Research: Analysis Opening Titles

Research

Analysis Opening Titles

I analyzed the titles in trailers, which is normally in the beginning, middle and the end. This intends to hints information on what to the audience can expect from the film as the trailer goes on, making them intrigued. I will be able to get more knowledge on how to create my own trailers.

Beginning

Majority of trailers have a green screen in the beginning of the trailer that is there to notify the appropriate age and the target audience. Many include a specific age rating for the film, restricting some audience to watch the film or have an appropriate adult with them. The films are rated by the BBFC which is a website that informs the audience about the film classifications. Our trailer is an action trailer, which includes violence, strong language so it will be rated 15.

Production Titles

Trailers includes the distribution and production companies after the green screen, I screenshot the popular action film companies 20^th Century Fox, Warner Bros and Lionsgate. These productions normally change their titles to fit a particular theme to promote the film. The font mostly used is “Serif” that has a tail on the end of each character making it look formal that appeals to a mature audience.

Warner Bros and Liongates uses low-key lighting with the light focused on the logo, emphasizing the production company. The Warner Bro logo is plain and has textures like a concrete that represents an element of an action genre.

Middle

At this moment the trailer with present statements that associates with the characters, making the audience know the emotions of the characters in the trailer and what is expected from this film. It intrigues the audience as many phrases have significant meaning about the perspective of the protagonists. There are titles showing the producers of the films and relate to previous successful film when will indicate to the audience that it’s a good quality film. This is an important feature because the audience will want to know who directed the films. There is a possibility that the casts names will also be positioned in this section to inform the audience about the main or popular actors to promote the film. The colour scheme of these are normally black background that the white, metallic colour contrasts highlighting the main texts.

 Ending

The trailer at the end will include the title of the film that highlights the high key lighting. It’s positioned in the center of the screen and the text is bold font so it’s eye-catching. There is promotion of the film at the end that the audiences are able to get involved online to spread the popularity of the film e.g. hashtags. There are also the releases the date to notify the audience on when the film is likely to be released. The conventions of the titles of the action trailers are that they all use the metallic color with a slight shadow and black background, giving off a mysterious effect. 

Research: Action Institution

Research

Action Institution

Twentieth Century Fox Film is one of the six major American film studios. The company was formed on 31 1935. Twentieth Century Fox distributes various commercially successful films such as Avatar, Stars Wars. The majority of popular films that they have created are comedy and family e.g. Alvin the Chipmunks, Diary of the Wimpy Kid. They prefer to make these film genres as its profitable but they do have experience with action movies because they have successful films especially; they're a large corporation. They have made a worldwide gross of over $250,000 for many of their X-men films, this shows 20th century fox could be a good institution to use.

Lionsgate is a Canadian-American film production and distribution studio and a division of Lions Gate Entertainment. It’s the largest and most successful mini-major film studio in North America. They produce and distribute motion pictures, TV programming, home entertainment and family entertainment. Majority of their films are similar genre and the genres they produce/distribute are Drama, Action and Thriller. Its first major box office was American Psycho, earning $4,961,015 in the opening weekend. After researching the institution I found that they have produced many successful action films e.g. Hunger Games series so it could be an institution we choose for our film.

Warner Bros is one of the main film studios that are based in California and New York; they’re a leader in the producing, distributing and marketing of all their content in other media and platforms. They produce variety of genres to suit different target audiences e.g. Comedy, Romance, Fantasy and Adventure. indicating that they have experience various genre.They are well known for producing the Harry Potter film series, as well as blockbusters e.g. American Sniper. It’s a good institution because their recent films have been successful film i.e. Dark Knight trilogy that grossed over $5 billion each,

Research: Costume

Research

Costume

The protagonist costume will be smart clothes because her occupation is an agent so she has to dress formally for her job. It’s also an action convention for agents to dress smartly, unless they’re an undercover. However at the party scene she will be wearing a dress. Location will vary the clothing because some scenes will be filmed in America - she'll wear a coat due to weather differences. Most of the clothes are dark colors e.g. black as it’s conventional.

The antagonist's has similar attire to the protagonist but it’s more casual than the stereotypical bad guys who are usually well dressed. Our two antagonists costumes will very similar to agents in Men In Black and similar glasses.

Research: Certificate

Research

Certificate

U:

·         Suitable for audiences aged four years and over

·         At U we only allow infrequent use of very mild bad language (e.g. ‘damn’ and ‘hell’).

