For our A2 coursework our group decided that we would choose
the brief which included, creating a film trailer, a cover for a film magazine
and a film poster. Due to this we had to research the conventions of each to
enable that we made our product look professional.
Firstly, a main convention of film trailers are the titles,
our trailer conforms to this as we have included titles. The variation of
titles depends on the genre of film, however most trailers have a conventional
set of titles. The titles that we included in our trailer were;
1. Production
Companies
2. GreenBand
3. ‘This
Summer’
4. ‘From
the Director of Decorum’
5. Names
6. Slogan
– ‘ When Deaths Clock is Ticking Time Becomes The Enemy’
7. Title
8. ‘Summer
2018’
At the beginning of the trailer the audience ae presented
with the production companies, this informs the audience on who has produced
the film. Commonly, film productions can display the budget of the film as it
can either be a conglomerate company or an independent company. Also,
particular companies are known for producing certain genres of film. As our
film trailer is a thriller we decided to use ‘Lionsgate’ as this is known for
producing thrillers. Aswell, as using a generic production company we also
created our own independent company – ‘Vector Productions’, symbolising that an
independent company is in partnership with one of the big six’s.
Conventionally, most trailers also specify if their trailer as either
‘Greenband’ or ‘Redband’ which alerts the audience to the nature of the
trailer/film. Our trailer would be classed as a ‘Greenband’ as it contains no
bad language and little violence. Having the trailer rated at ‘Greenband’
allows for more publicity as it can seek an larger audience. Another title that conventionally appears in
trailers is the date/ season that the full length film is going to come out. So
in our trailer we have stated that it will be released ‘This Summer’, ‘Summer
2018’. Throughout, trailers titles such as; Names of the actors and information
about the director is displayed; in our particular trailer we have informed the
audience of our names aswell as stating that this film is a sequel to Decorum
(Our AS project). We stated ‘From the Director of Decorum’ as the audience are
then aware of the type of film its going to be, a rough idea of the story and
the directors film style which may attract a particular audience.
Another convention that our trailer conforms to is character
introduction. In most trailers, the audience are introduced to the main
characters of the film, however, in some instances characters may not be
introduced as they could be used as a surprise element in the film as the
audience would be unaware of them. However, in our trailer we introduce the 3
main characters including the antagonist and protagonist. We introduce these
characters as it allows the audience to get a feel of the nature of the film
and an insightful grasp on what to expect from the full film. Although, we have only introduced the characters
briefly displaying minor characteristics that entice the audience making them
want to find out more meaning they watch the feature film; this is a typical
stereotype of trailers.
One of the main conventions of a film trailer, is the title
of the film. Without the title of the film being displayed the trailer would
have no value to the audience as they don’t know what it is. Diue to this we
have included the title of the film hallway through the trailer which somewhat
challenges the stereotypes of film trailers as titles are often displayed at
the end as it is thought that it makes it more memorable for the audience.
However, we decided to put the title of our film in the middle of the trailer
after we introduced the characters, we purposely did this as after the title we
included a short piece of the torture scene to give the audience a glimpse of
what to expect. As this short action scene has a narrative structure (which is
unusual for film trailers) we decided to put it after the title as it could be
seen as somewhat a sneak peek of the film.
When conducting research during this project we found out
that trailers have to be between a certain lengths of time. The motion picture
association of America (MPAA) states that all trailers should not be longer
than two minutes and thirty seconds. Our
trailer conforms to this and would be acceptable as it is just under 2 minutes
of length, when producing the trailer we found it hard to believe that people
could produce trailers for longer than 2 minutes 30 seconds without revealing
to much about the film.
Another convention of film trailers is the use of music, in
most trailers some kind of music is used whether this being diegetic or
non-diegetic. In our trailer we have both non-diegetic and diegetic music to
conform to the conventions of trailers, we used two different non-diegetic
soundtracks which were added for numerous reasons such as: conveying the genre,
complementing the actions on screen and providing the audience with suspense
and tension. We also used diegetic sounds in the trailer when the antagonist
punches and stamps on the protagonist; we included this to add emphasis on the
violence and action which connotes the genre of the film. Aswell, as including
music, voice overs are a genre trope of trailers as they provide the
information with information. We used a voiceover at the beginning of the
trailer to inform the audience that the protagonist is a student who is going
to film their media project in an abandoned barn. Later on in the trailer,
another voice over is used as the news reporter informs the audience of the
information about the antagonist, this creates both suspense and tension.
The film trailer that we produced is for the thriller genre
meaning alongside the conventions of a trailer, we also had to meet the
conventions of a thriller. This was particularly easy as last year’s coursework
was based on thriller openings meaning we already had a broad knowledge on the
conventions, however, as it is a trailer not all of the conventions need to be
displayed. The main convention of the thriller genre that needs to be
considered in trailers is:
·
Suspense and Tension
Throughout thrillers there is a clear sense of suspense and
tension which is displayed in many ways:
1. The
music adds suspense and tension to the actions onscreen
2. Camera
Angles
a.
Close Up
b.
High Angle Shot
c.
Zoom Out
3. B-Roll
Footage – As it is a trailer we used B-Roll footage throughout, some of this
footage conveys suspense and tension throughout
a.
High Voltage Sign
b.
Antagonist walking banging metal rod
c.
Barbed Wire
4. Torture
Scene – The whole of this scene provides the audience with both suspense and
tension
5. Characters
– The protagonist is an ordinary person who is affected by unusual events
·
Protagonist vs Antagonist
Most thrillers contain an aspect of Protagonist vs
Antagonist and this holds most of the storyline/plot. Through our trailer there
is a clear distinguish between the antagonist and the protagonist, however,
during the trailer it is heavily dominated by the forceful antagonist.
Aswell as creating a film trailer we also created both a
film magazine cover and a film poster for our film. This meant that we had to
research the conventions of these so we could recreate a professional
representation of these. Firstly, the
film magazine conformed too many of the conventions of a typical magazine
cover. We used a famous magazine as a template ‘Empire’ and followed the
conventions and layout of their front covers. We included most aspects that are
typically included on the front cover:
·
Title of the feature film
·
Puff
·
Main Image
·
Sub Topics
·
Barcode
·
Main Kicker
This is just some of the conventional features that can be
seen on a magazine front cover.
In addition, our film poster also conforms to the
stereotypical poster as it contains all the generic features:
·
Slogan
·
Main Image
·
Film Title
·
Main Actors
·
Credits
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