Music

We have been trying to find music on creative commons websites however we cannot decide whether a classical movie type sound track would be best or a pop song with lyrics would be best.

We have decided that we want the music to reflect the protagonist's emotions and start slow then get faster and more dramatic. We also want the music used to fit in with our social realism genre and so we will have to do some more research on where to find the right kind of music that will fit the trailer.

Chloe

Questionnaire

We created a questionnaire and gave it to 10 people to see how people feel about our ideas for our teaser trailer.We gave these questionnaires to teenagers as they are our audience that we are aiming at. The questions were:

1)Age:

2)Sex:

3)Do you prefer a male or female protagonist (leading character)?

4)Do you enjoy social realism films? (e.g. This is England, Billy Elliot, Trainspotting, Green Street)

5)How often do you watch films?

6)Do scenes of drug/alcohol abuse shown in films distress you?

7)Do you know people involved in drug taking/alcohol abuse and violence?

Results:

1)All of the people we gave the questionnaire to were between the age of 16 and 18 which is the age group we are aiming our film at.

2)The genders are evenly split which is good as our film is aimed at both as it has the violence of a male thriller but the female protagonist of a romantic girly film.

3)Half of the testers said that they prefer a male protagonist, three people said they prefer a female protagonist and the remaining two people said that they aren't bothered. It was interesting as some of the male testers said that they would prefer a female protagonist and some female testers said they would prefer a male protagonist.

4)All 10 of our testers said that they enjoy social realism films which is good for our film. Social realism has become quite a popular genre within the film industry with only independent films producing it.

5)All of our testers said that they watched films quite frequently so if we were promoting our film we could put the teaser trailer on dvds and before independent similar films.

6)Luckily none of our testers said that drug/alcohol abuse distressed them therefore we feel that it would be acceptable to perhaps show a drug scene on our trailer however we may have to research this issue more in depth.

7)Eight out of the ten people tested said that they knew people involved in drugs, alcohol and violence which is quite typical of today and we want to convey today's society of drugs and violence within our film trailer and the difficulties that people face related to these issues.

Doing this questionnaire has really shown us what our age group wants and what we need to create our teaser trailer into.

Holly

Ideology

As our film involves drug use, gangs and violence there will be mainly negative ideologies. Although the trailer opens with people taking drugs and having fun it may give ideologies that drugs are good and fun and help you relax. However, after this scene the girl protagonist gets into trouble because of the drugs and this leads onto violence and so this gives a different ideology that drugs cause trouble and lead to violence.
As our film is a socail realism film and is set in a working class environment with working class characters this could give connotations that working class people are drug users and are violent. Also, as the girl protagonist is a teenage girl it could suggest that it is teenagers that are drug users and are involved in crime- a common stereotype.
All these ideologies are dominant within society, although the ideology that teens are violent drug users is a controversial ideology that is argued to be have created by the media.
However, in many social realism films the male characters are the dominant and stronger characters and give ideologies that males are stronger than females. This is where we offer an alternative ideology within our text as our protagonist is a female but is presented as strong and goes off to get revenge. We will show this in our trailer as we have a fight scene and the whole trailor centres around her making her look independant and strong.
All these ideologies link to the social realism genre as drugs and violence is a common theme within a social realsim film. Our alternative ideology of the female protagonist is also linked to the social realism genre as most socail realism films offer some kind of alternative.

Chloe

Representation

Our characters who will appear in our film teaser trailer consist of a female protagonist, unlike the stereotypical male protagonist who features in most popular films. We will also need a extras who will perform as her group of friends, brother and mystery man.

The protagonist and group of friends will be represented as drug taking, alcohol drinking teenagers. Will we show this by them acting as though they are taking drugs and drinking lots. This is how teenagers are typically stereotyped and we hope to convey this in our teaser trailer. As well as being described as drunken and drugged up, we will also be represented teenagers with the way they talk, dress and the way they behave. For example, they will speak (if they do in the clip) in a slang, northern accent showing the area they are from. Slang will consist of swearing which is also another connotation of the stereotype of a teen. We will dress them in fashionable, up-to-date outfits, perhaps if we employ teenagers as actors they can wear their own outfits. This is how we will represent our secondary characters rather than the protagonist as we are creating an independent film rather than a Hollywood film so we need to have something different about the film. For example, perhaps our protagonist will wear a dark outfit whilst the secondary characters will wear bright coloured outfits etc.

