Oh, Death.

Here's another idea/experiment.



 It didn't turn out as well I'd hoped, but the general idea was to convey a sort of post-apocalyptic feeling. Problem was I still have so little actual footage because of camera issues, so the overal feel is a little more no-kids-went-to-the-park-today rather than post-apocalyptic, but it's the thought that counts, right? I would've liked to have had a really strong image for the first "Oh, Death" (at the end of the clip) to finish it but I couldn't... No matter, watch this space!

Song: Oh, Death
Artist: Jen Titus

(I realise real actual copyrighted songs aren't allowed for the final piece, so I'll find something different if I develop this idea.)

Update.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone.

Okay, so, admittedly I haven't been doing a whole lot recently on here. Since I found out the spec changed as regards music copyright and stuff I've had to rethink my trailer idea (basically the storyboards below), and I've decided it won't work without the song I was intending to use (Dylan's "Beyond Here Lies Nothing", if you were interested), and thus have... done nothing. Although, the Christmas season seems to have awoken my enthusiasm again, and I managed to take some footage yesterday... In a carpark, whilst about to go Christmas shopping. Pretty poor, yes. Plus, my camera is on the blink, so I only managed to get a whole 14 seconds...

Here it is, anyway. My first attempt at trying out my idea of taking out frames to make the footage skip and jump whilst someone is walking. I had to use Windows Movie Maker, because Adobe Premiere Pro couldn't support the video type, but I'm working on changing that. I cut it down to about 4 seconds too, but expect more to come (hopefully).

First storyboard

I had this idea in bed whilst listening to Bob Dylan, haha. Sorry about the poor quality, they're just scans from my scribbles. You might want to click on them to make them bigger. They're sort of in the wrong order a bit, so I've numbered them. I'll make a picture animation soon, so my idea is clearer.

 

 

 

Research: Thriller Genre

So, I've been doing some reading/researching about Thrillers. Rather than copy and paste everything, I'll just link you.

Thriller genre (Wikipedia)

By these standards, it seems just about anything can become a 'thriller'. Howeeever, I'm going to try hone in on one specific area of the genre - Psychological Thrillers.

Psychological Thriller (Wikipedia)

I thought I'd mainly read about thrillers in the last ten years, just to save on time. 

List of Thriller films - 2000's. (Wikipedia)

'Not all jokes are funny.'

I've been watching teaser trailers, just for some kinda wider viewing, without having to go into real deep analysis.

My favorite one is probably for The Dark Knight, which you can watch here;



The thing that got me about this trailer was it's simplicity. There isn't even any footage from the film, just dialogue. The only real hook there is Caine's voice, which is pretty recognisable. There's no actual images of Bale/Batman, only the bat logo. And there's nothing about Ledger, although this was released before his death, so there was less hype about his performance then. The only link between the Joker and the dialogue is the Joker card that spins from the bat logo.

Before the Dark Knight's release, 42 Entertainment and Warner Bro's began a huge viral campaign to promote the film's release, which you can read about here;

Dark Knight Marketing (Wikipedia Article)

Just an idea.

I really really like polariods. I know this is off topic a little, but I just found these on my external hard drive, and it's given me what might be the beginning of an idea for my movie poster. I think I found them on DeviantArt. I thought that the drawings over a photo imply messing with time, or self-mutilation (although these two photos are a bit more cutesy then what my finished product would be). Also, they'd give away very little, perfect to remain consistent with the teaser trailer.

Anyway.

Results.

I handed out my questionnaire to ten men, and ten women, so I don't think there's much need for a graph of that... So, I'll post each table of results here, the graphs of the results, and then my analysis after.

 Most of the people I asked where in the 17-20 age range, mostly because that's the age group I spend most of my time with... However, my target audience will also be within this range, although extended a little in both directions. Maybe from like 15 upwards. That would make my film a 15 certificiate, which, if I were making the whole thing, would give me room to have some cases of strong swearing, strong violence, implicit sexual scenes or drug use. Although, I'm not really planning on having this in my trailer...

This graph merely shows that most people expect a teaser trailer to be between 30 seconds and a minute, which is good, although 4 men did expect it to be under 30 seconds - maybe I can use that to justify not having enough footage, if it comes to it. Haha.

This graph shows that most people assumed that a teaser trailer would give away 'barely any' of the plot. I realise now that I used quite loosely defined terms in my questionnaire, which I'd have to improve on if I were to do this again...

Anyway, this is useful for me, because if people don't expect much to given away in the teaser trailer it leaves room for surrealism and symbols, rather than in-your-face plot exposure...

