Character cast for our trailer

Character cast for our trailer:

mainly we had only 2 characters within our movie as we decided to keep it simple and easy, with just the protagonist and antagonist being present in our opening 2 minutes. with this in mind we were able to do much more in terms of tasks and were able to focus on many more elements of our trailer. we took inspiration from different horror-themed movies to put together the props and stage for what would be the basis of our horror-themed opening 2 minutes. we took inspiration from notable movies such as Friday the 13th, as well as a anime, called Future Diary, which involved the protagonist being chased by a crazy stalker. our main props included a trench coat, a horse mask - we did initially want a hockey mask, but this wasn't within our range of things available. and a white t-shirt torn and covered in fake blood. within our trailer these props would connote a lot, mostly connoting violence, isolation and a immense vulnerability of the protagonist and how he is helpless against the power of the antagonist. we decided to add some human in-depth emotion to protagonist's character, we wanted to differ from the stereotypes in which there is a bunch of teenagers all of whom are helpless against the main antagonist. with the nerdy guy sometimes being killer second to last. so instead we had one vulnerable, rather emotionless character.

Preference of genre

Preference of genre:

My favourite genre has to be action-adventure films, which consist or contain a lot of fighting, action dramatics and thriller-car chases. all of these features would make the ideal film for me in my opinion. I prefer "superhero" movies of action-adventure genre simply because the features they use to portray the heroes we know about, are nothing short of breath-taking, for example the sound effects, lighting, and camera angles they use to portray and convey the genre are amazing, mostly they use sharp, ambient lighting, and most superhero movies take place during the day, one exception being batman the dark knight. my 2 favourite movies of all time wi8thin this genre have got to be batman the dark knight and man of steel, the 2 movies contrast each other yet have similarities to it as they both have underlying dark tones to it and have a really sinister backstory to them. notable actors such as henry cavil, and Christian bale, have acted out in these two movies as well further showing how great they really are.

Pumping iron movie trailer analysis

Pumping Iron Movie Trailer Analysis:

Overview: The movie pumping iron a is a documentary about body-building and the lives of famous renowned body-builders in the fitness industry, including such names such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Feriggno, Franco Columbu, the movie pumping around details the lives of professional bodybuilders, their rise to fame, their downfalls, their personality and everything which made them pursue the health and fitness way of life, it is this awe-inspiring work-ethic and determination which got them so far in life, and where they wanted to be. the movie is fairly old so it doesn't have that much sophisticated sound effects and camera angles, it is a documentary and not your typical movie. the movie was published in the year 1977, and was shot during the 100 day lead-up to the mr.universe and mr.Olympia bodybuilding competitions. a not very well-known fact is that the filmmakers actually ran out of money to finish production, therefore it humorously stalled for 2 years. although afterwards Schwarzenegger and the other bodybuilders portrayed in the movie raised enough funds for it to be completed.

General Plot: its the year 1975, and a line-up of bodybuilders are preparing themselves for the upcoming mr.universe competition. the first part of the movie talks about mike Katz, a hopeful for the mr.universe competition, and then afterwards it involves the more popular bodybuilders such as Schwarzenegger and the other hopefuls, including Franco Columbu, serge nubret, Sergio oliva among others. Katz mental balance is thrown off by his fellow contender ken Waller. the movie then afterwards switches its focus onto the intense and incredible rivalry between Lou feriggno and Arnold Schwarzenegger, two professional bodybuilders competing for the Mr.olympia title. Schwarzenegger being a veteran on the bodybuilding circuit, having won the title for five consecutive years. and intends to retire after the upcoming competition. feriggno being around 6 ft 5, and 120kg of pure muscle, being the biggest bodybuilder at that time, intends to be the first ever to have beaten the champ.

in between comedic demonstrations and training workouts, Schwarzenegger explains the basic concepts of bodybuilding and muscle, such as the building up on physiques, steroids, diet and the consistency required to succeed, at such a high-level. the film portrays and contrasts each individuals personality and their level in the bodybuilding circuit, as well as their workouts and home environment, and their motivation for getting into bodybuilding in the first place. afterwards the movie's events conclude with Lou's birthday being celebrated and Arnold has won the Olympia again for the sixth time, and announces his retirement after the ordeal, even though he says that bodybuilding will remain a huge part of his live forever and that will never change.

Camera shots and angles: the film has various camera shots and angles which have been used to great effect, for example we see a lot of close-up shots of the bodybuilders, as within the movie it includes a lot of interviews so it is evident that this is the reason for it. we see far-shots of the bodybuilders posing on stage, and Arnold doing his classic double bicep pose, which grew to fame as a result of him. we also see mid-camera shots and over the shoulder shots of Arnold facing the audience and their applause as they see Arnold's incredible physique. and are astounded by it.

batman the dark knight trailer

Batman The Dark Knight Trailer Analysis:

Overview: The dark knight is a famed movie as part of the batman trilogy series, which was released to the public in the year 2008, it is the second movie in this trilogy and was very successful and led to a third movie being made straight after. it made a lot of money at box office approximately around $534 million on only its first weekend, therefore this was a very successful movie, its main focus is centred around batman coming into conflicts with his work life, and his romantic interest in Rachel, as she has made it clear that he cannot have both. it mainly focuses on that, and as batman he must make a number of sacrifices for the greater good of Gotham.

