TRAILER RESEARCH NOT FINISHED

The beginning stage of our project was to ensure that we collected all of the research that was possible. It was vital that Fern and I took an insight to what conventions trailers contain, as without this knowing we wouldn’t be able to proceed in the making. The exploration into film trailers is essential, as without this molding we wouldn’t be able to decide on a specific genre to do.  From this research Fern and I will defy what isn’t necessary to include, and what will make our trailer a successful piece of work. It is significant that Fern and I unravel all of the features that make up a trailer, and the intentions that producers make in order to make an effective advertisement, to target a mass audience.  Fern and I will study trailers that cater for different audiences, as it would be interesting to recognize what prospects are needed in order to fulfill the requirement of our chosen genre.

Below is a selection of several film trailers that I have investigated into. I have covered those, which have completely dissimilar narratives/genres/target audiences. One of the most significant aspects that maintained the same throughout all thrillers that I had explored was the duration of the showing. It appeared that usually they had lasted for two minutes thirty seconds, because of this Fern and I had took into account this convention, and undeniably will make sure that we stick to this when creating our film trailer. 

DEAR JOHN TRAILER (ROMANTIC)

It is evident that from reviewing this romantic trailer of  'Dear John' the typical conventions that are exposed all bring out a sense of emotion to an audience.The beginning of the trailer opens with a mellow sound track, this benefits and seems appealing for this particular genre as it makes an audience feel at ease, ultimately suggesting that the film will cover events including the typical narrative of ' a boy meeting a girl'  The first few shots in the trailer are all very slow, this has purposely been done in order to make an audience focus on the key stimulus of the narrative. The construction of the two main characters are typically portrayed, they are both extremely good looking and this is reinforced by the use of shots that have been used to explicit this, for instance, at the beginning of the trailer the two characters meet at the beach, and a mid shot has been used to cover the 'winning' and attractive body that the actor Channing Tatum embraces. The producer of this film has intentionally applied this shot, as it makes an audience feel engaged, and therefore feel keen to continue to watch the film. Supplementing two attractive characters in a romantic film would appear to be extremely typical, as although one might suggest it would be discriminating against those who aren't as attractive, I wouldn' t bang them  a mass audience unfortunately are likely to watch a film which entails actors/actresses that are good looking because they become an inspirational figure/role model.  Twenty seven seconds into the trailer, we are given a first title which says " From best selling author Nicholas Sparks' this had been written in white writing, which again is very conventional for a romantic genre, as it implies goodness, innocence and light, which all can be associated with those who are 'in love' if the writing appeared in a dark gloomy colour, dick munch it would seem rather odd and controversial. A voice over has been included in parts of this trailer, again this would raise empthay from an audiences perspective, as females who are the target audience, are able to identify themselves with this character. The voice over that is included is used whilst different shots are being displayed, the tone of voice that 'Amanda Seyfried' is speaking in suggests that a tragedy is bound to happen throughout this film... this is because she isn't talking in a happy manor. The shots begin to increase by speed once the music drops, this is because this is part of the film where things 'turn bad' therefore the increase of cuts allows an audience to feel suspense and sad about what is happening. The lighting that is used throughout this trailer appears as extremely mellow with a high aperture, this is a typical convention used for a romantic genre film, as it matches with the narrative that is being featured. 


TAKEN TRAILER (ACTION/ADVENTURE)

I had continued the exploration of film trailers , and had now studied upon a complete different genre which is Action/ adventure (however mainly action) Again, after observing this trailer it is evident what the most common conventions are that a action film conveys. 'Taken' is a popular film that targets a mass audience 

Questionaire

Fern and I felt it was vital to create a questionnaire in order to collect all of our possibilities, ideas and opinions to produce our trailer. We had used both quantive and qualitative questions within the questionnaire as we felt it was significant to get both open and closed answers. This is because some particular questionnaires need to be more detailed than others as it helps Fern and I make the correct decisions for our target audience. It may seem that several questions are irrelevant and unnecessary for instance; what is your gender? Nevertheless this helps Fern and I fulfil the correct target audience that we are trying to achieve.

This questionnaire helps us to justify the reasons for why we will include particular features within our trailer; it will help us to see what an audience expects and what they don't.

Fern and I will give out this questionnaire to our peers in our media class, our chosen target audience and our media teachers. I feel it is imperative to get different individuals to answer this questionnaire as it will help us to make final conclusions. Our peer’s preference will help us to proceed in the making, and ensure that all aspects of our trailer are spot on.

Once I receive all feedback from those who had participated in filling this questionnaire out I will transfer my results into further conclusions (graphs) the results that I retrieve will be much easier to understand in graph methods as I will be able to build up a specific target audience.

Whilst creating my questionnaire I had decided to research upon several different theorist, and gather information of what they felt was necessary to find out in order to create an accurate target audience . Below is something that I had come across-

I feel that this is an extremely valid point, as without not knowing who your audience is you may not be able to accomplish something as accurately, this theory is able to be applied to the making of Fern and I’s production of our film trailer- as if we haven’t carried out research upon our target audience we wouldn't be able to progress with filming our footage, editing and finalization etc
.

