There is a large and bold masthead that stands out from the picture. The image is also covering the text and this shows that the magazine is very well known because the audience is still able to know what it says.

The image shows the two main characters in the film, who are also very famous actors already.

The headline is huge, and stands out over the image. The text is also in different colours, and this is reflected in the writing at the right-hand-sied of the page. This makes the cover flow and keeps it consistent.

The cover also features a slogan and details of a website for the magazine. It also includes standard components of a magazine such as the barcode, date and price.

The text on the page features a pun - 'make waves in Pirates of the Caribbean'.

Again, the masthead is large and supports the red theme of the magazine. The headline is in large, bold text and reflects the title of the film because the word 'golden' is in gold; this makes the headline look a little more interesting.

The image features the main characters of the film, and their poses are reflecting their personas in the film.

The cover also includes titles of other movies that the magazine is going to have information on such as 'Beowulf' and 'Close Encounters'.

Posted by Sophie.

Magazine Cover

Today, I began to research into film magazine covers. I analysed two Empire magazine covers as this is a well-known and successful film magazine.

When I come to creating my own magazine cover, I may use Empire as a template so my film looks like it is a cover for an edition of Empire magazine.

Analysing the covers has helped me to learn what needs to be featured on a film magazine cover, and the sort of image and headlines that are involved.

Posted by Sophie.

Uploading and Editing

Today, we uploaded the footage we have so far and began editing it. This included connecting the camera and an external hard-drive to the mac and saving the footage so that we can always access all our footage.

We also watched video tutorials for iMovie so that we can independently edit and create our trailer to a professional standard.

On iMovie, we rejected the footage that is not going to be included in our trailer and also stabilized the frames so that the footage looks more professional and of a higher quality.

This has left us with being ready to film more footage and make sequences of footage so the trailer begins to come together.

The footage we still need to capture is:

- Date scenes

- Filming in his bedroom

Posted by Sophie.

Filming

Today we started filming some footage for our trailer. We are planning to continue shooting throughout the week.

Posted by Sam.

Film Title

I have begun to think about the title of our film and have come up with some starting points for names by looking at existing film titles':

50 First Dates
A lot Like Love
Alfie
Along Came Polly
Anything But Love
Bridget Jones
Meet The Fockers
Laws Of Attraction
Love Actually
Shallow Hall
Extreme Dating
How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days
Wedding Crashers

Quite a few of these names feature the name of the characters, for example, 'Alfie' and 'Along Came Polly'. With the exception of 'Alfie', all of them also feature two or three words to make a phrase rather than just having a one-word title.

Therefore, some of the initial ideas I have had for the title of our film are:

How Not To Get Noticed

Disaster Dates

It's Not Love

There's Nothing Like Love

I can develop these ideas by conducting a survey asking people's initial thoughts on the titles and which one they think is best and also by discussing with Sam which one best fits our film.

Published by Sophie.

Storyboard

We came up with this storyboard showing the scene-by-scene action that we have planned for our trailer. It also includes the shot types, camera movement and music in each scene.

The storyboard is very important to the production of our trailer as it acts as an almost complete guide as to what our trailer will look like. This means we are able to efficiently create our trailer and feel secure in knowing how to carry out the filming.

Published by Sophie.

Location Shots

We took some location shots of places where we are likely to be filming. This included in college, at a shopping centre and at the seafront.

Sound:

Noise pollution caused by other people around the college however we can select less busy times or places around the college to ensure that any dialogue or live sound can be clearly heard.

Lighting:

The lighting around college is good because it is bright and the lighting is white which creates a natural look.

The college is a good place for us to film as we know the area, there are not a lot of health and safety risks and it is easy to get to.

One of the best locations we found in college is shown in the fifth, sixth and seventh pictures shown here. We decided that we would be able to use it as the college cafe or, if we added some props, we could make it look like a cafe or restaurant outside of college.

Published by Sophie.

The Madness Tape (working title) - Trailer

Here is an example of an comedy amateur teaser trailer I found on Youtube:

This shows good use of editing through slow motion which highlights key parts of the film.

Published by Sophie.

