The document discusses researching an existing trailer for the film John Doe: Vigilante. It analyzes aspects of the trailer such as locations, lighting, camera angles, and story elements revealed. The researcher concludes that this trailer reveals too much of the story and would not entice viewers to see the full film.

1. Research
Jack Roberts

2. Existing Product
Unlike the other film trailers I will be talking about after this one I have not seen the full
film for this trailer so my knowledge of this film is purely based off of this one trailer.
When looking at this trailer for John Doe: Vigilante it is clear that this film is about a serial
killer who kills criminals who keep reoffending and he believes to still be a threat to
society.
The locations in which the scenes in this trailer are filmed are all locations I would be able
to recreate such as the interrogation room which is just an empty room with a table and
two chairs. The rest of the scenes seem to be filmed either in front of what looks like a
court house or a green screen for things like the new coverage. There are a few scenes
which have been filmed on the street down a back ally and the torcher scenes which
appear to be in a garage somewhere. There does not appear to be much post-production
on this video as it all the outdoor scenes appear to be using natural lighting and the
interrogation room scenes and the serial killer on the black backdrop area to be artificially
lit but this is done so it does not look natural and makes it look more cinematic.
The angles used on the camera in the shots of John Doe are shot from a lower angle
making him appear more powerful and in control of the situation at hand while the shots
of the other actors are at eye level so we feel equal to them or as if we are talking to
them.
I actual found this trailer quite poor compared to other film trailers I have seen and I will
try to avoid making a product like this. I feel as though this film trailer would not make
you want to go see this film in cinema as it reveals everything to the viewer so you feel as
though you have seen the whole film before you even go to the cinema and the story of
the film just does not seem interesting or appealing when you are watching the trailer. You
do not want to know more about this feel because you already feel as though you know
everything from the trailer.

3. Existing Product
I have decided to look at the trailer for American Gangster because it is a crime drama and is a nice and
quite simplistic trailer in that there is not a lot of moving shots and locations for a lot of it people are just
sat down giving voice overs. I feel this will influence my work and that I will take a lot from it as I really
like the text in this trailer and the cuts with the fading and dissolving effects.
The shots in the American Gangster trailer are quite simple for a lot of the trailer it is just people sat
down talking with flashes of close ups on money, guns or drugs. What they are saying is layered over
these cut always but there is not a lot of camera movement. There are a few shots where people are
walking but they are wide shots and are normally at day time so you can see everything that Is happening
in the scene easily. There are one or two shots where the lighting is a bit different such as the the third
shot on the left where the scene is colour graded more blue than the other shits and they have used a
silhouette. All the props that are used in the scenes and the vehicles and clothing are all older things from
the 60’s and early 70’s as it is based off of a true story. The shots with the main character in them are also
angled from beneath him which makes Denzel Washington’s character seem more powerful to the viewer
like the third shot on the left. The camera is angled facing up so we feel as though he is in control and
makes us as the viewer feel almost powerless to him. He is also starring directly at the viewer in this shot
making us feel more involved and helps use feel and understand what the victim in this scene is feeling.
The locations in the scenes seem quite basic they are either small rooms with a chair and tables for things
like the café and the the detectives room for when he is explaining who Frank Lucas to his team. Then the
rest of the scenes are on the street just walking or standing with a few exceptions to scenes like club and
the scene at the mansion where he is shooting with his friends.
I really like the text which is used for the title of the film near the end of the trailer. I like the colours that
are used and how the city is inside the word “American” I feel as though this adds some depth to the title
and shows where the film is set as well as the title and name of the film its self telling the viewer what
the feel is all about.
I also really like the black bars they use for text in this trailer and how they fade behind people as they
move. I also really like how they layer shots up and put people over the next shot before they fade them
out like the bottom picture on the left. I feel this makes the trailer run much smoother and makes the
cuts from scene to scene almost unnoticeable.

