Research in general trailers

Firstly we decided to research different genres of film trailers.  For each trailer we looked at the use of the camera, light and sound, editing and mis-en-scene to help us get a sense of codes and conventions. The first genre we are going to look at is comedy.  We have researched a number of trailers but have chosen to put the main ones onto our blog, however we do talk about them later on in our commentary. 

COMEDY

GET HIM TO THE GREEK -   Click the links to view the trailers we researched:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9s0oYIP3Kc
Camera

Throughout the trailer, a variety of camera shots and angles were used. Firstly we noticed the use of Close Ups (C.U) to show the consumer the different characters reactions. Facial expressions are a key point to help us understand the atmosphere and feelings that are being displayed. In addition to this, quick shots were used to quicken the pace of the trailer which is often done in comedy - often use of speeding up or rewinding quickly.  Interestingly the use of that technique in comedy is intended for deliberate irony subverting the convention which sophisticated audience will realise.  Tracking was cleverly used for example in the screen shot from the film to the right whereby the camera tracked backwards as the car came towards the screen, this gives the audience a sense of verisimilitude and almost makes the audience feel like they are moving out of the way of the car. Another type of camera shot used is a long shot making more scenery and background seen by the audience so anchorage helps us understand the time and setting of that shot. For example the screen shot to the left of a long shot displays trees and a bench which could connote a park. Finally the use of an over shoulder shot gives the consumer an idea of a 'peeping tom' and makes us feel empathy for the characters.

Light and Sound

Throughout the trailer a cheery and humorous song was played as a non-digetic sound which links the whole footage together in a comical way. This was accompanied with dialogue which was synchronised with what was was going on in the clip. The lighting was bright which straight away connotes a feel good emotion within the consumer which you would expect to feel in a comedy film. The colour scheme used throughout the film trailer was mainly blue and white as these colours connote confidence and simplicity as the trailer itself was simple but affective and the characters were clearly confident to create the humorous feel.

Edit

Moreover a slow motion pan is unusual as we would associate slow motion with a horror or romantic film. In this film trailer it has been used to create a sense of narrative (without actually being told) simply by it setting the scene and leaving the plot in the eye of the beholder. There is a use of split screening within the trailer was an interesting technique used and made the trailer more visual.  We liked this editing technique and noted it down as a possibility to use in our trailer.    

Mis-en-scene

You can tell this film is a comedy because in the clip to the right from the trailer, the main character is doing something which is going against British social norms giving it a comical sense as the main character is dressed as the pope while using hand gestures. The mis-en-scene of the trailer when we watched it was sexy and crude in parts. We could tell straight away from the dialogue used that this was a comedy "You can't outrun me! I'm black!" said by the character played by P.Diddy (Sergio Roma). Finally the title of the film is featured at the end of the trailer to help advertise and let us know the name of the film. 
  



HORROR    
Now we have moved onto horror trailers to see the difference in the techniques used from genre to genre.

 SAW 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdRsM6MZOcQ
Camera
Saw 6 is a typical horror film trailer with its own codes and conventions.  The trailer begins with close ups of people's faces in pain with horror expressions.  There were fast paced reaction shots within the trailer to help create the emotion of fear and tension within the consumer.  The trailer continued to go onto a fast pan, which gave the impression of a roundabout as there was dialogue saying "Let the games begin!" Which links in to light and sound.     

Light and Sound
The light and sound was interesting within this trailer to help create the over all Mis-En-Scene.  There was flashing lights from a camera which was in sync with the sound of a photograph being taken.  This helped cut from scene to scene.  The lighting throughout the trailer was dark with a sense of eeriness, with the only light being candle light, or a torch.  This goes along with the connotations of death or rebirth, however in this case it is violent death.  The dialogue is used as the voice over for this trailer, which desensitises the consumer.  There were drums which acted like a heartbeat which with it being a horror could create the sense that every heartbeat was another person to die, creating the consumer to have a sensation of fear.   

Editing

Fast cuts are used throughout the trailer to create suspense and thrill.  These cuts often went to black screens along with the camera flash which is also part of the cutting process.  A wipe process from left to right, was used as a clever technique which breaks the codes and conventions as it slows down the pace of this clip.  Because the trailer consists of face moving shots, this means that there is a lot of the film footage shown in a short period of time, making us know whats is happening but wanting us to piece the footage together like a game (like the film).   

