Final teaser trailer

This is our final teaser trailer.

Audience feedback

After the first editing session we posted our film on 'Facebook' and asked people to comment leaving their criticisms and suggestions. We ensured that these people were between 15 - 25 so that they would be an approriate audience.

Once we looked at the comments we took on board some of the suggestions such as adding a voiceover and refilming the first two shots, this time using a tri-pod. We also changed each scene and made them more exaggerated for added humour and comedy.

Filming evaluation

Whilst filming our teaser trailer we aimed to use as many convetions of a comedy as possbile to suit the genre of our film. We set it in a highschool and used teenage romance as the basis of our comedy. We used a typical comedy narrative, of a couple trying to get together whilst overcoming a number of issues.
We tried to use as many conventional camera angles and shots as possible. Similiar to films such as 'Juno' and 'Napoleon Dynamite' we used simple camera angles such as close ups, side shots and wide angled shots. We added obvious humour to the trailer through costume, mise en scene, music, props, stereotypes and unconventional scenes such as the final running shot, where rather than running into eachothers arms, the pair collide.
We purposely stereotyped our characters so that the humour was obvious. They were dressed in completely over the top and unfashionable ways so that they contrasted with other characters in the film such as the cool guy and girl in the beauty shot.
Our film is mostly a comedy with an elements of a spoof film with the romance budding between the characters.

Editing process

Throughout the editing process we struggled to find suitable music and to ensure that the trailer wasn't any longer than convetionally it should be. Our filming schedule became rendered useless when certain shots couldn't be shot in just one day. Overall we filmed on around 5 different occassions, and even filmed right up into the last week. We used the same font for our titles as in the film title, which we found on http://www.dafont.com/. We the had to create the titles as pictures and add these into our film. As we struggled to make any contact with the copyright owners of the buddy holly song we originally wanted and plans to create our own music fell through as the group was all extremely busy we decided to find copyright free music on the internet. We chose an acoustic song as this added a light hearted and warm feeling to the trailer and was also reminicent of the film 'Juno' which we have drawn most inspiration from. The music had to be edited as it wasn't originally long enough to fit the whole trailer, so we had to add it in twice and repeat certain sections. We also recorded a voice over as was suggested in the audience feedback and re-shot the two opening shots. The voice over was said in an American accent as our film is American and made for good continuity. We used a male voice as conventionally, a male would be the voice over for most profit making films. We had to cut a number of shots short so that they ran quickly as a comedy teaser trailer usually would. This also allowed the trailer to be a bit shorter and fit the conventional time of a teaser trailer, under a minute.
The whole process was a lot easier this time round than last year as I felt more comfortable using Pinnacle. I was more aware of how things should be edited and how possible it was to create different effects. We had a wider range of camera shots we could try out and we were also more comfortable with the technology this year. Overall this helped us vastly improve the work we produced.

Film magazine

Within our promotional package we had to create a film magazine focusing on our film. We decided to create our own magazine.

We named the magazine 'Movie Reel' as this is an appropraite play on words and echoes the comedy used within our teaser trailer. We used a colour scheme of red, blue and white as these are the colours used on the American flag, and emphasise the films American production and style. We used the same font for the title of our film as on our film poster and within our teaser trailer for continuity. We also used the same tag line as in our film poser to again emphasise the comedy. We used the other groups in our class films for our poster as they have no copyright. We also used an array of different colour red and blue so that the poster didn't look too simple. We used different fonts for each point that was relevant to what it read. So for the romantic drama being advertised we used a simple font, similiar to handwriting to emphasise the romance. The pictures are slightly slanted to make the page more interesting and stad out. The plain white background allows the characters to be the main focus. They're staged so that the central image looks like that seen at a prom. We tried to be as conventional as possbile when compiling the magazine by adding a runner at the bottom and positioning our titles and images similiarly to those seen in 'Total film' and 'Empire' as these were the magazines we drew inspiration from.
Once the magazine was completed we created a questionaire compiled with questions relevant to the magazine and that would enable us to establish a general public point of view. We handed this out to 20 applicants aged between 15-25 -
1) What do you think of the title for our magazine cover?
Majority answer was that it looked proffessional and was a good size that stood out
2)Do you think our magazine looks realistic?
All answered yes
3) Do you think that the colour scheme of the magazine looks professional? What mark would you give it out of ten?
majority gave us between 7 - 9 out of 10 and said it looked proffessional
4) Does the magazine cover promote the film well
All answered yes
5) Can you rate the magazine out of ten?
Majority answered between 7 - 9
6) What changes would you make to the magazine cover if any?
Majority said to review colours and fonts
7) Can you spot any mistakes?
All answered no
8) Does the magazine cover make you want to buy the magazine and find out more about the film?
All answered yes
9) Would you consider watching the film after seeing it on the magazine cover?
All answered yes