4. Existing Product
In the trailer for The Departed it opens with the main antagonist walking across the screen with a voice over from
him. As he is doing the voice over it shows you clips of the other main characters in the police academy and in
prison. This gives the viewer a good sense of what the film is about just from the first 20 seconds of the trailer. The
viewer can easily see that it is a film about crime.
In the next 20 seconds of the trailer it gives you more information on the characters showing that the protagonist is
going to be an undercover cop and it shows who he is going to be trying to bring down. As the trailer goes on it
shows that the antagonist has a rat inside the special investigation unit so the viewer understands where the
problem is in the film and feels the tension and understands where the stacks are in the film. From the trailer the
viewer understands what is happening in the film, you can see that the protagonist who is an undercover cop is
trying to help find the rat in the police and you can see that the antagonist the bent cop is trying to find the
undercover cop in the gang.
In the trailer the shots that are used are quite wide shots as they are trying to give the viewer a good look at the
characters in the film. When the protagonist is in the shot it is quite well lit and you can easily see their faces but
when the antagonist is in shot it is dark and only shows part of his face most of the time. At about 20 seconds into
the trailer the music changes and becomes a bit fast in which we are shown close ups of guns, police badges and
wanted pictures. These are flashed on screen very fast and you don’t get a full look at what is happening. In these
flashes it starts with shots of the police and ends with shots of the police but in the middle they slip in so crime
which gives the film a sense of things being covered up.
For the shots in the trailer they have all been made a bit darker in post-production to give it this gritty and street
kind of feel to the film. There aren't any big effects like in a super hero move and I feel like the postproduction they
have done in this film I could be able learn when doing my experiments. The locations in the film are mostly flats or
offices or they are just on the street walking around which are the sorts of locations I could be able to use. They
don’t use too many props there are a few guns but then it is mostly just pieces of paper for the offices and pictures
of the criminals they are trying to bring down. The lighting in the scenes is made to look like it is just natural or
room lighting there isn’t any lighting in the trailer that looks really fact in anyway or super cinematic. I feel if I do
some practicing I will be able to do some lighting similar to the lighting in this film.
I feel as though this film trailer makes the viewer want to go and see the full film in cinema because it shows the
protagonist and antagonist trying to catch each other and I feel this makes you want to see if they do get each
other and to see who wins this cat and mouse chance that is almost happening in the film.

5. Existing Product
I have decided to look at the Shutter Island trailer because to is one of my favorite films and is really going to
influence my work. The film as a whole has a sense of mystery around it and that sense of mystery and kind of
makes the view a bit uncomfortable. This sense of mystery is made very clear from the first 15 to 20 seconds of the
trailer. The constant flashes of different locations and people running around makes it feel as though you aren’t
being told everything and that secrets are being kept from you and the protagonist. The music also really helps to
build the atmosphere and is one of the main reasons we get this sense of mystery. In the trailer you are given some
of the clues to the mystery which are in the film such as the piece of paper that reads “who is 67?” which gets the
viewer involved in the film just from the trailer. This gets the viewer thinking about possible ending to the film and
what could be going on on this island which gets the viewer I engaged before they even go to see the film in
cinemas.
The shots that are used in the trailer are mostly establishing shots when not of the main protagonist to show you
where the story is taking place and so that you can get a good look at all of the characters. When the camera
moves to the main protagonist who is played by Leonardo DiCaprio the shot is mostly a close up with his face
taking up majority of the frame and begging the only thing in focus. This gives the viewer a better look at his
reaction to things making us emotionally connect with him more but also giving us this sense of him begging
trapped and confined. The trailer also uses a lot of close ups on objects such as the piece of paper, the needle and
the deputy badge which are shown. These close ups focus our attention onto key information in the story so we as
the viewer can follow along easier and get a good understanding of the story from the trailer.
There aren’t too many visual effects or post-production in this trailer but the effects which are in there are quite
simplistic. The visual effects in the trailer for the dream bits are more colourful than the rest of the trailer which is
very much colour graded so it is much darker and more blue then it would appear in real life. The effects biggest
effects in the trailer are the burns on the women in the dream scene and the ashes falling around them. The shots
for the dream scenes are also on a bit of an angle so the viewer knows this isn’t the real world and that things work
differently here. Later on in the trailer it shows the women fading away in the dream scene which isn’t in shot for
long but it is a nice visual effect which grabs your attention and makes you want to k ow what is going on.
The lighting in the trailer varies a lot from it being quite a light and well lit shots at the start to the end where the
shots get a bit darker for the scenes which are in the maximum security wing on the prison where the protagonist
is running around as the prisons look to have escaped to the dream scenes where the lighting looks very fake with
the light coming straight from a side or behind them. The colours in the trailer are quite dark and very saturated
colours with lots of greys and browns. The colours of the dream scenes are very bright though so they grab the
viewers attention more as they stand out a lot compared to the rest of the trailer and the other shots.
I feel as though this trailer makes the viewer want to watch the film because of the mystery around it and how it
gets the viewer involved and trying to solve the mystery before they even get to watching the actual film.

