Related movies, 1

One film I found that related to my trailer is 'Super 8'. The story line isn't similar but this is not what I was focusing on. before things go bad and the main storyline starts in Super 8, it focuses on a group of teens and what they get up to. In this film they are actually attempting to produce their own film.

This is not a massive link between this movie and my trailer; however, it can give me ideas on what to think about when it comes to producing something based on teenagers. The characters in this film are portrayed to be between 14 and 16, my trailer will be focused on characters one or two years older but the principle of filming teens remains the same.

Props (first list/ no pics)

For this trailer I am going to need a lot of props to be able to gain full potential.

Props I am going to need:

bb gun (the teenagers will be using a painted bb gun to give the illusion they are using real weapons)
car (certain scenes will require a car that is shown pulling up with the characters inside)

I will add to this list when I think of more props that will be in the film

Equipment (first list/ no pics)

To be able to produce this trailer best I can I am going to need the reliable equipment to do so, these will involve:

camera (Panasonic SDR-S70)
camera jib
microphone will be built in to camera

I may add more to this list later when I think of more equipment that may be needed.

Movie logo idea

This is the movie logo and we are going to use this as a hook, many movies such as 'The Hunger Games' and the rest of the mocking jay series use these to further engage the audience. If someone happens to see the logo, they immediately know what it is referring to. I find I am not the most talented person when it comes to graphics design so I borrowed a friend to produce this for me.

This is the popular 'mocking jay' logo and is used for the audience to be able to easily recognise the franchise, this is where I got the idea to use a logo as it is a great way of further distributing.

Font choices (poster)

Lootin’

This is one of my top font choices that I came across while experimenting with fonts, I like this one as it gives a Hollywood/ Broadway vibe and this is usually used in mystery style films.

Lootin’

This font choice comes from the idea of it looking a bit like graffiti, this can be extremely relevant as the film is based on teenagers performing shenanigans and graffiti is one of the few things that teenagers get up to (stereotypically)
 

Lootin’

This is another font choice I came across but it occurred to me that this is not relevant to be used as a serious font in the foreground of a poster; however, this is the type of font that could be used in the bottom corner of a poster as a production logo or general film logo

First take on clothing choices

As the main characters in this film are going to be teenagers, the appropriate clothing choices for them would be jeans, t-shirts and hoodies to give across the stereotypical vibe of a teenager, especially teenagers that are going to be shown thieving from shops and houses etc..

The first thing I have gone for here is just a plain pair of jeans, no specific style to them and they are non-designer. I feel that having basic clothing will be the best idea as it gives the image of a simple teenager and shows that their is nothing special about him.

Next I have gone for simplicity again with a basic striped t-shirt, I had no thoughts in mind when it came to the colour of this shirt as normally there may be a specific colour set to go with the character to promote certain traits but here I have not done that here. This implies there is nothing special about this character and he is very basic.

To be worn above the striped t-shirt I have gone with a striped hoodie, the choice to use stripes again is because this set of stripes can be said to clash with that of the ones on the t-shirt. The hoodie choice in general comes from trying to display this teenager as your stereotypical 'hooligan' and the majority of teenagers now seem to wear hoodies. Another reason for this is as the character is going to be displayed thieving he is going to want a hood to hide his face when it comes to performing these 'social activities'

Questionnaire analysis

From the questionnaire I hope to gather helpful information regarding my trailer.

From the responses I have received, people seem to enjoy seeing action in movie trailers along with bits of comedy. Another important aspect of trailers that people enjoy is the raising of questions, this may be because this is what makes people want to go and see the movie itself.

The traditional timing that people prefer for an entire movie trailer is about 1 minute 30 seconds, my trailer will be a maximum of 2 minutes as this is roughly what people prefer to see.

My answers also showed variation when  it comes to showing story in the trailer, some answers showed that people like to see hints of story but not too much as to give it away, this would make seeing the film fairly pointless.

Most people also prefer to see comedy as opposed to action in movie trailers as well.

I will be using these responses to further my movie trailer when it comes to choosing aspects that will be and will not be in it.

Movie Trailer Questonnaire

What do you like to see in movie trailers?

-Action, raises questions
-Action, raises questions
-Action

How long do you think a movie trailer should last?

-1 minute
-1 minute 30 seconds
-1 minute

Do you think a movie trailer should show much story?

-No, spoils premise of film
-Hints of the story (not giving it away)
-yes

Do you prefer action or comedy in a movie trailer?

-Comedy
-Action
-Comedy

What sells you on a movie trailer?

-The actors
-Actors

Synopsis (first take)

Looten is an 18 year old waste of space. He and his best friend Sam needed some money, so they set about it the best way they knew how. They assemble a crew miscreants and go out to enact their pre meditated robberies on small shops and newsagents, however, not all of these go to plan and things get much more challenging as a mysterious teenager is terrorising the group.

Movie Title

As seen in the original pitch, the movie title we have gone for is " Lootin' ". The reason behind this is the main character's surname being 'Looten' and the film is about a group of teenagers that rob locations with their dad and these words are a play on the word looting.

