Freelance Whales - Dig Into Waves by Freelance Whales
This is the music, I found on www.unsignedunleashed.com I thought we could include similar upbeat music to stand out as romantic drama trailer.
As we are not allowed to use copyright music, this website gives different variety of unsigned artists, bands and styles. Another website I came across, here is the link below:
www.leedsindieradio.net
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Friday, 28 September 2012
Film Title Ideas& Last Decision
We have been looking at variety of trailers, posters and listening musics to get inspired for what will be the film title. We wanted it to be original, a title that would immediately reflect the genre of the film to the audience. We also asked the age group under 25, which title they would prefer and when heard, will be interested to go and see the film.
1) Once and again
2) Too Close
3) Soulmate
4) Out of the Picture
5) 15 Years
The most competing and appealing titles were Once&Again and 15 Years. Overall, the title Once and Again has been voted the best by many people. While researching and getting inspired, we tried to mix the words we come up with, in order to see if we could form new film titles. Here is our try below:
1) Once and again
2) Too Close
3) Soulmate
4) Out of the Picture
5) 15 Years
The most competing and appealing titles were Once&Again and 15 Years. Overall, the title Once and Again has been voted the best by many people. While researching and getting inspired, we tried to mix the words we come up with, in order to see if we could form new film titles. Here is our try below:
Target Audience: Prezi
Here is the prezi that I included couple of brief ideas about the target audience and the 'niche' factors when watching the film or the trailer, how people are influenced by the technology, quality , detail, reviews, posters, locations and many more.
Target Audience
What different 'tribes' of youth may be especially interested in your film?
Ideally we hope that our film would appeal to all sorts of different 'tribes', but this will probably not be the case. We have thought of several reasons why some 'tribes' may be especially interested in our film whilst other 'tribes' would not be. We have decided to brainstorm our ideas in this spider diagram.
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Poster influences: Titanic and The Reader
We are already thinking about possible things to put on our poster and what we would want it to be like. These two posters of titanic tell the audience what the genre of the film is as well as giving/ hinting what the storyline is. For example, without having watching the film I can tell that this is a romantic drama where the boy and the girl cannot be together because something is in their way and this could be something to do with the ship. From the poster we are told that the ship is significant in this film. Another engaging feature which is only on the first poster is when it says ' Nothing on earth could come between them'. This is in a way ironic as this statement is on the ship and it may be the ship that actually gets in their way. This is a very enticing technique to use on a poster that draws in more of an audience which we would like to possibly include in our poster. As a result in my opinion,the first poster has more of a connection with the audience. As we are now mostly sure of the storyline of our trailer and have a more vivid idea of the characters that we are going to include, looking at these two posters of Titanic not only help us to get some more ideas but help to develop the ideas that we already have.
We also looked at the poster for the film called 'The Reader'. This poster influenced us in different ways. How the first poster is set out is like it is telling a story which is different from a lot of the other posters we have seen, this follows an unconventional look for romantic posters.Generally, a typical romance poster would be the two main characters hugging or near to each other with the background being white with a heart there or some sort of symbolisation of romance. We also thought that the use of the question at the top of the poster was very eye-catching as it says 'How far would you go to protect a secret?' this is a key feature that I believe plays a hand in getting a wider audience appeal as the poster is what we see first before the trailer therefore, this will introduce us to watch the trailer. Just from looking at the poster and without watching the film, I can already tell that the two are drawn together by maybe a physical attraction but this may be forbidden.The second poster is presented a little more ambiguously in terms of the storyline/plot compared to the first poster, even though, we can tell that the genre is obviously romance the poster doesn't seem to be giving much else away. In terms of which poster influenced us more, I would say the first one as we are looking for different and unique ideas as opposed to the typical or traditional ideas and the first poster gives us this.
Target Audience
Which of the four quadrant (s) would your film appeal to?
We want our film to be mainstream, although, a romance film may not appeal to everyone especially males. Though, our film will probably appeal to a specialised, niche audience of younger females, even though, it could be argued that our film could also be targeted at younger males. As a result of this our film will fit in to the younger females category which will typically be under 25. However, as we have been thinking about our trailer structure and the ending, we dont want to do a typical romance trailer with a fairytale happy ending as we want to stand out. Consequently, this will lower our target audience range to 15-19 year olds. Although, we have thought about the fact that romance films seem to be a common genre of film to watch with (teenage) couples as sometimes you will find that the girl wants to watch the romance film so the boy gets dragged along.