Mise En Scene:  The movie itself is set in Gotham city, this city is a fictional city, however it is actually based on the real city, new York and what it is like during night-time, when it is sprawling with criminals, and all sorts of dangers on the street. we also see scenery such as the dark, deserted buildings at night, as well as the traffic in Gotham at night-time, this scenery mainly portrays the dark dangers of Gotham and it links in well with batman character, who even though he is a hero, he uses violence and intimidation to get his way usually this involves threatening and interrogating villains alike.

we see other scenery such as during the daytime, we see the bank scene at the beginning, we see a lot of money and lots of riches, this connotes that the movie's messages and scenes are about or involve money and lead to corruption, violence and greed as a result of this lust and hunger for money and power. the scenery involves many buildings and in the first scene we see a bank-robbery in which some amateur robbers rob a bank and leap off and abseil the high buildings. the scenery in general shows a rich and elegant economical financial district, in which it would be teeming with criminal activity as a result of the image the city conveys and the aura it gives out. we see many props and costumes used as well such as a clown-mask, this ultimately symbolises the maniacal violence the joker is famous for, and sees many of his killing sprees and anarchy has just nothing more than restoring order or even a simple "joke".

What we find out about the plot: the plot of batman the dark knight involves it being a fantastic sequel to the first movie batman begins. it starts off with a couple of robbers in a car plotting to rob a bank and steal lots of money. afterwards they go into the bank and start killing off each other in order to get a bigger share of the money, while the real joker kills the last of his accomplices, he drives off in a yellow school bus, with the bank manager's head attached to a grenade. afterwards the joker burns the entire amount of money near a bunch of gangsters and forces them to do his bidding, in order to get batman to respond.

meanwhile Bruce is in the bat cave contemplating his latest encounter with the scarecrow, while his mind at the same time being pre-occupied with Harvey dent, and his former girlfriend Rachel. he proposes Harvey a offer to endorse him to be the major, which Rachel is sceptical about, as she considers the past relationship they had. afterwards batman gets ready to intervene in another crime incident involving china, during the course of the time joker kills a dozen people to send batman and the people of Gotham city a message - that they should give up on their "hero", and give him up. afterwards he is interrogated by the batman and then he leaves. overall the events of the film are summed up by one famous line from the film, "you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain". What this essentially suggests to us is that fighting crime as long as the batman has could mean that eventually he realises that crime will never stop, and that there is no point and therefore this could corrupt his moral values and his ideals on the sense of justice within Gotham city and everything he strikes towards.

Sound: throughout batman the dark knight it is evident most of the sound is diegetic, with some non-diegetic sounds, most of the diegetic sounds, include gunshots, explosions, and the bat mobile speeding up and crashing through obstacles as well as exploding near the bad guys. some of the non-diegetic sounds include off-screen screams from the people joker kills. the dark knight however doesn't include much background music, most of the scenes are about incredible dialogue, and a amazing script, which has been praised numerous times by critics, Overall it is a breath-taking amazing movie.

Boys in the hood analysis trailer

Boys n' da hood trailer analysis:

Overview:   The movie is set in the year 1994 Involving a character named Tre Stylez who is currently living with his single mother Riva in Inglewood, California. the movie centres around a gangster type movie involving the criminal stereotype characteristics of African Americans. its a 1991 American teen hood drama film, and stars notable actors such as Cuba Gooding, jr, Morris chestnut, Laurence fishburne and among others. the movie depicts and details life in south central los Angeles, it was the film debut of the actors ice cube and Morris chestnut. the film involves a lot of deaths and is rated r for violence, drugs and criminal activity. it got several awards such as the 1991, best director award among others. There was considered to be a sequel for the movie, however it was never done, however actors from the movie said they are willing to do a sequel for the fan base of the movie.

What we find out about the plot: the movie first starts off in 1984, a ten-year old Tre Stylez lives with his single mother who is divorced, her name Reva, in  Inglewood, California. after the main character Tre gets involved in a fight at his elementary school, the teacher informs Reva that Tre is actually intelligent, however is crude, immature and lacks respect of authorities. Worried about his future, his mother sends him to live in the Crenshaw neighbourhood of south central los Angeles, with his father, Furious styles from whom she hopes that he will learn some incredibly important life-lessons so as to make sure he doesn't make any mistakes with his life. During this time-period Tre reunites with his friends, Darrin "doughboy", and his half brother Ricky among others. The same night Tre hears about his father shooting a robber who tried to steal from his house. his father "furious", goes fishing with him, and talks to him about his life-story and about the army, and tells him that he should never even consider joining the army as in his own worlds, "the army is no place for he black man".

the film after a couple of events jumps forward around 7 years later, in which Tre the main character matures into a dependable and responsible teenager and has a job at a store, he is hoping to graduate with his girlfriend Brandi, and the two have dreams which they want to accomplish together. eventually during later events in the movie his "friends" most of them die due to having lived a life of violent crime, the message of this movie tells kids and impressionable teenagers not to get involved in such works as it is hugely dangerous.

Camera shots and angles: the movie involves a lot of camera shots and angles, for example there is a close-up shot of the gang members expressions which show expressions of despair as their only answer in life is crime, and it is the only thing they are exceptional at. we see a couple of side-shots as the boys are next to the car in one scene and we see one of them come out we see the side of the car and all characters. we also see mid-view shots being around medium point away from the boys faces, this is used to great effect and as a result the audience would be enticed from the effect it has on them.

Sound: Majorly the film consists of diegetic sound, such as the slang and abrupt laughs of the actors, as well as the gun shots we hear during the movie's events, this is shown on the screen therefore it is diegetic sound, we hear non-diegetic sound as well such as the background music, to fit in with the mood of the scene.