6. Existing Product
Another product I looked at was 24 Hours in Police Custody I watched this so I could get a look at what an interview
in an actual police station looks like for when I recreate an interview in my trailer between the journalist or
detective and the serial killer.
The room in which the interview is taken place is quite basic. There is not a lot in the room it is quite empty, there
is a table and chairs then on the desk is just pieces of paper with information about the people they are
interviewing and paper for the detectives to makes nots on. There also looks to be a audio recorder on the table
which his something I could easily put into my scene as I would be able to get a tape recorder.
The footage for the video looks to be filmed from a CCTV camera. For my trailer I could add an overlay which would
be too hard to make with a time code in one corner of the screen and some VHS tape type effects for the flickering
of the CCTV.
Also for my research I looked at an interview with a serial killer from the 90’s. I feel this will help me with the
layout of the interview in my trailer as I wasn’t sure how I was going to have it set up at first. The interview I
watched is with Jeffrey Dahmer watching the way he acts in the interview I think will help me when I come to
direct the actors in my trailer so I can get them to act like a serial killer and so they seem believe able and that they
could really be a serial killer. I also watch a video about Charles Manson to see how another convicted killer acts so
I could have a completely different way I could get my actors to act as Jeffery Dahmer is quite calm and quite when
he talks about his crimes but Charles Manson is very loud and crazy when having an interview.
This interview also gave me a good look at the sort of framing I should use for these shots in my trailer and the sort
of positioning I should use for my actors in the shots. I also got a good look at the shots used in news shows and the
layout of a news show and a news interview.
The graphics used in the interview are quite simple and I feel as though I would be able to create something similar
to this for my work such as the name tags like where it says “Jeffrey Dahmer Convicted Serial Killer”. This text is
thin text and is nice and easy to read and is in a simple red box.

7. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched products have?
– For my film trailers they all open by showing a few shots from the film then the studio
logo they then go on to give the viewer a basic understanding of what the film is going
to be about the trailer for American Gangster opens letting the viewer know it is going
to be about a gangster that deals drugs and Shutter Island makes it clear that two
detectives are going to find a missing prisoner on a remote island. The trailer then
shows the some more exciting parts of the film to hook the viewer more and get them
more engaged in the trailer like explosions and action scenes. They will then show the
title of the film I a specially designed font for the film then they will show a few more
scenes and shots from the film before they fade out to credits.
• What aspects of the research will you include within your own production work?
– I will follow the structure they use in these trailers as it obviously works to advertise a
product because these films have been successful on release. I really like the text in the
American Gangster trailer and how it fades behind the actors and objects in shot when
transitioning I feel this just makes the cuts smoother and more appealing to the eye.

