Thursday, 30 September 2010

Research Into Teaser Trailers

A teaser trailer is a short version of a movie trailer which is designed to draw the interest of the audience, getting them excited about an upcoming film. They are typically released months in advance, sometimes as much as 18 months before the expected release date of the film, and they are used to build anticipation and curiosity about the films they advertise. a teaser trailer lasts between half a minute and a minute. It may include footage from the film, often in a rough stage, since the film has not been completed, or it may develop new source of material. In some cases, a teaser trailer is simply an edited version of a regular movie trailer.

From a marketing perspective, the teaser trailer is a brilliant tool. The brief advertisement is usually not terribly costly to make or expensive to air on television, and it can suck viewers in, getting people hyped up about a movie months before it is released.

From researching about teaser trailers . it gave me alot to look at for when I do my trailer for my horror movie. The trailer above has roughly the same time length that our trailer will be and and we would like our trailer to be shown months in advance (since it is a teaser trailer) and the trailer above relates to exactly how we would like our trailer to end up.

Other examples of teaser trailers >> click on the link to watch>>>

Toy Story 3 - Teaser Trailer

Social Network - Teaser Trailer

Tuesday, 28 September 2010

Applying Recognisable Conventions of Trailers

In order to apply the recognisable conventions of trailers , in groups. we came up with the idea about how to market and promote film called ' Bloodshed High'.
When we were assigned this task to conduct a presentation (which is below) about how we would market the trailer for the film 'Bloodshed High'. As a group we storyboarded our trailer ideas and put our presentation together to try and market our trailer idea.


As a group we decided to spend a fair amount of time discussing how we would go about pitching our idea. We decided to go against the typical horror genre and we decided to add some comedy into it. We decided this because most horror films mainly focus on the kiling and dark scenes. However we decided to do a Scary Movie type film , so we decided to add some comedy to go against typical horror sterotypes. We decided to set the trailer in cabin/forest type place in which most of the trailer will be set , so it doesnt give away any other ideas we were planning - what we like to call a teaser trailer. This location goes well with our storyline , however no one will know what our storyline is. We decided to use soundtracks from well known horror/thriller films so it is iconic to the audience who watches it.

Also because many well known films have a USP , we decided to make our USP the fact that our film is ab mixture bewteen comedy and horror. As a group we decided to use well known actors to feature in our movie , preferably ones that have featured in previous horror movies. One actor we decided to go with is Megan Good , we decided to use her because she was in a well known horror film 'One Missed Call' and she will be recognizable to certain audiences , also she her presence in the film will automatically bring her fans to watch 'Bloodshed High'.



When it was time to discuss our soundtrack for our trailer , my group decided to go with a well known track that was used in the well known film 'Twilight' by Lupe Fiscao called Solar Midnite. We decided to use this because the soundtrack has an good strong beat that creates tension when hearing it.

After planning our presentation for our trailer and actually doing I learnt alot of things from it. I learnt that trailer are not movies. By this I mean that when advertising a trailer we shouldnt give the whole storyline away in it , this goes against the whole concept of what we known as a 'Teaser Trailer'. Also I learnt that audience expectations and production companies are key and vital. It is always good to give the audience what they want in terms of a good movie , this will provide the audience with a good basis to come and watch the movie. Also a well known production company at the start of the film is very good in getting certain audience members to watch the film , as come audiences like to know who is sponsering the film (production company) before they watch it. After learning all these key points from planning and doing our presentation , it is easier for me to know how to apply these when it comes to my actual production.

Wednesday, 22 September 2010

Audience Feedback - Horror Horror Horror!

I and my group went out and around school to interview people on their thoughts of horror and what they would like to see or what they would expect to see. Below are 3 videos which show 2 students and a teacher talking about their experiences of horror films , so we can see what is typical and try and challenge conventions.






From recording these videos asnd hearing the feedback , it gave I and my group and vivid idea about what people expect to see in a horror film. The feedback was interesting as it varied from each person we talked to and gave us a better idea of what we could do to make sure our horror trailer had all the conventions people expect to see.

Tuesday, 21 September 2010

Audience Feedback - What Makes You Come and See a Film?

To get a better understanding of what makes people want to watch films , whether it be horror, comdey or a soppy rom-com , I decided to go out of my way to go up to people and ask them what makes them want to watch films - All the feedback is recorded below.


