1. How the aims of 1 production have been met
The aim of our assignment 3 was to get into groups and make a 2
minute film trailer. The name of our film is called Obsidian because of the
constant darkness and eerie conventions that we portray in our trailer. The
actors that we decided to use in our trailer were the people in our group. The
reason why we didn't get other friends and family in the actual trailer was
because it was often quite hard for everyone to be organized and get to the
filming location on the weekend. The only real prop that we used in our trailer
was a hammer that we covered in black slime to show that the hammer was almost
unnatural and preposterous, the reason why we didn't use many props in our
trailer because we wanted to show off our naturalistic techniques in the
actors. The costume that we used for our trailer was very dull and humdrum
outfits for our actors and actresses.
We didn't feel it was very necessary to pay much attention to costume as it only needed to show that the actors and actresses were teenagers. The camera that we used was the Nikon D800. The reason behind why we used this camera was because the D800 can record Full HD 1080p at 30/25/24p or 720p at 60/50p in AVC format. This means we were able to film epic footage with a hand held camera. The lighting that we had to film contrasted from at sometimes incredibly high key to sometimes dark and dingy low key. The software that we used was Final Cut Pro X, the reason behind choosing FCP was because I felt that using this software would really let me be able to show off my editing techniques in this piece.
2. How the product applies appropriate codes and conventions and uses appropriate media language
We followed the codes
and conventions of a typical horror film trailer for example a horror films
meant to make you: Frighten & panic
cause dread, alarm, Evoke our hidden worst fears, captivate &
entertain us in a liberating experience. They Often conclude in a
terrifying shocking finale. Visual style: often dark colours like red
& black (links to evil, blood and danger etc) Common objects include:
weapons, masks, icons of the supernatural/religious etc. The iconography of the
monsters helps to connote extreme fear, disgust, and terror: werewolves,
vampires, mummies, Frankenstein and many more. The captions that we used in our
film were used to give a basic
3. How the product represents people, places
or events
We had teenage actors throughout the whole trailer which from the start gives the audience an idea of who our target audience would be, which was 16-18-year olds. The props that we used in our trailer were pretty much a hammer and a shovel. We didn't really want to have many props as our trailer is a very minimalistic piece. Costume that we used throughout was just dark clothes and casual outfits as we didnt want anything to stand out, as we were putting the whole trailer in black and white.
4. Where and when the product would be
exhibited/distributed
We would make sure
that our product wold be distributed to the right target audience by firstly
posting the trailer on our official YouTube and Instagram page to gain more
attention to our film. We would try and get the trailer played before big films
in the cinema so it attracts an even larger audience. The uses of hashtags
would also make sure our film got out to a wide range of people as the hashtag
would attract more viewers. The main way to distribute our trailer would be to
make a website so people can know what our film is about and where they can go
and see it in a cinema nearby. We would take advantage of social media as it is
a free resource and is a cheap and efficient way of marketing out film.
5. What regulations and controls might be applied to the
product and how these have been taken into consideration
The BBFC would
most likely rate our film a 15 or a 15A which would alienate some of our target
audience. Our film would be rated at a 15 due to the whole horror aspect of our
trailer, furthermore our trailer links to some dark elements which some viewers
under 15 might find disturbing. A trailer would be rated as a 15 If it contains
things such as Violence and Discrimination. It states that ‘Violence may be
strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest
gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.’
6. The strengths and
weaknesses of the product in terms of meeting the needs of its audience
I got people to watch my film trailer and asked them to give me
constructive criticism on what they thought I could improve. Most of the people
that I asked liked the black and white aspect of my film. People liked that my
trailer started off slowly and then built up to the fast paced action shots in
the end, in addition stating that my trailer felt like a trailer to a horror
movie that they would go and see which is a key thing One of the concerns
people had was that my shots were often a bit bland and not diverse enough.
Another point was that sometimes my trailer felt like it was dragging on and
that some of the shots were on screen for too long. I feel like these points
were valid and I could see the mistakes that I made after they has been pointed
out to me.