Mis-en-scene
The photograph motion being used shows the clip as part of a picture taken in time.  The colour scheme was blood red and black which are Halloween colours and connotes death, it was released on Halloween which is shown in the trailer.  As the film trailer ends on a black screen, the text appears with the film name, then the release date which is Halloween.  This is accompanied with dialogue such as "4 will die, 2 will live. Let the games begin!" which leaves the consumer in suspense with questions about what they have just seen, making them want to see the film. 


A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SulpWn6Glk
Camera

This trailer had an interesting first few shots.  It started off as a long shot of a man running towards the camera, this then cut to a medium shot of him and then to a close up with the sound of drums in sync with each cut. This then cuts to a male throwing a bottle of fire through the window to burn this male that was previously running as we then a clever medium close up shot is shown of a male being burnt alive with the use of red and black on his shirt which connote evil and death along side the colour of fire, this shot is shown to the above right. This image helps us to understand the digetic dialogue that is spoken just after "i keep having these dreams, there's this man, and hes burnt". Throughout this trailer there were a series of reaction shots that were of a fast pace to again create, like saw suspense and tension.  The camera would then cut to a long shot of children playing in the school playground, this was accompanied with the play on words of a childish number song while the camera cuts again to the sign 'ELM ST' connecting with the title of the film, which is unknown to the consumer currently.  There are various close up shots, such as one of an eye being opened, which makes the consumer think the people in the film cannot fall asleep for some reason but unsure as to why.

Light and sound

"1,2 Freddie's coming 4 you, 3,4, better lock your door, 5,6, grab your crucifix, 7,8, and stay up late, 9,10, never sleep again!"  Non diagetic dialogue in a child's voice plays throughout the background, creating a creepy affect as well as describing the film in a subtle way and giving clues and questions out to the consumer which leads them wanting more.  Drums are in sync with all cuts which gets the consumers heart racing.  The lighting is of dark candle light, which is dim and has an orange and blue.  This connotes fire, which is ironic as the villain Freddie in the film has a burnt face and helps lead to anxiety as well as the blue being a cold colour connoting the emotion of the villain, Freddie.  Moreover, there is a scratching sound of a claw which is similar to chalk on a chalkboard, which is relevant as you can see everyone is in school.  Throughout the trailer there is diagetic characters voices which act like a voice over, explaining the plot without giving too much away  Also the quotes take place such as "Don't fall asleep" as the trailer tells us how Freddie must attack whilst people are asleep. 

Some of the candle light as shown in the trailer, and a clever low angle shot of the girls legs walking towards her fears (villain Freddie)

Editing

There is an interesting transition as the claw scratches through the screen to reveal the title.  The cuts go to black screens and are fast, just like in Saw 6 which we see is the codes and conventions of a horror trailer.  The cuts are in sync with the drumming sound and the childish song as said above so that the film trailer works to create the effect it aims for. 

Mis-en-scene
The words "1,2 Freddie's coming 4 you!" in the child's voice and the shot of the children in the playground suggest that Freddie could be a pedophile which leaves the consumer guessing and with the need to go and watch the film, to find the answers.  Again, like Saw 6 the title text is in blood red and black.  This connotes horror and death like the genre we are studying here.  This title comes in with the transition scratch as mentioned above which draws attention to the title making the consumer jump as it appears. 

ROMANCE

THE NOTEBOOK           

Camera
In the film trailer 'The Notebook', close ups were used frequently to demonstrate the passion between the two central characters. In addition to this, reaction shots were used so the consumer felt empathy towards the different characters. An Ariel shot made us feel like 'a bird flying overhead' which was a symbol in the film where the character says "if you're a bird, i'm a bird". An over the shoulder shot made us feel closer to the characters and desensitized the consumer because it was as if we were stood behind the characters.

Light and Sound
Voiceover was used throughout the trailer in a narrative form which ties in with the title as being 'The Notebook'. Peaceful music was played to accompany the romantic theme the use of the piano made it have a gentle aspect to the trailer but then gradually got more dramatic to give us a sense that this could represent the gradual passion built in their relationship. The lighting in the trailer had a sepia effect which connotes an old style and the past. Both digetic and non-digetic dialogue was used and was synchronised with the shots and the background music.

Editing
Alot of slow motion was used which made us feel calmer and suspended the expressions of the characters so the consumer could see how the characters were feeling. In one scene of the trailer the two characters are stood with passionate expressions in the rain. This is creating pathetic fallacy and makes us wonder if something bad is happening. Fades go to a white screen which has the effect of a page being turned which again relates to the title.

Mis-en-scene
From the appearance of the characters we can see straight away that it is young love, however from the sepia tone we can see that maybe it is a mixture between the past and present. Birds, particularly doves are used symbolically in the film trailer to connote peace and love. The white of the doves represent purity and innocence. The music gives an impression of romance and dreams and the colour scheme of black and white is simple which connotes a simple flowing film.   

