Filming practice

Today during lesson. Our starter activity included a number of things. Firstly we needed to test out sound equipment and cameras. In order to get some practice with the equipment we will be using when we finally start filming.

Codes and Conventions of a Film Poster

Codes and conventions of a film poster are vital for success when trying to grab the audiences attention. General film posters include a range of these and a select few are:

• USP (Unique Selling Point)
• Release date
• Review from another source (ratings)

 Here is a film poster, annotated by me using Powerpoint, showing the codes/convention used by this poster:

Analysing a trailer

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Research into Stock Characters

A 'Stock Character' is a character that is typically seen in a certain type of media/genre. In the horror genre, there are a certain stock characters. They're not necessarily a main character, but they are extra characters which in horror films are more commonly seen to be killed off first:

The Wanderer: This stock character is usually someone that is not involved in groups and are normally on thereown and have a more suspicious mind and will go to explore further whereas others may try to stay away from potential dangerous areas. They are normally killed first because they have wandered away from the group this starts the series of events that occur in the movie as other split up trying to find the person

The popular girl: This stock character normally consists of one female character who may or may not have sidekicks who are also popular. They tend to be arrogant good looking and vicious in how they act towards other groups of people. They are normally killed because of the way they act towards people for example if they have acted in a bad way to the killer previously. 

Jock: The jock is normally the guy that is widely known throughout the school. They are normally a leader of a group of people that are normally all males. And will generally be the captain of the school football team or participate in various sports. They normally get killed off early

The final girl: This stock character as it is suggest by the name is the only female that is left within her group of friends that has survived. She is seen throughout the movie as the most intelligent person in the group but also the least engaged person in the group while she still does play a part in the group. They do not normally get killed in the end as they escape because if their intelligence.

Pandora: The pandora is someone that does not look like what they seem for example a really sweet and innocent girl that turns out to be a mass murderer. Examples of this are movies such as: Jennifer's Body.

The pervert: This stock character is normally male and strives to sleep with a member of their own or opposite group of friends, They normally get killed off quite early on as they do not know of their surroundings, and are more concerned with what they are doing than what is going on around them.

Target Market for Our trailer Out Break

The images within the image below are the interests and hobbies of those that coinside with our groups chosen target audience for our movie Out Break

Synopsis

In order to get a clear idea of where our horror trailer was going we needed to create a synopsis for the film. This would allow us to organise the key elements of the trailer and also give us a clear understanding of who our target market is.

From our synopsis we gathered that the Stock Characters would include the following:

A jock

A couple

Scared guy

Surviving Girl

The context behind these stock characters is that they are all doing a media project of the Heath, but then they decide to get drunk. After a little while of being drunk the Surviving girl tells them a story of a place over the heath that she has been told about by her grandmother. Being drunk and careless they decide to get check it out. The group splits up and strange things start happening.



Scream poster analysis

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Analysis of killers in horror films

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Analysis of production company logos

Denotation/Connotation: Firstly the name of the company 'Universal' suggests that the brand is worldwide which connotes that the company produces film and music that is for all audiences, and that they do not specify in a specific genre. The use of the world as the logo reinforces the idea that the company is global, also the gold on the writing and stars in the background could also suggest that the company produces high quality high budget films.



Audience Expectations: 'Universal' is known globally and is very highly thought of in many countries in terms of producing films, it is because of this that audiences expect high budget films with an 'all star cast' which also leads to audiences expecting that 'Universal' have high production values.

Denotation/Connotation: The castle that is used in the company logo symbolises fairytales and happyness. The font looks as if it is hand written which gives the logo a more of a personal touch, this could show that the company produces movies that are close to the real world.

Audience Expectations: 'Disney' is recognised globally and is a well established brand, when audiences hear or go to see a new film produced by 'Disney' they expect to see a high budget film which is suitable for the whole family. As 'Disney' mainly produce animated cartoon movies audiences also expect to see well produced animations

Things that make a marketing campaign successful and effective.

In class we got together in pairs and was asked to think about what are the main features of a successful marketing campaign, Our ideas covered small budget films and large budget films in order to gain extensive knowledge of what goes on in order to make a movie successful. The image below shows all the ideas me and my partner came up with plus we added ideas from the other groups, in order to make sure we covered every area possible.

 

Todorov's Theory

Todorov's theory suggests that narratives  are structured in a certain way, he said that there a 5 main stages. Below are the 5 stages.