This graph shows that most people also don't expect to see the twist in the film's plot exposed in the teaser trailer. This is probably because the theatrical trailer is designed to do that, whereas the teaser trailer just acts as a preliminary hook.

 Again, this graph shows pretty self explanatory results. Everyone expects to hear music in a teaser trailer.

And, in the graph below, we can see that almost everyone expects to be introduced to the main character, in one way or another. One man said he didn't, which is interesting, and shows that maybe if I had asked a wider sample, then more people might have said a similar thing. All this highlights the great freedom there is with teaser trailers, there aren't many rules regarding what you must introduce about the film to the audience.

Questionnaire.

Next, to get an idea of what people would expect to see in a teaser trailer, I constructed a questionnaire to pass on to twenty people (ten guys, ten girls) to see the results. Here's the questions I asked:

Are you (please circle);
-Male
-Female

How old are you?
- -16
- 17 – 20
- 21 – 24
- 24+

How long would you expect a thriller teaser trailer to be?
- -30 seconds
- 31 seconds to 1 minute
- 1 minute +

How much of the films plot would you expect to be given away?
- Barely any
- Enough so I know what the film is about
- Most of the plot

Would you expect a thriller teaser trailer to give away a twist in the films plot?

Would you expect to hear music?

Would you expect to be introduced to the main character?

Teaser trailers.

Okay, so, I've looked at some teaser and theatrical trailers. This has helped me come to some conclusions;
- Most teaser trailers are between 30 seconds to a minute long.
- The name 'teaser' trailer can be very literal, ie, some may not even include that much footage from the actual film. The idea is to tease the audience. Another reason for this may be that the teaser trailer is released a long time before the full length film, so the editing and production may not be properly finished yet. This all is intended to just add to the hype, merely to let the audience know that the film is coming - rather than explaining the plot itself.

Because I've picked to try make a Thriller trailer, I need to follow certain conventions, like;
- Most Thriller type trailers include sped up footage.
- Usually there are lots of fast cuts/transitions.
- Shots or transitions that might make the audience jump - Most Thriller fans like the adrenaline rush.
- Surrealism.
- Sometimes CGI footage.
- Little indication of the direction of the plotline.

Research: Fight Club

"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world" - Tyler Durden

To save writing another whole plot summary, you can just read it here;

Fight Club Plot Synopsis

And, here's the trailer;



Things I noticed:

- The trailer begins with the usual stuff - The distribution company, certificate rating, etc;

- Introduces what else the director has done/been involved in;

- Plus, the actors name appear in the same consistent way;

- The narrator acts as the voiceover, explaining the plot line. For example, "I couldn't sleep", which is relevant to the shots on screen;

- Characters use the name of the film in dialogue, "... We just gave it a name... Fight Club."

- Plus, the film name appears in a quirky and unusual way at the end of the trailer - embossed in the soap;

- There's inter-textual references/realism;

- Use of humour: The club members picking fights with strangers, for example, and it being called 'homework";

 

 

- Shots of action or big events in the plotline. For example, the first 'Fight Club' in the carpark, or the building exploding. This gets the audiences interest;

 

-Use of unusual CGI effects. This surrealism catches attention;

- Shots on screen relevant to the dialogue/narration. This helps get an idea of the plot. An example of this is when the narrator/main character meets another man who is obviously a member of Fight Club, but Brad Pitt's character's dialogue is "First rule of Fight Club, you do not talk about Fight Club". The two look at each other knowingly, but do not talk;

 

- Also, the music used reflects the mood of the shots. The tempo of the music is faster during shots of suspense or action, like fighting, whilst it is becomes slower during surral or emotional moments.

- The music fades out at the end of the trailer.

- There is no outside 'Voice-of-God' narration. It all comes from the main character, or actual dialogue.

- The trailer ends on this screen (see below), which shows all the actors and crews names together, as well as a release date and the website address, etc;

Ideas:

After watching Requiem for a Dream, I really wanted to try my hand at quick transitions and maybe a montage of some sort. I especially like the breakfast scene with Sara in the film, so I thought that maybe I'd quickly try recreate something similar.
I touched a little on this in my mind map, although it's not all that clear;

So, here it is;

That's me doing the voice-over too, ha.

I also got some feedback on YouTube (thanks, Ron):

"Good start there, I can see how it would be on the start of a trailer, but not sure where the story is going."

