Voiceover

After gaining audience feedback on our finished trailer we found that it would be more affective to include a voice over on the trailer. This would give our video further anchorage that it is in fact a trailer and will signify the genre and plot of the trailer further.
We decided to use the main female protagonists voice as the voice over because it would give further anchorage that this is in fact her point of view and that she is key to the plot of this film/trailer.
This is the dialogue that we added:

"The definition of love is the object of warm affection or devotion. But what do you do when your love is to be with another, someone else's other. your love is to be married and it is not to you. do you runaway, do you make him sacrifice everything to be with you? Together forever or apart till death. For All I Know."

2nd Rough Cut of Teaser Trailer

Final Cut Of Teaser Trailer

Taylor Swift "Love Story" Music Video

If the video is two small please click on the video to be taken directly to the video on YouTube.

This music video gave us some rough ideas for our teaser trailer. We already had the story/plot planned out when we remembered this music video which gave us some further ideas. this music video does include some modern aspects which our trailer does not but its a similar genre and a slightly similar plot to our teaser trailer.

Storyboard

This is what our storyboard includes:

Close up of a letter

Logo

Extreme long shot of her in the woods

A Spotlighted Production

Medium shot of man

Introducing actors name

High angle her looking up to camera from floor

And Brooke Shipley

Over the shoulder shot (mans shoulder) of her laughing

Extreme long shot of her walking towards camera

Over the shoulder shot of him walking away

Medium shot of her stood outside the Hall in the dark looking sad

Text

Side angle shot of her beginning to run

Side long shot of the man and the woman’s friend opposite the woman

Extreme long shot of her with her back to the camera walking away and the man going after her and grabbing her hand

Text

Long shot rear view of her running away from the camera

Side view close up of her and him looking at each other and him touching her hair

For All I Know

Begins as long shot front view of her running towards the camera suddenly slowing until she reaches the camera – extreme close-up of her face

Coming Soon

Evaluation: How Did You Use New Media Technologies In The Construction and Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

Scribd.com

· This is a document upload site which allows you to upload word files and embed them onto your blog and other sites.

· I have used it to upload long word files which I would find hard to copy into a blog post.

· I have also used it allow the viewer to view the word document easily.

· An example of me using Scribd on my blog is my screenplay: http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/screenplay.html

YouTube

· YouTube has allowed me to look at various tears trailers and clips from period dramas which would help me with researching and planning.

· I have also used it to upload videos onto my blog by using the embedded code given on the YouTube videos information.

· An example of this is on my post about a music video that had given us inspiration to create our teaser trailer:

http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/taylor-swift-love-story-music-video.html

· YouTube allowed me to change the size of the video, the quality and change the colour and boarder of the video.

Blogger

· Blogger has allowed me to show the progression in my work over the past few months.

· This is done by me creating separate posts with work I have completed.

· I have used Blogger to upload all the written aspects of my coursework.

· I find it very easy to use and it allows me to update my work at home as well as school.

IMDB.com

· I have used IMDB for most of my research into period dramas, teaser trailers, film budgets, film settings, actors and actresses included in a film and recommended films of a similar genre.

· IMDB works like a search engine but it is classed as a database.

· IMDB has been very useful in my coursework especially for research into Period dramas. This helped for me to know the directors involved in these films, the actors/ actress’s, the budgets, the box office takings and were they filmed these films.

Photoshop

· This allowed me to edit our teaser poster, our poster and our magazine cover.

· I was able to incorporate several images into one document allowing our posters and magazine covers too include more than one image.

· With Photoshop I was also able to save my work as JPEGs which allowed me to post them on my blog.

· Some of the images used on my ancillary tasks were taken directly from our teaser trailer.

· Example of using Photoshop is our poster: http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/film-poster.html

Facebook

· Facebook has been very helpful with audience feedback of our teaser trailer.

· It allowed us to post our first rough cut onto Fcaebook to get audience feedback from our friends and family, this then allows us to improve it.

· The users of Facebook are our target audience so using this social networking site was vital and allowed us to get feedback from different people.

I Movie

· We used I Movie on the Macs at school to edit and produce our teaser trailer.

· We did find it hard to do work out of school though because neither of us in our group had a Mac at home resulting in neither of us having the appropriate software.

· I Movie also allowed us to save as a certain file type so that we were able to burn our teaser trailer onto a DVD and upload our teaser trailer onto our blogs.

· It also allowed us to use some effects in our teaser trailer.

Scanner

· We used a scanner to scan our storyboard onto the computer so that we were able to put it onto out blogs.

