The document analyzes various aspects of movie trailers and posters to appeal to audiences, including the films The Hitman's Bodyguard, Leon the Professional, Kill Bill, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It discusses the use of stars, humor, violence, music, costumes, locations, and other elements in the trailers and posters. The document also examines audience profiles for people who enjoyed Kill Bill, including common interests like other movies and music. The research will help the student create an effective trailer and poster for a film where the main character is a hitman.

1. Research
Alfie Ingram

2. Existing Product
Use of lighting/ composition/ mise en scene/ costume/ props/ location/ colours/ fonts etc.
– Appeal to audience
The Hitman’s Bodyguard
Props- There are lots of weapons in this film
How does it make the audience want to watch/buy it?
I think that one way the movie makes the audience want to watch it is through star billing. The movie includes two popular
actors (Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson)as the main characters. This will suggest to anyone watching that it is going to
be a good film as this would require a big budget.
I think that the trailer appeals to more than one audience. It appeals to fans of action movies as it features lots of action
and violence through things like explosions and guns being fired etc but it also appeals to comedy fans as it includes scenes
that are funny, such as a scene where Samuel L Jackson is singing along to a song on a bus full of nuns.

3. The first product I have chosen to look at is the trailer for the movie Leon the Professional. I chose this movie trailer in
particular because the movie is about a hitman and I want to do a movie trailer where the main character is a hitman as
well. I also chose this trailer because I have watched Leon the Professional before and I enjoyed it.
Location: From the trailer we can assume that the setting for this movie is a big city as in two of the shots you can see
skyscrapers.
One of the main locations shown in the trailer is inside a block of flats. I think that these flats are meant to look a bit sleazy
and run down as in a few of the shots you can see that wallpaper is peeling off the walls and some of the walls look as if
they have lost colour over time. This may suggest that the main characters are living in a poor area.
Existing Productp

4. Effects: There are not too many special effects used in this trailer but there are some used. For example one effect used is muzzle flares to
show when guns are firing and there are also special effects for explosions used in the trailer. Perhaps by not including too many special effects
this could be showing that the movie is not just based around action.
Post production: The trailer uses the voiceover of a narrator to narrate the plot of the film. This helps the audience know what the movie is
about.
Sound effects: There are the sound effects of gunshots when guns are fired. These sounds could have been made using foley methods.
Soundtrack: There is music played during the trailer. Late on in the trailer the music changes to fast paced and dramatic opera music. This music
stays in time with the constant cuts in action packed footage so this helps keep the viewers attention.
At this point in the trailer there is no dialogue so the music is there to really create tension in
As the trailer reaches the music gets more dramatic. This helps create tension and excitement in the viewer so that they will want to go and see
the film.
Costume: Leon is often seen wearing dark clothing, such as a black coat, a black hat and sunglasses. This would suggest he is trying not to stand

5. Costume: In the trailer the main character, Leon, is always wearing dark clothing and often wears a hat and some sunglasses. Considering his
profession is a hitman this is probably to keep his identity sealed and to make sure that he doesn’t stand out.

6. Appeal to action fans Appeal to drama fans
From the trailer we can tell that Leon is going to be an
exciting film to watch. We can immediately tell that
there is an action element to the film as the first scene
in the trailer a man is telling Leon about a man coming
into the city. He asks him “Are you free Tuesday?” and
the video quickly cuts to a bag full of guns. This makes
sure that the audience know right away that the reason
he needs to be free on Tuesday is to kill someone.
Something I think will appeal to drama fans is the
relationship between Leon, a hitman and a young girl
called Matilda. These two characters are almost exact
opposites of each other so fans of drama will want to
watch this film to see how their odd relationship will
work out.
One of the reasons that people watch drama films is
that they want an interesting storyline with lots of
emphasis on the plot and I think that this trailer appeals
to them since it is quite a unique story of two characters
that are very different.
Something that will appeal to fans of action movies is
that the trailer features a lot of the violence in the film
The main character of Leon will definitely appeal to fans
of action movies.
Action movies typically appeal more to men that women
so having a very masculine character such as Leon a
pro hitman
However I think that the fact he is training a kid up

7. Posters
I think from the tagline alone you can tell that this movie is probably an action film. The fact that it doesn’t say what job he is a professional in makes us
assume that he is a professional at a job that wouldn’t usually be considered ordinary; Perhaps something illegal.
The poster is entirely coloured in red and black. These are colours that often symbolise danger and violence so without it directly saying we can assume that
the main character is a professional in an illegal violent job.
Since the name on the poster says Leon and there is only one person on the poster, we assume that the main character is called Leon.

