media evaluation task 1
TRANSCRIPT
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
In this presentation I am going to explain how our media products compare to existing media products.
Conventions of a Teaser Trailer“I have looked at different teaser trailers and created a timeline to show what and when text is shown in teaser trailers and what they typically include.•Production company logo•Distribution company logo•Actor/s (in between shots)•Title•Coming soon page”
Early on I did some research on the conventions of teaser trailers (shown above). From referring back to this research and comparing it to my completed teaser trailer we can see how I have followed the conventions. For example, my teaser trailer includes the company idents at the beginning, a title before the coming soon page, and a coming soon page at the end. These are all typical of a teaser trailer to include and in that order.
A teaser trailer is meant to 'tease' the audience and is just a taster of what the film could be about, a full trailer actually allows the audience to gain an understanding of the plot and characters in the film. Some of the main differences between teaser trailers and full trailers is the duration; teaser trailers are typically significantly shorter than theatrical trailers.Not just because of the fact that full trailers are longer, they usually show more of the plot of the film and give the audience a more in depth understanding of some of the characters in the film. A lot of the time full trailers use the same scenes that they used in the teaser trailer but the scenes are edited in a way in which the audience gets a better understanding of whats going on, for example these same scenes will be shown in continuity and in context so people are able to understand the plot. Full trailers are much more heavily edited because there are more scenes. From my research I have found that theatrical trailers are essentially just 'better versions' of the teaser trailers, because the full trailers are more neat in the sense that they seem to have more high budget production as it seems that more time has been spent on it because there is more of a theme, for example all the text will be in the same colours ect, whereas in some teaser trailers there is not a particular theme throughout. Full trailers are more final and official, for example, the realease date will be shown at the end (October), whereas in a teaser it might just say 'spring'. Therefore this suggests that teaser trailers and full theatrical trailers are significantly different to each other and are both very important in the advertising and distribution of films. I have looked at different teaser trailers such as Mr Holmes, Batman vs Super man and Suffragette. I have created a timeline to show what and when text is shown in teaser trailers and what they typically include.Production company logoDistribution company logoActor/s (in between shots)TitleComing soon page I also analysed typical full theatrical trailers to compare. Film ratingsDistribution companyProduction companySome have; Based on true story, from the directors of... TitleSloganActorsRelease dateThis will help me when creating my own teaser trailer and I will refer back this this timeline to guide me.
This research on the difference between full theatrical trailers and teaser trailers shows how my teaser trailer fulfils the conventions of a teaser trailer rather than a full theatrical trailer. This is because my teaser trailer is a montage rather than in continuity order and it has a coming soon page rather than a release date for example.
Differences Between Full Theatrical Trailers and Teaser Trailers
A company ident is the overall image or icon of a corporation. When researching Company Idents I looked at existing teaser trailers such as 'Numb' and 'Number 23'. These are both a similar genre to my teaser trailer.
When researching we found that company Idents usually appear at the beginning of the teaser trailer. They usually have a fade transition when they appear on screen and leave the screen. I realized that many idents are similar in terms of the colours; they all seem to be this yellow colour in teaser
trailers (illustrated above). Trailers, and posters all included company idents. Therefore we created our own company idents to go on our teaser trailer and poster. We used the Mr Holmes teaser trailer company idents to guide is when making our own. Above I have shown some existing company idents,
these are both from independent and major labels. I have also shown how the Mr Holmes company Idents compares with our own company idents. From this you can see how our company idents follow the conventions of other existing company idents.
We got inspiration for our teaser trailer from existing teaser trailers such as Donnie Darko and Mr Holmes. We researched these trailers because they are of a similar genre to our film. From looking at these teaser trailers this helped us understand the duration of typical teaser trailers and how long the
company idents, titles page and coming soon page appear on screen for. We therefore made sure we did the same so that we followed the conventions of typical teaser trailers. Below I have compared the Mr holmes teaser trailer to my teaser trailer. I have illustrated how the duration of the teaser trailers
are similar and the company idents for both trailers appear on screen for 2 seconds.