· An example of when i used the scanner is on this post which shows my storyboard: http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/storyboard.html

Portable Digital Sound Recorder

· We used this to record the voice over for our teaser trailer and the non diagetic music.

· This was handy because it allowed us to record in a quiet room because it was portable.

· It was easy to use and we were able to upload a few recordings onto the computer.

Camcorder

· This piece of hardware allowed us to record our teaser trailer.

· It involved using a DV tape and a tripod for shots that needed to not be shaky.

· These camcorders were easy to use and easy to transport around.

· They allowed us to shot our footage and upload the footage straight onto the software we were using ( I Movie)

Evaluation: What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

We knew that it was important to gain audience feedback in the very beginning of coming up with our first ideas for our film. This involved me and my other group member lorna coming up with our own idea for a period drama. So I created an animatic which I would gain audience feedback for and take on board. We both wanted to create a period drama and so both of us came up with our own concept/ plot for a film so that we could make a teaser trailer from it. Both our ideas were similar but different and we decided to stick with one idea because the other was too difficult to accomplish which we found out from audience feedback.
http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/anamatic.html - My animatic

After deciding the plot and genre of our teaser trailer we had to come up with a name. This we found hard because we wanted it to signify the genre of film and the time the film was set. For example the title Pride & Prejudice signifies 19^th century period drama because it is a famous novel by Jane Austen who wrote the novel in the late 18^th Century and had it published in the early 19^th Century. After researching 19^th Century sayings we found the saying “ For Aught I Know” we decided to get audience feedback on this and found that very few understood what it stood for and we found it confused the audience. We decided to change it to “For All I Know” because this is a more modern take on “For Aught I Know” but it still signifies the genre and the plot of the film which is the main female protagonist not knowing whether she will be with the man she loves, whether he is engaged to another and whether she can leave her family to be with him.

After getting some images for our teaser poster we added these to a presentation which showed our class the initial idea we had. We got positive feedback from the class about our initial idea and the picture of our main actress in character.

We then had a rough cut of our teaser trailer which we uploaded onto Facebook so that our friends and family could watch it and give us audience feedback. We uploaded it onto Facebook specifically because it had the write target audience for our film teaser trailer (12 +).

This is the feedback we got and how we addressed the negative feedback:

More anchorage to explain the plot of the film and the plot of the trailer

Our rough cut has no non diagetic music and no title cards which I think would signify that this is a teaser trailer and signify the plot of the trailer. Ideally we would have liked to have added more shots of the “love triangle” to create more drama and narrative enigma in the teaser trailer but we just didn’t have enough time.

Some shots are too dark

With trouble with shooting and our original actor backing out last minute we had very little time to shot the scenes with the main male protagonist. A few of these scenes were originally meant to be shot in the dark (the scene with the other woman and the main female protagonist running down the stairs and the main male protagonist running after her) but because we had little time and with it being winter we had to shot some scenes in the dark which we didn’t want to. Again due to the time schedule we didn’t have time to re shot these scenes and so had to make do with them. We considered starting to edit in final cut and see if we were able to lighten these shots but found we didn’t have time so we used the “wash in” transition on IMovie on the dark shots and used a “fade in” transition on the lighter shots.

Final Piece

Ideally we wanted to correct all these negative aspects of our teaser trailer but we found we just didn’t have time. We did however manage to add text which explains the plot more. We also added a voice over from the main female protagonist which is further anchorage that this is a teaser trailer. We would have also liked to have had a piano accompany the flute because the music is “Clair De Lune” which is traditionally a flute and piano accompaniment. We would have also liked to have re shot the scenes in the dark and sorted the colour change on the dress in the first shot but we just didn’t have time.

Evaluation: How Effective Is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

Our movie’s promotional poster is two photos of the main female protagonist. One picture is her about to run down some stairs which has the countryside in the background. This picture signifies the period genre of the film as her dress can be denoted as 19^th Century and the landscape can be anchorage of where the film is set. Also because she is about to run away from the place she is stood this could signify that she is running away from this certain place/ running away from her problems.

There is also the use of pathetic fallacy because the weather in the photo looks grim and dark this could represent her mood in the film. The other photo which is less prominent also signifies the time setting and is further anchorage that the main female protagonist is going to encounter hard times in this film. It is a picture from a scene at night time and as said before there is also the use of pathetic fallacy here to show the main females protagonists mood in this film. With this photo being less prominent it signifies that it has happened and is in the past, I did this by putting this photo onto a different layer, using the magnetic lasso tool to cut it into the same shape as the landscape and changing the opacity of the photo to 65%.

