I asked for feedback on our trailer by posting the link on Facebook, YouTube and showing family and friends. Below are some extracts of the comments left;
"Thrilling and intense"
"Sound was simple and effective, great atmosphere and added to tension"
"The ending when she was closed in the boot, it was ominous and creepy"
"I really loved the white flashes throughout, it was a really good effect!"
Myself and Ellie created this transition by using the software Microsoft Powerpoint. We created two text boxes, the first one including 'F E A R' and then the other one including 'ORGET VERYTHING ND UN'. We created an animation to combine to two together and have the writing dissolve away and after that have the F E A R to increase in size to emphasize the key theme of FEAR represented in our trailer. We then set specific start times and duration of the text boxes an animation affects to run automatically. We then used quicktime to create a screen recording to video the animation. We first tried to export the powerpoint as a .MOV file, but this continued to cause error when we imported it onto iMovie. However, using quicktime and a screen recording was very straight forward and easy to use.
Some of the shots we used were intended to be seen as handheld recordings from the kidnapper, including inside the shop and walking down the street.
We included a shutter sound following the girls walking down the street, followed by a still of the shot which was slightly faded around the edge like a worn photograph. This was one of the ways that we wanted to portray the male character as a stalker who is infatuated with the girl and stalked her for a period of time before the attack.
We also used actual CCTV footage in our trailer which was taken when we filmed the actress walking out of the shop. We had finished filming inside and were moving to another location when we looked up and saw this above the door and so decided that it would be a good effect to add in. This impromptu inspiration led to one of our favourite shots from the trailer.
We decided when planning our trailer to keep the main character as a young female who has been kidnapped. Her image therefore needed to be that of a well dressed, modest teenager so we decided to style her with a pair of jeans, a black top with a frilly collar which we purchased prior to filming, and a Barbour jacket which is extremely fashionable with teenagers, who are also our target market. Her shoes were black ankle boots with silver detailing, chosen not just because they fitted with the image but also because they were sturdy enough to run in when filming the kidnap and escape scenes.
The outfits varied depending on various shots as some were set at different points in time to emphasise the fact that he spied on her prior to the kidnapping.
We kept the actresses hair down and clipped up the fringe to reveal her face, helping the audience to identify with her and feel sympathy as they were able to see her emotions clearly. Her make up became more and more smudged and worn as time progressed to highlight her distress and the fact that she had been crying and was unable to reapply any.
The male character was dressed in head to toe black; dark and unidentifiable clothing with no distinctive marks to ensure that he remained as an unknown and feared character. For the males clothing in the film opening, it was a lot easier to decide what he should wear than the girl. This is because we wanted the character to wear all black.
For each a road
For everyman a religion
Find everybody and rule
For everything and rumble
Forget everything and remember
For everything a reason
Forgive everybody and remember
For each a road
For everyman a religion
Face everybody and rule
For everything and rumble
Forget everything and remember
For everything a reason
You got the fear
You got the fear
You got the fear
You got the fear
You got the fear
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
Final eternity arouses reactions
Freeing excellence affects reality
Fallen empires are ruling
Find earth and reef
Fantastic expectations
Amazing revelations
Final execution and resurrection
Free expression as revolution
Finding everything and realizing
You got the fear
You got the fear
You got the fear
You got the fear
You got the fear
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
(Fantastic expectations
Amazing revelations
Finding everything and realizing
For everything a reason)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
F.E.A.R. (You got the fear)
You got the fear
You got the fear
You got the fear
You got the fear
Our TagLine is "Forget Everything And Run", inspired by the lyrics from this song where FEAR is the main focus. Ian Brown cleverly uses the letters in 'fear' as acronyms for each line of the song and we wanted to use this effect as it emphasises our genre, leaving the trailer in suspense and drawing the audience in further. The word play not only highlights the key emotions portrayed in the film but is also a reflection on the film, as the intelligent title foreshadows an intelligent narrative.
Before creating a website of our own for our trailer we researched existing films and their sites in order to establish ideas, presentation and key features.
