Flatplans - Movie Magazine (front cover)

Again, I have created two flatplans for my movie magazine front cover. The codes and conventions of these were the same as the codes and conventions of the music magazine front cover which I completed as part of my AS Media Portfolio and so this task will be easier to complete this year a I am familiar with the process of producing a magazine front cover.

Flatplan 1

Flatplan 2

Photograpghs - Movie Magazine (front cover)

Again, these images show the examples of pictures I have took for the movie magazine front cover - choosing between these will again be decided by the target audience as ensuring the movie magazine is appealing to them the image has to look relevant and appropriate for the movie magazine. The front cover consists of the main character, Emily Fields, as she is the main role that everyone should recognise when thinking of the film; Emily Fields: Life and Death.

Photoshoot plans - Movie Magazine

Flatplans - Movie Poster

 I have created two flatplan ideas for my movie poster - both flatplans follow the codes and conventions of movie posters as I learned and analysed during my research of this task. 

                     FLATPLAN 1                                                                 FLATPLAN 2

Photographs - Movie Poster

These images represent the main character, Emily Fields showing scared facial expressions which I believe best suit a movie poster. In choosing the right image I will show these five pictures to my target audience to see which one they seem to prefer more.

Viral marketing campaign - Facebook profile

During my research of viral marketing Facebook was an interesting and popular platform to campaign and advertise on and so I have created a Facebook page for Emily Fields - the main character within my teaser trailer.

Location planning

There are a number of locations around my area which would go perfectly with my plot and storyline. However, I have decided to use Navan Fort as the key location during my teaser trailer as the location is central to the other locations; two homes, that I wish to use in the trailer.

The Navan Fort site has different 'thriller' aspects I can include; trees, pathways, hills, forests - all of which will enhance the plot of my teaser trailer. 

I have recently visited this site to take pictures of the areas around that I believe will fit perfectly with what I aim to create. 

Script

The script is the most important part of planning, along with a storyboard. I have decided to write my own script for my teaser trailer;

Screenplay "Working Title Production"

Non-diegetic sound plays 

Scene one - main character + two outside in location

Sister and main character bumping into one another, both laughing and smiling. 

Screenplay "Movie title here"

Non-diegetic sound plays 

Scene two - main character + two seen walking on path

Villian/killer is walking in distance (in shot but blurry)

Faint mumbling heard along with laughing 

Scene three - four characters seen talking in an over the shoulder shot

Mum: "Cold evening isn't it" says to the stranger (villian character)

John White: "You look wrapped up warm" smirking smiled seemly creepy towards Emily. 

Emily looks clearly uncomfortable however she seems to be the only character who sees this. 

Scene four - close up of Emily 

Non-diegetic sound plays 

Scene five - jump cut to close up of John White appearing creepy and smirk

Non-diegetic sound plays 

Scene six - screams heard from Emily as a glimpse of the moment John White kidnaps the young girl

Scene seven - jump cut to previously seen close up of John Whites face 

Whispers of Emily can be heard "help", "it was him" 

Scene eight - Mid shot of the mum and sister and Emily walking away

Faint laughing by John  White heard over the shot 

Voice-over: Emily Fields talking,
"My name is Emily Fields. I was murdered on the *date*. This is the man that murdered me."

Inspirations

Whilst planning my teaser trailer I found YouTube a great source for finding inspiration for the plot, shot types, sound and camera work. 

This trailer especially caught my eye as the sound is very intriguing to the plot - I am going to use this trailer as means of inspiring my own creation (along with others). 

In the below trailer I was deeply inspired by the shaky hand-held camera use as the effect was enhanced making the thriller trailer more intriguing. 

Storyboard

Mood-board

Creating a mood-board for my teaser trailer inspired the colours and mise en scene I wished to include. Mood-boards are popular in the film industry as they give a 'feel' or 'vibe' to what the product will look like.