8. In this poster, Leon and Mathilda are holding
two very contrasting things; Leon is holding a
gun and Mathilda is holding a teddy bear. I think
this shows how different the two characters are.

9. Existing ProductKill Bill
Costume: Many of the costumes used in the movie are influenced by martial arts movies. For example, the yellow tracksuit that the bride wears is inspired by
one worn by Bruce Lee in a martial arts movie called Game of Death. (according to http://whatculture.com/film/quentin-tarantino-definitive-guide-to-
homages-influences-and-reference) The tracksuit is seen to be covered in blood suggesting that the bride has brutally killed people.
Also in the trailer in one scene the bride is wearing robes worn in combat sports such as judo and karate.
Effects: There is some use of animation during the trailer
Props: There are many weapons shown in the trailer such as samurai swords, knives and guns.
Locations: Although it doesn't directly say in the trailer, one of the main locations shown by the trailer is Japan. We know this as the bride asks an Asian man
for “Japanese Steel” meaning a Japanese samurai sword and also because nearly every character shown in the trailer is of Asian ethnicity
Some of the buildings seen are in the style of traditional Japanese architecture, featuring things such as sliding doors and a traditional Japanese garden
p

10. Post production: (Sound design, sound effects, music,)
There is a voiceover of the main character, The Bride, narrating the trailer explaining who she is and why she wants to kill a man called Bill. This
provides the audience with information of what the film is about.
Sound effects: The sound effect of an aeroplane is used when the bride is sat on the aeroplane.
There is music playing during the trailer. The music changes as
Appeal to audience: I think the two main target audiences for this film is fans of action movies
This trailer will also appeal to people who are already fans of films directed by Quentin Tarantino. His movies are known for their strong, over
the top often bloody violence and this trailer shows that there are a lot of fight scenes. One of the weapons was a
Another way that it will make fans of his movies want to watch is that the movie features actors from some of his previous movies such as Uma
Thurman from Pulp Fiction and Michael Madsen who was in Reservoir Dogs. This may make them want to watch as they will recognize these
actors and will also like them as they have proven themselves in previous films.
I think that Kill Bill appeals to fans of pop culture since it takes a lot of inspiration from old martial arts movies.

11. How the product was advertised
Posters
This is the main poster for Kill Bill. It is very simple and doesn’t feature too much
detail.
Colour scheme: The colours used in the poster are black, yellow and red. These are the
colours featured on the costume that the bride is wearing.
Red is also a colour often associated with things like blood, danger and violence.
In the image she is holding a bloody sword in the image so the viewers of the poster
can tell that it may be an action movie.
She is wearing a costume that

12. Guerilla advertising
Guerilla marketing is a kind of advertising that often uses popular public places
such as shopping centres and
I found that Kill Bill used this form of advertising. In this case the locations used
were in a lift and in some toilets.
This form of advertising is good as it is very attention grabbing, leading people
to talk about it and therefore raising public interest in the film.
This form of advertising isn’t seen to often and is very unique so
This kind of advertising is seen nowhere near as often as tv ads or posters so it
will make people a lot more curious to see the film.

13. Merchandise

14. Audience profile
Gender: Kill Bill appeals to a more male audience as it contains a lot of strong violence and this is something that usually is liked more
by men than by women. However a female audience might like Kill Bill as the main character is quite powerful and is a woman so
they might like seeing a female character portrayed like this.
Common interests for people that liked Kill Bill: the most common interests for people that like Kill Bill was movies and music.
For entertainment, the two products liked most by fans of Kill Bill were Family Guy and Pulp Fiction.
Other films liked by fans of Kill Bill:Pulp Fiction and Fight Club
S

15. How will this research impact my work- this
work will

16. Once upon a time in Hollywood
I analysed the teaser trailer of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as the full length trailer had not been released at the time.
Props: There are some props used in the trailer that are often seen on the sets of movies such as video lights and directors chairs.
Costume: The
Music: The song used for most of the trailer is called ‘Bring a Little Lovin’ and is a song from the 1960s. I think this song in particular was used in the trailer as it was released
in the 1960s and has a very 1960s style so when you hear it you can instantly tell when the film was set.
Setting: Right from the start of the trailer, we can tell that the movie is set in the past. The first shot shown is in black and white and you can hear the sound of the film
projector playing.
The cars seen in the trailer are all vintage cars
Many of the locations shown are in an old fashioned style.
p