Black background, writing made bold by using white and red colouring, thumbnails of multiple pictures to show a variety of shots and scenarios, options to watch trailer, view poster and see tickets and showtimes written on far right hand side with adjoining photos, tagline written under the title, 'now in cinemas'
Grey background with faded title text, film title contrasted with yellow font at the top of the screen, photos of DVD boxes and packaging in order to promote further purchase of the film, trailer to the right in centre screen, release dates written under trailer, links to pages 'watch trailer', 'special features', 'enter site' and 'buy the movie'.
We really liked the dark, eerie nature of this website, with the black base colour and three key images. The face of the main character is illuminated by a flame, with the island image and picture of the DVD placed below it. The photos have blurred edges to highlight the unknown elements within the film, and the colour us is dark and cold, including blues and blacks. The website is easy to navigate with key links and information placed in the centre of the site.
I have chosen to get the font styles from dafont.com in which I narrowed down the fonts by selecting the horror filter then looked to find which style suited our film trailer the best.
In the image to the left I liked the font 'OCTOBER CROW', however when later researching I came across the 'I STILL KNOW' font which I think works better with our film trailer. I like this font because it represents the thriller genre whilst not being to 'gory' which would suggest that the film trailer is a horror. However as we do not have aspects of blood and slasher. I like the patchy-ness in the writing as it can represent as if it has been scratched which would link together with the female character trying to escape.
Within the trailer we have decided to use the Fade to Black, Fade to White, Cross Dissolve and Cross Blur. We have used the fade to black at the beginning of the trailer as the pace is slow and the fade to black enhancing to slow pace as well as the switching between scenes. When the pace begins to increase we have used fade to white transitions as it creates immediate tension whilst providing the element of thriller and would make the audience engage more with the trailer due to the short scenes and jump cuts, the fade to white enhances this.
We have also added a dissolve cut with the shots of the girl on the swing and the award nomination credit. It creates an eerie atmosphere as we have edited the sound of the screetching swing to carry on during the footage of the award nomination credit. The dissolve transition also blends the nomination credit with the empty swing scene as well.
Within the editing process, we have decided to use the scenes of the female character in black and white to enhance the idea that these scenes are in the past, whereas the present scenes are in colour. We have decided to do this as we feel that is has more of an effect on the audience by enhancing the female characters emotions by setting the theme. The colour scenes of the male kidnapper also enhance his costume as he is wearing all black in order to connote that he is a 'baddie' and to keep his identity hidden.
The video above shows our first edit of the film trailer. This trailer edit was used in our Media Screening on the 7th February 2014, which was then evaluated by the other Year 12 and 13 Media Studies group. The Evaluation has been incorporated and analysed in another post.
Once the final film trailer has been produced we would like to compare the first edit to the final edit to see how much we have improved and progressed during the project. This first edit has been completed through the use of free periods and media lessons.
My Own Evaluation of the First Edit:
So far my favourite shot within the trailer is the first scene of the film trailer of the actress in a dark boot with the enhanced sound of her panicking in distress. This is my favourite scene because it quickly sets tension and forces the audience to engage immediately with the trailer.
I also like once the climax has happened, the slow motion shot of the actress's perspective as I feel it works well with the music as the music has an eerie high pitched sound which also causes the audience to experience the tension and also puts the audience in the actress's point of view.
Evaluation of the first edit: Ellie
I am extremely happy with the progress we have made so far, despite the obstacles we have faced. A lot of our original ideas have been changed, adapted or left out due to either not working as effectively as we would have liked or through us coming up with a better idea or method.
I'm happy with the way we build up towards the climax at the end, as this is my favourite aspect of the trailer. The fast paced quick cuts really build up tension and excitement, as well as adding confusion for the audience. This reflects the confusion of our main character who has been kidnapped yet doesn't know why by, where she is or why.
We will add more shots of her trying to escape, long and short, in order to improve the build up at the begin and add more dynamic to the climax sequence.
