Benjamin Wilkins - A2 Media Studies |
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The Horror Genre deals with many conventions which are very typical, these conventions can be seen in most horror films, such as; Friday the 13th, Saw, The Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. The main conventions from this genre include; blood, people being killed which is a main convention of this genre, monsters which can be thought of as 'supernatural' just like Ghosts, lots of death which again is main convention, weapons which are used for the killing and many of these weapons can be typical to different horror movies and the characters that exist in these movies. Attractive people is also a main convention in most horror films as it gives an appeal to the audience because "sex sells". A Psychotic Killer (main antagonist) is almost always used as this character can be used in future productions of sequels and prequels of the first film made to feature that character and having this character there in the first place gives the audience a main thing to be fearing and to know what to fear, this character is also made iconic through different conventions such as iconic clothing, weapons, etc.
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Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Beginning (2006) |
Friday The 13th (2009) |
Throughout the movie trailer it is shown that this trailer is clearly for a horror genre film. The way it shows this is through the many conventions that the movie shows which can be considered to be quite typical, examples of this include; a Weapon which is symbolic to the franchise, so when people see that weapon they would associate it to the movie and the character that wields this weapon. In this trailer it's the Chainsaw which is the weapon of choice for the main antagonist 'Leatherface' which is the iconic character for this movie franchise, and having a character like this is a major convention for horror films as a lot of horror films include characters like this who are psychotic killers and cause most of the death and killing which is shown in throughout this trailer. Other covnentions shown in this movie is the use of blood and death which is pretty much shown for a lot of the trailer and this is very common in the horror genre, another convention is the use of 'Attractive People' which is shown a lot during this trailer and is used a lot in this type of genre of film.
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This trailer is a cleary one for a horror film and is shown to be for a horror film through the use of typical horror conventions. A first convention used is the convention of using attractive people in the movie (mainly women) as "sex sells" and this causes more people to want to view the film in a greater amount than before. Another convention is the use of weapons such as axes and machetes which is a main element of most horror movies because they aid the main antagonist in their role of killing other people. The antagonist in this film is also a convention of horror films as they would be considered to be a Psychotic killer and this is often typical in most horror genre films, in this case, the name of the psychotic killer is 'Jason Voorhees' which is an iconic character in most horror film franchises and is made more iconic with the use of a hockey mask covering his face and the machete as his weapon of choice. Two more conventions normally come together which are blood and death which is basically shown or implied in most of the trailer showing how this movie is intense and filled with horror.
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Action genred films consist of many conventions. Typically they deal with fights with high tension, and are set in a big modern city which is busy and full of people to cause massive destruction and trouble. For massive destruction, normally action films include a hero and villain, which are both armed with weapons such as knives and guns, however some action films have hi-tech, big machinery. Additionally, killings and deaths are a typical convention, the explosions and crashes within action films result in deaths. There is also normally a mission in waiting to be completed, and a hero tries to solve the mission. When there is a mission waiting, another convention, cat and mouse chase is included, which is aided by up beat, disastrous, nerve racking music to create the fulfilled tension.
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Iron Man 2 (2010) |
Act of Valor (2012)
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In the beginning of the this trailer, a modern city full of public is displayed to the audience, this is a typical convention of Action films because big citys tend to destructed during fighting/action scenes. Also, Iron man is covered in hi-tech costume and equipment, which is also a typical convention in Action films. Mid in the trailer, Iron man is faced with a villain (Whiplash), which both have many opposite traits to one another, causing conflict. The conflict then creates weaponary, and both Iron man and Whiplash intend to cause to harm to each other. Danger and high action scenes are shown, causing injury to Iron Man, this is a typical convention in Action films as high tension scenes create excitement for the audience. A mission was clear in this trailer, Iron Man had to destroy Whiplash, a mission in action films are a main convention to include. An explosion was also displayed in the trailer, creating a sense of high action and tension. This sense of high action and tension excites the audience and makes them want to watch the full duration of the film. Lastly, upbeat music was another convention which was in the trailer, it was a backing soundtrack behind the high impact scenes, it creates more exicitement and supsense.
