Film Poster...

Magazine Front Cover...

When researching magazine front covers, we realised that you need a powerful image on the front. This image is normally of one or more of the main characters. For our magazine cover we decided to have the Mum as the main image, because we are aiming our magazine at an older audience, it would not be appropriate to have the young girl as the main image and for ease of taking the photo, as i was playing the role of the mum it was easier for us as a group to take the photo. 

Using the skills we learnt previously in Media AS we were able to use this knowledge to help us complete this task. We used Photoshop CS4 to complete the magazine front cover, this enabled us to create effects and made it easier to collate the Magazine together.

This is our end result...

Audience Feedback...

We got a group of students together to watch the film trailer, the students all had different backgrounds and different interests but were the ages of our target market. By doing this it enabled us to see what they thought of our production. This is done in industry to make sure that what they are doing people will actually be interested in their film.
Here are some of the comments that the students said about the film trailer...
"I really like how the music goes from a slower track to the fast upbeat one"
"I like the transitions of the different shots being edited together using different effects"
"I also like the bit where the mum is standing in the road and its flashing images, showing the confusion and upset on her face relating to the plot."
"The music could have been better, doesn't really suit the genre its supposed to be"
"More footage of how the girl got kidnapped would help attract the audience"
"I like how the shots are edited together and how they fade in and out of each other"
"I really like the bit where the little girl is spinning and then you get the shot of the mum spinning, a really good transition that comes across very effective"

Editting...

We used a programme called Premier Pro, which is where we uploaded all our filming and edited them to create our film trailer...

First we uploaded our filming footage, we then watched it through deciding what bits where good and what we could use. There were some bits that were good, but right at the end of the shot something was wrong; we took notes and wrote down what we needed to redo. We looked at our storyboard and realised that we need the shot of them walking out of the house, so we found the best one out of the several shots. We then used the 'razor' tool, we could cut the clip into the correct shot that we needed. We then found our next few clips, we did a sequence at a time and then decided on the transitions of the shots. We carried on looking at our storyboard and the shots that we had and continued to create our film trailer. Once we had put our shots in the place we thought they should go, we got audience feedback on what they thought, the main issues that they said, was we needed music and we needed taglines. These two issues were obvious to us and wasn't as if we were going to leave them out! But we then asked the audience what they thought of the shots and their transitions; the main reply we got back was that it looked good.
We then carried on and added the music and the storylines. These are both key in a film trailer, the music makes it and sets the scene, whereas the taglines; give an insight to the story.

The Campaign...

In the Media Industry they use many methods in creating the advertisement for a film. First they would start off with Teaser Trailers, Film Posters, Magazine Articles, Billboards, Bus Stop Shelters, etc. Then there would be the Theatrical Trailer and the TV Trailer, and then the film would get a selected audience viewing for feedback, then the main way to spread the word would be from Word of Mouth. And then after all the advertisement and trying to get the audience to want to watch the film before the film comes out, so hopefully they have an audience.
The campaign holds many rules that you have to use to keep all the advertisement the same, and one of those rules would be to use the same font throughout, even though its just a little thing, it matters. Fonts from films can really be recognisable, for example.. James Bond, We all know the font for it.

In our Campaign we are going to do a trailer, film poster and a magazine front cover. The Film trailer will take most of our time, in order for filming, re -filming, editing and getting feedback, whereas the film poster and the magazine front cover we can just have a photoshoot and then edit the pieces together. From AS Media, we know how to use photoshop and construct a magazine front cover, so this will be okay for us to use. But for the film poster, after looking around and researching, the key thing we need is a strong image that will sell the film.

Music..

Due to the copyright laws we had to look elsewhere for music that we was allowed to use.
We used the website called 'Free Play Music', this was the source for our music. After searching through the different genres of music we found music for the trailer. We've found slow paced eerie music, near enough just sound effects and have then found a faster paced piece of music. We have then used Garage Band to mix the music on there.
Pace is very important in a film trailer, the shots need to coincide with the music.
The music sets the mood for the trailer and helps with the thrill of the shots.

