Project plan
Before I begin this project, I made a production plan which shows me the stage I am planning to be at with my work throughout the upcoming months. It is in a form of a gantt chart, clearly stating my personalized deadlines.
Brainstorming trailer ideas
The above is a mind map that I have developed of all the ideas and primary conventions of the genres that I have chosen. This will help me develop the techniques that I will use when filming my trailer and will be a place of inspiration for me to come back to when I need to come up with my storyline ideas.
Research into film trailers
Coming to a decision to film a trailer,
the first thing that I knew I needed to do is simply watch at least two trailer
from each major film genre to get an idea of what conventions they have in
common and what differences there are between the different genres. I
have briefly decided to outline the two
that interest me the most:
Horror Trailers:
•Action
horror
•Comedy
horror
•Gothic
horror
•Psychological
horror
•Extreme
horror (gory)
•Erotic
horror
This is a list of only a few sub-genres
of the horror genre. I have watched trailer from such films as: "The
ring", “Saw",
"Black swan", and “Scream". To sum some of the conventions short,
most horror trailers are filmed in dark locations, they pace from one scene to
another to show action but not give away too much of the story, they also
include screaming, pain, fear and orchestral or dramatic music. This genre
fascinates me because of the strength that it has to create such strong emotions in us. Even
though the audience know that the actions in the film don’t exist, I want to
know how our brain works to think that yet to feel the strong emotions that
some of us do.
Fantasy:
•Comedic
•Dark
•Heroic
•Historical
•Romantic
This genre has elements of
magic, myth, wonder
and the
extraordinary.
It usually contains elements that don’t exist in our world. Trailers that I’ve
watched from the fantasy genre are: “Harry Potter”, “The mortal instruments”, “Lord of the rings” and
“Pirates
of the Caribbean” I have chosen the all time classics as they are the ultimate
products of fantasy film that have
gained great popularity. These
films are my favourites.
Even
through the trailers we realise that fantasy genres always have these things in
common: there is a symbol, the setting is important, there are inhuman
creatures involved and they make us want to be a part of a world that doesn’t
exist in real life. I’m fascinated in the way that I can create a world which
every viewer will want to be a part of.
Analysis of trailers
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:
Before the trailer begins, there is an age rating provided for those who it may concern. This is manly important if there is any age restrictions so that viewers are informed about what they might see. In Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets, the trailer begins with the logo of the production company. This is done to advertise themselves through their product and for copyright purposes. There are only three other times in the clip where we have worded information between the scenes. The first one is simply put ‘year two’ this is done so that the audience know that they are watching a trailer for the second film. The next time comes at the second minute, this is the title of the film. This information is provided for the audience to know which film this trailer is advertised for and which film to see at the cinema, and the third time, at the last five seconds of the trailer we are shown when the film will be coming out in cinemas available to see. Along with that information also come the name of their official website and the on-line keyword. This is mostly for advertising purposes. Finally comes the sound. Right from the start of the trailer we can hear someone narrating along with the diegetic sound from the characters in the film speaking. This is a great combination, as there are actual teaser conversations from the film which we get a sneak peak off and want to find out what they are about, but we also get the narration that explains a bit more of what’s to come in the film since the trailer shows so little yet without any spoilers.
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The mortal instruments features the main character Clarissa Adele Fray who believes she has had a regular life as a daughter of Jocelyn Fairchild. Later in the film, she begins to see unnatural signs which she doesn't understand the meaning of. A symbol in a film that repeats over and over again is great for audience to remember the film better, and it is unique. Clarissa finds out that she has angelic powers which is what the symbol stands for, and she follows a group of shadow hunters to save her mum.
Before the trailer begins, there is an age rating provided for those who it may concern. This is manly important if there is any age restrictions so that viewers are informed about what they might see. In Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets, the trailer begins with the logo of the production company. This is done to advertise themselves through their product and for copyright purposes. There are only three other times in the clip where we have worded information between the scenes. The first one is simply put ‘year two’ this is done so that the audience know that they are watching a trailer for the second film. The next time comes at the second minute, this is the title of the film. This information is provided for the audience to know which film this trailer is advertised for and which film to see at the cinema, and the third time, at the last five seconds of the trailer we are shown when the film will be coming out in cinemas available to see. Along with that information also come the name of their official website and the on-line keyword. This is mostly for advertising purposes. Finally comes the sound. Right from the start of the trailer we can hear someone narrating along with the diegetic sound from the characters in the film speaking. This is a great combination, as there are actual teaser conversations from the film which we get a sneak peak off and want to find out what they are about, but we also get the narration that explains a bit more of what’s to come in the film since the trailer shows so little yet without any spoilers.
