Target Audience interview

To take my primary research further I gathered six people all whom fit in with our target audience and got them to look at the teaser trailer for 4,3,2,1 and then conducted an interview on their thoughts and views of the trailer and whether or not they would be interested in watching the film and their reasons for it.
I then asked four more people who weren't in our target audience and got them to watch the same teaser trailer and answer the same questions, this is to give me research into what other audiences would want to watch,

[insert sound clips]

Demographic breakdown evaluation

From these demographic breakdowns i can deduce that the majority gender these films are aimed at are males. I highly suspect it is because of the action in these films. However what is very interesting how the highest ratings are from males aged under 18, even though 1day is a certified 18 rating. however this information is useful because it gives a greater understanding as to why the posters are created like they are. Because these films are aimed at young people, they feel like they can relate to it, however as people get older they do not seem to grasp the themes with as much interest, with Shank and 1Day scoring 3.9/10 between the ages of 18-29. However 4.3.2.1 scores a much higher rating between this age catagory, scoring 6.8/10 which is a very respectable score for a film of this genre from a secondary audience. 4.3.2.1 is rated higher on all of the catagories as well, this shows how it has a stronger plot, and its themes run across a wider age bracket. The main themes that i can deduce from the trailer are:
there is lots of violence, however it is not caracatured, it is kept within the respected boundries that the film has set. unlike the others there is not a massive amount of shooting, however 1 day and shank both show gun crime between gangs. Even though these themes are important i want to show them in a realistic manner.
Another theme that runs throughout and is important is the use of women, in 1 day and shank they both show women but show them in a very masculine way, undoubtly this is true in 4.3.2.1 however it has been made to look sexy and to attract the male audience.
When making my trailer i need to be respective to the sensitive nature of both of these subject matters, and need to portray them in a sensible way. i dont like how in these films people can pull a gun in the middle of the street, even though gun crime is high at the moment, i see it as realistic. Also with the women element i need to be sensitive because if i create something that materializes women then it is completely excluding that audience.

1 Day (2009) - demographic breakdown

Votes Average
Males 171 3.9
Females 15 6.0
Aged under 18 2 9.0
Males under 18 2 9.0
Aged 18-29 114 3.9
Males Aged 18-29 106 3.8
Females Aged 18-29 6 6.8
Aged 30-44 61 4.2
Males Aged 30-44 53 4.1
Females Aged 30-44 7 6.1
Aged 45+ 12 1.8
Males Aged 45+ 10 1.7
Females Aged 45+ 2 2.7
Top 1000 voters 8 1.9
US users 27 2.7
Non-US users 142 4.7

Shank (2010) - Demographic Breakdown

Votes Average
Males 475 3.7
Females 42 5.7
Aged under 18 17 6.8
Males under 18 13 6.8
Females under 18 4 6.8
Aged 18-29 313 3.9
Males Aged 18-29 284 3.8
Females Aged 18-29 28 6.5
Aged 30-44 152 3.5
Males Aged 30-44 143 3.5
Females Aged 30-44 8 3.8
Aged 45+ 35 3.8
Males Aged 45+ 33 3.8
Females Aged 45+ 2 2.0
Top 1000 voters 11 2.8
US users 38 3.5
Non-US users 369 3.9

4.3.2.1 (2010) - User ratings

Votes Average
Males 259 6.6
Females 56 6.3
Aged under 18 15 8.3
Males under 18 10 8.1
Females under 18 5 8.7
Aged 18-29 201 6.8
Males Aged 18-29 163 6.8
Females Aged 18-29 38 6.7
Aged 30-44 75 6.3
Males Aged 30-44 66 6.4
Females Aged 30-44 9 5.2
Aged 45+ 22 6.0
Males Aged 45+ 18 6.1
Females Aged 45+ 4 3.8
Top 1000 voters 5 7.0
US users 8 5.7
Non-US users 254 6.5"

comparison across all three posters

There are reoccurent themes across all three different posters, these are:
Guns,
Gangs,
Emphasis on colour,
heavily edited,
emphasis on intimidation,
These all acumulate to create a look that appeals to a certain audience.
I decided to look into exactly what type of audience watch films like this. I therefore have taken the demographic breakdowns from IMDB to look at who these trailers and posters are aimed at.

4321 analysis

1 DAY Analysis

SHANK poster analysis.

Hidden Identities.

Youths often hide their identities so that they are not recognisable. If they are seen doing something illegal it is hard to see what the person looks like so they have mroe of a chance of getting away with it. However, another reason for this is the structure of their crew. They all want to be part of one family. So by all wearing one colour they merge into one force or army. This makes them more threatening, and for those involved it brings their bond closer together. If they fight, it is as one, and not individuals. However 4.3.2.1, is the only one that differs from the other two. It is as much about crime as the others, however it is from a more adult prospective, and they dont feel the need to hide their identities.

