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.