UPDATE 05/12/2016

As you may have noticed in my more recent posts that include videos, I have upgraded my editing software from the very poor apps on the windows store to 'Movavi Video Editor'. This has made it much easier for me to edit videos well and for them to be of good quality. This will also be very useful when I produce my final trailer because I will be able to use many more functions whereas my old software was extremely limited. Other members in my filming group have Macs and can therefore use iMovie so there's a chance we will use that software instead. If I do not use Movavi for the trailer then it won't matter because it would have still been a useful tool to use in editing videos for my blog. See you next time!

Key Codes and Conventions of a Trailer

I watched many trailers from different genres as part of my research and noted down the key codes and conventions that I saw in all of them. I have presented the result in the Prezi below.

   

Film Trailer Storyboard

As part of the planning before I create the film trailer it is important that I create an initial brief storyboard so that I know myself how I want the trailer to be structured. I made a Prezi which is below to present the storyboard.

Film Pitch Feedback

To get feedback on our movie idea from the film pitch, we asked some students to watch our film pitch and give us feedback. We asked a few questions to them individually to get their response and opinion. The video linked below was the result...
https://youtu.be/5z_u-oMc-cQ

We will take this feedback and implement it into the further planning and development of our film. The first interviewee said that they felt that our film needed another twist to make the film more dramatic. This will take a lot longer to decide upon because we will need to revise the whole story line as a group. The second person said that they would change the name. None of the other participants believed we should change the name and neither do we because it took a while to think off and we like it. The last participant said they think the names are too simple, I agree to an extent because the names are quite simple and generic. I feel like while our names are pretty normal, we've made them too normal which reflects badly.

Film Pitch

In my group consisting of myself, Ben and Dan we discussed our film over the last month and decided upon our plot, genre, characters and other important factors. Our film will be of a crime/thriller genre and will be based on an investigation regarding murder. The twist in our film comes from the idea that the evidence leads nowhere and the chief detective ends up being involved with the crimes. We have created a film pitch for our film to gain funding and publicity; just follow the link below to watch. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diCTMCh3WKs

UPDATE 02/11/2016

After posting up the trailers that I am analysing, I plan to spend the next week preparing a film pitch, recording the film pitch and then getting feedback from our audience. Aside from this I plan to go more into detail about these trailers I have looked at over the next few weeks and identify the key codes and conventions.

'The Theory of Everything' Trailer and How it Shows Why the Film was Made

The YouTube link bellow is of a video I have made on the trailer of The Theory of Everything. I was unable to post it directly onto blogger because the file size was still too big.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD4WXmGOYGQ

'The Winter Soldier' Trailer and How it Shows Why the Film was Made

The YouTube link bellow is of a video I have made on the trailer of The Winter Soldier. I was unable to post it directly onto blogger becaue the file size was still too big.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck_xg04ZxS0

How the 'A Game Of Shadows' Trailer Represents Why the Film was Made

The YouTube link bellow is of a video I have made on the trailer of Game of Shadows. I was unable to post it directly onto blogger becaue despite the low quality, the file size was still too big.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owz8TVO0imc

Update 03/10/2016

Good evening followers! This week I am working to analyse the trailers of the three movies I have been looking at so far in my project. This is so that I can learn more about how trailers are conformed to a genre and to an audience; before I attempt to create my own trailer. I haven't posted much in the last few weeks but I do aim to start uploading many times a week so you can look forward to that!

Film Pitch Research

Some film producers come up with movie ideas that they wish to pursue, but do not have sufficient funds to produce the movie. Therefore they need to source the money from somewhere. This can be through sponsorship but more often than not producers result to creating a film pitch and asking on websites like 'KickStarter' for people to donate funds to the movie cost. Movie pitches aren't always successful which results in the producers not raising enough money for their movie. On the contrary, many movie pitches are successful; as can be seen on the following website: http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/06/top-25-most-successful-kickstarter-film-pitches/

Most films ask for around $100K of funds to finish a full movie. Although there are smaller films that ask for only $50K or even $20K. On the website above it shows a mixture of film pitches that ask for different amounts of money and all receive more money than they ask for. One of the films called 'Finding Vivian Maier' is a simple short documentary film that asked for only $20K. In return the film raised over 500% of what they asked which was $105,042. This film is incredible proof that film pitching can be very successful and if you're desperate, it will not be a waste of time for you to make one. If a movie does get a lot more money than the producers had asked for then the new budget can be used for a better production and promotional campaign.

Why Was 'Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows' Made

 A Game of Shadows is the sequel to the film 'Sherlock Holmes' that came out in 2009. Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional British detective so it is not hard to gain an audience. The film is a remake of the original films although the new films had a different light on Sherlock's character. The traditional films were slow and serious whereas the remake was funny and full of action. This new representation of the character would make a successful film in modern times due to young people thriving on excitement rather than intellect and puzzle. The film Game of Shadows is the sequel to the first film which continues into the second film so this film was required to finish the story. The first film was also very successful so the producers were eager to get another out.

Why 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Was Made

The Marvel universe is the comic series of many super heroes including Iron Man, The Hulk and Thor. Amongst these is Captain America. All the heroes have made two movies together in 'The Avengers' series but separate from this they all have their own movies where they alone are the star. Captain America now has three of his own films; 'The Winter Soldier' is the second of the trilogy. Steve Rodgers, the actor who plays Captain America, has confirmed that he will be in at least two more Avengers film as there is a whole network of movies that have been planned for many years. This is basically the reason the film was made as there is a huge story of all the different characters and events that needed to take place. In this film a new character is introduced who joins the avengers, and a character from the first film returns and also becomes a much more important figure that the third film is based on. The timing of the release of the marvel universe films has been perfect in that super hero films are the most popular films in the 21st century. The Winter Soldier made $714.4 million in the box office and the second Avengers film made $1.4 billion. As you can see these films are currently a huge success and the fan base is still increasing with the avengers making almost double as much money as The Winter Solider, only two years later. This is why Marvel have been virtually spamming the box office with films before the current super hero craze dies.