When we think of romance we immediately think of passion, love, emotions etc. This is why romance films are typically related to females instead on males. Films such as, Titanic shows that this is not always the case as Titanic had and still has a very broad audience including all four quadrants, which are: Older females (<25), younger females (>25), younger males (>25) and lastly older males (<25). Out of all four of these quadrants I would say the older males quadrant is the least popular.
Are there any other audience groups that your film may appeal to?
As we have decided that the main target audience for our film will be females between the ages of 15-19 years old as well as the fact that our film has a specific appeal. As our film is not a typical romance film it may not attract a big or even broad audience such as, The audience Titanic recieved. In addition, to the fact that our film will be British instituted, it will still have majority of audience from another country, for example, even though Titanic is an American film it appealed to British and many other countries. As a way to get more ideas about the target audience for our film, I handed out questionnaires to various people of different ages and genders. These were the questionnaires from a young female under 25, an older female over 25, a male under 25 and lastly a male over 25:
Would your film be limited to a UK audience or might it have a global appeal?
In my opinion the storyline of our film is something that could become universal as there are many films with similar story lines that have been very successful leading it to be quite universal such as, Pride and Prejudice. We hope to incorporate factors that we have seen in other trailers to have a global appeal such as, interesting titles popping up every now and then or an interesting voice-over. For example, the first 24 seconds of the trailer for the film 'The Notebook' show how well a voice over can work in a romance trailer:
Even though, many people may like the conventional happy ending especially in a romance film, where the main characters the girl and the boy end up living happily together, certain films such as Titanic proves that this is not always the case as the film has a very global appeal, as many people in other countries would have watched Titanic and even if they hadn't, they would have known what its about or have some idea since it has become such a universal film. This is part of a review by Harriet Matthews for the Titanic :
Titanic has become arguably the most successful, durable and best-loved film in the world because of three essential points: it was based on a real historical event in which real people were involved; it showcased some epic CGI of gargantuan proportions and it told the personal stories of the people on the ship, rather than just the story of the ship
itself.
We hope to make our film global however, since we are thinking about going down a different route this might mean fewer audience. Even though, this is an example of the fact that going down a different route is not always dangerous, this does not necessarily mean that it will be the same for other films similar to Titanic to get a global appeal. As a result, I think that our film will be limited to a niche UK audience.
We want our film to be mainstream, although, a romance film may not appeal to everyone especially males. Though, our film will probably appeal to a specialised, niche audience of younger females, even though, it could be argued that our film could also be targeted at younger males. As a result of this our film will fit in to the younger females category which will typically be under 25. However, as we have been thinking about our trailer structure and the ending, we dont want to do a typical romance trailer with a fairytale happy ending as we want to stand out. Consequently, this will lower our target audience range to 15-19 year olds. Although, we have thought about the fact that romance films seem to be a common genre of film to watch with (teenage) couples as sometimes you will find that the girl wants to watch the romance film so the boy gets dragged along.
When we think of romance we immediately think of passion, love, emotions etc. This is why romance films are typically related to females instead on males. Films such as, Titanic shows that this is not always the case as Titanic had and still has a very broad audience including all four quadrants, which are: Older females (<25), younger females (>25), younger males (>25) and lastly older males (<25). Out of all four of these quadrants I would say the older males quadrant is the least popular.
Are there any other audience groups that your film may appeal to?
As we have decided that the main target audience for our film will be females between the ages of 15-19 years old as well as the fact that our film has a specific appeal. As our film is not a typical romance film it may not attract a big or even broad audience such as, The audience Titanic recieved. In addition, to the fact that our film will be British instituted, it will still have majority of audience from another country, for example, even though Titanic is an American film it appealed to British and many other countries. As a way to get more ideas about the target audience for our film, I handed out questionnaires to various people of different ages and genders. These were the questionnaires from a young female under 25, an older female over 25, a male under 25 and lastly a male over 25:
Would your film be limited to a UK audience or might it have a global appeal?