Titles and Graphics
Above I have illustrated some screen grabs of research I did on titles and graphics in teaser trailers. This research explains what titles are included in existing teaser trailers and what types of fonts are used for the titles. I have included all of these elements in my teaser trailer so this shows how I followed the conventions. Typically you expect to see the title in teaser trailers, however there are some exceptions such as Cloverfield teaser trailer which did not include a title as part of their marketing trickery, but usually you would expect to see the title in a teaser trailer. The the fonts are usually quite minimal compared to opening sequences which have lots of text. Typically the ‘Coming Soon’ page will appear at the end along with the title.
Text and graphicsWe used Dafont.com to help us choose fonts. We made the ‘ARE THEY WATCHING YOU?’ text appear in between
each shots, we did this to increase drama for the audience. This was inspired by the film trailer for Lucy; the text flashes up and disappears with each shot. We thought this worked really well so used this idea in our own. When researching fonts (shown below) we realised we particularly liked Octin Spraypaint so we chose this to be our font for our marketing campaign. We used this font throughout apart from the magazine front cover because the Sight & Sound magazines have a typical font that is usually used instead, therefore we didn’t use this font on the magazine so that we could follow the conventions of the Sight & Sound magazines.
sound• Sound is everything you here in a film, both non diajetic and diajetic. Sound can be used to set a
mood for the audience in the scene, this then can leave clues which suggest things to the audience. The sound can change the mood, provide the audience with information about the setting and tell the audience about the characters in the scene, therefore it is a very important aspect of a teaser trailer. There are two categories of sound; diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sound is what comes from sources inside the world we see on the screen, including dialogue, doors slamming, footsteps, etc. non-diegetic sound is what comes from outside of the world we see on screen.
• Voice-overs as an example of sound being used in a film can often seem like 'the voice of god' which gives the audience wisdom or if the voice over is used poorly it can be simply disruptive for the audience. A voice over is used in The Avengers trailer. We also used a voice over but in a different way. We recorded whispering over the top of the teaser to give the effect that the character is hearing voices. This shows how we followed the conventions but we put our own twist on things which acts as a USP.
• We used sound effects to add mood and atmosphere; For example, we added slow motion laughter to create a feeling of anxiety. Other teaser trailers have done similar things to this, such as the Donnie Darko teaser trailer, it includes the characters worst fear (a rabbit) laughing at him.
• We used music to guide the emotional response of the audience. Music provides clues and hints that tell the audience how the producer wants them to react. We increased the volume of the music at the end to make it more intense for the audience. When the character stands up and shouts ‘Stop!’ we paused the music to emphasise the silence that the character created by having a breakdown. I looked at some music on existing films such as American Horror Story and Donnie Darko for inspiration for music in our teaser trailer. I liked the American Horror Story sound track because the pace increases which creates tension.
• We also used diegetic sound in our teaser trailer. This is very typical in a teaser trailer and especially of a drama film because the digetic sound is what you would hear in the real world. This makes it more realistic for the audience. Therefore the sound in my teaser trailer follows the conventions of a teaser trailer.
Editing The key to teaser narrative Is the editing. Film editing is the technique of assembling shots into a coherent
sequence. To cut off film slates, or edit dialogue scenes. Editing films involves the duration of shots, sound, transitions and effects. There are many times of editing, for example; montage editing. A montage is the technique of selecting, editing, and piecing together separate sections of film to form a continuous whole. This is typically used in teaser trailers hence why the length is shorter than a full theatrical trailer.
From researching other teaser trailers I found that teasers are typically 30-90 seconds long. Our teaser trailer is 1 minute and one second long which shows how we followed the conventions.
Duration and pace can have a huge impact on how the audience experiences the teaser trailer. This is why we increased the shot duration towards the end of the trailer as the fast pace will increase drama for the audience. An example of this in other existing teaser trailers is the Batman VS Superman teaser trailer (to watch CLICK HERE: https://youtu.be/6as8ahAr1Uc). The shot duration decreases towards the end in the action scene to make the audience feel tense and exited because it gives the effect that everything is happening quickly (out of control). Montage editing is typical in teaser trailers because it is a useful way of showing a lot of information in condensed time. A teaser trailer is meant to be just that, a teaser. It is supposed to be a taster of the film and is not meant to reveal too much about the narrative to make the audience want to see more. Therefore we made our teaser trailer a montage rather than a continuity edit in an opening sequence or full theatrical trailer.