Her clothes also signify that she is upper middle class which may appeal to the audience and may not.

The text used on the poster is an old fashioned text which should be further anchorage of the films genre and the tag line “Sometimes Love Can’t Be Denied” signifies that it is a romantic drama as well. But the poster does not give the narrative away to much because it just signifies to the audience the genre of the film and themes. But like our teaser poster we have used a picture from the same setting in both. This will signify to the audience that it is the same film and won’t give them mixed messages on the film itself.

The actress and actor used in our film are known from our previous film Lost In Love & War. But both aren’t well known. Our music composer isn’t well known either but in a way makes the music more personal to the film.

Our poster doesn’t include any reviews or ratings and neither does our magazine cover because it is the cover of a magazine and short reviews aren’t a common code and convention of magazine front covers. But if we had our film reviewed we would have used someone like ---- because they reflect our target audience which is 12 +. Our film magazine cover also includes articles about 3D cinema, 2009s Sherlock Holmes film and an interview with the famous actor Robert Pattinson. These articles all coincide with the films and movie magazines target audience and are relevant to what’s going on in the movie world right now. Also our film magazine cover shows the same picture from the poster which will signify to the audience that it is the same film.

Evaluation: In What Way Does Your Media Product use, Develope, or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

After doing much research into film teaser trailers I now know the typical codes and conventions of teaser trailers. These codes and conventions are shown in some of my earlier posts:

http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/10/codes-and-conventions-of-teaser.html - General Codes and conventions of teaser trailers.

http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/10/codes-and-conventions-of-film-trailers.html

http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/10/codes-and-conventions-of-film-trailers_19.html

http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/10/codes-and-conventions-of-film-trailers_5593.html - Codes and conventions of hand picked teaser trailers

But to summarise what I have found is that most teaser trailers include a voice over, either from the main protagonist either male or female, a shot of the production logo, a narrative enigma and non diagetic music throughout the trailer. There are more aspects of teaser trailers that aren’t as common and so aren’t necessarily codes and conventions of teaser trailers in general. But we have tried to incorporate these general codes and conventions into our teaser trailer.

To research these codes and conventions I used http://www.imdb.com/ to search for film trailers. I found that IMDB was easier to use than sites like YouTube because you can be re assured that the trailer is the official trailer un like some trailers on YouTube which can be fan made and claim to be the official trailer. But http://www.youtube.com/ was also useful for some research. Some trailers that were on YouTube I could be reassured were official because there had been posted by the official YouTube channel but some of these were low quality so I was unable to view the trailer fully. I also used http://www.google.co.uk/ search engine to search for trailers and information on films. I rarely used this and only used this when I was unable to find the trailer I wanted on YouTube or IMDB.

When creating our teaser trailer we were inspired by a number of media aspects. A few teaser trailers influenced the making of our teaser trailer. One which especially influenced our first initial idea was The edge Of Love trailer. This film is of a similar genre to our film and the plots for our trailer and their trailer are similar. Another form of media that influenced the plot behind our teaser trailer was Taylor Swift – Love Story music video. Even though this is a music video it has similar themes to our trailer and has the same genre. I have posted the video and why its connected with our trailer here:

Also classic films such as Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility have been strong influences; this is because we were fans of the period drama genre so we have knowledge of the various period films. These films included famous actors/actresses such as Keira Knightley and Mathew Macfadyen who were both in Pride & Prejudice and a younger Hugh Grant starred in Sense & Sensibility in 1995. Tv dramas such as Emma, Lost In Austen, Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice which included famous actors/actress’s such as Colin Firth influenced us also.

We have used some intertexual references in our trailer but hardly any. With originally getting our idea from the various classic period dramas we had seen we used some codes and conventions of the period drama genre and period drama trailers. One we used was the struggle the main male protagonist and the main female protagonist go through to be together. An example of this is in Pride & Prejudice (Movie version, 2005) in which Elizabeth Bennett finds out that Mr Darcy is to be engaged to Lady Catherine de Bourg's daughter, this puts a strain in the relationship in which the two main protagonists have to work out to be together, Their is also a struggle between the two main protagonists when Mr Collins propses to Elizabeth, her mother wants her accept but she does not because of her feelings for Mr Darcy.

Pride & Prejudice 2005, Mr Collins proposing to Elizabeth

This also gives a narrative enigma which is included in most period dramas and period drama trailers and makes the audience want to find out if the two main female and male protagonists will be together in the end. We also made our main male protagonist to be similar to Mr Darcy from Pride & Prejudice. This is another intertexual reference which would appeal to a female market and fans of period dramas.