17. Fonts: The font used for the logo of the film is the
same style as the font used in the Hollywood sign.

18. Why have you chosen to look at this?
I chose to look at this as this is an upcoming movie that I want to see
when it comes out. I am a fan of the director of this movie (Quentin
Tarantino) as well
Another reason I chose to look at this is because it hasn’t been released
yet I can see what techniques they use to get people excited for this film
at the moment.
I have learnt that

19. Social media
There are official social media accounts for the film
used on instagram, twitter and facebook. On each
account there have been posts of images of
characters in the film and the actors who are in it. The
posts don’t give away too much information about
the film and I think that this makes people want to
see it as they want to know more.

20. On these accounts there have been posts of
posters created for fictional films starring
characters from the film.

21. Posters
There have been two posters released so far for
the movie.

22. This is another teaser poster that was used for the film.
We can tell from the poster the time period in which the film is
set due to the costume being worn. She is wearing clothing that
was fashionable around the 1960s such as knee high boots and a
short skirt. These are clothes not often worn now.
In the background of the image you can see the Fox Theatre in
Westwood Village, LA. This location is well known for being one of
the leading film premiere locations so it could suggest to viewers
that the woman on the poster is meant to be an actress.
The colour scheme uses a lot of bright colours. This means that
she stands out on the background as she is wearing black.

23. Location: If you look into the background you can
see the famous Hollywood sign.
Costume: Leonardo Dicaprio is dressed smartly so
this may suggest that he is an important person in
the film, maybe he is rich. Also his hair is smart and
neat so perhaps he is
Brad Pitt is wearing more casual clothes so this could
suggest that his character is less important or less
rich than Leonardo Dicaprio’s character.

24. Audience profile
Age: 18-60. The movie is set in 1969 so this film will definitely appeal to people that grew up around that time.
Gender: I think that this film would appeal more to a male audience than it would a female audience because from the
trailer we can see that the characters that are shown the most are all male. There are a few female characters shown in the
trailer such as Margot Robbie’s character but she doesn't speak unlike the characters played by Brad Pitt and Leonardo
Dicaprio. This might show that she is a more secondary character.
I think that the target audience of this movie are people that are already fans of Quentin Tarantino’s movies. On all the
posters and in the trailer it has text saying “The 9th film from Quentin Tarantino”. This means that the people behind the
film are assuming that you already know who Quentin Tarantino is and that you are already aware of his previous work.

25. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched products have?
• One of the key things I have found when analysing these trailers is that they often have a catchy song playing during
the trailer. I think they do this so you get the song stuck in your head and therefore will automatically associate it with
the movie you have just seen the trailer of.
• Another feature I have found from watching these movie trailers is that the trailers often have scenes showing the
character and the name of the actor in the film.
• Something that these trailers have in common is that there is often a monologue in the trailer where the main
character in the film or a narrator is talking. This narration goes alongside the video to display to the viewer the plot of
the film.
• Often the trailers either end on a cliffhanger ending making you want to see more or sometimes they end on a
lighthearted ending to bring down the tension after exciting clips.
• What aspects of the research will you include within your own production work?
• I think that I will include a narration in my trailer. To do this I may need a good microphone so the speech is clear.

26. Audience Research

27. Secondary audience research
Gender: Crime movies are typically enjoyed more by a male audience. This is mainly because
the type of action and the majority of the characters are all designed for a more masculine
audience so women will find it hard to relate to. Also in crime films the main protagonists of the
film are usually male and are often usually powerful so men will like watching this as they like
being represented in such a way.
Age: Whilst I couldn’t find a specific age, the target age is people that are old enough to handle
the violence and swearing so are usually over the age of 18 years old. However crime movies
can be interesting for a wide audience.
Uses and gratifications: One of the recurring reasons I found as to why people watch crime
movies is that they use it as a form of escapism. By watching crime movies it is as if they can go
into the dangerous yet somewhat attractive world of crime without actually doing it
themselves.

28. Lifestyle/Psychographics: From my secondary research I have found that
the viewers of gangster movies generally tend to be achievers and
succeeders.
Sexuality: I think that crime movies appeal more to straight men than
gay men as in crime movies criminals often have an attractive wife and
the main characters are usually straight men.
Questions the audience may ask themselves when watching:
How will they kill them?
What happens when they meet?
What are the police going to do?