We looked at the Matrix film and researched that the whole movie has a green tint effect on it. This gave us inspiration to add a blue tint to all of our shots in our teaser trailer. This is subtle so doesn’t distract the audience but it acts as USP so will attract the target audience.
We used particular transitions such as a fade after and before the company ident appears. We did this because this was typical from teaser trailers when we did research. For the rest of the shots we used jump cuts because this is more natural which follows the conventions of a drama. We used some effects such as a blur in the refractory scene and added a slow motion effect. I have shown an example below of where similar effects have been used in the ‘Lucy’ trailer. Another editing technique we used was where the shot of the pills were repeated. This emphasised how unwell the character was and also created intensity for the audience because each time the shot was shown the shot duration increased. The teaser trailer for ‘Under The Skin’ uses similar techniques because the shot of an eye is repeated throughout.
Green tint. Blue tint. Our trailer Lucy trailer
Camerawork
(High angle- makes character seem vulnerable to the audience.)
I have compared some shots from existing teaser trailers to the shots in my own teaser trailer. From this you can see how I have followed the conventions of typical teaser trailers. I didn’t just make creative decisions on camera shots and angles just because I have seen them in existing teaser trailers, but also because of the connotations; the impact on the audience. The camerawork can really make a difference to how the audience perceives a character. Examples of this are shown to the left.
Poster
Poster Conventions
Here are some conventions of posters that I did in my research. From looking at these conventions and comparing it to mine you can see how I have followed the codes and conventions of a typical film poster.
When comparing existing film posters to our film poster develops forms and conventions of real media products.
Here I have compared the Donnie Darko film poster to our film poster. You can see how I have followed the format conventions and layouts of the poster.
Actors names
Main image
Title
Billing block
Magazine
Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover
From looking at the research on magazine front cover conventions it is clear to see that I have followed all the conventions from producing my own magazine front cover. You can see how I have established a house style through the use of colours and text.
From comparing our magazine to existing Sight & Sound magazines you can see how I have followed the design layouts and conventions.
Illustrated below is a real Sight & Sound magazine front cover compared with our magazine front cover. The conventions are very similar.
Company Ident
Masthead
Institution
Main image
Anchorage
Lure
Bar code
Company Ident
Tagline
Genre Conventions Our promotional package gives clues to the narrative
themes. For example, the classroom setting suggest that it is about a student at college. We learnt that it was important to drop hints of narrative themes from when we research the Warm Bodies promotional package. For example, the teaser trailer described the story in one word such as "friendship" or "love”. You got a sense of what happens in the film and links between the characters and what happens were made within the products. You can see that the film is about zombies and love but not too much is given away.
On the next slide I will compare the research I did from looking at existing drama genre films and show how I have followed the conventions of the drama genre.
Set in a classroom.
Realistic situations – young person dealing with mental health issues.
Audience can relate to character – Same age as target audience.
Mise en scene of genreI also followed the mise en scene of the genre. I have done some research in existing films of the mise en scene in drama films such as the film ‘Numb’. The films I researched all had similar clothing; plain, dark colours. I have compared the character clothes in Numb to the characters clothes in my own film below. With the drama genre the props can be very diverse because it just involves real life situations. The lighting in dramas are mostly high key to show a natural realistic atmosphere, we had high key lighting in our teaser trailer, magazine and poster. Facial expressions in dramas are natural, realistic facial expressions so we made the character seem sad to show the audience how she was feeling.
Grey top with black jacket.
Institutional Conventions• Media products are different depending on if it is from certain types of organisations. For
example, major and independent distribution companies will produce very different products to each other. 20th Century Fox is a major and Lionsgate is an independent distribution company. Major distribution companies usually have a higher budget and are usually more well known than independent distribution companies which can make them more successful as they are able to market their product more. Major companies are usually a conglomerate which means there can be subsidiary companies to a major parent company such as Columbia Records is a subsidiary to Sony. They usually have a wide target audience and appeal to the main streme. However some people would argue that because the music and film industry are both largely powered by a small amount of companies which can create less diversity in the products released. Independent companies are more unique and producers/artists have more rights to the content of the product. Do the magazine sight and sound conventions so different. Independent film products will appeal to a more niche market. Our film was a big budget film company so we copied the billing blocks from film posters such as Harry Potter. We had to copy the billing block credit for credit in order. We used the Sight & Sound magazines for our own magazine which is also a big budget, famous product.