Trailer Feedback

I asked the same question as I did on the ancillary task to some people, I chose different ages and gender.. here were some of there answers:

David 51: Punchy, Interesting, Speed is good, Maybe some more background information on the kidnapper

Julie 42: I like the way you've done the editing at the start with the facts about kidnapping, the music makes the trailer really tense and builds up suspense

Laura 16: The music is really good in the trailer it's like other proffessional trailers, the idea is really interesting and I like how you leave the message/story hidden, we have to work it out ourself

Tom 19: The storyline is really good and different, the music fits the speed of editing such as the end of the trailer is really interesting as when the character is running the speed of the music and editing builds up too. The black and white theme fits well with it too. Maybe add more scenes with fighting or show where she ends up to give the audience more of a storyline

Ancillary Feedback

Some of the responses I got:

I like the writing being over the face in the first one cus I've never really seen anything like that and it makes it stand out especially with the background being completely black and that being the only thing there is, and I like the picture of the second one as well - the only thing I would say is more colours in the second one maybe, cus it's a magazine type of thing but they're both really good

 

I like the picture in the first one as its quite mysterious and interesting to look at with the contrasting background, the second one I like the writing in it but I'd say maybe add a neck to your character as its very small just his head in the corner of it with black background, maybe more color aswell? but apart from that their both good!

 

They're both quite different yet they connect together and I can see that buy the colours used and the clothes the characters are wearing. With the magazine maybe add more text to show more advertisement like a actual magazine

Magazine Covers

This was a post I had saved and forgotten to publish.

This is a quick post on magazine covers to give me inspirtation for my Ancillary task. Looking at these covers most of the images are set directly in the centre of the magazine to catch the readers attention. Usually a colour scheme is used for example the Justin Beiber front cover is red green and white. I think I will take this on board and use a colour scheme as it seems to stand out more but look more effective as it links nicely together. The first magazine cover uses this also with black and pink but uses a lot of text making the front cover seem quite caotic but I like the way the important words or phrases are highlighted bold or are bigger so they stand out against everything. But for a magazine cover like Elle, different styles will always be used as it makes it seem more creative and girly. The Celebritys names Drew and Justin on the first two magazine covers are next to the picture of them and in big font to make them stand out so I will take this into account and do it with my film name. The last cover is Vogue. It's really different to the others as it has very little text yet seems really eye catching because of the image and the yellow background as they combine well together. I don't want to use lots of text on my magazine cover as for a magazine company I dont feel it needs too and sometimes can take away the attention from the main meaning.

Mise-en-scene

Mise en scene- the location of my film will be in Bristol but in certain parts such as my house, a road and maybe a city centre to dramatise the trailer and make it seem more realistic.

The main characters are female and male. The male character will be dressed in black and dark colours to show him being mysterious and anonymous where as my other character (a teenage girl) will be dressed in lighter softer colours such as light blues, peaches to reflect a innocent shy personality. I don't want the teenager to have to much makeup on, I want her to look natural to reflect bow she is.

Genre Theory David Chandler

Types of sub-genre which apply to my trailer would be:

• Action thriller
• Drama
• Suspense
• Crime
• Mystery
• Pyschological
• Disaster

They come under this role as some of these sub genres are generally behind my trailer for example, pyschological. It's the motives and pyschological side of it, "why is he after her?" "what has made him do this?" etc. Other sub genres like Disaster/Crime are just the general side of the plot being bad. It is a disaster in the sence for the girls family who's been taken and how are they coping/feeling.

Genre conventions

Fonts - I used black and white colour within my trailer/magazine cover/poster as it's basic and stands out for the audience. When I say basic I mean it connects to my genre/plot. There is nothing special, fancy, funny about my genre so I used a very basic font style. Usually the font arial was used with the transitions so it was easy for the audience to understand but with the poster I used  a website called 101 fonts and used an example on their.