·         Characters may be seen kissing or cuddling and there may be references to sexual behaviour

·         Violence will generally be very mild. A U film may include brief fight scenes or moments where characters are placed in danger.

·         ‘Baddie’ characters may carry or use weapons, but there will be no emphasis on these.

·         E.g. Curious George, The Bee Movie

PG:

·         PG stands for Parental Guidance

·         A PG film should not unsettle a child aged around eight or older

·         A PG film will not contain any theme which is inappropriate for a child. PG works can explore challenging issues such as bullying, bereavement or racism.

·         There may be mild bad language (such as ‘shit’ or ‘son of a bitch’)

·         Sex references are unlikely unless they are undetailed and infrequent.

·         Violence will usually be mild.

·         E.g. Saving Mr. Banks, Shrek

12A

·         12 contain material that is not generally suitable for children aged under 12

·         The 12A requires an adult to accompany any child under 12 seeing a 12A film at the cinema

·         The BBFC's Guidelines state that strong language (e.g. 'fuck') may be passed at 12 or 12A (Non Aggressive)

·         Moderate language (e.g. uses of terms such as ‘bitch’ and ‘twat’ at 12 or 12A).

·         Sex may be briefly and discreetly portrayed at 12A or 12. Verbal sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers also there may be nudity

·         At 12A, moderate violence is allowed but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood,

·         Some horror films are passed at this category. Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12A or 12A.

·         E.g. Hancock, The Switch

15:

·         Strong violence

·         Frequent strong language (e.g. 'fuck). Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (e.g. 'c***'),

·         Portrayals of sexual activity

·         Strong verbal references to sex

·         Sexual nudity

·         Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

·         Discriminatory language or behaviour

·         Drug taking

·         E.g. 21 Jump Street, Bridesmaids

18:

·         Very strong violence

·         Frequent strong language (e.g. 'fuck’) and / or very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’), There is no limit

·         Strong portrayals of sexual activity

·         Scenes of sexual violence

·         Strong horror

·         Strong blood and gore

·         Real sex (in some circumstances)

·         Discriminatory language and behaviour

·         E.g. Taken, Kill Bill

Considering all the features of each certificate we have decided our film is a 15 as it will contain some use of strong language and violence, although there will be no sexual  activity we still feel  is should be classed as a 15 as that’s the  most appropriate seen as the level of violence and strong language wouldn't be appropriate for a 12 year old yet we want to avoid an 18 certificate as that would cut out to large a portion of our audience would be unnecessary as the blood/gore won't be that strong and nor will the violence

Research: Trailers

Research

Features Of Trailers

Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film, clips are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers. For this purpose the scenes are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film. A trailer has to achieve that in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the maximum length allowed by the MPAA. Each studio or distributor is allowed to exceed this time limit once a year, if they feel it is necessary for a particular film. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_(promotion))

How to make a great trailer:

The key ambition in trailer-making is to impart an intriguing story that gets film audiences emotionally involved, most trailers have a three-act structure similar to a feature-length film. 

They start with a beginning (act 1) that lays out the premise of the story. 

The middle (act 2) drives the story further and usually ends with a dramatic climax. 

Act 3 usually features a strong piece of "signature music" (either a recognizable song or a powerful, sweeping orchestral piece). This last act often consists of a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments of the film and may also contain a cast run if there are noteworthy stars that could help sell the movie.

Key parts:

Music - helps set the tone and mood of the trailer. Usually the music used in the trailer is not from the film itself (the film score may not have been composed yet). Popular or well-known music, often chosen for its tone, appropriateness of a lyric or lack thereof, or recognisability. Popular music may be selected for its tone (i.e. hard rock for an action film, lighter pop for a romantic comedy), or to establish context (e.g. the trailer for a film set in the 1940s might use big band swing). Alternatively there may be specially composed music which features in films such as Star wars, Forrest Gump, Titanic, Ghost and The Matrix.

Cast run - (a list of the stars that appear in the movie). If the director or producer is well-known or has made other popular movies, they often warrant a mention as well. Most trailers conclude with a billing block, which is a list of the principal cast and crew. It is the same list that appears on posters and print publicity materials, and also usually appears on-screen at the beginning (or end) of the movie. Studio production logos are usually featured near the beginning of the trailer. Often there will be logos for both the Production Company and distributor of the film.