In my opinion the storyline of our film is something that could become universal as there are many films with similar story lines that have been very successful leading it to be quite universal such as, Pride and Prejudice. We hope to incorporate factors that we have seen in other trailers to have a global appeal such as, interesting titles popping up every now and then or an interesting voice-over. For example, the first 24 seconds of the trailer for the film 'The Notebook' show how well a voice over can work in a romance trailer:
Even though, many people may like the conventional happy ending especially in a romance film, where the main characters the girl and the boy end up living happily together, certain films such as Titanic proves that this is not always the case as the film has a very global appeal, as many people in other countries would have watched Titanic and even if they hadn't, they would have known what its about or have some idea since it has become such a universal film. This is part of a review by Harriet Matthews for the Titanic :
Titanic has become arguably the most successful, durable and best-loved film in the world because of three essential points: it was based on a real historical event in which real people were involved; it showcased some epic CGI of gargantuan proportions and it told the personal stories of the people on the ship, rather than just the story of the ship
itself.
We hope to make our film global however, since we are thinking about going down a different route this might mean fewer audience. Even though, this is an example of the fact that going down a different route is not always dangerous, this does not necessarily mean that it will be the same for other films similar to Titanic to get a global appeal. As a result, I think that our film will be limited to a niche UK audience.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Production Logo Ideas
I think that Spotlight Production is a very general production name as it doesn't limit itself or the film produced to one specific genre. It has that global appeal such as using the heart of the centre stage, spotlight. Many production logos that we looked at that inspired us to stick with a simple logo but also having that wow factor which appeals to worldwide audience. It is very beneficial and good point, I think that it doesn't rely on to any specific genre or audience, this picture attracts the viewers instantly as they are watching the trailer. For instance, looking at Universal's planet logos that improves to change every year, with the following new technologies, is a beneficial example and inspires us to be more creative and open minded.
Although, it could be risky to have this type of logo, as we would like our trailer to be noticed most of time rather than the production logo. However, saying this, it might turn out to work very well, we will just have to see. I will soon be posting more ideas and templates of our animated logo. Trying those different steps will help us , so that we are sure whether it would work or not. One of the ideas we have is to have dark background, the light as yellow and the spotlight will be the focus as our production name immediately appears following that sudden action which we believe, will catch viewers attention.
Although, it could be risky to have this type of logo, as we would like our trailer to be noticed most of time rather than the production logo. However, saying this, it might turn out to work very well, we will just have to see. I will soon be posting more ideas and templates of our animated logo. Trying those different steps will help us , so that we are sure whether it would work or not. One of the ideas we have is to have dark background, the light as yellow and the spotlight will be the focus as our production name immediately appears following that sudden action which we believe, will catch viewers attention.
Blog feedback
Here is our first blog feedback and we are very happy with our first grade B\B-. We gave big attention to those suggested areas of improvement and hopefully we will continue to improve throughout the blog and challenge ourselves to achieve the grade A.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Influences:She's the Man
Even though, 'She's the Man' is a comedy and the trailer we plan to do is a romance film with possibly a sub-genre of drama, the trailer structure is quite unique and interesting. The beginning of the trailer is quite typical in the fact that the production logo appears first, although, this is done in a fast take then goes straight to the action; as our film is a romance film the fact that there are fast takes may not be ideal for our genre but as it does not waste any time and goes straight into the action is something to consider using in our trailer.
Furthermore, I also like the fact that there is a kind of love triangle with different groups of people, within the film and in the trailer this is used to interest the audience further as this is highlighted when the different characters name show up on the screen repeatedly as the trailer is re-telling us this , for example, 'Duke likes Olivia but Olivia like Sebastian and Sebastian (whose really Viola) likes Duke'. This is shown in the middle of the trailer, hinting if not telling us what the main storyline of the film is going to be.
Lastly, I like how the title appears at the end of the trailer after telling the whole story.After the title appears there is another scene of the character, Viola, that reiterates
Furthermore, I also like the fact that there is a kind of love triangle with different groups of people, within the film and in the trailer this is used to interest the audience further as this is highlighted when the different characters name show up on the screen repeatedly as the trailer is re-telling us this , for example, 'Duke likes Olivia but Olivia like Sebastian and Sebastian (whose really Viola) likes Duke'. This is shown in the middle of the trailer, hinting if not telling us what the main storyline of the film is going to be.