Exit Through The Gift Shop - Official Trailer

Here is an example of a amateur teaser trailer found on Youtube:

Today I have looked at some amateur teaser trailers on YouTube. Therefore, I have been able to realistically see what we will have the capability of producing, rather than the trailers that well-known and fully funded production companies have produced.

Published by Sophie.

Music
After looking at a range of trailers, we decided that we'd have to include upbeat, happy music to set our trailer to.
Possibilities include:

• Alphabeat
• Example
• MGMT
• Caesar's Palace - Jerk It Out
• George Michael - Faith
• Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams
• The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

I thought the song could change when he meets the girl his character really clicks with, and I think She's Got You High by Mumm-ra would be a good choice.

posted by sam

Production meeting
We had a production meeting with our tutor today to discuss our progress in planning the trailer. We spoke about locations, synopsis, characters, a shooting schedule, use of music and a possible script.
We came up with a list of locations that are typical to the average teenager, these include: college, a party, the seafront (which will be in Southsea), Hayling fair, in town and a few scenes may be set in the main character's bedroom and at the park

We've already decided on the general synopsis for our film trailer which is the geeky guy trying to find a girlfriend and being quite unsuccessful.
After mind-mapping ideas for different scenes we decided to plan our trailer scene-by-scene.

In the opening scene, our main character will introduce himself: he will be recording a dating profile, like a single's ad. The most likely location will be a boy's bedroom.

We'll include footage of him and his bad dates. We came up with some ideas for what could go wrong: he's playing mini golf (possibly to be shot in Southsea) and accidentally hits his date in the face with a golf club; he could lean in for a goodbye kiss and end up headbutting the girl (similar to the scene in Superbad); he could be eating with a date, and choke on either his drink or food - spitting it all over her; or possibly taking his date to McDonalds after promises of a romantic meal.

Our key scene will be when he meets the girl he'll end up with. We wanted their meeting to be random and a chance encounter, and going with a romantic genre convention we thought he could accidentally bump into her, maybe spilling a drink.

However, we needed something to go wrong with their relationship.
After more mind-mapping we came up with a few ideas:

• he could really badly insult her in some way
• accidentally stand her up (e.g. wrong place or time)
• after not having a girl, he could be extremely clingy and possessive over her
• being drunk at a party, he could kiss another girl

We thought the most suitable idea would probably be that he accidentally stands her up, and having had enough of bad dates, she decides that he had his chance and blew it.

The trailer will end with scenes where he's trying to make it up to her - leaving the audience guessing about whether they'll end up together or not.

Finally, we now need to decide on a title and tagline for our film. We also need to come up with a script for the voiceover.

By sophie and sam

Films that inspired us
Previously, while mind-mapping ideas for different scenes I came up with a list of films with funny ideas that inspired us to do something similar.

From The Boat That Rocked, when Chris O'Dowd's character Simon gets dumped after his wedding, there's a scene where he's crying and miming to "Stay With Me Baby" by Lorraine Ellison. I thought that after having trouble with the girl our main character will end up with, we could do something similar e.g. lip synching to the same (or similar) song in his bed, crying.

The 40 Year Old virgin also provided me with some ideas, Steve Carrell's character is taken speed-dating by his friends and there's a serious of disastrous dates.

Although a far fetched idea, the dance sequence used in 500 Days of Summer was something I looked at and a scene from the film I personally love. There are similar themes used in the film to what we're planning to do; a guy desperately trying to get someone unattainable, it's introduced as being a story of boy meets girl - NOT a love story.

posted by sam

Production Meeting

We began to discuss idea for our own film trailer.

We came up with the idea of a geeky guy trying to find himself a girlfriend and having no idea about how to go about it.
Another idea was to have fast cuts of girls giving their negative and funny opinions of him.
We also thought that the trailer should look like real footage, possibly in a mockumentary style format.

We could film the trailer in a variety of places where teenagers are expected to be such as in college, in the middle of town at the sea front or at a party.

Published by Sophie.

