Poster Analysis 3: The Wolverine

• This poster is a combination of a trailer poster and a character poster. It features the main character of the film in the centre at the front so the image is the most prominent feature and stands out to the audience. 
• The star system is used particularly in this poster as the actor Hugh Jackman, who is well-known and associated with these type of fantasy/adventure films, is clearly included in a large image in the foreground to attract an audience who may know the actor and therefore associate his talent with the film. His name is the only name that appears on the poster, proving that his inclusion in the film is important and that the institution wants to clearly link him with this film. The better the cast of a film seems to people, the more interested and persuaded to watch it they will be. Also this actor appeared in the X-Men films which link into the Wolverine films and therefore the target audience will be likely to recognise this actor and associate him with the genre they are interested in and therefore this will interest and appeal to them and grab their attention. 
• The position the main character is knelt in along with other mis en scene features such as his hair and the fact that he is topless and muscular all add the representation that the poster is trying to get across of him being animal-like. The hair and beard are symbolic of fur to make him look more wolf/canine-like which links strongly to the film title "The Wolverine". The animal-like ness gives connotations of danger and being out of control which hints slightly at the narrative. 
• The metal claws are an icon of the film and are shown clearly here to attract an audience and play on their desires. They will be interested to know why the character has these metal claws. These claws again give codes of being an animal/dangerous creature as claws are often stereotyped as sharp and dangerous. The character is holding the claws out and spreading his arms out widely, this stance makes him look powerful and quite dominant and his muscles are clearly shown as he is topless, this emphasises his strength. 
• The typography is in a silver, metallic font and the shape is sharply cut like a blade. This font is meant to link with and symbolise the metal claws and therefore it ties in with the genre and continually hints at the narrative. There are several small narrative hints but none big enough to give away any of the films key elements or any key part of the storyline, which is not what a poster aims to do. 
• There is a city location appearing in the background of the poster, we can tell it is a city from how busy it is and the number of tall glass buildings it features. Buildings like these are stereotypical of city locations. Often fantasy or disaster films are set in city locations as there is always a lot going on and therefore this means more action scenes such as buildings exploding or transport/buildings collapsing. Therefore this location is stereotypical of the films genre and it will interest a target audience who enjoy films set in locations like this, or an audience that live in locations like this as they can relate to many of the characters/places included and therefore the film will appeal to them. 
• Rubble and bits of rock flying are flying around in the background of the poster. This links to the action/adventure genre as explosions or eruptions are often included to excite the audience and keep them on the edge of their seat. It also hints at the plot and the idea that parts of the city may be blown up or destroyed as the result of some sort of action scene, a fight scene maybe.
•  There are cracks in the ground where the main character is knelt showing his strength and emphasising his masculinity. This will appeal to both a female and male audience. It will appeal to females as the male is portrayed as muscular and masculine and therefore many might find him attractive, however it will also appeal to a male audience as he is shown to be strong and powerful and therefore many male teenagers could see him as an idol. 
• The weather is rainy and cloudy which adds to the tone of the poster and makes it seem more dangerous and scary, the colour scheme ties in with this effect as many of the colours used are dark shades such as black or blue to link to the action genre and the idea that something bad or scary will happen and the protagonist will have to resolve it. Black gives connotations of darkness and mystery which are both associated with certain action/adventure and even some fantasy films.
• The poster uses low-key lighting to create an eerie tone however the main character is lit up and outlined from behind to make him stand out. The idea that he has been included in the foreground also helps him stand out and makes him seem important as he is the largest image on the poster and he is the furthest forward indicating that he will play the main part in the narrative. 
• The film title is in the middle of the screen and appears at the bottom which is conventional of a lot of film posters. It is bold and the silver font stands out well on a darker background so that the audience are attracted to the title and know what to look out for. The release date appears on the poster which is conventional of almost all posters that are released before the film appears in cinemas as a way of promoting and persuading the target audience to watch the film when it is released in theatres. 
• I think the audience would be fairly tent-pole for this film. Teenagers to adults, predominantly male as they are the group that are stereotyped to enjoy action films the most. However, many females could also be interested in this as the narrative and location aren't gender specific and therefore the film could appeal to any gender, just depending on the individual and their interests. 

