My partner and I decided on names for our production. 'Blue Arrow' and 'Purple Reel' were the two production names, and 'LCA Films' and 'Black Tape Films' were two names that we decided on for our ident. From this, we decided to ask our targeted audience which name they thought was best. From the vote, you can see that the decided production company name was 'Blue Arrow' and our ident name was 'Black Tape Films'.
This is one of the most famous pieces of score music, from the series 'Harry Potter'. This soundtrack is from 'Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone' known as 'Hedwig's Theme'. The soundtrack was composed by John Williams who scored the first three Harry Potter films. This soundtrack was featured in the prologue, until it was then used in the end credits.
This piece of music is well known for its pacy, rhythmic and magical sounding tune. Originally the score was created for Harry's pet snowy owl, named Hedwig. However the use of the scored music throughout the film captures the mystery of what the character, Harry would have felt like finding out that he belonged to a world full of magic, wizards and witches.
The film score is played mainly in an E minor key. Williams plays this tune in 6 bars, had there been a seventh the music would have been in the realm of the ordinary. Therefore, by substituting the F# with F, and the A with A#, Williams is able to create a chord which cannot be completely explained, just like a wizard's magic.
Although this scored music may not be present in the entire Harry Potter squeal there are a few that contain this music in either their trailer, throughout the film or during the end credits, for example: The Philosopher Stone, The Chamber of Secrets and The Goblet of Fire. These are just a few of the films in the sequel.
For our film trailer we have had to find a piece of music that has already been created, as we have neither the time nor the equipment to create our own. Although this saves us time, some time will obviously be spent researching and listening to different music to ensure that our chosen soundtrack fits well with our chosen genre and also, enhances the action on screen. Our soundtrack choice will be similar to this film score, a piece of music that is upbeat and engaging to an audience.
Before the 30's all film productions were silent. As the
years progressed music was then added to films to make them more interesting
and to heighten the experience for the audience who were engaging within the
media product.
During the 50's when Jazz music was introduced the music
score that was placed in films had changed. Because of this it was less
expensive for musicians as an entire orchestra was no longer needed. This
continued through to the 60's.
Current score writers such as John Williams still use these
techniques.
Within the 80's and 90's it became possible for the first
time for a single composer to produce an entire scored piece of music because
they used a synthesizer to produce the many sounds of the instruments.
With todays technology, we are able to create film scores
that contribute to the movies plot to enhance the film and make it more
engaging. Additionally, the film scores that are added to different media
products convey different emotions for the audience and enhance the genre, e.g,
satirical, horror or fantasy.
Elements of Film Score:
TEMP TRACKS - A temp track is a film score which already exists and is
used during film production during editing it acts as guidance for the mood or
atmosphere.
Film score composers are sometimes asked to imitate a
specific composer or style in their temp track. Some directors prefer temp
scores so much that they decided to use the temp score instead and reject the
original score written by the film composers.
STRUCTURE - Films have different themes depending on the type of
character they are, the event or even the story line. Therefore the way the
music is played varies, for example, scattered amongst identical music.
SCORE MUSIC - A majority of films have around 40 to 120 minutes of music
in their production. However, some films have little or no music within their
film, or others may have music running throughout.
People aged 15-24 had the highest proportion of admissions for cinema viewings in 2015. This means that we will try to aim our trailer at this age group as it means that our film would have a better chance at being viewed when it would come out at the cinema. As well as this 'comedies and action films appealed most to 15-24 year olds' with movies such as Godzilla and 22 Jump Street. This means that the genre that we have chosen fits this age group well and it will most likely attract their attention so they will be more likely to watch our film in cinemas. However, action films were the most popular genre among 25-34 year olds, with releases such as Edge of Tomorrow and Dracula Untold. This means that when creating our film trailer, we must be aware that teenagers/young adults are not the only age group that will be attracted to it. We may perhaps include older actors so that people aged 25-34 can also be drawn in by our film and relate to it so that they will be more inclined to watch it.
The film that was most popular among 15-24 year olds was 22 Jump Street, which was a hybrid film including action, comedy, and crime. This is useful because it shows that action is a favoured genre among this age group. The film that was most popular among 25-34 year olds was The Wolf of Wall Street, which is not an action film. This shows that although action was the lead genre among this age group, they are still attracted to other genres. Therefore, we must make sure to make our film trailer unique and stand out so that our target audience would choose it over other genres.