Music for Film Trailer..

For our film trailer we decided that we would like it to start off quietly and soft and then to increase to rocky and fast pace.
In an ideal world if we could use any music without copyright laws this is what we would have:
For the beginning we considered...


For the second half we considered...

Evaluation of Photo Ideas...

From looking at our photos, we feel that they are good but they can be improved much more. The image we feel is powerful is the photo of Nicola looking back at the camera, holding her teddy bear in her hand. It was too dark when taking the photos, but when trying to use torches and car headlights, it gave shadows of unwanted objects. As there was a gate infront of where the car was parked you can see the shadow of the gate when taking the photo without the flash, but when taking the photo with the flash, the photo quality was reduced and it revealed too much light.

So when we take the photos again later this week we will take the photos when it is starting to get dark, we like the feeling of it starting to get dark, as at this moment in the film, it is starting to get dark. 

Ideas for Poster...

For our DVD cover, we feel that a powerful image would be of Vicky and Nicola holding hands walking away, Vicky would have her hood up so the audience cannot tell who the person is. This relates to our film trailer where it is not revealed who takes the little girl. 
Another image that would be powerful would be the outline of the teddy bear and then shots of the characters inside the bear, this would show the audience what the characters look like. 

TIME FOR THE PHOTO SHOOT!..


During the photo shoot,  our ideas really came through. We put our ideas into action and the results came out really well...

I really like this shot, it is very effective, I like the fact the she is turning around; it relates well to the film. But the lighting is poor and the flash reduces the quality. After shooting this photo and went back to warm up, we felt that the image would look stronger with her coat on and a teddy bear dangling from her hands.

This is the shot is the one we wanted in the first place, the only thing wrong with it apart from the lighting is that Nicola isn't looking back and their legs are together. They are meant to be walking and yet their feet are together, a factor we need to consider. 

Whilst taking the photos, we felt that this would be a strong image but now looking at it, personally I don't think that it is as powerful as we would have hoped! Back to the drawing board for this shot!

This was another shot that we took, once again the lighting is poor, you can see the shadows of the gate and their legs are together. The location is perfect for the feel we are after; an empty, dark, lonely lane with Vicky and Nicola walking down. The lane fits in really well with the film, just when taking the photos we will need to do it earlier so we can actually see the lane and the girls.

Started filming...

We started filming today, it was an exciting experience!
We had all our ideas buzzing and we just wanted to get going.
We did the shots in the house first, we did each shot at least 3 times and then changed the camera angle and did this again several times. This allowed us to choose the best shot when editing. As we worked with a younger child, we had to be patient, to allow her to overcome her nerves and get her to act things out how we wanted. We had a load of out-takes, but we got the perfect shot in the end!
When i was acting, it was a strange feeling, as I knew what I wanted to potray I just had to really show my emotion. In my case though, I took drama GCSE and I have always been a fan of acting, so hopefully it has all payed off!

Filming Timetable..

Because there is four of us in our group, it is easier to find actors for the film trailer, so when coming to arrange a time and place for filming, we are all willing to go.
We met on various occasions, such as monday and tuesday after school and some sundays. But due to the fact we had my next door neighbour in the film trailer and she is at primary school, we had to wait for her to finish school when filming her parts.
Luckily most of our shots we wanted in the mid-dark lighting and as it is the correct time of year for this to take place at about 4-5 o'clock.

Chiaroscuro..

is a word borrowed from the Italian language meaning light and dark, referring to the modeling of volume by depicting light and dark by contrasting them boldly.  This is one means of strengthening an illusion of depth on a two dimensional surface.

Diegesis

The theory of diegesis applies to narrative events, diegesis is the choices that we actually see.
Diegetic narrative events take place before the audience within the field of vision - what we see.
Non - Diegetic narrative events take place off-screen before the movie started, between scenes, smultaneously but in another room.

