Radio Trailers research

For our film we will be making a short radio trailer for it also. Not all films have a radio trailer, but as ours is a short film and would be distributed by Film4, a radio trailer would be sufficient for us, instead of an actual film trailer as well.

As most films do not have radio trailers, finding examples of them on the internet was difficult. So instead, we looked at film trailers and just listened to the trailer rather than look at the images/cinematography to go alongside it, as a radio trailer would be similar to an actual trailer in terms of what they tell the audience about the film.

Trailers i found that were interesting are:

"Inception" short trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC4Z6QiSU0k
Although this film is not similar to ours, I thought the trailer to it was very good. Just listening to it and not watching it was like listening to a radio trailer and it sounded interesting and gave some bits away to the audience, however not everything - to keep them intrigued.

We would want ours to be like this as dramatic music is featured throughout the trailer, (linked with the genre of action/mystery), and there was also a voiceover, which gave an insight into the story of Inception for the audience. The trailer also featured some dialogue and sound effects. We would like our radio trailer to be similar to this, and as our film has a voiceover, this was a useful example.

"Salt" trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ40WlshNwU&feature=related
In contrast, this trailer for the film "Salt", does not feature any voiceover and is more on dialogue, so our radio trailer could also feature this aspect. It still featured dramatic music and sound effects, to again, sound interesting and make the audience want to find out more ...

In contrast with these trailers, our radio trailer will also say the names of actors and actresses, and when it is realeased; but as these are visual film trailers, the details appear on the screen and not audibly.

Distribution

For our film we had to consider who our film would be aimed at and through this we need to look into who we would choose to distribute our film. For our chosen and also the scale of our production we have decided that the most appropriate company to distribute our film would be Film 4.

Film 4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established. Before 1998, the company was identified as Channel Four Films or FilmFour International. Later, the outfit was re-branded as FilmFour, to coincide with the launch of a new digital channel of the same name. Film 4's releases in 2010 included Sam Taylor Wood's Nowhere Boy, Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones and Chris Morris' Four Lions.

Photo shoot

For our film we decided to incorporate a photo shoot, this was for two main reasons; the first was we wanted to incorporate the photo shoot into our titles. The flash of the camera made the ideal freeze frame as we could illuminate each actor's face then identify the person who would be playing them. Also a photo shoot represented that Connor was a star. The second reason for the photo shoot was that we could then use the photos for the poster for our film and also incorporate the pictures in some form of memorial near the end of the film to represent Connor's life.

Film Poster Research

I have analysed some film posters to see what ideas we can use for our own and the reasons of what them choices show that draw the audience in.

First poster is "Twilight". Twilight is a teenage vampire love story. As you can see that the main characters are the ones on the poster, teenage boy and girl. The lighting is very dark and shadowed apart from their faces which could show they have secrets hidden from others and that they have a connection as they both light together and not separately. The girl is looking directly at you so that could appear that in the film its based upon her point of view as if you are her. The boy is looking away so he has something to hide from us.






This film poster "Avatar". From the thing on the poster you can see its a sort of fantasy magical genre as it is not a human that shows. Also the face is half covered up so there's sort of two-faced problem here, a split personality or a double life. Also like the Twilight poster the background is very dark as if there is some dark secret that needs to be kept. The half face showing could be a good idea for our film as it shows that Connor has another secret life of drink & drugs. It'd also establish that he is the main character in our short film.



This film poster shows a lightness from the front of the object as to show a glow effect around it. This shows that it is something important. On this poster the lighting is slightly brighter than the other so maybe it could show that something is beginning.







This Poster is "Fame". I choose this poster because it has spotlight effect lighting. This shows importance of the subject or person, to stand them out of the equation. Also the dark background as well that is included.

So for our film poster collecting a few ideas from these film posters i believe we should have a spotlight on Connor on his own. As he is the main character in the short film and needs to in a spotlight as to show the importance especially as he is a celebrity which many people think is a major importance and they are literally in the spotlight.

Magazine Interview Examples

We decided to add in an interview with Connor to establish that he is a big star and to find out more information on his life as a Celebrity. I found examples of these online and we would like our interview to be similar and follow in the footsteps of these previous interviews . . .

An interview with Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart on the film "Twilight"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBBWdh6Ksq4&feature=related

An interview with Brad Pitt on his film "Troy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLFg0abAkFM&feature=related
This interview is useful for us as the interviewer is asking the celebrity about his upcoming film, as well as integrating questions about his personal life into it also. This is because it is on a popular programme - "Entertainment tonight", and the audience will be interested to watch this as Brad Pitt is a hugely successful and famous star.