Gender
Male viewers made up 53% of total cinema-goers in 2015, which means that since our film trailer will be aimed at males, we have a higher chance of our film being seen and favoured in cinemas. One of the most popular films viewed for males in 2015 was Fury. This is a primarily action film, which is evidence for the fact that males watch action films more than females, especially because the most viewed film for females was What We Did on Our Holiday, which is a comedy, drama film. Therefore there is a clear difference to what genres these two genders preference. This is the main reason why we will try our best to aim our film trailer to males by following the codes and conventions of action film trailers as best as we can.
Social group
Our target audience will mainly be included in the social group DE (Semi-skilled & unskilled manual occupations, Unemployed and lowest grade occupations) because they will most likely still be in education or be in basic jobs because of their ages. One of the most popular films among this category was Dracula Untold, which is another action genre film. This means that, again, we will aim our trailer to this social group because it will give us a better chance at attracting our target audience. However, there may also be a chance that some of our audience are in the C2 social group because we are trying to appeal to 25-34 year olds, who may have skilled jobs already.
Overall, this research tells us that our target audience should be males ages 15-34 in the DE social group because they are the viewers who favoured the action genre in cinemas in 2015 according to the BBFC. It also tells us that our trailer would be effective in cinemas because trailers are shown in cinemas alongside a film of a similar genre. This means that the audience watching the film will also find the trailers appealing. Therefore, our target audience would end up seeing our trailer in cinemas. However, we must also take into account that visiting the cinema is becoming less common, and the use of more illegal downloading and streaming is becoming more popular. Therefore, we are more likely to promote our trailer on social media platforms such as adverts and Youtube videos as well as in cinemas.
The film trailer I have chosen to analyse is 'The Shallows' which is due to release in the US on the 29th June, and in the UK on the 12th August, 2016.
The film is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film stars Blake Lively (who is a bankable A-List star, who could be said to be the unique selling point of the film), Brett Cullen and Oscar Jaenada.
The film is a combination of genres, such as, Drama, Thriller and Horror, these genres are reinforced throughout the media product.
The establishing shot is an extreme long shot of an island framed from a high angle. The trailer introduces the audience to an island which could be described as 'paradise'. The camera pans over the island with the use of a crane, during this there is a build up of non-diegetic music which formulates into a crescendo, after which, the camera then flash cuts into a black screen. Around this point there are three flash cuts over a 9 second period this builds up tension as things begin to be developing rapidly. The sound of the music within the background enhances this tension because it sounds mysterious.
The three flash cuts show the show the surroundings, this allows the audience to be familiar with the setting and get an idea of the location. The location is a very beautiful one and gives the impression that it is a place where only good things can happen, but the non-diegetic music creates an undertone of something negative happen, it creates a sense of foreboding.
The master shot of the trailer is the protagonist (Blake Lively) preparing herself to enter the sea. We are aware that she is the protagonist because they are usually the people who are shown first within the sequence, this is for advertisement reasons, in order to attract potential audiences.
She has
During this sequence there is a non-diegetic, synchronous dialogue which says 'learning to be self reliant takes time and hard work'. This foreshadows the rest of the trailer..
As mentioned in my introduction, the different genres are reinforced, for example, the genre 'Horror' is reinforced through the practically desolate island.
The thriller genre is reinforced by the constant long shots of the ocean, (there are three shots of the ocean before the protagonist is shown entering the ocean). This highlights to the audience that the protagonist is entering the unknown, as the ocean is shown as a vast area compared to her, she is tiny, this then further reinforces this idea of a thriller, it makes the audience feel tense and anxious because they are unaware of what is going to happen to her.
The camera then cuts to a wide, long shot of the protagonist, she looks very athletic in the shot and and also appealing, this reinforces 'Laura Mulvey's, The Male Gaze' whereby women are portrayed as something nice to look at for males. At this point, for about 26 seconds, the different shots are shown in slow motion. In this shot, the protagonist is framed in a wide close up. The close up allows us to see how the character is feeling. She appears to be happy and looks optimistic as she believes that she is about to have an good surfing trip. The slow motion allows us to see this.
Upon 'Blake Lively' entering the ocean, the pace of the music builds up, which is typical of a thriller/horror film as it reflects that something negative is going to happen. After this a series of shots show the protagonist in the ocean, surfing. She appears to be at peace. However, the thriller genre is further highlighted and reinforced due to the pace of the trailer, it begins to slow down as the protagonist enters the ocean. The protagonist looks at a wave, observing it before finally deciding to ride it, this creates a sense of foreshadowing. This is because, in the next shot we are shown the protagonist riding the wave which makes the nce the dark shiloutted figure of what is clearly a shark appears admits the large wave which the protagonist is surfing across, enigma is immediately created and the genre horror and thriller are both bought about. At this point there are roughly 7 flash cuts that change into differen images
as we are shown the protagonist stranded, in the middle of the ocean by herself with only herself to rely on in order to survive.
