Shot List

1. -Graphic shot of institutions.

Fade through black

2. -Mid shot of newsreader at desk talking.

Fade

3. -Slow reverse zoom away from television, to close-up of hand turning off television with remote control, to (as female gets up from sofa and walks) a low tracking shot of feet walking (towards camera; camera moving backwards), to close-up of hand switching on a light, to long shot (as character moves away from the camera), to mid shot (as camera continues movement towards her), then turn clockwise and move up for a close up of the character drinking a glass of water. This shot is all one fluid shot, where the camera follows the character, and shows the actions and the female character, but at the moment avoiding her face.

Cut

4. -Close-up of glass of water being put down on the side.

Cut

5. -Close-up of gun being taken out of female's trousers.

Cut

6. -Close-up of fingers holding the trigger, before the camera begins to quickly pan left (to see what the gun is aimed at).

Cut

7. -Over the shoulder shot, behind a person, looking at the female holding the gun.

Cut

8. -Over the shoulder shot, now behind the female's left shoulder (to keep the 180-degree rule), then pan to go over the right shoulder (to break the 180-degree rule), before moving the camera backwards to create a two-person shot, with the female on the left, and the male hostage on the right.

Fade through black

9. -Close-up of hand lowering helmet visor.

Fade through black

10. -Over the (right) shoulder shot of hand revving motorbike handle / engine.

Fade through black

11. -Close-up low shot of back motorbike wheel pulling away, driving to the left of the camera.

Fade through black

12. -Handheld close-up of male's eyes.

Fade through black

13. -Close up of female's head being slammed against a brick wall.

Fade through black

14. -Close up low shot of a male being pushed to the floor by the female.

Fade through black

15. -Low shot of female walking away from motionless body.

Fade through black

16. -High angle long two-person shot (in corner of kitchen) looking at the female pointing the gun at male.

Fade through black

17. -Low shot of car driving forwards towards camera.

Fade through black

18. -Close-up of hand changing gear of car.

Fade through black

19. -Low shot of car driving forwards over camera.

Fade through black

20. -Handheld close-up of gun (looking towards the female).

Fade through black

21. -Low close-up anti-clockwise tilt of female laying on grass with male.

Fade through black

22. -Handheld over the (right shoulder shot) of female looking from left eye to right of the male.

Fade through black

23. -Low long shot of male kissing female in the field.

Fade through black

24. -Close-up of female's face.

Cut

25. -Hand-held close-up of gun pushed against male's forehead, before camera pans to the left to see female - "Tell me what you know..."

Cut to black

26. -Male speaks: "I don't know anything..." Graphics appear on screen, 'It's time to face the truth', before fading into 'facethetruth.com'.

Cut

27. -Close-up of gun hitting male on head.

Cut

28. -Low angle tilt close-up of male falling from chair.

Cut black

COMMENT: BEAUCHAMPS MEDIA SAID –
Terrific vision and attention to detail; I can completely visualise your planned shooting. Very effective planning

Idea Pitch

As the photo of my written pitch above shows, the narrative of my teaser involves a female character - the lead character - watching television, seeing on the news that someone has been kidnapped. She then very calmly and naturally proceeds to the kitchen to get a drink, before turning and confronting the man she has hostage - who was featured on the news.
      The first shot will be a mid-shot of a newsreader at a desk. The camera will then reverse-zoom away from the television which the newsreader is now on. I got this idea from my previous research into teaser trailers, where I saw the convention used in the teaser trailer for 'Resident Evil: Extinction', and decided to use it in my own production. The shot will then continue, and follow the actions of the female, as she moves into the kitchen to get a drink. This is a similar style to the teaser trailer for the video game 'WET', which I analysed previously, and includes a very fluid construction.
      The beginning of the teaser will have quite a slow pace, created using long shot lengths, each with very simple actions. This will then suddenly change into a fast pace, including lots of different shots and actions. This will also make use of Todorov's theory, beginning with equilibrium, where everything appears to be normal and average to the viewer, before the disequilibrium begins when the viewers see that the kidnapped male in the news is being held hostage by the female. Moreover, I will create an enigma from the teaser, by not resolving this mystery; just adding to it through dialogue and actions. I found this to be effective through my previous research into teaser trailers, where the teaser trailer for the video game 'The Secret World' used Todorov's theory in its construction, by beginning with equilibrium, and finished with an enigma and disequilibrium. It also ended with a website for viewers to visit for more information on the product. This was a very effective teaser trailer, and I decided to use the best conventions in my own production.
      I want the events and acting-style in the teaser trailer to be as realistic as possible, thus heightening the tension of production. The music I plan to create will add to this tension. I will also use a consistent style of red, white, and black colours for the female's clothes, and graphics within the teaser trailer. I noticed during my research that other female leads, such as Aeon Flux and Lara Croft also have their own unique and identifiable style through misé-en-scene. This will increase the strength of the character, and allow the character to be instantly recognisable.
      I have decided in my teaser trailer to include the institutions of the production, such as the production company, and the distributors. I will also include a website address for viewers to visit for more information on the film. This website could then contain more banners and advertisements to promote the film, and create 'hype'.
      Included in my teaser trailer are two main characters - a female and a male. After having studied Propp's character functions, I have decided that the female character will be the 'hero' of the overall production, and the male seen held hostage in the kitchen scene will be the 'helper' of the overall production. This will subverge the initial reactions towards the character, as the audience viewing the teaser trailer will assume that that character is the 'villain' of the production. The other male characters seen in the production could be the 'villian', 'donor', 'false hero', and 'princess' respectively.