Lastly, I like how the title appears at the end of the trailer after telling the whole story.After the title appears there is another scene of the character, Viola, that reiterates
Friday, 21 September 2012
Synopsis
Before writing the full synopsis for our film we thought about many things such as, the characters and the props that we would use. At the same time some of our ideas changed about the storyline, for example, we thought about Alex dying at the end of the film rather than Claire to break the filming rules and to be original as the girl dying is a common feature of romance films, we also thought about Stella dying at the end though we are still currently thinking about this. Even though, we are writing the storyline we also thought about camera shots that we could include in particular scenes in the trailer, for example, when the picture falls out of Alex's book there will be an extreme close-up of the picture. We initially thought about ending our synopsis with a question such as, will Stella let Alex slip out of her hands? or will Alex and Claire finally have a happy ending? After getting some feedback from our awesome teachers we realised that this ending is a bit too simplistic so changed it to an ending that is more likely to leave the audience on the edge of their seats. Here is the synopsis that we came up with in the end:
Childhood friends Alex and Claire gets separated as Claire's father finds a better job out of the town. Claire leaves her favourite book behind for Alex to keep. This book is their faith, as the chapter goes on, it brings them closer together. Years later, they meet again. However, Alex is lost in his world of love between Stella; his girlfriend and the childhood love, Claire. Stella is very in love with Alex that she is ready to destroy everyone who gets in her way; she tries to harm Claire. Alex finally sees Stella's true colours, all three characters are stuck in relationship with devastating consequences. Stella can't cope in this love triangle and as she runs away, she gets involved in an accident. The death of Stella puts a barrier between Alex and Claire and now they cannot be together, the chapter comes into an end.
Childhood friends Alex and Claire gets separated as Claire's father finds a better job out of the town. Claire leaves her favourite book behind for Alex to keep. This book is their faith, as the chapter goes on, it brings them closer together. Years later, they meet again. However, Alex is lost in his world of love between Stella; his girlfriend and the childhood love, Claire. Stella is very in love with Alex that she is ready to destroy everyone who gets in her way; she tries to harm Claire. Alex finally sees Stella's true colours, all three characters are stuck in relationship with devastating consequences. Stella can't cope in this love triangle and as she runs away, she gets involved in an accident. The death of Stella puts a barrier between Alex and Claire and now they cannot be together, the chapter comes into an end.
Influence: The Vow (2012)
Inspiration: Be Near Me
When watching videos from Vimeo, I came across this lovely short film, which was shot using an Arriflex 235 camera on Kodak. It clearly illustrates emotions and immediately effects the audience in a short period of time, just in 1 minute 20 seconds. This short film is based on Tennyson verse and is produced by John X. Carey. The beginning scene has inspired me the most as we could see close up shot of characters' feet, two of them walking and back to another extreme close up of their hands. There is an effective use of non-diegetic sound(the girl laughing) appears to seem like diegetic. It instantly reveals the genre and shows that the film is about love and they are the main characters of the film. I thought that it would be a very good opening to our trailer with quick cuts.
Also, I love the way they used sound and visual effects of the thunder and the plane, because the audience could sense that this is the turning point of the scene from very loved up couple to darkness and mystery.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Influences: Ask Tesadufleri Sever
Prior to writing the synopsis of our film,we looked at a number of different posters that may suit a romance film. Although, we weren't sure of the storyline of our trailer we had a rough idea of what kind of characters that we would need and a starting point for our trailer. We decided to use the concept of two childhood best friends meeting once again later on in life. The posters above (which is from a Turkish film) helped to give us some ideas that we would like to change and make our own as well as to further them; the first two posters show the two characters as childhood friends who loss contact and met later on in life and fell in love, which relates very much to our genre. The last poster is in the shape of a heart with pictures of memories surrounding the heart which again shows you how they grew up together but somewhere along the way lost contact and met later on in life and fell in love. From all three of this posters we can instantly tell that they are romance films. Furthermore, we can already start to tell what some of the plot may be. This is an interesting as well as engaging feature of these posters which we intend to include in ours.