Audience Profile:
Name: Harry-Anne Stokes
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
- I decided to ask Harry-Anne what she feels makes her intrigued to watch a film and as seen above the video states that the trailer is the main part in her decision to make her want to go out of her way to watch a film.



Audience Profile:
Name: Asma
Age : 16
Occupation: Student
- I asked Asma what she found more appealing when deciding to watch a film the poster or the trailer , her answer is recording in the video above.



Audience Profile:
Name: Rema
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
- I asked Rema what she found more appealing when deciding to watch a film the poster or the trailer , her answer is recording in the video above.

Monday, 20 September 2010

Research Into Horror Posters

The visual and written code used in this poster is the sword and the mask. This shows that the man is trying to hide his appearances and at the same time trying to protect himself – this is a cliché horror film, which relates to audience, which tends to be young people.
The name ‘Friday The 13th’ is a type iconography because instinctively when you see the name you know it’s a horror movie.
A catching slogan to describe the film more would be ideal in this poster, as most horror film poster tend to have this. This could be a way to go against typical horror clichés .This poster creates enigma through the mask as the man is full covered up and we do not now who or what he is. The phrase ‘Welcome to Crystal Lake’ makes you wonder what goes on in crystal lake and why the man is there – this is another sense of enigma
The film producers are trying to create a sense of danger and equilibrium by showing a man in the middle of a forest with a mask and a weapon in his hands, this creates a sense of fantasy in which you wouldn’t see in real life.
You can instinctively tell that this film belongs to a horror genre, this is shown through the iconography of the masked man and the setting around him.

The visual written code used in this poster is woods on the poster. This shows that it is set in a misty place and also the written codes on the poster gives an insight into the storyline and what to expect , rather than having to guess for yourself.The poster provides more information than a normal poster would or should provide. This poster has a picture, title all the normal things a poster should have. However it does have a contain a mini synopsis which most films do not have, this could make the poster stand out more.
I would have expected to see a release date on the poster, most poster have a realise date. Maybe this was done to keep the audience in suspense or to make the audience search for when it’s actually realised, this could show that the audience actually wants to watch it since they went out of their way to search for it. This poster creates enigma through not having a main picture, this make you as an audience rely on other things like the title and words to find out what the film is about. The film producers are trying to create a sense of danger and equilibrium by showing the misty black and white forest, this is something you wouldn’t see in real life, and it gives you that sense of fantasy. Once again instinctively you would know this film belongs to a horror genre. It has all the conventions that a horror poster should have.

The visual and written codes used in this poster is the lift that is the centre of the picture, also the upside crucifies. This shows what kind of film it is going to be my looking at the visual iconography.

The visual image in this poster which is the lift and the upside crucifies, gives us the information about what the film contains and an idea of who would be in it e.g. devil related people
For a typical horror poster, this poster has all the conventions of a poster so all the information is there, however there is no picture to show us a concrete idea, so it relies on guessing.
This poster creates enigma because as i said before , it has no picture to show us who is in it and what there role is in the film.

The film procedures are trying to create a sense of danger and equilibrium by showing a closed lift with a red line in the middle of it, you do not know who is in the lift and what will happen if they come out. So the equilibrium comes from that.

From looking at these poster , it has help me understand what a typical horror poster consist of , and whether I'd like to go with the typical horror poster style or go against it. I now know what needs to be done on our poster to draw our target audience in without giving too much away of the story line.

Sunday, 19 September 2010

Synopsis Research


All the synopsis of the films above has various things in common. In the three synopsis they all have children in it that have a relation to evil or the devil. The movie synopsis will give you the basic plot details without giving you all of the different types of information that would ruin the movie for you. I looked at 3 synopsis (which are above), which are from the films 'Let Me In' ,'The Last Exorcism' and 'The Hills Have Eyes'. I looked at what the three synopsis have in common and noticed they both firstly involve a lot of youth. They feed off the innocence of young people and make them become the Antagonist.They also involve an Protagonist that seems to be a "Mystery" person.They films both involve murder and both show before the film gets heated and the killings start there is some background information as to why the killings start to happen. They both involve someone has done something to another person and revenge is being seeked to teach them a lesson.
By researching horror film synopsis , I have learnt what it takes to write a synopsis that doesnt give too much away of the story line. However because I am not writing a synopsis for my horror film , instead I am doing a trailer , I can still use the idea of the synopsis to help me create a short trailer that has all the elements of a synopsis that doesnt give anything away.
Click on the link for more horror film synopsis >> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148204/

Saturday, 18 September 2010

Research into Genre