Editing Techniques - When editing my piece learning from last year it was to keep the pace of the trailer fast and the shots quick and simple instead of them dragging out. The convention was using dark suspence music to fit into the genre and at the important parts (syntagms) the music would either stop or be very quiet. I slowed down some of the shots such as walking to make more emphasis on them but not too much so they look like a western film creating a comedy impact.

Clothing - The conventions of clothing for a action thriller genre was making sure their clothing was completely opposite to each other. I used dark colours such as black, navy very basic colours for the protagonist and for the teenager/female light blues, whites etc. I wanted clean fresh but dull colours nothing to bright to give away the thought that she's a fun confident teenager as my portray of her isn't meant to be that. Using the colours show the differences between good and bad like Levi Straus theory.

Photographs - The genre convention of my photography which I took for my poster/magazine were using models and I used lighting to create more a dynamic effect and edited it so the background was black or white to connect all together. I made sure they wore clothes which represented their personalities and what they wore in the film so it all connected.

Trope - The other type of genre but within my film is how it connects to another different genre. For example in my film a male who is strong, mysterious wearing black or a suit, in a romance could be the person who everyone wants to be or want to be with. Or in another action film it could be seen as the good, smart, tactical person. Or a sign of a house is usually peace, love, family, friends, emotional etc it's all types of emotions and feelings in one setting but in this trailer this is where the person gets taken and all types of connection are broken.

Syntagm and Paradigm

I tried to understand the words Syntagm and Paradigm and apply them to a scene of a film as with language I personally find it a lot easier.

This is a clip from the film Taken when the daughter of the main character (Liam Neeson) is away and watches her friend get taken from her cousins apartment where they are staying. She knows she is next.

The paradigm is that in this scene there are two very different girls - one is very bubbily, confident, not afraid and the other one is more quiet, observed, content. But these two fall under the same category. The males who kidnap them want them both, even though they are completely different types of people they are still going to be apart of this kidnapping and being sold by these people.

As the scenes are always going back and forward to the scene of Kim hiding from the people who are trying to kidnap her and her dad who is sat down listening, helping her, we know that this is the main focus and syntagam the director wanted the audience to know. There could be many connotations to these clips as even though they follow each other and link together the future thoughts are 'will he get her back?' 'what is going to happen her?' this is what the paradigm of the choice of words tell us and make us think as the viewer. As he explains to her shout "eye colour, hair colour, anything you see"

"I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you" this sentence is a syntagam as "look, find" (verb), "kill" (object), "you" (the subject) but the choice of paradigms are used for the film to reflect Liam Neesons peformance of being strong, confident, a hero etc. Other choices of words could of been 'hunt', 'see', 'hurt' but those words wouldn't make as a strong impact as hunt could be seen as hunting with animals, hurt isn't as violent and shocking as kill and using the word 'see' gives the connotations he will definitely see him but as he isn't 100% sure he will see him he uses the word look as it'll make the other person be aware now that is someone is looking for him and there is no escape.

The obvious is that in this scene its the clear divsion of female and male. Identifying the paradigm is the feamle and male. If the roles were changed and it was the male being kidnapped by a female it would have completely different connotations and meanings as usually its females who get taken are sold.

Representation

As I chose my film to be a 15 I think representation is really important.

The representation of gender is really apparent in this film. I used a male protagonist to be the kidnapper as stereotypically that is what happens in the real media. I used certain camera types such as a high angle following him as he is walking to make him seem more intimidating and then with the female: close ups such as on her face to show fear.

Another type of representation is class/social status. My storyline is about tiger kidnapping and he kidnaps for money as he lost everything in a fire. I show this by using transitions throughout the film of facts about tiger kidnapping so the audience know what it's about and get some general knowledge about it.

Music research

I finally picked some music which I liked for my piece. I used the Macs music anyway such as 'dark suspense 1' but I also found on Youtube instrumental pieces.

