Before filming my trailer, I need to be able to consider some locations for filming to ensure that I am thinking about conveying my genre and keeping consistency and justification in my choice of locations. I am mainly going to use urban and suburban and derelict areas to convey a style working class, northern England, I have a number of locations in my head that can communicate my aims for the film trailer themes and I now need to go out and take some location shots so I can show that I have a clear understanding of my choices of locations and show that I have thought about how they are going to fit my themes and genre effectively.
Interior shots exterior shots
The majority of my shots will be exterior because I think this is how I will be able to best convey the themes of my chosen genre, this is because there are a number of exterior locations in Macclesfield that are run down, derelict or not in use which I think will be very beneficial for me being able to communicate the themes within my genre
Upton alleyway#1
Upton alleyway#2
These locations are good because they convey the themes and connotations of run down, working class areas which we see in many British social realism films, which is something I want to be able to establish in my film trailer. I am only going to use these locations for shots that link one scene to another, there will be no dialogue or notable action, but I think these kind of shots work well in a film trailer.
These locations are normally quiet so I shouldn't have much of an issue with the members of the public, however I need to be aware of this possibility that members of the public could be concerned as to why I am filming there.
West park cremetorium
West park cremetorium
West park cremetorium
West park cremetorium
West park cremetorium
This location is good because they are quiet meaning that background noise shouldn't be much of an issue and it also helps convey a sense of calm-potentially a calm before the storm kind of atmosphere I can also access a number of different shots in the same location and make it look as if I am in a different location which means it has ample filming conditions.
Although, the area in which it is filmed could potentially mean there are people there reminiscing, who may be upset if I film there. So I would need to go there at a time where it is likely to be quiet and also inform the person that is in charge of cremetorium activities.
Establishing shot from sparrow park
Sparrow park
Near sparrow park
Sparrow park
I like this location because it is the kind of place where you might expect there to be a sense of hostility or tension in a drama or social realism film. It is an ideal place to film because it is quiet in terms of both sound and volume of people that go there, it is also in a location that enables me to get some establishing shots of the urban town area because there are some good views to be seen from here.
Again, the main issue with this location is members of the public because, although it is a quiet area, there is always a good chance that there are going to be people there so I need to ensure that the council and anyone that is in that location is informed of my purpose for being there
Train underpass
Train underpass
This location is good because it is well lit up at night which is when I want to film there, so I don't have to worry about lighting too much, it also has a very sinister vibe to it, which is something I want to be able to establish in my film trailer because this will be a location where bad things happen. It is the kind of location where you would expect something bad to happen, though in reality it isnt a very dangerous area so there isn't a high risk of running in to trouble when filming there that might be expected.
Main issues are ambient sound and people-due to the fact that it is under a train station, there is likely to be some loud noise from trains-so I will need to be aware of when the trains are setting off and making noise. Also, it is a well used underpass-as you can see in the photos, there are people walking past because I couldn't really get a shot where there weren't people in the shot-this could be challenging to avoid, but informing people should avoid this.
Key learning points
This is the first blog post which has meant i've had to go out and look at potential locations and photograph the ones that I think will work best in my film trailer, It has made me think about how I can use each location to convey the themes of my genre in terms of the connotations that the locations give off. This blog post has made it more clear to me what locations should be used in my film trailer because I've been able to go out, look at locations and compare what they connote in comparison to other films similar to my genre.
In today's lesson, I looked at some different styles of music and how they would suit different genres, how a piece of music fits a genre depends on a number of factors, we were set a task in which we had to guess which music track fitted with which genre. We had to listen for certain key parts of the music that help to convey the genre such as; is it major or minor, instruments, pace, sound effects and the connotations of what we hear, this will be useful when choosing the right music to fit my genre because it will help me to be able to recognise the typical soundtracks that should and shouldn't be used in a trailer to help suit the themes, conventions and genre.
Music is vital for the film being able to convey its genre because if a film trailer has the wrong type of music, it's going to connote the wrong type of genre unless it is being used contrapuntally, so it is important that the film trailer uses music that fits in with the conventions of their film, for example an uplifting film is likely to have major melodies and sound generally happy whereas a sad perhaps mournful film is likely to contain minor chords in the music, because the different styles of music create different kinds of moods for example horror trailers are likely to use 'eeri' and 'creepy' music using screaching violins or synthesized keyboard chords to create a sense of dramatic tension and make the audience feel this tension through the fear provoking soundtracks alongside what is happening on film.