Gill Branston and Roy Stafford

Gill Branston and Roy Stafford are media writers from the 90's.
Branston and Stafford applied the relevance of Fabula and Syuzhet theory to the crime genre.
When you have watched a Crime film, you should feel that you have been pleasurably puzzled and that you haven't been cheated by the storyline.

'Film Art' by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson..

In their book 'Film Art' Bordwell and Thompson give three different time zones for film narratives.
Story - the set of all the events in the narrative, both the ones explicity presented and those the viewer infers, compose the story.
Plot - the term plot is used to describe everything visibly and audibly present in the film before us.
Screen time - the time taken to broadcast the film.

Theory - Victor Shklovsky

Shklovsky attempted to distinguish between the plot, which he defined as the events we actually 'see' in the narratives and the story, which contains all the information or events affection the characters on end off screen. 

He gave them typically difficult names...

Fabula - the story, for example the whole world of the story before; during and after what we see or hear

Syuzhet - only the events that we see or hear within the field of vision

Theory - Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes is a french theorist, he believed that there are 5 codes that enable an audience to make sense of a narrative.
Hermeneutic - narrative turning points - we know where the storyline will go next
Proairectic - basic narrative options - for example detective interviews suspect or femme fetal seduces hero
Cultural - prior social knowledge - for example our attitudes to gender or racial stereotypes
Semic - medium related codes - intertextuality
Symbolic - themes - iconography or a theme such as 'image versus reality'

Theory - Tzvetan Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian Structuralist from the 1960's. he developed the theory of disrupted equilibrium.
He identified that stories follow a typical pattern of...
Equilibrium - the 'status quo' where things are as they should be
Disequilibrium - the 'status quo' is disrupted by an event
Equilibrium - the 'status quo' is restored at the end of the story by an actions of the hero

There are several moments in the plot where resolution of equilibrium takes place, for example when pieces of the detectives puzzle falls into place.
Todorov later developed this into a 5 stage pattern...
1. a state of equilibrium at the outset
2. a disruption of equilibrium by some action
3. a recognition that there has been a disruption
4. an attempt to repair the disruption
5. a reinstatement of the equilibrium

Theory - Vladimir Propp

Propp developed the Fairy Tale Theory, he examined hundreds of 1928 fairy tales in the generic form to discover the technique they use.
He identified 8 character roles and 31 functions which move the story along.
The 8 character roles are...
1. The Villain - the bad guy
2. The Hero - a seeker character motivated by an initial lack
3. The Donor - who provides an object with some magic property
4. The Helper - Who aids the hero
5. The Princess - A reward for the hero and object of the villains' scheme
6. Her Father - who validates the hero
7. The Dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way
8. The False Hero - the one who gets the credit at first but then gets found out

Propp's theory is a form of structuralism, which is a view that all media is inevitably in the form of certain fixed structures. Theses structures are often culturally derived and form expectations in the mind of an audience from within the same culture. Propp's theory can be applied to generic structures in Western Culture, such as popular genres. The genre structures form expectations in the mind of an audience that certain rules apply to the narrative. However, cultural change can force structures to change, for example a hero can now be a woman.

Theory - Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss developed the concept of bricolage.
Levis Strauss saw any text as constructed out of socially recognisable 'debris' from other texts. He saw any text as constricted texts from other texts by the processes of Addition, Deletion, Substitution and Transposition.

Theory - Jacques Derrida

Jacques Derrida proposed that "a text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, this is no genreless text", 1981.
Intertexuality is a key component in understanding how genre texts succeed by being at once both simular and different.

Target Audience...

Our group have decided that our Target Audience will be 15 to 25 year olds. Our audience will be the kind who like Horror films and those who like questioning what happens next.

Once we have produced some footage for the film trailer, we will get the audience's reaction from the trailer and see what they think of it. This technique is used in industry, so that the company know what they are producing people will actually like it.

Feedback is key in the Media Industry.

