1. Evaluation Question 1 In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media
product.
2. Trailer analysis The opening sequence within my final
trailer is composed to portray a disoriented and dazed character
and representations of the surroundings. Much like how I wanted the
audience to feel as they also do not know where they are as the
shot has not shown any visible objects or figures apart from a
single light that varies in focus. It is a common convention within
trailers, more specifically science fiction and horror trailers to
begin with a dark non established setting. Alongside the opening
shot a voice over is featured, the anonymous subject says imagine
being able to picture any where in the world, and been there This
typically establishes very little. However By using the word
'picture' within the quote it directs it to the title of the film
and establishes a faint synopsis/ concept of the film. There is
then a build up of music and font that fades in with the
conventional phrase This and then shortly followed by Summer
several shots later as it staggers the tension built from the music
and the audiences thoughts. However the shot prior to summer is of
the protagonist as he is unmasked from a white sheet that is
covering his face. This connotes that he has been captured, as well
as this he is presumed and portrayed as the protagonist as it is a
convention for the initial shots of a trailer to feature the
protagonist. When creating these shots to signify the look of a
hostage situation I had the framing at a low angle and purposely
not capturing the antagonists face to give a sense of mystery and
to build suspense. This also gives a clear representation of Clause
Levi Strauss's narrative theory of binary opposites, the portrayal
within the narrative of good v evil as to hold someone hostage is
not a convention of a hero as theorist Vladimir Propp suggests the
hero seeks something whereas the villain opposes the hero.
3. My Shot: Jupiter Ascending Trailer:
4. After the following summer title sequence the shot fades
into a shot of the inside of a garage, still there has not been an
established role of characters, setting or narrative I chose to do
this as I wanted to follow Roland Barthe's narrative codes and
apply a narrative device that teases the audience by presenting a
puzzle or riddle known as the enigma code. A common convention
within trailers that applies throughout the duration, in relation
to a larger scale. Such as not revealing the whole plot and more
specifically focal points within the plot. I applied this, like
many other trailers on a smaller scale by not revealing characters,
plot or structure until later on in the trailer. It is not until
around 30 seconds in until this is established. The shot within
garage is composed really nice as it is a low angle shot that uses
depth of field by having silhouetted items in the foreground and
then as the garage door is opened by slowly by the subject within
the shot he is a silhouette due to the natural backlighting. The
next shot establishes some form of setting as we see the
protagonist, established due to how he is the only characters face
seen so far in what is portrayed as his home as we see him looking
into a darkly lit living room. Then a shot of him looking into the
room with a figure in the foreground, however the figure can not be
identified. The next shot, I purposely composed with various
bottles of alcohol that centred the viewers focus on the remote.
Which is then picked up by the protagonist before cutting to black.
Alone these three shots establish a lot in terms of background for
the protagonist within the film. My intention for this sequence was
to establish the protagonists life at home. The protagonist is
portrayed as a teenager, therefore it is a convention to live at
home with a parent. I chose to portray him living with his father,
hence the sports on the television. As in terms of connotation and
speculation it is much wider. For example mothers are seen as
caring and a vital part of growing up. However by using a father, a
alcoholic father, signified by the various bottles of alcohol the
audience can empathise for the character much more and become more
emotionally involved.
5. All is about to change follows the shot as the words alone
build suspense, however to add to this I added a suspense building
audio track in the background that consists of strings that peak
prior the next shot before blending with a more intense and eery
soundtrack. I chose to include another shot from the hostage scene
as it directly refers to the font I recently added. Using the same
style of framing by staying the same level as the protagonist and
not capturing the antagonists face it continues the suspense and
mystery that is established throughout and reinforced by the sounds
followed. The dialogue during this sequence is vital as it really
helps establish the genre of the film and a focal point within the
narrative. The captor refers to the protagonist as his experiment.
A frequent convention within science fiction and various narrative
formats within the genre as commonly, an experiment gone wrong
either becomes a monster that then needs stopping or alternatively
is the protagonist that develops some form of ability to then stop
the association that caused the experiments. A narrative theory
that can be applied to this and more specifically my product is
Tzvetan Todorov theory of equilibrium. Th e initial stage is
equilibrium, what the protagonist is used, daily routine in
relation to my trailer this would be the living room scene. The
disequilibrium, a disruption to the equilibrium, the experiment and
finally a new equilibrium, the new life after a resolution of the
disequilibrium as it will not be the same as the previous
equilibrium. This is often scattered within trailers and starts
with the disequilibrium much like my trailer. The next shot
foreshadows the end of the film as I added a variation of sound
effects before a anti climactic pin drop to stop all of the sound
before an impaling sound and a shot of the protagonist throwing up.
I chose to do this as it did foreshadow the ending however this is
only noticed if the audience notice all of the signifiers with the
sound effects. However due to the duration of the shot and brief
change in setting it is deliberately overlooked as the next
sequence quickly follows.