Production Logo

We have decided to use the same production logo as last year as we are the same production company.

For our logo we decided to use a modern landscape and city skyline with a spotlight across it.
We realised that our logo is modern and doesn't fit with the genre of our film (period drama) but like Working Title we think that our company will produce a number of different genre films so we didn't want to limit ourselves to one genre, Merchant Ivory is an example of a production company which only produce one genre of film (costume dramas)

Magazine Cover

Soundtrack

After trying to organize a composer for our trailer we found someone that we thought would be suitable but they were unable to compose any music for us so we had to find another composer in very little time. But we found that our friend would be able to compose for us (she also featured in our trailer as the woman that our main male protagonist was engaged too). We listened and picked some music that we thought would be appropriate for our film trailer and found that Clair De Lunes by Debussy was well suited to our trailer and the genre of our film. Although this piece of music that we found wasn't copyright free so we needed our friend to re recorded the song for us to use. Ideally we would have liked to have had a piano accompanying the flute but with have little time we were unable to line up someone to accompany the flute on the piano.

Pre Production Schedule

Anamatic

Film Poster

Our New Location - Ghyll Royd School

After having several problems with shooting at our first chosen location we needed to find a new location and in very little time.

This was going to be a hard task because we need a location that didn't have many modern aspects that would signify the wrong time period and the location needed to include large grounds and a large manor house.

After having the trouble with our first location (the details of this our shown here on an earlier post: http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/trouble-with-locations.html) we had to find a new location quick and get permission to film there.

We found a new location - Ghyll Royd School and Nursery which is an old manor house converted into an independent school.

After ringing the school and talking directly to the head teacher we were granted permission to film at the school.
We planned to use the entrance for the scene were Emmeline (the main female protagonist) sees the man she loves with a woman who is his wife to be. We also wanted to use the front of the school for the scene were the main male protagonist runs after Emmeline to stop her from leaving and to tell her that she is the one he loves. the entrance of the school was perfect for these scenes because it doesn't have many modern aspects that would signify the wrong time period to the audience. It also has many old fashioned aspects that do signify the right time period for our film, this includes the pillars on either side of the entrance which Emmeline is seen in one shot to be stood next to and the stairs which Emmeline runs down. We are also hoping that this large manor house will signify the class of the two main protagonists (upper/middle class) and that the grand fixtures and fittings will signify the wealth of the people that our attending the ball and that these are of the same class as the two main protagonists.

We also planned to use the large grounds for the scenes/shots were the main male protagonist meets Emmeline, when he walks away from Emmeline and a medium close up shot of the main male protagonist. This location will fit in well with the genre of the film because it is outdoors and will features little modern aspects, but the modern aspects that our in the grounds (football posts, fences and cars) we will try not to get in any of our shots or this will signify the wrong time period and genre to the audience.

Rough Cut with Audience Feedback

This is our first rough cut and more is still to be added and changed. The interfirence in the non diagetic music will to be removed and we are also wanting to work with the lighting in some scenes because we feel they are to dark.

Ancillary Text Research - Film Posters

To create our film poster i researched film posters, mainly from the period drama genre so that i could see the common codes and conventions of film posters and this is what i found from my research:

Names:

• Most film posters want to attract a certain audience, a way of doing this is to include a famous actor/actress, a well known director, or a link to a popular film.
• These well known actors. actress's names will be printed above the title at the top of the poster if the director isn't well known, if they are then their name will be above the title at the top.

Title:

• This is what will attract the audience for your film.
• It needs to reflect the genre and stand out from the crowd.

Tag line:

• Normally in a different font to titles, names etc.
• It can be placed anywhere in the frame of the poster.
• The tag line provides further anchorage and exposition and could be an intertexual reference.
• It is effectively the slogan for the marketing campaign for the film.

Institutional Listings:

• Traditionally appears along the bottom of the poster
• Is often to small to read
• Includes details such as: Costume Designer, Co-Producers, Music Composer, Casting, Producer/s, Editor, Production Designer, Screenplay, Based on the novel by (if appropriate), Executive Producer/s, Director of photography and the Director.
• The Directors name often ends the list.
• The website address's are below and the company logos are on either side.
• All the names are emphasised by twice the size of role description and are in upper case.

Reviews:

• These provide further anchorage for the visual campaign but are only suitable for the main poster, not a teaser poster.
• The colour of the quote and its source are usually different
• Often two - three star ratings appear at the top of the poster with one word from the reviewer below and the source logo/masthead below that in turn.
• These are important because these reviewers have to appeal to the target audience of the film.

