Tonight I finally filmed the small viral trailer which will accompany my current research. As I only had a limited time to get filming done I had chosen to strip back from my original ideas and make the trailer a lot more simple. I had watched the viral trailer for the movie "In Time" within the trailer it shows a man cutting a parking metre with a chainsaw. As a viewer you would not really understand that this is a viral video at first so I wanted to make a similar concept to this.
I wanted to keep the same storyline that I had planned but for viewers watching i didn't want them knowing anything about the plot while watching the trailer. At first I used the song "Who are you" but as I felt this could give away a idea i decided to go with a song which is also a bit of a mystery. In the trailer I have shown two of my house mates asleep and a point of view shot of the robber taking the biscuits from the kitchen. The influence for some of it was from Indiana Jones.
The idea of doing this would be to then go on and make a full trailer for the film. This is something that I will be looking to work on in the future.
I have sent out a survey to ask the questions for my research. The results i got gave me a help in what I will be filming for my trailer. One of the questions i asked was what is the last trailer people had watched. The next question was asking what appeals to the viewer when watching a trailer. A lot of people had been watching the trailer for the latest X-Men film but when asked what appeals to the them as a viewer most people said it come down to the storyline shown in the trailer. So this puzzled me a bit it. I think if i was going to do more research into this I would select a variety of trailers and film peoples reactions to see what they think about each trailer. This way I am engaging with my audience and when it comes to actually showing them my trailer I can get feedback on the trailer. When it comes to doing work for third year it will be an area that i would seriously considering doing for my artefacts and in terms of my blog work i can show this.
As people had said they like a good storyline I'm glad i asked the question can a trailer show too much. From the responses that i got a lot of people felt that a trailer can ruin a movie for people. Straight away this made me think about my original idea for my trailer where I was going to have a lot more shots and storyline in the trailer. Instead now I will be making a small viral video which will give nothing away from the plot because one thing I want to do is engage people with the trailer. The idea would be to show the small trailer and get a buzz and feel for the film. Then going on to doing a longer trailer which show a bit more but still leaving the audience guessing as to what the movie will be about.
A lot of people had said music is important for a trailer. In my original ideas i was planning on playing "Who Are You" by the Who. But because i'm leaving this trailer as a mystery i have changed this to make it something random.
I'm Hoping to share my video on social network and get people to share as a word of mouth thing
This is a list of the questions I have asked in my survey on Trailers:
-When watching a film trailer what do you expect to see?
-What was the last film trailer you watched?
-When it comes to film trailers what appeals to you the most?
-Do you think music is important in a trailer?
-What do you think of viral videos as trailers?
-Do you think a trailer can ruin a movie before you have seen it by showing too much?
-How important do you think trailers are for films?
This is a small little documentary on the history of the movie trailer though different decades. It is a great watch and shows how the release of the movie jaws changed the dynamics of the trailer it opened up a bigger viewing audience.
This next video is based on voice actor Don LaFontaine who has voice for over 5000 movie trailers including one of my favourite movies off all time "The Terminator". Though most modern trailer use voice overs from actors in the film a voice over can make a trailer a lot more tense and with music blends nicely
Based on the research I have been doing so far with my research report I will be making a small trailer of my own to go with my poster. This is because I wanted to be creating a artefact to go with my research.
I have recently been watching detective drama Whitechapel on ITV and have enjoyed how different it is to other shows. It is a lot more darker the other crime drama's with its low key lighting and creative story telling. The film idea I have had is going to be blending elements of a detective drama with comedy. The basic outline for the film will be an investigation into the robbery of a pack of biscuits from the central character. The idea would be that the police treat this is as a serious crime and unravel the past of the central character and find out who would have a motive to perform such crimes.
In the trailer it would be a slow-mo of the biscuit tin dropping to the ground and a few cut away shots of the detectives actually starting to investigate the crime. Below is the trailer for The Usual Suspects
As I had found that British trailers show parts of culture in the UK I decided to use Tea and Biscuits as it one of the things that people think about when it comes to this country
Doing research on "300 Rise Of An Empire" I wanted to start looking at trailers for British productions. Currently British actors are having a lot of success within America. Game of Thrones has helped showcase the best of British acting and now because of this some of the cast are now moving into other franchises for example Emilia Clarke will be playing "Sarah Connor" in the rebooting of the Terminator franchise. Then there is Andrew Lincon who is currently playing lead character "Rick Grimes" in The Walking Dead.
One of the things that is great about British productions is that they often rely on the acting more then special effects and make-up. Watching the trailers for British trailers shows that a lot of them showcase different sub cultures within the UK and a lot of the time deal with a lot of social issues. Films such as "The Full Monty" and "Billy Elliot" are two different types of movies but both deal with closure of the mines during Thatchers rein as PM which led to hundred of workers losing their jobs.
There are certain trailers which are American influenced such as "Dog Soldiers" but it also has elements from British hit "Zulu" and its great watching how success in the industry has helped boost the quality in films that this country is producing.
The trailer for E4 smash hit "Skins" is one of the first drams I really got into. The trailers for it make it seem like it was just going to be about drug, sex the usually youth culture. But the trailer was deceiving as the more i got into the show the more involved you get with the characters. Each work it deals with a range of issues such as eating disorders, religion, sexuality, peer pressure. As a viewer you feel like you are watching these characters develop from where the trailer where they are so care free. So one thing i have learnt from this is that a trailer doesn't have to give to much away without revealing a plot.
Shane Meadows work are a great at showing the kitchen sink drama within a production of a film. "This is England" is a story of about his own youth and growing up as a skinhead. This too deals with problems during Thatchers Britain (she really is a popular women...) the trailer for the film though only mildly hints at the racism during the film and as viewer watching the trailer it makes the film seem more of a comedy drama coming of age tale. Even the location are a lot more realistic compared to American trailers. Another example of British production like this is "In The Flesh" though it is a drama about zombies the location in Lancaster gives it a more British feel to the show.
Watching some of these trailers has helped my understanding a bit when it comes to producing my trailer. I want to make something a lot more subtle. I will be now thinking about what i want to produce for my small trailer.
As I had decided on what I would be researching it was time to look into what needed to be done. I had chosen that I wanted to make a trailer of my own so the first part of my would be looking into what we see in movie trailers. This would mean watching a variety of trailers to give me an idea into what would be needed for me to produce a decent enough video.
To start with I watched the trailers for "300 Rise Of An Empire" as this is one of the best films I have seen in 2014. The first trailer was released in July of last year even though it was going to be in cinemas till March. I feel the reason movies do this is because they want to start generating an interest in the film. Having a trailer come out so early will make viewers become more involved with the film. As a viewer if a trailer appeals to you it will make you become interested with what will come next.
Another thing I have found that with American movie trailers they show a lot of footage from the film. As a viewer I like this because personally I feel with trailers they need to showcase why people should watch these films. But in another sense it can sometimes take something away from a film as there is no element of surprise when it comes to actually watching the film at the big screen.
In the trailer as well the opening seconds show gerrad butler who was the star of the first movie. It slowly builds up the tension until it shows the blood thirsty action. Because 300 is a franchise they want to bring back fans of the first film into watching the film. So by having stars from the first one it creates excitement about the next film. Another factor about these films is that the stories are based on true events and one thing I did was look into the history of the battle of marathon which is in opening sequence in the film. And its brilliant watching great victories come to live on the big screen
