Question 1

Emma Cleary

The genre of my trailer is real life drama. Most

films within this genre focus around a main

subject with cross links into other genres such

as romance.

During my research and planning stages of my

trailer I looked into already existing media

teaser trailer to help me to discover the codes

and conventions of a real life drama film.

One film in particular that I looked at was ‘Now is Good’, portraying a young girl who is fighting terminal cancer and has made the sacrificing decision to refuse any further treatment. From here she falls in love and begins to complete a bucket list. Similarly to this film, I have chosen to focus my film on a real life event that can happen to anyone. Like a terminal illness, although not as extreme, adoption can be the case for anyone and many people are kept from the truth. Therefore I decided this film was a great example in showing me what conventions to use in order to cross link a dramatic story, and turn it into something positive.

My idea follows the codes and conventions of a real life drama by the way it focuses on a dramatic realistic subject of adoption and a young girl waiting 18 years before discovering the truth about her family. From here it makes links to other genres such at romance, when the young girl falls in love. As does the female character in ‘Now is Good’.

My film is set in the current time period, therefore with

regards to costumes and styling was pretty simple.

However I still took time during my research and planning

stages of my teaser trailer to look into the types of styling

used within real life drama films as I wanted to make I

followed the correct convention.

I looked into the

codes and

conventions of

the style

portrayed in

‘Now is Good’

Costumes are appropriate to

the realistic setting and do

not stand out too much.

Hair and Make-

Up is also basic

in order to not

draw too much

attention away

from the story.

I used the codes and conventions of styling from ‘Now is Good’ and developed this convention further by relating to latest fashion trends and my characters individual profiles.

For Autumn’s

characters outfit I

followed to

convention of a

real life drama by

keeping it as

simple as

possible. I used

the bold red

woolly hat to a

strike of colour

that related to

the main theme

of Autumn within

the film.

For Tom’s

character I

again kept his

outfit simple.

Using clothes

that the target

audience

would

associate as

‘everyday’

clothes.

A convention of a teaser trailer is to ‘tease’ the audience

before the film is released by giving them short clips, edited

together to entice their attention and make them want to

watch the film on release. The aim of the teaser trailer is not

to give to much information away or contain any ‘spoilers’.

Within my own teaser trailer I have included short clips in

which don’t give too much of the story away. They portray an

outline of the dramatic events in the story, however may

leave the audience anticipating to find out the complete

story. However I have challenged this convention in the way

that I have included a clip showing the card Autumn’s

character receives on her 18th birthday of her biological

mother. This alongside a voiceover reading the card aloud,

allows the audience to understand what the card is about

before watching to complete film. I believe this had to be

done, otherwise the rest of the trailer would not have made

complete sense to the audience.

With regards to transitions, within real life drama trailers the

transitions between each short clip tend to vary depending on

the topic of the film.

When analysing ‘Now is Good’, the transitions were sharp,

sudden and fast paced. Portraying the fact that time was limited

and there was a number of things the main character wanted to

complete.

However I also analysed ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ trailer, which

took a much slower approach. Emphasising the fact that it was

taking the male lead a long time to find a job that could support

his family.

A convention that I noticed within each was that they both used

flashes of lights to switch between dramatic clips or clips that

contained a detailed insight into the film.

I used the convention with regards to flashing light between clips within my teaser trailer by editing some clips to fade out to white in order to make it appear there is a flash of light. However I challenged this convention by also making some of my clips fade to black in order to make sure the clips that faded to white were bolder as they tended to include important information.

Alongside this I used fast, quick pace transition times in order to make my trailer seem upbeat, like the trailer ‘Now is Good’. By doing this it reinforced the fact that Autumn is rushing to discover the truth about her family. However I also challenged this by combining some slower transitions, like used in the trailer for ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ in order to allow the audience time to empathise with Autumn’s story and give them time to understand and become interested in the film.

When analysing real life drama trailers I began to understand

that like the transitions, the music varies depending on how

dramatic the story is.

For example, ‘Now is Good’ has fast paced, upbeat music yet ‘My

Sister’s Keeper’ has slow soft music. Both representing different

things.

I challenged this convention within my trailer by developing it

further and combining the two techniques I discovered during my

research together. I began the trailer with fast upbeat music, to

show how Autumn was leading a very normal life. This then

changed to music containing a strong beat in order to show how

‘everything changed’ when she received her birthday card from

her real mum. Then to represent her journey in search of her

mum and falling in love, I used softer music.