Logos:

• Important to include the appropriate logos.
• Posters usually include company logos, official BBFC certificate logo and technical logos.

Release Date:

• With is film being low budget it will be classed as an 'indie' film so probably wont be shown in every cinema so the poster could include the selected cinemas it will be shown in.

Initial idea

Our initial idea is based in the early 19th Century and the plot is based on a woman called Martha who is in her late teens. One day she goes for a walk by the river and falls. She is helped by a young gentlemen who she feels a connection with and they spend time together but then he leaves without giving his name. Martha feels a sense of loss that she may never see who she believes to be her true love again. Martha attends her best friends engagement party and when her friend introduces Martha to her husband to be it is the same young gentleman. Both Martha and the young gentleman whose name she finds out to be, William cannot stand to be apart and realise that they have to leave together. But Martha has to face the facts that she will loose everything, which includes her role in society, her family and her wealth if she leaves with him.

The location of our trailer will be somewhere with large open grounds, a wood, a grand manor house and a smaller manor house, with the challenges of making it look like a realistic period drama we need the right landscape, props and costume for the audience to realize that its an 19th century period drama and we feel that basing most of the trailer outside we can achieve this.

Our target audience will be 15 + and our genre is period drama.

We originally got our idea because of our love for period dramas, some of our favourites include films such as Pride & Prejudice 2005, Sense & Sensibility 1995, Becoming Jane 2007 and television series such as Pride & Prejudice 1995 and Lost In Austen 2008.

Our film is a combination of Pride & Prejudice meets Serendipity. This is because our film has similar themes to both of these films, its set in the early 19th century which is when Pride & Prejudice is set and has a similar plot/theme to Serendipity when a young man and woman meet, instantly feel a connection but don't find out each others names and decide to leave it to fate to see if they ever meet again.

Final Proposal

Genre: Romantic Period Drama
Setting: Early 19th century
Casting: A woman in her late teens
A man in his mid-twenties
A woman in her mid-twenties
Music: Non diagetic music, soft and romantic
Target Audience: 15+
Rating: PG
Locations: Outside a grand manor house
In the woods
A field in the country








Our film is based in the early 19th Century and the plot is based on a woman called Emmeline who is in her late teens. One winters day she goes for a walk by the river and falls. She is helped by a young gentlemen who she feels a connection with and instantly falls in love with, they spend time together but then he leaves without giving his name. Emmeline feels a sense of loss that she may never see who she believes to be her true love again.

Emmeline is invited to a ball a few months later which she attends hoping to see the mystery man who she is still thinking about and still loves.

She finds her friend at the ball and her friend introduces Emmeline to her husband to be and it is the same young gentleman who Emmeline believes is her true love. Emmeline is devastated and is crushed at the thought that this young man who she believed loved her also in fact is with another.

The young man is devastated at how Emmeline has believes he is in love with another when in fact he has not stopped thinking about her and loves her also. After confessing this to Emmeline, both Emmeline and the young gentleman cannot stand to be apart and realise that they have to leave together. But Emmeline has to face the facts that she will loose everything, which includes her role in society, her family and her wealth if she leaves with him, but they both realize that they have to be together and that there only option is to be together which will mean leaving everything behind.

Our trailer will include scenes of Emmeline running through the woods. These shots will be spaced out through out the trailer and will create tension and will signify a sense of urgency throughout out the trailer. This will also build up to a narrative enigma towards the end of the trailer in which she stops running and then looks past the camera in which she starts to smile and tears come to her eyes, this will make the audience think is she looking at the young man? Or something else.

We have also included scenes with the young gentlemen that will be anchorage that the film genre is a romance. All these scenes including the young gentlemen are we feel crucial to the plot of the film so we have included them in the film trailer.

Institutional Context

When upcoming films are to be released the main priority is to get the film noticed. This is done by the right means of distribution and exhibition. Production companies need to get the film out there and noticed by the target audience. This can be done in various ways through new media aspects which include the Internet, cinema and television. Here are some of the main new media aspects:

1. YouTube
   
   

Most new upcoming films have their teaser and main trailer posted on YouTube by the production company or individual posters who could already be fans of the film. This is one of the first places that the trailer is shown because this will create a following and attract the audiences attention months before the actual film is released. An example of this is Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland trailer which isn't to be released till 4th march 2010 but the teaser trailer was posted on YouTube in July 2009 and has already created a following of people waiting for this film to be released and has had 3, 863,428 views already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWsZ2b_pK4