He's right. I can't really see where the story is going at this stage, but I'm glad I developed the idea. Now it's not rattling around in my head, and I know how much effort it can be to sync the image with a voice-over, and sound effects, which I had to record separately on my video camera.

So, back to the drawing board. I think I want to stay away from drugs and addiction, as making them convincing is pretty difficult. There's nothing as cringey as a group of kids pretending to be high.

Research: Requiem for a Dream Trailer

- The trailer is only 1.34ish minutes long (teaser trailer length), but features at least 12 seconds relating to the production and distribution company.

- The style of the trailer is quite unconventional and very similar to the editing of the film. The fast montages and cuts are sometimes called "hip-hop montages", usually a rapid series of simple actions accompanied by related sounds effects. You'll see this in the trailer almost all the way through, like when the money levels rise in the box, or the syringe being plunged, for example. I really really like this, and might adopt something similar. I love the energy and chaos it implies.

- Aronofsky also uses split screen shots to show the different perspectives of the characters. This creates quite an objective narration. However, he also uses a lot of extreme close ups, which help us to identify to a greater degree with each individual character. 

- The soundtrack of the film was composed by Clint Mansell and performed by Kronos Quartet, which you can hear at the start of the trailer. This was played on instruments usually noted for their warmth, like cellos, but instead they are played to sound cold and eerie. This reflects the nature of the film - dreams are supposed to be warm, possibly happy, things, but Requiem for a Dream portrays them in quite a different and unsettling light.
This trailer mostly features another song from the film however, which is maybe more suited to the fast pace. The classical music features of the film's full length trailer. You can listen to it here;

Requiem for a Dream theme

And, if you like really epic remixes, here's the recording by a full orchestra that was done for the second Lord of the Rings film, although it was never used;

Requiem for a Tower

Research: Requiem for a Dream

I love love love this film. It's an adaptation of the book originally by Hubert Selby, Jr and was released in 2000. It was directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starred Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans.

The film depicts the different kinds of addictions, suffered by the main characters. The film charts three seasons in the lives of Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), her son Harry (Jared Leto), Harry’s girlfriend Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and Harry’s friend Tyrone C. Love (Marlon Wayans). Each character is ultimately destroyed by addiction and self-delusion - reflected in the mise-en-scene and camera work of the film, and obviously its name.

'Requiem' - A mass for the deceased. A deceased dream. In the book, Selby criticises the American Dream as unattainable, and each character is said to represent a part of it. For example, Tyrone wants money. The name comes from how each character substitutes their own dreams with addiction, and how they ultimately destory themselves.

Here's most of the films info, like the producers and distribution company, which I took from Wikipedia;

Research: The Butterfly Effect Trailer

Next, I'll have a look at the trailer for the film. It's a bit longer than a 'teaser' trailer, but it's the best I could find. I'll try point out conventions, certain things I find interesting and... Yeah. Blame YouTube if you can't view it properly.




Convention: Trailer opens with the green 'audience approved' notice by the Motion Picture Association of America, which features the certificate of the film - Rated R, which means that in the US kids under 17 can't watch the move alone in the cinema, but can go in if they've got an adult with them. In the UK, this film was rated a 15. That generally means that there'll be some swearing, some nakedness, some violence, maybe some drugs....

From about 00.06 to about 00.11/12ish you'll see the text, "Some people want to forget the past..." and then the writings moves so it says "Some people want to change it". This immediately sets up the idea that this film will involve time-travel and playing with the past (doh).

Convention: This then transitions into the New Line Cinema logo. Almost all trailers involve some sort of promotion for their distributors.

Next, we have the character Evan setting up the plot by mentioning his black outs as he walks next to Kayleigh. Then, the 'voice-of-God' voice-over man picks up and talks over some flashbacks and memories, further implying that this film is about time, etc etc. There's an explosions, which immidiately grabs people's attention, and some screaming and sirens. There's a really nice pan transition too, which might be interesting to try recreate.

Here's some other things I noticed;
- There's bits of dialogue revelant to the plot, like "Remember when we were kids..." or "If I go back to the beginning, I might be able to save her..."

- Lot's of CGI used to create surreal things, like walls melting, the writing in the diary shaking, the illusions of time travel...

- Transitions between black, white and sepia show differences in time and alternate realities.

- Montages of the past - flashbacks of memories with quick transitions of white flashes. This may be a reference to the sort of 'white-light' people report during outer-body-experiences?

- Close up shots of key plot devices, such as the stick of dynamite rolling across the floor or the note Evan drops onto the coffin.