I've looked at An article by the guardian that outlines some details about film trailer music, the article explains how trailer music is there to complement what we see on the the screen and to help emphasise the mood and themes however it is not always composed espec= Horror films
This horror trailer is interesting because it begins with some contrapuntal music that implies that all is well and there is nothing about to go wrong, it's all fairly happy and upbeat in the style of a home movie, this establishes a juxed opposition atmosphere where there is an equilibrium through the use of a typical pop song, but then at around 40seconds in to the trailer the music changes to the typical horror style of music. So the change in music establishes a disequilibrium and that something bad is about to happen.
The instruments used in this trailer create a very intense and spine-chilling atmosphere; the use of synthesized chords on a keyboard to build up the tension is very eeri and emphasises the level of suspense greatly, there are also two keys on the keyboard being played as the suspense begins to build which evokes tension and hostility. The use of screeching string instruments become louder and louder when there is a piece of enigmatic action, (1minute and 37seconds in) everytime there is a piece of jump-action the echoing string instruments explode in to a half second long burst of eeri music, which adds a large amount of drama to what we see on screen. This film trailer follows the typical musical conventions of a horror film which enables it to effectively portray its genre to its audience. I think the most effective aspect of the choice of music is the way that there is no consistency in the music; there is a lot of stopping and starting and a varied range of sounds, there is a sound of something that sounds like air being sucked through a straw, violins and synthesized keyboards, this creates a large sense of suspense and I find that it puts the audience on edge because it inflicts fear in to the audience in the way it has numerous explosions of eeri sounds and also the way in which instruments are used to build up the suspense that leads to the musical jump scare.
Film realism/Realistic drama
The music in this film trailer follows what we see on screen, the music isn't the most important factor for a film however with this genre because it is mainly about the dialogue so the audience can gain an understanding of the storyline, but it does follow the mood of what is happening on the screen, during the beginning where the mood is a lot more upbeat because he's making friends the music is also a lot more upbeat and then when the mood changes to more angry we hear a punk track which is connotational to the skinhead culture in the time which this film is set, then towards the end there is a more downbeat acoustic track which impacts the mood greatly and makes the audience realise that a problem has occurred, it contrasts the music that was being played over before and emphasises the dark side of skinhead culture by going from this angry punk rock track to a mellow, mournful acoustic track that connotes sadness, so there are three tracks in this trailer which all create a different mood;first upbeat and happy, then angry punk rock, then a downbeat mellow acoustic track, there are no fancy special effect sounds that we would expect to see in a horror, just tracks played over what we see on screen that very simply reflects the mood on screen effectively and powerfully. Since this is my chosen genre I am going to look in to more detail about these film trailers and their choice of music and take inspiration from them.
I've
looked at the generic narrative structure of film trailers to help me
gain an understanding of the structure of film trailers and what
structure they should all follow; according to the website filmmakermagazine.com film
trailers should follow a three-act structure; Act one will introduce
the films' characters and environment meaning that we gain an
understanding of the protagonist and their surroundings, so we gain an
insight in to their character's personality and the type of life they
live Act
two should have an element of complication or distruption to the
protagonist's life which outlines the plot and something that the
protagonist has to overcome. Act three intensifies the conflict and
emphasise tension/excitement/humour Tvetan Todorov A Franco-Bulgarian philosopher claimed all stories had a basic structure based on an equilibrium, meaning a
state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced. He came up
with the term 'narratology' which means to look at units of meaning in a
text.
So a traditional/Hollywood narrative would go as followed;
-Equilibrium (sense of order/calm)
-A disruption of this equilibrium by an
event -A realisation that a disruption has
happened -An attempt to repair the damage of the
disruption -A restoration of the equilibrium which may be a new or changed one. The narrative is created through attempts to restore the euquilibrium, most films end with an equilibrium if they are following the traditional hollywood film structure, although the ending equilibrium will not be the same as the previous equilibrium because the chain of events in the film have distrupted the original equilibrium.
Rolan Barthes A French critic who identified '5 codes of narrative'
Hermeneutic/Enigma code-a
mystery within a text where clues are given but there is no clear
answer which Poses questions or enigmas which provide narrative suspense
which makes the audience want to know more Unravelling of these codes
and thinking about these questions posed by events provide viewing
pleasure. So it is important for the narratives of films to be able to
follow an engaging storyline that the audience can follow so they are
asking themselves questions about the enigmatic mystery, the film
essentially should frustrate the audience because they want to know what
is going to happen. Proairetic/action code-this element should add suspense to the text, it should involve the important areas of action. Semantic code-The
areas that provide different or separate meanings, there should be an
extra layer of meaning. This is a useful element to have in film
trailers because it suggests that there is a hidden meaning to something
within the text, which makes the audience want to know more. Symbolic code-This
is about the symbolism within the film, use of stereotypes and
different types of characters or groups of people contrasting with each
other can create drama and tension or provide the foundations for the
storyline of a film. Referential code-This
element refers to anything within the film that refers to anything
external to the film itself such as scientific and historical knowledge.
