Completed Teaser Trailer

I have now completed creating my teaser trailer. I took into account all of the formal audience feedback I received following the completion of the rough cut, and requested some smaller audiences to view the teaser trailer throughout the processs as I was making improvements. I have now: included authentic institutional details at the beginning and end of the trailer; reshot the newroom scene; included a picture of 'Daniel Woods' and an institutional logo in the newsroom scene; increased the pace of the production; added fade to black edits to increase tension; removed some of the amateur sounds (knocking the camera, etc); and removed the final shot where the female hits the male. I have also done my best to retain the powerful moment where the audience realises the female has kidnapped the male.

This final cut is far superior to the rough cut, having applied all the necessary changes to increase the quality and accuracy of the teaser trailer in accordance to the suggestions I received through audience feedback.

Audience Feedback

I have now shown the rough cut to different audiences - including informed audiences such as the A2 and AS media classes, as well as friends, family, and other members of staff from varied demographics and media tastes - and received feedback and suggestions for improvements. Some of the suggestions I received included:

-Including more cuts - multiple audiences informed me that they felt the product far suited an opening sequence than a teaser trailer, because of the long takes and slow introduction. The trailer takes some time to get going, and they suggested that for a teaser trailer, there are more cuts to increase tension. -Having a faster pace - This was for the same reason as above; other teaser trailers they had consumed in the past were tense because of their fast pace. By editing the trailer to decrease the length of each take, I can increase the pace. -Reshooting the newsroom scene - Audiences noticed that the weather was bright as the news reporter was talking, which contrasted with the evening time darkness outside windows as the female walked into the kitchen. -Adding a picture of 'Daniel Woods' - They suggested that a picture of Daniel Woods is shown as the news reporter reads the article, to increase the impact of seeing the male in the kitchen later in the trailer. Some viewers did not realise that this was the male who was kidnapped. -Proper institutional page - Realistic-style institutions need to be added to improve the authenticity of the overall product. -Taking out the final shots where the female hits Daniel - Some viewers felt that this final shot was unnecessary, and almost comical. As a serious action thriller teaser trailer, any shots considered comical should not be included in the final cut.

Audiences did enjoy the sudden tension and enigmas which began from the shot where the female picks up the gun. They were not expecting this moment, and enjoyed the sudden tension and enigmas. Therefore, as I make changes, I will be sure to keep in this moment, to continue to please audiences.

It has been very useful to gather audience feedback; I have been able to discover areas of improvement which I had already discovered from my own critical viewing - such as the need for institutions - and areas of improvement which I had not come across myself - such as to increase the pace. I will now go ahead and make changes to the teaser trailer, to improve the overall quality and authenticity of the product, and allow it to more precisely meet the conventions of a teaser trailer.

Rough Cut

Here is the rough cut for the teaser trailer for fictional new film 'Face The Truth'. This is a basic version of the teaser trailer. I will now show this rough cut to varied demographics, and obtain feedback relating to the improvement of the teaser trailer. There are some conventions, such as the insitutional page at the end of the trailer, which still need to be added. However, overall I believe that this will be a good, early representation of the finished product.

The Shoot

I recently successfully shot the majority of my production. It has been very difficult to organise the cast members, and on two occassions I have been ready to shoot, before being let down by one or more of those I was relying on. This has resulted in the delay of the shoot. Moreover, I have only shot the main scene from the initial plans, which I previously referred to as the main events - therefore, this doesn't include the fast-paced cut scenes I had previously planned. I may leave out these shots, or replace them with different shots; because of the difficulty of getting this main scene shot, I want to shoot the rest of the production in as little time as possible, meaning I shouldn't rely heavily on cast members, or other people involved. Nevertheless, it is now complete, and ready to edit. From here, I will create a rough cut, before getting feedback, and making improvements.

