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.