300 movie trailer analysis

300 Movie Trailer Analysis:

Overview: The movie 300 is a action-adventure genre movie which is based around The famed Battle of Thermopylae, during the Persian wars which took place. It basically centres around the famed-warrior Spartans who were brutal Greek warriors and were known for their immense training regime which even started at birth. the film itself was directed by Zack Snyder who is known for directing famous and successful movies, such as Man Of Steel and Watchmen among others.  the movie is a 2006 American animated film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by frank miller and Lynn varley. Both fictionalised versions of the battle of Thermopylae. it revolves around king Leonidas who is acted by Gerard butler, who leads 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian "god-king", Xerxes and his army which consist of more than 300,000 soldiers, as the battle continues in a rage fantastical creatures are introduced, which means that the movie 300 is of a historical fantasy genre of film.

What we find out about the plot: the movie starts off in the Greek era timeline where there was war between Athens and Sparta and other areas in Greece, it starts off in 479 BC, one year after the battle of Thermopylae , a hoplite in the Spartan army begins the adventure by recalling events and telling the story of Leonidas I from his childhood all the way to his kingship by the Spartan ways/doctrine. after a while some Persian messengers turn up at the gates of Sparta and demand some "earth", and "water", as a token of complete submission and obedience to their supposed god Xerxes, the Spartans then proceed to kick them into a wall and kill them comically. a famous quote appears in this scene, "this is Sparta!". Leonidas then proposes a strategy which would enable him to try to defeat the numerically superior Persians. his plan involves building a wall to drive them into the narrow and funnel them into a place near the sea, however they decline his plan and state that Sparta will not go to war, as Leonidas departs furiously, Xerxes thanks epos for their somewhat subtle support.

afterwards despite what had been told Leonidas gathers 300 of his best soldiers, and trains them and mobilises them for battle, he does this in a subtle manner to avoid suspicious under the guise of his personal bodyguard, when in reality they are a army. eventually the battle takes place and the council agree to send reinforcements to the Spartans facing the onslaught of the Persian army, despite their  valiant effort they die to a arrow barrage, and eventually the ending of the film shows or tells of 40,000 Persians facing 10,000 Spartans, and finally concludes the epic film.

Camera shots and angles:  the film shows various camera shots and angles to entice the audience and add variety to the film, to make it exceptionally and of  extra quality. we see a lot of close-up shots of Leonidas's facial expressions, which detail his rage fury and passion which comes with ruling the great kingdom of Sparta. we see shots of his expressions involving his wife queen Gorgo as well, the relationship between them is obviously strong. more shots we see are over-the-shoulder shots as he arrives on the battlefield, it shows the view of the Persian army from Leonidas's shoulders. also we see a birds-eye view shot of the same scene which details the entire battlefield, it is here we really are shown the true situation as the Spartans face being hugely-outnumbered.

Sound: the movie has non-diegetic sound as well as added diegetic sounds, most of the sound effects involve diegetic as its visible on the screen, this involves the war cries of the Spartan army, as they face the Persians, the onslaught of the opposing side - the Persians, as well as other sound effects such as screams of the victims being killed and the blood shed and violence in general. The non-diegetic sounds include the background music for added dramatic effect, such as it having a sinister tone to it to crate a ambient and spooky atmosphere which shows the target audience that this is really is a dire scenario for them.

Forrest gump trailer analysis

Forrest Gump Trailer Analysis:

Overview: the overview of Forrest Gump involves a plot centred around a 1994 American-comedic romantic film which centres around a man who is mentally-disabled yet has a kind-heart and down-to-earth mentality. the entire movie talks about events of the latter half of the 20th century, and talks about his past, all the way from his childhood to adulthood, and detailing several important events which make up the main part of the movie as a whole. the movie is also made by the same person who wrote the novel, by a Winston groom. the movie however is also different because Gump's personality is different and several different events which took place during the movie but didn't in the novel.

it was released to the American public in the year 1994, on the 6th of July. it was quickly a commercial and overall success and became the top-earning us film within the year of its initial release and screen time.

What we find out about the plot: the film starts off first in 1981, as the main protagonist Forrest is watching a feather fall from the sky at a bus-stop in savannah, Georgia, he starts telling his story to strangers, who sit next to him on the bench, he starts off with how he on his first day at school met a "angel", called jenny, he quickly develops feelings and falls in love with her. despite his mental-disability it seems he was blessed in the physical and was able to run at lightning-speed which even earned him a football scholarship. after college he decides to enlist in the army, where he becomes best-friends with a soldier called "bubba". he talks about going into the shrimping business when the war is over. Unfortunately after bubba is sadly killed, and Forrest ends up saving half his platoon from being killed. because of this is he is awarded the medal of honour.

coming home Forrest endorses a sponsorship for Ping-Pong-which he becomes very good at, which earns him $25,000. which he uses to purchases a shrimping boat deciding to honour his promise to bubba. eventually Forrest and jenny meet up again and marry in the end though sadly she dies of a unknown disease, and the end scene shows Forrest and his son opening a book together while a feather drifts away into the wind.

Camera shots and angles:  we see various camera shots and angles within the trailer of Forrest Gump for example in the first scene we see a close-up shot of forests face, straight away we can see the goofiness associated with his character, and why he becomes such a icon within the movie but also popular culture, we also see birds-eye-view shots of Vietnam during the wartime atmosphere which Forrest had to endure in order to survive and make it back to jenny. it shows the dense forests as well as the soldiers making their moves towards the Vietcong. This is highly-effective because it shows the target audience that war is not a funny matter and shows the brutality of it that many experience have their close friends die in front of them making it something that you really shouldn't be getting into. We see other camera angles such as a over the shoulder shot of Forrest making his speech towards the people until he sees jenny. all of these are very effective. and detail again what a amazing movie it is once again.


