Summer Project: 2018

Boyz N The Hood
City Of God
Boyhood
The Breakfast Club
Varsity Blues
The Karate Kid


Film trailer 1: 

The Disaster Artist is about the making of the film “The Room,” and follows Tommy Wiseau who is clearly not American, but tries to be, and Greg Sestero, who is American. The trailer for “The Disaster Artist” quickly and effectively communicates narrative and genre through the funny exchanges between characters to convey to an audience that it is clearly a comedy film. In addition to this, the use of over the top acting from James Franco portraying a famous and likeable character, being Tommy Wiseau, further creates this comedic and light-hearted atmosphere while the characters in the film try to create this movie, “The Room.” This, of course, is the main narrative in the film and has constant references, that were scenes that were hard to film, recreations of times at which Tommy Wiseau was hard to work with, and even inside jokes here and there that fans of “The Room,” the target audience for this film, would understand. One of these being the relief on the casts face when James Franco reads his line normally on the rooftop, as Tommy Wiseau had apparently struggled with that scene overall. On top of being a comedy, there are some elements of drama, whereby we see struggle amongst the stars of the film, not being able to make it in Hollywood, and instead, doing the inspirational thing and making their own work and making their own film. 

Film Trailer 2: 

The film Karate Kid was one of the first films that had used the storyline and narrative of a new student arriving at a new school and therefore create and expand this genre of coming of age and trying to find out who you really are this was made evidently stronger due to the use of the trailer which clearly showed the kid struggling to fit in and his hatred and passion of wanting to go back to his old school as he doesn't fit in and furthermore struggles to overcome typical school issues until the full narrative is explained with the introduction of the karate master who begins to show off his skills and therefore becomes almost a father figure within the movie as know the karate kid is willing to learn from him but clearly says in the trailer "it is not to be used to fight but to know that it is there in case of a fight" and therefore hold its weight against the bully that is attacking him. The use of narrative is explained clearly and evidently thanks to the beginning of the trailer showing the first problem as the discomfort the kid has arrived at a new school and carries on to him facing troubles such as hiding stuff from his mum who is enjoying this new city. 

Film Trailer 3:

Boyz N The Hood was a film that was very well recognised for its work on the mis-en-scene as it clearly showed all the key details of that time period and further expanded our knowledge due to the clothes they were wearing of the cars they were driving as it provided us with a new look on films of those generations due to what they had provided on screen for us to look at and therefore created a new depiction of that time period and therefore showed us how seriously dangerous it was walking around in that time period and the risks you faced every time you stepped out of the house as a gang across the street just talking could be very intimidating and the use of mis-en-scene showed that in full clarity.

Film trailer 4:

The trailer for Jurassic World uses key conventions of movie trailers to create this blockbuster of the summer feeling about the film. One of the first key conventions I noticed was the ominous piece of dialogue at the start where the parent said: “If something chases you, run.” This straight away sets the tone of the trailer and the film as it is clearly foreshadowing what the protagonists will have to do later on in the trailer/film. The use of title cards creates this grand reveal of the park that the protagonists are visiting, in that it is dangerous and exciting, exactly like how the movie is going to pan out. They also give important information, like the release date of the film, which has its own title card to create this sense of importance around the date, almost like it’s an event, like the opening of the park would be. Due to the fact that this film is a reboot of sorts, there are clear intertextual references to the older Jurassic Park films, the main one being the font I believe as it looks similar to that of the font used in the designs of the older Jurassic Park films. In terms of intertextuality there are clear references to social media as well as the previous films, but there is also a theme park, or at least a section of a theme park, dedicated to Jurassic World, in Universal Studios which people can go visit, which is advertised briefly in the end slate of the trailer.

Film trailer 5: Sound Alien

The trailer for “Alien” uses sound strongly as there are many key elements which truly terrify audiences of the horror genre. One of these and arguably the most prominent being the screeching noise we constantly hear throughout the trailer. This sound is so unknown to us that our minds tick away at what this might be, and in my opinion, the scariest things are all figures of our own imaginations, compared to that of one person. As our minds try to work out what horrible creature is making this sound, we hear a deep echo constantly, to remind us that the protagonists are in space, and the constant motif in this film is that you cannot be heard screaming in space, so I think that the echo really helps immerse the audience in the setting. Another prominent sound bite that can be looked at is the non-diegetic heartbeat we hear throughout, this can be reflective of our heartbeats as an audience, or even as the characters as they uncover the mystery that is “Alien.” Later in the trailer there is muffled noise, as if something went wrong when communicating, which only adds to the terror as it seems like the thing that they’re dealing with in space, which only makes our imaginations go wild, is more than a threat to humanity. The final sound bite, ironically, is when there is no sound, as that is when it is suggested that everyone alive is dead, bringing a gruesome and dreadful ending to the trailers, and possibly the protagonists. 

Film trailer 5: 

Throughout the trailer for The Equaliser 2, there are several amazing shots which draw attention to different characters and give impressions of different people. In the beginning, we see Denzel Washington’s face in the side mirror of his car, which he drives people in for a day job we can assume as there is a close-up moments later of his phone with the brand “Lyft” being displayed, clearly displaying his intentions of being in the car. There are then multiple close-ups of people’s faces in Washington’s rearview mirror, which is quite creative in my opinion, and I believe that this is done to portray the range of characters that the protagonist sees on a day to day basis. The establishing shot of the hotel clearly displays an increase in class as Washington seems to be driving a higher profile client. The medium close up that zooms into Washington’s eye is a clean, seamless and creative way to display his point of view, which we only see briefly. This may have been done to show the protagonist’s mind tick and work out how he’s going to make it out of this predicament alive. The fast-paced action sequence uses a lot of medium and long shots in order to capture as much of the action possible, which makes sense as Sony is trying to sell an action film, therefore it only makes sense to have some of it in the trailer to entice the audience to buy tickets for the film.

A Level Media NEA – Brief 4: Film trailer and posters

Film Pitch

Our coursework brief requires us to create our own film trailer and posters for an original movie that we have created in the horror or coming-of-age drama genres. Plan the following:

Title: Moving On

Tagline: In Today's Society Who Really Fits In?

Genre (and sub-genre/hybrid genre if applicable):

Coming of Age Drama

Logline – one sentence that sums up the film and hooks people in (25 words or fewer):

One Kid. One New Environment. One Goal. To Fit In. But first must find out who he is.

Other successful films that are similar to yours:

The Breakfast Club

The Karate Kid

Narrative structure – what happens in the film and in what order:

The kid is packing away his stuff and moving house

Arrives at new house thinking about the old house

Enters new school

Scared and doesn't know where he fits in

Someone offers help

But he is too scared to accept

The person protects him

Know trusts the person and willing to see where it goes

Finally becomes into his own

Hero/heroine, their desires, the conflicts they encounter etc.:

Hero - Moved School Doesn't want to move and doesn't know who he is

Other characters, their narrative role and their audience appeal:

Help -  Helps the new kid fit in and saves him from a fight

The Villain - School Bully

Teacher - Not willing to listen and doesn't understand the kid

The target audience for your film (age, gender, social class, interests etc.):

12 - 21

Male/Female 65%35%

Students/Graduated

Working Class