8. Existing Product
Looking at post from professional films I really like the posters that have a
simplistic design this is not because it would be easier to make I just feel it
adds more mystery to the film and stops it from revealing too much about
the film. I like going to the cinema knowing as little as possible about the
film so I can be surprised and can really get into the film. I feel it also helps
me decide if it is a good film or not I think I good film should make even
complex storylines easy to follow for the viewer and easy for the viewer to
understand what it is all about. The colour pallets for these posters are
quite plain. They use a lot of browns and grey colours. The Primal Fear
poster is very empty it just shows the main protagonist from a high angle
which makes him look a bit powerless and weak but then the rest of the
poster is just empty space with a bit of writing that reads “sooner or later
a man who wears two faces forgets which one is real.” this gives you a
small idea of what this film could be about and still engages the audience
with the film. On each of these posters they both have the main
protagonist clearly show so the viewer understands who they will be
following throughout the story before even stepping into the cinema.

9. Audience Research

10. Secondary Audience research
Because Martin Scorsese’s films are influencing my project so much I decided to look at what sort of people like
his work and what audience his films have. I found that majority of Scorsese’s audience are between the ages
of 54 and 38 and as my work is taking such a big influence from his work my target audience will be around this
area probably 35 to 45 year olds for my target audience. I also found that Scorsese’s target audience is mostly
male this could be because his films are quite gritty and violent which might not appeal to a female viewer as
much as it does to a male viewer.
I feel with having my target audience as more of an older audience my trailer will be able to be more gritty and
have more of mystery about it and not revealing too much about what is happening in the film. I also feel I
would not need to involve as much action in the trailer like I would for a film aimed at teens.

11. Secondary Audience research
In 2016, 18-24 year olds went to the movies an average of 6.5 times over the year, up 0.6 from 2015. This was
the largest increase of any age group. Per capita attendance was next highest for 12-17 year olds (6.1). Per
capita attendance also increased for 25-39 year olds and 50-59 year olds compared to the previous year. In
2016, the total number of frequent moviegoers increased by 2.1 million. The number of frequent moviegoers
increased among all age groups, except 40-49 year olds and 60+ year olds. Individuals 12-17 years old and 18-
24 years old continue to be overrepresented among frequent moviegoers relative to their population size.
Looking at this graph it is easy to see that 25-
39 year olds go to the cinema most
frequently followed closely by 18-24 year
olds so advertising my film with a trailer in
my cinema would be a good idea as my
target audience is men in their late 30’s early
40’s so the younger side of my audience will
see the trailer in cinemas as they go to the
cinemas frequently according to this graph
but the older side of my audience might not
not see the trailer if it is only being show in cinema as they do not go to the cinema that frequently. So to
advertise my product to the older people in my target audience I might have to advertise in different areas,
putting the trailer on social media might make it more accessible to these people and the posters could be put
in store windows where they go shopping so they see it advertised there if they do not have access to social
media and the trailer to advertise my film. With the trailer being aimed at an older audience I will not need to
involve as much action in my trailer like big fight scenes like I would for a trailer aimed at teenagers.

12. Secondary Audience research
Looking at social media demographics I can see what social media platforms it would be best to advertise my
film on and what is most likely to each my target audience. Looking at this website I can see that the best social
media platform to advertise to my target audience would be Facebook as they have the largest amount of users
in the 30-49 age range which my target audience falls into. Twitter could also be a good platform for advertising
my film to my target audience as they have a good amount of users in the 30-49 age range but social media
plat forms like Instagram and snapchat would not help me advertise me my target audience as the users of
these social media platforms are in the 30 and under age groups.
The gender divide on twitter is quite equal so I would be able to advertise to both men and women if I
advertised my film on this social media platform. The divide on Facebook is also quite equal there is only a 12%
difference in the percentages making men the higher user which would be better for my advertisement as my
film is going to be more for a male audience.