As we decided to use sounds from YouTube, we had to ensure they were Copyright free. The images below show the steps we followed in order to find the audio files.
In order to get the YouTube files able to be imported to iMovie to be edited to the film trailer, I had to convert the files to an MP3 first and then into iTunes on the iMacs which can then be accessed from iMovie.
I also researched sounds on Royalty Free Music but there were some issues with this website. The first issue was that in order to access the sounds legally, we would have to create an account which required payment, and as we are a low budget production company we could not afford this. The other issue was that we did not particularly find sounds that we liked and though that could relate to our film trailer themes. We also got the background sound to our film trailer from the iMovie software itself as it provides basic sound effects. However we edited the sound on garage band to make it sound darker and more eerie. The chosen sounds that we decided to use in our film trailer are linked through SOUNDCLOUD on the another post. (Click here for link to post)
The sounds in our film trailer are diegetic and non-diegetic, the non-diegetic sounds are shown on this post through SOUNDCLOUD, however the diegetic sounds included in the film trailer consist of Emily screaming at the beginning and then heavy breathing at the end whilst banging in the boot trying to escape.
I created a SOUNDCLOUD account in which to upload the sounds from YouTube and to publish them onto our blog. The sounds shown have been edited and cut and allocate to specific shots in our film trailer. For example, the SUSPENSE SOUND EFFECTS audio file has been cut into specific parts, the 2nd shot of The Apollo Productions text, the combined 'bang' has been used from this audio file.
I found these audio files from YouTube, we made sure that these were copyright free by using the Creative Commons filter on YouTube.
A trailer/preview is an advert or commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in a cinema in the future.
It is called a trailer as they used to be shown at the end of a film screening, but soon became placed before as viewers would leave after the film and not watch.
They are vital pieces of marketing for feature films, and are usually shown at the beginning of a film of a similar genre film. They are also shown on DVDs and Blu-rays, previously videos etc. They are used to attract attention to target markets on similar films.
Usually they are short and contain key conventions of the genre, such as fast paced, quick cuts and loud music for action films, etc. This amplifies the tone of the film.
The first promotional trailer was for a musical, showing the exerps of the production and raised awareness. Up until the late 1950s, film trailers were made by the National Screening Service which was contracted by film companies to create trailers for upcoming films. This lasted until the 80s.
Early trailers included short clips from the film alongside narration, a score soundtrack and screens with credits and cast run.
He was an influential trailer producer who changed the way trailers were made. The company worked for 30 years creating some of the most influential trailers for huge films and film makers of the time, including Spielburg.
1894 - Thomas Edison develops motion picture camera and projector
1897 - Hand etched slides used for on screen advertising
1904 - Commercially produced advertising slides made by Lubin Co.
1912 - First text only trailer - "What Happened to Mary"
1915 - Development of scene trailer
1916 - Paramount announces official trailer policy
1919 - National Screen Service opens in. New York
1920s saw the NSS dominate trailer production and distribution
1933 - Invention of Optical Printer
1940s - 'Golden Age' of trailers
1946 - Post WW2 ticket sales decrease
1950s NSS systems begin to become exhausted
1955 - Saul Bass develops key art concept
1963 - Pablo Ferro creates first contemporary trailer "Dr. Strangelove"
1964 - Andrew Kuhen's "Night of the Iguana" reinvents trailer making
1972 - Birth of blockbusters and TV advertising expands
1975 - "Jaws" success highlights importance of trailers
1988 - Non-linear digital editing era begins
1994 - Internet era begins and video games become large place to advertise trailers
1998 - Release of online bad mobile trailers change styles of editing, appearance, emphasis
2000 - Consumption of trailers shift from theatrical, singular and collective experience to personal, repeated and home experience
2004 - New 3D era slows pace of trailer editing style
2011 - No need for DVD release date trailer due to films being released simultaneously theatrically and to home audiences
"we’re obsessed with movie trailers. This year fans watched more than a billion on YouTube and searched for trailers three times more than in 2008. And these numbers continue to grow as studios focus film-advertising dollars online. As soon as the latest movie teaser goes live, the web freaks out. Entertainment sites like IGN and Vulture post shot-by-shot deconstructions—some outlets like Slate even have dedicated trailer critics. Fans pull scenes apart and piece them back together as YouTube parodies. And the trailer editors, along with their studio overlords, monitor comment boards for instant reactions.
