Thursday 11 July 2013

Survey Monkey Results

Question 1:
The first question is simply 'What is your gender?' Just so we understand who is giving us these results. It would have been far easier with an equal number of results but this cannot be helped. 

Question 2: 
The next question was asking the audience for their age. Four of the audience was under 18 whereas the other two were either between 18 and 24 or 25 and 34. I think this could help as it means i get a nice mix of people answering my survey. 

Question 3: 
The social group question is usually an important one as it shows what sorts of people the audience is. You can see here that most of them are either unemployed or they're students. This would most likely include the under 18s. 

Question 4:
Question 4 is where the main film questions begin. Using this question, I found out that everyone who answered has some interest in films and they've all watched one at some point. This shows that they are all fine to fill in the rest of the survey. 

Question 5:
This is when we found out that the audience is very fond of fantasy films. The only two genres to receive more than one ten is fantasy and action. Unfortunately, action was given poor ratings to drop the average right down to a 6.5. Fantasy was given an average of 8.6 due to it getting at-least a 7 from everyone. The next highest after that was Comedy. Although it was rated high, we wouldn't be able to make a comedy because it's a very hard genre. Sci-Fi was rated well but we don't really have the equipment to make a really good science fiction movie. Adventure is very similar to fantasy but it was only rewarded a 6.3 which shows that the audience really don't like these films. The only two genres with the same rating is Horror and Thriller, although horror did get a 10 rating from someone whereas thriller didn't get above an 8. Romance was then rated a 4.5 just in front of Crime with the lowest of all, 3.1. This meant there was no way we were going to make a romance or crime film.

Question 6:
This question showed what sorts of films the audience like and why they rated the genres how they have. You can see films like Cloud Atlas and The Hobbit are fantasy sorts of films with Avatar being along the same lines. Total Recall is a real action film whereas vampire films are not so much. Star wars is a Sci-Fi which shows who rated that a 10. I think these results are great as our film is planning on being similar to The Hobbit which shows that the audience should enjoy it. 

Question 7:
I think these results could have came out a little better than they did as the average trailer should not be more than 3 minutes. I think that it should be about 1-2 minutes long at most. 

Question 8:
All of these are good points and I think in order to get the best trailer possible, we need to take them all into account. The choices include things like good sound, music, fast scenes, a story and a cliffhanger. Together, that will create a very good trailer for us.

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Analysis of Trailer - Oz The Great And Powerful

Analysis of Trailer - Seventh Son

The target audience for Seventh Son is males between the ages of 15 and 40. It's regarded as a family film but I do not think it is suitable for anyone younger than 15 seeing as the film involves a lot of monsters and violence. The film itself is a fantasy adventure based on the book written by Joseph Delaney called The Spook's Apprentice or The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch.

The start of the trailer shows deep intense music to really set the scene. You then hear the words "the sounds of the evil are everywhere, and now we have this beast". This dialog is used very effectively as you really want to know what is meant by the words 'evil' and 'beast'. It really shows that it's going to be a fantasy film. It dives straight into the action after that. Not only do you see the main villain of the movie, but you see her transform into some sort of monster. Most trailers are put together in this way because by having action filled scenes at the start, it draws the audience right in and it helps them be able to watch the rest of the trailer. It includes a lot of close ups and large panned shots to really interest you and show what their world is like. Along with this, they include special effects like explosions and giant monsters, which makes the film not only to improve the film, but to expand it's audience. 

The main colour scheme includes black, red and gold. Throughout the trailer, you see a lot of scenes involving fire. That is one of the first things you notice, along with the fact that it is a very dark film with a black dragon, black rooms and soldiers with black armour. When you put these factors together with the golden text and sunlight on the settings, you make a really good trailer. There isn't much of a voice over, but there is a lot of dialog. Jeff Bridges, who plays the spook, uses dialog very effectively. The actor has a very deep voice and is known best for his roles in Tron and Iron Man. In sequences with monsters you see him shouting at the beasts which really shows him being a similar character as who he's played in other films. The younger actor in the film is Ben Barnes who has starred in movies like Dorian Gray and the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Not only will this bring in some female attention by having a young actor with sex appeal, but it will show that the film doesn't only star men over the age of 40.