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In the opening of this trailer, weapons such as guns, bullets and grenades are the first convention to be seen, this is a very typical convention in Action trailers, it helps action become actual action because the weapons create large diegetic sounds. The setting is in an open area, not isolated, full of special forces battling their rivals. The large feud causes deaths and killings, which is another covention in action films. Hi-technology is used in the trailer, hi-tech weaponary, subs, planes and air crafts, hi-tech equipment is typical convention in action films, it creates a positive, professional attitude from the audience and creates mass impact. Action sounds (diegetic) are constantly used during the trailer, this is a main convention in action films, helps aid fast pace action. Explosions are also a main convention, which is used in the Act of Valor trailer, it is a common action disaster, causing harm and deaths to characters. There is loads of action in the trailer, it keeps it busy and maintains the audiences attention. Lastly, relationships are built due to the problems the characters face, team work is vital. Relationships are also a common convention in action films, it pleases the audiences and creates a positive atmosphere which is however overpowered by the disasterous problems within the film.
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Comedy genred films are created to evoke laughter and humour from the audience. The genre comedy falls into two sub-groupings: 1.) a comedian-led film 2.) a comedy situation film. Most comedy films are hybrids, such as comedy-horror, comedy-action. A comedy genred film must consist of comical situations (narrative comedy), gags (visual, aural, verbal jokes, which are carefully timed and delievered for maximum impact). These two elements make a strong combination as the performance of gags are aided of the progession of the narrative.
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From our research on various genres, we decided as a pair to base our trailer on the genre of Action/Comedy. We thought the idea of Horror was too common, with many Alevel candidates choosing the genre Horror, and from that we wanted to be more original and unique and choose a genre which is rarely chosen to portray. Additionally, we thought the idea of a Sci-Fi would be too complex for a 2 partnership effort, and therefore decided to put the genre Sci-Fi aside too.
We decided to chose to genre Comedy/Action as we both think this is a good combination to display. The comical element to our trailer will be slightly hard to show, with many elements to include such as gags, humour, and punchy buns. However, we feel we could portray this well as we are both characters withl a comical humour and we feel we could use this to aid our trailer. Also, the element of Action will be consisted in our trailer too. The combination of comedy and action is often chosen in many films because many comical scenes can be produced from it. such as silly mistakes with weaponry. |
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This trailer focuses on using the most iconic comedy moments throughout the film to demonstrate its genre which is clearly comedy. It uses animated titles to split the scenes and narrate and tease the audience with possible story lines or twists so that they are intrigued. The colours used throughout the trailer are bright and unusually vibrant which suggests its an uplifting film. The film was also scheduled to be released during the summer so the mood in this trailer corresponds with the mood of summer. The iconic moments in the film are highlighted and hinted in this trailer to entice the audience to watch the full movie. Also when the iconic quote is said, it is highlighted through the use of sound as all of the non digetic background music is brought to a halt, followed by a quick exaggerated sound effect, with the quote being exaggerated in volume for emphasis, then the background music continues. This is a popular convention of comedy action films as the memorable humourous parts are a crucial selling point for comedy genre films.
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Watching this trailer, we have noticed that many iconic scenes are used to portray comedy. Comical scenes, which are cleverly delivered is a vital convention to use as it it humorous. The print screen to the right shows a scene, displaying a group of teens acting childish. One of which is dancing, thinking he is good at what he's doing, which in fact he's not. This scene is comical and cleverly delivered, it is supported by the use of a soundtrack to aid the comedy. We don't want to use this particular scene, but however we wish to use comical scenes to portray the genre of comedy.