The Hangover Poster

Like the other two posters, the film's title is the largest and boldest text on the page which makes it memorable. The tag line, "Some guys just can't handle Vegas", like on Happy Gilmore's poster, gives a clue to the plot of the film. It shows that it is set in Vegas and that the fact that they "can't handle" it is where the comedy is going to occur. Again, like the Happy Gilmore tag line, this enables the audience to know if they are going to enjoy the sort of humour in the film.

Similarly to the other posters, the image is of the main characters in the film and some people may recognise the actors from previous films that they enjoyed.

The fact that at the bottom of the poster, instead of saying something along the lines of 'Released...' it instead says "Feel it" which gives a hint towards the tone of the film.

Just like the other two posters, the production team is featured faintly at the bottom of the page.

Posted by Sophie Rippin.

Liar Liar Poster

This poster also highlights Jim Carrey starring in the film for the same reasons that the Happy Gilmore poster does.

The white background and the bright light in the poster hints towards there being something miraculous about the film and that it will feature some sort of unrealistic happening.

The poster also features an image of Jim Carrey who takes up most of the page.

The film's title is in bold clear font which makes it memorable so people are going to remember the title and think that they want to see it.

Like the Happy Gilmore poster, the names of the companies and people involved in producing the film are in faint and smaller text at the bottom of the screen.

Posted by Sophie Rippin.

Happy Gilmore Poster

This poster highlights the fact that Adam Sandler stars in it and this is important because he is a well-known comedy actor who may have fans from previous films and so his name and an image of him will entice an audience for Happy Gilmore.

It also shows that the film is about golf as he is holding a golf club and the camera perspective is looking up through a course hole with a golf ball resting just in front of it. The tag line "he doesn't play golf...He destroys it" shows that he is not very good and so the potential audience can predict that this is where the comedy will be coming from and so they can judge whether they will enjoy the film.

The film's title is the biggest font size on the poster and underneath this, in small and faint text, there is a list of all the people and companies involved in producing the film.

Posted by Sophie Rippin.

Genre Conventions

What are genre conventions?

A genre convention is a typically expected component of the plot, character, setting, theme or effect in a film. For example, it is conventional for superheroes to wear costumes.

Conventions are usually unrealistic however is accepted by the audience as a logical factor to the film. Another example of a genre convention is that comedy in a film is exaggerated.

Genre conventions are repetitive and easily recognised by an audience. A typical convention of a horror could be that a girl is alone in a house and the phone rings. The audience can then expect that she will be victimised.

Genre conventions are used by a producer to form a structure and attract an audience. Potential audience can use genre conventions to see if they will enjoy the film based on past conventions they have experienced in other films of the same genre.

Posted by Sophie Rippin.

This GQ cover is awarding The Hangover cast title of "Funnymen of the Year". As it's an awards special, the actors are smartly dressed in tuxedos however there's still a throwback to the film with the pink underwear in Zach Galifianakis' mouth. It retains a comedy element with Ed Hemls' pose. The title has clearly been won thanks to he Hangover but the cover is very detached from the image of the film, this could be due to the type of magazine it is though as GQ is quite a respected, adult magazine.

Posted by Sam Leimanis

The Hangover Movie Trailer

Liar Liar TRAILER

Happy Gilmore Movie Trailer

Which of the trailers you have seen gives a strong indication of the narrative in the film?

What do they convey and what elements do they use to do this?

The Hangover had the most informative trailer regarding the plot and content of the film. We're introduced to the main characters and given a brief indication of the narrative - they've lost their friend Doug after his stag night and have to find him. We're then shown a series of scenes cut together showing the funniest parts and retracing all the crazy things they did the night before.

Liar Liar uses a voice-over and clips cut together to give an idea of what happens in the story. We know who the main character is, a big name star, Jim Carrey which will draw an audience alone. We're also introduced to his family and friends, as well as finding out that he's a lawyer which all gives a rounded view of who the character is. Clips include scenes of him lying, then missing his son's birthday where the wish is made that Jim Carrey's character won't be able to lie for an entire day, and then the aftermath of the day after. Like The Hangover, the trailer for Liar Liar shows the funniest scenes to attract it's audience.