Analysis of Trailer - The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

The purpose of a trailer is to make the prime target audience want to watch a film. That's why when trailers first come out, they're very short and usually called 'teaser trailers'. That makes the audience want to know more about a film and wonder when it comes out. The target audience for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is everyone between the ages of 10-50. This is mainly because it's a family fantasy adventure film about a book that has been around since 1937 and is extremely popular across the world.

In the opening of the trailer, it set the scene and reminds you what is going on. They do this by showing the lonely mountain; their final destination. It then goes through the different settings of the film. You see a preview of where they will be traveling to, like the mountain, the woods, the lake town, etc. This is all with a voiceover of the main elf in the film talking about their quest. I think this is a fantastic opening to a trailer as you really get a feeling of what the movie will be like. Seeing as I am a big fan, I could recognise all the places they were travelling to. The camera shots are very varied, you can see that the director has put a lot of effort into it. The first few shots are all zooming out from a long shot just so the audience gets a feel of the setting. Then it goes to a close up of a wood elf speaking to Thorin, then straight to a close up of Thorin listening. Throughout the rest of the trailer they use medium shots of characters and over shoulder shots in order to get to know each character, and pan shots of all the different environments and areas.

The colour used is not varied at all. They used mainly browns, greens and greys. It's probably because of the setting and genre of film. Because it's a fantasy, you expect a lot of outdoor scenes which is where the greens and browns com from. Along with this, there is a long sequence of films set in a forest. It also includes a mountain and giant statues; hence the grey. If you know the story of the film, you can imagine that these are the main colours which would represent the film in itself.

Sound is used an awful lot throughout the trailer for so many reasons. Seeing as The Hobbit is a prequel to The Lord Of The Rings, you can expect a similar soundtrack with the same sorts of sounds for the sword fighting, the monster's cries and everything in-between. This is put together with shots of the biggest actors in the films in order for you to become more interested and want to see it as soon as it comes out. you can easily notice that because of the way they have close ups of Martin Freeman and Orlando Bloom. They also add to this using fantastic dialog which fits each character. An example of this is Ken Stott's line near the end of the trailer: "That my friends was a dragon". This one line is used to really stun you right before you see the first glimpse of Smaug.

The film in itself really goes against the theory of Laura Mulvey. She said women can be summarised “As erotic objects of desire for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic objects of desire for the spectator within the auditorium.” In the trailer of The Hobbit, the only woman shown is Evangeline Lilly who plays Tauriel. The actress is considered to be very attractive but in this film, she is more of a warrior and isn't portrayed as very feminine. She runs alongside Orlando Bloom and kills orc with her bow and arrow.


This really is the sort of movie trailer we wish to create. It would be amazing if we achieved the same types of shots and dialog. 

Genre and Style of Trailer

Friday 28 June 2013

Legal Restraints


Basically all aspects of making a teaser trailer need to be checked and made sure they don’t mess with the legal restraints. For example, you cannot use any music you like, any references from other movies or products from well-known companies. This is because they go against the copyright laws. Defamation is also a very dangerous subject. It means you cannot show an individual, product, government or anything similar in a negative way.
When filming in the UK, you can film publically, although if you’re filming in non-public places, which restrict commercial filming, you will most likely need a permit. Most films, which involve action scenes with guns or explosions, need to inform the UK police and make sure they have the correct permission. If they don’t, they can be taken to court. The UK is much different to America in these cases. In America, you cannot make more than one trailer a year longer than 2 minutes 30 seconds unless it’s an Internet or home made trailer.
Film posters have to contain a billing block according to a contract between actors and producers. This is a small section at the bottom of the poster which is filled with condensed writing stating information about the film.

Institution Information

Institutions are simply large companies who are involved in the process of creating and distributing their product. For example, they could be involved in the distribution of films, advertising, music, and many more products. The main institutions who are very well funded include Warner Brothers, Disney, 21st Century Fox, Viacom, etc. 
Warner Brothers are a massive institution which has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. 

Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive EntertainmentWarner Bros. TelevisionWarner Bros. AnimationWarner Home Video,New Line CinemaTheWB.com, and DC Entertainment. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

Walt Disney is one of the biggest companies in the world. They have 14 theme parks and resorts all across the world. They're one of the biggest and well recognised companies in all of Hollywood. Disney own the Disney Channel, ABC, ESPN, LifeTime and much more. Last year, the Annual gross revenues of The Walt Disney Company was $42.278 Billion.