29. Questions
1) How old are you?
1) What is your gender?
1) Are you a fan of movies in the crime genre.
1) What things would you want to see in a movie to do with crime?
1) What things during a trailer attract you to go and see a movie e.g lots of action, the movie being funny, good camera shots etc
1) What sort of characters would you want to see in a crime film?
1) Do you prefer seeing short teaser trailers that only tease elements of films without giving too much away or longer trailers that reveal a lot more
detail of the plot, characters etc.
1) Can you give any examples of movie trailers for films that you like?
1) What things do you think make a movie trailer memorable?
1) Where do you see movies advertised the most Through TV At the cinema Through social media

30. The responses I got
I made a survey on surveymonkey
Q3) Out of the 8 people asked, 6 of them said that they were fans of movies in the crime genre. 2 of them said
that they were not
Q4) The most people (3) said that they found out about new movies through social media, and the second
most people (2) said that they found out about movies through short adverts such as teaser trailers. One
person said that they found out about new movies through posters placed on billboards and on bus stops.
Q5) Four people said that they see the posters at bus stops, 3 people said that they see them in magazines and
1 person said that they see posters on the sides of buses.

31. Advertising questions
How do you usually find out about new movies being released (other than through
trailers at the cinema)
Through teaser trailers on TV Through the radio (such as interviews) through print
adverts in magazines and newspapers through social media

32. Subject Research
Gangsters- Gangsters are criminals that are members of a gang. They are often associated with organised crime. They take part in illegal
activities
Famous gangs- The most well known gang is the mafia. The original mafia was based in Sicily, but there have been many around the world.
Another famous gang is the Triads. This is a gang that is a mostly people from a Chinese background.
Famous gangsters- Al Capone was a Mafia Boss in the 1930s. He was nicknamed ‘Scarface’. He was loved by some people as he was known
to be a modern day robin Hood as he was known to donate to a lot of charities. One of things that people remember him by is the St.
Valentine’s Day massacre, a day where some members of his gang went in disguise as police officers and killed several of a rival gangs
members in broad daylight.
The Kray twins- Ronnie and Reggie Kray were two twin brothers from London that were very well known in organised crime around the 50s
and 60s. Their gang was called ‘The Firm’ and was involved in many different illegal activities. They owned nightclubs in the west end so
they were known to mix with celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Diana Dors and Judy Garland. They gained celebrity status throughout the
1960s. They were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment in 1968. There have been four movies made about them- most noteably
‘Legend’ in 2015 starring Tom Hardy and The Krays in 1990.
There have been many popular movies made about gangsters. Some of the most famous films are The Godfather movies, (based on the book
of the same name) Goodfellas, (about the life of gangster turned FBI informant Henry Hill) Scarface and The Untouchables.

33. Practical Research

34. Practical Research
After effects-Friday 5th April
Today I used after effects for the first time to create the effect of a
gunshot. I watched a tutorial on youtube explaining how to do this.
Learning after effects will be important to me as I plan on using it in
my trailer.
I didn’t have a prop gun with me so I just used my hand in the shape of
a gun. I filmed this with a camera from College. I then took the video
from the sd card and begun to edit using After Effects.
For the effect of the gun firing, I got an image of a muzzle flare (this is
the blast that comes from a gun) from google images and I added it to
my video.

35. At first the image came out with a black background
so you couldn’t see the video behind.
I got rid of this by going to blending options and
pressing screen. This removed the black backgrund.

36. After I had done this, I added the sound effect of a
gunshot. I downloaded this sound from youtube.
Strengths: The effect used works and I think that th
Weaknesses: The main weakness from this video is
that you only see one gunshot even though I made
three. I’m not sure why this is because on after
effects it worked out fine. I think also I could have
used some sound effects.

37. This experiment will definitely help me in my final
production as it means that I have gained experience
in using after effects which is important as I need to
use some special effects in my video related work.
Crime movies usually heavily feature weapons such as
guns so learning to edit a gunshot may really help me
as it is something I am likely to use in my work.

38. One thing that I could have done to make my product look
realistic was use a prop gun, maybe a toy gun. This would mean
it would look like a real weapon being used.
Something else I could have done to make my product look like
an existing product would be to add the effect of some smoke
coming out of the gun as well as the muzzle flare.