Poster Analysis 2: Life of Pi

• This poster contains basic information about the film in order to interest the audience but not give too much of the narrative away. This type of poster is a teaser/full trailer poster as it gives basic information but doesn't list many details e.g. it doesn't mention the stars or the distributors. 
• The main image on this poster is not the main character but the shipwreck in the centre of the poster. This image has been used to attract the audience and play on their desires as it is a powerful and exciting image that instantly grabs the audiences attention. Immediately it persuades the audience to ask questions such as what will happen to the ship, what was onboard the ship etc. They will want to find out the answers to these questions and they are therefore enticed and more likely to watch the full film. 
• Genre is slightly harder to identify on this poster than on many others as it doesn't have that many clear and undeniable genre specific icons. The shipwreck indicates that the film may be of the action adventure genre as this is stereotypical of films of this genre type e.g. many pirate films are action adventure genre films and involve shipwrecks of some sort. The smaller image of the boy and the tiger in the boat gives the idea that the film might be of the drama genre as it could be about the relationship and struggles between the boy and this animal. 
• The image of the boy and the tiger in the boat is smaller however it is further forward (in the foreground) in the poster than the other image. This could be because the characters are more important or play a key role in the narrative. The male is the only human character that appears on the poster therefore we can imply that he is the main protagonist and he potentially builds some relationship with this tiger, however this is not certain just from this one image. Tigers are usually stereotyped as being antagonists or a threat to the protagonists because they give connotations of danger and of strength. Their teeth and claws are often emphasised as being sharp and dangerous, therefore many see them as scary. In this the tiger could play the role of the antagonist, however in the image the tiger is sat calmly opposite the boy and it looks peaceful rather than dangerous. Therefore the stereotype could be converted in this film and the tiger could turn out to be more of a hero or helper than a villain. 
• The main two colours used in the colour scheme of this poster are blue and white. These are used because they represent the colours stereotyped with the ocean and are iconic of it. From this poster we can see that the sea clearly plays a very important role in the film's narrative and blue and white are used as a way of representing and emphasising this to the audience. Blues can often be used in films of the adventure genre, especially those with predominantly sea locations, therefore the adventure aspect of the genre is shown even further by the colour scheme.  
• In the smaller image of the male and the tiger in the boat, the male is knelt in a stance and it looks like an animals stance. This hints at the narrative with the idea that the male is trying to mimic the tiger. The tiger is sat calmly and it looks almost like the position a human would sit in. This again reinforces elements within the narrative and the idea that the male and the animal are learning from each other and building a relationship. 
• The title is the largest text that appears on the poster which is conventional of film posters in every genre as the film producers want the audience to remember the title because that is the key thing that will make the film memorable and when they see the title or hear the title they should hopefully associate it with the films narrative and remember the poster. 
• At the top there is just a one word slogan "Adventure". This word appears boldly at the top of the poster and is effective as it links closely and is symbolic of the genre yet again, and it sounds exciting. It will instantly attract a target audience of people who like adventure films as they will see this word and be drawn to the poster. 
• The release date appears at the bottom of the poster. This is conventional of many posters and it shows that the poster was made before the films release as it says "In Theatres" above the release date so the audience know when they will be able to watch the film. 
• This film poster doesn't use the star system to promote the film in terms of actors as the main character appears on the poster but only in a small image and you cannot see their face. However it does use the star system in terms of the director as it uses his name and the phrase "from the academy award winning" showing off his talent and skill to the audience so they will have high expectations of the film and will be more likely to want to watch it. 

