2. The use of titles within teaser trailer
Through carrying out research into the conventions of
teaser trailer; we have gained an understanding of how
titles can be used effectively and to inform the viewer of key
information including:
The film’s title
Production logo
Text in relation to the narrative
Basic credits
Website address/social media
Speculative release date of the film
(The use of these will vary, depending on factors such as
trailer length and the type of audience)
In this presentation, I will explain and justify our use of
certain titles within our A2 teaser trailer production.
3. The use of titles within teaser trailer
Additionally, in preparation for the creation of our real
product; I will be testing out some titles with the software
available to us; Adobe After Effects CS6. We used this
program in our last production and found it was sufficient in
aiding us with the production and application of titles. This
will help me familiarise myself with the software once
again, and will involve playing around with font, colours,
sizes and effects.
The titles featured are initial experiments and will provide
guidance when we make the titles for our finished
production and so are subject to change due to opinions of
my group members.
4. The title of the film
This is the main and most significant title, and is commonly
displayed in all teaser trailers to inform the viewer of the
film’s title. Ideally a title that links to the film’s plot, and is
memorable is effective. After watching the teaser trailer, we
want our potential audience to remember the film’s name
and anticipate its later release. This also encourages word-
of-mouth promotion, as a viewer may discuss it with their
friends.
Have you seen the
trailer for that
upcoming film Eve?
Looks awesome!
No, not yet. I’ll
be sure to
check it out!
5. The title of the film
Following conventions, we will devise a title screen for our title
that we will show at the end of the teaser trailer, perhaps after a
cut-to-black screen to separate it from the shots and give it the
effect of emerging from the darkness. We will select a style that
reflects its genre and themes, taking inspiration from these
selection of titles below:
I like how the titles are displayed against a black background.
This draws our attention towards the title, and the blackness
connotes the darkness of the horror genre, and narratives
including impending doom. The colours of blue and black work
well as they are rather neutral and could be connotative of
spirits; coinciding with supernatural themes.
6. The title of the film
We decided upon the title of ‘Eve’ for our production. This is
the name of our protagonist and this was decided due to
the mysterious themes of our narrative. This is because
there is no clear antagonist in the production; and the
sanity of the protagonist is questionable. Therefore she
herself could be seen as delusional or worried. The main
focus is upon herself and so I think this title is fitting. This is
somewhat conventional as it has been used in films such
as Lucy (2014), Thor (2011) and Annabelle (2014) where
the characters possess a significant amount of power. It is
short and memorable allowing for our audience to recall its
name.
7. The title of the film: practice
Title one
Font: Tunga
Size: 100pt
AV: 220
Fill brightness: (+)60%
Stroke [fill over]: 0.3pt
Animation effect: browse presets > text > blurs
> jiggy
Evaluation: I like how the pale blue colours
looks; giving off a sense of the supernatural;
linking to themes within our narrative. The jitterish
effect creates the effect of blurred or distorted
vision, reflecting the protagonist’s questioning of
her mental state and fleeting existence
threatening by the evil pursuing her. However the
font style could perhaps be improved if it were
more textured, or if we could add some kind of
eerily-themed background. Having an animated
title makes it visually more appealing and eye-
catching which maintains the audience’s
attention.
8. Production logo
When publishing work institutions will be sure to
accredit themselves in order to promote their name to
build a reputation with viewers. We can recognise the
conglomerate companies such as Warner Brothers
and Disney, and this is likely to raise our expectation of
a film, or convince us to watch, as these companies
have produced previous successful movies.
In our production we will devise our own one of these
entitled Pragmatic Productions as we don’t officially
have a company but it would be good to include one to
make the piece look professional.
9. Production logo
I liked how Warner Brothers company had altered the
design of their production logo screen for the teaser
trailer of their horror movie ‘The Conjuring 2’. Below is
the original design vs. the new one featured in the film.
This is a creative way to give the whole teaser a ‘dark’
feel to reflect the genre of the film, and I think we will
do something similar for our own production.