In addition to looking at the posters, we also looked at the trailer. The trailer helped us think about the other features that we could add such as, a voice-over, it also helped us think about the setting of where our trailer can be filmed. Moreover, we got some ideas for the plot of our film, for example, childhood best friends lose contact and later on in life they meet again and fall in love. This also made us think about the sub-genre that we may include such as, drama, so one of the characters may be faced with death at the end, although, we are still thinking of what sub-genre to include even if it might be drama how would we include this?
Looking at the trailer also helped us to think about what soundtracks to use in, for example, in this trailer they used a soft melodious soundtrack to convey the genre of romance. We also thought about how we can build suspense or tension in our trailer as it comes to an end to leave the audience on a cliffhanger so that they would have no choice but to watch the film. So for example, when we are trying to build tension/suspense we would maybe include some fast takes with the soundtrack getting a bit faster or louder.
Monday, 17 September 2012
Influences: One day
When researching, I found the trailer of 'One Day' and I have seen the film which I thought that the storyline was very sad. It has that romantic drama feel to the film, which extreme events occur at the end of the film sudden and very unexpected. As I was watching the trailer of the film, I came across an editing technique which is unique that we could include similar type of editing to make our trailer look more realistic and also different than the other trailers so it would hopefully stand out. From 1:43 until the end of the trailer, when introducing the actors they have put the scenes Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) seperate&together into photograph frames which I adore and think it's clever.
I will discuss the idea with Dolapo and I truly hope she agrees with me that this will be one of these elegant touches that could turn it into something better than good as what we are aiming is to take risks but to show that it will be worth it...
I will discuss the idea with Dolapo and I truly hope she agrees with me that this will be one of these elegant touches that could turn it into something better than good as what we are aiming is to take risks but to show that it will be worth it...
Thursday, 13 September 2012
25 Word Pitch
A modern day story of serendipity; childhood friendship turns into unconditional and thrilling love.
But do they know what's awaiting them...
When deciding to write the pitch, we had lots of ideas to include in the trailer and felt that we had enough time to produce an effective 25 word pitch to sell to the targeted audience.We also watched a few romance trailers to get some ideas and influences that we could possibly use in our trailer but we would make our own original. Our significant points were not giving away the storyline however, hinting the plot so that the viewers are left in suspense.
But do they know what's awaiting them...
When deciding to write the pitch, we had lots of ideas to include in the trailer and felt that we had enough time to produce an effective 25 word pitch to sell to the targeted audience.We also watched a few romance trailers to get some ideas and influences that we could possibly use in our trailer but we would make our own original. Our significant points were not giving away the storyline however, hinting the plot so that the viewers are left in suspense.
Mood board
On my moodboard i included all my ideas when I think about romance as well as some of my influences in making my trailer. I hope to develop these ideas further.
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Prezi Mood Board- Mimoza
This is my mood board on prezi. I tried to include things that came first on my mind when using the words Love, Romance and friendship. Some of the film posters from Titanic, Notebook etc have inspired me. I am hoping to improve these ideas and key images to apply similar scenes to our trailer.
Initial Ideas
This initial ideas mind map include the things we discussed together in the group. I have taken advice and chosen to make a mind map about our ideas at it is a better way of organising and planning everything clearly. As we are still adding to our ideas, we will continue to upgrade this list. We came up at a final decision though that we will choose the genre, Romance for our A2 trailer.
What is a teasar trailer?
A teaser trailer is a short film used to advertise an upcoming film, television programme or product. Usually a teaser trailer lasts between half a minute to a minute long, focuses on grabbing audiences attention and tease the viewers to watch more of the film.A theatrical trailer - is usually 2 minutes 30 seconds long and it's more or less a condensed version of the entire movie with the ending left out. Most of the spots you see on TV are 30-60 second versions of the theatrical trailers. When looking at examples of teaser trailers we focused mainly on six examples:
- The Master: One particular feature in this film is the use of digetic sound at the start, where it opens with a character banging on the table and this editing continues throughout the trailer . This helps to build up suspense as well as to signify an upcoming danger because as the scene goes on the banging rhythm increases its tempo and abruptly stops towards the very end of the trailer. Additionally, there is a piece of ambient sound being played which tells us what the genre of the film will be without literally saying what the genre will be. The voiceover in this trailer later turns into a speech that the elderly male character is giving . This shows, the speech of the elderly male character, hinting the hidden storyline. Titles do not often appear except for at the beginning when the production logo is shown. Another aspect of this trailer which is similar to the other trailer is that the title of the film tends to appear at the end of the trailer. The font, keeps in with the theme as from the trailer,it seems like there are political issues that have maybe gotten out of hand, the title are simple and the words itself are to attract you.
