This showed me that all posters share the same conventions regardless of genre. e.g. Tag lines, billing, dominant central image.
Once I had decided that i will be basing my film on domestic drama genre I proceeded to analyse posters from this category to establish any specific genre conventions.
I decided that the background of my poster should represent the overall mood of the movie as this was something I found to be quite dominant when looking at poster conventions fro domestic dramas. I wanted the colours to be quite dull and dark. I decided not to include any characters from the film on my poster, however thinking about it I think it would of been a better idea to have included at least a protagonist so the audience can make assumptions and have a better understanding of the film.
Fir the main part of my coursework, I needed to create a teaser trailer to advertise my film. I had to carry out research into conventions of teaser trailers before I was able to actually create a trailer.
I began with looking at similarities and differences between theatrical and teaser trailers, this was so that I could establish what to include in a teaser trailer and what not to include so it doesn't appear to be a theatrical trailer. I analysed 2 films that had both a teaser and theatrical trailer.
This task showed me that teaser trailers are much shorter than theatrical trailers and they do not reveal as much information as it serves a purpose to tease the audience about what the film is about whilst not giving too much away.
I wanted to focus on the conventions of teaser trailers fro different genres So I analysed three different trailers from different genres.
I found that all the teaser trailers had the same conventions regardless of their genre. Some of the conventions were; images, tag lines, sound effects etc.
After deciding that I wanted my film genre to be domestic drama, I analysed teaser trailers of this genre to identify conventions of genre that I could include in my trailer.
To research the conventions of magazine front covers, I analysed two different kinds of magazines; a mainstream magazine and an independent magazine.
The aim of this task was to establish whether the two different magazines shared the same conventions regardless of who their target audience is. I concluded that all magazines do share the main conventions e.g. masthead/cover lines however how these conventions are used are dependent on the magazine audience.
This shows me that i need to include these conventions in my magazine to increase authenticity.
My magazine masthead
I also looked at the styles of magazines that there were this enabled me to see what would be the most appropriate for my film to be advertised on.
gg This research allowed me to establsih that the most suitable for my film would be a british independent magazien similar to sight and sound becuase my film was a low budget, British film. Once I had made this decision I needed to look into conventions of independent magazines in terms of font, layout, colour etc.
This research resulted me in producing a magazine cover that put forward conventions of a magazine.
It is evident that I did a lot of research into real media products to help me incorporate appropriate conventions into my own work and helped in making it appear as authentic as possible.
gfgfgf I made it a priority that throughout my research and planning I constantly involved the audience in terms of what they expected to see. I did this mainly through the use of questionnaires and these helped me to make suitable decisions.
I also asked my audience about feedback on my magazine cover.
1. Is it clear that this is a cover magazine for a British Independent magazine company? How? 2. Does the front cover look authentic when comparing to existing ones? Why? 3. Do you think this magazine would stand out on a shelf? Why? 4. Would you buy this magazine? Why? 5. Do you think the font used for the magazine works in relation to the trailer and poster? Why?
The feedback I recieved from my audience was that they could clearly tell that the magazine was of a British Inedpenedant company because of the simplicity and the use of the unkown films/people in the taglines. Also the actual name of the poster highlighted this. They also said that the poster did look authentic and when looking at other independent film magazines such as 'Sight & Sound' this is the sort of thing you would expect to see as they possess similar qualities e.g. image of director.
I also asked audience for feedback on my poster:
1. Can you tell what genre the film belongs to through the poster?
2. Does the poster look realistic? Why?
3. Would this poster make you want to watch the film? Why?
4. Does the poster work effectively with the magazine cover and trailer.
The feedback I received was that the poster does convey its genre however the use of images from the actual film may have done this better. The use of clouds sets the overall mood of the film but it isn't clear to see that the film is of a domestic drama solely through the poster.
The poster looks realistic as a result of the use of conventions of a poster e.g. Release date and reviews.
The audience said they would want to see the film because of all the positive reviews and actual name of film makes it intriguing.
The poster works effectively with the other media texts and it is clear to see they belong to the same film through the text font.
I also asked audience for feedback on my trailer:
1. Is it clear what genre the film belongs to through trailer?
2. Do the sound and images work together?
3. Do you feel that the teaser trailer contains appropriate conventions?
4. Would the teaser trailer make you want to go and see the film?
The feedback i received was that it was clear what genre the film was from through use of trailer whilst not giving to much away about the story line, this was portrayed through the images used in the trailer.