In short, these previews have become a thriving industry, almost as popular as that of the movies they’re teasing. But it wasn’t always this way. To understand shifts in trailers, we watched scores of them and analyzed their defining elements: title cards, voice-overs, music, number of cuts. Condensing what we learned into usable intel was like cutting a trailer ourselves—extracting essential elements, picking the choicest bits, and ultimately getting us excited for what’s to come—an age in which ever-savvier fans demand more (and better) trailers. Because really, 2013 is just a preview of coming attractions."
I used WIRED to research a brief understanding of film trailers, the images above show some articles on the online magazine site which are available for free. I added the video which was linked to one of the articles showing a fan made trailer which was included on the 'Why fan made articles are often better than the real thing' article.
The Kill Bill volumes, both 1 and 2, tell the same storyline, with the first volume being an establishing and beginning section, whilst the second is the end part of the story. Both are directed by Quentin Tarantino and contain the same actors, providing the people in the first weren't killed.
I thought it would be interesting to continue my research and deconstructions of key sound on a sequel. Two films from the 2000s (also a sequel):
KILL BILL (Vol. 1)
-Voiceover - establishes the scene, so that the audiences understand what has happened
-SFX (weaponry or any destruction of set) - as this film is a Quentin Tarantino film, we know he likes gore, so anything weapon-based indicates that there will be action and as there is so much action in the trailer, it's likely to be the same in the film. it's also very comic book-style and subsequently widens the audience to fans of comics, too.
-Dialogue - establishes other characters
-Modern music - links us to the modern world so that it makes us try to imagine if this could happen in the real-world
- Some older music, Spanish-classical guitar - it's quite soothing and calm, meaning that there will be some calm bits, in the film
-High tempo music - returns us to the familiarly fast-paced parts of the movie, shown previously in the trailer
-Classic, catchy line which sticks in your head (closing line of dialogue) - as it sticks in your head, it will more than likely be something you remember and perhaps make you want to go and see it.
-Voiceover - establishes what has happened and where the new movie will go in terms of storyline.
-Music (Spanish classical) - again, it's quite soothing and calm, meaning that there will be some calm bits, in the film
-SFX (weaponry or any destruction of set) - as this film is a Quentin Tarantino film, we know he likes gore, so anything weapon-based indicates that there will be action and as there is so much action in the trailer, it's likely to be the same in the film. it's also very comic book-style and subsequently widens the audience to fans of comics, too.
-Voiceover - this shows who the main enemy is of the main character, played by Uma Thurman - eventhough she appears to have many enemies in both films
-Movie dialogue (played in sync with picture and over pictures as if it was a voiceover)
-Classic, catchy line which sticks in your head (closing line of dialogue) - as it sticks in your head, it will more than likely be something you remember and perhaps make you want to go and see it.
So, in summary, although they are different parts of an elongated film, they both have a very similar format in terms of sound and they both contain almost exactly the same aspects.
In the following films, I will list the key-sound that appears in order from the given film and state then what it does for the audience.
Two films from the 1990s:
SE7EN
-Dialogue - creates a sense of recognition with the audience, so that they know who the main characters are and what the main parts of speech are.
-Voiceover - creates suspense and you initially wonder who is talking until you recognise it to be Morgan Freeman and from previous roles, you know that he is more likely to be a good-guy.
-SFX (weaponry) - this shows it will be an action film, or at least have action as a sub-genre.
-Voiceover on awards - by telling the audience what awards it won, it almost feels like it's boasting but at the same time, it feels like it's someone you know telling you. Thus making the audience more enticed to go and see it, compared to maybe using some film festivals people may or may not have heard about before.