Why 'The Theory of Everything' Was Made

'The Theory of Everything' script was written from the book 'Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen' by his ex-wife Jane Wilde Hawking. The book details of when the couple met in university and continues through their life together as Stephen degrades with motor neuron disease. Stephens wife Jane struggles through their years together trying to remain positive and loving while feeling suicidal. The film was ultimately made to tell an inspirational story about the man who should of died young but ended up growing old, and being known as the worlds most intelligent person.

Update 26/09/2016

Hi, I'm going to try to post some update posts like this often but so far I have struggled to get round to it. At this point in my Media Studies coursework I have pretty much just started analysing other films from different genre types to get an idea of how companies gain an audience through their advertising. My next posts will be on why I think these films were made and how they became popular. I am in brief talk with my classmates at this point of forming our trailer groups and coming up with a plot for us to head to. For now though I must get to sleep as it is very late.

Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows Promotional Campaign

Sherlock Holmes is a very famous British franchise so in advertising the film, the producers do not need to express the genre nor set the scene; especially as this film was a squeal. The first form of advertising was two posters that featured either Sherlock standing at the front with Moriarty in the background or the reverse; an example is the photo to the right. This early teaser release set the fans up knowing that the film was continuing from the first film. The next two posters were simply of Sherlock and Moriarty clenching weapons again. The final theatrical poster featured Sherlock and Dr Watson standing in a foggy french alley with a Moriarty figure in the background. Throughout all these posters, the film kept the theme of a blue/grey mist to set the scene.

The first trailer ensured fans that this film would be just like the first film which was important because it was a great movie. The trailer tells the plot very early on, before it continues to spend the rest of the trailer with action shots. This format was a success because it got fans interested. The second trailer was once again mainly action with almost no plot resemblance. Keeping the movie plot virtually secret can stimulate attraction because the fans don't feel like the film has been ruined for them when they walk in the cinema. The third trailer has a few of the shots from other films and shows the characters playing cards which is metaphorical to show Sherlock's struggle. It also includes actor interviews to gain interest, again attracting an audience without revealing the plot.

The film website included everything there is to know about the film before its release. The 'About' section gave fans a rough idea of the plot along with information about the cast and production. Companies that helped promote the film were under partners and there were even a few games under special features.

The promotional campaign of this movie basically evolved around confusion which kept fans guessing. Mainly Downey Jr and some of the cast took part in interviews and talk shows in the upcoming weeks of the films release on December 16th 2011. Releasing the films before Christmas attracts mass family audiences. The film was both produced and distributed around the world by Warner Brothers.

Captain America, The Winter Soldier Promotional Campaign

The Winter Soldier is a film part of the Marvel universe series. It is one of the sequels to both 'The First Avenger' and 'The Avengers Assemble'. The comic character Captain America is the super hero in the film. The Winter soldier was first released in the UK on the 26th of March and then released over a week later in the US on the 4th of April.

In July 2013, 8 months before the film was released, a poster was published of his damaged shield. This created the initial interest and excitement for the films from the franchise fans. The cast also attended the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con and sat at a panel. In October 2013 Marvel released the first trailer for The Winter Solider, the trailer was a huge success and made fans very excited for the film to come. The trailer revealed plenty of action and banter which was exactly what the fans needed to see. The trailer had 23.5 million views in only 24 hours which goes to show how effective a trailer is in advertising a film.

On February the 2nd 2014 at the Superbowl Marvel advertised the film at $4 million per a 30 second spot. Later on in February Gameloft announced that a game would be released at the same time as the film. The aim of this would be to attract even more audience from a different source of attraction. For example, children who do not necessarily use websites like YouTube, may find out and become interested in the film through seeing the app and downloading it on the apple app store or the google store.

Fans spread advertisement all over social media through posting photos made on the 'Captain America Experience' app. This was an app that enabled fans to take photos of themselves with a Captain America filter. On March 18th a one hour special aired on ABC called 'Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe' which included a sneak peak clip of the new Captain America film. In the weeks leading up to the film and after the film release, the cast took part in many interviews with TV presenters and online stars. Finally, Samuel Jackson appeared in the Sky broadband adverts for a while to promote the film.

The Theory of Everything Promotional Campaign

The Theory of Everything was released in the United States on 7th November 2014 at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film spread over two months across the world and released in Britain on the 1st of January 2015. The film is based on the life of the famous physician Stephan Hawkins and focuses on his love life as he slowly degrades with motor neuron disease. The film was produced by working title films and distributed in America by Focus Features. On its opening weekend the film was released in five theatres and made $207,000. The film was distributed in Canada by Entertainment One Films and distributed internationally by Universal Pictures. The film made $122,873,310 in the box office worldwide.

The First trailer was released on the 7th of August 2014. To promote the film universal had a budget of $50,000. They used the little money they had to partner with RadiumOne; RadiumOne are an online advertising platform. RadiumOne engaged with their users and shared the film content. They use the power of social media and use their users to share the film so that friends of friends see it and then share it as well. The campaign was successful and only costed half of the budget. The Theory of Everything Mainly became famous after its elease with its word of it spreading across cinemas and countries.

Introduction

Hello, for my A2 coursework project I will be posting to this blog with all the information about my research, my updates, my planning and in general every stage it will take to create a film trailer. After producing the film trailer in our groups of three, we can then all start individual marketing and advertising.