- The trailer features a song with lyrics relevant to the plot -  Staind's 'It's been a while'. You can see all the lyrics here;;;

'It's Been a While' Lyrics

- Clips of the plot twists to get viewers attention - Like seeing Evan walk into the prison after hitting Kayleigh's brother, him waking up in bed with Kayleigh...

- Flashes of text saying "this winter" to promote the film and let the viewer know when it'll be out. This is usually accompanied by the logo, and with the jumbled typeface. Consistency helps the audience identify the film easier, and be more likely to remember it.

- Flashes of more text supporting the plot - "Change one thing... Change everything.", which is on top of the cgi butterfly flapping it's wings - hence the title The Butterfly Effect.

- Clips of the film reflecting what the voice over is saying, like the camera spinning around Evan in time with the voice over saying "fast forward... rewind..." 00.57ish to 01.03ish.

- Images of brain scans and skulls, showing the audience this is a psychological thriller. Also images of embryo's, cell activity and hands. (I especially like the hands, I might adapt that idea.)

 

- The actors names appearing alongside clips of them from the film

- "Coming soon"
and
 - The film's website address

Research: The Butterfly Effect

"The butterfly effect is a phrase that encapsulates the more technical notion of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory. Small variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. It is a common subject in fiction when presenting scenarios involving time travel and with "what if" scenarios where one storyline diverges at the moment of a seemingly minor event resulting in two significantly different outcomes."

Okay, so the first film I'm researching is The Butterfly Effect (2004). It was directed and written by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, and distributed by New Line Cinema. It stars Ashton Kutcher as main character Evan, and Amy Smart as his friend Kayleigh.

As a young boy Evan experiences black outs at time of high stress and wakes up later unable to remember anything. As Evan grows older, these black outs become less frequent. However, he discovers whilst at college that if he reads his childhood journals he is able to travel back in time and 'redo' what was done. This, we discover, was the reason for his blackouts. Evan tries to change the most traumatic times of his childhood and save those around him, such as preventing Kayleigh from being molested by her father.

These actions he takes change the present when he wakes up, having altered the time line. This is where the films title comes from. Although Evan intends to do good, his actions ultimately have infinite consequences and often some things end up worse than before.

The final cut of the film shows Evan eventually going back in time to the beginning of his childhood to scare Kayleigh away so he can't alter her future anymore. At the end of the film, they pass each other in street, and she does not recognise him.

Other cuts show Evan turning and following Kayleigh, and another shows him stopping her and asking for them to have a coffee together. 

However, another alternative cut of the film's ending shows Evan taking a final trip back to his time as a fetus in the womb and strangling himself with his umbilical cord. His mother exclaims "Not again!" implying that she has lost children before, assumingly with the same time traveling ability who chose the same path as Evan. This cut was considered too morbid, and is instead included on the DVD special features.

The Butterfly Effect initially received mixed and average reviews, but won an award at the Brussels Film Festival.

Choosing a genre?

I've been thinking about what genre of film would best suit a 'teaser trailer'. So far it looks like I'll be aiming for a sort of 'Thriller' feel, as I'm interested to try create something surreal and different. So, hence the 'theme of this blog.

 I thought blacks and blues are quite cold colours, and often brain scans use different hues of blue for different parts of the brain on black backgrounds. I find them fascinating, so I did a quick google search and did some fiddling on PhotoShop and vala - you've probably already seen the result up the top of the page.

I did a quick mind-thing earlier, which I'll come back to later and explain some of my ideas more indepth, but here's a piccy of it anyway;

One of my favorite films ever is 'Requiem for a Dream'. I love everything about it - the camera work, the montages, the story - and it'll be fun to research it and try create something similar. I'll look to research it to find out what techniques are used in the trailer, and I'll also look at some of my other favorite films, like Fight Club and The Butterfly Effect, as you can probably see in the mind-map (remembered what they're called, heh).
I've been involved with film production before, as part of a sort of amateur comedy group within my group of friends. We mainly made zombie trailers, because these are generally quite low budget and require minimal acting skills. And, the special effects are pretty easy (well...). I was involved in the acting, filming and editing processes.
Here's a couple of pictures;

(Me on the right!)

We also made a 'Grindhouse' trailer, which I avoided acting in and mostly worked behind the camera. Here's a clip of it;

Hello!

So, here's my A2 Media Studies blog. Great, right?

For my coursework, I've picked to work alone and go with brief number two:

A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:
- a website homepage for a film;
- a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
- a poster for the film.

Annnnnd, I'll probably go with the last two ancilary tasks.