An interview with Jennifer Aniston on her life and upcoming film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxMFbhjEB9I
This interview is one that we would like ours to be similar to. The interview is mostly about her life and at 4 minutes 30 seconds, the interviewer asks her about her personal life and rumours following this. We would like our interview to be similar to this as the interview is about Connors upcoming film as well as showing what he is like as a person.

Editing

After editing our film, we noticed that we were around a minute short. So to rectify this problem we have looked into adding some shots that will hopefully extend the length of our film and also make the film flow as well. Through some feedback we received we noticed that we do not have a major scene that explores Connor's fame. This is a crucial part of our film as we need to make sure the audience know that before his downfall Connor is a massive star with movie deals lined up, but the pressure of a story can have a serious effect and result in his demise.

We have decided to show a interview which will be for the promotion of his film "The Undisclosed" through this interview the audience will be able to see that he his having major success with his latest film and has a series of films lined up to be shot in the summer. Also in this interview we will show the interviewer exploring Connor's personal life as well.

Newspaper/magazine ideas

to put into our film, we liked the idea of a newspaper or a magazine article that gave a close up of the headline, in order to give the audience more of an insight into our film,. By doing this, it also shows the reason that Connor is in the limilight, what the allegations are all about and why the press are following him. We thought that we would incorporate this into the titles (or somewhere at the beginning of the film), and maybe at the end too, when the black out appears and there is a news broadcast.

Film Poster Research

The film poster is a key technique in the advertsing campaign of any film and that is why we must consider very carefully what kind of film poster we want to create for our film. I have looked at four posters that have been created for films similar to our own, these are:

• Ali - biopic on Muhammed Ali
• Im Not There - biopic on Bob Dylan
• The Aviator - biopic on Howard Hughes
• Nine - film about a Italian filmmaker
  

As you can see all the film poster have a focal point, this means that you are drawn to the main character in the image. This would be appropriate for our film as we have a main character who the whole story centres around. Our main story (Brett) does need to be at the centre of the image as he is the main character of the story. The film poster from "Nine" also includes photographers/paparazzi on the bottom of the image. We could incorporate this into our film poster as our story is about celebrity being pressured my press and fame.

Titles

Previously we looked into films and TV Programmes that are similar to the short film that we are making. From this research we found a TV show called that explored the world of celebrity through the eyes of a magazine editor. The titles from this show are a great example of a technique known as Rotoscoping.


This is the titles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3dZY5PpnZg&feature=related


What is Rotoscoping?
Rotoscoping is a technique in which animators trace over live action film movement. Famously Walt Disney and his animators used Rotoscoping in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 and in many more of their creations. The film crew on The Beatles short film Yellow Submarine employed rotoscoping on numerous occasions, most notably Lucy in the sky with diamonds. The film A Scanner Darkly starring Robert Downey Jr, a tale about deception and identity was filmed entirely using this method.

A Scanner Darkly Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpGaOqb2Z8

How it was used in Dirt
The advertising campaign for Dirt was created in this method to give a colourful, pop-art/comic book look. The main idea was to show leading actress Courteney Cox, who plays the editor as a wonder women almost superhero presiding over Hollywood. The 6 promos show Hollywood "stars" and celebutants caught in the act of wild, unbecoming behaviour, punctuated by clever comments from Cox's character. In one spot, entitled "Lights, camera, mugshot!" we see a carload of partying female celebrities speeding down a California highway. A police siren quickly ends the party as we quickly see a disheveled starlet posing for a mugshot and going to Jail. The spot ends with an animated Cox looking at the camera and asking sarcastically "Where's a stylist when you need one?"

Lights, Camera, Mugshot! : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Afa95h44cQ&feature=related

For our title sequence this could be very good indeed. Although we do not have the facilites to actually use Rotoscoping, if we were able I think this would be a very good unique selling point of our film. Rotoscoping is very similar to the works of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichenstein and with this we could use a pop art style in our film poster.

Location Problems

After lots of research into finding a location to film at for our main scene's we found a place called Northern College and we got in touch to see if they would give us permission to film there. However when we went up there we were greeted by the woman who had been in discussion with us. However she had miss understood what we wanted to film but set about trying to see if we could have permission. We were then left standing and the woman never returned and we saw her head back to her office so we took that as we are not allowed to film here. so we were back at square one we needed a location, in last desperation we had to improvise and use a road which looked like a drive with a large house at the end and using the camera we tried to make it look like our house.
We understand that the location doesn't do our film the nest of justice because it looks slightly scruffy been a farm but there was no other alternative if we wanted to complete the film.