Claude Levi-Strauss Argued
meaning in narratives based on binary opposites, he was less interested
in the arrangement (syntagmatic) of the narrative than the deeper
meaning (paradigmatic) of themes. Binary
oppositions-opposite values that reveal the structure of media texts,
they are based upon tension and conflict between two contrasting types
of characters. Definitions of narrative Narrative: The story
- what happens or what is depicted, this refers to actions, events and
characters. Narration:
How the story is told, how the information is presented to viewers, for example
visual style and point of view the story is told from. Restricted
narration – when we see an event through the viewpoint of only one person. This
can add surprise as we only discover events alongside them Omniscient narration – when we see events
from multiple viewpoints. This can add suspense as we are privy to information
other characters are not Key learning points So
it is clear from doing this research in to the narrative structure of
films and film trailers that there are multiple generic elements that
many films follow in their representation of their storyline, there
should be a number of elements that film trailers must include to enable
them to be able to incorporate an engaging storyline; the theorists
that I have looked at have provided the elements that should be included
in a film such as the aspects that create an effective narrative such
as conflict, equilibriums/disequilibriums/new equilibriums, establishing
mysteries and questions and create tension and drama through binary
opposites.
I have conducted some research about film genres and their audiences; how popular they are in relation to age and gender, which are the best selling films and what films are most commonly put out in to cinema. For my research, I have used several websites; mediaknowallraindance and bfistatisticalyearbook which have provided detailed information on a number of different factors regarding film audiences and genres. Film makers want to be able to categorize their target audience in terms of;
-Income
-Age
-Gender
-Race
-Location
Taking these factors in to account will enable the film maker to be aware of the typical film preferences and habits of these groups so they can better target their audience. This method of categorizing the audience is known as demographics, it's a method of knowing who you want your film to appeal to.
From the information gathered from 'Raindance', there are a number of questions film writers should ask themself when developing audience profiles
1-Demographics, film writers should always look at the audience they are trying to target to ensure that they are not straying away from the conventions and themes they should include to convey the genre that their audience will typically be interested in.
2-Power level, This is indicative of a person's position within a group or society, for example are they trying to target stereotyped groups such as 'geeks' in high school, so this factor essentially outlines the type of person you're trying to target.
3-Daily routine, this factor enables the writer to step in to the shoes of their potential audience, looking at an individual's daily habits and routines may give an indication of their type of film interests to make it easier to obtain a profile of the writer's intended target audience.
4-Dislikes and likes, looking at the dislikes and likes of their target audience will give a good indication of what to include.
5-How do they vote? This gives an insight in to the audience's typical moral values, for example, are they tolerant of other beliefs or cultures?
6-How do they thrill?, The writer should ask themself about what interests their target audience, for example, typical music tastes, television interests, books, this gives a view of how their audience spends their personal time, which again, allows the writer to be able to stand in the point of view of their target audience and gain a clear audience profile to make it easier to establish a connection with the audience.
7-Identifying audience, researching who your audience is, will be vital in being able to have a succesful film campaign.
Information gathered from the statistical yearbook show a range of different statistics on film preferences and cinema viewings through demographics, such as age, I found that 15-24 year olds visit the cinema most frequently with 35% of admissions being in this age group in 2013 whereas under 14 year olds (14%) and middle aged+ people visit the cinema less frequently with 16% being aged 35-44 and 19% being 45+.
This could link to the most frequent and popular films in cinemas because film writers will want to create a film that will attract as big an audience as possible so they may aim for a genre that typically links with the age group, which may be an explanation as to why comedy was the most popular genre in cinemas during 2014, comedies are mainly popular with the mid teens to early twenties age group, with The Inbetweeners Movie 2 being the most popular comedy film in the UK in 2014.
The website also gave information on film preferences in relation to gender, action, thrillers and comedy films were most popular among men, with the audience of Alan Partridge-Alpha Papa and Captain Phillips being 69% male whereas, unsurprisingly the female audiences prefferred films such as 'One Direction; This is us (UK)' with 85% of the audience and other romantic and musical films.
Below is a graph showing the film preferences between men and women.
Taking gender related factors in to account means that the film writer can be aware of what genres are most popular with which gender, so they can ensure that the marketing, script writing, music and every other aspect of the film campaign fits the targeted gender for the audience, although many films may want to appeal to both male and female people to entertain a broader audience and to appeal to more people, thus making the film more viewable and mass market for more people.