6. The next shot relevant is of the protagonist at college, in
a class room. Although it is a brief shot it reveals more about the
character and his life. Not only is the class room empty the
whiteboard has Late, Nick see principal written on it. This was
written intentionally to show the unfortunate life the protagonist
leads. Again forming a relationship between the audience and the
protagonist. The next key sequence shows the focus point of the
disruption as the protagonist now has the ability to teleport. I
feel as though the final delivery of the effect, although is
amateurish still works well as the staggering of layer opacity's
and key frames alongside a futuristic Foley sound effect work well
together and really help clarify the genre chosen genre. The
trailer then reaches a peak as it shows various of the special
effects recently featured and multiple fighting sequences. The
dialogue within the scenes shown focus on the dispute between the
characters as the antagonist reveals that he is supposed to do as
he says. A key line that shows the type of character the villain
is. And from the protagonist the line I will not be your experiment
shows the will of the character. The final sequence, revolves back
around to the protagonists home as the scene features him in bed,
from what looks like judging by the facial expressions a bad dream.
I chose to shoot the initial facial expressions as a close p to
capture the emotions of the character and the dream like state. I
feel as though this shot is very effective as a final sequence as
it can be interpreted as both a scene from the beginning of the
film or the end. Continuing the enigma code. After the trailer cuts
to black a brief montage is shown prior to the title sequence as it
shows the protagonist in various locations using the micro element
I used the match cut technique to signify the teleportation
effect.
7. Trailer Narrative My trailer begins in a disoriented and
dazed motion as it pans between a spotlight and the low key
surroundings. A non dietetic voice over is played over the footage,
this gives some context to the trailer and a relation to the films
title. The narrative of the trailer slowly shows the protagonists
life in a fragmented fashion as the scenes are scattered throughout
and have little consistency in terms of chronology. The trailer
also keeps the antagonist unidentified until much later on, as this
builds suspense and gives an impression of mystery and a concealed
identity. The trailer progresses to show the protagonists lifestyle
and develops empathy from the audience due to his unconventional
and tough upbringing. This is contrasted with the more recent event
of him held hostage and experimented on, in hopes to be controlled
for an unknown purpose. The trailer progresses to show clips of the
protagonist attempting to overcome the antagonist but ends the
sequence without a clear victor. After building the mass amounts of
tension and suspense it is left anti climactic and a mystery as the
next shot shows the protagonist at home in bed in what is portrayed
as a bad dream. My trailer features various macro elements and
applies a variety of narrative theories. From the binary
oppositions of good v evil, the fragmented stages of equilibrium
and the enigma code. Tim O'Sullivan discusses the fact that film
makers intend to portray particular ideologies through a media text
and influence the audience specific beliefs. In relation to my
product I am trying to portray a sense of collective identity and
how David Gauntlett said Identity is complicated. Everybody thinks
they've got one. This relates to the possession of someone without
there consent.
8. Editing Throughout the editing process of my film trailer I
developed and used a range of techniques. The software application
that I used was both Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe After Effects.
Premier Pro is the video editing software used for general editing
purposes. From transitions, cutting and much more. Within my
product I used a number of transition. The main one that I used was
a conventional transition. Fade to black also known as cross
dissolve. I also manually changed the volume within the sound of my
product using key frames and adjusting the levels. I initially
created various production logos using Photoshop and imported the
designs into premier pro. This gave the trailer a more professional
look and an initial impression of the product. This is why I gave
the production logos a metallic finish so that they look
presentable and are suitable for the theme of the film.
9. My Product: San Andreas Trailer:
10. I added various clips of font within my traile r(left) as
it is a convention that is very popular within trailers and helps
build suspense and still develop narrative as oppose to a still cut
to black. In terms of conventional portrayal of dialogue throughout
my trailer I did not follow the conventions as a lot of the shots
were over the shoulder and talking down to the protagonist and from
the protagonist facing away from the antagonist as he is tied
up.
11. Cinematography I used a variety of cinematography and shot
techniques within my trailer (Left). I used them not only for
visual aesthetics but also to help signify visual representation
between characters. For example below shows a high angle shot as it
tracks around the protagonist from a high angle shot of the
antagonists perspective, much like an over the shoulder shot.
12. Mise En Scene The costume for my protagonist was very
casual as I wanted to represent the college/ teen student image.
This is why his clothing included the long sleeve flannel shirt. I
also chose to use a leather jacket due to the scene in the garage
as I thought that it would add a little comedy to the trailer, as
he walks by the large motorbike and grabs the push bike. However
the costume for the antagonist could have been much improved as it
was very unconventional and causal.