13. Secondary Audience research
I looked on amazon to see what sort of films that people who buy this film may also be interested in. I feel this
has helped me understand the type of person would be in my target audience and other films that would
appeal to them so I know what sort of trailer to make and the things I can involve so it appeals to my target
audience. A few of the films that are on this list are films that are also going to inspire my work.
When looking on websites like IMDB.com and
rottentomatoes.com you can see that the
audience likes these films more than the critics
do. The audience normally give quite a good
review for these films giving it quite a few stars
and the film having a good overall rating.

14. Subject Research
Jeffrey Dahmer
Dahmer, known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was ultimately convicted of murdering 17 young men over a 14
year period. But Dahmer didn’t just murder them. He also raped, dismembered, and sometimes even ate his
victims. During his trial, Dahmer admitted to drilling a hole into his victims’ heads in an attempt to turn them
into mindless sex slaves. Although Dahmer certainly would have been executed for his deranged crimes, he was
beaten to death in prison in 1994.
Ted Bundy
Bundy is easily one of the most deranged serial killers (not to mention kidnappers, rapists, burglars, and
necrophilous) of all time. His sick modus operandi included kidnapping his female victims, raping them, and
them dismembering them. He often kept their heads as souvenirs. Before he was executed in 1989, Bundy
admitted to kidnapping and murdering 30 women, though this number is almost certainly much higher.
Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper may be a name that everyone knows, but no one can be certain of his true identity. Whoever
he (or she) really was, Jack the Ripper was definitely deranged. In 1888, Jack terrorized the Whitechapel
neighborhood of London by slitting the throats and abdomens of at least five prostitutes and leaving them for
dead. Sometimes, he would even remove the woman’s uterus and take it as a sort of prize. It’s unlikely Jack the
Ripper’s true identity will ever be figured out, but “ripper ology” — the study and analysis of the murders —
has certainly inspired quite a few “what if” novels and films.

15. Practical Research

16. Practical Research
For my practical research I did some work with a DSLR D500. I had not done film work with a DSLR for a
while and I feel this really helped me get used to using a DSLR again. I also did some work with some
sound equipment holding a boom mic. This gave me a good feel for sound equipment and how to use it.
It helped me learn how to work with the levels of the sound to make sure none of the audio spiked.
I also worked on working with actors and how to talk to them which is not something I am the best at
but I feel as though I have improved along and I can get my a vision across much clearer now.
I also worked with lighting using a small set light when indoors and a reflector to get sunlight onto an
actors face when shooting outdoor scenes.

17. Practical Research
I decided that I might try out some moving text in my trailer so I
watched some tutorials on YouTube and tried repeating the
proses for myself with some practice footage.
I feel as though my test has come out okay but I will definitely
consider putting this into my final product I feel as though it just
gives the footage a bit more life and makes the text more
interesting so it is just some plan text sat on the screen in front
of an actor of an object. I think I will do a few more tests before
I add it to my footage when I have everything filmed but I really
do like the idea of using this in my work.
I think I would use text like this in my trailer next to a murder
weapon or one of the victims bodies to reveal the title of the
film or one of the actors names or the directors name.

18. Bibliography

19. Bibliography
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBqEysLcJ-s&t=19s. Last accessed 3rd Apr 2019.
2. Movieclips Classic Trailers. (2011). American Gangster Official Trailer #1 - Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe Movie (2007) HD.
Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV_nssS6Zkg. Last accessed 3rd Apr 2019.
3. ryy79. (2008). The Departed - Trailer - (2006) - HQ. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGWvwjZ0eDc. Last accessed 3rd
Apr 2019.
4. Movieclips Classic Trailers. (2018). Shutter Island (2010) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers. Available:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWjYsxaBjBI&t=587s. Last accessed 3rd Apr 2019.
7. WatchMojo.com. (2017). Top 10 Craziest Things Charles Manson Has Ever Said. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcJE04mh39s. Last accessed 3rd Apr 2019.
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