In this mood-board I have researched famous film scene of thrillers and the most famed emotional scenes in my plan to evoke empathy in the audience during my sequence.

Here I have created an Animoto to present my mood-board:

Character Profiles

Choosing characters for my teaser trailers is vital ensuring the character suits the role and is able to act in ways that I envision for such character.  

When first planning the murder was to be a male character - and so a male should play that role - however, after some run-ins with different actors (drop outs) I felt the role could be played by a female as a male character which gave that character a twist in the trailer.

Here I have created a slide-share illustrating the characters playing within my teaser trailer, movie poster and front cover movie magazine. 

I have done this as part of my planning for production to ensure the actors and models I am using match the characters personalities and appearances.

Through the use of costume and make-up I will be able to present the characters how I view them to look. 

** Update: in my planning stage I included the father of the young girl to be included in some scenes of my teaser trailer, however, when filming was done the scenes did not seem appropriate or relevant to the trailer and so I chose not to include this aspect to the teaser trailer.  

Planning

Detailed planning is crucial when producing a media product such as a teaser trailer - ensuring all aspects are adjusted for the genre and plot of the film is key to address the audience with a successful teaser trailer.

Characters, location, sound, lighting and plot are all addressed in this detailed Prezi illustrating the ideas and aspirations I have for my teaser trailer.

+ research

Psychology of thriller genres

Thriller films also fall under the category of suspense and psychology films. This genre are known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety and nerve-wrecking tension.

What makes a good thriller film?

1. Intriguing plot / storyline
2. Involvement of the audience through direct address
3. Good sample of dialogue - screaming, crying, shouting
4. Tension building music
5. Mixture of light and dark lighting

+ research

IMDb top ten best thriller films:

1.		Spectre (2015)
2.		Crimson Peak (2015)
3.		The Gift (2015)
4.		Jurassic World (2015)
5.		Bridge of Spies (2015)
6.		Everest (2015)
7.		Sicario (2015)
8.		Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)
9.		Knock Knock (2015)
10.		Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Outline

Thriller teaser trailers, through my own research, are the most popular and exciting genre of film and so this reason is why I believe my teaser trailer should carry the codes and conventions of a thriller teaser trailer as this will gain a large target audience. The music and sound atmosphere will be the most demanding element of creating a successful thriller trailer and so I feel this will best challenge me.

Whilst carrying out my research for teaser trailers I was deeply inspired by 'The Lovely Bones' and so I aim to recreate the plot and storyline of that film in my own teaser trailer.

Outlining my ideas for my teaser trailer is vital to inspire developments in the process of creating it:

The disappearance and murder of Emily Fields.

To enhance a more intriguing plot for the audience the murderer will feature greatly in the trailer - a voice over of the young girl will give the plot a twist (as though the young girl is speaking from the grave).

Plot - A young girl, while playing in a park/field, disappears - later pronounced dead after finding her body. The family is seen grieving while replaying the moments before her disappearance in their heads (flashbacks used to convey this). The murderer is an unsuspecting friendly man who spoke to the family during their walk through the park.

Characters - The characters involved in the teaser trailer will include the young girl who is murdered and her murderer who will be of an older- middle aged man. The family members in the trailer will include the young girls mother and her older sister. These characters are important within the sequence to emphasis the hurt and grief of the young girls disappearance and murder.

Locations - A country side walk area or park is where the young girl will disappear - this scene will be sued throughout in flashbacks and so on.
The killers house will be seen to acknowledge the character as the killer - blood and clothing will ensure the audience are aware this character killed the young girl.
I plan to also use the family's home as a location to show the grief and impact on the family in the moments after her death and disappearance.

Ideal reader - Profile

Ensuring my media products; teaser trailer, magazine front cover and movie poster had a target audience. So through developing an ideal reader I am able to provide an example of the kind of person that would be interested in my teaser trailer, movie magazine front cover and movie poster.

