Evaluation Q1 How my film trailer uses, develops or

challenges conventions of real film trailers.

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Title of film

I think the way I have shown the title of the film follows the conventions of most film trailers. I chose to show it at a dramatic

point and at a change of music. I also used an animation to introduce it, making the words come in from the sides and the bird

coming down from the top.

Setting/LocationI chose to use quite normal settings to make it as realistic as possible. I was fortunate enough to be able to use our local Costa Coffee for a realistic coffee shop setting and also use my

school’s performance hall which looks really effective in black & white to create a believable 1920’s stage.

Costumes and propsThe costumes and props play a big part in my trailer and portraying the storyline. I knew that the people who acted in my

trailer would have 1920s costumes as we had all been to a 1920s costume party

prior to this and if they didn’t, I was able to supply extra costumes. I gave my actors guidelines to follow in terms of

what to wear and how to, style their hair.

For the modern day part of my trailer, I asked my actors to

dress in their normal, everyday clothes as I wanted them to be able to blend in normally and

look like this is what she would be doing on an everyday basis.

One of the props that was very important to my trailer was the

pearls that are featured throughout. It is a vital part to

the storyline of my trailer.

I also featured a diary to help emphasise that it is from her

point of view and it will be a very

personal view of her life, taking parts from

her diary

Costumes and props…I feel I did a good job of creating believable characters using the costumes and props in particular. This compliments real film trailer

conventions as all films will want their characters being believable to be able to sell

their films. I drew some inspiration for the looks of my characters from films like The Great Gatsby and Midnight in Paris. I also

looked into the general fashion of the 1920s to make sure it is 100% accurate.

CameraworkI used a range of different camera angles to give the trailer depth

and variety. This is normal for theatrical trailers to keep the audience interested and on the edge of their seat until the very end

and to leave them wanting to go and see the film. To get this shot, I

stood in the tiered audience of our

performance hall, looking down on the actors who

were on the stage

Here, I used the reflection in the

mirror to see them getting ready for a

performance

I used this low-angle

shot to give Pheobe some dominance

and to emphasise

that she is a well known, important

person in my trailer

To get this shot, I used my legs as a

rest to get down low but still focus on the area that the pearls dropped. I found this

technique worked better than using a tripod as I couldn’t get the angle right.

Camerawork…To get the two shots here, I used

my balcony at the back of my house which backs onto the canal.

I was able to get quite close up from here with the use of the zoom feature on the camera.

I feel like these camera angles follow the conventions of film trailers as you often see many different angles in trailers. I don’t feel

like I have challenged conventions very much in terms of the camerawork I used.

Editing

1. The first song is a modern song to set the scene and introducing the character as someone the audience could relate to

2. The music then changes to a 1920s song “Let’s do it, let’s fall in love” to introduce the 1920s part of the narrative.

3. When the music changes for the last time to a 1920s style cover of “Don’t You Worry Child”, it introduces the name of the film and actors, the tagline and her confusion into what she should do - stay in the 1920s or go back to her modern day life.

I used 3 different pieces of music to break up the trailer. I found this to be a

convention that is quite common in trailers. It helped give me a basis for my clips and storyline to follow. I broke my

trailer up into:

Editing…The pace of editing is quite steady throughout, changing clips in

accordance to the voice over and narrative. The length of the shots are very similar throughout, although there are longer shots when

the visuals match closely with the voice over. For example, this image is shown when the voice over says “And I ended up on stage

with her”

I think this is quite a common convention within trailers with voice overs.

Editing…I decided that I wanted to do a spinning montage to show her

confusion of her trying to decide where she wants to stay. I felt this was a good way to end as it ended with high tension levels which

will hopefully persuade people to watch the film. I’ve seen this sort of montage in a number of other trailers and gave the same

impression that I am hoping to give.

Editing…Most of the transitions are straight cuts which is very typical of film trailers. Other transitions I use include fade from black and dissolve. I used a dissolve cut to be able to make it clear to the audience that

they are going into a different time.

Special Effects

This part of the editing process was vital to represent the two different eras. This aspect challenged the conventions of real film

trailers and films in general. There are not many films that use both B&W and colour imaging. On top of the black & white effect that I

added in After Effects, I made the visual look like it’s playing from a damaged and dusty film reel.

Narrative

My narrative served as my main unique selling point. It’s unlike any other films that have been made. The closest film that it is alike is Midnight in Paris, from which I took a lot of inspiration. Not many

films these days go back in time, proving to challenge many conventions of other films.

Voice OverHaving a voice over has become less of a common feature in

trailers recently. I still chose to use one as I felt the music is more important than seeing the actors talk. It helped make it much

simpler to establish the main character and what the story line was. Having a voice over from the perspective of my

main character also made it more personal to her experiences

It was a good tool to establish the relationships between the characters as I

was able to match the visuals with the explanations

To show the title, actors’ names and tag line, I chose to use inter titles which is very common in film trailers.

Inter titles