At the end of the trailer, the music becomes more intense and amplified, however the editing is a lot slower as the transitions between the title and release date are slower. The Title 'The Shallows' Fades into the release date of the film (June 29th)
The target audience for action films are primarily male.
This is because they generally tend to involve violence, which stereo typically
attracts a male audience. As well as this, teenagers are also a main target
because of the fact that action films include a lot of combat, which would
thrill the audience and cause excitement for young people as they tend to enjoy
adrenaline rushes.
Our audience will most likely be either in secondary school,
sixth form, college, university, or work. This means that they may live very
busy lifestyles and may not have time to go to the cinema regularly and may
lack money to spend on such luxuries. When they do decide to go to the cinema
they will most likely go with friends who will also interested in the film,
perhaps in a small group. This means that although the main target audience of
action films are male teenagers, we should make sure to appeal to both the male
and female genders so that they are able to watch the film as a group.
We have created an ideal audience member based on our friend
Luke. We believe he is best suited for our target audience member based on
demographic segmentation, which I have explored on another post.
NAME: Luke
GENDER: Male
AGE: 17
SOCIAL: Middle class
RACE: White
EDUCATION: Smart, average to high grades in class
Our ideal audience member would most likely go to see the
movie with a group of male friends around the same age. The movie would most
likely be released during a school break (Christmas/Easter/Summer holidays) so
that he would have free time to go and see the movie with his friends. He also
enjoys action films e.g. Taken and Captain America, which include a lot of
stunts, fighting scenes, and interesting locations. His favourite TV shows
include 'Arrow' and 'The Flash', which are action based television shows. His
hobbies include going to the gym, playing video games, and going out with
friends.
It was very difficult for me to find what the different lighting within an action film connotes, however, from my research my partner and I were able to form a lighting mood board. It shows the different types of lighting that both Sarah and I aim to create within our trailer. Our piece is very much 'Good vs Evil', which is where our lighting mood board comes into place. When we are shown our two main characters during the state of equilibrium, the lighting will be a lot, warmer and softer to create a serene atmosphere. Having the difference in lighting will demonstrate 'Todorov's' theory and show the difference between the equilibrium and disruption. With the darker and harsher lighting, (which is shown below), this will highlight the disruption and create a contrast between scenes. However, my research also showed that this could be the other way around in other action films as there is not actually a set colour scheme, but a majority of my research showed the lighting to be this way around.
Within both mood boards you can see a clear pattern. In the first mood board, you can see that the lighting is either a natural yellow or a soft yellow colour. This indicates that the film in in a state of equilibrium, everything is calm. In addition, the second mood board is full of very deep colours, whereby, the lighting is either a cold blue or the background is black and the character is very shady looking. This type of lighting indicates that the narrative is in a state of disruption, full of problems.
The use of the blue and yellow lighting is known as either 'orange and teal' or 'teal and amber'
Furthermore, during our editing stages, we will be able to adjust the saturation and have any colour filters to then evoke different emotions from our audience members.
The establishing shot is an extreme long shot of an island framed from a high angle. The trailer introduces the audience to an island which could be described as 'paradise'. The camera pans over the island with the use of a crane, during this there is a build up of non-diegetic music which formulates into a crescendo, after which, the camera then flash cuts into a black screen. Around this point there are three flash cuts over a 9 second period this builds up tension as things begin to be developing rapidly. The sound of the music within the background enhances this tension because it sounds mysterious.
The camera then cuts to a wide, long shot of the protagonist, she looks very athletic in the shot and and also appealing, this reinforces 'Laura Mulvey's, The Male Gaze' whereby women are portrayed as something nice to look at for males. At this point, for about 26 seconds, the different shots are shown in slow motion. In this shot, the protagonist is framed in a wide close up. The close up allows us to see how the character is feeling. She appears to be happy and looks optimistic as she believes that she is about to have an good surfing trip. The slow motion allows us to see this.
nce the dark shiloutted figure of what is clearly a shark appears admits the large wave which the protagonist is surfing across, enigma is immediately created and the genre horror and thriller are both bought about. At this point there are roughly 7 flash cuts that change into differen images