COMMENT Beauchamps Media said:

Excellent planning Luke, you have worked hard and organised your production well, I'm glad it's now accessible for comments!

Femme Fatale Research

I began research into similar female-lead action-thriller films, such as 'Aeon Flux' (2005, Karyn Kusama), 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' (2001, Simon West), 'Catwoman' (2004, Pitof), and 'Elektra' (2005, Rob Bowman). All of these productions include a female lead character which takes on the role of the 'femme fatale'. Traditionally, the femme fatale - a French phrase for 'deadly woman' - is a female character who is beautiful and charming, using her beauty to attract others - often male - before then leading them into dangerous and deadly situations. In the past, her abilities have been considered literally supernatural, and linked with witchcraft, but as shown in modern popular culture, the femme fatale uses charm, beauty, and sexual allure alongside impressive strength and technique in their actions. Typically, the femme fatale is the villain within the narrative - such as 'Poison Ivy' from the Batman series - but, as shown, can also be the heroine - like in 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'.

I will use the idea of femme fatale to create a strong, indepedent, skilled, and beautiful character for my production to use as the heroine of the narrative. From my previous audience feedback, I know that the male audience like female lead characters for the sexual appeal, while the female audience enjoy the representation of a strong and indepedent woman. By creating such a character, I can ensure that my production can be enjoyed by a large demographic.

COMMENT: BEAUCHAMPS MEDIA SAID –
Super research and a strong theme, you’ve used some marvellous examples.

Genre

From the results of my questionnaire and audience feedback, I have decided to create a teaser trailer for an action-thriller genre production. I have also decided that I will include a female lead in the teaser trailer - even though I plan to include a male main character alongside the female in what would be the distributed finished production - therefore, he may also be featured in the future auxiliary texts.

I believe creating a teaser trailer for a new fictional production of this genre will be very interesting and challenging.

COMMENT: BEAUCHAMPS MEDIA SAID –
Great idea; ‘Wanted’ is another example with a strong female protagonist in the trailer that you may wish to consider.

Primary Research and Audience Feedback

Before I begun the construction of my own teaser trailer, I decided to get audience feedback from a varied demographic based their favourite film genres, and their expectations. I created a questionnaire with open questions, giving them the freedom to express their preferences and gratifications from viewing these genre of productions without restriction.
To the right is a copy of the questionnaire I created.

In the questionnaire, I began by asking questions based on their favourite genre, to gain insight into their preferences and requirements for that production. I was also interested in making an action-thriller teaser trailer, so at the end of the questionnaire, I included questions to discover their view on the genre, and whether it would be a good decision.

Interestingly, the majority of responses to the first question 'What is your favourite film genre to view?' was in fact action-thriller, with over 50% of all those who participated, male and female, mentioning this genre. I had already previously considered creating a teaser trailer for an action-thriller production, and from these initial results alone believe it will be a very successful and appropriate genre. Also included in response to this question were the genres romantic comedy, and comedy.

At this point in the research, I wanted to keep my options open, and have an open mind; I allowed those surveyed to tell me why they enjoy the genre of film they enjoy, and what they expect to gain from the film. Other questions I included in the questionnaire were: 'What are some of the conventions and ideology you expect to find within this genre of film?'; 'Why do you enjoy watching films of this genre?'; and 'What are some of the gratifictions you get from watching films of this genre?'.

Here are some of the responses I got from the questionnaire:

"I see people on films and draw confidence and courage from them."

"[I enjoy] intriguing characters, [and] great tense scenes."

"I feel exhilarated after watching."

"Fast paced, good storylines help you escape from everyday life."