Rating: overall I would say this is a great movie to show kids, and this is indeed its main target audience, and what its aimed at. I would give this a 8/10 providing it as a comedy movie was nearly perfect if I included more historical reference then it would be perfect.

Superman Poster analysis

Ice Age 2: The meltdown trailer analysis

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Trailer Analysis:

Overview:    Ice age 2: The meltdown is a animated movie which uses CGI to portray the use of mammals and animals, who were present during the ice age period in history. it includes a lot of humorous and comical elements throughout the entire movie as a whole. This is to further adhere to the elements of a comedy type animated genre movie, but also so that it meets the needs of its target audience which mainly are kids to teenagers but anyone of any age can pretty much watch and enjoy this movie as a whole. in general the ice age 2 movie is a excellent choice for kids, as this is its main target audience, it adheres to the codes and conventions of the animated/comedy genre type movies. Such as it including a lot of humorous and comical characters which are based on real-life animals which existed during the ice-age, this includes the woolly mammoth, the sabre-toothed tiger, and the ground sloth.

The ratings and views that the ice age 2 movie got were very high, it was a huge box office success and earned just over 660 million$ making it a huge commercial success, although it did receive mixed reactions by critics, generally the target audience loved it.

The Plot:
 The plot of ice age 2 evolves around the typical characters making their entry for a sequel, after the events of the first movie. manny is becoming paranoid and depressed, because he believes strongly that he is the last of his species, this in turn means that he is slowly starting to alienate his closest friends Diego and Sid. while the trio are venturing through the winter tundra, they stumble across some broken bits of ice and some killer huge fish, they are all lucky to leave with their lives, especially Diego, as his inability to swim becomes somewhat of a pun throughout the entire movie.
therefore this plays in with the comedic humour of the film a lot and we see how much of a child-friendly movie this really is.


what we find out about the film:  although the film is essentially for kids and animated it tells us about a slight history I suppose of the ice-age in which the film portrays in a silly manner the mammals and crustaceans which lived during that time period. such as the woolly mammoth, and the sabre-tooth tiger as well as the ground-sloth, this trio makes up the main protagonist of our beloved franchise.

generic conventions

the generic conventions of our film have generally been adhered to, since we generally decided to implement a  classic and therefore not post-modern style of filming, which involves the protagonist being chased somewhere, for example Friday the 13th, involves a group of kids being chased by some horrific-serial killer with super strength, it involves them wanting to get away from this anarchy and chaos, because it may just prove to be too much for them. if we subverted this, there wouldn't have been as much blood, and perhaps the protagonist would be the powerful one but this wouldn't really be a horror film  in my opinion.so the use of blood and our other sinister props help the audience determine the conventions of a horror film and make it evident, that this is the genre we are using, and not a comedy or romance for example.

production in relation to todorov's theory

production in relation to todorov's theory

our production during our a2 media studies involved the creation and depiction of a horror-styled genre trailer, which involved a horse-masked killer and a protagonist who is adept in martial-arts to try to fend him off, he is also always seen constantly running away from the antagonist. todorov's theory suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with the equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution where the equilibrium is restored and therefore the plot goes back to where it was back to its original state.  our production relates to this because it is the theory which guides all sorts of stereotypical films, regardless of genre of film type, most if not all films follow the basic plotline. our production in particular involves a teenager walking through the streets running from the antagonist. the main plot involved in this means it is considered "normal", at the start, however this develops into chaos, and suddenly the antagonist is cornering the protagonist in a dark-dingy scout-hut.

later on within our production we include a scene where the protagonist is absolutely helpless, and the antagonist then "finishes" him. This humorously shows that our production although generally relative to todorov's theory has bits in it where it doesn't relate. this is one of the faults of our production because it simply wasn't complex enough and we should have included more of a sinister plot perhaps to convey the horror genre more efficiently and better.

mise-en-scéne of our trailer

the mise-en-scene within our trailer and movie was fairly evident in my opinion. there includes a lot of make-up and props which our character cast use. we also had the antagonist wear a trench coat, and have a horse mask, although we did originally want a hockey mask for it, we decided to use a horse mask instead, partially because of lack of resources but also because a horse mask would add to comedic humor. this added to the sinister element of our movie, as it can be quite scary seeing a giant horse-masked killer on the loose chasing our main protagonist who is quite helpless. with any horror film the main protagonist is meant to be fierce and able to deal with the horrors of the antagonist in some way shape or form. while of course as said above our protagonist isn't able to do this and gets completely overwhelmed, however this isn't that clear in the trailer, but we did this to entice the audience further and crate a enigma, this would be similar more so of post-modern stereotypical films and performances.

the Mise-en-scene of our trailer also shows and suggests different aspects such as the dark setting of the background and the lighting putting a huge emphasis on violence, fear and negative aspects of our film, which adheres to the conventions and codes of the horror genre, as we know for a fact that horror films are usually very unpleasant, therefore our mise-en-scene show this as much as possible.

genre of our trailer

3. The genre of our trailer is pre-dominantly a horror-type movie, we chose this for our a2 media production, early for our as we did a action-theme movie trailer, we changed it in a2 perhaps because it was easier, and we also found it more interesting and comedic to work with. On top of that we already had indebt knowledge about elements of horror and horror movies as we had watched a fair amount so we picked up on ideas quickly and early on. also the horror genre codes and conventions are easy to appeal to with a teenage target audience, as our group were teens we would be able to elate and be able to do a horror movie most effectively, even though typically the events that occur in a horror movie don't really occur in real-life.

