When looking at how my poster and my teaser trailer work coherently together we can see that the main focal image of my poster is in fact the doll used in our trailer which is the basis of our narrative. The way in which I presented the image is a typical convention of horror because the eyes of the doll are completely black and the outline of the dolls face is distored and blended into the background. This is common because it appears 'empty' and similar to that of a mask which leaves mysetery and fear.
I also included the names of the actors (stars) along the top of my poster, as an upcoming film poster will include the stars, genre/theme, credits and often a tag line to intise an audience's interest in horror. For example my tag line on my poster is 'you're never safe' as this leaves the audience asking question because it is communicating with them and therefore they will want to know why 'they' will never be safe.
I feel that my poster makes a good connection with our teaser trailer because the main focus of our story line is based around the children's doll which they stumble across in the forest.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Sunday, 13 March 2011
The role of the distributor
Every film has it's own distribution plan which the distributors develop with the producers. The most important part of this plan is to decide when and how to release the film in order to optimise its chances at becoming a successful production.
With an average of ten films being released a week, the challenge is to produce a film which is different and will attract a wide-range audience for example families with young children, teenage males and/or teenage females to older adults or sometimes a combination. Some new films have test screening which the viewers then fill out questionnaires at the end. This gives the distributor an idea of the expected audience and box-office prospects.
'Word of mouth' can be the most powerful trigger to go and watch a new film at the cinema so it is vital for the distributor the advertise the film successfully in order for the word to be spread. Posters are a common feature of advertising with the main image as the appeal of the film - its stars, theme/genre and credits. Film posters can be created by the studio or sales agent either internationally or for local use. Many months before release, an initial teaser trailer can also be released as part of the advertisement for an upcoming film as well as cardboard standees, banners, window clings and mini-posters in cinema foyers.
Persuading an audience to visit the cinema and see their new film is more likely to happen if the film has good publicity. For example premiers and media interviews are all set up with available members of the cast in order to get a good story written about the upcoming film. The audience are more likely to be persuaded to see a film from an independently-written story then posters and other forms of advertisements.
With an average of ten films being released a week, the challenge is to produce a film which is different and will attract a wide-range audience for example families with young children, teenage males and/or teenage females to older adults or sometimes a combination. Some new films have test screening which the viewers then fill out questionnaires at the end. This gives the distributor an idea of the expected audience and box-office prospects.
'Word of mouth' can be the most powerful trigger to go and watch a new film at the cinema so it is vital for the distributor the advertise the film successfully in order for the word to be spread. Posters are a common feature of advertising with the main image as the appeal of the film - its stars, theme/genre and credits. Film posters can be created by the studio or sales agent either internationally or for local use. Many months before release, an initial teaser trailer can also be released as part of the advertisement for an upcoming film as well as cardboard standees, banners, window clings and mini-posters in cinema foyers.
Persuading an audience to visit the cinema and see their new film is more likely to happen if the film has good publicity. For example premiers and media interviews are all set up with available members of the cast in order to get a good story written about the upcoming film. The audience are more likely to be persuaded to see a film from an independently-written story then posters and other forms of advertisements.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
After presenting our trailers to the class, we all received some feedback for what was good/bad for the conventions of horror and what was good/bad for the conventions of a teaser trailer. After hearing our feedback we can summarise that the successful features of our trailer consisted of the effects we used for some scenes ('bad tv' on Final Cut Pro), the spinning shots in the woods which came to a sudden halt and an inter-title. Our class said that this was a good representation of disorientation which is a convention of both horror and a trailer. Another successful convention of horror which our class commented on was our use of children in our trailer. Children are a good convention of horror because they connote innocence and therefore create more fear when they are seen in an opposite light perhaps and if they are seen as a victim in a horror film, it creates even more fear because it is a natural feeling to want to protect a child because they are seen as vulnerable. Similar to this, the class also felt that by mixing the bad tv effect with the scene of children playing gave them the feeling of them being watched through the fence. Our class also thought that our use of both day an night scenes in our trailer was very successful because it helped tell a story without giving away too much of the narrative. In addition our use of a 'radio broadcast' in our trailer was also seen as a successful convention of a trailer because it gave the feeling of a 'national crisis' and that there were many people involved in the narrative. Our use of silence also created fear which the class felt was a good convention of a horror trailer along with the background soundtrack of a heartbeat because it influenced them to become quite tense. I believe the most commented on for a successful convention of both conventions of horror and a trailer was our use of laughter and lullaby music at the end of the trailer with children's building blocks presenting the name of our film 'Childminder' as our class felt this was 'creepy' and made them want to go and watch the production.