Film Poster

We finally finished our film poster after weeks of editing. We looked at various fonts and colours and the picture needed further editing mostly around the edges of people's faces.

We decided to use the font 'comic sans' for the titles and the tagline. We looked at the 'Juno' film poster as this was also made by 'Fox searchlight' so this would enable us to make it look more professional. We added the fox logo so that it looked professional and realistic. We decided to be unconventional by having the poster landscape and by having other people in the background. We did this because the film is generally unconventional and we wanted to emphasise this with the poster.
Once the poster was completed we created a questionaire and asked 20 people aged between 15 - 18 as this is our main target audience:
1) By looking at the film poster, what do you think the storyline/plot is?
Most candidates replied with 'comdey' or 'romantic comedy'
2) Can you determine the main character?
All candidates replied yes
3) What are your opinins on the colour scheme?
Most candidates replied that it 'suits the genre' and is 'bright and eyecatching'
4) What do you think of the fonts?
All replied 'clear and easy to read' and 'suits the genre'
5) Does it look professional?
All candidates replied 'yes'
6) Can you see any significant mistakes?
All candidates replied 'No'

This positive audience feedback allows us to feel confident about the poster, as before we did have concerns that the main characters would not be easily determined and that people wouldn't understand what the poster was advertising.

Moodboard

As part of our coursework we decided to create a moodboard focusing on our main characters personality. We split the page in two and dedicated one side to each character. For April we used the colours pink and purple to emphasise gender. We also put some maths sums and a picture of a calculator to show the 'geek' side to the character. For Buddy's side we used a lot of blue and green. A picture of a dinosaur as this is seen on the film poster in his drawing. We put on pictures of 'World of Warcraft' as this is commonly associated with 'geeks'. There is a picture of an 'x-box' as this commonly a boys hobby. The American flag in the middle emphasises the American theme of the picture. At the bottom of the board there is a line from the Buddy Holly song 'Everyday' as this is originally the song we wanted for our film.

Filming schedule

· Tuesday 18th January – start filming at 11 am
· Interspersing shots to be filmed in photography studio, two shots of two different characters displaying beauty and brains
· Outside scenes to be shot first – couple looking at each other from a distance, running towards each other, close ups of each characters face
· Inside shots to be filmed within the diner and toilets, character looking into camera as though it’s a mirror, diner shots to be filmed as though characters are being bullied by other people

New media technology in the research and planning stages

Throughout the research and planning stages new media and digital technology have played a huge part in helping us make important decisions towards our teaser trailer, film magazine and movie poster.
We used the internet and the blogs in order to research which film companies produce films similiar to the genre we desired. This is how we found Fox Searchlight produced films such as 'Juno', which is the type of film and genre we want our production to be. It also allowed us to email Decca records and enquire about the copyright to Buddy Holly songs. We used the website 'Dafont.com' to research different fonts and create a selection to compare and choose from. The internet again allowed us to research the conventions of movie posters and film magazines, in order to ensure our work looked professional.
As myself and two other members of the group are photography students, we were aware of how much editing we could do to our movie poster and our film magazine. This helped us prepare for the photo shoots, because we knew certain elements could be edited in post production.