another reason perhaps why we chose horror was also because it was one which was easy to score high-marks in as most of the stuff you could include didn't have to be any location too far away for example and we chose to make do with what we had in general. For example initially we were planning to do the filming in some abandoned hospital in London, however we changed this afterwards to the oxshott scout huts because it would be easier and more efficient to film there, we got a lot of footage there, with good camera shots and angles. we conveyed it to the audience by adding in the effects which would adhere to the audience, such as dark-lighting, sinister and ambient music, and a antagonist who is tall and intimidating compared to the others.

what makes our production differ

the things which make our production differ, is that we decided to include some unique plot lines and props, which would both adhere to the horror genre, but at the same time it would be unique to our production. we also mainly focused on having a Friday the 13th themed story line. since we have a protagonist who is constantly running away from  the main antagonist it is rather humorous because he can be killed anytime if the antagonist wills it, therefore in most films the protagonist would have some degree of resistance, this isn't evident in our production. the antagonist has unique props such as a horse mask which we used for some degree of comedic humor and a machete which he uses to kill the protagonist, but again this isn't made obvious. through this we created a genuine enigma, so that the target audience will be mind-boggled about what to expect, and even possibly create fear through that reaction. generally people who had crated a A2 trailer, had gone for ghostly possession and more sinister stuff, and while although our trailer was by no means comedic or child-friendly, it still had humor and bits where there were inside jokes between our group.

also we got a particularly tall friend to play the role of the main antagonist, this made the role seem even more intimidating but at the same time funny and humorous because of the stark contrast, it seems as though the protagonist as no chance whatsoever. the alterations between our trailer and others are significant in my opinion because it shows we went the extra distance to add in different effects which would make it unique and all the more fun to watch.

Male gaze theory

2. within our trailer we did not really use the male gaze theory, this is because the main genre of our film is a horror film. therefore we didn't really include scenes which male particularly adult male audiences would appeal to and enjoy. the main reason we did this was because it was a horror movie, therefore there were certain aspects which we felt wouldn't appeal to or relate to the horror genre in anyway, including such scenes which would relate to the male gaze theory, we felt wouldn't work, also none of our cast are female to begin with, therefore it wouldn't be within our resources and achievable to do.

the role of women historically within  films from a heterosexual male's point of view has been described as being the "male" gaze theory, this adds to the fact that women are portrayed as there to be sexualised and desired by men, therefore the camera sometimes zooms in on female body parts of desire such as breasts. also our trailer was fairly short and meant for educational purposes of course so putting in such stuff would be irrelevant to the task at hand. also the male gaze theory is used for adult male target audiences, whereas we aimed our trailer although we did say a variety of target audiences our main aim was to please and adhere to teenage audiences, so it wouldn't fit in with the codes and conventions.

however if we had used elements of the male gaze theory then perhaps it would have added to the appeal of our horror trailer. it would add elements of sexual enticement for the audience, and add different variety to the age rating of our trailer, for example instead of being a 16+ it might be a over 18 type movie.

uses and gratifications

Audience and genre:

1. the uses and gratifications that our trailer appeals to are predominantly the need for escapism and the need to be entertained. the need for escapism mainly because our trailer is a horror genre trailer therefore the typical events that take place and occur during horror films are almost unheard of in real life, this appeals to our intended target audience because our target audience are mainly teenagers, and this means that they would be able to identify with the actors in our trailer, and relate to them, one of the members of our group does taekwondo, so he can knock out and decapitate the antagonist at any time, however in our trailer, we make it so that he is placed in a vulnerable position, this is so that our trailer further appeals to our target audience who are teenagers, we also constructed it by making it so that our location and setting was all of which eerie and ambient, this adds a enigma to the audience and further appeals to the use of needing to escape from the daily lives, as people watching it might think that they would never travel to a dangerous location such as that so they can watch and enjoy all from the safety of their home. our trailer may also spark debates or questions as to what our props were used, this in turns adheres to the uses because people will not be able to identify with our props because of how we used props which had to suit a horror film, but of which were not necessarily "normal", for example we used a horse mask.

Film diary part 1

film diary part 2

Evaluation task 5

Kill Bill Analysis film poster

Movie Title

*Using conventions from real media texts

Using conventions from real media texts:

our media product, I,e our trailer uses forms and conventions of real media products because our trailer is first and foremost a action-adventure themed trailer. This therefore means typically it would adhere to the conventions of any other action-adventure themed genre, for example we had many fast-paced shots in there, close-up shots of the protagonists face, shots of both the drug-lord antagonists and them running away. as well as that our media product challenges forms and conventions of real media products, because our trailer is set in England, and most action-adventure movies in the real world which have a lot of success typically are American, this is because most successful directors are also American, also our trailer challenges it because normally there are special effects involved, in ours we decided not to induce much special effects and keep it simple yet effective.

they have used and developed conventions from real media products by using action-fight scenes, we decided to utilise these first by looking at a tutorial of fighting-scenes and how to introduce them effectively within a trailer, most real action movies have fight scenes, in fact this is very much a staple, and must have some form of fighting for it to be considered a action. we decided to include a crime element on top of that - another feature which a lot of action films seem to have at the present, they all have some element of the antagonist being a drug lord, or being related to crime in some way, shape or form.

However whilst our trailer has used conventions from real action movies, it has also gone against it and challenged it, this is shown by the fact that we decided not to include car chase scenes, and very difficult effects to introduce such as explosions, for safety reasons obviously we could not include such effects at all, so this was out of the question. Nevertheless car chases and explosions are usually a key part of real life action-adventure films at some points, usually to involve a huge plot binding the protagonist against the antagonist. though perhaps not always.