The sound and images work well together because the music helps set the mood for the story and the negativity.
The teaser trailer includes various conventions and audience were able to easily identify these e.g. production companies/billing/reviews
The teaser trailer wanted to make my audience go and see it but some said some dialogue would have helped to establish the genre a little better.
I presented my research, planning and evaluation in a blog form, I used blogger to do this, I also used Youtube to upload my trailer. I had to create accounts in order to access these websites and show my research.
Using blogger to create a blog was very beneficial in the sense that it was easier to organise my ideas and taks. It is also a way which is more engaging for the reader as it enables me to easily add images and videos that show aspects of my research and planning as well as my final product. It was easy to use and upload so I didn't have to waste time learning how to use the application.
To film my teaser trailer I used a digital video camera Panasonic HDC TM900. This camera allowed me to film as many shots as i needed and I could easily delete the ones that didn't come out correctly.
I was then able to plug the camera into a computer and use the shots I had taken to form my trailer.
I used Photoshop to create my poster and magazine cover.
Through the use of photoshop I was able to create and change images and alter certain aspects such as colours and fonts through the use of different tools. Photoshop allowed my work to appear realistic and I was able to be creative.
The finished poster and magazine cover show how I used photoshop, for example I was able to add text onto a suitable background and change the colour and where the text was placed.
As with any marketing campaign it is very important to keep a sense of interconnectedness across all the media products that are being used to promote the film; this is so that audiences are able to establish that each text is advertising the same film. This creates awareness of the film and audience members constantly seeing images associated with the film so that when it comes to making a choice about what to watch in the cinema these images are likely to be present in their mind.
One way in which I did this was by using the same text font across my campaign, this therefore made my film instantly recognisable through the use of the font and clear that they belong to the same film.
For the magazine I had to use a font which was slightly different to the others because magazines tend to have their own style which is consistent with each issue released, so it made sense to do this as it would add to the authenticity of the magazine cover.
My main focus was on the reviews of my film because my film was from an independent British film company the budget was obviously lower and in order for my film to be watched the reviews from other magazines/film companies would help with this. I therefore chose to include lots of reviews in both my teaser trailer and poster so that the audience can get a sense of what the film is about and what others had to say about it this is then likely to influence their decision on if they want to watch it or not.
For my magazine dominant image I used the movies director, I decided to do this because in my research and planning I found that in independent film magazines this was usually the choice of dominant image so in order for my film magazine to have a sense that it is low budget and independent I chose to follow a similar structure.
The release date is on both the poster and trailer, this again links them to the same film and the magazine issue is also in the same month, this again forms a connection to the other media texts.
Costumes:
- I made sure that for the main characters costumes were changed for different shots to suggest that the shots are from a different time and different location
I wanted the male protagonist to wear casual and simple clothes to show he is just an average guy snd, this was the same with the other characters.
Prop list:
Glass of water to look like vodka
bag and clothes
plates/cutlery
Bench
Letterbox
Location list:
Tower block in Leytonstone
Friends house/garden
I decided to make a shooting schedule which shows shots that can be filmed at the same time, this will save time and make me more efficient.
Establishing Shot - Showing London
Establishing Shot - Road/Bridge
Long Shot - Tower block
Long Shot of corridor in tower block
Medium Close Up of man with head in hands
Medium Close Up of women looking out of window
High Angle Shot of child in corner of room with head in hands
Close Up of girl looking scared
Medium Long Shot of man running to door
Close Up of women with head in hands
Medium Long Shot/Over Shoulder Shot of man hitting woman
Low Angle Shot of girl packing bag
Close Up of bag being put on girls bag
Medium Close Up/Over The Shoulder Shot of man holding woman and swaying side to side as woman looks worried and hesitant
Close Up from side of mans face drinking alcohol
Two Shot/Close Up of woman and girl looking at door
Extreme Close Up of mans eyes looking through letter box
Medium Close Up of man and woman sitting on bench as she hastily places head on his chest
As the shots are not too long and there is no dialogue I will be able to film the easily and so I can do quite a lot of shots in one day, giving me more time to edit and evaluate.
Before designing my poster I need to sketch some possible layouts. After looking at many different posters from the domestic drama genre I understand how genre affects layouts, and so I have sketched some possible layouts for my poster taking into consideration all of what I discovered through research.