Poster Analysis 1: Casino Royale

• This poster is used to whet the audiences appetite for the film, by this I mean that it is used to attract their attention and get them interested in the film, but it doesn't actually give much of the narrative away. This technique is commonly used in film posters as the company in charge of promoting the film doesn't want to give too much of the storyline away in case the audience lose interest as the plot becomes too predictable. Also, people are attracted to mystery and always want to learn more about a film they are interested in, and in order to do this they will watch it, therefore showing a few key elements from a film, but not enough to give away much of the actual narrative, has proven successful in encouraging an audience to watch a film. 
• The genre can easily be identified by the presence of the gun as part of the films mis en scene in this poster. Guns and weapons in general indicate the action genre as many action films involve fight scenes or gun/violence scenes. Therefore it is conventional of action films to use guns or weapons in their posters to grab the attention and interest of their target audience, who have been proven to enjoy this genre in the past. 
• This poster is a character because it includes the main character of the film on the front, positioned in the centre. It successfully uses the star system as a way to interest the targeted audience and play on their desire. The actor used, Daniel Craig, is a well known actor and therefore the audience will recognise that he is respected and skilled and that this will hopefully be reflected in the film. They will be more persuaded to watch if the film has a good cast as they know that they can trust the actors to deliver a good performance as they have in the past. 
• 'Casino Royale' is the title of the film. Casino's are often used as locations for action films and this therefore represents the link to the genre further. In the background of the poster there is a building called Casino Royale, this links closely to the title and most likely the narrative, so is used to give the audience a slight insight into it and to therefore provoke curiosity and interest in them. Throughout the poster there are continuous links to the genre in order to attract a wide and assured audience. 
• The graphics for the film's title are hugely effective as the 'O's' in each word are used to spell out '007'. This gives connotations of the genre and is a symbol used to represent the Bond films as a collection (saga). The use of the 007 reference as a symbol will attract the fairly niche audience of people who watch Bond films and then the use of the gun to spell out the number '7' will attract the more tent-pole audience of anyone who enjoys action films in general. 
• In the background there is a silhouette of a female, the long hair and the way she is positioned, facing away from the camera with her shoulders and bum clearly outlined, is used to emphasise her sexuality and therefore appeal to a more male target audience. Also, the bond girls play a key role in the narrative of Bond films and therefore they are symbolic and used in the poster here to represent the film and grab the interest of the audience as they will hopefully see the numerous icons used and recognise the film. 
• Another use of mis en scene in this particular poster is the use of the fancy car as an icon. Fancy/expensive cars are iconic and give conventions of action films as the main protagonists or villains usually have them, especially if they play the wealthy and powerful character type. 
• The main character's stance and positioning on the poster makes him look very masculine as he is the main protagonist, this is to appeal to a female audience and a male audience as he could almost be seen as a role model or an aspirational goal for the male audience as they may want to be like him and have what he has. The way he is holding a gun and walking shows off his abilities as he looks confident and powerful with the gun, showing his experience and skill set. 
• The colours in this poster play an important part, the stock colours in the poster are white and black. The male characters costume is black and so it clearly stands out on and is emphasised on the white background colour. This symbolises the characters importance to the audience and focuses on the idea that he is wearing a suit which gives connotations of professionalism. White is quite a neutral colour to use on posters and can be used for almost every genre, it has been used here to emphasise the importance of the other aspects/colours in the poster. For example the female silhouette and the building inside is emphasised because it is in front of a simple background. 
• The layout of the poster is representative of the film's narrative. The main character is positioned directly in the middle and at the very front (further forward than anything/anyone else). The female character is sightly behind and is facing away from the audience indicating that she may be important to the narrative but not as important as the male. The car and the casino are also further back showing that they are still key in the plot but the male character is the most important in the film. 

Letter of Consent to Actors Parents

Lighting Research

 Most of my trailer will be filmed in outdoor locations such as parks and rivers and therefore I will probably rely on natural lighting a lot to emphasise my characters and their features. On the left are two screenshots of images which demonstrate the type of natural looking lighting that I want to be displayed in many of my shots. If I'm going to use solely natural lighting in a lot of my shots then I need to make sure that I plan effectively and take factors such as the weather and the time of day into account. For example, if I'm planning        
to film during the night then I cannot rely on sunlight to light my shots as it gets dark around 5ish or earlier for a lot of the winter.

If I include indoor locations such as bedrooms or clubs/restaurants then I will have to consider using internal lighting. If I decide not to then my shots could risk being blurry or out of focus or not emphasise the characters in a way that I intend to. However, in terms of practicality using advanced lighting rigs and systems may not be possible as I don't have the budget to afford equipment like this and even if I managed to borrow some there would be an issue in transporting it and setting it up in certain locations that I have looked at. Therefore I will have to consider the lighting I want to use carefully and decide whether natural lighting is effective enough in making my shots look professional and appealing.

I intend to go for a high-key lighting theme throughout most of my trailer as this will instantly indicate the genre to the audience as it will make the tone of the film positive and emphasise the characters happiness (happy relationship). On a few occasions I may decide that low-key lighting is more appropriate for the mood of the shot. For example, when the characters have an argument because this will instantly give the shot a more dim and unhappy vibe to emphasise the importance/significance of the argument. Also, if I include a scene of the characters drinking or taking drugs then I might use low-key lighting for these shots as I think they will add to the drama/realism element of the genre and emphasise the rebellious and non-caring lifestyle stereotyped with teenagers.

Lighting Exercise

My A2 media class and I worked together and participated in an exercise to research into the best angles and positioning of lighting in order to make camera shots and filming in general look more advanced. This exercise was very useful in relation to my pre-production activities. Before I start filming I need to consider what type of lighting will be involved in my trailer and whether I will need equipment to achieve the high-key lighting that I'm hoping to achieve in the majority of my shots as my trailer is of the romance genre and therefore I want the mood to be mostly positive and excited and these are themes often shown through high-key or natural lighting.