Holly

Audience Hierarch - Chloe

We used Maslow's hierachy of needs to see which basic human needs our text will fulfill.
Our film will fulfill the basic needs of love and belonging as the film will be watched with friends or/or family. It also creates a sense of belonging as others will see the film and by seeing the film too it would lead to a sense of belonging.

Target Audience

We define our target audience by using GRASS
-Gender
-Race
-Age(usually an ange range eg 16-25 year olds)
-Soci- economic status

Socio- economic status is essentially which class you belong to depending upon your job/occupation.

The groups are as follows:
A) Upper Class eg business professionals (own their own business)
B) Middle Class eg middle management (runs business)
C1) Lower Middle Class eg Trades and supervisory jobs ( supervise office)
C2) Skilled Working class eg blue collar workers ( tele sales/call centre)
D) Lower Working Class eg manual workers ( shop floor)
E) Subsidence eg pensioners/unemployed( students)

Our target audience for the the teaser trailer is 16-25, both male and female. When looking at the socio-economic status, i think the audience watching out film will be mostly lower and middle class.

Audiences have certain needs which need to be fulfilled. Adverts aim to appeal to the audiences emotions and psychological needs. Later on we will look at Maslows Hierarchy of needs which looks at audience segmentation. I am now going to look at Young and Rubicam's Cross- Cultural Customer Characteristics. There are four categories of audience based upon these aspirations:

1. Mainstreamers- 40% of the market, this is the largest section of the market. This group seek security in conformity and this tends to lead to buy well known brands.

2. Aspirers- These people are motivated by status. They buy smart, high tech and high fashion goods.

3. Succeeders- These people have already climbed the ladder and want to keep control of what the have. Car adverts that emphasize power and control are aimed at this group.

4. Reformers- this group want the world to be a better place. Educated people such as teachers and doctors who apparently are more likely to buy eco- friendly and health products.

The lifestyle group we would chose for our audience would be URP ( unemployed Rejected person).

Sarah

Narrative

Narratives within media texts can be sorted into different theories.
the theory that our group are thinking of following is Todorov's. As our film teaser trailer is about revenge, and this needs balance as a plotline.
The trailer will hold a certain amount of equilibrium, this will be at the beginning where everything is calm and happy. Then this equilibrium is disrupted by some event. In our basic ideas it would be someone close to the protaganist being killed. This causes numerous other events to happen, As our teaser trailer is about revenge it would be the protaganist getting revenge on the killer. In the end revenge brings around a second equilibrium.

Rebecca

Feedback 23/11//09

Very good research group - good links and references to films/posters etc...

Try to include the conventions of teaser trailers in your own words - what is their function? What do they do?

Also what are the conventions of your chosen genre? Try www.filmsite.org - films genres section.

Then move onto your target audience - you need an age range, gender bias, race and socio- economic status - you can have secondary audiences that are wider but you need a more specific target - dont forget to use Young and Rubicon for your psychographic profiling too. Dont forget to put your audience questionnaires and results on here also.

Now move on and look quickly at your other key concepts and we should be starting to see some planning - location shots/casting shots etc...

Remember to outline your film and the brand image you are trying to create through your products.

Conventions of Social Realism and Unique Selling Point

I researched conventions of the social realism genre to help with planning our trailer. We found that the characters are normally working class and set in working class locations such as terraced houses, pubs, places of work.
I also found that the characters are normally victims of circumstance and the film is normally about their struggle and what they go through. Typical themes are of poverty, political issues and the pursuit of happiness.
I also found that the tyical protagonist is a male, normally angry or upset with his situation or something that has happened in his life, and the narrative revolves around his experiences.
The media language used is realistic such as authenic costumes to the era it is set in, natural lighting and sound, Real British locations and grainy images.