This scene shows a typical school bully situation, this problem is common in schools and is considered serious, however this scene is displayed to us comically, the reaction to the victim is what drives to comedy in this particular scene, and the appearance of it is funny. We like to use this scene as inspiration, not exactly use it but instead make a serious issue come across comical. |
CostumeThe group of teens boys have their own sense of style of clothing, and both seem different in personality. The first, and last two boys are dressed casually which symbolises to me that they are laid back and bright characters. The second character is dressed reasonably formal, making me think he is less laid back than the others and that he is quite a sensible, serious character.
Costume is important for film making, as it helps portray characteristics of characters. From this costume research, me and my group member like the idea of using a group of friends, each with a different personality to uniquely portray each character differently, also dressing them to suit their personality. For example, dressing a character up in messy clothes to portray a boisterous, adventurous character. |
Animated TitlesThe use of animated titles is something me and my group member like from this trailer research. Animated titles symbolise a fun, uplifting storyline, fast pace and animated titles also intrigues the audience. It also creates a sense of escapism, escaping from stressful times to come and watch a joyful, packed full film. Me and my group member would like to use this in our trailer, is suits the genre comedy quite well.
The text used is original which makes the trailer seem realistic and not exaggerated. Quite school looking, and is in lower case to create a non serious atmosphere to the storyline. Stereotypically, school children are very laid back and show lack off effort to detail, and this is a great example to portray this problem, hence why its about teenage kids. We'd like to use this sort of text to create a fun, uplifting feeling to the trailer. |
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This trailer , similar to the previous trailer , inbetweeners movie , is also clearly a comedy genre film as it expresses humorous puns and catchphrases which create a comical atmosphere for the audience to enjoy the movie. The trailer shows that the movie will switch mood to an intense action genre which involves the use of guns, knives, explosives and other different weapons which adds an imense action and thrilling element to the film. Alongside the weapons and explosions in the trailer, it also shows the costumes, gadgets and props used by the 'superheros' which helps to aid the action element of the movie. This trailer has a big use of non digetic sound and exaggerated sound effects which adds to the thrill of the overall viewing experience and teases the audience to want to watch more of the film, and this will therefore make this film more popular.
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The use of this soundtrack 'The Prodigy - Stand Up' is used during the majority of the trailer. The soundtrack sounds very upbeat and suits the action element to the trailer, it suits the high action in the trailer and aids it cleverly. It creates more tension and thrill to the action. The soundtrack makes the trailer flow better, and supports the storyline in the trailer as it suits the scenes being shown. The soundtrack also has a happy, joyful feeling to it, which makes the trailer feel warming and makes the audience feel at ease. From this research, me and my group member would also like to use a soundtrack in the backing of our trailer to aid the storyline and the action scenes. We also want to achieve the exact feeling from this soundtrack in ours, therefore a similar soundtrack could be used in our trailer.
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This bedroom scene displays a childlike atmosphere, which highights the fact the main protagonist is a child, much like what we'd want to portray in our trailer. The bedroom location also helps identify the character through the use of personal belongings. Using a bedroom for a location also creates a sense of realism, suggesting that the teenager is a normal kid, with a normal life.
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Filming outdoors creates a sense of reality, with public in the background also creates a sense of normaility. Filming outdoors also enables the audience to familiarise themselves to the setting, and the type of place the trailer is set, such as a urban city. Myself and Jai would like to use this location as inspiration, and film some scenes outside to create a sense of reality and normaility. Additionally, as we like the idea of young adults being involved in our trailer, the fact young adults are usually outdoors, socialisng and being adverturous, we feel using the outdoors would portray this clearly.
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A diner was shown in the trailer, this location is a place where public come to eat and socialise. The location is mostly full on young adults, therefore is a place for young adults to hang around at, and meet friends. A diner is a common place where young adults go to, as its chilling, and full of people the same age. As we like the idea of including young adults in our trailer, we think a use of a diner would be a perfect location to include in our trailer. Therefore we'd like to use this as inspiration.