Music - Moby Gratis

In class, my Media teacher informed us of different websites where free music was available for download - with one of these being Mobygratis.com. This website, a section of the official Moby website, offers actual Moby music - including released and unreleased material - to students and amateur filmmakers, for free. I signed up to the service, and after spending a lot of time listening to almost every track available, I found a couple of excellent tracks for my own production; I contacted Moby via the Mobygratis site, and received official confirmation that I can use the tracks within my production. The tracks I downloaded and can use are 'Overlands' and 'Blue Paper'. Here is a print-screen of the confirmation email:

Research into Film Promotion through Print

Part of the coursework for Media is to design our own magazine front cover for our new production. Therefore, I've taken three different magazine front covers which are relevant to my own production. I've decided that Empire Magazine would be the best magazine to promote my new production; it is one of the most successful film promotion magazines on the market, having sold issues for over twenty years. Empire magazine's strapline states that it's "The World's Biggest Movie Magazine". I have selected three recent front covers from Empire Magazine, two of which feature actresses as the image on the cover. I will also include an image of the main female protagonist on my front cover, alongside conventions I have discovered from my secondary research. I have also included a front cover promoting the recent production 'The Dark Knight' (Christopher Nolan, 2008). This is an excellent front cover, as the entire style, including fonts and other images, are consistent with the image presented and the style of the film.

This front cover of Empire magazine features Megan Fox, as she is promoting the release 'Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen' (Michael Bay, 2009). The magazine is using sex appeal to sell more copies of the magazine and further promote the movie; Fox is wearing nothing but tight leather trousers. The posture of Fox within the image shows vulnerability to add to the sex appeal. Moreover, the image is placed on top of a clean, white background, so that the focus is entirely on the actress. The magazine's cover line displays her name in bold silver font - a glamorous and attractive convention, attracting more eyes to the cover. The image of Megan Fox does not promote the film itself, but more the fact that this 'hot' female is a star of the film. The plug below her name is a description of the article, which uses intimate and impressive vocabulary to impress the reader, and encourage them to purchase the magazine and consume the promotion: "One-to-one with the most wanted woman in Hollywood".

Although this is a foreign magazine cover, it is still very simple to analyse the features included which make it so successful. This magazine front cover, similar to the above example, also features the female protagonist from a then forthcoming production. This cover is promoting 'The Duchess' (Saul Dibb, 2008), and featuring Kiera Knightly. The image, however, unlike the above example with Megan Fox, is relative to the production itself; Knightly is in full, recognisable costume, consistent with the misé-en-scene from the film. It is a simple close-up shot, with a dark shadow across one side of her face. There is text around the edge of the cover, but leaves the face uncovered, meaning it is easy to view and pleasing to the eye of the consumer. Again, the image is placed on top of a plain background - this time a dark shade of green, to stay consistent with promotional posters of the production. The cover line stands is in a larger, bold font, to stand out from the rest of the page. The red colour is consistent with the magazine title, thus feeling neat but still exciting.

This final magazine cover I am analysing features the late Heath Ledger promoting 'The Dark Knight' (Christopher Nolan, 2008). Ledger is in full costume, promoting the villain for this movie, The Joker. As always, there is the recognisable red title at the top of the magazine, layered behind the image of The Joker. This magazine front cover is very interesting, as every detail, from the puff to the plug and teaser, are consistent with the style of the main feature. The character of The Joker is twisted and weird. His costume is green and purple. Therefore, the creators of this magazine front cover have taken this into account, and creating a neon green / purple style for the front cover. The fonts used for the text are also very weird, and could be considered sinister. The image of The Joker is dark and menacing, demonstrating his character to the reader. I think this is one of the best front covers of Empire magazine, because of the brilliant consistent style with the feature production being promoted.

It is, moreover, important to note the regular conventions included in magazine covers, also included in the above examples. For example, magazine front covers all must have simple features such as a bar code, and information on the articles inside the magazine. The majority of magazines also regularly use puffs, teasers, and most importantly, exciting cover lines, to encourage sales of the magazine. The above magazine covers from Empire use all of these conventions exceptionally well. It's a very successful film magazine, and would be an excellent magazine to promote my own production in.