-Three gun shots - to show it's an action film or has action as a sub-genre, but it isn't totally based around the action.
-Fast paced music - creates a sense of no time to dwell on any aspect of the movie - it's going to be thrilling and perhaps adventurous.
-Dialogue - identifies the main characters, but doesn't tell you too much about the film - meaning you have to go and watch it, to see what happens.
-Slower music - shows that it's not going to be fast-paced throughout the movie and suggests the slower-paced parts of the movie may be just as important as the faster-paced ones.
-Quicker music - shows that the movie has picked up pace again and suggests it fluctuates throughout the movie.
-Gunshots - these show that there may be more than one part where there is action, but may be enough if you were an action-lover.
-Music record player needle off
music off - something makes everything come to an abrupt holt and also provides opportunity for dialogue to be heard clearly.
-Music (again) - a good way to end the trailer when fading out, and provides more interest than a plain screen with actors names on it.
-Voice over of actors names - again to boast such a well-acclaimed cast and highlight that to the audience, it also provides fans of the actors with confirmation that their idol is in the film.
-Dialogue - sets the scene and helps the audience to understand what the storyline is about
-Score (Epic, Classical Music) - helps to make the movie seem like a blockbuster (it similarly uses Ben Affleck's roles as both Director and actor as a main selling point)
-SFX (Breaking glass/Chanting) - makes it seem quite tribal, like there is going to be a struggle somewhere, presumably the venture into the unknown (we know that they do, from watching the movie or reading the plot)
-Change to normal music - makes it feel quite modern and this can be seen as a direct appeal to a younger audience as well as the older audience who already know about the true version of the story
-Cuts in time to music - help to change scenes and establish different locations and characters so that you know they may be used in the film - meaning the audience has a wider understanding of all the different areas.
-Cuts in between to writing
(name of film on magazine – the editing is so that there is a fair amount of time taken to show this shot)
-Based on a declassified/true
story - makes you want to find out about the story and see how it develops and whether the movie sticks to the real event, or not
-High tempo music - shows that it could be a fast-paced movie, it also implies that it is a thriller too
-Short Dialogue (often sets the scene or introduces characters)
-Fast paced music (slow originally, quite blues/soul orientated, late night music) - something that builds suspense, with regular pauses in between to create further suspense and show that this film will be a stop-start thrilling, perhaps horror movie
-SFX - to add extra sounds which could be out of shot. where you cant see. In a way it builds suspense as you constantly don't know who or what is following you
-Quite normal, popular music -
something an audience can relate to, with the initial music being a blues/soul piece from approximately the seventies, meaning an older audience might want to watch, too
-Cuts in time to music - shows the pace of the movie, it ends up quite fast to confuse you but show enough of the film so that you want to go and see everything that happens.
-Voiceover (slow, narrating
story/normal -paced for actors names – generally quite calm) - makes the audience feel at ease after watching a trailer with lots of suspense and almost restores equilibrium
Myself and Ellie created this transition by using the software Microsoft Powerpoint. We created two text boxes, the first one including 'F E A R' and then the other one including 'ORGET VERYTHING ND UN'. We created an animation to combine to two together and have the writing dissolve away and after that have the F E A R to increase in size to emphasize the key theme of FEAR represented in our trailer. We then set specific start times and duration of the text boxes an animation affects to run automatically. We then used quicktime to create a screen recording to video the animation. We first tried to export the powerpoint as a .MOV file, but this continued to cause error when we imported it onto iMovie. However, using quicktime and a screen recording was very straight forward and easy to use. 
In the image to the left I liked the font 'OCTOBER CROW', however when later researching I came across the 'I STILL KNOW' font which I think works better with our film trailer. I like this font because it represents the thriller genre whilst not being to 'gory' which would suggest that the film trailer is a horror. However as we do not have aspects of blood and slasher. I like the patchy-ness in the writing as it can represent as if it has been scratched which would link together with the female character trying to escape. 