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Above picture shows the costume which the characters wear when they are living their normal lives. As you can see they are normally dressed, casual and look like middle class people. The idea of portraying characters to seem like normal living people, with a middle class status is an idea which me and my team member like if we decide to use similar characters such as these above. We could use the idea in our own comedy/action trailer. Also, all four seem to be normal characters, without a hidden secret. However they do in the Kick-Ass trailer, and are costumed different to portray their superhero lives they live.
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This picture shows the characters superhero costume. The costumes are very stereotypically designed, but are amateur superhero costumes. This aids the comical element of the trailer because its meant to make the audience laugh, due to the amateur detail of the costumes. Although the characters take their superhero character seriously, the costume is designed in such way to symbolise their ordinary lifes too, and to show the fact they aren't typical superhero's, such as the Marvel ones.
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In the opening of the trailer, a calm beat helps introduce the beginning of the trailer. It suggested suspense and an unexpected scene was about to appear, perhaps something funny due to the film being a comedy genred film. Following the calm beat, background music was played behind the footage (Mia Pee, Mia Par, Mia Poo, Mia Pappa), this soundtrack seems to be good-humoured and lively, and therefore suits the genre comedy. It also links well with the footage, comical scene used as the main image and a comical soundtrack to aid the amusement. Additionally, the scene when all 4 men are in the car, another soundtrack is played in the backing, (Live Your Life by T.I and Rihanna). This is used cleverly the lyrics 'Live Your Life' correspond with the footage of them adventuring the world and travelling to another country, living their lives like there's no tomorrow. The soundtracks aid the comical conventions for the comedy genred film, and clearly highlights that the trailer for Hangover is a comedy. Furthermore, another convention of comedy films is Slapstick, this is when characters comically receive pain or face danger. This convention is included in the Hangover Trailer, when the man wakes up to a tiger in his room, charges out the bedroom and comically falls over. The trailer also uses a baby as a prop to create a comical atmosphere, it is used as a dominant prop which is symbolic in the trailer. From this trailer, I and our group group hope to use the idea of amusing music to aid the comical scenes in our trailer, and the maintain the audiences attention. The idea of opening our trailer to a suspenseful soundtrack to create a wonder to the audiences is also a idea we'd like to try out.
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SOUNDTRACKThis soundtrack was played in the backing of the footage in the trailer. The soundtrack aided the scene well, and corresponded well with with what was happening in the scene. The soundtrack also supports the comical element of the trailer, and creates a uplifting feeling to the trailer. It also made the shot seem good humoured, and suits the genre of the trailer. We would like to use soundtracks in our teaser trailer to aid our comedy, and make scenes more comical. They also support the storyline of the trailer, which we particularly like.
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COSTUMEIn the trailer, all three characters are dressed casually. They all appear to be laid back characters. Costume is important to help viewers familiarise themselves with the characters personality. The costume makes them look like ordinary people, with ordinary lives, and this creates a sense of realism to the film trailer. Me and Jai like the idea of using clothing that suits the characters characteristics. We also like the idea of creating characters that are laid back, and costumed in causal clothing, this because we want our trailer to seem realistic.
CAMERA SHOTS/MOVEMENTBelow are some camera shots and movement we liked from the Hangover trailer, which we would like to refer too in our comedy/action trailer.
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Panning is a movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which is turned. Normally it is used to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame. Panning also helps introduce the location to the audience, as it displays many objects and scenery. Me and my team member like this camera movement, as it helps set the scene of a location. We hope to you this is our trailer.
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The low angle shot above, shows three characters looking at a baby on the floor. The camera is facing up at the three characters, making the audience feel the powerless feeling the baby is feeling, as the camera shot suggests the three characters are dominant. Low angle shots are commonly used to show an importance of a character, and also increases the height. We like the idea of this shot, and the purpose of it, therefore we hope to use this in our trailer.
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A over the shoulder shot is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The above shot is used to frame the character which the camera is pointing towards. The OTS shot above is used to show a conversation between two people. We like the idea of this shot, as it is a good shot to use when filming a conversation in our trailer, we hope to use this is our own trailer.