Gun Crime.

1DAY.

4.3.2.1.

Shank.

The main reoccurring theme running through the trailers I have looked at is the gang culture and the violence within that. Guns are a big part of that, and with the high rise in gun crime. 2010 has seen a 48% rise in gun crime according to metropolitan police figures broadcast on the BBCnews website. Therefore it does not surprise me that gun crime is such a popular theme. However instead of confiding to the stereotypes that most people have about youths, 4321 have challenged them, and have girls using guns. This shows the way in which the country is heading.

Comparison of music across three trailers.

Shank

In Shank, the trailer starts of no music just ambient noise which i did not see as effective. Indeed it does add emphasis to the dialogue, however it feels like it take far too long before the music starts. When the music does start it is purely drums which sit at a tempo of 140bpm, which is referred to within the industry as dubstep. Dubstep is renowned for its grimey urban roots and that sums up this film. The music drops as the protagonist seeks payback for the murder of his brother, and i like how this increases the intensity of the latter half of the trailer.

4.3.2.1

In the trailer for 4.3.2.1, they do not use music per say, instead it is more of a backing. Similarly to Shank the rhythm is at a 140bpm and uses solely drums. It incorporates a steady beat on the hi-hats with a bass drum to emphasize each number and also to recreate a heartbeat sound to intensify the action. This is really effective and helps to engage the audience into what is going on onscreen.

1day

1day is very different to the other two, and that is because it is a modern musical. The actors use grime to act out different sections of the film, therefore it uses its own music in the trailer and wants to use it as a selling point. however because grime also sits at 140bpm it can relate to dubstep with the same tempo.

conclusion

From this i have found what i find effective and deffective in each trailer. aspects i wish to include in my trailer are:

• The use of a drum track building up to a 'drop' to add emphasize to the plot.
• a track that sits at a tempo of 140bpm
• Something that can my target audience will enjoy, and therefore it is another way of getting people interested in the film.

1DAY TEASER 001

1DAY

Written and Directed by Penny Woolcock.

The trailer starts with a black screen, the first thing we hear is three gun shots, and on the third, vertigo films come up in bright orange lettering. Establishing shots set the scene over a city scape, showing the business of the area. we see lots of council estate which stereotypes the audience into pre-judging the film, assuming that it would be about a lower class of inner city life. From the first 7 seconds of the teaser you instantly know that the film is set inner city, with the gunshots emphasizing a gangster element. It progresses into a rap battle in the streets by two rival gangs. This is because it is emphasizing the grime music lifestyle. There is also a huge emphasis on colour. one "crew"is wearing orange and the other are wearing purple. This shows the war on the streets. all of the characters seem very angry emphasizing the violence that they are apart of. What they are involved is not legal, and this is assumed through the extent of hiding the identities of the characters. The majority wear hats and scarves over their face. As this progresses we see members bringing out guns and various tools. It then goes onto emphasizing what gang life is like, with extreme violence between the characters. There is a massive emphasis on money and jewellary showing the "hustling" lifestyle these characters have. It also shows the main character leading a young child into the way of life he is involved in. It ends with a gun shot and the screen cutting to 1 day in capital letters, similarly to the start. It also says when it is released and the website for the film.

4.3.2.1. Teaser Trailer #1

4.3.2.1.

Directed and written by Noel Clarke. Produced by Universal.

The first thing that is evident in the teaser trailer is the editing. There is a close up of a girl, and as the edit changes the number 30 appears on the screen. Behind it is a piece of action from the film. This counts down with a snapshot of action every second until it reaches 5. The edit then slows down and we “4321” on the screen. This is where the trailer becomes even livelier giving an insight into the film and what it is about. The only piece of text that appears is “Noel Clarke presents 4321, COMING SOON”, this gives know information about the film or actors even though the film has big names from the genre such as Noel Clarke, Adam Deacon, Emma Roberts and Tamsin Egerton. This shows the arrogance of the directing, these characters can be seen throughout the trailer and the audience already know who those actors are. The music is dramatic, and the rhythm is a countdown slowly getting quicker as the trailer goes on, the tension heightens for dramatic effect.

SHANK - Official Trailer - IN CINEMAS MARCH 26 - ***SB.TV EXCLUSIVE***

Shank.

Mo Ali’s first directed film. Written by Paul van carter. Produced by Gunslinger.