In the above two images we have 3 lighting rigs; two of these are positioned either side of the camera at the front, but are out of shot and the final light is behind the subject to highlight certain features and give the shot an overall brighter feel so that the image is clearer and the models face is displayed clearly. The model has fairly dark hair and is wearing dark clothing on her top half, the light at the back exaggerates these and makes them stand out more so they don't get lost in the shot because of their dark shade. As you can see from the shot on the right, the model's hair stands out and is very clear so that it's whole shape and detail is displayed in the camera shots. If my actors have dark hair or are wearing dark clothing or if I want to exaggerate a certain feature that may otherwise blend into the shot and get lost in it, then I might want to consider positioning a light behind the actor and out of shot.

If I did decide to use proper internal lighting in my film then I would aim for the lighting to be similar to the lighting set-up in the image on the left. The image shows a male and a female character, likely to be the two protagonists of the film. The lighting is used very successfully here as it is subtle but it lights up the characters fully and exaggerates features that may have been hidden without it. For example the male character has very dark hair and the blue/night-time background colour is very dark also, therefore the characters hair would have been lost in the background without the internal lighting to make it stand out. The male is also dressed in very dark clothing which too could have been lost amongst the dark background colour without the lighting to exaggerate it. The female is dressed in bright clothing so this wouldn't have been lost too much in the dark background, however her facial features and hair highlights are shown more clearly and crisply due to the lighting in place. The extra lighting behind is included as part of the shots and the audience are deliberately meant to see them, however they still add to the shot and give the shot a more positive and high-key atmosphere, which is what many romance films aim to achieve. The shot is inside a building and would have been very dim if it wasn't for the extra internal lighting used.

Call Sheet

Date	Actors and Resources	Location and Shots
Saturday 3rd January	Actors: -Kate -Theo Props: -Alcohol -Drugs Resources: -Camera -Tripod -Towels -Warm drinks -Umbrella?	Park Location: -Establishing shot -LS of swings -Over shoulder of female -CU of female -Shot rev shot male and female -CU of male -MS of male -LS two shot of both -Track shot of male -CU of female smiling Field Location: -XLS of both -CU of hand holding -LS of hugging/dancing -CU female -CU male -Medium shot male -Two shot Graffiti Hut Location: -LS of hut -CU of graffiti on hut -Two shot of characters sat inside -CU of alcohol bottle -MS of female drinking -Medium two shot Stream Location: -XLS of two in stream -CU of characters kissing -Medium shot of both -XLS of splashing -Medium shot of reflection in water
Sunday 4th January	Actors: -Kate -Theo Props: -Food -Phone Resources: -Camera -Tripod	Kitchen Location: -Over Shoulder of characters cooking -CU smiley face/heart in food e.g. pancakes -Medium shot of male character giving food to female -CU of female smiling Bedroom Location: -LS of characters lying in bed -Track of male getting up -Medium shot of female -CU of phone -LS of characters arguing -Medium shot of female -Medium shot of male -CU female crying -Track of female running off

Storyboard for Trailer-Video

Mindmap on Key Features of Trailer

This mind map just gives a basic overview of what my trailer will include and summarises the key ideas I have come up with. It talks about the basic narrative structure and some of the mise en scene I will include in order to give connotations of the romance genre to the audience. This mind map was useful as it allowed me to visually plan out and summarise all of my ideas so that I then had a clear picture of what I want to achieve and what I need to think about and do to achieve it.

Storyboard

Above are shots of all the different pages from my storyboard. This storyboard is fairly basic and gives only a basic outline of the types of shots I will include, because I know that when I arrive at the designated filming location, I will change the shots I want to film anyway due to lighting and conditions.Therefore this storyboard gives me a useful guide of which shot types to include and of what locations will be used, however I won't stick to it entirely. 

Risk Assessment

Production Schedule

Pre-Production

• Script= 1 hour
• Storyboard= 2 hours
• Location Recce= 2 hours
• Health and Safety/Risk Assessment= 1 hour
• Photo Stills (during filming, for potential use in ancillary products)= 30 mins 
• Make-up Planning= 10 mins
• Costume Planning= 1 hour
• Logistics e.g. power sources= 30 mins

Production

• Equipment List/Check= 30 mins
• Actor List and Shot List= 1 hour
• Transport (most of my locations are within walking distance)=15 mins
• Lighting= 1 hour
• Script Run Through= 20 mins
• Production Run Through= 45 mins
• Costume and Props= 2 hours
• Actual Filming= 1 or 2 days 
• Editing= 1 week
• Sound= 1 day
• Titles/Transitions= 2 hours 

Script for Voiceover

If I decide to include a voiceover in my trailer it will be done by my main female character and it will be played over the shots.