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The close up shot above is used to show the expression of the character. The shot also takes the audience into the mind of the character, helping them feel what the character is feeling. This allows the audience to understand the characters feeling towards the drama. The shot is barriered by a wire fence, this also helps the audience understand that the character is trapped, and stressed. We like the idea of using close ups to portray character emotion, also the use of barriers such as fencing, is a unique way of displaying a characters emotion vividly.
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This is a parody trailer for the movie 'Kick-Ass'. It was made by me and two other friends just for fun two years ago. This is a good video to use as we could use this video as a blueprint, to guide us when we're making our actual film trailer. This trailer consists of comical and action elements which is similar to what is in the Kick-Ass trailer. Comical elements such as humorous lines were used in this parody trailer, additionally, a soundtrack was included to assist the comical conventions.
The costume was amateur to create a more comical, realistic feeling to the recreation. The use of young teenagers, with comical personalities suited the recreation perfectly, and from this we'd like to use young teenagers in our teaser trailer. However, we'd like a slight more serious approach to costume, to make our trailer appear professional. |
One of the 'idents' we chose for our film was Film 4. We chose this as an ident because Film 4 is a production company that invest a lot of money in new British talent, and seeing as our film is based in Britain with British actors it would make sense to use Film 4. Also a lot of films that Film 4 invest money in include a great deal of action and comedy, which are the two main genres of our film and this would mean our film would suit using Film 4 as a production company. Another reason for using Film 4 is that it's a repsected production company and is very popular among the british population, meaning our film could reach wide british audiences.
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This movie is an example of a Film 4 film which involves both comedy and action elements. This is the kind of thing we involved in our movie trailer, also the characters in the film are primarily dominated by teenagers trying to fight back against a force they don't agree with. This is similar for our trailer idea as it involves two teenagers that are fighting back against crime in the area which is a force that they don't agree with. Since it's a Film 4 film it also means this film is set with a British theme and is shown throughout the film with the use of slang and the language.
This is another example of a movie that Film 4 have been part of that involves mainly action, but can only involve a comedy angle. 007 films are known to be british themed as the main characters involved in this films are British. The use of guns in this film is similar to the use of guns we plan to use in our trailer as it shows the action genre which is what we plan to use in our trailer as well.
This is main example of a Film 4 film that shows the comedy aspect of a film that we would like to include and show in our film trailer. Also the comedy in this movie has a main appeal to teenagers which is the core audience of people that we're planning to aim our movie to, meaing we'd have to take inspiration from a movie like this and devise different comical aspects that teenagers would find funny. Also as this film is British themed (with the use of 4 main characters all being british and many other characters also being british) it makes sense that Film 4 have taken a role in producing the movie which is why we've chosen them as a production company because of the fact they're very keen of being part of new british talent.
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The second ident we chose for our film trailer was Universal. We chose this as an ident as this production company invests a lot of money in films which involve action elements and follow the action genre. This would make sense for us to include Universal as a production company for our film because our film also follows the action genre. Another reason for using Universal as a production company is because it's a very famous and respected production company making it very popular throughout the world, meaning our film trailer could stretch out across a wide population of people.
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This is the main example of a Universal film that involves both the comedy and action aspects of a movie that we would like to include in our trailer. This movie however is an example of an american based film as it involves american actors in an american location, meaning it's much different from what we're including in our trailer. However since our trailer is showing the action and comedy aspect that Universal pictures like to be part of, it would be a good match up to have them as a production company.
This is a great example of a Universal film that involves some of the crude comedy that we want to include in our film trailer. This is because it's a type of comedy which can be very appealing to our target audience because teenagers normally respond well to crude comedy as it's normally very immature which is something a teenager can find comical.
This is another example of a Universal film that involves lots of different kinds of crude comedy that can be aimed at teenagers as a main target audience. However like most of Universal pictures movies, it's in an american setting with american actors because most Universal pictures contain this as Universal are a very big blockbuster type production company.
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