Planning
Script
Above is the script for our film trailer, I have incorporated all features of generic film scripts into my draft in order to ensure maximum accuracy when filming, this script will also help keep us organised and remind us what scenes must be filmed. As with most scripts there are stage directions as well as dialogue included so that the audience may gain a deeper understanding of the film itself by learning how each character acts and reacts. I have included the character names written in capital lettering above the dialogue and this will ensure that those reading the script will be able to tell who is engaging in conversation. The dialogue or monologues for these characters have gained a centre positioning on the page, whereas the stage directions have been written conventionally on the left of the page, this enables the reader to decipher which section of the text is which. I have included horizontal lines across the page so that the reader knows when the scenes change and so the story flows smoothly. Coupled with the stage directions there is signification of what music will be playing in that particular scene this is used to convey increased drama an emotions to the audience with certain tempo of music or tone.
Storyboard
Research
Existing movie trailers:
http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/features/video/id/237/first-trailer
Johnny English - This trailer starts off with a scene including the protagonist in a secluded mountain village, in which he seems to be training with monks, this environment is contrast to the norm, being in this environment suggests that he has gone away to find solace, separating himself from society in order to harness his skills and in turn becoming a more enlightened individual. In these scenes there is use of several camera angles e.g. close ups, establishing shots and mid angles. As well as camera movements and effects which included pan, tracking, effects including fade in and fade out. Dramatic music is being played throughout this scene, however the music gains a higher tempo when he returns to England giving the audience the idea that His native country is far more hectic than the calm mountain village. Then the text begins to flash on screen saying "The worlds greatest spy" after which there are various short cut scenes of scenes in the film, many of which shows him in some less than flattering situations, suggesting that his spy ability is mearly based on his clumsiness rather than his actual talent. A few more titles then appear on screen, establishing the protagonists motives and what he is setting out to achieve. And as the main character considers himself to be greatly talented and wise, his actions convey the idea that he is very much the opposite. The voice over then states the name of the film in a serious tone which gives us the impression that although the overall topic is a serious one, the addition of humour makes the trailer all the more intriguing, therefore attracting audiences which would generally enjoy action films, as well as people who like comedies, and with these two genres mixed together the broader the audience range will be. The whole point of the cut scenes of the film is so that people can get a rough idea of whats going to happen in the film, but however not giving away the actual conclusion therefore making the audience more enticed. The last thing to appear on screen is the date of release which has no other purpose other than to highlight when the film will be available for public viewing.
http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/features/video/id/240/full-trailer
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - This trailer begins by showing the main companies involved in the production of the film, it then goes on to show a variety of scenes from the movie however not giving the viewer any idea on what the actual plot of the film, ensuring that the audience would have to pay to watch it, in order to find out what its about, which is significant in attracting a variety of audiences through the method of mystery and suspense, not giving any of the plot line away in the trailer intrigues the audience greatly. There is a mixture of camera angles used which include mostly establishing shots, close ups and mid shots. The close ups have been used as a means of conveying the emotion in the characters, ensuring that their facial expressions will alter how the audience are meant to feel at particular parts of the story. After all of the scenes which are shown the scene fades to black then another scene is introduced, this is used the majority of the time throughout this trailer. Also in certain parts between the clips the screen fades to black and instead of another scene, numbers appear then turn into writing. One example would be "Trust no one" which adds significant suspense. Along with non-diegetic music which plays over the trailer which is very dramatic and the tempo increases as it gets more intense. The misé en scéne aspects of this trailer are also of interest to me, I noticed that all of the costumes seem to be very dull with lack of elaborate colour schemes, which suggests to me that this movie has more of a sinister and dark edge rather than one of joy and happiness and in conjunction with the lighting this aspects is heightened. At the end of the trailer the title of the film comes up, then the names of the actors and director involved in making the film appear on screen, and establishing to the audience which actors involved in the production have won awards for their achievements in the acting business, this makes the viewer eager to see the film because they will assume it is of a better quality than others due to the high status of the people involved. The penultimate thing to appear, just like the other trailer was the date of release.
