Coursework: Summer Project 2018

Film trailer 1: Narrative and genre

How is narrative and genre communicated quickly and clearly to the audience?

Narrative and genre is communicated quickly and clearly to the audience seeing as the setting is clearly a college most of the time which makes it easy for the audience to understand that they are teenagers. Throughout the movie they talk about test results and boys which is  a big stereotype and norm for a teenage movie. We can clearly see that it is a coming of age movie from the beginning of the trailer because it starts off with the main character in a classroom giving a lecture to the rest of her class mates which gives away what type of film it is. The trailer shows the main character at parties and at a boys house and at school which always helps us understand what type of movie it is.

Film trailer 2: Mise-en-scene

What do you notice about the use of mise-en-scene to create meanings for the audience? Think CLAMPS.

Costume

-    - Costume is a big part of this film to show how the life of the main character changes throughout, At first she dresses very conservatives and it helps the audience see what type of background she comes from however the other characters have their own style which help us figure out what type of person they are. For example the group of ‘popular girls’ dress very feminine with skirts and dresses in pink, and then you have the gothic ones which helps us tell them apart.

Lighting

-      - Natural lighting is used because it is a very casual movie and it is supposed to be real life situations so it is not going to be exaggerated.

Actor

-     - The main character is made to act not so confident at the start of the trailer however throughout the trailer we see how the attitudes change. The other significant character (Regina George) is made to have a very nasty and malicious personality which is a stereotype of what the popular girl at every high school is.

Make up

-     - The popular girls wear make-up seeing as it is a very feminine thing and it helps their character however the new girl does not wear no one because it shows how different she is compared to the girls she is introduced to.

Props

-    - The main popular girls has the car which automatically shows us that she is the main one out of her two friends

Setting

-     - Most of the trailer is set in school which shows us that they are teenagers and makes it very clear that this is a coming of age movie

Film trailer 3: Camerawork

Here you are looking for particular camera shots and movement. E.g. Are close-ups used to introduce key characters to the audience? How are establishing shots used?

There is lots of movement in this trailer seeing as there is lots of violence and most of the trailer takes place on the outside. We meet lots of characters in this trailer and most of them get close ups which I think is done purposely so that we can see the main character of the movie properly. There is also lots of close ups on the weapons which implies that this is a violent coming of age movie and we know that they are supposed to be quite young because of the way they are presented. The camera lets us see how they are dressed and throughout the whole trailer they are in tracksuits which is stereotypical for young people in this type of coming of age movie.

Film trailer 4: Editing

Analyse pace, transitions, number of shots and juxtaposition e.g. eyeline matches. Does the pace speed up towards the end of the trailer? 

The trailer starts off at a very fast pace but then slows down when it shows the characters, however as the trailer goes on the pace gets quicker and quicker and there is only jump cuts which makes it feel much more rushed. The actual videos include running which gives the trailer more of a panicky feel and makes the audience feel quite tense. As the trailer gets to the end and shows how the story unravels it jump cuts so that we don’t see what actually goes on and leaves it as a cliff-hanger and the trailer speeds up towards the end as well which builds up the tension.

Film trailer 5: Sound

Analyse both diegetic and non-diegetic sound - music, dialogue, voiceover, SFX, background or foley sound etc.

The audio of the character speaking over the trailer is non digetic and it kind of gives us (the audience) an insight on the main characters feelings. We can clearly see that ‘Vic’ is the main actor and we notice that she seems to be going through some teenage problems which highlights how it is a coming of age movie and it even has an opinion which says that it is a coming of age movie. There is also digetic sound at the beginning when they are arguing with the girls in the train station.

A Level Media NEA – Brief 4: Film trailer and posters

Film Pitch

Our coursework brief requires us to create our own film trailer and posters for an original movie that

we have created in the horror or coming-of-age drama genres. Plan the following:

Title: Struggles

Tagline: Struggles to Strength

Genre (and sub-genre/hybrid genre if applicable): Coming of age

Logline – one sentence that sums up the film and hooks people in (25 words or fewer): About a young girl (19) who moves in my herself with her child but is struggling deep depression, she becomes desperate.

Other successful films that are similar to yours: kidulthood, girlhood

Narrative structure – what happens in the film and in what order: At the beginning she is moving into the house, she feels as if she is free, but she notices she is quite lonely, she gets a call from an old friend (a boy) who says he saw her around, and they catch up and start talking everyday, and then one day he tells her that if she sets up a person for him he will pay her.

Other characters, their narrative role and their audience appeal: A child, the audience will feel sorry for the child because it doesn’t really know what is going on and only has the mother to protect her.

Target audience for your film (age, gender, social class, interests etc.): teenagers and young adults, middle class/ working class.

500 word statement of intent:

My film trailer is the genre ‘coming of age’ and I will make it very clear by using the different conventions and meeting the brief. I will make sure that is appropriate for before the watershed. The three locations I will be using is the home which will be the main place my main character will be seeing as she is only just moving in and she does not have much to do seeing as she is new to the neighbourhood, the estate will be used which is very common for a coming of age film trailer, for example there is films such as kidulthood where the streets and estate is used to fit the genre even more. The last location that I will be using is the park seeing as it implies youthfulness and that is a perfect feeling for a coming of age film trailer. The trailer will clearly show the plot which is that there is a young girl, aged 19, with a child and she finally gets away with her child from a troubled life she used to have before which was filled with abuse and had scarred her. When she first moves in she loves it and enjoys the freedom she has with her daughter however she then begins to feel isolated and severely depressed. She will be shown breaking down and having panic attacks in the trailer so that the audience can sympathise and clearly see that she is stressed out until one day she gets a call on her phone from an old friend. He tells her that he saw her around his neighbourhood and she notifies him that she has recently moved in with her child. Everything seems to be going okay until one day he asks her to set up someone for him and he will pay her lots of money. She is tempted by the offer but she declines it and he seems to take it okay. Towards the end of the trailer, it will become more intense when she gets out of the shower and goes out to check on her child and notices she has been kidnapped and the door is open. It will end off with her running everywhere and then getting a text on her phone from her ‘old friend’ telling her she has to listen to what he tells her or she will not see her child again. My main character will be called “Aliya” and her child will be called “Sadie”. Seeing as she is supposed to be a teenager she will not dress too conservative and she will wear make-up. Her child will dress like a young child so the audience know that she is clearly very young. The lighting will be natural so that it seems like a real life situation and does not seem too exaggerated and there will be both digetic and non-digetic sounds. There will be many close ups on the characters so that it is clear to the viewers that they are the significant people in the film and they can get a good look at them. My target audience will be teenagers and young adults of the working or middle class seeing as some of them could probably relate or sympathise with the main character in the story. If we link this to Blumler and Katz Uses & Gratifications theory, this would be ‘personal identity’ seeing as someone could gain empathy from relationships with the characters and the experiences they are going through. Some could watch this film just for entertainment (diversion) which could also be a form of escapism. My film trailer would be put all over social media because that is a good platform for me to find my target audience seeing as teenagers and young adults use Instagram, Facebook etc. the most . My film posters will be distributed all across different estates and neighbourhoods that are not high class because I feel as if they will be more intrigued by a movie that is set in the same environment as there’s and they will find it easier to understand and relate. I will get companies such as “Grm Daily” and “Link Up TV” to promote for me because they have the perfect target audience and they have a large amount of followers. They post music for the same audience that I will be interested in selling my film to. I could work with 'Pathe' seeing as they have distributed movies similar to mine (e.g Kidulthood). I also feel like older people ( 20-30's) may be intrigued in my film seeing as it has a thrill.