39. Practical Research
Adobe After Effects-Alpha video matte
The next experiment I tried with After Effects was
making an alpha matte. This is a way to overlay
video behind text. I think it is important that I learn
techniques with text using after effects as I will be
guaranteed to use some of them in my trailer for
things such as the name of the movie, actors etc.

40. The clips I used in this experiment are not related to
my trailer but I got a video of a footballer called
Steven Gerrard scoring a goal and placed some text
above the video saying ‘Gerrard’ above the work. In
this text I added a video of Anfield stadium. This is the
stadium that Steven Gerrard played most of his
games at.

41. Weaknesses: I am not sure how but I have somehow
managed to remove the sound from the video so you can
no longer hear the cheering fans and the commentary on
the goal. This kind of ruins the video and
Something else I think is a weakness is that this footage is
not related to my project in any way. I think I should have
made something related to movies as this is what I was
focusing on.

43. Practical Research
Creating a poster on photoshop
One of the ideas I had for a poster was an image of the main character
in the style of a school photo, holding up some books and looking like
quite an innocent and stereotypical nerd. However, the shadow
being cast behind him is of a man holding up a gun.
For this experiment I wanted to try creating this. I used images from
the internet for this work. I got an image of a person holding books
and then I got an image of James Bond from the Quantum Of Solace
poster.

44. Firstly I got an image of Daniel Craig from the Quantum of Solace poster. I removed the background and the text so the image was by itself.
Next I double clicked on the layer to open up layer styles. Then I pressed drop shadow. This meant that the image of James Bond now had a
shadow. I changed the opacity of the shadow. This meant that I made it darker then I changed the size so it was a little blurry, like how a real
shadow is. I then made the shadow so it was its own separate layer so it wasn’t part of the original image. I then pressed cmd+t to drag the
shadow out so it was angled as if it was a real shadow.
After this I removed the original image of Daniel Craig and I replaced it with an image I found on the internet of a clever looking student holding
up some books. I removed the background from behind the student and then placed it in front of the shadow. I then added a font saying the
title of the film.

45. Strengths: I think that the shadow looks good and this is something that I think would work well on the front of
a movie poster.
Weaknesses: I think I should have put more detail into the background of the image because it was meant to
be a movie poster however I don’t feel there is enough detail for it to be considered as a poster. I think I should
have included things such as a billing block, a tagline etc.
I think also I could have used a wider variation of colour, for example I did the font in black as well as the
shadow when I think I could have used a colour such as red to make it look better.
This poster will help me with my final project as this idea is one that I plan on using for a poster design in my
final project. I want to create a shadow effect on the poster.

46. Bibliography

47. Bibliography In abc order
1. Alfie Ingram. (2018) Target Audience Research Survey (conducted on 7th May 2019)
2. BrandonJLa. (2010). Realistic Muzzle Flare Tutorial. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsViAvVYoMQ&list=PLA4xeFyPEwDvLjVa-
xiu51KfS31d9N6cD&index=35&t=129s. Last accessed 2019.
3. Nijat Mammadov. (2014). Gerrard vs Man.U. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHA--iWF9lY. Last
accessed 2019.
4. Kill Bill: Volume 1, produced by A Band Apart, distributed by Miramax, 2003, 1 hour 52 mins
5. Leon The Professional, produced and distributed by Gaumont, 1995, 1 hour 45 mins
6. Nicole S. Young. (2011). Two Minute Tip: Creating a Realistic Drop-Shadow in Photoshop. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67W0Xo1sIFE&list=PLA4xeFyPEwDvLjVa-
xiu51KfS31d9N6cD&index=17&t=0s Last accessed 2019.
7. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, film produced by Colombia Pictures, Place of production, (distributed by Sony Pictures
Releasing, 2019), format, 2 hours 45 mins
1. Osaro Ewansiha. (2015). THE TARGET AUDIENCE FOR CRIME THRILLERS. Available:
https://prezi.com/84mlnnznudwq/the-target-audience-for-crime-thrillers/. Last accessed 2019.
2. SonduckFilm. (2017). After Effects Tutorial: Overlay Video On Text or Graphics. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVhnHYMOGVA. Last accessed 2019.
3. sn0wfall. (2014). Awesome You'll Never Walk Alone liverpool vs chelsea 27.04.2014. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N51jWNsW3F8. Last accessed 2019.
4. Thomas Culligan. (2014). gangster films. Available: https://prezi.com/wkzdvbqo9tul/gangster-films/. Last
accessed 2019.