P.S. I LOVE YOU

Camera

Close ups are used to introduce the characters to the consumer as we engage a more personal eye contact with the characters. Once again like in 'The Notebook' over shoulder shots were used to make us, the consumer feel like we are in the film which is breaking the mould.    

Light and Sound
Once again the music played throughout the trailer was mainly happy, which means we would need to consider this if we were to choose romance as our genre for our trailer. Voice over was also used and like 'The Notebook' we would have to defiantly use voice over if we chose this genre as it is clear that it is used in this particular genre. The dialogue was not always synchronised with what was happening in the shot which made the consumer have to guess what would be happening when that was said (scene setting).

Editing
Text was used in a red colour which connotes love. However the contrast with the black does make us feel that something bad would happen. The fades were slow which was almost like blinking after each shot.

Mis-en-scene
The mis-en-scene of this trailer shows passion which is particularly through the music and camera shots. The red of the title connotes love however we can see that from different facial expressions that this trailer is of a story which is both happy with sad aspects. 

MYSTERY

SHERLOCK HOMES

Camera

Sherlock homes had an interesting edge to the mystery genre as it was also past tense making the camera movements have a more creative style to help capture the comic sense to link with it. In this trailer there were many over shoulder reaction shots of the male leads, with a medium pace connoting the theme or genre of the film trailer.             

Light and Sound
This film trailer is set in daylight with a sepia tone to create obscurity to the scene.  There is digetic dialogue throughout the trailer, giving it parts of the narrative leaving clues to the film that the consumer would then have to unlock by going to see the film. 

Editing
The editing during this film trailer changes pace from slow to fast and then vice versa with the cuts in sync with this. 

Mis-en-scene

We can tell that the setting is in old London due to the colour scheme and the pan overhead of London city.  Due to the tone in which the dialogue "Lord blackworth" is spoken in we can assume he is the villain in this film.  The colour scheme used with the black and white could connote the question should the mystery case be black and white? There is humour with it such as when the men are fighting there is a big man holding a big hammer against a small man holding a small hammer.    

CHILDREN AND FAMILY FILM

TOY STORY 3 TRAILER

Camera
This film trailer was different to many of the others we have previously looked at with camera shots, due to it being a cartoon. Many close up shots of the characters faces are used to show the consumer both who is talking and their expressions, giving the film a chance to desensitize the consumer. Medium close up shots and long shots are also used throughout this trailer to be able to show the consumer the action and connote to them what it happening in the trailer. An interesting use of panning is used, both a high angle pan and a low angle pan to show the setting of the film trailer and allow the consumer to become more involved within whats happening. The camera tracks a lot throughout the film trailer, following the characters from scene to scene and along a shot, this helps the consumer feel as though they are involved in the scene and following the characters along with them.

Light and Sound
Throughout the film trailer their is always non-digetic music playing. This music starts with the theme song of "you gotta friend in me" which immediately allows the consumer to know what film is being advertised as the previous sequels of the film had this same recognisable song throughout them. This non-digetic music changes through the film trailer, going to more tense/sad music to victory music at the end. This victory sounding music which connotes to the consumer how the film has the narrative of good then bad then good again with this being in the Circe narrative category. The lighting of the film trailer begins as a bright setting, which is in sync with the music that is playing at the beginning and the end. The lighting goes to dark and nighttime lighting in the middle of the trailer alongside the sadder music that is played.  

Editing
The editing in this film trailer is at a moderate pace with the cuts in sync with this creating a calm and welcoming effect for the consumer to be attracted to. The film changes from ordinary editing to having a blue overlay to the shot of when one of the toys turns Spanish.


Mis-en-scene
The Mis-en-scene connotes a happy, friendly nature with the sky blue being appealing to the consumer.  the text is traditional 'toy story' logo which lets the consumer know immediately that the film is the sequel   to the other films made before it.  The cartoon characters are appealing to the target audience because of their characteristics.

ALADDIN

Camera

This trailer is different to the other trailers we have studied because it shows shots of the other previously released Disney films.  The camera shots mainly include close ups which lead to medium shots and then onto long shots, so that the consumer gets the whole image.  This is good because the target audience of a young child will need things explaining to them in the trailer to appeal to them and ensure parents will let them watch the film as it is suitable.        

Editing
The editing includes some cuts at a medium pace. As this is a cartoon a lot of CGI technology and editing is used.  For example the schroncronised dialogue with the movement of the characters mouths. 