http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/features/video/id/162/teaser-trailer-1
Hot Fuzz- A the beginning of this trailer it displays those main companies involved in the production of the movie. From those advertisements it then fades into a scene with a dolly or tracking shot which ends when the character who is engaging in a monologue is in focus. The screen then fades to black depicting the title of a previous film that this particular company was involved in. As the camera fades back it shows an over-the-shoulder shot of the protagonist (who is a policeman) who is speaking to a group of school children, also the camera in this scene seems to be tilted or canted slightly in order for the policeman to be looking down on the children, this could suggest to the audience that the policeman has power or authority over the children. The camera then pans to the right to show a policeman sitting cross-legged on the floor with the children, conveying the idea of comedy within the film as well as establishing how unprofessional this particular policeman seems to be, possibly suggesting that this policeman hasn't experienced as much intensity and drama in his time police force, and also presenting the policeman who is addressing the group of school children as a rather stern and serious character who's years of experience have caused him to become a very secluded individual who takes his work very seriously. Immediately after this scene comes a selection of action sequences from the movie with varied amounts of gunfire, fist fighting and explosions, which I believe has been incorporated into this section of the trailer as it is very contrasting from the previous scene and comes in very suddenly which will therefore amaze the audience and capture there attention. The conclusion of the trailer comes with a final fade to black, then an animated title of the film appears on screen in silver writing, the movement of the text and the font style connotes an idea of action and drama, the silver colouring suggests weaponry and ammunition. This is all supported by the police badge located in the centre of the 'O' in 'HOT FUZZ'.
Analysis of existing script layout:
Mission Impossible II
ON THE ROAD - NYAH (MOVING)
around curves, hair flying, she's free. Her car phone rings.
Perplexed, she lets it ring once or twice picks it up:
NYAH
(tentatively)
Hola..
ETHAN
Hi. Would you mind slowing down?
NYAH
Where did you get this number? I don't
even have it!
ETHAN' VOICE
around curves, hair flying, she's free. Her car phone rings.
Perplexed, she lets it ring once or twice picks it up:
NYAH
(tentatively)
Hola..
ETHAN
Hi. Would you mind slowing down?
NYAH
Where did you get this number? I don't
even have it!
ETHAN' VOICE
Would you like it?
She hits the End button and disconnects. The phone immediately
rings again. She refuses to pick up. Ethan pulls alongside hers.
She looks at him. They speak through the open cars.
ETHAN
Pull over and listen to me, will you?
Just listen..
NYAH
Listen to what?
ETHAN
I need your help and I thin you can use
mine.
NYAH
Your help? What are you talking about?
ETHAN
Scotland Yard, Interpol, every Dutch
authority. I can make them go away.
NYAH
Oh bloody hell. You're a spy.
She floors it and shoots ahead of Ethan, nicking his car as she takes off.
ETHAN
(to himself)
I deserved that.
She hits the End button and disconnects. The phone immediately
rings again. She refuses to pick up. Ethan pulls alongside hers.
She looks at him. They speak through the open cars.
ETHAN
Pull over and listen to me, will you?
Just listen..
NYAH
Listen to what?
ETHAN
I need your help and I thin you can use
mine.
NYAH
Your help? What are you talking about?
ETHAN
Scotland Yard, Interpol, every Dutch
authority. I can make them go away.
NYAH
Oh bloody hell. You're a spy.
She floors it and shoots ahead of Ethan, nicking his car as she takes off.
ETHAN
(to himself)
I deserved that.
For the script research i gathered examples of scripts which followed the same or similar genre to what my media project will be about. The first script i have chosen is from 'Mission Impossible II' as it fits the criteria and will ensure that i have a significant understanding of the genre and how it is conventionally filmed and also presented. Although this script is not from a movie trailer (as i was unable to find any) it does give me just as much information on how to convey drama and action to make each scene more intriguing and generally contains the same characteristics as a trailer script, with a bit more detailed information.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Dr. Evil runs into the street with Austin chasing him. In
SLO-MO Austin dives for a ridiculously long time, and TACKLES
Dr. Evil, pinning him.
AUSTIN I'm going to kill you, you bastard!
DR. EVIL (breathing heavily)
Before you do that, know this: Austin,
I am... your... father.
MUSIC: DRAMATIC STING
SLO-MO Austin dives for a ridiculously long time, and TACKLES
Dr. Evil, pinning him.
AUSTIN I'm going to kill you, you bastard!
DR. EVIL (breathing heavily)
Before you do that, know this: Austin,
I am... your... father.
MUSIC: DRAMATIC STING
AUSTIN Really?
DR. EVIL No. I can't back that up. I was just
grasping at straws. I had nothing.
But isn't it interesting, Mr. Powers,
you really have become a product of
the Nineties.
AUSTIN How so?