All of these conventions and gratifications can easily be included in a teaser trailer for an action thriller film. At the end of the questionnaire, I included a section based on the action-thriller production, beginning with simply asking if they enjoyed watching action-thriller productions. Of those surveyed, over 77% stated 'Yes'. This is a very strong result, meaning, obviously with a good construction and narrative, a film and teaser trailer of this production really would be successful and popular. I also discovered from my questionnaire that the audience enjoys both male and female lead characters, with over 40% selecting the 'Both' option, and the other results spread equally throughout the 'Male' and 'Female' options. Reasons for this include "I can relate to [male leads]", "Female leads... [show] strong characters", and "relationships develop [which] is fun to observe", and "[It's] good to see women involved in action packed scenes!"

More Research into Teaser Trailers

I continued my secondary research into teaser trailers, watching teaser trailers on the Internet, and on my own DVDs and Blu-rays where possible. I found the following three teaser trailers particularly interesting:

The first is the teaser trailer for the 2007 Michael Bay production 'Transformers'.

This teaser trailer contains few of the conventions I have previously mentioned, including only varied shot types and graphics. However, included in the teaser trailer is a twist based on a true life event, which will draw in the audience as they initially believe the trailer to be non-fictional. It is also interesting to point out that no shots from the movie were used in this teaser trailer, and very little of the storyline was offered. The teaser trailer merely presented the audience with an enigma.

Another teaser trailer which is similar is the first of the two teaser trailers for the production 'The Da Vinci Code'.

This teaser trailer again includes no shots from the movie itself, and is instead created entirely from CGI. It is key to note that this teaser was released before even a single frame of the production had been shot. (See here.) This teaser trailer fulfils its purpose by simply informing and exciting the audience of the adaptation of the highly successfully novel, and creating the hype for the movie long before the release, thus ensuring a maximising of ticket sales and profits. The teaser trailer also includes credits from the production, so fans of the cast can also be excited for the release of the production. Overall, an excellent example of an early but successful teaser trailer.

The recently released teaser trailer for the forthcoming Disney Pixar production 'Toy Story 3' is also an excellent teaser trailer.

This trailer uses the popularity of the Toy Story series and it's characters to it's advantage, by giving each character it's own spot on the teaser trailer and including scenarios that fans of the series will enjoy and be excited about. It keeps the consistent character traits and situations that fans of the series will know and love, and brings back to the audience the overall 'feel' of the original Toy Story films. This will definately excite the audience, which is complimented by the release date of the production - June 18, 2010. The release date is very rarely a convention included in the teaser trailer, as it is more often than not unknown to the production company or distributor that the production will be ready as planned. However, as this is an animated feature, and the same company produces and distributes the production, it is appropriate to include the release date, and very exciting for the audience.

COMMENT - Beauchamps Media said: Again, some impressive, focused research which is effectively based in deconstruction to inform your own planning.

Conventions of a Teaser Trailer

There are certain conventions which need to be included in the production of a teaser trailer. However, it is the form and successful construction of these conventions which will make the teaser trailer either succeed or fail in it's aim to inform and excite the audience of the forthcoming film. The conventions include:
         Institutional reference - informing the audience of the businesses which produced and distributed the movie.
         Varied paces - both fast and slow to vary the on-screen action, and to inform and excite the audience.
          Appropriate music - The music should fit the genre of the production to compliment the overall feel of the teaser trailer. However, it should also be remembered that contrapuntal music can be used for a varied effect according to the genre of the production.
         Credits - These are not used in all teaser trailers, but may be used to inform the audience of stars that are in the film, thus further excited the audience and increasing their desire to view the exhibition of the production.
        Voice-over - The voice-over is non-diegetic narration which can be presented as the thoughts of one of the characters within the production, commentary from an off-screen person external to the story, or as a sound bridge to a conversation within the teaser trailer which will appear later.
          Graphics - Any writing within the teaser trailer will need to use the correct font to present both the genre of the production, and fit with the consistent style of the overall production itself. For example, for a period production, the graphics will usually be calligraphic, whereas for a science-fiction production, the graphics will be bold and metallic in colour.

Beauchamps Media said: Excellent work Luke, with some terrific understanding and effective terminology
Target: ‘ it’s ’ always means 'it is'; like ‘his’, ‘hers’ and ‘ours’, ‘ its ‘ has no apostrophe
Complement = something that perfects or adds to something else
Compliment= statement of praise

Research into Teaser Trailers

As soon as I was informed that we were going to be studying and producing teaser trailers this year as part of our A2 Media course, I went onto the Internet to research my favourite teaser trailers I have viewed in the past, alongside other successful teaser trailers.

As I was researching teaser trailers, I did not restrict myself to viewing just teaser trailers for moving picture productions; I also viewed teaser trailers from video games, to ensure I had viewed and collected as many conventions of a teaser trailers as possible.