Light and Sound
This film trailer has a non-digetic theme song that plays throughout which appeals to the target audience as it is cheery and caputirng for younger people.  The lighting used due to it being a cartoon is daylight and nightlight.  The nightlight connotes a romantic love story with the stars in the sky, which helps the target audience have a greater understanding of the film trailer.  In addition to this there is a voice over that tells the audience about the previous films made by Disney, such as the little mermaid and beauty and the beast.  This draws the consumer into wanting to watch this film, after having a previous good experience with the other films. 

Mis-En-Scene

  This film trailer tells the story of the previous disney films leading into the introduction of Aladdin.  This is to make the target audience watch this film out of a love for the other films.  The song played through is used to draw an image of the story to the target audience so that they have the film explained to them in simple terms of a song as this is how their target audience would learn at that age, making them want to watch the film. 

THRILLER 

OBSESSED 

Camera

This film trailer cleverly uses close ups to portray the characters emotions so us, as the consumer feel empathy towards them. This is used in the genre of thriller as it shows the tension and suspense that is happening in each scene. An over sholder shot makes us, feel like a third character, because it is a thriller this makes us feel like we are 'peeping toms'. As a common theme in thriller, reaction shots have been used, this sets the narrative which is drama and intensity.   

Light and Sound

The music which is played in this film trailer is very screechy and makes it unpleasant for the audience, this fits well with the thriller genre because it is meant to be unpleasant as a whole. The digetic dialogue is mainly screeming which shows us that something bad is happening. The lighting in the trailer is very dark and has a grey tint to it, this could connote evilness and suspiciousness. The music also has a beat to it which could represent the beat of the heart.

Editing

The action and the music within each scene is synchronised, this holds fluidity throughout the trailer. The text has been used which uses the same  colour scheme as what would be suggested as being a thriller which was black and red. The red could symbolise death and blood which we would assume would be a theme in this trailer. The pace of the trailer is very fast and this gets the heart raising within the consumer as we watch it. The text fades which makes us think that maybe this is irony within the storyline and maybe 'death' is like the fade.

Mis-en-scene

When first watching this trailer we thought that there was a psychological aspect to it. However this tied in with sexual disires and dispair, and the clever use of binary oppositions was reversed as the main villain was a woman. Also as the title suggests we can depict that obsession is a theme.

CLEANER

Camera

As this is the second thriller trailer we watched, we can see that the common camera shots used are close ups and reaction shots. We think this is used as it displays the characters emotions and makes us engage in dispense with reality. Shots of objects have also been used as if to give us clues as to what is going on in the film such as Alfred Hitchcock who is famous for doing in his films and film trailers.   

Light and Sound

The music throughout this film trailer has suspended notes to create an eery atmosphere.  A lot of the dialogue throughout the trailer is offscreen to almost make us try and fit the dialogue to what is happening in the scenes.  The music is synchronised to the pace of the transitions within each scene.  The lighting of the trailer has an orangy tint to some of the scenes however, a lot of it is dark which connotes the black and white tiles used at the end as a tiled floor in which to 'clean'.

 Editing

Throughout the trailer, a lot of panning is used to make us see the scenes at a variety of angles. There are some fades which would symbolise the scene almost being cleaned up, however the blur could suggest that because this is a thriller it isn't cleaned up properly.  The transititons are also like a blinking affect which makes the consumer feel a part of the trailer and as if it is our eye blinking.  The text throughout is also one which goes well against the black and white tiled affect at the end when the title of the film comes up.

Mis-en-scene
The mis-en-scene of this film trailer is crime and investigation aswell as the psychological thriller.  There is a lot of action packed into it and the pace is fast.  This demonstrates that it is a hybrid genre as there is many different genres within the one trailer.     

FANTASY

HARRY POTTER-DEATHLY HALLOWS

Camera

This film trailer really shows the genre of fantasy.  The use of panning sets the scene in the various scenes such as sometimes it being outside and sometimes being in 'Hogwarts'.  Over shoulder shots give us a sense of an extra character within the scene and makes the consumer feel like we are there and living a 'virtual reality'.  In addition to this we can gain attachments to the characters by being able to see their emotions with the use of close-ups and also reaction shots.       


Light and sound
There is the theme song which is played throughout all the trailers, and so even without looking at the trailer as soon as u hear the tune, you automatically know that it is a Harry Potter film.  The dialogue adds excitement and tension with different tones of voice such as shouting or despair.  The lighting within the trailer we feel is almost religious and heavenly, but dark and grey most of the time.  The light seems to only be on the important aspects to each scene.