DR. EVIL You're more interested in your job
as glorified policeman than you are
in love. You won the battle, but I
won the war. Love means nothing,
you've proved it.
DR. EVIL No. I can't back that up. I was just
grasping at straws. I had nothing.
But isn't it interesting, Mr. Powers,
you really have become a product of
the Nineties.
AUSTIN How so?
DR. EVIL You're more interested in your job
as glorified policeman than you are
in love. You won the battle, but I
won the war. Love means nothing,
you've proved it.
In my research i decided to gather existing scripts from various sources, which have a similar genre. I have chosen this particular script as we may take a route on the more comedic style, our main objective was to create a "one man on a mission" like trailer, however we decided it may well be a good idea to add humour into various sections in order to make it more appealing and entertaining. As i was unable to gather an example of the Austin Powers movie trailer script we decided to take a segment out of the actual script, a section which contained drama and a scene that could possibly be used to create a film trailer. This particular example uses both humour and emotion to ensure the audience stay captivated and maintain and entertaining value.
This image shows part of a storyboard from a wild west action movie, this storyboard depicts a fight between several characters with the use of fire-arms. There are arrows that show the movements of the characters involved in the scenes, for example the first box shows two people with an arrow pointing forward, this shows that they are walking in that direction in that scene. Although this story board does fit the genre we are likely to pursue, it does give us several ideas with regards to action scenes and how to convey as much drama as possible, but at the same time giving us significant information on how to create a well structured storyboard.
This image shows a storyboard from Rambo III it has blue arrows on all of the pictures to show the direction or movement of the camera, it also shows red arrows to show the characters actions for example in the top right picture he is picking something up, the same as the other picture the boxes show what will actually be on camera, this changes in the first picture because the camera is zooming in. Unlike the other one this storyboard also has annotations to tell you exactly what is happening in more detail than the picture does, it also shows what they are saying. This storyboard also displays examples of camera angles that could be used in the actual filming process e.g. the scene in the bottom left shows a close up of the protagonists eyes, this could be used as a method of establishing the characters feelings at that point in time.
Analysis of existing film posters and magazines:
Magazine covers
Here we have to examples of existing magazines which have displayed the main protagonists from two separate films on each of their front covers. The images that have been used are relevant to the actual genre/plot of the story.
The 'Empire' magazine cover its main subject is Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill', the main character being Uma Thurman, who has often portrayed powerful independent female characters. I believe that such a character has been chosen as it establishes the capability of women, usually in a film of this genre the protagonist would likely be a male, however the unconventional approach is an aspect of what makes this movie so successful. The blood splatter on the cover also gives the audience the impression that the female in queston is likely to go to great lengths in order to get what she wants, which is another unconventional area, as we normally associate woman with cleanliness and the dislike of dirt. very contrasting to all of this is her stance which seems to be very feminine suggesting to the audience that she is has the ability to take extreme measures, yet still maintain her femininity. Her costume which seems to be motorcycle attire suggests that she has adopted more of a masculine lifestyle as a method of intimidation, however the colour scheme seems to be an attempt to keep some sort of her feminine side to be conveyed. The font used also ensures the impression of action and possibly gore, with all fonts being written in either black or a bold crimson and suggests that although the character seems to be somewhat elaborate, the text suggests that her task will be a stern one. The text on the page is sans serif which links to the fact that it is meant to be more serious, as if there were flicks and fancy aspects to the font style it would give the reader the impression of a calm atmosphere, however it is in fact the complete opposite.
The front cover of 'Entertainment Weekly' shows an image of Daniel Craig portraying the protagonist James Bond who is essentially a very swarve and sophisticated individual. Looking at his posture and the costume I would agree with such a statement, highlighting to the audience that he can maintain his clean cut image, whilst n difficult situations. With Bond having such a calm attitude it would suggest to the audience that although there may be trouble ahead, you are in safe hands with him. Looking at the background of this front cover it seems irregular, as though you were looking through some sort of heat monitor visor, this adds to the idea that the movie will include the stereotypical spy/secret agent methods of work. Also we notice that there is a rifle target overlapping the picture, this has been used to link will the sub heading entitled 'Goodbye Bond', suggesting that this could well be the end of the James Bond film series. The text has been printed in a large bold red font which we would normally associate with danger or blood, therefore linking it in with the actual written words, the red suggesting death, in possibly more ways than one. All aspects of the page in some way connote death or danger in a method to attract the audience.