The trailer starts with a male character in a gym kicking a punch bag. This immediately sets the scene for what the film is about. It cuts to two production and distribution slides which are edited together at a very quick pace. This sets the tempo for what is coming up. The trailer then goes on to showcase the violence and gang culture within the film, this is through the use of establishing shots to show the gangs, then quick edits on the fight scenes, to emphasize the intensity of violence. The trailer incorporates a large amount of text used in variety of ways. Some of the text is used to introduced publishers and distributors like “Gunslinger”, “gateway films”, and “from the distributor of kidulthood”. Similarly it advertises big actors in the genre like “Adam deacon”, Ashley ‘Bashy’ Thomas, Kaya Scodelario, and introducing Kedar Williams-Stirling. However another form of text is used, one to create tension and add hype about the film, “the gangs have taken over”, and “2015”, this gives it a realistic feel because the way our nation is heading is in the direction of pure gang warfare. “This march, there’s one rule, kill, or be killed”, a big statement again showing what the film is about. “Shank, if you’re not one of us, you’re a victim”. This shows the dog eat dog nature of the film and makes you curious as to the on goings of the film. “Next Hype” by TempaT is played and this helps to emphasize the emphatic nature of the film.

what is a Teaser Trailer?

Trailers in general are a vital part of any marketing campaign. They diverse information about a film, and are to create a media hype around it. Teaser trailers are the stage before, and insteading of giving information about the film away, it is used to get people talking about it. Teaser trailer are usually under a minute in length, keeping them short and memorable. These are usually released well in advance of the film being focused on.

Dark Knight - Viral Marketing Campaign

Viral marketing is such an important aspect of what is needed to create a buzz around a film. The best viral campaign i have ever seen is for "the dark knight". It included fans with the film, and got them to follow the film as if the characters were real. As the campaign progressed, the fans either followed the "i believe in Harvey Dent" campaign or the "why so serious?" campaign, taking sides with good or evil. The extent that 42 entertainment was unreal, and it created a real life game that the fans could follow ending up with some 10 million followers, across 75 different countries, across hundreds of websites, video games, mobile phones, print, email, and real world events.

This is their campaign broken down:

• At a Comic-con event, guests were invited to stand outside, in the sky a plane wrote a phone number, and this lead to a message from the joker telling fans that if they wanted to follow him then they needed to prove themselves to him. They were given make up if they chose to follow to follow the joker and just casual if they chose to follow harvey and they hit the streets.
• A ransom note was posted up by 49 different cities telling players to go to a specific place. This lead to a request of hitting famous landmarks dressed as their characters.
• The first addition of "The Gotham Times" was given to all the players, and they were given an email to write to : humanresources@whysoserious.com , this diversed information about corrupt policemen in the"gotham". It also gave a link to the website below.
• They set up a website called whysoserious.com/straightrightup with a hammer game and some teddy bear toys. Each toy had an address on it, each to different bakerys across the US. they were instructed to go and say their name was Robin Banks, as in robbing banks, and they would recieve something. Fans recieved a cake. However inside the cake their was an evidence bag, covered in Gotham police writing. The was carrying a mobile phone, a charger, the joker card, and the instructions. These instruction read:

"'Wow. You really took the cake! Now put the icing on it. Call [number] immediately from this phone and this phone only. Do not give this phone number to anyone else.
Let's hope your fellow goons come through as well as you. Once all the layers are in place, you'll all get your just desserts. I'm a man of my word.'"

• When this number was rang a woman answered from rent a clown. She expressed how she knew who the caller was and put down the phone. after which they recieved a text:

"Good work, clown! Keep this phone charged and with you at all times. Don't call me. I will call you … eventually."

• Harvey Dents campaign was a little diffferent, the phone number led to a message from him expressing the good he wanted to bring to city and asking for support.
• Thousands of protesters hit the streets with i believe in harvey dent tshirts and banners, trying to raise awareness.
• On the website it had a list of cities, and they released adresses on all of the cities at a specific point of their campaign. This led to bowling alleys across the country and was a race to get their first. They were also given a code and a locker number. This lead to an exclusive trailer of the dark knight, however the joker had defaces the whole thing.
• A week before the premier fans were told to meet in downtown New York. At 10pm sharp the bat signal was shone onto a building. Infront of everyone the bat symbol was defaced by the joker. At this moment everything in the campaign was defaced by the joker.
• They were later linked to websites and forums, where information was diversed about the film. They were also given free screening passes to see the first 7 minutes of the film, especially filmed for IMAX.

The outcome of this was:

Over 10 million followers worldwide.

Most advanced pre sale tickets ever with opening morning, midnight, 3am and 6am showings sold out.

YouTube Account.

I chose to keep all of my trailers and sources in one place, so it seemed wise to create a youtube account specifically for this. This will make it easier to cross analysize different trailers, seeing as they are all in the same place.