Editing
In this trailer, there is some CGI (Computer generated Images). This makes some of the effects more real as we know that media is developing so rapidly and the technology to make CGI is so realistic and is a lot easier now and makes this trailer more intreguing to watch.  The text is silver and this gives us a magical feel about the trailer.
And in some parts slow motion also supports the fantasy and magical genre.


Mis-en-scene
The Mis-en-scene within the teeser trailer is fanatasy and action.  This created adreniline and suspense which makes the consumer want to watch the film.  From the title we can see that death is going to be an aspect within the film if we were to watch it, however that cannot be justified.  Also we can see that from some of the shots of close ups there is love and heroic actions and defeat.  

CORALINE

Camera

This trailer has close ups which helps us see the characters features as they are Cartoons and so hard to gain attachments with them, which is why close ups are used cleverly so that we can even feel happy or sad towards a cartoon.  This is also backed up by Reaction shots.  Panning makes us feel that we are in a dream in this film trailer which supports the fact that this trailer is very magical and mysterious.  Ariel shots also give us a sense of height and authority.    

Light and sound
The music throughout this trailer is very curious which ties in with the genre.  There is voice over used which talks us through what is happening without telling us the whole storyline, this helps the audience understand the trailer better and so we would need to think whether or not we would use Voiceover in our trailer and whether it would be appropriate.  The lighting is bright mainly, but does go to dark when the scenes become more intense.  When the scenes are bright there is a pinky/orange tint to them.

Editing

Again, this trailer, like Deathly Hallows, has CGI.  This creates a story which could seem true but isn't due to the fact that the characters are not real, however we still feel attachments for them.  Zooms are also used to to quicken the pace and gives us an adreneline within.  


Mis-en-scene 
The mis-en-scene in this film trailer is very magical and curious.  It is almost spooky in parts and gives us a sense of parallel worlds.

So what genre have we chosen?

 So after our research we needed to think about which genre we thought would work best.  We took into account the different genres that we researched, and liked the idea of love stories. We had researched romance films, but we thought we would then look a bit more in detail and so did some research into Chick Flicks.  We thought of this genre as we thought although it would be challenging, it would also be fun and we would be able to include the codes and conventions well.  

We firstly made a note of things which came into our mind when we thought of chick flicks and we thought of:

• Pinks, purples, whites
• Cartoon style text
• Heels, perfume, makeup, shopping, sleepovers
• Leading characters female
• Girl on girl fighting
• Boys
• Drama
• Fall outs 
• Texting
• Cheesy music and happy
• Comical 

We then compared our ideas to those of others when we researched the conventions of chick flicks.
'Codes and Conventions of a Romantic Comedy Film

Colloquially known as “romcom” this is a cross genre in which a romance story generally emerges and is presented in a comedic way. The purpose is particularly aimed at a female audience and often ridiculed as a “chick flick” for this reason. They explore ideas of gender, relationships, sexuality and status.

o Prologue introduction into love theme – Occasionally voice over
o Main characters introduced
o Credits continue love film – style of text e.g: hearts, flowers, wedding bells, etc
o “Boy Meets Girl”
o Two Protagonist Characters – Man and Woman hesitant to become romantically involved
o Hints that they may be a good love match
o Part ways due to some form of an argument or disagreement
o Ultimately reunite
o One of two makes the grand “gesture”
o Live Happily Ever After'        

This is what we found from the website   http://smay-fuller-suttonmediaas.blogspot.com/2008/12/codes-and-conventions-of-romantic.html

MEAN GIRLS                 

Camera
This film trailer uses a variety of camera shots or angles.  Close ups of the characters faces allows us to gain attachments with the characters and allows us to feel empathy for the characters before we have seen the film.  It lets us guess who doesn't like who and where the conflicts are within the film.  This goes parallel to the reaction shots which show the characters reactions to the situation within the scenes, however the trailer cleverly doesn't give too much away and so leaves the consumer trying to come up with their own scenarios which may or may not be right.  The camera pans downwards as if the consumer is looking the character up and down which is often a stereotypical gesture girls do with each other which ties in well with the Chick flick rivalry theme.  To give the audience the sense of being a third character, over shoulder shots have been used.  This makes the consumer involved in the trailer and so will then want to watch the film.