I was able to create this ideal reader based the results of my questionnaire.

Target Audience Questionnaire Analysis

Question 1: What is your gender?

From this graph it is apparent that most of my target audience is female and so I should construct my teaser trailer around the female precipitation of films – the use of female characters and attractive males will help attract the majority female target audience. 

Question 2: What is your age group?

When asking this question I had to ensure my teaser trailer is age group appropriate and so the results from my questionnaire show that most of my target group are 13-17 year old therefore language and violence should be kept to a minimum. Although a number of the questionnaires answered were by 18-20 years old the teaser trailer should follow the guidelines of the youngest viewers to avoid harm or offence. 

Question 3: What is your favourite movie genre? (choose two)

Although ‘rom-com’ and ‘comedy’ were the most desired genre of film I have decided to produce a thriller teaser trailer as after previously researching and analysing thriller teaser trailers; Inception and The Lovely Bones – I believe I can put my best effort into creating a thriller teaser trailer. As I am going against my target audience interests I must ensure my teaser trailer is appealing to their wishes and so I plan to highlight a sense of romance for the ‘rom-com’ viewers. 

Question 4: Do you enjoy watching teaser trailers?

 I included this question in my questionnaire because I felt it was important to know if my target audience enjoy teaser trailers or do they find them ‘nuisence’ marketing adverts. The response to this question was positive for my task – yes was the majordly reply which encourages me to create the teaser trailer with confidence that my target audience will enjoy watching it.

Question 5: What teaser trailer, that you have seen, is your most memorable?

The response to this question allows me to research into this teaser trailers to gain an insight into the types of features and effects my target audience enjoy in teaser trailers. All answers to this question were different including; Harry Potter and Insidious, as memorable teaser trailers. Using the responses I am keen to look at how these teaser trailers were successful within the industry.

Question 6: Are teaser trailers more enjoyable with or without dialogue?

Sound and dialogue is an important aspect of a teaser trailer and so I felt this question was essential to ask my target audience. The target audience has said that they enjoy teaser trailers with dialogue meaning they prefer the characters talking during the clip. I feel using dialogue allows me to produce a more interesting piece so I am happy to have this positive result from my target audience concerning dialogue.

Question 7: Do teaser trailers interest you to watch a film? Are they effective?

 Again this question was answered positively encouraging the production of my own teaser trailer – from asking this question I am confident that my teaser trailer, following the codes and conventions, will be effective in creating a  ‘buzz’ for a film. From this question I have gained insight into how interested my target audience are in teaser trailers and so the positive response is constructive when I am producing my piece.

Question 8: What do you find most attractive in teaser trailers? 

This question was the most important one within my questionnaire; what attracts the target audience to a teaser trailer is how I will structure my piece to ensure it draws them into watching my own. The most popular response was the plot of the teaser trailer meaning I will significantly focus my trailer on the plot of the film. 

Question 9: Watch this link; 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWmBtuNmDdE

What was your favourite feature about this teaser trailer? What did you like about it? Please explain. 

I used this question in my questionnaire as I wanted to gain an insight into what kind of things my target audience notices in a teaser trailer as well as what they liked about this specific teaser trailer. I am pleased with the responses from my target audience – the areas mentioned I will emphasise the most effort as I now realise my target audience are aware of the lighting, sound and other aspects of a teaser trailer. 

Target Audience Questionnaire

Create your own user feedback survey

Movie Magazine Montage

While researching I saw many movie magazine front covers of different genres and films that have inspired me when creating my own. 

This montage image illustrates a number of different film magazines which I have looked at; the camera angle, mise en scene, location, actors, colour scheme, lighting and special effects all play a significant part in the overall quality of the image. 

I created this montage to gain an idea of the different aspect I can re-create in my own movie magazine front cover. 

Movie Magazines

As part of creating my own movie magazine I plan to carry out research into the movie magazine industry - there are a number of massively successful movie magazines that produce and distribute magazines to film audiences.