The mortal instruments:
The mortal instruments features the main character Clarissa Adele Fray who believes she has had a regular life as a daughter of Jocelyn Fairchild. Later in the film, she begins to see unnatural signs which she doesn't understand the meaning of. A symbol in a film that repeats over and over again is great for audience to remember the film better, and it is unique. Clarissa finds out that she has angelic powers which is what the symbol stands for, and she follows a group of shadow hunters to save her mum.
The trailer:
I firstly watched the Mortal Instruments trailer with no sound to focus on the visual effects that were used. I noticed that the trailer builds up tension through a roughly chronological order of events. It starts with Clarissa’s everyday life events, which I noticed were all filmed in bright day light; Actually the first shot is a sunrise over the city, connoting hope, whereas when the transition slowly took place, a similar ‘over the city’ shot was taken, instead it was night time so most of the violent and frightening scenes of Clarissa being transformed into half Angel and the following events were filmed in hidden locations or in the dark.
I then watched the trailer with sound and focused on the music and other audio. There are three sections to the musical effects in the trailer. The beginning starts of with a soft and hopeful instrumental piece of music. This reflects the peaceful and innocent life that the city is living. The music then takes a turn to more of a dramatic sound and the audio special effects take over, this comes in at the point when Clarissa finds out more about herself and the world that was always hidden to her. Lastly comes the action and fast paced music to reflect on the fighting, and excitement that we get from the scenes.
Trailer moodboard
Following my mind map, I decided to make a mood board for fantasy and horror genre which is a great way to get ideas and inspiration when creating my own trailer. I took screen shots of various old and recent films. This way I not only have a worded mind map of ideas but also a visual that I can look at if I need quick inspiration.
Fantasy:
Horror:
Teaser vs. Theatrical trailers
There are two types of trailers. Theatrical and teaser trailer. There are a few differences which I have studied as well as the similarities in order to make my choice of which one I will create.
Teaser trailer:
This trailer is shown at early on in the production stage, so that the company can excite the audience of what's to come and share some footage with the public.
The general length that's allowed for a teaser trailer is a minute and a half. Sometimes, unlike with the theatrical trailer, the company decides not to put any actor speech into the footage to keep the script a secret for longer, that way the audience will want to know what the action that they can see is about. It would mostly be big budget films that would release a teaser trailer, since they have enough money to release an extra product to advertise their film.
Theatrical trailer:
These trailers are usually released closer to the release date of the film, and towards the end of the filming of all scenes so that the editorial team have the maximum footage to choose from, for the best trailer. The length of a theatrical trailer is 2:30 minutes or less as allowed by the MPAA. As spoken about in the teaser section, these trailers usually involve actors speaking and interacting to get a good idea of what might come up in the film yet without a spoiler.
From this small analysis, I think I would want to create a Theatrical trailer, since I can tell the audience about the film more, and get them engaged on a bigger scale. When I've watched some teaser trailers, I didn't understand a lot of it without the theatrical trailer.
Teaser trailer:
This trailer is shown at early on in the production stage, so that the company can excite the audience of what's to come and share some footage with the public.
The general length that's allowed for a teaser trailer is a minute and a half. Sometimes, unlike with the theatrical trailer, the company decides not to put any actor speech into the footage to keep the script a secret for longer, that way the audience will want to know what the action that they can see is about. It would mostly be big budget films that would release a teaser trailer, since they have enough money to release an extra product to advertise their film.
Theatrical trailer:
These trailers are usually released closer to the release date of the film, and towards the end of the filming of all scenes so that the editorial team have the maximum footage to choose from, for the best trailer. The length of a theatrical trailer is 2:30 minutes or less as allowed by the MPAA. As spoken about in the teaser section, these trailers usually involve actors speaking and interacting to get a good idea of what might come up in the film yet without a spoiler.
From this small analysis, I think I would want to create a Theatrical trailer, since I can tell the audience about the film more, and get them engaged on a bigger scale. When I've watched some teaser trailers, I didn't understand a lot of it without the theatrical trailer.
Film and sound conventions of horror/fantasy genre
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