21st Century Fox was previously known as News Corporation. Among its holdings are Fox Entertainment Group, owners of the 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox television network among other assets, STAR TV, Italian television provider Sky Italia, and stakes in the television providers BSkyB and Sky Deutschland.




If I was going to chose an Institution to distribute our trailer, it would have to be Warner Bros. Simply because of the amount of fantasy films they are responsible for. To the left are examples of these, including Cloud Atlas, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Jack the Giant Slayer. Most of these are very successful films which just goes to show that it's a good decision. 

History and Background of Trailers


A film trailer is one of the most important things when it comes to making films. They are usually shown in the cinema before the film or at the start of a DVD, although they can also be shown during adverts on television or in adverts online. They are used to attract as big an audience as possible and ensure that they go and see the film in the cinema as soon as it comes out.
There are countless examples of these trailers. More and more have been coming out every year. The first to come out was in 1914 for a Charlie Chaplin film, which was created by Nils Granlund. The National Screen Service up until the late 1950’s created all trailers, and the company in itself lasted until the 80’s. Companies nowadays deal with their own film trailers, and it’s rare to have a film without one.

Tuesday 11 June 2013

A2 Advanced Portfolio


For my A2 Advanced Portfolio, I have chosen the film promotion brief, which includes creating the trailer, film poster and a front cover to a film magazine. I decided to do this brief because I have studied the film industry in previous Media projects and have a growing interest of the subject. This project will be far more interesting than AS as not only am I working in a group, but it’s much more fun and creative.
I have chosen to use the website Blogger to publish my work and to show my progress through the project. There are many reasons for doing this. I think it's a great way to present all the work on one easy to access website with direct links to videos, photos and other forms of media. 

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Thursday 7 March 2013

Survey Monkey Results

Survey Monkey Results
My first question was simply what sex the audience is. I found that the answers were very good as it showed I had a nice mix of people answering my survey. With 2 males and 2 females i can get a varied result and find out what will improve my magazine. It will also show who will like aspects of my magazine more than others.
                                                                                                                                                                   
My second question was a bit more helpful as I found out how old the people answering are. I wanted to aim my magazine at people between the ages of 15 and 25. Everyone who answered my survey were 14-16 years old. This was great really as I believe people of this age will be listening to music a lot more than people who are of an older age.
                                                                                                                                                                   
This question sort of ruined my survey a little bit. It doesn't help that much receiving answers about music magazines from people who don't read them. On the other hand, it helps to get their opinion as this way, they'll show me what I should include if I would like to attract them as an audience. 
                                                                                                                                                                   
The only downside to this answer was the fact that it was skipped, which I cannot help. It did help on the fact that I now know why some people might not like music magazines. Seeing as someone answered 'I hate new music' shows that maybe it might help to show some older history of the genre.
                                                                                                                                                                   
After seeing these results, it gave me an insight into what exactly I had to include in my magazine. I saw that who I choose as a model for my main image is really important. This is because the people who answered my survey want to see a model that represents them more than anything else. Less people worry about the masthead and the issue number but that doesn't mean they're not very important.
                                                                                                                                                                   
Going by these results, most of my audience will be interested in reading about entertaining gossip and news. This is a great thing as it means following the common conventions of a magazine. Most magazines include articles about the latest celebrities doing something wrong or anything which would interest the public. I think this would be easier than most other options. 
                                                                                                                                                                   
I don't think most of the people who filled this out understood this question. Because everyone who filled them in are 14-16 years old, I highly doubt that any of them are upper middle class or middle class. I think I should have worded the question a bit differently. 
                                                                                                                                                                   
This question helped a little bit. It could have gone far better if I had more varied answers. This is no doubt because I shared it to a social networking website. Seeing as I shared it on this, I didn't get many people of ethnic origin. I'll remember never to make this mistake again as now I cannot take other most people into account.
                                                                                                                                                                   
I got great answers for this question. I found out what most people listen to. The only downside is that people were selecting most of the answers at a go. Not only this, but the people who answered the survey said that they don't like Hip-Hop which is the main genre of my magazine.