Evaluation Question 1Dan Bellers

In what ways does your media product use ,

deve lop or cha l lenge forms and convent ions o f

rea l media products?

• I have produced a film promotion package of 3 products: a film trailer, a front cover of a magazine and a Film Poster.

For my film trailer I have used some of the standard conventions of a film trailer for example we have used the conventional narrative structure:

o Part 1: Equilibrium - Establishes the storyline/Characterisation( we used a voice over from point of view of the main character to help establish the narrative).

o Part 2: Dis-Equilibrium - Shows the dramatic developments through disruption ( the disruption being the abolition of money , leading to the collapse of society and anarchy.

o Part 3: New Equilibrium – Hints at resolution and any attempts to fix the disruption. ( for example the main character trying to figure out the money conspiracy and the root of the main problem and cause and restore order to the financial system.

o Also I have used the standard convention of clearly establishing the genre – being a thriller/mystery and fitting into dystopia genre. And also have the conventional voice-over/Narration used to mark the key points of the narrative or characterisation within the film. We used a sad, weary and dramatic tone to make the voice over more atmospheric.

Titles and headingso With the title we kept it very conventional as we placed the film title at the end to stick in the viewers

memory. Also we learned from our trailer research that most dystopian film trailer used text inserts to help narrate the trailer and to give narrative hints. We used the font “fine style” as it is a easy to read san serif font, it also looks formal and official that links to the theme of the prime minister, the government and a conspiracy. The title inserts have basic zooms and fades in and out as titles that are inanimate seem boring and don't keep the viewer engaged. This follows the conventions of most dystopian movie trailers as learnt from my research.

o The sound was also conventional as we set the mood at the start of the trailer by using non diegetic ambient soundtracks and other sound effects . We then played a recognisable soundtrack being “money that’s what I want” by Barret Strong, this was very iconic and helped strengthen the narrative and atmosphere of our trailer.

Film trailer conventions• The purpose of the “CONSPIRACY” film trailer, was to be able to promote it to a wide

audience via a number of different platforms including TV, a cinema , internet etc.• The genre of this film is a thriller/mystery, so it is a hybrid. It also is in the dystopian

genre. We used the iconography of fast paced action and surprises like the worldwide riots in our trailer to get across that our film is part of the thriller genre. Also we used the iconography of a conspiracy and deception to get across to our target audience that our film is also in the mystery genre. It challenges some of these genre conventions as our film trailer questions the government and the reliability and credibility of society, making it controversial. Also it challenges these genre conventions as there was a happy positive song playing while there were riots and violence going on (song - “money that’s what I want” by Barret Strong) , starting on the second part of the narrative structure being the disruption and collapse of society. Before the disruption there is a sad ambient soundtrack playing during the first part of the narrative structure where it is more positive, challenging normal trailer conventions.

• Our influences for our choice of genre, narrative, characters and mise en scene include the famous blockbuster“ In time” mentioned previously in other evaluations on my blog. ( the main narrative being the focus of money and the role it plays in society).

• Camera / editing• The camera and editing was very conventional as the filming was not

challenging as it was very stereotypical for a movie trailer but the editing was challenging as there are a lot of flashbacks and the order of events in mixed around to create tension and uneasiness and to help fully narrate the film. (There’s shots of money burning scattered through the film to represent the abolition of money, but it is played backwards to hint at a resolution) . Also the scenes shown are short and snappy to not give too much away and to keep the trailer interesting and original. The editing was very dystopic as we showed the city before the riots started to happen which showed a transparent perfect world, with shots of banks and money loaning shops, to hint at the narrative was money orientated. We also filmed a time lapse of people walking along the street and sped it up to represent a lot of time passing.

• Then we filmed some shots of an old worn down building, then moved to a zoomed shot showing a road sign saying “Cheapside” further illustrating the narrative of money and corruption. Then the next shot shows a building on fire that is the exact same shape and size of the previous building, and then there are short clips of intense riots after showing that the world has gone corrupt and society has collapsed.(This is called a smash cut, a technique used in film where one scene abruptly to to another without transition, usually designed to shock the audience. This technique is usually employed at a crucial moment in a scene where it wouldn’t be expected. To heighten the impact of the cut it is usually used to change from a quiet peaceful scene to a loud chaotic scene from shock value or vice versa).

• Then we placed shots of the city being run down and ruined, showing a shot of a barbed wire fence with a “danger of death” sign on it to help create the hostile atmosphere and included shots of the main character running away, hiding and scavenging for food to add to this hostile environment. This is very dystopic as it shows a ruined and imperfect world. This follows the classic conventions of a mise en scene of the dystopia genre.

• Mise en scene - The locations we chose to film in were in beat down and worn out places in town (Brighton) that were covered in graphiti and vandalised. This was how I envisioned the dystopian society. We filmed on days were the weather was grey and where the sun was nearly down to make the footage and atmosphere look cold and unpleasant. The main character wears an oversized jacket and old, battered trainers which matches the dystopian settings which adds authenticity to the trailer. these elements follow the unsettling and imperfect features of dystopian mise en scene , which is similar to other films like children of men. I researched this film heavily on earlier posts in my blog and I detained and got inspired by most of the mise en scene elements in it and used some of the elements in our trailer.

We followed the conventions for the age rating as we researched other films in the

dystopian genre and looked at their conventions and elements which made them that age rating and I analysed them to see if

the age ratings were justified and there were. This then helped us to decide on the

age rating accurately for our film, so our age rating does not challenge the standard

certification.

• We used warner brothers for our production company for a for official look as we wanted our trailer to look like a huge budget blockbuster.

Magazine cover and Film poster• The purpose of my ancillary products is to promote my film. They will

further promote my film as they will be used along side my film trailer to promote it and I can place these posters up anywhere to promote to my target audience who haven’t seen the trailer. The same goes with the magazine cover to promote to the segment of my target audience that is interested in film magazines (usually older audience) and who are film fanatics who like to read in depth information about a film after and before they watch it.

• The poster hints at the narrative and it has a dark feel to it due to the dark shades/colours and the sad facial expression of the lead actor who's on the poster. The image of the main character has a low opacity, hinting at the idea of him fading away/dying adding a ghostly and dystopia feel.

• The main image being the main character and the images of buildings appeal to my audience as they are very dystopian as they are negetave and the buildings and scenery are grey and dark. They is a contrast between the normal, positive image of London and the run down destroyed image of London. This establishes the genre as the contrast of the two images represents the narrative of a perfect world turning into a world of chaos and imperfection, which is the standard convention of all dystopia films, being the main narrative of all dystopian films.

• The posters tagline sells our USP of relating to real life as it is talking to the audience and relating to them as it is saying that humans are the cause of their demise. Which is a widely spoken about theory, that is discussed world wide. For example there is a theory that humans will create technology so advanced that it will take over/destroy mankind.

Magazine cover The purpose of the film magazine in our promotion, is to promote to other audiences that may be interested in film magazines and reading rather than watching trailers on the internet to find films they want to watch. The film magazine cover image promotes our film as it contains a large torso shot of the main character with weary eyes in front of a worn down set of building which is vey dystopic, further illustrating the narrative of our film. It also sells our USP as it is showing a normal everyday location and person turn to darkness. The front cover is designed to attract the readers attention via the large and very bold Red font that is the “EMPIRE” title, which is also used to establish a brand/cpmpany name. Also the “Conspiracy” title is larger than all the text except the magazine title to show importance and to attract attention. The main character is shown and presented as a large image in the centre of the cover to show that he is of significance and he is making eye contact with the viewer to attract more attention.