Our work is to a degree both generic and experimental. Because our plot and story line was sort of experimental, we included a lot of comical elements, such as one of the main characters "filthy" frank being the same name as a comedic, hilarious you tuber. one of our friends who was in our group also was interested in joining the military so we decided to include a military element to it, so one of the characters "Andrew McGregor", is supposed to be ex-military and is getting involved with drugs supposedly for the enjoyment of adrenalin and action. in general we have not been influenced by the work of specific directors either because we decided to make the trailer mostly based on our ideas without much influence.

we significantly developed these skills at a2, this is because at a2 we had to up our game and make it so that the plot was original, but this time we actually decided to take inspiration from movies, we got inspiration from a famous thriller called Friday the 13th. we decided to include elements from it to our trailer during our A2 media production, this worked well, and had we included some elements from a real movie during our AS, then we would have had more success from the start we also developed our skills by using and utilizing a variety more of cuts, camera angles and different shots all of which worked very well and effectively.

*Post-Production

Post Production:

from our audience feedback we learned of a couple of things which would help if we did any media productions in the future, firstly our trailer clip was far too short, we could have got a lot more footage in, and make our clip longer, therefore appealing to the audience better, and gaining more success as a result. Also we should have included some form of dialogue within our trailer- none of the characters spoke in our trailer, this was mostly because we felt it wasn't that important however in hindsight perhaps this was a stupid mistake, and we could rectify it by giving the characters some dialogue and lines. also we learned that we could have given our titles a different font style, this could have enticed the audience further and make it so that it would suggest that our trailer was no ordinary average trailer and that it was something special.

we made different editing decisions, during our production stage, for example we opted to make our trailer light, but some of the footage we got in the morning and the rest of the footage was shot in the late evening to night-time, so this was a dilemma. we also opted during our editing that we would make a lot of fast-paced action shots for our trailer, because in action movies this is suitable because the target audience want fast-paced action scenes to entice them and actually make them want to see the full movie. these decisions informed the production by making us more weary and conscious about the effects and what they did to our trailer, we experimented with different effects such as the lighting, the camera angles and the sound, and chose what we thought would be ideal for this.

The main editing tool we used was adobe Photoshop, this was because we could edit different images and background, layers and font in the most efficient way possible for a magazine cover or poster. We used adobe premier elements for any footage editing, this was the main one we used and was better than Photoshop, because it was easier to put together clips and make cuts.

overall the post-production process enhanced our production by a significant amount. This was because we were made aware of the different shortcomings some effects could have and which effects would be most suited to adhere to the conventions of our action-themed trailer.

we have developed these skills even further at A2, Because of our experiences during our AS media production, we knew which effect would be better and why. For example we chose to do a horror-themed genre film trailer during our A" for this dark lighting, and ambient spooky music would be best, with subtle hints of dark violence in our trailer, This worked effectively and efficiently.

Creativity*

Creativity:
Last year we ended up doing a action film, which we called addiction, this was generally about car chases, actions, drug deals gone wrong and involved part of our story about a ex-soldier called Andrew Macgregor. we used the action media form last year, while this year we decided to do something more challenging like horror. Last year generally we got the ideas from people we met outside of college, and different movies, and media we have watched over the various years as well as recently.  ideas also came about from other media sources such as this particular anime called Mirrai Nikki, where we see psychotic girl stalking a helpless boy, and this became a huge part of our plot during our A2 production, however in as we decided a action movie, therefore we had these ideas afterwards.

we worked collaboratively because we all have different interests we would get talking about each of our favourite movies or shows for example, and we put some of the main ideas from those films together. This would make up a base of our trailer. we would also brainstorm these ideas, so we actually knew what the ideas for the trailer were about, and made sure it would actually work how we wanted it to work. another one of the members in our group also made sure we had the props required to pull the trailer off, one such prop included a horse mask, we had wanted to include a mask more suitable such as a hockey mask but we had to make do with it.

we changed things by adding a lot more eeriness to our trailer, whilst last year we had to include almost drama, fighting and comical violence, therefore the differences are obvious. we also decided to add different music, throughout the background to it, also we decided to take different camera shots and angles throughout, this was so that a different effect could be added throughout in comparison to last year's film. we also decided to actually add more titles in the trailer, since in the first one we barely had any and the one we did was absolutely terrible. so we added titles our own coming soon title and the names of the actors and director.

we used adobe premier elements to make the footage quality better, we edited in clips of our footage and we included short cuts and long cuts, and we would make it relatively short. we also used adobe premier elements to change the lighting around, in our first media production the lighting changed from light to dark, this was a mistake, we made sure to rectify this in our second, as it was dark all of the time.

in terms of page layout, our choices made sure that our credits and titles would be dark so as to adhere to the media genre even more so. and appeal to the codes and conventions of the genre, so as to make it more action-packed, this would further entice the audience and want to make them see it more as it would also increase the mystery factor.

*Research and planning

Research and planning

we looked at several different real media and audiences, which would enjoy our trailer so we looked at different horror genre target audiences and things which would adhere to the horror genre as much as possible. we found out earlier by doing a graph of results that most people who enjoyed watching horror movies and movies o the thriller genre, were teenagers or young adults between the ages of 15 to 25. although this is a generalisation it also depends on the personality of the individual. the real media we researched and looked at were means of broadcasting and publishing, this included cinema, television and books, most of the target audiences enjoyed watching movies the most therefore this was the most effective way of real media.