Original Trailer Pitch

 

This is the first pitch we have written up for the movie trailer and it outlines the basic ideas we have on character names and profiles, it also presents information on location as this is an extremely important aspect we need to address when planning and filming our final product. The plot is also a very essential part of this trailer, if we had no plot then the trailer wouldn't be showing anything in particular and this pitch touches on ideas we have had for the plot line,

Practising Camera Shots (tracking)

Tracking

 

the latest shot I have practised is a tracking shot and these are used to simply 'track' a target. Could be a person, animal or even an object in the wind. These shots are usually used to show something behind what is happened, they could be used after a dramatic scene to show that the character is in deep thought.

Practising Camera Shots (tilt)

Tilt

 

The third camera shot I practised was a tilt view

Practising Camera Shots (reverse zoom)

Reverse zoom

 

 

Another camera shot I practised was a reverse shot and is used mainly to add drama to a specific location, an example of these are usually in horror films when they would focus on the antagonist (usually a little girl) and the camera would then zoom back out to where the main characters are to give a visual on what they are seeing.

Practising Camera Shots (pan)

Pan

 

 

In my filming practise I am experimenting with different camera angles. This is a pan shot and is mainly used to show a landscape or the area the scene will be shot in, the reason for this is to give the audience a sense of mis-en-scene for the are. E.g. a haunted house, a countryside park or even a desert. It is important to give the audience a sense of where the scene takes place otherwise their knowledge of what is going on will be limited.

 

Movie Magazine Review 2 (The Lone Ranger)

The main image of this magazine shows the two main protagonists as it does with the poster, behind them on the left we see a cliff side and this shows us that it is a desert somewhere and furthers the theme of it being a western film. In the bottom right we see a one of the protagonists on a horse and from this little image alone we can gain enough information to determine it is a film based during western times. They also keep the theme of showing the train and leading us to believe this is a very important aspect of the film.

Movie Magazine Review 1 (Man of Steel)

I have done a 'Man of Steel' magazine review as I could not find any for '300: Rise of an Empire' and 'Now You See Me'
This magazine cover seems to focus on the destruction more as well as superman in the foreground. The entire background shows the destruction of America, implied by the American flag on the right. This cover seems to be presented this way in order to display a fight that Superman has had or is yet to have with the destruction, the clenched fists and the emotion on his face in the foreground.

Movie Poster Review 3 (300: Rise of an Empire)

The main image of this poster shows a Spartan soldier on what appears to just be a rock or an elevated platform of some type, this is a popular image style used as it shows dominance and overrule and that is what this movie is based upon. We don't know if the character in the image is the main character or not as there is not mention of this in the trailer; however, it can be thought to be 'Sullivan Stapleton' as he is a popular actor and his face was seen briefly in the trailer, although this image could be just showing an average spartan soldier as the film presents the spartan army as one unit, together.

The writing on the poster is written as a blood splatter, this gives us the impression that it is an action packed film with plenty of gore and the previous film's title was written in exactly the same style.

the wave in the background is shown as red and is supposed to display blood as this war between Greece and Persia is affecting some of Europe and in the trailer we also see many boats to be what looks like, trying to invade.

Movie Poster Review 2 (The Lone ranger)

This trailer for The Lone Ranger has a very traditional layout showing the two main protagonists in the fore ground in front of explosions or something that raises questions to anyone viewing the poster, such as "why are there explosion?".

They have shown Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer as these are extremely popular actors and are also the main individuals in the movie.

the poster as a whole looks like it supposed to be displayed on some sort of rough paper as they would have used this in Western times, the writing is the same as it looks like it has been written in a old style font and the entire poster does a good job of looking like it should be in western times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Movie Poster Review 1 (Now You See Me)

This poster from now you see me focuses on the cast in the film and has all of the popular ones displayed. From Jesse Eisenberg at the front with the four horsemen followed by tier 2 cast such as Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine.

 

the design of the poster itself is an illusion, as we see some people on top of the movie title and some are shown above and below, because the film is based around magic and illusions this poster works very well. The slogan of the film is also shown towards the bottom above the cast list, "The closer you look, the less you'll see". This is also mentioned in the trailer to this film and is used to add mystery to the film and draw people in.

the mis-en-scene is fairly formal as this the kind of attire we would generally see magicians wearing.

Movie Trailer Review 3 (300: Rise of an Empire)

 

300: Rise of an Empire is a film set in a time when Spartans fought Persians for control of Greece and Sparta in particular, this film is the follow up to ‘300’ produced in 2006.

This is the first shot in the trailer which shows King Leonidas and his army of 300 lying slaughtered on the floor, continuing straight from the original film. As religion was a big part of life in this part of the world in this particular time period Leonidas is shown dead in the same way Jesus was said to have died on the cross. Jesus is also said to have died for other people’s sins so he is making a sacrifice and this is what Leonidas does at the end of the original film to prevent Xerxes and the Persian army attacking Sparta.