I downloaded the Taken final fighting scene instrumental as it has some really good drum beats and then a sudden pause which creates a huge amount of suspense and really would make the audience feel 'wow'. I then also downloaded a instrumental piece of a piano song as I was intending to put a sad piece of music in my work but then realised it didn't really connect to the other pieces of music so during the sad points of the trailer I made the music quiet or used a silent piece to cause tension.

I ended up downloading suspense instrumental pieces which I use at the beginning which is a drum beat every 3 seconds, it's great to get the audience intrigued I thought but also during the transitions makes them seem more realistic.

Questions for Myra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sax95YCXQk8

My link for my trailer is ^

Here are some questions Myra I would like you to answer.

1. What do you think of the pace of the editing throughout the film?
   
2. Do any of my shots need to be cut, longer, changed?
   
3. My shots at the end of my trailer in the night time I tried out night vision as it was too dark otherwise. Do you think it was a good idea or does it not fit my genre very well as usually it's for a horror theme.
   
4. Do you think I should do some background information on the kidnapper before he enters the house and takes the teenager or leave it where is he is seen as anonymous?
5. Do you think I could change any of the music or does it fit quite well with the piece such as the drum beat for tension and suspense.
6. I go quite quickly from saying the mum is going out tonight so the teenager is going to be alone to the scene where the kidnapper comes in and takes her... Do you think I could add a bit more information in here so it's not jumped straight away or do you think it is okay and builds the tension up quickly?

Poster - Ancillary Task

Poster -

I will use studio lighting to create a more clearer moody effect and the lighting will be dark to reflect the film and the personality of the protagonist being mysterious and wondering what his motives are. Colours will be dark such as blacks connecting to the shadows and dark lighting.

I think from research and page layout I will use the rule of thirds and have the image to the left and the text to the right as it makes the picture stand out more. The text font colour will be simple such as arial and the colour will be white to stand out against the picture.

The location will be either in a studio or in my house but with a white background so the lighting can bounce on the walls and cause some good shadows.

The piece...

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Magazine - Ancillary Task

Poster -

I will use studio lighting to create a more clearer moody effect and the lighting will be dark to reflect the film and the personality of the protagonist being mysterious and wondering what his motives are. Colours will be dark such as blacks connecting to the shadows and dark lighting.

I think from research and page layout I will use the rule of thirds and have the image to the left and the text to the right as it makes the picture stand out more. The text font colour will be simple such as arial and the colour will be white to stand out against the picture.

The location will be either in a studio or in my house but with a white background so the lighting can bounce on the walls and cause some good shadows.

Representation

The representation of gender in this film is very apparent and strong. My main protagonist is male and the teenager who he kidnaps is female.

It's stereotypical but works really well as it reflects reality. The male protagonist is seen as strong, dominating and the female is seen as young and vulnerable. This will be shown through their body language and mise-en-scen as it creates a picture for the audience to understand, especially when it's a trailer.

Another representation in the trailer and film is poor and rich/class division. I thought this isn't a clear representation in most films as it seems to be gender or ethnicity etc so I thought it would be interesting to work with. It won't be extremely apparent as working with it would be quite different so I will show it through language and mise-en-scen. Such as the male prognosis losing everything that's why he's kidnapping the teenage girl for money.

New technology

New technology is what makes the world go round, you don't have to be a professional film critic to be able to critic a film or give your opinion. Feedback is mostly used through the Internet as its easier, it's more accessible to people and you can catch up on it whenever. You don't have to worry about pieces of paper or losing it, it's all within a click of a button.

Learning from this, I have been able to portray and learn from this for my practical pieces. I have been able to asses new types of news from the Internet or twitter as people 'trend' words which are associated to a particular topic worldwide.

Learning how to make a poster using professional software such as photoshop. I have learnt this from doing a photography course since gcse but I have adapted and took these techniques to apply to my current work. Photoshop is one of the worlds new favourite technology. Photoshop can change everything, how we perceive each other and life such as the beauty advert done by dove.

Music