the movie and therefore important.

·      In addition to this the light surrounding Harry emphasizes his importance, but also creates an image of him as a figure of hope within the story line.

·      All of the actors in the picture have angry looking faces, which portrays this image of violence and fighting to the audience. The way in which they are stood is very formal and makes them look like a team, and as an audience we then wonder what they are against.

·      The smoke in the background emphasizes the mysterious nature of the film and makes the audience feel slightly uneasy.

EMPIRE - May 2009

• The first thing to notice with this magazine front cover is the whit background, which is white. The reason for this is so that your attention is concentrated on the main image of Megan Fox in the centre.
• The image of Megan Fox is the main selling point of this magazine, and she is therefore the most important thing on the front cover. We can tell this by the fact that she takes up most of the room and is most colourful, not to mention her central position. This main image highlights a definite target audience, not only of Megan Fox fans, but also fans of the action genre.
• The writing on the front cover is very clear and stands out well against the plain white background, this makes the front cover attractive to passes by.
• A common feature with magazines is that the title is partially covered by the main image to offer a sense of depth. This magazine cover features this.
• The magazine covers many of the codes and convention of magazine front covers, excluding the white background.

Up - trailer analysis

This is a children's film, and the teaser trailer lasts for about 1 minute. The link to the trailer itself is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dEdVwg7to4

The up teaser trailer is very simple indeed. It is under a minute long and depicts things moving up past a stationary camera. It is a children’s film and is animated.

• One thing to note is the opening shit of the plain blue sky. This establishes the mood of the film itself. The bright blue colour of the sky tells the audience that this is a happy movie and not one with horrific scenes of violence. As a result we get the original impression that this is a children’s film. Also this shot gives you the impression that you are looking up, and as a result we connect this to the name of the film.

• The way in which everything is moving up through the stationary camera reinforces the name of the film, and the trailer’s simple nature is easy to remember and will stick in people’s minds.

• When we first see the balloons our original suspicions of this being a children’s film are verified. Balloons are something, which are always associated with children, and as a result the audience understand that this is a childs film.

A quick update...

Im getting through a lot of the research now and i'm beinning to understand more about the meanings of images and photographs, and also i have learnt a lot about the codes and conventions of real media products. There is still more research to do, however, to ensure what i have learnt is true, my research will finish at the end of September.
I need to make sure i cover a wide range of genres in my research so i'm not tied down to one particular genre when frinalising my main ideas. A wide range of genres will also help me to understand more baout target audiences.

I have written a questionnaire and sent it out to people today in order to research about the target audience, i have also left copies of the questionnaire in public places such as the library for people to complete. I will get the results and interpret the information on the last day of September to give myself the longest possible time to get as many results as possible.

Freeze frame effect

For the titles during my trailer, i was planning on using some kind of freeze frame effects, where a shot of the main a character mid action shot would freeze and maybe even turn cartoon and the titles would zoom in, and then of course the frozen cartoon would speed up and return to normal footage. I think this is something that would suit my genre of trailer and would improve the overall production and add to the realism.

I tried to find an example of this style of titles, but i'm afraid i couldn't.

EMPIRE - July 2008

·      The codes and conventions of film magazine front covers are again followed with this cover. The masthead is at the top and the cover lines to the side and so on. But the image has a lot in terms of meaning behind it.

·      Firstly, the fact that this character is chosen and is so big on the cover tells us as an audience that he plays a huge role and is important to the film.

·      The colours of the background image are pale and dark, which contrasts with the bright colours surround the title and the cover lines. Also this use of pale colours makes the character seem cold and somewhat evil.

·      The dark sections around the image tell the audience that this is one of the ‘bad’ characters in the film, if he were good then he would be surrounded by lighter colours to depict him in an angel like way.

·      The way in which the camera is looking down on him tells the audience that he is in some way frowned upon and inferior or less powerful.

I like these titles...

LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDDihytDGPI

I like how these titles work, they have a modern and action feel to them and this kind of style could be useful to be in my trailer.

Bruno Poster

This is the film poster for ‘Bruno’ a comedy film released in 2006.

·      You can tell almost instantly that this is a film poster for a different genre of film compared to those, which I have previously analysed.

·      To begin with, the lighting is far different. In this case it is a lot lighter to reflect the happy jokey nature of the film, if it had been dark then it would have had entirely different connotations.

·      The colours are very bright and summery in this poster, which creates the image of warm and associated with that is happiness. This poster wants to make you feel happy inside and what to see the movie because of that.

·      The effects are very simple in the poster, and in fact where the characters legs meet the flowers is almost done for comedy effect. It is almost telling the audience that this is not a blockbuster with huge explosions and fancy effects, it’s a lighthearted comedy meant to make you smile.

·      The outfit that the character is wearing in the poster says a lot about the film itself. A lot is said about the character by what he is wearing and the pose he is making. It is meant to be almost farcical and make you laugh, which tells you a lot about how the film will be.

·      Like all of the other posters I have analysed so far, this poster follows many of the codes and conventions of real media products.

500 Days of Summer - Teaser trailer analysis

You can follow the link below to the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILCB_f0IIyI

'500 Days of Summer' is a film of an entirely different genre to those that i have analysed so far, and as a result it has entirely different features. It last of near enough 1 and a half minutes.

• The first thing to notice with the film is the voice over man. This is something that you will always find with films of the romantic comedy genre and it quickly translates the genre to the audience because of this.
• Also the lighting is far brighter in this trailer, especially when compared to a trailer like that of the expendables. This is largely down to the portrayal of the genre. If a rom com was filmed entirely in dark light then it would appear strange and so to fit into the genre stereotype, the trailer is filmed in summery, bright conditions. We can see this is these screen shots.

• The main two characters are identified in the trailer at the beginning. The camera slowly zooms out on the male and the pans across to slowly zoom in on the girl. 

This straight away shows a connection between the two, whilst also identifying them as important characters that the audience should concentrate on.

• Another classic feature of a romantic comedy that is used in the trailer is that of time passing quickly being shown by the a fast forward effect on a person and then of day passing to night. Both of this are used one after the other in order to show that time has moved on during the trailer, most other film genres (like action) just use a fade to black to show the same thing. We can see the time passing effect below in the following screen shots.

• The cutting is such that both the male and female have equal screen time, and also it alternatively switches between the two. Not only does this show them as equally important, but it reinforces the connection between them that was established at the start of the trailer.

Also every now and again we will see a shot of the two characters together to reinforce their relationship further.

• At one point in the trailer there is a shot in which the focus is shifted in order to see a lamp in focus. The camera has a thin depth of focus which is moved. It moves to focus on a light, which could symbolise hope within the movie.