On Friday 7th February we attended a Media Studies screening where we showed our film trailer to the rest of the year. We created questionnaires so that we could gain feedback from other people containing both negative and positive responses. Below is the feedback that we received and we have included specific responses that we felt were the most useful.
This website portrays a very simplistic theme, which outlines and emphasises the tag line of the film 'Say goodbye to innocence'. It has the title clearly displayed in the top right hand corner of the website, and features the two main characters in the centre of the screen. Also, throughout the website, the trailer is featured on the homepage. The website also includes the production name and logo of the film, which portrays how good the film could be due the productions reputation of films. For this film, the production company is Universal Studios.
This website is unique to others as it consists of a lot of content, inviting the audience to read more about the film which is also a true story. The content describes conditions of slavery, and how it affected millions of people. The background of the website is ever changing as it features footage from the film and main characters involved with the film. The website features awards that the film has been given and an option to buy the DVD for the film. It is a very interactive website.
The website is different to others as it is a more promotional website which entices the audience to purchase the products. Despite this, it still has typical conventions of a website such as highlighting and emphasising the main characters and producing the title in a clear manner. As well as this, the trailer is featured on the home page.
When reviewing our film trailer after our first draft and iMovie issues/problems, we decided that an addition of a voiceover would be an affective and successful idea. This voiceover would be non-diegetic sound, however there would be diegetic sound throughout the trailer. The characters that we wanted to feature on the website would be the younger Mandy and two older men. The older men would represent the abusers.
When thinking about what we could include in the voiceover, we thought that storytelling would be an effective attribute, especially as we have a younger character and a lot of the film/film trailer is focussed on flashbacks of Mandy. We then researched several and simple conventions of stories, and incorporated these into a script for the younger Mandy (Violet Manser) to say.
We also created a script for the abusers, played by Ollie and James Dickens and Rob and James Burton.
We then used Garageband to merge the two voice memos together, and structured them so that would cause effect and to coincide with the voice memo by Violet Manser. Some examples of the scripts are:
Violet: 'Please mummy', 'Mummy help'
James: 'It'll be our little secret', 'Sit down', 'Shut up'.
These are examples of previous posters for films. They all have the conventions of a film poster. We have looked at these to get an idea as to what we would want ours to look like.
This poster reminds us of the idea of voices surrounding you and the colour scheme is very bold and dark. The contrast of the faces and the background implies that there is something dark behind it.
This poster represents a woman who could perhaps have had something happened to her which has made her feel as though she is broken and alone. The colour scheme is quite washed out and fits well with our trailer. This is one of our favourites.
The concept of having the black and white image in the foreground and the coloured image in the background emerging through fits well with our trailer. This is because through out you see flashbacks to her childhood and this is an insight as to what has happened in her life. The red writing implies that there could be blood or danger or even love. The use of the main actors name at the top in red signifies that they are trying to target a certain audience who follow him.
Both of these posters are quite edgy as they use quite pastel coloured backgrounds to signify the lack of colour and light in there lives. In Hard Candy the red outfit is representing Little Red Riding Hood. The character looks quite innocent yet standing in a trap and this lets the mind wander.
Fraud is an interesting concept and we have used the idea of the name in the lines for our trailer as we feel this fits well and is quite edgy. The use of the tag line underneath the name of the film is very interesting and is easy to see. The composition of the background image is quite plain but captures the length of the bridge. This could show how far they have to go or will go implying they have struggles throughout the film. This background is quite dirty and worn so this could imply its a social realism film as these are the conventions which fit.
Here are some of our ideas, We have taken pictures of our actors and blended the two together as we feel that this captures the emotion. We have kept the black and white theme so it runs through all aspects of the trailer. The website will also be in black and white as we feel everything needs to look the same.
These are some initial ideas that we have created to get an idea for what we want the poster to look like.
using Microsoft word as the programme to merge the two images, we changed the transparency of the front image so that the background image can be seen through.
This is our favourite image as the younger Mandy is looking up implying she's looking up to an older person and her facial expression looks scared holding a teddy bear all influencing that she is young and vulnerable. The image behind shows Mandy grown up showing a strong and unemotional face implying she has been through hard times and is much stronger now.
We also liked this image a lot as it has both younger and older Mandy in it but the top image shows her looking young and scared, the background image shows Mandy hiding behind a tree although this looks effective it could give the impression that she could be lost which is also not the feeling we want to portray.
The overlaying image of the small girl being threatened with a belt implies what happens within the film and as the older Mandy does not feature in this it could come across as a child abuse advert image which something we didn't want to portray as the poster image.
This image was a base image of Mandy that we thought showed her looking plain and unemotional.
This image showing Mandy with the overlaying image being a hand covering a girls mouth links well with the concept of the trailer but as the image isn't the younger Mandy and doesn't show its a little girl as clear this wouldn't be as effective.
After showing our first draft of the trailer to a small audience it was clear that there needed to be a shock or main element to it that made them feel empathy towards the girl. We created a spider diagram to discuss what plot change would be most hard hitting and able to create.
