Evaluation Q1 Film Trailer Media A2 Edexcel

1. Evaluation Q1
How my film trailer uses, develops or challenges
conventions of real film trailers.

3. Title of film
I think the way I have shown the title of the film follows the conventions of
most film trailers. I chose to show it at a dramatic point and at a change of
music. I also used an animation to introduce it, making the words come in
from the sides and the bird coming down from the top.

4. Setting/Location
I chose to use quite normal settings to
make it as realistic as possible. I was
fortunate enough to be able to use our local
Costa Coffee for a realistic coffee shop
setting and also use my school’s
performance hall which looks really
effective in black & white to create a
believable 1920’s stage.

5. Costumes and props
The costumes and props play a big part in my
trailer and portraying the storyline. I knew that the
people who acted in my trailer would have 1920s
costumes as we had all been to a 1920s costume
party prior to this and if they didn’t, I was able to
supply extra costumes. I gave my actors
guidelines to follow in terms of what to wear and
how to, style their hair.
For the modern day part of my
trailer, I asked my actors to dress in
their normal, everyday clothes as I
wanted them to be able to blend in
normally and look like this is what
she would be doing on an everyday
basis.
One of the props that was very
important to my trailer was the
pearls that are featured throughout.
It is a vital part to the storyline of
my trailer.
I also featured a diary to
help emphasise that it is
from her point of view
and it will be a very
personal view of her life,
taking parts from her
diary

6. Costumes and props…
I feel I did a good job of creating believable
characters using the costumes and props in
particular. This compliments real film trailer
conventions as all films will want their characters
being believable to be able to sell their films. I drew
some inspiration for the looks of my characters from
films like The Great Gatsby and Midnight in Paris. I
also looked into the general fashion of the 1920s to
make sure it is 100% accurate.

7. CameraworkI used a range of different camera angles to give the trailer depth and variety.
This is normal for theatrical trailers to keep the audience interested and on
the edge of their seat until the very end and to leave them wanting to go and
see the film.
To get this shot, I
stood in the tiered
audience of our
performance hall,
looking down on the
actors who were on
the stage
Here, I used the
reflection in the
mirror to see them
getting ready for a
performance
I used this low-
angle shot to
give Pheobe
some
dominance and
to emphasise
that she is a
well known,
important
person in my
trailer
To get this shot, I used
my legs as a rest to get
down low but still focus
on the area that the
pearls dropped. I found
this technique worked
better than using a
tripod as I couldn’t get
the angle right.

8. Camerawork…
To get the two shots here, I used my
balcony at the back of my house which
backs onto the canal. I was able to get
quite close up from here with the use
of the zoom feature on the camera.
I feel like these camera angles follow the
conventions of film trailers as you often see many
different angles in trailers. I don’t feel like I have
challenged conventions very much in terms of the
camerawork I used.

9. Editing
1. The first song is a modern song to set the scene and
introducing the character as someone the audience could
relate to
2. The music then changes to a 1920s song “Let’s do it, let’s fall
in love” to introduce the 1920s part of the narrative.
3. When the music changes for the last time to a 1920s style
cover of “Don’t You Worry Child”, it introduces the name of the
film and actors, the tagline and her confusion into what she
should do - stay in the 1920s or go back to her modern day
life.
I used 3 different pieces of music to break up
the trailer. I found this to be a convention that is
quite common in trailers. It helped give me a
basis for my clips and storyline to follow. I broke
my trailer up into:

10. Editing…
The pace of editing is quite steady throughout, changing clips in accordance
to the voice over and narrative. The length of the shots are very similar
throughout, although there are longer shots when the visuals match closely
with the voice over. For example, this image is shown when the voice over
says “And I ended up on stage with her”
I think this is quite a common convention
within trailers with voice overs.

11. Editing…
I decided that I wanted to do a spinning montage to show her confusion of
her trying to decide where she wants to stay. I felt this was a good way to end
as it ended with high tension levels which will hopefully persuade people to
watch the film. I’ve seen this sort of montage in a number of other trailers and
gave the same impression that I am hoping to give.

12. Editing…
Most of the transitions are straight cuts which is very typical of film trailers.
Other transitions I use include fade from black and dissolve. I used a dissolve
cut to be able to make it clear to the audience that they are going into a
different time.

13. Editing
I chose the timings of the video very carefully. I knew that I wanted a snap
ending in time with music so I created that first and worked from there. The
music also broke up the phrases the voice over says.
Examples where the music timings and clips particularly work
together:

14. Special Effects
This part of the editing process was vital to represent the two different eras.
This aspect challenged the conventions of real film trailers and films in
general. There are not many films that use both B&W and colour imaging. On
top of the black & white effect that I added in After Effects, I made the visual
look like it’s playing from a damaged and dusty film reel.

15. Narrative
My narrative served as my main unique selling point. It’s unlike any other
films that have been made. The closest film that it is alike is Midnight in Paris,
from which I took a lot of inspiration. Not many films these days go back in
time, proving to challenge many conventions of other films.

16. Voice Over
Having a voice over has become less of a common feature in trailers
recently. I still chose to use one as I felt the music is more important than
seeing the actors talk. It helped make it much simpler to establish the main
character and what the story line was.
Having a voice over from the perspective of my main
character also made it more personal to her
experiences
It was a good tool to establish the relationships
between the characters as I was able to match
the visuals with the explanations
To show the title, actors’ names
and tag line, I chose to use inter
titles which is very common in film
trailers.
Inter titles