Light and sound
The music changes frequently throughout the trailer, but mostly through it, it is current tunes and familiar ones which people know such as chart music, however there is some background music which is just as affective but unknown. The transitions of the scenes is synchronised with the music and will often change on a beat or a change of track.  Dialogue was used which was clear that is was scripted from the film and gave us a flavor of what will take place in the film.  The girl who was the main character from what we could tell from the trailer as she was featured the most was the voice over as well.  There was also a dramatic and 'overly cheesy' noise as the transitions took place which supported the comical aspect of chick flicks.  In addition to this there was aspects to the speech which made it humorous.

 Editing  
When the music changes, there is a slight pause which we thought was unusual for a trailer as usually a trailer needs to flow and needs to get as much information and advertising as possible in the short space of time which on average is about 1-2 minutes.  However, because of the cuts, this does make the overall trailer fast paced.  The trailer includes some of the conventions we looked at for example the colors and use of pinks and reds.  We also liked the use of split screening which looked good in the chick flick trailer.  Within this film trailer, the casting are stared and this is done with a filmstrip image running across the film.  We both liked this idea and thought we could adapt something similar to our film trailer as an idea.


Mis-en-scene
We felt that the mis-en-scene of this film trailer was the rivalry between girls over a boy which is your usual storyline within chick flicks.  We thought the use of girly colours was conventional, and the lighting was bright and happy.  The red in the title in this trail connotes evilness and peer pressure within the film trailer, and the pink connotes the innocent girl who gets taken into the group and falls in love with the boy.

 ----- When going through our research we then found patterns with the use of the camera shots, lighting and sound, editing and the mis-en-scene and so we then decided to just list what is featured in the film trailers, for example the close ups were all used for the same thing such as to gain attachments to the characters.

  We decided to bullet point our findings this time! 

SUPERSWEET SIXTEEN TRAILER

Camera                                                   

• Close ups
• Reaction Shots
• Zooms
• Panning
• Side angle shots

Light and sound

• Music (happy and bouncy)
• Voice over
• 'Swipe' noises
• Change in music
• Shows the scenes which the text is written about

Editing

• Swipe cuts
• Fast cuts
• Dreamy edit
• Split screens
• Speed ups

 Mis-en-scene

•   Title in pink to connote girly and love
• Diamonds connote girls
• Conventions of girls e.g phones, chatting, popular children
• Words are big and bold to address the target audience more easily

EASY A TRAILER      

Camera 

• Close up shots (repetition of the same shot throughout the trailer)
• Reaction shots
• Long distance shots
• Long shots
• Reverse shots

Light and Sound

• Dialogue (digetic and non digetic)
• Voice over
• Change of music - goes from happy and calm to upbeat and rebellious
• Bright and daylight to dark and mysterious lighting with also some romantic night time lights.

Editing

• Fast cuts
• zooms
• blurs
• transitions - e.g fade to black
• use of colours
• Text images

Mis-en-scene

• lockers - school
• Girl rivalry
• Use of colours throughout to help with representation of certain images
• Use of songs to create an overall sense of girls empowerment.
• Girly film

WILD CHILD                
 Camera

• Close ups
• Low angle shots
• Reaction Shots
• Zooms
• Panning
• Side angle shots

Editing

• Dialogue 
• split screen
• Fade to black
• Swipe transitions

Light and sound

• Music
• Flashing (camera flash affect)
• Dreamy
• Fade to black

Mis-en-scene

• Girly
• Glamour
• Rivalry
• Expense
• School time

Ideas

'Unlucky Lover'

We originally came up with a storyboard for our chick flick called 'unlucky lover'. This was to be based on a girl who in the conventions of other chick flicks we found went from being unlucky and clumsy, to popular while gaining a love interest along the way. After creating a script, storyboard, music ideas and other effects for this we decided that this wasn't the best we could do. We began filming and making this film on the apple mac's using a split screening technique that we taught ourselves to do, after this shot was done we decided to experiment with different ideas and so our final idea emerged. 

The storyboard for 'Unlucky Lover' -Idea 1

After we began filming these screen shots we decided that the idea would be very difficult to create with it probably ending up being a 'B movie' quality trailer at the end.

Music ideas 

For the soundtrack for our trailer we looked into music which is used in chick flick trailers and the conventions of these. Most commonly used were love songs sang by females with a change in music to loud, upbeat music, again most commonly sang by a female artist. We planned on having changes in music throughout this trailer, with the list being the following:-

• Miley Cyrus - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
• Aly and AJ - Walking on Sunshine
• Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
• Spice Girls - Wannabe
• Kesha - My First Kiss
• Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
• Simple Plan - Vacation
• Kaci - I Will Learn To Love Again

These songs were all sung by females except for Simple Plan but we decided the scene this was in would be with attitude and while dancing so the correct emotion would be felt by the audience while watching.