Developed StoryBoard...

Initial StoryBoard...

1. Shot of four teenagers playing a boardgame
2. There's a knock at the door
3. One of the teenagers goes to answer the door
4. Man at the door, "Hello Stranger"
5. Fast action shots; Screaming, Running, Hiding etc
6. "SCREAMMM!" shot of house
7. Flashback of when the man saw the teenagers
8. Man's voice; "I've got you now..." shot of teenager scared

Mood Board...

I created a mood board to show related images to the genre which my group and I are interested in. We are interested in doing a Film Trailer of the Horror genre.

Silent Hill...

 FILM TRAILER...



The film trailer starts off with an establishing shot, then a medium shot followed by a long distance shot, the setting is nice and everything seems to be normal but then when the voice over starts you understand that the young girl is having disturbing dreams but she doesn't remember them, the music and the atmosphere makes it feel eerie and makes the audience on edge. The little girl replies to her mum, "I don't remember" it is a good follow onto the Tristar company logo, the music and the voice over keeps playing, this is done to keep the mood continuing, this is very effective and keeps the audience hooked on what is happening. You then get the bright lights of the headlights of the car, this draws your attention to the car, it is the followed by the a long shot of the car driving off into the distance, this shows us that they are going away somewhere, the soft music is continuing but now you can hear the car as well, this gives a hint to the audience that something is wrong, with close ups of the cars headlights, the little girl, the mum and the radio. After the shots of the car driving away the tagline comes up of 'Toluca Country, West Virginia', this would show an american audience that is a safe place, but due to the music it creates an eerie atmosphere. In this little section it has an element of chiaroscuro, this is where there is elements of light and dark, it is really effective in Horror film trailers.  Soft music continues to play to keep the eerie mood but now you can hear the car as well, after the shots of the lights and the girl, the radio starts to loose signal and by the camera movement with the mums reaction, you feel scared and you get the sense that something is wrong, following this when the mum looks up you see the a ghost walk out in front of the car, the music stops and you hear screaming and the car breaks screeching. From the slow pace mood music to the high pace screams and the swerving of the car, it creates tension and makes the scene much more powerful and effective, then silence. Silence is used in horror films as a technique to build up suspense, create an atmosphere and to leave the audience on edge, asking for questions. 
After this sequence, you get another sequence of slow moving shots mixed together this builds up the tension, as the dust starts to fall, music starts to play and the pitch and sound of music increases as the camera moves over to the welcome sign. This sequence is done to show where the mum has gone too, with the music and the dust, it makes it feel dream like and as if the mum is in a new place. When the camera moves over to the welcome sign, you now know from the beginning that 'Silent Hill' is the place that the little girl had disturbing dreams about. 
After there is a series of shots of the mum ringing her husband, this is the iconic thing an audience would expect, the woman ringing her man to come and save her, following this shot there is a view of a family photo, the camera stays over the photo for a few a seconds to convey that they are a tight, close family. 
Then there is information about the place they have gone to via the technique of taglines, the mood music sets the mood and the sound effects play with the shots of scenes and then silence, the words explain to the audience what the place is like..
"what was once an ordinary town"
- the following shot, the husband is researching about Silent Hill, and find outs that it is a tainted town that got burnt down and that it is still burning today.
"has been transformed by evil"
-followed by a slow motion of the mum looking around and then running, you then see shots of the wife trying to find her daughter.
"mysteries without answers"
-followed by the husband talking to the police trying to find his loved ones and then you see the mum behind a door.
"secrets without explanation"
-followed by shots of young girl, scarey version of young girl and then you hear a siren which links the next title and continues to play throughout the next bit of clip.
"fear without end"
-followed by shots of running and then someone says, "Its coming!" then you see the mum walking down some steps and then darkness and silence. At this point you get the feeling of this place being cut off from the rest of the world. This is a very effective way to explain to the audience a bit about the film without giving too much away.
After that sequence you see light from the torch the mum picks up and then you hear and see this lady who tells her what she must do to find her daughter, this then turns into a voice over and you see clips from the film with taglines in between the scenes. At the end there is the sound effect of a heartbeat and a sequence of shorts shots and then a scream to build up the tension and to scare the audience, followed by the credits and then the name of the film.
In the film trailer there are a range of camera movements and camera shots, they link, matching the genre and the music and sound effects to enhance the feel of the shots and how we feel after watching it.