Script for Voiceover done by Female Protagonist: 

Option 1:
People always talked about finding the one. The one person to spend the rest of your life with, the one person to wake up to every day, the one person to hug you when you cry and to smile when you're happy. The one however, is hard to find and frankly it scares me that there is only one person out there for each of us. We could go our whole lives searching and still never find the one, that's why at the ripe old age of 18 I had given up on the hope of finding the one... or anyone to be quite honest, until I met Theo.

Option 2:
I was always told that if you love somebody you should let them go. I never understood this, surely loving someone is never letting go. Loving someone is staying up all night just talking, loving someone is letting them decide what food to eat, loving someone is shaving your legs even in winter, it's giving them the last slice of cake, it's sacrificing sleep so you can cuddle and this is love.

Option 3:
Left school, no job, and every week I got the threat of being kicked out of my parents house. The last thing on my mind was finding love. At school they almost told me that I would never amount to anything and if I left my life would be over, but honestly, it's only just begun.


Out of the three options I think that option 1 is my favourite so far as it ties in with the narrative of my film and it is stereotypical of the romance genre in the way that the female expreses her feelings about the male. Also I think the end line "until I met Theo" is effective as it sets up the narrative nicely and but it leaves the audience wanting to know more as it's a cliffhanger and they are unaware of what will happen. Leaving the audience wanting to know more/wanting to watch the rest of the film, is the key aim of any trailer and therefore I think this voiceover would achieve this. Option 2 is also quite appealing as it is light-hearted and involves humour but not too much and therefore this would appeal to certain people in my target audience. I will wait until I have filmed my shots and started editing before I decide on the final script for the voiceover, however for now it is useful to have a basic idea of some potential scripts I could include and how these would relate to my trailer and my overall film narrative.

Actors Finalised

Main Female Actress:

                                                                                                          
This is the actress I have chosen to play my main female character in my romance film. I think that Kate is a good choice and fits the brief that I'm looking for, she is of the same age range as the female character (Kate) in my film and looks the way I'd want Kate to look. This shot shows the actress wearing quite a lot of eye make up, this will be similar to how she will have her make up in the film, however in the film she will be wearing a darker coloured lipstick. The only difference between the way I first pictured my female character, and my actress Kate is the hair colour. I described the character to have blonde hair in the trailer, however this actress has brown. I have decided that overall this is not a major problem as this actress does have the curly/wild hair I wanted the character to have, she the colour isn't that important as she will still have the same style I wanted the character to have due to her costume, make up and shape of hair. In terms of convenience, the actress is my sister and we live in the same house so this is very practical for me and means that filming will be fairly easy to arrange and communication won't be a problem. The actress studied drama at AS Level and therefore has had experience in the past with acting, so overall I feel that she is highly appropriate for the part.


Main Male Actor:

This is the actor I have chosen to play the part of the main male protagonist. He is a similar age to the character in the film. He has dark hair which is similar to the way I first thought my male character would look and his hair is styled in the way I pictured it originally. The dark hair will display the male to be mature and potentially a bit mysterious, like the tall-dark and handsome character that is stereotypical of the romance genre. Theo, the male actor, is already in a relationship with my female actress so filming will be easy as there will be no awkwardness and the actors will get on well and have a good, friendly working relationship. Also, there will be no communication problems as the actors both know each other very well and know me very well too so staying in contact and arranging when to film won't be an issue.

Voiceover Examples

I don't know if I'll actually include a voiceover in my film or not, but if I do decide to it will include similar conventions as the two examples above. It was useful for me to look at these two clips and see how the voiceover was used in both. I think the voiceover was very effective in these trailers as it played on the audiences' emotions. Like the two clips above, my film is a romance with a main male and female protagonist, if I did decide to use a voiceover in my trailer, then I would most likely have it being done by the female character because I think that this has conventions of the romance genre, and it will allow the audience to find out a little more about the characters lifestyle and personality. If I use a voiceover I will have to think carefully about how the main character is portrayed and ensure that I don't give too much of the narrative away. 