13. Sound In terms of the sound that I used for my product, I
feel as though I used a range of sounds within my product and in
various ways. I included a combination of three different
soundtracks. Each of which had a specific purpose. The first
soundtrack was The Sea Will Claim us. This was a very mellow
soundtrack that had a very calm and relaxing sound to it that put
the audience at ease. The next was Invariance a drum like beat that
staggered in volume and progression as it developed, great for
building suspense. And the final soundtrack was The Last Frontier a
very science fiction like soundtrack that used strings to slowly
build tension and suggested an increase in scale.
14. Ancillary Text-Film Poster For my poster design I wanted a
very cinematic and appealing poster that featured al of the
conventions and maintained a modern stylistic form of presentation.
The actors names are featured at the top of the poster in a faded
blue to contrast the vivid gradient of blue that I added at the top
of the design. Although in some posters it is seen as a convention
to have the stars name in a large vivid font, I feel as though it
is dependent on the film and view of the creator. There are lots of
designs that do not follow the convention as it is more subjective.
I drew a lot of inspiration from the Gone Girl poster in terms of
framing for the boarder as it looks similar to a polaroid photo,
which in this case is fitting given the title. I featured the
slogan on the lower section of the design using the darken layer
blend tool so the font contrasted between the varying colours. The
slogan says Think of where you are going. I chose this phrase as it
can be applied to the title and concept of the film and have a
deeper meaning to each viewer.
15. I placed the poster credits and release date at the bottom
as this is the most conventional and iconic place for the release
date to be applied. I did however ensure that the release date was
in a larger font than the credits as it is one of the key purposes
of the poster. The framing I chose for the image within the poster
works really well with the design as it has a lot of negative and
unused space that was ideal for the placement of the title. The
title is the largest and most significant piece of text within the
poster. The purpose of the title is to appeal to the audience. I
used a very similar font throughout the poster as well as my
creative product. I ensured that all of the font was sans serif to
maintain an aesthetic theme and modernised look to the product. I
chose to have the title inverted with a fill box so it was even
bolder and looked more fitting with the other boarders used within
the poster design. I staggered and displaced the subject within the
picture and added various backgrounds in the edited sections to
give a visual representation of displacement and the teleporting
effect, without simply overlaying a blurred smoke effect. I feel as
though this makes my product look far more professional and
impressive to the audience.
16. My design: Other designs: As you can see my design shares
all of the key features and forms of font that these examples
feature.
17. Ancillary Text-Magazine Cover For my magazine cover I
wanted it to make a clear connection to my movie poster. Therefore
I used a very similar image however I edited the image slightly and
filled the background in a sky like texture and colour and then
again staggered and faded the subject however using duplicates of
the same image to get the effect shown. I feel as though this
represents the aesthetic as well as the design featured on the
movie poster. I also based the cover design and composed it in a
similar fashion in terms of inverted font and san serif text. I
also used the same title on the cover photo that is featured on the
poster. This creates a sense of consistency and establishes a
trademark for my product. The skyline of the magazine cover is one
of the many conventions that I followed I also included various
stories and key articles featured in the edition. To the right of
this I included the issue and date to give a sense of consistency
and make the magazine look official. The masthead is featured at
the top of the page and in a much large and bolder font than the
other font featured on the cover. This is so it stands out and
becomes an icon for the magazine, much like a brand.
18. I also featured the magazine website so it seems more
recent and digitalised. The taglines on the right are used to the
readers an insight into what is included in the magazine. This is
common convention within magazine covers as it gives a more in
depth but yet still brief look at the stories within. The cover
line/ headline is almost as bold as the title as it is the key
story within the magazine and the focal point/ selling point of the
issue. This is why it is a convention for the title to stand out
and be followed by a quote above it and various sell lines around
it. I added a barcode for a sense of realism and consistency.
Colour also plays a large part on how your product is interpreted
by an audience as they can help establish the genre of the film.
Science fiction often features blue tints and ambient lighting that
emphasise the visual effects. I purposely used a grey blue and
white pallet for this design as it is a mixture between neutral and
moody.
19. My magazine cover uses the conventions from various other
existing products, this is how I composed my design. Like the
examples of existing products the main image takes up the majority
of the space and is placed in the centre of the page with plenty of
free space for tag lines and other various forms of text. The
masthead is placed at the top followed by the skyline slightly
above. A lot of the font within the cover magazines can be used in
order to focus the viewers attention for example each of the covers
shown draw a square around the subjects face.
20. Conclusion In conclusion, my trailers use a variety of
existing media conventions and follows the disoriented structure of
a film trailer. It does not establish too much neither too little.
By beginning with the disruption and showing sequences of the
equilibrium it makes the new equilibrium very unclear, I feel as
though this is the intention for a film trailer and feel as though
the final outcome of each of my trailers were very successful. I
feel as though combined each of my products portray and represent
each other in a positive form and portray the genre, aesthetic and
develop the conventions of existing media products.