Movie magazines are another form of advertising a film and so they are key in the marketing of films.

Codes and conventions of movie magazines

Film magazines; like music, fashion and other magazine genres, follow a specific code and convention to effectively attract large audience to their magazine and essentially the product they are promoting.

I have research and conducted a power-point slide noting the different conventions included in a film magazine to aid my production of my own movie magazine later in the task.

Movie Poster clichés

Every film released has a movie poster released alongside it; there is many clichés that are often used in movie posters as they are known to be effective in attracting an audience and so film production companies continuously use this forms in movie posters. 

Red colours used for romance and love films - lady in  red.

In bed scene signifying a rom-com film.

Large looming eye is often used on horror film posters scarily making direct address with the audience.

Blue colour used in animation films - thin text for younger viewers seems more pleasant and welcoming.

Fire symbolises action and adventure on movie posters - attractive to the male audience.

Movie Poster Montage

Throughout my research surrounding movie posters I saw many posters which attracted me most - the use of different colours, fonts and imagery was very attractive and so I created this montage of movie posters to inspire to when I am creating my own movie poster.

All these movie posters range from different genre and eras and each appeal to their audience in different ways. 

Movie Poster Analysis - 'Inception'

This slide show illustrates my analysis of the 'Inception' movie poster.

Movie Poster Analysis - The Lovely Bones

Six main actors’ names head the movie poster which follows the codes and conventions – this helps to gain a niche audience for the film and helps the marketing campaign ensuring audience recognise the big names involved in the film. The yellow text is bright and noticeable for the audience and is given in bold attractive means to add to the aenthencity of the poster.

The young girl, who is seen most frequency in the teaser trailer, is seen in a close up of her sorrowful face. The character makes direct eye contact with the audience – the camera is faced eye level – which almost begs the audience to come see the film so the young girl can tell her story. The fade of this image into the tree creates the idea contrasted to the teaser trailer of the ‘between world’ that the young girl seems to be stuck in. The trees leaves creates birds flying into the sunset which metaphorically suggests a sense of freedom for the young girl – to which the audience hope the film ends in.

The title of the film, “The Lovely Bones” is printed off the centre in bold white text. The words ‘lovely bones’ are the biggest of all words of the poster which helps direct the audience to the metaphor surrounding the film – lovely connoting something positive or nice while bones connoting death. The comparison of words grasp the audience’s attention; why is the bones lovely? The word ‘lovely’ once again stands out among the rest as it appears in a bolder text putting an emphasis on the noun.

There is lots of small text on this movie poster – the detail suggests there was many different companies and organisations involved in the production of the film. 

Codes and conventions

Following codes and conventions of a media product is essential in successfully creating a professional piece. Researching the codes and conventions of a movie poster was crucial to understand how to produce my very own movie poster.

 

Movie posters

Movie posters are aimed to advertise a film. The normal appearance of a movie poster is a large image with only some text.

They are often printed in varied sizes:

• big posters for billboard displays
• smaller A5 sizes as hand-outs

Famed movie posters:


Movie posters from the 1900s can be viewed as rare and priceless. Famous films which are now known as classics have massively popular movie posters which have become antiques within the collection industry.

A poster for the 1927 classic science fiction film 'Metropolis' sold for £767,000 in 2012.
The 'Casablanca' movie poster has an estimated value of between £7,000 and £10,000.
A French 'King Kong' movie poster with an estimated value of £20,000 and £25,000.

Production companies

Having shown an interest in the thriller genre for film researching production companies was interesting to see what companies produce what kind of films and what production company would best suit my teaser trailer.


Google slides has been used to present my research which is a new and interesting platform I have found.

Viral marketing

Viral marketing is a new concept to me this year; researching this helped me understand how marketing along with a teaser trailer is how films become so successful in box-office.


Here I have uploaded my research page concerning viral marketing in the film industry.