Script Ideas

I'm unsure if I want to include a script in my trailer or not but I will make one anyway and decide whether it is appropriate when the shots are being filmed. If not then another option is that I have a voiceover from one of the main characters, despite voiceovers becoming less common in recent trailers, voiceovers done from the main characters point of view are still popular because it allows the audience an insight into the characters opinions and personality. Also, voiceovers can be descriptive and help explain the basic narrative to the audience.

Script Draft 1: 

Theo: Hi

Kate: Hello

Theo: Theo, nice to meet you (holds out hand)

Kate: Kate (reaches and shakes Theo's hand, giggles)

Later in the trailer:

Kate: Theo, I love you

Theo: I love you too

(actors hug and kiss, they are smiling and looking happy)

Even if I do include a script in my trailer I am going to keep it very basic with a few lines at most because otherwise I feel like it will either be very cheesy and quite unprofessional or it will give away too much of the narrative and make the film potentially predictable. Also, the script won't include whole conversations between the characters because the trailer uses montage editing and jump cuts therefore it won't just focus on one whole scene in the film.

Film Pitch

This is a simple pitch I did in front of my media class on the initial ideas for my film trailer. I thought it was useful to present my ideas in this way and receive feedback from a group of people around a similar age and with a similar lifestyle to that of the main characters in my film. Over half of the class were female teenagers so they tied into my target audience very well and it was useful that I got to see their reactions and hear their comments about my initial trailer idea. Also, it was useful to get a male perspective and opinion on some of my ideas, even though they aren't the specific target audience that I'm focusing on. My pitch outlines my basic ideas about narrative, characters, locations and props. 

Target Audience Detailed

I have gathered all my research and analyses of trailers from past films together and this has allowed me to build an idea of an appropriate target audience for my film. My general, non-specific target audience will just consist of teenage girls or adult females in general, because this is the demographic that has been proven to enjoy romance films the most. My niche target audience goes into a lot more detail and looks at the audiences interests and lifestyle.

Characteristics of my target audience:

• Females aged 15-30
• They will have an interest in films, specifically romance films.
• Some of their hobbies might include: watching films, going out with friends, partying, shopping, dating. Therefore I have taken this into account and tried to include aspects of some of these hobbies in my film so that narrative is relevant and relatable to the audiences lifestyle and therefore they will be more interested and more likely to watch the film. 
• The audience will be likely to either go to secondary school, go to college/university, or be in full-time employment. The age range is fairly wide and therefore the audience will vary on things like education and work, so I haven't focused too largely on this element in the narrative. The characters in the film both go to sixth form so some of the audience may be able to relate to this, however this isn't made that clear in the trailer as I'm not going to film any scenes at school.
• Some of the artists/bands they may like includes: One Direction, Imagine Dragons, Sam Smith, Nicki Minaj, One Republic, Drake, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, Jessie J etc. However, these are just some artists that have proven to be popular with teenage girls currently and everyone has very varied and individual music taste so again, I haven't focused too much on this in terms of my film. 

Of course the audience for my film isn't just reduced to the demographic described above and I aim to encourage as many people of all different genders and ages to watch my film. The reason I have looked so deeply into my target audience is because it is useful to me to see what interests them and what they enjoy so I can take this into account when creating my trailer. However, I am aware that not all of my target audience will be defined by the characteristics above and therefore I will also aim to make my narrative and characters as relatable as possible to a wider range of people, so that I'm not solely focusing on one highly specific, niche audience alone, because this could therefore risk alienating a broader group of people. 

Basic Narrative Overview

My trailer will follow the stereotypical boy meets girl narrative structure with the main characters being a male and a female protagonist. The characters will be teenagers, around 17 years old and the trailer will attempt to show elements involving the struggle of growing up and the mid-point between  child and adulthood where the characters are trying to discover themselves and what they want to achieve in their lifetime. In showing aspects like this, my trailer will often include drama as a sub-genre, particularly teen drama as it will attempt to display the hardships and also happiness of teenagers as they grow up. Before the female love interest meets the male love interest, she is shown to seem quite sad, lonely and not really sure of what she's doing. However, after the two characters meet her mood and the tone of the trailer completely changes and the female is shown to be much happier and calmer when she is around the male. The beginning shots of the trailer will show the female sat on the swings alone in the park, possibly drinking alcohol and looking fairly lost. The following shots will show the protagonists first meeting and eventually falling in love. The relationship between the two characters will gradually build as they begin to fall in love. Shots of them holding hands and laughing and having fun will be included frequently to display their bond to the audience and provoke interest within the audience as by this point they are rooting for the couple to be/stay together. The female will then look at the male characters mobile phone and see that he has messages on there from other girls, this then makes her think that he has cheated on her and this leads to a huge argument between the characters. However, it is unclear to the audience as to whether he did in fact cheat or not. The film's ending is also left on a cliff hanger at the end of the trailer as the audience will be gripped and full of suspense as they are wanting to find out what will happen and whether the protagonists will stay together or not. I feel that leaving the ending on a cliffhanger is conventional in almost every trailer and is the best technique to use, as it allows the audience to remain interested in the film, if the film ending is given away in the trailer then many people won't see the point in watching the film at all as they know how it ends and feel it is predictable.