They informed our thinking about media production by taking part in a survey/questionnaire we produced by ourselves, this survey detailed about their interests in different movie genres, when they watched movies, what media they would watch it on, e.g. television, cinema etc. the most popular was cinema. on top of this we recorded what age groups were interested in which genre as well. we found out that the most popular was action-movies. we took this on board when we were deciding about our trailer during our a2 production, however for our as we didn't have as much of a informed decision, although we decided to do a action-film in our as production it didn't have quite the success that our second media production did. during our as production we simply chose to do the genre by which we would find easiest and action therefore meeting this criteria.

the main primary research we did was survey's and questionnaires but were simple and not very detailed enough to make more informed decisions and conclusions. the questionnaire focuses on different age groups, genre and they're interests to do with movie and the different type of genres they enjoyed seeing. we added this to our decisions based around on what sort of props to include, what genre we would make our trailer and above all, what age rating we would make it available for the target audience to watch.

after the primary research we had to do some secondary research to further back up the evidence we had already found, this included some magazine covers, we researched them, and even had to make our own during our a2 media studies. this gave us further information and helped us more.


it helped us and informed the production by finding out what people though adhered to the action-adventure genre, and by finding this out we could make our trailer more effective by making it suit the wants and needs of our intended target audience. the secondary research was perhaps more effective than the primary research. This was most likely because it went into more detail and we looked at real-life media forms and became more conceptual and understanding of human behaviour.

we employed different qualitative and quantitative research methods during our data process, for example our questionnaire would be quantitative, as we were using and collecting data to measure things, by asking the participants. we also had qualitative methods such as we had interviews with different participants as well. the effectiveness of these methods were very effective as it went into depth about the participants, their behaviour and why they would choose a certain genre of movie over another. and overall we have developed these skills much further at a2 because we went into a lot more detail and depth when we did it at a2, for example we took the results during a2 and made sure to compare it and collect the data and actually add it more frequently.

evaluation task 1

The title of our film is called delirium insanity; this was a name we were partially inspired by horror movies, and shows, which involved a psychotic stalker and a child or teenager losing their mind over constantly getting stalked by the psycho. The font we used for this title “forest films” was a simple yet effective font which could be used predominantly for horror films, the colour is white and it works well, as well as that the letter and styling isn’t anything too bold.

The setting location for our trailer was predominantly in the oxshott scout huts during the night-time. We felt this was a good location because it was easy and efficient to travel to in comparison to somewhere like London, where it would be harder, but also it would be easier and we felt like we could get a great amount of footage. The night was perfect to adhere to our horror genre, adding to the eeriness and further entices the audience.

we used a few costumes and props for our trailer, this was so that it would further increase the effectiveness of our trailer and make it more interesting for our target audience, we used a horse mask and a “blood”, stricken t-shirt with rips everywhere, this was to make it seem more realistic and adding to the fear factor, the audience would be more scared by this, and entice them further. We had wanted originally to use a hockey mask but we had to make do with the horse mask.

Our trailer obviously quite clearly suggests that it is a horror genre movie, the fact that our trailer is almost always has a dark element to it and is set in the night for the most part suggests it, but also the dark, dingy, eerie music goes well with this to further connote this, it suggests danger and spookiness, and gives an almost ambient aura towards the target audience,. Also the main antagonist is a psycho in a horse mask that also humorously connotes it.

Although unfortunately you can’t see the shot very well, due to the dark lighting, we see the characters being introduced in the trailer first through the main protagonist, who is quietly walking in the dark, dingy forest by himself, the antagonist is then introduced straight after in the form of a “psycho” stalker, who is quite clearly after our protagonist, this series of events happens very quick, this adds to the effectiveness, because the audience would be enticed and want to see more of the trailer.

we included a lot of camera work and editing in our trailer, while most of it was match-on-action, we included a lot of fast-paced shots for example this in particular details, the main antagonist being kicked by the protagonist, this forces him to stumble back, the shot itself is very fast and happens for only 2 split seconds, the lighting is also dark, it is simple yet effective.

 

Within the trailer our story is vague and short, it mainly talks about a teenager who is walking through the forest on his own, without any help or assistance, this is when the main antagonist finds him, and this is a psychotic stalker with a horse mask, who wants to either murder or kidnap him. The story is set up fast-paced within the trailer as we felt in a horror genre trailer if there was not much story then it would further interest and entice the audience.

The title and font style of the credits in our movie was simple yet effective, we first made the font colour white, then added the red font style colour, this makes it more creepy because it connotes blood, and violence both of which are common and prevalent in typical horror genre movies. We made the font style not too bold either so that it would further be easy to spot, and play with the audience’s mind of what is about to take place, and the events of our movie.

Within our trailer we didn’t add much special effect; the only ones which were obvious were the quick match-on-action shots, and the fast paced cuts. This was mainly because we felt it might make it too flashy and not good for a horror movie. And or it could reduce the realism of our trailer.

evaluation task 4

Evaluation task 4

while in our as media studies filming project, we decided to do a action film, during our a2 media studies film project we decided to do something a bit more challenging, therefore we opted to do a horror movie. This would prove more challenging than last year because we didn't have access to many props that would inevitably be needed in a horror movie, to make it look realistic and effective. another choice we made was that we decided to set the location for our trailer in the oxshott scout huts, this was a interesting choice, because although we used the same location last year, we didn't use it to the full extent and effectiveness that we did this time, for example last year in our trailer there was a scene where it went from being in the morning to night time all of a sudden, we decided not to make such a mistake the second time around, therefore it was all night-time in our most recent trailer. 

a effect/transition we opted for was during the process was to make our footage a series of quick-snap shots, and to make the cuts really quick, so for example we would have one scene where the protagonist is walking in the dark forest, all of a sudden it cuts to the antagonist with the horse mask right behind him, it had to be quick, because in real life movie directors and producers spend millions on advertising their movies. so we opted for it to be quick and effective, this was a simple yet great effect, because it added to the eeriness of the trailer therefore making it adhere to the horror genre much more.