Our unique selling point is the sex of the protagonist. We have decided to have a female progtagonist which is unusal for the socail realism genre, as the films we researched had males as the leading characters.
Also, we are going to set the film in the 80s which is also quite unique.

Chloe

Analysis of trailer

The trailer I have chosen to analyse is from the film Harry Brown which stars Michael Caine. The film relates well too our idea for our own teaser as the film is about revenge and shows the bad representation of teenagers from a different point of view. In this trailer, it shows teenagers as violent, abusive and drug addicts which is a stereotypical representation of teens and this is how we are going to represent our teenagers in our film as this representation has been moulded by the media and this is how the UK sees the teen public now.

Holly

Popularity of Genre

I looked at these figures on: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480025/awards.

These are the awards that "This is England" received.

Sarah

Film Genre

The genre we have chosen for our film would be Drama, as Social Realism fits into that catagory.
These dramatic films show us human beings at their best and worst. Social Realisn is representing real life and characters, it portrays characters, usually from working class backgrounds.
This genre could hold many themes within it, such as; drug addiction, poverty, alcoholism, class divisions and violence towards women.
These end up being typical gritty British films about the struggle to survive.
Films such as Trainspotting, Human Traffic and This is England are some to name which fit into this specific genre.

Rebecca

Genre And Hybrid with conventions of genre

The genre we are studying is, British Social Realism. It has aspects of gang culture, drug taking and alcohol abuse. This is also a hybrid as gangster crime is involved within. Conevtions are the elements in a film which establish what genre the film is. Such as a rule for a chat show on televison should involve hosts, guests and a grand entrance, normaly walking down a stair case.
The circle of pleasure and profit maintains the conventions and meanings of the genre. The circle of pleaure and profit goes from product to audience to profit and ends with producer.
The product has conventions, elements and codes. The audience seeks values and messages from the film whichthe audience enjoy which makes profit and the producer gains commerical success which makes them able to make a repetition in production.
Sarah

Examples of Teaser Trailers

We found these trailers of the films "Harry Brown" and "Trainspotting". These trailers are from the British film institution and so we decided to research the common traits and characteristics within this product as part of research for our own.
Looking at the trailers we found that the settings are typical British locations and the characters are middle/working class. The costumes are realistic to the average British citizen depending on the era. All the characters accents are British and commonly northern. We also found that the actors are normally unknown and not famous hollywood actors, we think this is because British film companies do not have enough money to employ famous actors.

Here are some examples of film poster for the films 'Harry Brown' and 'Trainspotting'.





The Trainspotting campaign worked very well and played a big part in making the film successful. We think this is because of the unique and simple image used. Simply, by the use of the colour orange and the big clear title of "Trainspotting" it creates a clear and simple image that is easily recognisable and remembered by the audience which helps promote the film.
Even though the poster does not give anything away about the story, the characters on hte poster give off attitude and hints at Todorov's theroy of equilibreum- disruption- new equilibreum which creates curiosity and anticipation- another factor which would help make the film successful as it creates hype about the film.

Chloe and Holly

British Film Industry

The typical traits of the British film industry are important to us to consider whilst we are creating our products in order to make our products look realistic. We have researched the typical traits of British films and they are that the genre is usually social realism and is under a low budget of £5 million compared to Hollywood films who have no limit. The narrative is usually alternative rather than classical and makes the audience think more about what they have just watched instead of just enjoying the film. A lot of British films are created by independent film companies and can be very controversial and reflect British issues. Films like this include: 'This Is England', 'Billy Elliot', 'Kidulthood', 'East is East' and 'Trainspotting'. These are similar trailers to what we would like to create in our own brand.