Audience Pleasure

The main reason people watch films is because the enjoy it and get pleasure from watching them, different people get pleasure from different styles or genres of film. The aim of my trailer is to promote my film and in order to do this I need to ensure that my target audience get pleasure from watching my trailer so that they therefore will want to watch my whole film. In order to ensure that my target audience get pleasure from watching my trailer I will need to explore certain elements and ensure that popular conventions of the romance genre are used.

The following is a list of things I will look at and attempt to accomplish so that my target audience get pleasure from watching my trailer:

• Iconography: I have already looked at and discovered some iconography relating to the romance genre, such as the main character types being a protagonist male and a protagonist female and the props such as flowers or alcohol (depending on the location). I will research further into romance iconography and make sure that a significant number of the stereotypical romance icons are included in my trailer. 
• Props: Props link to iconography largely but I will ensure I include conventional props associated with and linked to the romance genre such as flowers, alcohol and drugs or presents (from the love interests, for example jewellery given to the female protagonist by the male). These will immediately make the audience interested as they have learned to associate these props with the genre. 
• Narrative structure: My film will trailer will follow one of the two conventional narrative structures stereotyped with the romance genre. Either the 'happily ever after' ending which has proven to give the audience pleasure as the characters are reunited and everything is good and there is an equilibrium. Or the 'tear-jerker, tragic' ending where something devastating happens e.g. death and the characters aren't reunited, these endings have also proven popular within the audience because they are often true boreal life as not everything in life ends perfectly, however I am more likely to go with the first narrative structure as often the target audience of romance films are happier when there is a strong equilibrium at the end. 
• I will look into what shot types and transitions are the most popular in romance films in order to appeal to my audience. I'm likely to use a simple cut transition regularly as this is very conventional in trailers as they almost always use montage editing as a way of promoting the film. 
• Titles: My titles will be written in bright colours, or fairly plain depending on which sub-genre I decide on. Obviously I can't use the star system technique in my titles to promote the actors in my film because I have a small budget and therefore I can't afford to get huge actors to star in my trailer and am using actors my age, local to me. However I will look at other techniques used within the titles in the hope of appealing to the audience. 
• Shot lengths will vary slightly but because I am only creating a trailer, no extremely long shots will be included so the narrative wouldn't be given away and so the audience would remain interested as they are curious and interested because they will only be exposed to clips and not the full plot.

Film Masterclass

 The other day I attended a masterclass with director Simon Hook. Simon Hook has worked on programs such as Hollyoaks and M.I.High and therefore has had a lot of experience with filming and his work has proven to be successful. It was very helpful to receive tips and advice from an expert and I will most likely use many of these tips when I'm filming my own trailer so that it will look more professional. The first image shows the light pointing at the ceiling, this is a way of effectively adding the correct amount of light to the characters. This provides high key lighting and allows the audience to clearly see the characters, however it is not shining directly at them because this would mean that the shot would be too bright and the characters may not be shown clearly. I will consider using this technique in my trailer in shots where the lighting is already good but I just want to light up the characters slightly more without creating any unwanted shadows.

 This picture shows the two actors who volunteered to help Simon demonstrate how to successfully use different shots. The actors had a complete run through of the script before any actual filming was done and each time the camera shot changed the actors would have a run through to make sure stage positioning worked effectively before filming was done, this was a useful technique as it allowed us to instantly see which shots worked and which didn't work so well. Hook used a filming technique where he would film a whole scene with the camera positioned in one place and then refill the whole scene each time with the camera in a different position. This was an interesting technique because often even though some parts of the scene didn't work with the camera positioned in a certain way, other parts worked very well. Also filming in this way means that the scene can be easily edited and transitioned and the best shots in relation to the script, can be used. Simon also told and showed us how dead space can often be very boring in shots and that by slightly moving the camera either upward, downwards or side to side, can remove this dead space and make the shot much more interesting, because it is including much more. Props can also be used in the background to add more to the shot.

