The document evaluates a film trailer by analyzing nine frames focusing on aspects like titles, setting, characters, and sound. It discusses how the trailer both challenges and conforms to conventions of real media products. For example, one frame challenges conventions by hiding a character's face to create mystery. Audience feedback noted that the storyline was enjoyed but the narration could be clearer over the music. The target audience for the film is identified as 15-33 year olds, especially females interested in supernatural genres.

1. Evaluation

2. In what ways does your film
trailer, use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

3. In order to answer this question, I will screen shot nine frames and evaluate them
focusing on the following aspects:
•The titles of the film
•Setting/location
•Costumes and props
•Camerawork and editing
•Narrative
•Genre
•Characters
•Sound, including music

4. The reason as to why I have chosen to include this frame
of our production to answer this question is because a
production logo is used in every trailer, whatever the
genre, whatever the industry. We decided to use Warner
Bros. as our production company because it suited the
genre of the film, supporting other supernatural films such
as „Harry Potter‟, „Superman‟ and „Batman‟ which all
contain elements of the thriller and action genres.
FRAME 1: Production Logo
We chose this logo in particular as it suited the genre
and helped to set the mood. It is also very simple and
versatile and these are the main conventions of a
production logo as it means that the audience can
automatically associate the logo with the production
company.

5. I have chosen one of the narrative frames to show how
our film trailer uses and develops the convention of a real
media product as the majority of trailers give a narrative,
in the form of a voice over or written title. Since trailers
are a highly condensed format of a film, voice narration is
an exceptionally useful tool to help audiences
understanding of the plot. However we chose to include
written titles instead as the music within the trailer
helped to set the mood and create intensity, and a voice
over, if to be used, would ruin the atmosphere the music
creates.
FRAME 2: Narrative

6. The characters within trailers are usually shown
throughout the montage or introductory scenes and are
shown in their main form throughout the film. However
we decided to challenge the conventions of real media
products by showing the main character in his childhood
and developing the character rather than introducing the
initial character and working to the characters
background. This was necessary in our trailer as we felt
that if we did not explain the process from new born to
child the story would not have been understood as well as
it has been.
FRAME 3: Characters

7. This distinct frame has also been chosen as it once again
shows how, we as a production team, have challenged the
conventions of a real media text. When characters are
introduced within a trailer, there face is normally shown,
however in this specific frame we have decided to hide
the characters face in order to create mystery and leave
the audience questioning who the character is.
FRAME 4: Character Relations
The frame from the trailer of „New Moon‟ shows the
introduction of two characters however sticks to
the 180 degrees rule showing both their faces, once
again proving that we have challenged the typical
conventions of a film trailer.

8. I have decided to include this frame to illustrate how we
have conformed with typical conventions of a real media text
as just before the visual montage starts, we show the cause
and reasoning behind the main action scenes.
“Now that you haven't got your parents protection, I'm going
to eat you all to myself!”
This dialogue allows the audience to come to grasp with the
plot summary of the film as without it the audience would be
confused and disengage with the production.
FRAME 5: Narrative

9. This frame challenges typical codes and conventions of film
trailer as the locations which are normally shown are rather
exquisite and extravagant drawing the audience into the
production. However we chose to include this scene within
our trailer as it builds intensity showing the lead up to the
climax.
Another way in which this specific frame challenges the
conventions of film trailers is that the camera is not steady.
We have chosen to do this as it creates a sense of
helplessness portraying the characters feeling and emotions.
FRAME 6: Setting/Location

10. This frame uses the typical conventions of a film trailer as
it is part of the visual montage therefore zooming in on
all of the action within the scene.
FRAME 7: Narrative
Many trailers usually focus on one character or one group
of characters within the visual montage scenes, with the
rest of the characters in the background. We have tried
to replicate the battle scene from the trailer of „The
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II‟

11. Having the title of the film displayed within a film trailer
is almost compulsory for all media productions. If our
trailer did not include the title of the film, audiences
would not know what the production is and therefore
would easily forget they have watched the trailer.
The title is vital within all productions, no matter what
the text is or the genre as it advertises the production.
FRAME 8: Title

12. This frame is a typical convention of a trailer. It is known
as a billing block and includes a list of all people and/or
companies who are involved in the production process.
FRAME 9: Titles
As you can see, there are
differences between the two
styles of Billing Blocks as the
one for our trailer does not look
as professional, however the
cast, crew and studio
information which is listed
follows the same forms.