Also for our first idea 'Unlucky Lover' we also created a script that would be used as both digetic and non digetic sound, the main female would also act as a voice over as she would explain what was happening, but in short terms leading the audience to have questions making them want to go watch the trailer.

Why we changed our first idea

After re-thinking our storyboards after filming the split screen we decided that what we were trying to achieve was not so much of a teaser trailer but an official theatrical trailer. Therefore by continuing to do this plan we would not be meeting our targets and aims of the project.

Our new film trailer was to be called 'Opposites Attract', however later on in the project we thought that this title didn't have the correct connotation so we changed it to 'Parallel Worlds'. This trailer was to be more simplistic and hopefully more effective than 'Unlucky Lover', our idea for this was more controversial leaving the audience with more want to go and see this film as it is not to be explained in the trailer, leaving more questions needing to be answered. In this trailer we used more media ideas such as juxtaposition of the mirrors with the parallel actions of each character thus the idea we had of calling it 'Parallel Worlds'. 

STORYBOARD FOR 'PARALLEL WORLDS'

Our ideas, thoughts and changes for 'Parallel Worlds'

Music

From our previous ideas of having a variety of tracks played throughout, we decided to cut it down to two songs which were:

Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend 

The Veronicas - Forever

We played around with the fading in and out of each track at what we thought was the appropriate scene for this catalyst of change. However because we didn't think the two songs worked in synchronisation with our film trailer we decided to cut out 'The Veronicas- Forever'. Our reasons for doing this was because we felt that 'Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend' had much more attitude and a good tempo which would give the correct connotation that we wanted our trailer to create within the chick flick genre. By fading the song at the end this we felt ended the trailer well. We adjusted the synchronisation of the trailer so that this would be effective as we managed to make the correct timings of each shot to end on the chorus of the song. 

Filming and Editing

From this storyboard we began filming. Once we had gathered all of our footage we began editing, this is where some of our ideas changed to make the conventions of our film trailer more effective. We uploaded all of our footage onto the apple mac and selected the specific scenes which we thought went well, this meant extinguishing some footage. Now that we had the specific footage that we needed we started adjusting the lighting and following our new storyboard with comedy and final editing decisions with a better structure. 

FINAL STORYBOARD 

For our film trailer we decided what would be happening individually in each shot. For the first shot, we decided to take our split screen skills we taught ourselves and film some nail varnish dripping with the nail varnish being a hot pink to keep the continuity throughout our three artifacts. We then decided to add in the characters immediately so the audience would know they're important to the film. As the characters are 'gorgeous girl' and 'geeky girl' we then decided that each of these should have their own individual shot within the split screen; this shot was to be of the gorgeous girl being graceful and draping her dressing gown off her shoulders. The geeky girl would be doing the same while getting ready, to help create the parallel along with the title. She would then pull her knickers out of her bottom, to create a comedy effect.

We then decided that the shots should all show the parallel, yet opposite between the two characters. So in the next shot would be a text shot reading 'What if two worlds collide?'  This could symbolise that the worlds were to meet within the film and the word collide could suggest that the girls would meet in the film somewhere.

The third camera shot was to be of the geeky girl getting ready in the mirror, following from a mosaic transition. To create this effect we would use the camera as the mirror and did this throughout the trailer. To give the audience a sense of geekyness, we made the geeky girl have hair removal cream on where a moustache would be and had her squeezing a spot on her face with a bloody tissue. We would then have her picking up the spot cream at the end of the shot so that people would then gather from the information provided, which shows that this girl isn't the most naturally attractive and needs attention to her appearance in the form of spot cream in the film. Her facial expression throughout this shot would change from concentrating while applying the hair removal cream to her upper lip, to her looking disgusted at her bleeding spot she has just squeezed. This whole shot was to represent geekyness.

The fourth camera shot was to follow from a transition of fade to white into another text shot. The text read 'if geek world meets chique world...' this was to follow the narrative from the previous text shot of 'what if two worlds collide...' this would engage the audience to watch our film while providing a narrative. 

The fifth shot was followed from a mosaic transition again, this time onto the gorgeous girl. The shot would be the same shot as the third shot of the geeky girl, as to show the parallel between the two. The gorgeous girl was to then pick up the bottle of perfume and sprays that and then applies make up, this would be blusher followed by lip-gloss. These objects are more glamorous and conventions of a chick flick while we were doing our research. The gorgeous girl was to be posing more in the mirror as to show to the audience her vanity. This would show the opposite between gorgeous world and geeky world. 

