In terms of sequencing we have conformed to the conventions of real media products by having action at the very start, some less energetic action in the middle so we know a bit about the plot and then action at the end. That is a very short synopsis of what sequence most action film trailers usually follow and we have tried, where we can, to stick to that. A lot of action film trailers will have a rock song as their soundtrack as it goes very well with action films. We have done the same as our main soundtrack is a rock song. Other music is used in our trailer to build up suspense and tension in places, which is also a popular technique in action film trailers as it can be very effective. We have also used a non diegetic voice over which has also been used in countless action films and is still being used to this day in film trailers.
At the beginning of our film trailer we were trying to build up tension and suspense. One shot we used to emphasise this we a close up of the foot of someone running past. The effect of this shot is to make the audience think that the man running is running away from something and that someone is following. We rely on the audience to make that assumption when watching the trailer, as we can only steer them so far to think a certain way. The shots that follow that are looking out from inside a car as trees go past. There are two ways this shot can be meant. First of all the trees passing the car window denote that the car is moving so the audience will know that we are moving to a new location. Secondly it can connote a passing in time. The trees could be seen as small events passing the character by, minor events that perhaps have no effect on the plot of the film. Both of those meanings are equally as effective for an audience as neither will confuse them when the next shot is set in a different place and time to the last.
We have changed a few things from what would be expected of an action film trailer. First of all if you apply prop’s theory, the hero would be someone who fights evil and saves a ‘damsel in distress’ and does it all for a good cause. Our hero is slightly different to that. He does fight evil but at one point in the film trailer he is seen to make a deal with the ‘bad guys’ which a conventional action film hero would never do. It also makes us feel that A, the main character of our film, is a reluctant hero and heroes don’t usually give off that impression.
I think that my ancillary texts compliment my film trailer very well. My Empire magazine cover shows only A in the centre image which connotes him being a standalone hero who has no ‘sidekick’ or organisation to help him. This theme is explored in the trailer as well, as many shots of A are of him alone. The expression on his face in the magazine cover is one of confusion and anger. This again ties in with him being a reluctant hero. The cover also shows A’s arm and the fact that it is metal and glowing. This would make any reader of the magazine think that Freedom is a bionic action film. This would also help the audience to make references to past bionic action films such as Robocop and Ironman which were very successful films. The fact that his other fist is clenched is something else I wanted to make sure was seen in my magazine cover as a clenched fist connotes violence and fighting.
My other ancillary text is a movie poster. This also conveys the themes in my movie trailer. The character is in direct mode of address to capture a potential audience who would be drawn to looking at the poster. As with my Empire magazine cover A is alone in the poster. This confirms that the fight he will endure will be done for the most part, alone. The character in the poster is pulling what I would call a determined and revengeful face which suggests the film in the poster will be an action film. The fact that the arm is glowing adds an air of mystery to the poster with the audience not knowing why the arm is glowing hopefully making them want to see the film. After all the function of a movie poster is to make someone want to go and see the film shown in the poster.
My film trailer contains many representations of different social groups. It represents the army as a force who will use all its power to make sure it gets what it wants. It also shows the army as a very secretive organisation as no-one knows at first about the arm as the army keep it under wraps, all until A escapes from their military base. (Shown below)
The mafia are also portrayed in a particular way in my film trailer. They are shown as sly, manipulative criminals who will go to any length to get what they want. It shows the Don of the mafia as a very powerful man. The audience know his status as we show him sat at the head of a large table in his office looking down on anyone around him. The deviousness of the mafia is shown clearly in our trailer when we see Don Devici telling A that if A gives him his nanotech arm then the mafia will leave him alone. A agrees to this as he values his life above everything else but as he has left the room we have a close up of the Don where he can be heard saying that he wants A dead. This shows the audience that the mafia are not to be trusted in our film and will make them like our main character more because of this. Another type of person represented in our trailer is ‘your average person’. A Meets a stranger in a pub and this man, Hector, is very willing to help A and eventually will provide A with a means to escape. The audience are also meant to have a strong liking to Hector because he goes above and beyond to help out someone he has just met despite the dangers that entails.
The media institution I would like to distribute my media product would be Paramount Pictures. The reason for my choice is they have a very reputable history of releasing good action films such as: The Last Airbender (2010), Watchmen (2009) and The Italian Job (1969).
The film I am going to focus on most is Iron Man (2008). That film was distributed by Paramount pictures and that is the main reason I have chosen that company to distribute my film. Iron Man was a huge box office success as it combined a bionic element with lots of action sequences. Our film is very much similar to Iron Man as our main character has a nanotech arm which has spectacular powers much the same as the character in Iron Man.
I think Paramount would want to distribute our film trailer because of the fact that based on previous films they have distributed, our particular genre is a very popular one which would maximise takings to their company, which is at the end of the day what the film distribution companies are looking for.