From the ideas we chose that a better storyline would be for the character to be sexually abused. We thought this would create a very chilling and real effect as we would be using a young girl. We thought this would affect the audience and that it would create tension. As well as this, when analysing other social realism trailers, similar story lines were created, therefore it agreed with the conventions of a social realism film.
Furthermore, we also decided to include more characters, as we felt this would create a bigger effect. From this, and with the idea of having a sexually abused character, we thought about including a father or and older man to play the abuser. We then thought that adding voiceovers would create even more tension, and would suit the action happening in the trailer.
Before creating the website and poster, we looked into conventions of both posters and website created for films. As well as this, we did some research on websites and posters and how they are displayed to the audience. Below I have created a circle map to present the conventions for a poster and website for a film.
After researching concepts and conventions of film posters and websites, we will apply this to our own to create post production content that represents our film trailer. We are conscious to fulfil a consistent theme throughout the poster and website, as we want have distinct advertising, which represents 'Mandy' in a clear way.
Unfortunately, after showing our first cut on Friday 7th February we went back to our computer to not find out edited version of the trailer. This is because our file became corrupt which meant that we now have to re edit our whole trailer which obviously wasn't helpful but we are taking it as a positive to improve the faults we saw at the showing.
After showing our trailer the faults we found ourselves where:
Music - we found that our music was very quiet and not very good quality because we recorded Emilie playing it on our an iPhone. This can be rectified because of re- recording our music using a professional recorder and then transferring it through a CD rather than a phone.
Repetitive - We found when watching it on a bigger screen that it became quite repetitive and there needed to be a bigger build up and we needed to cut some of the shots as it was quite long. To rectify this we are now only choosing shots that add to the storyline and are effective.
Flashbacks - We found that the flashbacks were not as easy to see as we thought they were. We have now changed the colouring so you are only able to see a slight bit of colour rather than black and white. Then we have added the 'romantic' effect on the clips which adds a blurry, dreamlike look to the corners of the shots.
The main characters in our film trailer are the two Mandy's (younger and older). The other characters involved are the abusers, however their identities are not revealed as we wanted to add obscurity to the trailer. The following actresses feature in our film trailer:
As we are nearing the end of editing our film trailer, we have done some research into the film features and titles that are in social-realism trailers. Below are a few trailers that we have looked at, and we have screenshot each of the different awards and quotes that are featured in each trailer.
This is England:
This film award is presented in a unique font which is used throughout the film trailer. It appears to be fairly animated, yet stands out clearly on the page. The relevant film award and year is also provided, along with the award that the film was given.
By including the director of the film, it appeals to a specific target audience who will have seen previous films by Shane Meadows, which will therefore urge them to go and see the film. By mentioning well-known directors, audiences will recognise and associate them with the quality of film and therefore if it is worth watching. Also, by using the word 'international', it proves that the film is successful and has gone global. This is particularly successful for social realism films.
The awards are again in an animated font and layout, and stand out on the background of the main characters in the film. Furthermore, the awards that the film has won are in a bigger font than who they have been nominated by. By using film festivals from Toronto, Rome and Tribeca shows again that the film has gone global, representing a positive impression from the audience.
The trailer also includes a specific award for 'Winner of Best Newcomer'. The award is presented alongside the actor who plays the main character, which indicates to the audience who the winner is. This also influences the audience to go and see the film, as this is an impressive award of such a young person.
Quotes from several sources are then used to represent the success of the film. Again, it presents the global effect that the film has had.
This specific example shows a quote from 'New York Daily News'.
These examples show quotes from 'Aaron Hillis' from 'Premiere Magazine' and 'Mark Olsen' from 'Film Comment'
London to Brighton:
Again like 'This is England', London to Brighton
uses quotes made from famous and well-known
sources. These include:
The Times - they use words such as 'blistering' and 'compelling drama' to entice the audience.
Film Review - they suggest the mood and atmosphere of the film by mentioning 'thriller' and 'sharp serrated edges'.
Big Issue - they use simplistic quotes to draw in the audience. This will make attract specific people.
The Scotsman - relates to the British element of social realism films, and also includes a rating.
The Guardian - again uses a star rating in the quote and uses words such as 'audacious' and 'dazzling debut'.
This image at the end of the trailer gave us an idea of what we could include in our final shot, and also how to promote the film. We decided that 'Coming Soon' was the most appropriate title to put instead of a certain date. We were also inspired to include social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Fishtank:
These awards were all included in the film trailer and include a variety of awards internationally. For example, 'Festival de Cannes'. It also features 'Best Film', 'Best Director' and 'Best Actress' which will give off a good impression to the audience. A star rating is also included, and words are used such as 'brilliant' and 'sensitive' suggesting the mood and atmosphere of the film.
These two shots from the trailer include plot spoilers/indicators of the storyline of the film. Both text fades in and out of the trailer, and the colour makes it stand out from the background.
Also, the text gives an effect as if it is associated with fish/underwater creatures - hence the name 'Fishtank'.
The simplistic text allows the audience to get a feel of the film, and to roughly understand what the film is about in order to be influenced to watch the film.
