Analysis of the final trailer

It begins with the standard warning pages which allows audience members to know that the trailer they are going to watch is suitable for all ages.

Followed by 'Screen Gems' (the American Film Distribution Company). This is the appropriate form of which we failed to show in our previous trailer, which was noted in our audience feedback. Screen Gems is a extremely successful company and therefore we chose to include it to give our trailer a positive image of which audiences will trust and therefore more likely to watch our film.

The opening shot is a medium (upper body) angle which gives a brief incite into the characters and their location at a school (shown by the courtyard of which I discussed in my locations post).

A previous issue that was pointed out during audience feedback, noted that through out the whole first draft teaser trailer, we had failed to include the films name! Obviously a huge error! Therefore we decided that we definitely needed to include it in our final edit and near the beginning to inform the audience.

The following shot is from the back of 'Jay's head' and although is reasonably close- I would still consider a medium shot. We purposely did not reveal his face near the beginning to add to the mystery and give an image of 'the every man', so the audience could empathise with his future events and emotions.

The next series of clips were an idea formed from previous trailers of which the names of actors starring were shown just prior to a small clip of them in action...

This medium (body) shot was an idea we kept from our original script, as it would let the audience know who is who early on and therefore understand each character.

The white writing against a plain black background was intentional to give simplicity and innocence to the beginning of the trailer- as the visual and audio effects are working together (integration). During these scenes the non-diagetic song playing is Lotus Flower which is a calm/ soothing sound.

After introducing the characters as individuals and giving the respective recognition to the actors, it was necessary to use a long shot to signify them as a group (togetherness/ friendship), as this is symbolic of their later switch in where they are the same group of friends though physically distorted.

Typically like any other professional film company we continued to acknowledge the director, editor and screen play workers who put the film/ trailer together. The background, colour and font all match to add to the high-class image and therefore link the whole trailer together as one project.

Then we drive straight into the story of 'The Switch' as it begins with the friendship of students. To characterise Nina and Jay as the main characters they appear first and the most frequently. The shot was a close up to show Nina's features and to also re-enforce her life as a student (as she is looking inside her locker).

Followed by a panning (medium) shot of Jay to link the characters together...

Nina then continues to walk into the shot with Jay and their friendship is solidified shown by their affectionate nature towards each other.

Now begins the body-swap element...

A worms-eye view shot is filmed of Jay, with the overplaying of (non-diagetic sounds as they were externally added in) his heaving breathing. The angle gives a clear insight into the panic in Jay's facial features and so the audience can interpret that something is wrong.

Also the gradual beat has picked up at this point to a loud, consistent wooden beat.

A virtual effect was added to signify a perhaps mix of personality. It is a clear visual way of foreshadowing the events of a switch of bodies as the audience can see two versions of Jay at one shot. (The shot can be considered a denotation as it is symbolic however not an obvious one).

The next shot shows the exact same effect of doubling-images on Nina. A close up reveals the mental torment she is experiencing as she rocks herself back and forth. The audience still are not aware of the switch element- as the suspense is vital in making the trailer effective.

As the lyrics of the soundtrack begin- the tempo begins to increase. Jay's character is seen running out of the school toilets (suggesting he ran after his panic scene) with the camera panning his movements- giving the impression of the audience observing the event in reality. (Including the audience though sense and emotion is a method used by films to keep them interested and intrigued).

A series of shots are then shown of both Jay and Nina- interconnecting the characters. The shot of Jay above is symbolic of him questioning his own reflection and observing his own identity. Both were shot in the same style to link the individuals together- symbolic of their switch.

The voice over of Jay's video blog account begins over the top of the sound track and whilst the image of Nina on the phone is showing. Voice overs are apparent in nearly all trailers as they add to the storyline greatly. The significance of Jay's voice over Nina's figure (extreme close up) is a polysemic sign of 'The Switch', and the symbols used are perhaps more obvious now to the audience as the trailer is over half way through- this is intentional as we would want them to understand the basic storyline by now.

The next series of shots a very quick and flashing between Jay and Nina who are both in a panic state. This is emphasised by Jay's audio account as these are being shown, with lines such as- 'I keep switching with people... at school'. The last image is the most significance as it showing a merge between Nina and Jay as they appear in the same frame as each other. 

After Jay reveals the body-switching situation the other video blog's follow with Eva and Sasha's character also pleading for help and later turning to drugs to deal with the confusion. The shot above was shot at the angle of a laptop camera as it is a video blog- this element would appeal to the interests of our target audience who use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on a daily basis.

With the continuing sound track and Jay's voice over account a series of shots into the events that Eva and Sasha are experiencing show the same as Jay and Nina. A similar effect of merging moving images together to represent a distortion of personality/ identity is used...

                     (Eva and Sasha merged- with the added sound of Jay's voiceover)

The storyline begins to pick up again as it is nearing the climax of the trailer. A medium body shot of Jay driving his with a worried expression connotes something is about to happen.

As the screen switches to black the sound track ends and the diagetic sound of a car screeching blares... until the eventual sound of a car crash...

