Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposites is another key theory I used. The first is Past v Present. I feel it is shown strongly in my teaser trailer, as it is more concise when showing Terry doing his narration to the camera, contrasting that to showing the past events he's talking about, for example when he calls Jennifer to ask where she is, and why she hasn't turned up. 2) Lost v Found. For a time Terry has lost Jennifer, and found he is in love with her, also, Terry finds Jennifer at the end, (even though it's not revealed in the trailer.)
Roland Barthes theory of Enigma Codes is something I have also included in my trailer. 40 seconds into my trailer, I have the shot of Terry narrating, cutting to a 0.8 second shot of Jennifer walking down an alley by herself which just as quickly cuts back to a shot of Terry. The quick solo shot of Jennifer walking by herself gives the audience the impression that something bad is about to happen to her, reinforcing Barthes Semantic Code. Barthes Hermenutic Code - the way the story avoids telling truths / revealing all the facts and instead drops clues and hints to the audience, to create a sense of mystery, is one of Barthes Codes that my narrative takes strong inspiration from.
Vladimir Propp's character type theory is heavily reinforced within my trailer. Firstly you have the character type of the "Princess" - the character who needs to be rescued from the villain. The princess in this case is Jennifer, who is kidnapped by Damian. The "Helper" - the character who helps the Hero throughout the narrative. A side-kick is often a strong feature in Teen films, as they are often the lead character's best friend. My narrative does not conform to this convention, as it's his best friend / love interest who gets kidnapped, so he goes on the "quest" alone. You then have the "Hero" - the lead character of the film, who beats the villain and marries the princess. My trailer / narrative conforms but challenges this character type as in the trailer it appears that Terry is the Hero as he is the one looking for Jennifer, but he is actually the "Villain", as Terry is the person who kidnaps her in the first place. The "Donor" is Damian, as he informs Terry that he knows where Jennifer is, and eventually meets him to talk about finding her.
The first person narration from Terry to the conventions of Teen Drama's, which often have the protagonist of the film narrating, helping to guide the narrative. The shots of Terry's narration vary, for example, the first time we see of Terry is a mid shot of him when he's doing his introduction. He is sitting on a chair, looking directly into the camera, connecting with the audience. The shot was framed like this as it allows the audience to get a good view of him, and establishing to them that he is the main character. Another is an extreme close up of Terry's eyes, conveying to the audience his emotion. When editing these shots in iMovie,I added a blue filter to them, so to not only differentiate time, but to add to the dream like element of the narrative. To help further reinforce the dark element of my film, I added several more filters to the shots I took, to help the eerie and mysterious atmosphere and to keep the sense of brand identity, I added the same colour and style of filters to my print products. I also had to add filter's to some of my shots as when I was filming outside it was often sunny, which wasn't the look I wanted for my film trailer, as I wanted low key lighting rather than high. The Low key lighting used followed the convention of my second genre: Thriller.
I filmed in several different locations, establishing the main settings in my narrative. The locations include: Terry's School, Terry's Bedroom / House, the Cinema, in Town, where Jennifer is kidnapped, and where she is being held. The locations such as Terry's school and House are both common locations in Teen Drama films. And alleyway where Jennifer gets kidnapped and where she is being held are both desolate locations which is a convention of the Thriller genre. By using settings which are main conventions of a Teen Drama, it should make my audience interested in watching my film, as they can relate to those places more than someone who isn't in school for example.
To further follow the conventions of the music I used in both of my trailers was by two modern artists BADBADNOTGOOD (theatrical trailer) and Thom Yorke (teaser trailer). I used modern artists so my audience could form a stronger connection to my products. The music I chose challenges the conventions music chosen for a Teen Drama as the artists I chose are not mainstream, and their genre of music targets a very niche audience. I feel that non-diegetic sound / the soundtrack chosen for a trailer is a key convention in trailers. It helps build an intense atmosphere, because as the trailer reaches its peak, so does the music.
As well as Terry's narration helping to develop the narrative, I have included the inter-titles, which is a key convention of theatrical trailers. As well as helping the narrative, my inter-titles ask the audience a question, intriguing them and ultimately making them think, putting them in the position of Terry as he "lost the one he loves". In addition immediately after my first inter-title "if you lost the one you love" I added the shot of Jennifer getting kidnapped, letting the audience know that she's lost as she's been kidnapped. The background of my inter-titles is a brick wall, which is something that links to the background of all of my print products as well, adding another link to each of my products.