I begun by searching on Youtube for a teaser trailer I had viewed in the past that I was particularly impressed with - the teaser trailer for the forthcoming video game 'WET'.

This teaser trailer begins by informing the audience of the institutions - or in the case of video games, the developers and / or publishers - and then begins the game footage using a continuously moving camera. We are shown the setting - a dirty and abandoned aeroplane - through an establishing wide pan shot. The shots that follow use a consistent style as we are shown mise-en-scene and introduced to the character. All of the shots throughout the teaser trailer fade into one another to give a flowing and relaxed feel, which strongly contradicts the action being shown on screen. A cliffhanger is used at the end to both shock and intrigue the audience, as we see a beating heart in an ice box. Throughout is music which represents the main female character, which is relaxed and lazy, yet with intense lyrics. This well portrays the female character, who, from the teaser trailer alone, we see is feisty and violent, but at the same time very stylish and chill. The teaser trailer ends with the title of the game, the year of release, and the website, so the viewer can find more information if they want to.

The second teaser trailer I viewed as part of my research was a teaser trailer for another video game, this time the forthcoming 'The Secret World'.

This trailer again begins very briefly informing the audience of the video game institutions, before beginning the teaser trailer. As an audience, we are very quickly informed that everything isn't alright as we hear the unusual noises from the opposite end of the corridor. A long zoom shows us the female is alone, initiating the suspense, followed by a close up as we see her reaction and concern to the odd noises. Nevertheless, we begin to forget this as she ignores the noises, enters her apartment, and continues as normal. Up until now, the pace has been quite slow, but speeds up with fast cuts as she makes herself a smoothie. Suddenly we are thrown back into the action as she casually turns around to find a hideous monster staring her in the face. The action begins again, complimented by fast-paced music. I particularly liked this trailer as although it previously hinted to the audience of foreboding events, nothing occurred until later in the trailer, thus shocking us with the action. I also like the cliffhanger with graphics stating "to be continued", followed by a website for the viewer to visit if they desire more information. The website address is the slogan for the game, thus making it easier to remember than even the name of the game itself.

A very successful motion picture this year was the recent 'Terminator Salvation'. I was very impressed with construction of the film, and so searched for the teaser trailer on Youtube. This teaser trailer excellently represents the feel and narrative of the overall film, and introduces the audience to the new characters, without giving away the storyline.

The use of fast cuts and fast pace - often with blocked vision so the audience cannot see the threat present in the shot - draws in the audience, as the tension is heightened throughout the teaser trailer. The intensity of the teaser trailer is created through the brief action we as an audience get to see throughout the clips of the movie shown. All of the clips are brief, yet each one shows a different type of threat or horror: in one, a man is running through a dark building; in another, trees are being destroyed at an abnormal rate; in another, a man is hanging from a broken electricity pylon. These shots will both disturb and intrigue the audience, informing them of the genre of the production, yet inviting them to find out more. The music throughout the teaser trailer definitely has a huge impact on the audience, heightening the tension of the piece. The font of the graphics is key to audience-identification of the genre of the movie - in this teaser trailer is it obvious that the genre is science-fiction; the fonts are bold, metallic grey, and futuristic. Moreover, it is important to note the use of edited institutional logos to fit the dark, futuristic theme of the movie. This convention is used well, and prepares the audience for the remainder of the teaser trailer.

One of the other trailers I viewed was a teaser trailer for the final instalment of the Resident Evil trilogy, 'Resident Evil Extinction'.

This teaser trailer challenges the conventions of most other teaser trailers by not first informing the audience of the institutions of the production. Instead, this trailer goes straight shots of a glamorous Las Vegas, showing the audience shots of casinos, luxury sun, and exciting night-life. The voiceover is smooth and alluring to the audience, as the shots fade into one another, presenting a positive and attractive life-style. It is then a shock to the audience as the camera reverse-zooms to reveal the position of the television on which the advertisement is playing - in the middle of a deserted wasteland where nothing but official army-style vehicles pass on the ground below. As the camera continues to reverse-zoom, the tension is heightened through the use of blocked vision as dust passes the camera. It is only when the dust and dirt clears that the viewer discovers this is Las Vegas, but broken and ruined. The camera continues to reverse-zoom, with the music continuing to heighten all the time, until the camera leaves the Earth's atmosphere and stops at a satellite presenting the familiar Umbrella Corporation logo. As the teaser trailer begun, it was not obvious what genre film it was presenting, until it quickly contradicts any assumptions the viewer may have made and throws them into a ruined, deserted, and empty future. The teaser trailer then continues with very fast action shots from the movie, before ending with the graphic title, a website, and some institutional reference.

COMMENT: Beauchamps Media said -

Excellent research Luke - an interesting idea to explore video game teasers as well as film.