13. How effective is the
combination of your main
product and ancillary
texts?

14. MAGAZINE
The magazine cover, as a whole is effective as it, in theory
would promote our production. Using Empire Magazine as our
magazine cover would be ideal as Empire is by far the most
successful magazine which focuses on films and actors.
The main cover story, is cited at the top so that it is the first
thing which audiences read. Because it is based on our film
production, it can be argued that the combination between
the Magazine cover and Trailer is effective as it helps to
promote the final product as well as the overall design to help
set the tone for the story.

15. MAGAZINE
The magazine cover relates to our film trailer as the background
and foreground images are both dull therefore emphasising the
dark atmosphere which runs throughout the trailer.
We chose the background image as it suited the production
perfectly, as the main scenes within the film were shot in a forest.
It also helps to set the mood as it is foggy which connotates secrecy
and mystery, which once again conforms with the conventions of
our film trailer.
The foreground image was chosen as we wanted to portray the
characters identity so that audiences would know what to expect.
It took rather a lot of time, however we decided to try and show
the character transforming into a bat as this is a typical stereotype
of vampires. We thought the best way to do this was to create a
bat, however left the rest of the image in human form so that the
aspect of human characteristic would stay.

16. MAGAZINE
Although I am pleased with the final outcome of this
ancillary text, it could have still been improved.
Given the time and skills, I would
have preferred to include all main
characters on the magazine cover
as it helps to promote all aspects
of the film, rather than focusing on
one character, as the inside stories
then are mainly based on the actor
rather than the film.

17. POSTER
Movie posters are usually released on billboards,
buses, newspapers etc. so the movie can be
advertised and draw in many more members of the
audience. On average, distributors spend between
15 and 20 million pounds..

18. POSTER
In my opinion, the poster is not as effective as it could be. However,
due to the time constraints and editing and design skills of the group
member who create this ancillary text, I still believe that the poster
is relevant to the film.
The poster contains all conventions of a film poster such as the Title,
Cast Information and a Billing Block, however does not look
professional.
Unfortunately, as we had ran out of time we were not able to get
our poster to a high standard. However, this taught all of the group
members the key to being organised is time management as without
being focused on the time restraints, we would have been
unsuccessful in many tasks.

19. POSTER
Given the time and skills, I would have preferred to include all main
characters on the film poster as it would help to promote all aspects
of the film, rather than focusing on one character. It also gives the
audience something to look at as the imagery is rather exciting and
overwhelming, whereas in all honesty, the ancillary text for our
production is rather boring.
As we can see, the poster for
„Expendables 2‟ looks more
appealing to the eye as it is
colourful and looks much more
professional. If I had the
opportunity to complete this
task again, i would try to make
the poster look like the image
on the left.

20. How did you use media
technologies in the
construction and research,
planning and evaluation
stages?

21. We recorded our film trailer via cannon HD
camera. Compared to what we used for AS it
was the same however we used however we
learnt various new shots to create. These
cameras came n sale in April 2008 so they are
pretty old however where the best cameras
from their time up until 2010 when Sony created
a better one. The battery life is decent on there
so we did not have to charge it as often as we
thought and the quality of the recording is
excellent. The volume could be higher however
was fine for our film once edited. The tripod
was used to record images at different levels as
well which helped us to get different views and
angles. We could use a tripod with wheels on
their however it would not have been in a
smooth motion which we were expecting.
HD CANNON