As the music builds up, the pace of the trailer increases. So to develop that, I created a quick montage of shots no more than 3 seconds each, making the pace of the action match the music, making it seem even more dramatic. And as the music reached it's peak I had to end my trailer at the most dramatic part without giving away the ending to the audience. I decided that this was where Terry would confront Damian for the first time. To add to the drama I split the scene; having the first half where Terry grabs Damian and asks "Where is she?" cutting to a close up shot of Jennifer's face, then cutting back to Terry shaking Damian and desperately asking "Where's Jennifer?". The climax is then brought to an end with the music as there is the sound of a symbol, and thus I decided to cut to the films title, and the rest of the inter-titles such as the release date, and the tag-line, ending the trailer on a high point.
My Teaser trailer is a more concise version of my Theatrical as I had to condense all the events from my main trailer into less than 60 seconds. So because of this, I used mainly Terry's narration as he establishes the story, no narrative inter-titles (as I don't want to give much of the narrative away as it's the teaser trailer) no cut-aways or establishing shots, and mainly shots of the narrative itself, such as Terry receiving the call from Damian, Jennifer tied up and Jennifer getting kidnapped. I have kept the ending the same as my Theatrical trailer, so I feel like it was a good high point to end it on.
To record footage for both my trailers I used a canon video camera. It was small, portable and light making transporting it from location to location made it easy. To keep the camera balanced I used a tripod, which allowed me to get steady shots with a smooth movement. A good example of this is the downwards panning shot of Jennifer when she's tied up, giving the audience a full shot of her.
My print products use and conform to all their individual conventions. My Theatrical poster uses the conventions of reviews from film magazines and film websites, my film title is the biggest text on the page making stand out and is in the centre of the page, my tag-line of the film is directly below my film title, but I have developed my tag-line by linking it directly to a social media site by including a hashtag, so instead of my audience using different hashtags I have provided a short and simple one. The production credits are featured at the bottom of my page, and is the smallest text, so not to take the audiences attention away from the key information, such as the release date below it. My central image is my lead character and is also the same image I have used for my other products to create a brand identity, and automatically strengthening the link between all of my print products. The colours I have chosen are white, blue and orange - all of which are bright colours, which again follows the conventions of a Teen Drama, but challenges the conventions of a Thriller, as Thrillers are often linked to dark colours and low key lighting, but I feel my image helps reinforce the conventions of a Thriller, with the filters I used.
On my billboard, I have included the key conventions such as: actors name - I positioned the actors names along the top of the poster, in correspondence with their images below them. I added several more reviews - 4 single reviews and then one sentence. I felt it was appropriate to add more reviews on my billboard as there is more space to fill and you can advertise your film better because of that. My film title again is the central, and the largest text, to catch the audience's eye, notifying them of the name of my film. It is also the same text, size and colour as the film title's on my other products, reinforcing the brand identity. The use of social media links - I have included a link to the film's website, Facebook page and hashtag for Twitter as social media is becoming ever growing, modern film posters include them and it's a way of free publicity for the film, if the audience is interested in it. My central image is of my protagonist, but either side of him I have placed an image of the secondary characters. I thought it was important to include them, as they are important as each other. To reinforce the sense of mystery, I added a transparency to the image of James and Helen.
My DVD cover uses the same image as my billboard poster, but it's slightly adapted, so I keep the brand identity, but with a slight twist. On the back of my DVD cover, I have included images from the film, which is a key convention of a DVD cover; Special Features text, giving the audience an insight into what's included; film ratings - the rating of my film is 15, as my target audience is 15-24, so by advertising my film as a 15 (included on my billboard poster) will get my target audience in to see it. Along the spine of the cover I have included the film title with the same font and colours as my main film title - which a central on the front cover. I have also included a brief description of my film - the blurb, which all DVD covers have, despite their varying sizes.
My magazine front cover has all the common conventions of a regular magazine, such as the masthead at the top of the page, and also being in the biggest and boldest font, with a banner behind it to make it stand out; the central image of the lead in my film, the issue and date, cover-lines which are all about films / film related events, helping to reinforce the fact my product is a film magazine; my film title is this time the second largest font on the page as it is the headline, meaning it comes second to the masthead. It is the same as the film titles on all my other print products. I have also used the colour scheme from my Theatrical poster throughout all my products, even my film magazine, as film magazine often do that when promoting the film - use the main colours of the film, to make it easily relatable.
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