2. Company Websites

Another technique that film companies use to get there film noticed is by using the company website. This is a good technique because it will advertise the up coming new realise and will also advertise the company and other films they are distributing. For example on the Working Title Website homepage the main advertisement is the new Coen Brothers film A Serious man. On the website it features the trailer, video clips, photographs, Coen Brothers Q & A and News and Information. These will all give the audience what they want to know about this new film and will also advertise the film to people who have never heard of it. They have also included on the homepage 5 star ratings of the film and film festivals that this film has been entered for. Another useful way of distributing the film is by having a Q & A from the film makers and for this film it is the Coen Brothers, they have a large following and this will bring more audience for the film. The website also includes other films in production, on release, a film achieve, trailers and downloads which all will attract people to look at the website. Another way they have used for distribution is to create other media products which fans of the film can use, these include desktop backgrounds, screen savers, online games etc. These are also good to attract younger audiences if the film is for a younger audience e.g below 12. http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/

3. Viral marketing

Viral marketing is vital to the distribution and exhibition of film trailers and short films. Viral marketing includes the use of advertisement on social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, video game technologies, video hosting websites and email. But most of these use different ways to advertise up coming films or short films for example the marketing campaign for the 2008 film The Dark Knight combined both online and real-life elements to make it resemble an alternate reality game. Techniques included mass gatherings of Joker fans, scavenger hunts around world, detailed and intricate websites that let fans actually participate in "voting" for political offices in Gotham City, and even a Gotham News Network that has links to other Gotham pages such as Gotham Rail, a Gotham travel agency, and political candidate's pages. The movie also markets heavily off of word of mouth from the thousands of Batman fans. Another example of the use of viral marketing is when the 2008 film Cloverfield was first publicized with a teaser trailer that did not advertise the film's title, only its release date: "01·18·08." Elements of the viral marketing campaign included MySpace pages created for fictional characters and websites created for fictional companies alluded to in the film.

This YouTube video explains Viral marketing further and how it can benefit a persons business.

Teaser trailers and Short films are both very important to the media industry. Short films are new in the industry and don't have as large following as trailers do but are well known in the industry. Film trailers are extremely important to get films advertised and known. These are perfect because they can be shown anywhere, through networking websites, video hosting websites, T.V advertisements, cinema trailers and general websites that include advertisements.

Trouble With Locations

As i previously said in a post about our final location which is shown here: http://megansa2blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/location-location-location.html We were originally planing on filming at Bolton Abbey and we needed to film outside the manor house which i called Bolton hall. To do this we realized we would need permission to use the house in some of our shots, these included all the shots when the main female protagonist goes to the ball and see's the main male protagonist with his wife to be.

Deciding that we need permission we emailed the Bolton abbey estate office because Bolton Abbey owned the house and asked for permission to film outside the house and also stated to them that we were also planning on filming in The Strid woods by the river wharfe and possibly the Abbey itself.

Bolton Abbey estate office replied saying that they wouldn't grant us permission to film outside Bolton Hall and furthermore that we would have to ask written permission to film in Strid Woods and by the river. The email also stated that we'd have to present them with a detailed production schedule with details of dates, times, actors and equipment that we'd be using, they also asked for risk assessments and a copy of the schools insurance liability policy.

After receiving this email and discussing further options we decided to find a new location even though this location was perfect for our trailer and plot. With this being such short notice we had to find a location which would be right for the genre of film. We eventually found a local school in Burley and Wharfedale called Ghyll Royd School which is our new location.

Film Poster Research

Movie Magazine Research

For our magazine front cover I have looked at a range of movie magazine front covers and i have come accross some common aspects that we can incorporate in our magazine front cover.

• Each magazine has a main image from a new cinema/DVD release on the front cover.


• The magazines name is in bold font at the top the the magazine cover.


• Each magazine has a very similar layout, the main image in the middle, the name of the new release they are reviewing placed in the centre at the bottom of the cover.


• Other articles that are featuring in the magazine are shown in text at the sides and are in similar font and color to the main text showing a consistent house style.

Screenplay

For All I Know, Transcript

Location, Location, Location

The perfect location is very important for our trailer because our film is mainly set outside so the landscape has to reflect the time period (early 19^th century) adequately. This meant finding a large out door space with beautiful scenery and very little modern objects that will spoil the allusion of it being the 19^th century.

We first thought of filming at Hardwood House in Harrogate because of the large grounds and scenery. It also has the manor house which if we got permission we could use in the background of one of our shots. But we found it was to hard to travel to and if we needed to re shot certain shots it would be hard to get to the location again.