On the other hand however, we received some criticism for things which could be improved on to make our trailer even more successful. For example some members of our class felt there was some confusion over the narrative of our trailer and it wasn't very clear. However some other members of the class felt that this was a good convention of a trailer because it was mysterious and left them asking questions and wanting to see the film to find out more. Similarly, some of our feedback showed that there was too much time spent at the beginning of the trailer watching the children play and not enough spent of the horror parts of the trailer. However others felt that this provided a good contrast of things being 'normal' at the start and then turning horribly wrong once they witnessed fear and gore. This was also praised as our class feedback showed our use of latex was very successful and looked realistic. Furthermore some members felt that some of the scenes were too long and that the trailer could have been more 'jumpy' overall. However as a group, as well as other members of the class felt that the overall pace of the trailer was successful because it created tension and followed a similar rhythm to a heartbeat, which we provided in the background. Finally another criticism was that some of our scenes needed dialogue but going back to an earlier point about what was successful with our trailer, other members of the class did feel that our use of silence was successful because once again, it created tension and fear.
On the other hand however, we received some criticism for things which could be improved on to make our trailer even more successful. For example some members of our class felt there was some confusion over the narrative of our trailer and it wasn't very clear. However some other members of the class felt that this was a good convention of a trailer because it was mysterious and left them asking questions and wanting to see the film to find out more. Similarly, some of our feedback showed that there was too much time spent at the beginning of the trailer watching the children play and not enough spent of the horror parts of the trailer. However others felt that this provided a good contrast of things being 'normal' at the start and then turning horribly wrong once they witnessed fear and gore. This was also praised as our class feedback showed our use of latex was very successful and looked realistic. Furthermore some members felt that some of the scenes were too long and that the trailer could have been more 'jumpy' overall. However as a group, as well as other members of the class felt that the overall pace of the trailer was successful because it created tension and followed a similar rhythm to a heartbeat, which we provided in the background. Finally another criticism was that some of our scenes needed dialogue but going back to an earlier point about what was successful with our trailer, other members of the class did feel that our use of silence was successful because once again, it created tension and fear.
Friday, 11 March 2011
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Some technology we used, included GarageBand which we used in our groups to edit our trailer's audio. This included the soundtrack and dialogue in our trailer which we were able to fade out and bring in different levels through GarageBand.
We also used Blogger in order to upload our posts and work we have worked on throughout the coursework. Blogger allows us to organise our work using 'labels' and also allows the teacher to provide feedback on any of our work we have blogged.
We used our camera and tripod in order to shoot our trailer footage. The tripod allows the footage to remain still and prevent any shaking from distrupting the trailer. It also allows it to look profesional and sharp.
We used Final Cut Pro to edit our trailer footage and piece all the scenes together fluently. Using Final Cut Pro we were able to insert inter titles and make it professional. We then used GarageBand for our audio and merged both the projects together to make one fluent horror trailer.
We used Flickr to upload images and then use the 'add note' tool to select parts of an image which we wanted to talk about. This was a good site to use because it allowed us to annalyse images in depth and then blog them from Flickr onto our Blogger site.
We used Mac computers throughout our project because they gave us access to programs such as GarageBand and Final Cut Pro. They're advance technology so we used these computers while creating our trailer so it would look as professional as possible.
We also used Photoshop in order to create our film posters for our trailer and the magazine cover which advertised our film. This is a usful technology because it provides great affects in order for it to also look very professional and skillfully done.
YouTube was another technology we used because we were able to look at other horror trailers in order to get our initial ideas and it allowed us to find other horror trailers in which to analyse for our evaluation in question 1.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)