The sixth shot was of the gorgeous girl's right hand panning the camera from left to right along the arm. On the gorgeous girls arm was to be expensive glamorous jewellery, which again we found in our research into conventions. The gorgeous girl would then be holding a champagne glass to connote the expense of her lifestyle. This shot is combined with shot number seven as the camera goes into a cross zoom transition from the gorgeous girls champagne glass onto the left arm of the geeky girl. The glass is to transform there into an orange juice carton that the geeky girl is holding to show the representation of plainness within the geeky girl. The arms are used to show the parallel between the two girls even though the audience is shown the opposites with the use of the positioning and the transitions. 

The seventh shot goes into a cube transition where the audience is now introduced into the potential love interest within the characters in the eighth shot. We decided the lighting in this scene would be bright and not too clear so that the audience wouldn't be able to distinguish between the two characters to show that the characters are not too different and that they do lead similar lives. The brightness was to show the simplicity and innocence that could be within each character. Within the shot we then decided to have a door with the potential love interest knocking at it and then with the gorgeous girl she would walk out, click her fingers and him, and he would go and pick up her bag. This was to show that this character is bossy and dominating within the film. 

The ninth shot follows from this shot through a mosaic transition into the same shot but with a different door and the geeky girl walking out. The aim of this shot was to create the continuity of the parallel throughout the trailer with the geeky girl having the same boyfriend as the gorgeous girl. This also ties in with the text of 'what if two worlds collide?'

The tenth shot is following a fade to white transition where the gorgeous and geeky girl, in sync walks out of some toilet cubicles. The geeky girl then falls over, to show her clumsiness. The lighting in this shot was bright, to show daylight to show this could be the school day. The geeky girl was dressed with her hair tied back, glasses on and in a dress with ice creams on it. This was planned so that she would have the cute, naive in her dress sense but her not bothered about appearance with her hairstyle. In comparison with the gorgeous girl who was wearing her hair down in a glamorous style and a red belt which could suggest her being a seductive, powerful character with the love interest. This shot then goes into a mosaic transition into the next shot.

The eleventh shot is of a sink with the gorgeous girl and geeky girl washing their hands. The camera pans around the shot beginning at the gorgeous girls hands. The gorgeous girl has nicely done nails to again represent her elegant ways as a person; this nail varnish was in a purple colour to go with the conventions of a chick flick genre, as found within our research. The camera was then to pan to the geeky girl's hand which would have black chipped nail varnish to show her lack of interest in her appearance, keeping to the continuity of her appearance always being like that. On her hand she has written 'Return library book', this is because the library while in high school is considered a 'geeky' place to go, and the fact that she reads adds to this theory for geeks. She also has a hair bobble on her wrist, and even though her hair is tied up this shows that she is prepared and also shows the follow through of the shot of the two arms with the geek wearing a hair bobble on her wrist.

We decided on a fade to black transition to go into the twelfth shot of the text which reads 'If the dope and the diva duel?' we decided on this because of alliteration with the three letters beginning with 'D' which quickens the overall pace of the footage, in addition of us fast forwarding all the footage in the trailer. Following this in the thirteenth shot this text is represented with the characters, it is in black and white to show imagination within the geeky character. We sped this footage up as the geek would grab the gorgeous girl's hair as if to duel. The next shot, number fourteen is followed from a long cross zoom as the colour returns to the scene. The girls do the same as the previous shot but it shows the reality of what happened as the gorgeous girl looks the geeky girl up and down and sorts out her appearance. Her facial expression shows that she is finding the geeky girl annoying. The geeky girl then looks at the mirror with a confused expression on her face as if to be saying 'What's the matter with me?'  We used the use of the mirrors in this shot as we had been using previously the camera as a mirror to show that this was combining of the two characters and their 'mirrors'.

Finally the shot goes to the title 'Parallel Worlds'. We decided on a text image that would have both the words meeting in the middle, in a parallel way. The word 'Parallel' is in a white, more plain text but also the text used in magazines such as vogue, which creates irony. The colour white is also plain and less girly than the word 'Worlds' which is in a curly, stereotyped girly font as we found in our research and in a hot pink as used at the beginning of the trailer which creates a pivotal point as the trailer starts with the pink and ends with the pink. The title then cuts and goes into the 'coming soon' text which is the same text as has been used throughout the trailer apart from the title. We chose this text because it shows glamour and a spotlight as if the girls were always in lust of the spotlight being on them. The music that has been playing throughout the trailer, 'Avril lavigne- Girlfriend' is then to fade out in sync with the footage. 

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