 

In the consecutive shot we see the face of Xerxes himself and he is shown with darkness behind him letting the viewer know immediately who the antagonist is in this film. He is also shown with a scar on his mouth and this is also a continuation from the last film as Leonidas throws a spear at him to prove “that even a God King can bleed”.

This shot is from the same scene again and informs us of where Xerxes is holding his weapon, this shows us that King Leonidas has been defeated and the Antagonist won.

A few seconds later we see the Spartan army at arms and this leads the viewer to believe that revenge is being plotted by the queen of Sparta for her husband’s death.

Here we see an amazing action shot of someone leaping into a canyon onto a boat and driving his sword through the opponent’s head, this give us the impression straight away that it will be an action packed film as this shot is gory and intense.

The tone of the trailer then changes as we see Xerxes shown high above his army and this shows us that he is an almighty leader with a huge amount of money, power and influence in these times.

He is shown giving a speech about their victory over the Spartans and this again sets the tone for revenge in this film and also implies more violence will be yet to come in this film.

Again here we see the power Xerxes has with his big army looking like they are about to try and invade another providence, They try and get the effect of power across as much as possible by showing this above shot to make the entire fleet visible. 

 

 

 

Movie Trailer Review 2 (The Lone Ranger)

The Lone Ranger is a recently released film starring Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer and William Fichtner and is a story set in a time when it was ‘Cowboys and Indians’ when the first ever train was built.

In this opening shot of the trailer we see an old steam train barrelling down a track across what appears to be a desert, giving the impression that this train has some sort of significance. In this shot the camera never leaves the wheels of the train so we don’t actually see where the train is yet.

The next shot we see is an establishing shot over a vast open landscape, again, showing us a desert which keeps the theme of a western film.

The shot following this establishing shot shows construction being done on a railway track. After the first shot with the train this leads us to believe that the train does have some sort of significance in this film, also, one or two people in this shot can be seen wearing western style hats continuing the theme well throughout the movie.

Next we get fast paced consecutive shots of an open landscape, a running horse and we see the steam train again in these shots. Throughout the film so far we are still lead to believe that the train hold big significance.

We then just get a shot of the producer to increase popularity to people who are fans of his work or like anything else he has produced.

A few shots later we see what looks like an important business meeting as the clothing shown in this scene was very fancy for this particular time period and this most probably has something to do with the train scene previously in the trailer. We are lead to believe again that these people in this scene are the men behind the first ever steam train in America.

Again we get another shot of someone who has featured in and/or had some sort of important input to the film, here it is the “academy award winning director” Gore Verbinski.

In this shot we see what is believed to be the protagonists in clear danger and this raises questions like ‘How did that happen?’ and ‘Will they survive?’

Here we see our two main characters, ‘The Lone Ranger’ (Armie Hammer) and ‘Tonto’ (Johnny Depp) this is to appeal to an audience who may be a fan of these actors or have enjoyed something that they have previously been in. The way that these characters seem to be looking at one another shows that they are a team (duo) and will be a very important aspect of this film.

After this we just get shots of Actors/ Director/ Producer and companies behind the film (Disney)

Movie Trailer Review 1 (Now You See Me)

Now You See Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzJNYYkkhzc

Now you see me is a new film very recently released and features an all-star cast including Woody Harrelson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg etc. The film is about a group of magicians that steal money from banks as an illusion but give all the money away at their shows to people that have been conned or have been a victim of fraud.

The main reason I really want to see this film is because of the trailer and how much they sold it with the effects and the actors and in the film.

The first thing we see in this trailer is an establishing shot of New York at night, giving us the impression that there is some sort of special event going on and a flying shot over the tall, posh buildings show us that it may be very exclusive.

 1. Jesse Eisenberg

2. Isla Fisher

3. Woody Harrelson

 

 

 4. Dave Franco

5. Morgan Freeman

6. Michael Cane

 

More establishing shots are placed throughout this trailer as shown above at 20 seconds in to show the audience certain locations that it’s set. In this shot we see Las Vegas and as this is a rich city and very well known, they will gain more popularity from showing that it is in the film.

 

 

In this shot we see an over the shoulder camera angle in a serious conversation between two A-list actors that star in this film. This gives us an idea that along with the magical and thrilling aspect to this film, there is also a lot of seriousness to go along with it.

In this part of the trailer we see a split-screen shot showing the four main characters locked up, most likely in a police station. This shows us that film may be intense and more importantly, it raises the question of who are the protagonists and antagonists in the film as for the first minute of this trailer we follow the ‘Four Horsemen’ (Jesse Eiesenberg/Woody Harrelson/Isla Fisher/Dave Franco) and are led to believe that these are the protagonists in the film and this shot shows otherwise.

 

 

Introduction

My task in my A2 coursework is to create a 60 second to 2 minute movie trailer. To do this I will have to research a variety of camera techniques and editing skills needed to create the best trailer I can. I will also have to do research on multiple block buster movie trailers that are out at the moment to be able to see what type of editing they use.