Responses to questionnaire
Here is a copy of my questionnaire that I used for my audience feedback
1.
What is your age?
Gender
This simply allows me to see the trends within genders in relation to the different answers that I may or may not receive, I didn't find that social realism was more popular for either gender so I think social realism is a gender fluid genre meaning that it is suitable for both genders. I was surprised that there weren't any significant trends within the data that suggests there is differences in film preferences in relation to gender.
Favourite genre
This question enabled me to find out what were the most popular film genres so I could see what is likely to be popular if the film were to be released in cinema, comedy was the most popular option with no mention of social realism films, however social realism films were the most popular option in terms of what there should be more of so this suggests that there aren't enough social realism films for it to be favouritised by the masses which gives my film genre a unique selling point.
Think there needs to be more of
This question enabled me to see what genres are in high demand which means I can see if my genre would attract a large audience or not, as you can see, 5 people think there should be more social realism films available which informs me that there is a good level of demand for this genre of film so from this data it is likely that the film would be succesful upon release.
How they watch films
This meant that I could look at the most popular methods of watching which gives an indication of what platforms would be best to release my film on if I were to actually release the film. As you can see online methods of watching films is the most popular followed by cinema which tells me making your film available online will allow a wide range of people to access the film which is indicative of how most people access films these days.
In response to the open questions I found that there were a number of trends in the data and they also gave me some feedback on their personal opinions of social realism films. The question; 'What is your favourite social realism/film realism film/television programme' gave me an insight as to what other films/television programmes I should look at and study to influence my film trailer, the most popular social realism film/television series was 'This Is England', so I have looked at this film to see how I can use it to help influence my ideas, other social realism programmes such as 'My mad fat diary', 'Skins', 'Trainspotting' and 'Top boy' were mentioned which I have also looked at to help my understanding of this film genre.
Another question that gave me some useful feedback was 'What is your view on the social realism genre?' this gave me positive responses to the genre as responses ranged from 'eye opening' to entertaining, I think the general themes that I got from my potential audience's feedback explained social realism films as 'bleak/sad but very intruiging and entertaining', I think these themes suggest that social realism films are unique in the way that they can really inrtigue the audience in a way that other film genres can't because social realism films are designed to be realistic meaning that the audience can properly engage with the characters and their situations.
The question 'Do you have any hobbies or interests?' is being asked so I can become aware of some of the demographics of my target audience, looking at my potential audience's daily routine, hobbies and interests will give an indication of what potential themes I can think about that may gauge my target audience's interest.
Key learning points
This task enabled me to seek out the aspects of a film's audience that need to be considered before, during a film is written. Looking at these statistics allows film makers to be able to identify their target audience so they can market and connote the film appropriately meaning that the film is likely to be much more successful because they are able to effectively target their audience.
I have been able to identify what is meant by the term 'Demographics' and what that entails, the primary research sector of this post was very useful when it came to my secondary research because from the knowledge that I obtained from the primary research, I was able to structure my questionnaire based upon the information from raindance which meant my questionnaire was able to be a lot more useful in collecting valid data to help me plan my film trailer.
In the lesson today we have started to look at genre in more detail; -What is genre? -Why is there genre? -We looked at the theorist Steve Neale
Genre is a type of film summed up by a number of different elements described as a repertouire of Elements by Steve Neal, these elements included;
A film can draw on a repertoire of generic
elements:
-
Iconography and style
-
Setting
-Narrative
-
Characters
-Themes
There are a number of different genres which each need to be able to follow certain conventions to be able to identify themselves with that genre.
Comedy
Comedies have the intentions of wanting to make their audience laugh, this is a challenge in film because what the film writer considers funny may not be funny to a lot of other people, so they need to be a skilled comic and film writer in order to create a succesful comedy. Comedies follow the conventions of being less serious because they are created to be able to make the audience laugh-they can communicate this less serious attitude using dialogue; through sarcasm, jokes, stereotypes etc these are the main dialogue choices I have picked up on whilst studying comedy genres. Comedies tend to be more based in bright places and locations that would exist in everyday life, although there are some exceptions-for example spoof comedies which may make a mockery of something like a superhero film like in 'The Superhero Movie' Or 'Kickass'
Superhero movie.
Kickass.
These films are unusual because they follow the conventions of a thriller or action film in their settings and storylines, but are there to ridicule superhero films in a way as a form of irony to communicate comedy.
The sound is an important factor, there will normally be diegetic sounds of everyday life, plus the dialogue will need to be loud and clear so that the audience of the film can actually hear what they are supposed to laugh at clearly. Non diegetic use of music will tend to be comical or a well known pop song, there is rarely something like synthesized keyboard chords to communicate tension because it is not a serious genre.