Looper: The trailer begins with an extreme close-up of the watch as the voice over of the young male character says, 'Time travel has not yet been invented' which is also the opening line of the film, this has great effect on what will be shown within next scenes as well as hinting the key images and events of the film. Flashing the key images and which also helps to convey the genre of action but also fulfilling the purpose of a teaser trailer which is to entice and bring the audience in suggest viewers will remember images shown and also titles. The title helps to convey the genre as well as the excitement and fast pace of the trailer. The colour of the title is vibrant and this is accompanied by the piece of diegetic sound being played in addition to the fact that the title fades off the screen emphasising the action and excitement of the trailer. After the title it also shows the month that it is coming out, this helps to convince the audience to go and watch the film when it comes out as they have teased the audience showing us all the thrilling and action to continue if only we attend to the cinema in September. Overall, we think the trailer is extremely effective, even though, it is quite typical of an action trailer it still does work by engaging the target audience. 
- Robocop: This is an unusual trailer in the form of an advert which has no story line, no characters, titles or credits. Although, this is the case, trailer still engages the audience as it has all the characteristics of a good advertisement therefore, attracts the audience as well as the fact that it is an unique type of trailer. The titles seem quite boring as at a first glance viewers would want to see something different and unique as well as something on the edge that shocks or surprises them. The titles are also written with a metallic,harsh font style.
We think unlike the other five, this trailer could be quite problematic as it is risky to work with this kind of trailer. Although, it may engage the audience in its unusual way, it again seems quite simple and its not crystal clear what the genre is and who's the targeted audience.
- Human Centipede 2: Human Centipede has a unique trailer as it includes people watching the film and their reactions instead of showing clips of the film itself. The way titles used are very effective in a different way because of being 'banned to screen in most of the cinemas'. But saying this, it creates an adrenaline rush to go and watch the film although it is illegal. This technique actually works and instantly catches viewers attention as it might feel very addicting and thrilling to see the film and horror themselves. From the beginning, where the production logo appears, diegetic sound creates a scary and omnious atmosphere.
The fact that the beginning of the film after the production logo is taken from a low angle as well as the fact that the production logo is actually on the side of the van, helps to create an eerie atmosphere attracting us more to watch. Unlike the other trailers, this trailer has quotes that flashes quite often, helping to create a frightening setting as well as the fact that the colour/background of the clips are dark and scary. However, trailer is somewhat problematic as might not be suitable for everyone. For example some people will choose to just ignore the trailer as it does not have a proper, clear storyline.- The Campaign: This is typical trailer for a comedy film and it includes mostly, the funny clips nevertheless it still fulfils its purpose in effecting the audience. It begins with the production logo which has vibrant colours, immediately letting the audience know the genre of this trailer. Titles often occur in the trailer with colours being red conveying the humour aspect of the trailer ; The titles on its own tell the story within the trailer. The trailer contains quite long takes. This is an effective trailer as it engages, interests and moreover makes audience to focus deeply which is the exact goal of a teaser trailer.
There are a few aspects of all the six trailers that they have in common:
- A voice-over: This type of sound reminds us to listen and feel every emotion of the scene that is reflected, represented and it engages us more as although, it is quite a common feature. However, when used helps in making the trailer more interesting and elegant.
- Ambient: This helps to set the mood in the trailers, so from the beginning, the audience will be able to tell if this is going to be sub-genre; action comedy, rom com or etc...(for any film).
- Titles appearing at the end of the trailer: This is an interesting, quirky feature as we believe it acts as the conclusion to the trailer for the audience. Showing that is what your in for and this is the title if you come to see it in cinemas.
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