When designing my magazine front cover I will take into account all aspects of the evidence of existing covers that I have gathered and put them into practise in the creation of one of my ancillary tasks (magazine front cover).
Film Posters
The film poster on the right is for the 'The dark knight', the second movie in the most recent Batman film series. The first thing i noticed when i viewed this poster is the fire on the building which is shaped like a bat, this gives the poster something that stands out and is eye catching, but also is extremely relevant to the plot or storyline. Another thing i noticed about this poster is the writing at the top that says "Welcome to a world without rules." this is supposed to intrigue the audience and make them wonder what a world without rules would be like? Other features of this poster include the text near the bottom of the poster e.g. the text which displays the actors who appear in the film, companies involved in production of the film and the date of release at the cinema, when creating my poster these aspects would all contribute to making a realistic and successful film poster.
The poster on the left is for the film Hot Fuzz it shows the two main characters both looking at camera, however with the reflection of the town shown in their sun glasses, this is to be the town in which the film is set. Like the last poster this one also has text at the summit of the page, this time saying "Big cops. Small town. Moderate violence." giving the audience an insight as to what is likely to unfold in this film. Unlike the last poster this one does not have use a great deal of text quoting what companies were involved in the film production. Although it does not give you an accurate description of who produced the film, it does tell you what other films this particular company has produced "A new comedy from the makers of Shaun of the dead" which will make people who have seen Shaun of the dead eager to view a film which has not only been produced by the same people, but which also contains the same main characters.
Research into costumes and locations using existing trailers:
Generally, in the genre we are covering the costumes that are used tend to be more on the formal side. An example of this would be in the movie "Johnny English" his clothing consists of suits, uniforms which are used when in a specific environment e.g. Golfing attire, this is all used as a way of conveying his swarve and professional attitude during his work as a spy. By the protagonist in our film wearing similar clothing it will only promote the verisimilitude of the production, whereas if the character was wearing casual clothing it would seem less real. The locations that are predominantly used tend to be in environments such as offices, streets or possibly in a vehicle, this works as a perfect model to use when we are producing our own film, as it gives us a detailed idea of what locations would be best suited to particular scenes. The costumes for the villains would be somewhat similar to the clothing worn by the main character, but in some ways stray on the darker side, to add to the atmosphere of certain scenes and to establish drama or fear. From our research we found that most movies that include gangsters, they do wear suits similar to that of the "Good Guy", which is used as a method of showing contrast between the two characters, all be it similar in many ways. The props we would use for this film would be fake guns, cars, other fake weaponry, a cigar,and some fake drugs to promote realism and verisimilitude.
Questionnaire and results for target audience:
This is the questionnaire we created as a means of gaining useful feedback from the audience on our film ideas. The information we gathered from this survey has given us a greater impression on what to include in our movie trailer in order to suit the target audiences. The feedback we gather from the questions above will aide us in deciding upon film titles, genre of the film, and how vaguely it is presented (e.g. maintaining mystery within the trailer so is not to give away the main plot).
This was the first question on the survey regarding the trailer itself. As we can see by the research information above, it has given us a greater insight into what genre of film the audiences prefer. The most popular seems to be comedy, followed closely by crime, by incorporating this evidence into our trailer we decided to mix the two most popular genres and create a crime/comedy trailer as it will meet the requirements of the target audience, and thus appealing to a wider range of audience, people who enjoy crime as well as those that enjoy comedy.
We designed this particular question to see which method the audience preferred, either a trailer that maintains mystery and doesn't give away the main plot lines, or a trailer that gives away a great deal about the film. The options given in this particular question would give us the information required to decided the amount of mystery that is maintained in our trailer, the purple represents those audience members that did want the plot-lines given away and the green represents the people that wanted the trailer to be more secretive, due to the extensive amount of people voting for a more secretive trailer we decided not to give away too much of the plot and ensure that the audience is intrigued by the mystery.
In this question we analysed which movie titles the target audiences would prefer, we believed this to be an important aspect of deciding on whether or not to go see a movie and is pinnacle in attracting the audience, we did not want to make it a simplistic and obvious title such as "Snakes on a plane" as we were aiming on keeping the audience guessing. Judging by the research which has been gathered on this question we notice that A Barron of fun seems to be the most popular movie title, it incorporates a play on words which establishes it as a comedy and the word Barron suggests crime lord, which therefore conveys the crime genre, however this name doesn't give away the actual plot line and doesn't give you much information on the movie at all, apart from its genre.