Fern and I feel that it is extremely essential to carry out research upon Film magazine covers. For this reason we had researched upon google and had selected several magazine covers which illustrate different aspects
   

This magazine film cover evidently demonstrates an unofficial example, created by one completing a media project similar to Ferns and I. It is visible that from taking just a first glance of this magazine cover, that it provides an audience with all the typical conventions that are expected to be used for a thriller genre. Although this magazine cover isn't as professional as those which are official, it does feature all the needs of a thriller narrative/genre. The masthead of this magazine cover is in fact an official company, which is extremely familiar to the human eye. Already, an audience would be able to identify themselves with this magazine cover purely because it is well known and popular, meaning that it targets a mass audience. From just observing upon the mast head that this magazine cover includes, i am keen to use a real company for when creating my own magazine cover, i feel this would be more likely to seek an audience's attention , and over all give a realism and professional outlook. A significant aspect in this magazine cover is the main image, I feel that the photograph that is being illustrated is appropriate for the designated genre, and instantly engages an audience. One might suggest that the main reason for this is due to the vocal point of the image being the models eyes. Evidently, the gaze of the eyes makes an audience feel drawn in and involved to the emotions and expressions that she is showing. I

Target Audience

Selecting the target audience of our film trailer is an essential factor.  Fern and I had to take into account what specific age groups would expect to view in our genre of film. We had discussed our content/narrative of our film several times with each other and had come to conclusion that our target audience was going to be 15-21.

As well as researching into the target audience, Fern and I had to consider the age restrictions of films (certificate) evidently, most thriller films have an age certificate of 15-18 due to the violence, shocking and explicit scenes that are included. It is significant that because our target audience begins at 15, as well as the age certificate being 15 the content of our production can’t be too extreme.

Although Fern and I have settled for this target audience we will continue to be open minded about alternative decisions, depending on how our filming goes to plan (what kind of scenes we capture) One might suggest that this specific target audience is too vague, and not conventional enough for a thriller genre... thriller films are likely to make a person feel intrigued due to the suspense that is released, because of this pleasuring feeling that many individuals gain from watching thrillers, this genre is most likely to aim to a mass audience. As a result this could reason for why Fern and I’s target audience may seem too specific and therefore should be extended to a higher age group.  Nevertheless, Fern and I feel as though this target audience is appropriate for what we are trying to achieve. Fern and I will ensure that we deal with and create the specific needs in order to pursue this particular age group.  We will carry out both primary and secondary research towards those individuals who fit into this category. We will do this by firstly creating a questionnaire; this will widen our decisions and allow us to produce final conclusions.

The target audience of a film is seen to be the ‘stimulus’ of all the making- without the target audience it is impossible to produce a film.

First draft ideas

As Fern and I are in the process of drafting our ideas, we have come up with several ideas for our narrative. Evidently, these aren't our final decisions; nevertheless doing this was extremely beneficial as it allowed us to have a 'basis' to work from. The list below isn't in the correct order, as obviously a film trailer has to be in a non-linear narrative.

Ideas we may feature in our film trailer

•   Begin with happy scene of father and young child


•   Newspaper


•   Driving through a road (possibly country road) 

•   Playing music as normal

•   1 second shot of her being tied up

•   Notices a baby in their car seat, immediately concerned and breaks instantly 

•   She looks in the car seat, looks within the white blanket and nothing is there

•   She is then grabbed and forced into the wood

•   See small slow motioned clips of her being violently attacked 

•   Fast and concise shots of her being dragged up the stairs (like the unleashed)

•   Search party

•   Her hands and feet has been taken 

•   At the end we are presented with the females eye 

•   Zooms in fast but small shots getting closer each time

Reason for kidnap:

He had only but his little girl who mysteriously got taken after letting herself out from the open door, after not finding her years on he develops an unstable and psychopathic behavior resulting into the longing for parenthood of a young, blonde girl that resembles his daughter

he then takes a girl he's observed by using the 'baby trick' on a small country lane and kidnaps her

as his little girl willingly left him he ties the kidnapped girl so she is unable to ever escape from him (like his little girl did) 

It makes him feel like he has his little girl back 

A quote that we may include through a voice over; “ A father is supposed to be one man who will never give up on you, and Jason never did. 

Chosen Genre

Fern and I have previously used the media sources/technology in order to create a film opening, we now have the opportunity to construct a film trailer and wish to be a lot more successful in comparison to the results of last year. One might suggest that last year Fern and I didn't work to our best ability and therefore didn't achieve a grade, which was very high. 

From researching upon different genres of film trailers through the Internet, we have decided to feature our film trailer on the genre; Thriller. Although this may seem unchallenging, as last year our film opening was of a thriller genre, Fern and I already have brainstormed many ideas of what we can apply to our trailer. Nevertheless, from the feedback that we have received from several teachers they have tried to encourage both Fern and I to cater our film trailer around a dissimilar genre, Fern and I feel as though this chosen genre would be best for our adept characters. 

Due to exploring the thriller genre in AS Fern and I are extremely conversant with the conventions that a thriller film should consist of, we have an understanding and the skills to then apply to this year’s work.  The finalization of Fern and I's AS work wasn't how we had expected, one of the reasons for this was because we hadn't incorporated as many exciting elements as we had hoped, we were just being introduced to the basic techniques of IMovie and Final cut express, therefore didn't feel as though we had the correct amount of time to further our skills by using these sources.

Nevertheless, we hope to increase and further our knowledge/skills by accomplishing a successful thriller trailer. It is significant that Fern and I study different thriller trailers on the Internet, as it gives us the opportunity to recognize the essential factors that need to be included within our trailer.  As an individual I am already aware of the basics that a thriller entails, although, from completing this project this year I hope to progress my ideas, by making them more complex and fascinating to the human’s eye. Fern and I aren’t indecisive about our decisions of our chosen genre, as we are certain that it will provide us with many ideas throughout the duration of the making. 

The key reason for why Fern and I had decided on a thriller genre is because we feel it is a genre that entices a majority audience. Despite the conventions a thriller film contains, thriller films also provide an audience with suspense, curiosity, tension and a high level of expectancy, for this reason Fern and I feel that if we produce a high quality film trailer, then supposedly these elements would become evident in our work. 

Fern and I will take on board the opinions of others; teachers and peers. Yet we are adamant on our chosen genre.