So we decided to look at the local village of Bolton Abbey. Having visited the actual Abbey itself on numerous occasions we knew that it would be appropriate for our filming and be easy to access.

We re visted it a few times and took photos of appropriate landscape which we thought we could include in our trailer/ posters. These included:

· The Abbey itself:

· The River Wharfe:

· The Fountain:

· The small manor house:

· Manor house (scene of the ball):

All these were perfect to use in our trailer because they also fitted into the plot, the manor house will be the location of the main male protagonist’s house and will signify his middle/upper class. The foundation will be were they meet for the first time and the beautiful landscape will signify that they live in the country.

We based our trailer mostly outside because we found it difficult to find an old manor house which represented early 19^th century living and which we could film in. This wasn’t possible so we decided to film most of our trailer outside using the Yorkshire dales as the location. We also wanted to incorporate the winter weather into the trailer; this would signify to the audience that all this drama had happened in a short space of time.

Podcast 5/11/09

Codes and Conventions Of Teaser Trailers

After watching a range of teaser trailers for research to help with creating our trailer i have come across some common codes and conventions of teaser trailers and compiled a list of the most common.

• Nearly all teaser trailers have a non diagteic voice over from one of the main actors/actress's that are in the film, this is mainly from scenes in the film in which the speech has been taken from a scene and put over a few other scenes. Some trailers also have a non diagetic voice over from a professional who does voice overs for a wide variety of trailers. These are good ways to signify the plot of the film and signify the main actors and actress's staring in the film.


• Most film trailers tend to start with the production company logo. Sometimes these logos are part of a scene in the trailer, for example in the Australia trailer, the universal production logo is part of a news paper article. This can help to signify the genre of the film that they are advertising. Normally the production logo is shown right at the begging of the trailer or at the most 10 seconds in.


• On all film trailers the title of the film is shown at some point. Normally this is at the end of the trailer and is shown through text. This is obviously important so that the audience can know what the films called and it can be further anchorage for the genre of the film.


• If the film is starting famous actors/actress's the trailer normally states the name of these actors or actresses to appeal to the audience. This is because the actors/actress's will have their own fans and if they are well known for being good at acting they will obviously attract an audience.


• Nearly all the trailers i have seen have a narrative enigma at the end. This is a common convention of film trailers because it makes the audience want to see more of the film, to see what happens in the end.


• Most of the film trailers i have looked at start with slow paced editing at the beginning of the trailer but half way through the editing becomes fast and the shots our more fast paced. This normally coinsides with slow tempo music at the beginning of the trailer which builds up and sometimes changes and becomes faster and more dramatic. This common convention is used to signify calm before the storm, how the film characters lives are before something happens to them (the beginning of the trailer) and when something dramatic happens to them (the end of the trailer). This can be used in all genres of trailer, for example romance genre films have the characters life withe the other person (slow paced editing) and then when theirs trouble in their relationship (faster paced editing). This can also be used for horror film trailers, for example their life and then when their life is under threat.
• Another common code and convention of film trailers is the use of text. This can be to explain the plot of the film, show the actor and actress's names, show ratings of the films/ critical reviews, the directors name and awards they may of won or that the actors/actress's have won. These are all further anchorage that film producers use to attract the right audience to see their film.

Hardware [DRAFT]

For our filming we will be using the schools Canon digital video camcorder MD101. These were easy to use and transport to locations. We will also use the tripod to balance the camera because we don't want the shots to be shaky. We also used a DV tape to record our fotage

Software [DRAFT]

Target Audience & BBFC

Our target audience for our film is 12 + as it would be more appealing to a mature audience this is because of the themes and styles of our film but younger viewers may enjoy it.

The classical music in our film also give anchorage that its targeted at a more mature audience.

After researching on the BBFC website we have decided on the film rating to be a PG because younger viewers may enjoy it but it will appeal mainly to an older audience, 12 + and may be unsuitable for young children because of themes in the plot.

Our cast reflects our target audience well because the main female protagonist is in her late teens, so aged 19/20 and the main male protagonist is in his mid 20s. Also having a central female protagonist will attract a wide female audience and with her being in her 20s this could be related to the male gaze theory. With our film genre being a period drama/ romance the stereotypical audience would again be female but with there also being a main male protagonist this could attract a male audience because they could possibly relate to the character because he is male. This could also be another reason to attract a female audience if the main male protagonist is traditionally handsome.