1. In the beginning of the narrative there is an equilibrium  where everything is normal and has a balance to it. For example- In Batman dark knight the equilibrium is that there is a crime ridden city.
2. Things start to change for the worst and the once normal balanced situation gets disrupted. For example- The "Joker" joins forces with the criminals in the city and wants to over run the city.
3. People start to realise that there has been a disruption. For example- The mayor and the police of Gotham City realise what is happening so they decide to get Batman to help.
4. Someone or somethings attempts to repair the disruption in order to try and regain the state of normality. For example- Batman tries to repair the situation by catching the Joker
5. There is a resolution and everything balances and starts to go back to normal again.

Mulvey's theory of the "Male Gaze"

The whole theory is based around how the audience views the people that are involved in the movie.
The Theory suggests that in film he audience is set up into looking at the women from a mans point of view. However it is also states that it is also based around how women view themselves and how women view other women

She also believed that the audience are put in a place where they have to view the characters from a heterosexual males perspective.

The main features of her theory about the "Male Gaze" are as follows:

She believed that in film the camera lingers over the curves of female body and whenever a female is on screen they are automatically reduced to am object for mens gratification

Also in order for females to really get the movie and enjoy it as much as possible they would almost have to have a male view on the film.

However looking at this theory I can see that there are many flaws.

The first flaw is that this theory is quite old and has not been updated and film has advanced a lot since the time of Laura Mulvey first writing her theory.

Secondly the way that women are portrayed in some films is how some women like to be viewed, for example women that perform in beauty pageants like to be looked at as they think they are beautiful.

Thirdly the way the male body has been used in films recently has challenged this theory, for example in Twilight one of the main characters (Taylor Lautner) appears in the film numerous times without a top on in order for female gratification.

Initial trailer discussions

A good trailer will aim to do the following:
Make the USP of the movie clear
Grab the audiences attention
Make the audience want to know more about the movie but to make sure that it doesn't spoil the movie
Create an atmosphere of what is to come so that we will want to see the movie.

How are films marketed and advertised

Films are marketed and advertised in various ways depending on the target market and the budget of the film. For example Avatar the movie that was released in 2009 during one of the worlds worst financial crisis's had a budget of around $237,000,000 which is the most ever spent on advertising a movie however it brought in a massive $2,039,472,387. This shows that the marketing was very effective, going back to my point about the budget and target market, Avatar was aimed at everyone which is why it has been the best selling movie to date. To produce effective marketing and advertising and bringing in as much profit as possible film companies use the following.

Film premieres
Viral advertising
Word of mouth
Bus adverts
Radio adverts
Newspaper adverts
Trailer
Competitions
Merchandise such as Happy meal toys
Sound tracks
Tv interviews with the cast of the movie
Repeat of a previous film in the franchise to refresh the audiences minds with the film
Online advertising
The official film website

Applying Conventions of Trailers

BloodShed High

In order to apply the conventions we normally see in modern trailers we got into groups in class and discussed ideas on how to promote and market a fictional film we had been given in order to give us a focus for the task, it was called BloodShed High.

When we was on groups we decided to look into the synopsis of the trailer before we decided on the actual plot of the movie and then finally drawing the trailer onto a storyboard. We also discussed the USP's of the movie and the actors that would fit well into the movie in order to attract our specific target audience. The trailer for BloodShed High had to follow the codes and conventions of a horror trailer due to this we also had to look into the way the title and credits were designed aswell as other key aspects of a trailer such as sound effects. We also talked about how the trailer would be used to promote the film, actors and directors.

We decided as a group that the film would be focussed around teeanagers within London and that our target audience would generally be the same. We also decided to choose famous young actors that have starred in related movies so that when audiences see the trailer and the name of the actors they will know what kind of film it will be, this was one of our USP's

To adhere to the codes and conventions of the horror genre we used effects such as thunder and lightning and screams between cuts within the trailer, we also decided to use atmosphric music in order to create suspense and sometimes false suspense
Completing this task taught me a few things such as that trailers are not short movies and that their main job is to engage the audience thus promoting the overall film as the audience, if engaged will be interested and want to see more of the movie which will lead to sales of tickets for the movie. Also that the production company who produces the movie is also a vital part as audiences that have seen their movies before might have high expectations which will increase the likeliness of them going to see the movie.

Overall this task has enabled me to gain knowledge on how to apply trailer conventions to my upcoming trailer which will help me produce a successful horror trailer and a successful promotion tool.

Horror Movie

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Film poster codes and conventions

Introduction

My name is Adam and I am currently studying media at A2. For our A2 course we will be focusing on movie production. This will consist of me making a trailer for a horror movie that we will have planned. This trailer will be Scripted, Directed, Filmed and edited all by me and my group. Throughout this course I will acquire new skills that will directly help me with producing the short film trailer for my course.