Other production studios I research before deciding on Paramount were: Universal studios, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks. First of all, Universal studios. They have a wide range of film genres in their armoury with comedies like Funny People (2009), horror films like Dead Silence (2007) and spy film like The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Universal seem to bring out a range if different genres every year, never focussing on one particular one. They already have an action film scheduled for release in 2010 in Robin Hood. That’s why I decided they wouldn’t be interested in our film. Warner Bros. Have recently released a lot of fantasy films like Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets (2002) and 10,000 B.C (2008). They have tended to g for films like that rather than out and out action films which led me to believe that Warner Bros. Would not be interested in distributing our film. 20th Century Fox release lots of sci-fi films like; Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007). They tend to steer clear of action films so for that reason I don’t think they would want to distribute our media product. It is clear that every production company have films in different genres with no company focussing on just one genre of film but Paramount would still be the company who I think would distribute my film.
The target audience for my media product is a mainly male audience as most of the characters in my film are male and there is a lot of fighting scenes which are stereotypically entertaining for men. Also action films are stereotypically aimed at men. Women would also enjoy my film as it caters for both genders. I would expect the film to receive a certification of 12a. This certificate would be best for our film as it allows us to maximise audience figures by allowing children as young as 12 to come to our film with their parents. If the certification was 15 then a lot of our audience would be lost. Our film contains mild violence and so deserves a certification but there is no swearing or sexual reference so it doesn’t need a 15 certification.
I would promote my film by running a high profile poster campaign. I would use large posters in public places and at major events in combination with TV adverts. This would hopefully attract a large audience to want to come and see the film at the cinema. Viral internet campaigns can be very effective but I think more people will be aware of the film if it is promoted by a poster a TV campaign. When the TV advert for my film would hit the screen I would like it to be between programs such as a football match or another action film. As my predicted audience will be mainly male I think that having it during a football match would allow more men to see the advert and be attracted to going to see the film. Also by putting the advert in the break of an action film on TV it would ensure that the money spent on the advert was well spent as I will have an action film audience seeing the advert maximising cinema visitors going to see my film.
In terms of attracting our audience to the film we used many conventions of previously sucessful action films. We used CGI in our film which is a convention of modern action film. We also used other action film conventions such as extensive fight scenes and various weaponry.
We showed our film to other members of our class in order to obtain feedback about our film to see what was sucessful and what needed improving. The feeback we obtained was largely positive and we recieved some detailed points people raised with regards to our film trailer. The people who watched our film trailer had positive comments regarding the fighting scenes and the sound effects saying that the fighting lookied very realistic and the sound effects fitted in perfectly with the on screen action. As fight scenes are a convention of action films we were pleased that ours was sucessful. They also thought that the narration fitted in well in the trailer which we found particulaly pleasing. One of the questions we asked to our audience was; What questions did the trailer leave you with? The audience had a few questions such as What has A done to deserve this? And What happens at the end? Both of these responces were what we were looking for as they are questions that will make people want to come and see the full film at the cinema and if that happens then the trailer has done its job of selling the film to a potential audience. Also the audience picked up on our films likeness to IronMan which is another positive piece of feedback because if people associate our film with previously sucessful films then more people would want to come and see our film. The audiences feedback agreed with our intitial intentions as we wanted people to have questions anout the ending of the film and what happens as that will increase interest in the film. The audience we showed our trailer to asked the question does everything work out ok in the end? This means they would have to come and see the film to find out. Based on the feedback I recieved, I would maybe have shown a little bit more of our main characters past so their were no questions about what happened before his arm was transformed by the military. Overall, from the audience feedback we were pleased at how well recieved our trailer was and how much people would be interested in watching the whole film and that is what we set out to achieve when we produced the trailer.
Lots of equipment is used when producing a film. The main piece of equipment is the camera. It captures all of the action making it the most important piece of kit that a film maker owns. In the production of high budget film they might use a track which allows the camera to move freely in a certain direction mainly used to follow movement in a shot. The same high budget films might also use a helicopter with a camera attached which would be used to film something from a very high angle to get more into a shot. Something else that can be used to get high angle shots is a crane. When a camera is attached to it, it gives the director the ability to look down on the action or to film something high up.
Film makers also use equipment such as complicated editing software and various items of sound equipment.
During the production of our film we used basic video cameras and we made good use of a tripod which helped to keep the camera level when filming to ensure the shots were of high quality. We also used an editing program on the computer which easily allowed us to do everything we wanted to our footage. During the editing process we discovered many new possibilities with regards to adding effects to the film and altering sound files. After realising that we could elongate sound files we decided to have the music in the background while the titles were on the screen. Also, after using the tripods over a number of weeks we found how to use them to obtain a variety of different camera angles such as one high up and low down. We discovered a computer program called ‘After Effects’ which allowed us to add an element of CGI to our trailer. (See Below) It let us produce a professional looking effect which we made it look like it was coming from A’s arm.