22. When it came to the editing stage used
the exact same software as last year.
This was final cut pro with was on the
apple Mac computers. It is an advanced
piece of software which takes time and
practice to become good at using.
Compared to the AS year editing this
year we have edited our production
much better due to experience. We
learnt last year how to cut, increase
and lower sound, add pictures and
sound in as well as many more things
through ought both years which helped
and benefitted us a lot showing a
decent standard film trailer.
FINAL CUT EXPRESS

23. Out of all the software we used I would say Photoshop
was the most complex and advanced which in theory was
the hardest one to use. We used this to create our films
poster, magazine, and logo. However just like using final
cut once we had lessons on how to use it as well as trying
to use it in our own time in the end it because easier to
use. However last year we used paint, in all fairness you
could say that anyone including 10 year old kids could use
that and it is a free download whereas Photoshop is
expensive to purchase.
PHOTOSHOP

24. PREZIUsing Prezi instead of PowerPoint gave us
the opportunity to develop our work in
order to reach a higher standard. It is a
better way to give presentations, active
and creates a display pattern so that
audiences are not bored. We made various
presentations on there that were easily
embedded onto our blog post. We also
presented them to our fellow class
companions in an interactive way as you
can play it on motion. Prezi was the best
software I learnt to use in my opinion over
the 2 years as I think it will benefit us in
the future if we don‟t take up media
studies.

25. In what ways does your film
trailer, use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

26. You can see the picture from one of our main characters, along with
the main character from Dark Shadows.
We tried to use the same concept of little boy being the centre of
attention and when he is in the shots they are usually bright which
connotes that he is not a vampire and he is a harmless child.
There are many shots of the little boy doing everyday things, going
to school, reading a book, doing some sort of sport. They are all
there and link back to the genre elements showing normal life
differing from supernatural names.
The songs we used were slow at the start because we wanted the
music to come in when the battle scenes commence as they use the
same elements in the twilight trailers.
CHARACTERS

27. These two pictures give the audience the idea that they are either
vampires or something along the lines.
You can tell because during our trailer there are dark elements and
you can see there pale in the shots.
The one on the right is taken from the trailer of dark shadows Jonny
Depp‟s film whereas the left is Harmeet Bhogal the villain in our film.
The dark elements are a major thing we needed to use and lacked in
our first draft so when we made the second and final draft we
included everything from shooting shots at night along with dark
roads and settings.
The music in both of these shots where tensed along with lightning
sound effects due to the elements that show scary things that are
known to be in supernatural films are about to come In the film.
CHARACTERS

28. What have you learned
from your audience
feedback?

29. The feedback which the majority of
respondents gave us was to do with our
story line. Although many of them
argued that they did not usually enjoy
supernatural films, they very much
enjoyed our story line. This was
positive for us as we put a lot of work
into the story line ensuring that it was
unique and was not stereotypical.
RESULTS

30. Another positive point which seemed to be a mutual
feeling amongst audience members was the cast. This
was because we had found characters of all ages in
order to emphasise the meaning of family within the
film. Including characters from all different age ranges
also meant that we were able to draw in all audiences
as many respondents argued that it could be labelled
as a „family film‟.
RESULTS

31. Another point which was mentioned
throughout our audience feedback was to do
with the soundtrack. Many of the students
agreed that the sound helped to set the tone
of the film.
RESULTS
One of the aspects which was criticised was
the fact that the narration was not as clear,
and due to the sound being rather high on the
music, the voices of the characters were not
heard.

32. The target audience for our film would be
anyone in between the age of 15- 33.
We chose to make this the age
demographic we would target our
production to, as from our research and
interviews we found that the audiences
which were into supernatural films suited
this age range, with the main stigma
attached being Twilight
FINAL DECISIONS

33. The gender who would most likely watch our production would be female,
however it may also attract males due to the elements of thriller, action and
horror. Although many of the male respondents did not enjoy the production of
Twilight, they enjoyed TV programmes such as Supernatural or the Vampire
Diaries which are based around a similar story
FINAL DECISIONS