This effect was intended to make the target audience be enticed by the trailer, this would play on their emotions and add a enigma, so that the audience would be left confused, puzzled and wanting to find out more about the trailer/movie therefore adding to the psychological effect, so they would actually want to watch it on the big screen. the audience would have these emotions and we would use them to the full extent as much as we could, to ensure our trailer would have as much views and success as we could possibly achieve. this showed progression of skills also because during our first year we weren't entirely sure about how to use the lighting to its full advantage, so we didn't really use it very well, during our second trailer however, we used it more effectively enhancing it at certain points and making it darker to adhere once again to the horror genre better and more effectively.

overall it was better than our production last year because last year we didn't take advantage of the sound, editing, lighting and camera angles very well, in certain scenes the sound didn't even make sense and was peculiar. in our more recent one we made sure the sound, lighting and editing all fitted in well with the genre, our intention and generally made sure it was better.

evaluation task 3

Audience Feedback:
Most of the people feedback, was people talking about certain criticisms, or positive moments within our trailer, one notable criticism was that our trailer was a bit too short and dark, as our trailer was only 52 seconds, so therefore we could have made this much longer by around 1 min and 20 seconds or so fourth. Also our trailer was considered to be too dark, however this in part was because our trailer is a horror movie trailer, therefore we had to make it dark and eerie so that it could fit in with the actual genre of the movie trailer. therefore we did this on purpose for its intended look, so that we could make the trailer as effective as possible.

Another general criticism of our trailer is that we didn't really include any dialogue, this perhaps was a mistake on our part, however we also weren't sure if dialogue was really necessary for a trailer of our genre, as perhaps the sound effects and eeriness wouldn't be as effective. However supposedly we could have included some phrases from some of the actors in our film, this would have made it better according to the audience feedback. dialogue however in my opinion would be better for trailers of comedy or more family-fun genre, however we still; could have added it, it just would have made more sense for it to be in a film of comedic humour.

some positive points of our film was that the audience seemed to adhere to the dark nature of our trailer, they liked the dark colour and bloodiness of the font, this was our intention so this was well received. they also thought that they music in the background fit in well with our horror/genre type trailer, as well as that they thought it added effectiveness and eeriness to it. another positive point was that it entices the audience effectively, however then it comes back to the fact that our trailer was too short, therefore all the positives were sort of overpowered by the negatives.

the audience didn't really mention anything else apart from the aforementioned points above, they could have talked and criticised about our different camera shots, angles our location among others, I guess this was because our trailer was fairly short.

Digital technology*

AS coursework reflection:

digital technology:
we used different technologies at different stages during our research, planning and evaluation, this includes such as you tube, blogger, adobe Photoshop, adobe premier elements and Microsoft publisher. we used YouTube to upload the videos such as the audience feedback, the analysis, our actual final trailer as well as various outtakes we had to cut from the final trailer. we used blogger, to actually write up the posts about our entire journey, and the final trailer was instilled in blogger. Also we put the outtakes within blogger as well as our planning and research, that all had to be put within blogger. we used adobe Photoshop to make our magazine cover, although this could have been done on publisher as well, this was done at A2, while in as we didn't create the magazine cover or the poster. there are better effects on Photoshop, and we made it look better by using Photoshop. and adobe premier elements was used for our actual film, we had to film the different scenes and use it to edit it and edit out certain stuff, such as shots, scenes and the music.

we used equipment such as digital camera which was used for recording the actual footage we would use for our trailer. we also used a computer to upload the footage onto, and then edit out any scenes or shots we didn't need and compile it so that it became a whole trailer. The pros and cons of the software and hardware involved were the fact that adobe Photoshop, was quite difficult and complicated to use for people not used to that sort of software, publisher however was much easier to use, although perhaps not as impressive, it still was good enough. the hardware was good/decent to film with, the camera had fairly easy functions to use with, however the camera was shaky at times and so we used a tripod to rectify this issue in A2, in our as production however the filming could have been improved by more lighting however and in our footage there was a scene, where it went from light to dark, this made the filming less professional and not as good quality as our a2, the software such as adobe premier elements was also quite complicated to use with, as only one of our group really knew how to properly utilize it, so perhaps our film trailer overall was not as efficient, in our A2 however we had a much better idea how to use it therefore we edited and put together the trailer much better during A2.

audience film feedback

Audience Film Feedback:

Film: Delirium insanity

Delirium Insanity:

Script

we decided not to include a script in our film as none of the characters within our movie trailer actually say anything, most of this is done by actions, We decided that for a horror movie this would be more effective. and also within a horror movie setting, we thought that this would be much better suited for it, the only sounds we have is screams, and the eerie music in the background.

Film poster

Film Poster:

Actor interviews

Actor interviews:

Institution research

Film Institution Research:

Institutions are different movie company's which typically appear in films, and are well known and famous, some examples include 20th century fox, It's a international corporation and has produced some of the most successful films ever made. Some of these include Star wars/Speed and the chronicles of Narnia.

Another institution is Universal pictures which is again well known and very powerful in the film industry. It is another one of the six major film studios. Universal has achieved a lot of popular success, and has directed a lot of movies such as The bourne legacy, wanderlust, Les miserables and many more all of which have gone onto reach acclaim success.

as we are producing a horror film, we need to research institutions which would be well suited to it, The most suited to horror films is most likely is twisted films, which is used in a lot of horror films, it also supposedly has been used not just in a lot of them but also in some of the most successful ones, it also is used to supplement other institutions like 20th century fox.

Magazine cover