The characters will normally follow stereotypes for example, there is often an 'Idiotic' one, a 'Geeky' one and a 'Normal' one, or a group of the same type. A good example of using stereotypes to communicate comedy in characters is The Inbetweeners movie, they are a typical group of boys with different personalities, they usually exaggerate the stereotypes to make it clear what type of character they are trying to stereotypes, this allows the audience to empaphise with the character's personalities which makes the characters funny.
Comedy films normally follow a plot which has ups and downs, but still isn't necessarily serious and always have a happy ending.
Thriller
Thriller films are somewhere in between horror and action, they have the intention of literally thrilling the audience, to do this the film maker needs to have a good idea of conflict between an antagonist and a protagonist, there is usually a chain of bad events which lead to a climaxing finish-normally ending well for the key protagonist. The audience is made to empathise and sympathise with the key protagonist, which creates 'edge of seat' tension in areas of uncertainty for example, if the key protagonist were to be hanging from a bulding at risk of death. So normally the audience will be rooting for the 'Good guy' who is usually the key protagonist, who wants to restore justice and peace to help others, whereas the antagonist/villian in the film wants to destroy this and have the glory.
In this scene, the audience is likely to be feeling a sense of tension as the key protagonist, Batman is in danger and they have been made to want him to have the success which thrills the audience because there is uncertainty as to whether he will be succesful in the fight or not.
The conventions of thriller include; Low key lighting, Quick cuts, fast pace/tension music, high/low angles to assert dominance of protagonist/antagonist.
The protagonist tends to be male and is stereotypically brave, assertive, wise, muscular and often arrogant, they are expected to live a life of thrills and drama so they are constantly on edge or planning something.
Here's a moodboard for the Thriller genre.
Camera work and Editing is likely to be fast pace and shaky in areas of action to exaggerate the drama on screen, there will also be a number of close-ups and extreme close-ups to be able to show the character's emotions.
Music will be used to enhance tension and drama and will be essential for conveying this in significant parts of the film.
They usually have a dark setting to establish the theme meaning that lighting will be low key and even the characters will often be wearing dark costume.
Thriller is a genre that has multiple sub-genres such as action-thriller, so there is a lot of flexibility in how you can convey this genre.
Horror
Horror films intend to communicate a 'worse case scenario' theme to the audience, they are based around things in life that could happen to anyone which creates the sense of fear within the audience. The main aims of a Horror film are to scare, thrill and entertain the audience. Horror films allow the film maker to be very flexible in their script writing because, it is easier to be able to write a script that is scary and fear provoking for a number of people, using jump cuts, tension music and creating a fearful antagonist. Horror films often don't have a happy ending and it is the Antagonist who has victory. The audience is made to empathise with the victims to extent that they are made to wonder what they would do/feel in a position of imminent death. There is also flexibility within the genre to demonstrate sub genres;
-Gothic, for example, The Woman In black-it is less fear inflicting than the other sub genres and often entertains elements of romance and discovery.
-Slasher, for example, Friday the 13th, this sub genre is possibly the most brutal out of the two because they normally involve a psycopathic serial killer who will kill numerous people with goring objects like a wood axe resulting in large amounts of blood.
Here is a mood board on horror
Camera work is an essential part of communicating the genre, there is often a lot of hand held and canted angle camera shots used to create a sense of chaos in areas of significance and also high angle/low angle shots to communicate dominance/fear between protagonist and antagonist. Extreme close ups and close ups are used to comminicate the fear/anger in the character's facial expressions so the audience can see the emotions of the characters involved, so that there is emphasis on the level of empathy the audience should be feeling for the victims.
The editing will tend to be very fast pace in areas of significance to encourage the audience to recognise the level of energy and drama in the scene.
The sound is vital in horror films, what I've noticed quite frequently is that the sound goes from very quiet to very loud in a short space of time to create a jump scare, for example an 'explosion' of brass instruments in a scene of significance. Diegetic sound will often include, screams, heavy breathing and often there will be a juxed-opposed sound for example birds singing. Non diegetic sounds include tension music and jump scare music for example synthesized keyboard chords, screaching violins, very low pitch bass noise and loud drum pounds-these sounds create tension and fear which is two of the main objectives within horror films.
The setting will almost always be dark, murky and ghoulish, to emphasise the theme and genre.
Key learning points
This blog post has enabled me to look at and evaluate the generic conventions and themes of different film genres, which has been influential in choosing my genre because I have been able to see what generic conventions I would want to/be able to follow.