BUT..!
That is the Theatrical Version of the Film, there is also a Teaser Trailer which is normally about 30-40 seconds long...


In Silent Hill's Teaser Trailer, they have kept the beginning of the mum and daughter talking like in the Theatrical Trailer, as this must be key narrative to setting the story. But they have used a different shot, they have a shot of the stairs and the ash/dust falling, this shows the audience that these stairs must have a strong storyline in the film. Quietly in the background you hear a simular eerie music like in the Theatrical Trailer, the camera then holds on a view on the stairs for 3 seconds and then the title of the film appears on the right. We are already half way through the teaser trailer and we have only seen one shot of the stairs. We then get an increase of pace, built up with music and shots of the film, this last for about 10 seconds, so we don't get to see much of what the film is about, but that is what a Teaser Trailer does, it just gives you a tiny little snippet of what is to come of the film. At the end we hear heavy breathing and a medium close up shot of a scarey looking girl which lasts for about 2 seconds, and then the breathing dies down and it blacks out, followed by the welcome sign to Silent Hill.
This Teaser Trailer is very effective and gives the right amount of information about the film out, it is a great comparison against the Theatrical Trailer. 

POSTER...

I really like this film poster, it has an element of irony in it, as at the top it says " Welcome to Paradise". When clearly this film genre is not relating to paradise.

The poster has used a technique called Chirascuro, this term means light and dark, so the colour scheme used is black and white.

The image of the silhouette of a person, is a very strong image and sets off an eerie image of the film.

They have put 'Silent Hill' in block capitals, it has slits in the words and looks like it has been moved. The title of the film is key for the poster, it needs to stand out, to attract the audience and in this case it really does stand out.

In both the image and the text, they have been faded in. This makes the white bits on the image and text really stand out.

It is a really eye catching film poster especially as they have only used black and white colours. 

Buddy Holly by Weezer...

We watched the Music Video "Buddy Holly by Weezer"

This music video had no storyline, but had a very strong influence by 'Happy Days', a 1970s hit TV Show that was set in the 50's. By the directer, Spike Jones doing this its gives a nostalgic feel. The music video is set in an American Diner and this is the only setting through out the video.
The main characters in this music video were the band and the audience. The viewer can relate to the audience, if the audience are having a good time therefore the viewer will feel good. The band is there to help sell the music. Also another main character was the man who worked in the Diner, the clever thing about this music video is that the shots of the cast from Happy Days, were never in this music video, they have been edited into it. If you look closely there are parts where you can tell that they aren't really there, but the majority of this video you can't really tell.
Also there is a gap which beaks the conventional music video.
We expect an Indie Rock band to wear skinny jeans and have messy hair, but they are wearing 50's Fasion. By wearing this it shows they have a comical side and it is a real controversial music video. Also by doing this it makes the video more memorable.
The Lyrics don't follow the storyline.
There are plenty of different shots, from medium length shots to close ups, with different camera movements, from pan to shot reverse shot. This makes the video interesting to watch and stops the viewer getting bored of watching the same shot.

My Briefff..

For our Media A Level Coursework, we have to work in groups and produce either a Film Trailer with a magazine front cover and a poster, or a Music Video with a CD Cover and a poster. Also we have to create a blog of our own to show our preliminary work, analysis', research and development of ideas. Also it will show the progression of our work.

Before my group decides whether to do a Music Video or a Film Trailer, I am going to analyse both, by doing this I can see what are the highs and lows of the production and also what interests me and my group.