10. Production logo
We will be adapting or recreating our production logo title
‘Pragmatic Productions’ from our AS media production by
designing a logo or screen featuring some kind of design,
which is conventional of production logo screens. Again we
will incorporate an animation effect upon this text using Adobe
After Effects to make its entrance more professional looking
and compelling. I liked the use of the fade-in so that it isn’t
over the top but appears with grace.
11. Text in relation to the narrative
To help give the audience an idea of the plot of the
film; sometimes short title screens will be displayed.
This might be a line relating to the narrative, or the
film’s tag line. Sometimes films include words of praise
from film reviewers, e.g. The Gallows. We will consider
adding this type of text when producing our titles; if it
feels right.
This effectively adds to the suspense and builds the anticipation of the film’s
release.
12. Basic credits
The name of the director as well as leading actors are
commonly shown to give credit to these key individuals
in the production of the film. We will include our
names (Abi, Grace and Danielle) accredited to these
roles in order to create a realistic product.
For example...
We would include some sort of animation
to have the text enter and exit effectively
for example a dissolve which is
conventional, and I particularly like the
way it looks; as if the text emerges from
the darkness. It also connotes a sense of
mystery and the supernatural as we
imagine supernatural beings appearing
out of nowhere.
13. Release date of the film
Revealing the date when the film will be first aired is common
within teaser trailer. Those with a strong interest in the film are
likely to want to see it as soon as possible, and so giving them
an idea or date or when it will be first aired is essential to inform
the audience. More people going to see the film on its early days
of release will increase the opening weekend.; if the film were to
be released into the industry. This is perhaps representative of
the film’s popularity.
As we aren’t producing a full film we obviously won’t have an
official release date; but for the purpose of creating a
professional-looking teaser trailer we are likely to make up one
of these (several months into the future) as teasers are typically
released long in advance of the actual product as discovered in
my research. We are likely to include the title of ‘Summer’ for the
release date as many other products have adopted. Alternatively
we could use ‘coming soon’ as several others have.
14. Social media/website
Some modern teaser trailers will promote their film based largely on
social media; online platforms that are highly popular with younger
audiences. This is due to the increasing number of people accessing
online media daily, and the low expenditure required to invest in
creating a page for the movie on said accounts.
Hash tags are increasingly common; and these can be used and
accessed on a range of websites including Twitter, Instagram and
Facebook, and allow a person to tag a post with the hash tag which you
can click on and see related posts. These are included in the teaser
trailer of the film to increase the ‘hype’ for upcoming movies as they
want audiences to interact and spread their interest of the film.
Websites are a great place to promote a producer as they allow the
audience access at any time and they are able to navigate their way
round the site to find information that they desire. For our production we
may choose to include a made-up website link for our movie.
15. Social media/website
I find this title within the teaser trailer for the movie The Woods (2016) to be effective as it
collates information such as the movie’s release date alongside social media links such
as the hash tag and even what appears to be the film’s Snapchat name showing they are
exploiting the latest trends to their advantage to stay in contact with potential audience
members. Having all this information and promotional material on one slide rather than
several makes it more concise; and additionally with the imagery it isn’t too boring to
read.
16. Social media/website
I was inspired by the previous title and prepared this rough potential title design that we could use as
guidance for this title of ours. In evaluation of this outcome I believe that the title could do with professional-
looking graphics that are reflective of the film’s plot; incorporating colours such as the red and white I have
used here to perhaps connote blood or flesh or purity smothered by evil. Or perhaps it would be best to stick
with the thematic colour of blue as to portray supernatural elements and aim for consistent titles which I found
to be conventional to achieve satisfying visuals. I devised the hash tag ‘Eyes On You’ as this is one of the
messages Eve receives in the scene featured in the teaser trailer and I think it works effectively as a tag line
for our film. As the fear we want to instil is that it could be you who is targeted. Often films have tag lines that
serve the purpose of further promoting the film by giving it an established presence and themes. The addition
of a hash tag effectively promotes the film online and prompts the audience to look further into the film and
keep connected for its upcoming release.