Even though our two main protagonists are Caucasian we don't think this will effect our target audience, a range of films have the two main characters being Caucasian and it hasn't effected their box office sales, for example Pride & Prejudice got $2,865,017 in there first weekend in the USA and Sense and Sensibility got £12,343,443 their first weekend in the UK. Also with it being set in the 19th Century multi-ethical societies weren't common.

In our film we've tried to not focus on class but we feel that it appeals to all classes because of this. But our location through out the trailer is set in upper/middle class location for example the large Manor house used and the large grounds shown, which could both signify upper class living but we still think that these themes will appeal to most classes.

Our film will appeal to fans of an period drama, for example, Pride & Prejudice, the film and the series, Sense & Senseablity, again the film and the series, Lost In Austin (BBC series) and Becoming Jane. These fans will be a potential audience because all these films have similar genres (period drama) and all have themes of romance/love which our film will be based around.

We have tried to keep specific accents out of the film trailer which hopefully means the audience will have no judgement.The theme of romance could attract any sexuality and our film has nothing specific that would appeal to the pink pound market except for maybe the lead male

With our trailer not including any voice overs our film will include no strong accents which will not affect the audience of our film. Also our film is set in which is were Pride & Predjudice 2005 was set and we decided to have it set in the same area because it is a well known place and is more recognisable to a wider audience.
Someone that would enjoy our film would be someone with an interest in history and English culture and enjoy romantic period dramas. With the costumes, props and storyline anyone who enjoys these aspects of period dramas will enjoy our film/trailer.

Group Idea

Having already though up my own individual idea for the plot of my film and film trailer and pitched it to the other member of my group (Lorna). We have decided to stick with the same genre that we have both based our films on which is to create a period drama and after listening to both our ideas we have decided to base the plot of our film mainly on Lorna's idea, but we will add more to it and maybe try and collaborate some ideas from my idea as well.

So our main group idea is based in the 18th Century, the same time period that Pride & Prejudice is based and Sense & Sensibility and is a traditional period romance. Our plot is based on a woman called Martha who is in her late teens. One day she goes for a walk by the river and falls. She is helped by a young gentlemen who she instantly falls in love with. They spend time together but then he

leaves without giving his name. Martha feels a sense of loss that she may never see who she believes to be her true love again. Martha attends her best friends engagement party and when her friend introduces Martha to her husband to be it is the same young gentleman. Both Martha and the young gentleman whose name she finds out to be, William cannot stand to be apart and realise that they have to leave together. But Martha has to face the facts that she will loose everything, which includes her role in society, her family and her wealth if she leaves with him.

Our film trailer will be set in Bolton Abbey and Harewood House because with the challenges of making it look like a realistic period drama we need the right landscape, props and costume for the audience to realize that its an 18th century period drama and we feel that basing most of the trailer outside we can active this.

Picture from Sense & Sensibility, 1995, Ang Lee

Costume Requirements

For our film we are trying to find costumes for our female and male lead roles. These costumes have to resemble typical 18th century upper class clothes so that it fits in with our genre and makes our trailer look professional.

For the female lead role we need her to be well dressed and well presented because she is upper class which is an important factor in our film. This means that she isn't necessarily in the height of fashion but she is well presented and stands out to the audience in a subtle way.

We will need several dresses but one idea I had in mine was a white dress, made of satin or an expensive looking material with multiple layers of fabric which could include lace or a sheer fabric, so that the dress is light weight but detailed. The dress will also need detailing to look expensive and hand made because we want this dress to represent her upper class wealth. These details could include a corset style back to the dress, a think wrap top and ribbon detail. The dress needs to be floor length and have either a scoop neck or v neck .

An example of the style of dress i have in mind is on the right, modeled by Keria Knightley

Further examples of my ideal dress,

A shot of the dress from the side, from the back and from the front.

Ideally i would like to include some expensive looking jewelry to represent that the main protagonist is wealthy, these will be hard to come across but will create the right look if they look similar to something worn in the 18th century.

An example of the type of necklace that the main protagonist could wear

For the lead male role we want his clothes to represent wealth and for him to be well dressed and presented. We also would like the costumes to be historically accurate but to appeal to a modern audience items that look like they could be bought in the modern ira could also be used.

Also with him being the romantic lead we want his character to appeal to the audience and with the right clothing, hair and make up this can be possible.

He will be in the typical 18th Century male fashion and his outfit would consist of not very dark clothing or heavy material because we want his clothing to signify that he's the main romantic lead not the villain and that he is well off but dresses his age.

My ideal costumes for the male lead

All three of the costumes are bright and expensive looking which will signify to the audience, youth and wealth.