Happy Gilmore has the least informative trailer of the three we've chosen. I found the trailer hard to understand but the main points I could pick out were that he has to play golf to earn money for his grandmother. There's a few different clips which show him getting aggressive and getting into fights but I'm not sure how it relates to the plot.

Posted by Sam Leimanis

What trailers do NOT give you a great deal of information about the narrative?

Out of the three trailers that I have w

atched (The Hangover, Liar Liar and Happy Gilmore) two of them provided good information about their films. The Hangover, provided humour and was entertaining in only a small amount of time which encourages people to want to watch it. However Happy Gilmore wasn’t so easy to understand. I think that it didn’t provide enough information about the film so is a film you would have to watch to find out what its really about. However the actors within the film (Adam Sadler), have good reputations in the comedy genre which also encourages the audience to want to watch it.

Overall I think the trailers were good so provided enough information to encourage people to watch their films.

Posted by Sam Leimanis and Sophie Rippin.

07/09/10

Today we made the final PopwerPoint presentation for our chosen film trailers. We will now be able to compare the ways in which they are constructed so we can make our own trailer as realistic and proffesional as possible.

We can now go on to analyse the posters for the three films which will help us when we come to make our own poster.

02/09/10

Today we made another PowerPoint presentation for the second film trailer we am going to analyse, 'Liar Liar'. We asked the same questions as we did for Happy Gilmore and so this will enable us to compare them and so will help us when we come to make our own trailer. Next time we work on the planning of my coursework, we will create a third PowerPoint presentation for The Hangover.

01/09/10

Today we chose 3 film trailers of the same genre as our chosen genre to analyse. We chose 'Happy Gilmore', 'Liar Liar' and 'The Hangover'. I then began to make a PowerPoint presentation on Happy Gilmore and analysed features such as the cast, the music and the events that happen in the trailer. Next time, I will continue to do this and also do the same for the other two trailers. This will help me to create my own trailer because I will be able to see the genre conventions for the trailers and how they are constructed into a certain style. I have also chosen two older films and one newer film to analyse the trailer of because it will help me to see how the style of comedies have changed.

The PowerPoint presentations I made for the film trailers of our choice can be seen here:

The hangover

View more presentations from Sophie.

Liar liar

View more presentations from Sophie.

Happy gilmore

View more presentations from Sophie.

The trailers we chose to analyse can be seen in future posts.

What is a trailer? Where might a trailer be seen? What is the difference between a teaser and a full trailer?

Today we began the pre-production planning for the film trailer we are going to produce. We split the tasks up between the three of us so we are able to manage our time between us and get the work done quicker and more efficiently. The beginning of our planning work involved researching into 'what is a trailer', 'where might a trailer be seen' and 'what is the difference between a teaser and a full trailer'.

What is a trailer?

A trailer is a preview to advertise a feature film or programme that will be on home televisions. A trailer is the most important part of a marketing campaign for a film.In the cinema, trailers are shown before the feature film so that people can watch them whilst waiting for the main feature.

Trailers contain a sequence of chosen shots from the film being advertised.These usually are the most interesting, funny, adventurous or notable parts of the film so that it attracts an audience without spoiling the film. The length of a trailer must not exceed two and half minutes which is the limit set by the Motion Picture Association of America. However this limit is allowed to be exceeded once a year by each studio if they feel it vital for the trailer. To ensure the film is not spoiled by the trailer, the selected clips are usually not shown in the order they appear in in the film.

Some trailers use ‘special shoot’ footage which is shot specifically with the intent to be used in the trailer but not in the actual film itself. One of the most famous ‘special shoot’ trailers is in the 1960’s film Psycho.

The trailer for a film can be created at agencies such as The Cimarron Group and MOJO whilst the film is being produced at the studio. This is why some features of the trailer may not appear in the film as the film has not been edited yet. Commonly, music that is included in the film does not appear in the final film soundtrack. This nearly always happens because the trailer is made up to a year before the composer for the film is even hired.