Editing - a fast montage (especially if it includes explosions, car chases, girls, shoot outs) is always good and raises suspense and adds more action, also dramatic pauses in action trailers are a must have as well as dramatic pulses in the music.

Research: Soundtrack

Research 

Soundtrack

The expression soundtrack generally refers to the music in a movie or television program, and to an album sold containing that specific music. Sometimes the music has been recorded just for the film, often but not always depending on the genre of the movie the soundtrack album will contain portions of the score, music made for dramatic effect s the movie's plot occurs. There are three different types:

- Musical film soundtrack (not relevant to our genre)
- Film scores (background music)
- Albums of pop songs heard in whole/part of non-musicals
Action: usually include high energy, big budget physical stunts and chases, possibly with rescues, battles, fights, escapes, destructive crises (floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires etc.), non-stop motion, therefore a soundtrack with spectacular rhythm and pacing as well as being fast paced and having a high tempo would be suitable to carry the audience on this physical journey and to get them feeling energised like the characters.

Research: Rules Of Filming

Research

Rules Of Filming

Continuity: It makes the edits invisible and makes sure they flow so the audience do not think they are watching a TV show but instead get involved in the story. This creates realism so the action appears real rather than constructed.
The 180 rule: This is the basic guideline regarding the on-screen three dimensional relationship between a character and another character or object in a scene. The line is called an axis which keeps the character connected by keep the camera on the same side for the whole scene. If the camera passes over the axis it’s called jumping the line. This technique is used to ensure that the same distance used in each shot.
Match on Action: This is when the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action. It adds variety and dynamism to the scene as it conveys the movements that take place on the screen.  This gives the sense of continuity of the scene; the editors distract the viewers by creating a visual bridge so the audience don’t notice the cut.
The 30 degree rule: It’s a basic film editing guideline that states the camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject occurring in succession. If this rule isn't followed a jump cut occurs and there is a risk that the audience starts focusing on the filming technique instead of the story that is being narrated.
Shot reverse shot: Where one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other. This is usually used when the character are having a conversation.
Rule of Thirds: The rule of thirds refers to the way a frame is divided into thirds. This creates reference points for good framing.

Research and Planning Initial Feedback

Rashmi - you are definitely on your way to continuing success in your portfolio this year, well done!  Aim to annotate some texts to signpost your analysis before you look towards your planning of final production tasks. 

Analyse the following focuses:  Mise en scene, Sound, Camera, Editing, Genre Indictors, Enigmas, Narrative and Characters, Unique Selling Points, Representation, Trailer Conventions and how the  target Audience is Addressed, Comparison to Other Trailers of the same Genre.

Initial Ideas: Action Genre

Initial Ideas

Action Genre

We are thinking of doing a trailer for an action genre as we believe that it will challenge us to create a trailer which engages to a larger audience. Action trailers will normally feature conventions such as  weaponry, explosions and a variety of shots such as establishing shots and extreme close ups. There should also be fast paced editing to show the scenes of fighting which will entertain the audience and there will be scene that will include slow motion to exaggerate the actions. We will try and include as many of these conforming conventions so that the audiences expectation can fulfilled. We target our trailer at a male audience of young adults and middle aged as stereotypically they like to see a film that includes guns, stunts and fast cars.

We have taken inspiration from The Avengers and The Equalizer as these trailers creates suspense and builds tensions throughout the trailer, further engaging the target audience. These trailers both include fast paced editing and fighting scenes which are conventions of an action. They both also hold the attention of the audience so that they would want to go and see the film to find out what’s happening as a lot of is still unknown. This is usually done by the music being fast paced and creating tension or keeping the audience in suspense. Also the use of the actors names in these trailers allow the audience to see who is in the film, encouraging them as they may have seen the films that they have previously been in and so will want to see these. In our trailer we will ensure that we have the names of the actors shown clearly so that they can be easily identified and therefore the audience will be able to notice them better.

Group Trailer Analysis: Captain America: The First Avenger

Group Trailer Analysis

Captain America: The First Avenger

We decided to analyze an action trailer, because it’s a genre we choose for our own trailer so the more we analyze the action genre, the quality of our trailer will be better. We each had different focuses e.g. camera, mise en scene, sound to analyze to get an in-depth detail.