Chloe and Holly

The Full Monty is a 1997 British Comedy Film. It tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them steel workers, who decide to form a male striptease in order to gather enough money to get somewhere else and for main character Gaz to be able to see his son. Despite being a comedy, the film also touches on serious subjects such as unemployment, fathers' rights, depression, impotence, working class culture and suicide. This is a film we have taken interest in as we want to cover different issues throughout our film.
However, even though the film is based around British realism and the struggle in British society, one of the three film companies which helped produce the film was Twentieth Century-Fox. This is what made the film so popular as the film was distributed in America unlike many British films therefore the larger population in America means more money for the film industry. The Full Monty won the BAFTA Award for Best film in 1997. It was nominated for a total of four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Music Score and Best Originial Screenplay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Full_Monty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA3W36JVnRc

Sarah

History of Teaser Trailers

Trailers shares many of the same functions of a film poster. Posters raqise awareness of a film, but trailers give us a feel of what the film is about. A Trailers normally begin showing extracts from the film around six weeks before the film is actually released. They are approximately edited down to around two minutes, as they are shown in the cinema while waiting for a film to start. Highlights which are the most interesting parts from the film, are shown but usually not in chronological order. A full theatrical trailer is she approximately 2 weeks before the actual film is released to build up buzz and hype about the film. A trailer starts with a slow pace to establish the plot, genre and characacters and thengain fast pace to show action.

Good trailers contain enough information to appeal to the audience without revealing the main plot to the film. A trailer is shown to hook the audience in. they are for advertising the film and to draw in the audience. A trailer is made to "wet the audicences appetite", they establish the genre and show the stars of the film. If you see a favourite actor starring in a new film, you are drawn in to watch it or a director of one of your favourite films, that is directing a new one, you know it will be good.

In the early 1960s, motion picture trailers changed. Textless, montage trailers and quick-editing became popular, largely due to the arrival of the "new Hollywood" and techniques that were becoming increasingly popular in television.
( Obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_trailer )

Our teaser trailer belongs to the British Film Industry. If a film company was to manage our film the company would be Vertigo Films as the make gritty British Films. An example of one of their films that relate to our genre is Outlaw. We researched this company on: http://www.vertigofilms.com/home.php



Sarah and Rebecca

Branding Research

Pulp fiction is violence and gangster based film involving drugs and realism. The posters reflect the film's image and give connotations of what is to happen within the film. The colour palette which is used on this poster is also used in the film, the use of dark colours and the bright red which creates a brand image for the film. Will we have to consider the colour palette when we create our brand. The woman in the poster is a femme fatale, which is an alluring seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. You can see this by the womans attitude. She uses her sexuality to get what she wants. This is a feauture we want for our brand image as when you look at the person, you want to know what she is like or what she is about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femme_fatale
Chloe,Holly and Sarah

Branding Research

We have chosen to look at the branding of Charlie's Angels. By looking at the poster and trailer we can tell it is action packed and fiestywith female protagonists. The flames connote danger and reflect the fiery characters. The background is bold and stands out and makes it look dangerous. The back lighting on the characters sets up enigmas as to who they are. We can see the brand image is that it is action packed and fiesty.







Sarah And Rebecca

Branding

A brand refers to more than just one product. Branding is about creating an image that people link to a particular type of product. We did some further research and found that according to www.mudvalley.com there are eight elements that combine to create brand identity:

-brand essence - what the brand means in a sentence,

-brand slogan - often a catchphrase linked to a logo,

-brand personality - what kind of character does the brand have? Humanises the brand -makes it easier to relate to

-brand values - what does it stand for/against?

-brand appearence - what does it look like/sound like/taste like?

-brand heritage - what kind of tradition does it have?

-emotional benefits - what feelings does it offer consumers?

-hard benefits - it is cheaper, better, does it wash whiter? What "real" quantifiable benefits does it offer the buyer?

Branding is important to the film industry as it gives the film an image which helps to sell the film and make it successful as possible. It creates a image around the film including posters, dvd covers and the logo. As we are creating a number of products around the film, it is important we create a clear image of the film. That spreads across all of our products to create a successful brand. We will do this by using the eight points from mudvalley.com as guidance.

Chloe and Holly

Our Chosen Group and Brief

We have chosen to be in a group of four, these people are: Chloe, Sarah, Rebecca and Holly. We have decided to make a teaser trailer for our product.

We will be using in our product the software final cut express, and the hardware we will use stills digital cameras and digital video cameras.

Sarah and Rebecca.