Some trailers that include footage not in the film are particularly sought after by collectors.
Trailers tell the story of a film in a highly compacted and fast paced fashion that has maximum appeal. Trailers have become a highly polished piece of production which are capable of making poor films appear to be attractive to audiences.

Most trailers have a three-act structure which is similar to a feature length film. This includes a beginning (act 1) that shows the setting for the story, the middle (act 2) which pushes the story further and usually ends with a dramatic climax and act 3 which is usually a piece of signature music consisting of a recognisable song or a powerful piece of orchestral music. Act 3 often consists of a visual montage of powerful and emotional parts of the film and/or a showcase of the cast if they are noteworthy and could help sell the film.

Voice-overs are often used in trailers to set the scene of the film and provide explanatory notes when necessary to help the audience understand the plot of the film.

Music helps set the tone of the trailer. Music can include music from other movies, well-known music (often chosen for it lyrical appropriateness or tone), ‘library music’ previously composed to be used by an independent composer or specifically composed music such as the music used in Star Wars and Braveheart.

The director’s or producer’s name is also sometimes included in the trailer if they are going to help sell the film due to previous successful or well-known films. A ‘cast run’ includes the names that appear on posters and printed advertisement and also at the beginning or end of a film. Production logos are often included in the beginning of the trailer as well and these include the production company’s and the distributor’s logos.

Scenes that include special effects and enhanced sounds are usually the focal point of a trailer. There is no time limit on if a trailer exceeds two minutes and thirty seconds on a home produced or internet trailer.

A ‘green band’ is given to trailers which shows it is appropriate to be viewed by the audience that is present for the feature film. A ‘yellow band’ shows the trailer is appropriate for only age-appropriate internet users and finally there is a ‘red band’ which shows the trailer is only appropriate for mature or restricted audiences. Where might a trailer be seen? Trailers are often watched on the internet on sites such as www.apple.com/trailers and www.traileraddict.com. Sites like these enable the audience to also read reviews of the films and they may also take a critical perspective.

Trailers are also watched in the cinema before the feature film. This allows for special shoot footage to be shown at its best quality and also for the soundtrack to have a high impact due to good quality images and sounds equipment. This is ideal for action and horror films.

They are generally exhibited in cinemas before similar films, on television or can be viewed online.

This high performance technology is becoming increasingly more available in people’s homes and so makes trailers before the feature film on DVD seem like a good idea. However, the audience at home will be able to skip through the trailers and so a lot of the marketing opportunities are missed.

What is the difference between a full and a teaser trailer?

There are different types of trailer including teaser trailers and theatrical trailers.

Teaser trailers are very short, and usually released a long time before the film will be exhibited - up to a year beforehand. Their purpose is less to inform an audience of the film's content than to let them know that the film is coming up in the future. They are approximately between 30-60 seconds and are used to create a buzz surrounding the upcoming release of the film.

A theatrical trailer is longer than teaser trailers (around two and a half minutes long) and is shown closer to the release date of the actual film. It's shown in cinemas and on television whereas teaser trailers are seen more only on tv. The purpose of the theatrical trailer is to attract an audience by using the most exciting, funny or noteworthy scenes from the film and may give an overview of the plot.

1. A teaser trailer’s intention is to create the first element of hype about an upcoming film.

2. A teaser is a short taster whereas a full trailer is a more in-depth preview.

3. A teaser has less footage from the actual film and may include more footage shot for the trailer itself.

4. A teaser trailer generally includes less information about the film.

5. A teaser trailer is usually only released for big budget films.

6. A full trailer shows more footage from the film and is produced closer to the film’s release date. It gives an outline of the plot for the film and is a longer preview.

7. Teaser trailers are released on average 6-8 months before the film is released as oppose to 2 months before the film for a full trailer’s case.

8. Teaser trailers are more likely to be found online and on TV and full length trailers are more often shown in the cinema.

Posted by Sam Leimanis and Sophie Rippin

28/06/2010

We have decided to complete the first brief of the media A2 coursework. This involves creating a promotional package for a film. We have decided to produce a comedy which will involve a lot of fast paced cutting and editing. We will begin preliminary planning and this will include researching into the genre, trailers and film magazine covers.