A convention within real life drama film trailers is the

ending on a cliff-hanger. I used this convention within my

trailer by leaving the final conclusion of my film a mystery

to my target audience. This is done, I believe to keep the

suspense and leaves the audience wanting to find out what

happens.

This convention is also displayed in another trailer that I

analysed: ‘My Sister’s Keeper’. The trailers shows short

clips of the film about a young girl who was conceived in

order to save her older sisters life. The trailer mixes the

clips together, making the ending of the film unknown and

the audience is left unaware of the final outcome.

I used this convention within my own teaser trailer by keeping

the ending a mystery to my target audience. I wanted to ensure

that the ending was not given away within the trailer as I

believed this defeated the object of ‘teasing’ the audience with

small clips of the film, just to give the ending away before the

film is even released.

The ending of my trailer sees Autumn’s character approaching a

house. Followed by the door opening from the inside before the

trailer comes to a sudden finish.

Within my movie poster I have followed many conventions from other film

posters I analysed through my research and planning stages. The title is

clear, the credits at the bottom of the page and the image is bold.

When researching movie posters I began to

understand that they all contain a very different

layout:

I chose to use conventions from

the ‘Now is Good’ poster

combined with ‘The Vow’ movie

poster as these are two posters I

favoured.

I chose a landscape image as I

wanted to recreate the ‘Now is

Good’ poster through the way

they are looking towards the

empty space on the right of the

poster. Emphasising that they are

things on their mind, as does

Autumn in my film. Therefore I

placed the main image on the

left.

When researching into already existing movie posters, I

learnt that all contained credits – therefore I knew that

this was a vital part of the poster that should not be

missed out.

The credits within my poster

are placed at the bottom of

the page as they are on the

film poster for ‘Now is Good’.

The text size is not too big

yet still big enough to read.

I challenged this

convention by grouping my

credits a different way

instead of spreading them

across the whole width of

the page. As done in ‘The

Vow’ movie poster.

With regards to the

title and tag line for my

film. I followed the

conventions from

already existing movie

posters, also with a

landscape layout.

Therefore I place my

title in the empty space

on the right.

The background of my movie poster contains the light effect ‘Bokeh’. Which refers to the way the light has hit the camera and been captured in the image creating bright colourful circles.

The convention of Bokeh is used within poster I analysed for ‘My Sister’s Keeper’, through the way it is used around the edge of the main image.

I took this convention and challenged it by using the Bokeh effect across

the whole background image. By doing this I believe it bought the whole

movie poster together and by placing my main image just below the

light draws attention to Autumn’s character as well as creating a centre

point within the poster.

Like my movie poster

and teaser trailer I

have used a lot of

different

conventions within

my magazine front

cover that I have

found from my

research into already

existing media

products.

I have placed

the barcode at

the bottom of

the page as

within

magazines I

analysed this

where they had

been placed.

I have placed my

main image

slightly over the

top of my

masthead as this

was done in many

of the magazines I

analysed. This

convention makes

the magazine look

well known.

Details regarding the price I have placed in

small text at the bottom of the page so that

it does not obstruct a story.

The overall magazine

front cover ties in

together through the

use of matching

colours. Using

corporate colours

throughout was

something that when

analysing pre-

existing media

products was a way

of making an image

for the magazine

that audience could

relate to. I have also placed

the majority of

text using the

rule of left third.

A convention I learnt when

analysing magazine front covers

was that a common convention

was the way the main image

slightly covered the masthead,

emphasising that the magazine

is well known. I used this

convention within my own front

cover in order to create a

professional look within my

magazine.

I then used this convention within my own magazine front cover

by placing the main image of Autumn over the top of the

masthead. However I challenged this slightly by still making the

masthead appear readable.

Another convention I used

within my magazine front

cover was the rule of left

third. As we read left to

right and due to the way

the magazines are

displayed in shops this is

the first part of the

magazine the audience

will see.

This is something I took

into account when

creating my magazine

front cover. I ensured that

all the main articles were

advertised using the rule

of left third as well

applying a shade on the

background image in order

to add emphasis to the

left third.

Finally a convention that was apparent when researching existing

media products was the use of corporate colours in which

represent the magazine company and are recognisable to the

audience members.

For example, in ‘EMPIRE’ magazine, the corporate colours are as

follows; these colours are present in nearly every edition of the

magazine and because of this, the target audience are able to

recognise the magazine straight away because of the bright

colours used.

I used this convention within my own magazine

front cover by the way I have used a variety of

similar colours. This also links into the theme of

Autumn as well as my production company ‘Maple

Productions’, in which also use the same colour

scheme.