We were taught two very helpful techniques about shots and angles. Zooming can often be very shaky and amateur if used as an effect whilst the camera is rolling. Therefore another way close up shots/zooms can be done is by the character walking towards the camera. This technique is called self-tightening. In order to make the characters the same size in over the shoulder shots, you can move the camera backwards and zoom in so the shot is a close up before actually filming. This way the characters are far more accurate in size in comparison to one another.

This masterclass was very beneficial and when I'm filming my own trailer I will definitely consider Simon Hook's advice in relation to the shot types and transitions I use, and also the lighting and positioning of my props.

Props

This post will look at some of the props I could potentially use in my trailer. These props will have to be easy enough for me to get hold of and representative of the genre or the narrative. Also, these props should appeal to the target audience in some way by allowing them to anticipate more about the film or by exciting them by hinting at the narrative slightly.


 Flowers

Flowers are one of, if not the most, common prop used in films of the romance genre. They give connotations of beauty and love which are both stereotyped with romance. Giving flowers as a gift is perceived as romantic and it is almost always the male love interest who gives the flowers to the female love interest as a sign of his love for her and to show him to be gentlemanly and caring. I will most likely include flowers in my trailer at some point or other because they are a well known icon of the romance genre and so will therefore reinforce the genre of the film and hopefully attract a large target audience.

Alcohol and Drugs

Alcohol and drugs aren't necessarily props that are always associated with or iconic of the romance genre. However, they are included in some of them, especially romance films where the stock characters are teenagers. The stock characters in my film will be teenagers who are quite rebellious and like to go out and party with their friends, this is why I am considering including alcohol and drugs as props. Alcohol and drugs are props stereotyped with the teenage/young adult lifestyle and my target audience are also teenagers and young adults therefore including these may attract the target audience to the film because they can relate to the characters.

In terms of health and safety and legality, I will not use any real alcohol or drugs. I won't use any real alcohol as the actors are below the age of 18 and therefore it would be illegal for them to be drinking as they are under the age limit, also drugs such as cocaine and cannabis are illegal in the UK so I will not actually use these but I will use substitutes. For example I could use sugar instead of cocaine, as long as I make sure it is realistic by not showing it that clearly or close up on camera. I could do this in a number of ways such as, using a long shot instead of a close up, making sure there is only low key lighting in the shots including the drug or putting a blurred effect on the camera lens. In terms or alcohol I could use water as a substitute. For example I could use water instead of vodka as both of them are clear.

Costume Ideas for Main Male

Initial costume ideas for main male protagonist: Theo
The main male protagonists costume will be fairly casual and neutral to represent his non-caring personality and his laid back attitude. He will mainly wear jeans, a basic t-shirt and a hoodie, these are all typical items of clothing associated with teenage fashion.

The picture to the left shows an outfit similar to the costume I want the male character, Theo, to wear. Hoodies are often stereotyped with youths as they give conventions of anti-social behaviour because often the hood is used to hide a persons face so they are seen are seen as a threat. Whilst I don't want my character to be seen as a threat, I do want him to be seen as quite rebellious and not conforming to the rules of society so I feel that the hoodie will help represent this. Also, because the hoodie is a casual item of clothing it will help to show that the character isn't that concerned with fashion and is more concerned with going out and having fun. The plain t-shirt will also back up the idea that the character isn't too concerned with his appearance, but isn't the type to wear football shirts or full tracksuits, so it shows he does care a bit.

In terms of hair, I want the character to have his hair styled in a way similar to the picture shown. His costume will show that he doesn't care too much about fashion, however his hair will be styled showing he does still care slightly. When the character is with the female protagonist his hair will be styled neatly like this, showing that he is making an effort to impress her or to try and make her happy. This is conventional of the romance genre as often the love interests dress up or style themselves differently when they are together so that they can impress or attract each other.

The character will wear trainers similar to these in many of the shots. Trainers and jeans follow the conventions of stereotypical teen fashion as they give codes of a laid-back lifestyle. Teenagers aren't often in full time employment and therefore can wear things like this instead of business clothes such a suits and ties, so this shows the characters lifestyle and a bit about his personality, to the audience. Trainers are conventional of sport and therefore this shows that the character is sporty and may exercise frequently, however isn't obsessed with sport or he would be wearing tracksuit bottoms and a sports top. I believe that following this style in terms of Theo's costume, will allow him to be presented to the audience in the correct way. Following popular fashion that is associated with teens currently, should prove effective in attracting  an appropriate target audience as they may be able to relate to the character and will therefore potentially become more interested in watching the film.