Research into Digital Film Marketing

Part of the coursework for Media is to design our own website for our new production. Therefore, I've taken screenshots of five websites which are relevant to my own production. I've chosen to analyse the websites promoting the motion pictures 'The Dark Knight' (Christopher Nolan, 2008), 'Slumdog Millionaire' (Danny Boyle, 2009), 'District 9' (Neill Blomkamp, 2009), 'Aeon Flux' (Karyn Kusama, 2005), and '2012' (Roland Emmerich, 2009).

Here is a screenshot of the 'About The DVD' page of promotional website for the film 'The Dark Knight' (Christopher Nolan, 2008). To go to the official website, please click here. The first impressions of this website design is how dark it is. This film is known for its dark and sinister atmoshpere, and the promotional website excellently reflects this. The main villain for this film is The Joker. This page features the joker cards from a pack of cards, which are props seen within the production. Even the 'About The DVD' section of text is layered on top of an image of a joker card. The main image on the page displays the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of the production, thus encouraging consumers to go out and buy that product. Showing the products also makes it easier for consumers to recognise the product when they are out shopping.

Here is a screenshot of the 'Synopsis' page of promotional website for the film 'Slumdog Millionaire' (Danny Boyle, 2009). To go to the official website, please click here. In the UK, this production was promoted as 'The feel-good film of the decade'. All of the promotion, including this website, reflects this idea; it is very bright, very happy, and very exciting. It is a very simple website design, featuring an image of a main character from the film on each page - in this case Latika, played by actress Freida Pinto. The text is layered on top of the image, informing the reader with the information they want. The navigation around the site is very simple, making it user-friendly. This is, quite simply, and excellent design, and very appropriate for the film.

Here is a screenshot of the front page of promotional website for the film 'District 9' (Neill Blomkamp, 2009). To go to the official website, please click here. The main image on this website is of the desolate District 9. There is not much movement, or any particular subject within the image, meaning although it gives some information to the consumer, it isn't really very interesting. However, it does show the consumer what District 9 looks like, and show how dirty and desolate it has become. The navigation for the website looks relatively simple; as the consumer moves the mouse, the page moves with it to give the consumer a view of District 9. It is important to note that the institutions and the film's certificate is displayed on this page, and strangely above hyperlinks to other promotional websites; usually, this sort of information is placed at the bottom of the page, to stop the page from looking untidy. The hyperlinks on the page will take the reader to pages with further information. I don't think this would be an excellent template to base my own website design on, as it would be very difficult to create such an advanced template. Nevertheless, it is an excellent website for that production.

Here is a screenshot of the front page of promotional website for the film 'Aeon Flux' (Karyn Kusama, 2005). To go to the official website, please click here. This website features Charlize Theron as the character Aeon Flux as the main focus of this front page. She is in the recognisable costume for the character, and is reaching for her gun, which, again, is in line with the narrative of the production. The background features the city Bregna, as shown in the film. The navigation options are displayed to the left of the page, with information promoting the film's DVD taking the centre of the page. The film is quite dark but futuristic, and I believe that the construction and presentation of this webpage well represents this. This webpage gives the consumer all the options and information they could need making it good for the production.

Here is a screenshot of the 'About The Film' page of promotional website for the film '2012' (Roland Emmerich, 2009). To go to the official website, please click here. This website, similarly to the others shown above, is again a very simple design, very user-friendly, yet still gives the reader all the information they could want. The picture shows the plane used in the film, which those who have seen the production will recognise. The layout and navigation is very simple, with all the controls to the top of the page. All of the images displayed as backgrounds to the pages are of the destruction and carnage caused by the fictional natural disasters, which is consistent with the theme of the film. Moreover, features such as the film's logo are present, which is an absolute necessity. I think that this type of webpage, with the simple navigation options and layout, would make an excellent template for my own production.

Photographic Storyboard

Here is my completed photographic storyboard. Th images are cropped screen shots of the storyboard. I have used my drawn storyboard to direct the photographs taken. These photographs represent the shots planned for the production; however, actual shots may differ to those shown. Moreover, I have used the same actors throughout the storyboard, even though they represent different characters, and a different cast will be used for the actual production.