I chose to do this because teaser trailers are quite difficult to come by. when the main trailers come out they get overshadowed. Therefore by having everything in one place i will not lose any of my sources.


http://www.youtube.com/user/timpursermedia

This also is an easy way of uploading my trailers or storyboards as the project progresses.

Little White Lies - The Sin City Issue.

This cover is from "Little White Lies", a popular film magazine. The magazine often uses pastel backgrounds as a trademark of their magazine, this explains the mustard yellow backdrop for the photograph. The picture is cartoonized which is another of their trademarks. The picture is centered and very dark. Similarly to both the poster and the trailer the same character is focused on. They again used high key lighting to create harsh shadows on the portrait, this brings the picture to a more 3 dimensional level, and adds emphasis to the drawings on his face. The plasters on his face really stand out against the yellow background adding emphasis to the wounds on his face. on one of them there is a cross drawn on, the word boom, and a gun. I do not about the cross. However, "Boom" is to emphasize the comic book background of the film. The gun also helps to show the violence that he is involved in. in the mist of the sketched portrait we can see the words "HA HA", "BLAM", and the numbers "386". These must bear relevance to the film in some way so poses questions to an unaware audience. It is also subtle aspects that the people who have seen it will understand. Like the cross, there is two girls faces drawn in, this must have some underlying meaning to it, however i am not too sure what it is.

Teaser Trailer - Sin City.

Similarly to the poster, the trailer shows the same character, this emphasizes the importance of his role in the film. Similarly to the poster it is all black and white apart from the actors name, which is in red. he has battle scars on his face emphasizing that he has been in some sort of ruckus. The lighting intensity is the same but instead it is from above creating strong shadows around his eyes. This hides his identity, and adds intrigue to the character. He also looks like he is hidden around a corner, showing how maybe he could be on the run.

Sin City Poster

The poster is srtikingly retro. The main photo in black and white. The Film has been expanded from a comic book, and this is emphasized through his use of text and layout. the most striking visual on the poster is the text is "Sin City", it is bright red in colour, and the typography is very basic and looks like it has been painted on. Mickey Rourke is Marv, is displayed in a box in the top left corner, similarly to how a comic book shows text. Whereas the picture itself is very interesting. the character in shot has an assortment of plasters on his face, showing how he has been involved in some sort of violence. This gives us a bit of a background to the character. the lighting is what catches me most. high key lighting is used, however he is lit from both sides. This adds emphasis to the definition on his face, wrinkles etc., and enhances them by using shadows.

Sin City - Cross media resources/marketing campaign.

I looked into teaser trailers and marketing campaigns, and i discovered one that i would like to take inspiration from. The film is called "Sin City", and is directed by Frank Miller. This is his first directed piece, disregarding this it is classed as one of the most popular trailers made.

Initial Schedule

These are my initial plans for a schedule to adhere by, stating when all of the sections of my coursework are to be uploaded. later on I intend to create individual schedule for the different sections of my work.

All Research Completed By: 11th October

All Planning Completed By: 5th November

All Filming Completed By: 17th December

Main Product (Teaser Trailer) Completed By: 18th December

Ancillary Products (Film Poster and Magazine) Completed By: 4th January

Evaluation Completed By: 17th January

Action Plan.

The breakdown of our course consists of 3 sections:

• Pre-Production (primary and Secondary Research).
• Filming and production.
• Post-production (Evaluating).

Pre-Production

pre-production consists of Primary and Secondary research.

• Primary and secondary into Similar products (both main and acillary texts)
• Research into target audiences for existing products and my own product.
• Research into the new media i will use.( Sony A1E, iMovie, Photoshop, Blogs)
• Research into cross media advertising.#

Filming and Production

the filming and production stage of this project . i need to produce:

• Teaser trailer
• Film magazine front cover
• Film poster.

The last section of my coursework will be the evaluation stage of my work. comparing it to real products, and writing about what went well and what didnt in my project.

A2 Brief.

For our media project, our task is to complete teaser trailer and a supporting adverising campaign including: poster and a magazine cover, for a film that we have created ourselves. By also studying film studies i have a keen interest in the ongoings of films. i am also an abid film watcher so this suits me personally as a project. For this campaign i have chosen to include:

• Teaser trailer of a new feature film.
• magazine front cover to suit this.
• A Poster to advertise the film.


having experience with Photoshop and InDesign, the magazine i feel i can produce a cover to a professional standard. At AS level we used these programs so i have a sturdy knowledge of the software. i also study Photography and Photoshop has a big role in that. This has helped mne to understand how a photograph should be structured, also about supporting backdrops for my chosen genres.