Following this is the final soundtrack (which is a bold, upbeat electric guitar style) of the trailer and it a method used in trailers to signify the end but also show short burst of the more climatic areas of the film...

The themes of drug abuse and depression kick in at this point. Our certificate of a 15 typically includes some forms of sexual content, bad language, violence or drug abuse. The image of reflection is used yet again to represent identity and how this films shows how losing identity (in any which way) affects people fatally. 

                                           Extreme close-up shot of Eva's drug abuse.

This birds-eye view shot of Jay appearing to be drowning himself adds to the suspense greatly and is showing the descent of sanity and mental stableness. The inspiration for this shot came from my love of the the film 'Black Swan' in which the dancer submerges herself in water to look up and see herself hovering over her own body. The mind twists that are apparent in our trailer come from other films that have interested us and influenced our decisions. 

Extreme close up- the colours of Jay's eyes signify deterioration and death. The water dripping from his face adds to the despair felt by the character and the audience can see a physical representation of that.

The ultimate (medium-long) shot is of Jay (as he is the main protagonist) with the added voice over of- ''I was her...'' An emotive and dramatic ending as the music pauses for the few seconds that he says this. The climax was most definitely reached by the ending and it was a very successful trailer in revealing the basic storyline and characters without spoiling the whole film (shown by comments in my audience feedback label). 

                  Date of release is revealed so the audience know when to expect the film.

Final note of acknowledgement to myself and my team members. Also the film title is repeated for emphasis. Additionally the film creditors and producers logo also feature. Our team production company is listed also...

The use of Video Blogs

We have decided to use the video blog format to feature in our trailer as a form of communication between the characters and the outside world (both the hyper-reality and the audience). The use of internet devices in modern society is so widely popular that we felt that if we did not include them then we would be failing to attract our main target audience who use them daily. 

Example of Video Blog Films:

From our trailer...

The Blogs acted as a link between the characters and the internet world that features in the trailer and the audience and the emotions of each character....

Magazine Cover

                                             (Draft)

(Due to the audience feedback I added the barcode and price necassary of any magazine cover.)

Similarly to the previous feedback for my first draft of my magazine cover I failed to include a barcode- so I rectified this...

(Final)

Teaser Text

'The Fear and Desire of the Strange'

''This psychological drama focuses on four students who are unsuspectingly the victims of a body-swap terror! Each character is tormented by the distortion of minds and the uncertainty of their future. A clever twist on the usual comedic takes on this genre, take the audience on a emotional journey of self-hatred and fatal depression. The fate of each student is left un-known by the end of the trailer, although certain death is expected by the climax.''

This is an example of the sort of teaser text of which I believe a magazine/ website reviewer would write for our trailer. The language used is not too complicated and formal that it would reject the interest from our intended target audience of teenagers however it could be a perfect balance of informal and intellectual that it would be seen as effective. 

Magazines that would offer such reviews would not necessarily have to be solely film magazines, for example:

Teen Vogue is typically a gossip/ fashion magazine but shown in this issue is a 'Hunger Games Special'- used a an effective plug to draw in the interests of the reader.

Film Advertising

 

In the modern day there are many different ways for film distributors to attract their audience. Perhaps the most significant out this century is that of social media and the internet. Information can be shared at any time to anyone across the globe, and the internet is now considered the most effective and efficient form of communication. This has resulted in great business advertising to sore in the recent years. The invention of social media sites has brought together the consumers and producers for all products. Sites such as FaceBook, Twitter, Tumblr and Youtube all strive off of the social needs of the current society. 'The Fear and Desire for the Strange' is purposely aimed at teenagers as they are perhaps the most alert and approachable audience for any film producer as they spend hours of their day surfing the internet. Theories such as the hypodermic needle may apply to teenagers as they expose themselves daily online and interact with things in the way their elders never did as a child. Therefore the most effective way of reaching out to our audience would be through these sites. For example we could create a 'Fear and Desire for the Strange' FaceBook page, in which users could like the page and be shown up-coming trailers, spoilers and sneak peak images in order to keep them interested for its release. Similarly a 'ClockWork Pictures' page could be formed, as if the company were to release any other films then an audience will already be gathered on the page. Maybe the greatest side to this form of online advertising is that it costs the company no money what so ever to create a FaceBook page or a Twitter account as they are all free of charge. So overall there is a clear relationship between the intended target audience and the methods that can be used to communicate with them. The online era has proved to make film advertising extremely successful in that it is cheap and easy to use and therefore is the most effective form of advertising that 'ClockWork Pictures' will use to advertise 'The Fear and Desire for the Strange'.

Trailer Certificate and Film Certificate

The trailer itself was suitable for all so the circulation of the trailer would be higher, however due to the content we wished to include if we were making the whole film it would be a certificate 15.

 We would include drug and alcohol abuse, suicides and bad language. This fits in well with our intended target audience of 15-19 year olds, as generally speaking their interests in terms of what they see on TV and films are related to these issues. The dark nature of the film would also give it a higher title as films that are deemed 12 have limited amounts of violence and bad language, so much so that there is a quite considerable difference between 12 and 15 films, however the gap isn't as noticeable between the content found in 18 films and 15.