- 1. Trailer Storyline/ narrative, pace, target audience, sound
both diegetic and non-diegetic, voice overs, typography, types of
shots and pace are some of the things I closely considered. I
decided to follow most of the conventions of real media products,
as I wanted my audience to be able to easily recognise what my
products were and also the genre they belonged too. Shots I noticed
that close-up shots especially of characters faces and their
expressions at key points were conventional of real thriller
trailers that I analysed such as Se7en. I followed this convention
using close-up shots at crucial parts of the trailer such as; when
Rachels friends are being kidnapped
2. Trailer shots Sam has been kidnapped in this shot and, her
kidnapper (the eliminator) is opening the door to where she has
been locked away. The close up shot has exaggerated the terror and
fear in her facial expression. Allowing the audience to easily
sympathise with the character (Sam). Furthermore, the angle used in
this shot is a slight high-angle which is used to make the object
seem inferior typically used for the damsel in distress. 3. Trailer
shots Also, when Rebecca, is tied up, I have filmed this scene
using a close-up shot when you see her hands struggling to untie
her legs, once again in order to for the audience to be able to
tell this is a key scene and instantly notice that Rebecca is tied
up so they are aware she is being eliminated. I also slowed this
scene down to create more of an impact This also helped me to
realise how the combination of sound, type of shot, pace and angle
can work together to create a suspense filled atmosphere which
evokes feelings of anxiety in the viewers. 4. Trailer shots
Alternatively, close ups have been used in real thriller trailers
in order to create a sense of mystery such as in se7ens trailer
with the metronome and the feet. The viewer is unaware of the whole
context of the shot (mise-en-scene) therefore, without this
information they are left asking questions such as; who/what is
that? What is happening? I used a close-up shot for to add mystery
to my trailer, this was at the beginning of the trailer; there is a
close-up of gloved hands rubbing together, in hopes of getting the
viewer to ask themselves questions already such as; what is that,
(after realising its hands) then, whos hands are they? Who is this
person? And what is there role/ significance in the film? 5.
Narrative Throughout the A2 course I have been learning media
theory, one of the main theories have been Narrative theory from
this I know that there are two different types of narrative range;
unrestricted and restricted, thrillers are most likely to have
restricted narration which is when only minimal information is
offered regarding the narrative, this is mostly used in thrillers
since they are characteristically mysterious and suspense building
this can only be achieved if parts of the narrative are restricted.
Non-diegetic sound such as sound effects beginning airy and low and
with the occasional loud bang which interrupts scenes with
statements and questions, giving the audience more to question
themselves about hopefully making them want to pay and watch the
film, sine the film is a commodity I am trying to sell. 6.
Narrative I have managed to keep the narrative of my trailer
restricted just like the real trailers through a range of different
techniques such as, camera shots, angles, sound and edits/
transitions. I have achieved this mainly by using a lot of close-
up, meaning that the audiences view is literally restricted not
allowing them to see the whole setting, which hides clues and
information 7. Narrative Todorov believed that all films follow the
same narrative pattern of : 1. State of Equilibrium at bus stop 2.
Disruption of the Equilibrium Sam screams 3. Recognition there has
been a disruption Rachel calls Sam, Rebecca's mum at door 4. An
attempt to repair the damage of the disruption Missing posters,
Rachel walking around 5. A return of restoration or new equilibrium
My trailer has left this as a mystery so the audience will have to
watch the full film to find out the ending, this is what real
trailers do. However, since this is a trailer only the first three
steps are completely evident and the third partly, if all steps
were established in the trailer the audience would feel no need to
watch the film in cinemas. 8. Typography There is a regular
occurrence of Roman styled fonts used in thriller trailers dark and
mysterious tone of the genre. I also believe that some are
semiotics involved in typography giving deeper meanings/
connotations such as in se7en whereby, the ts in the typography
resemble crucifixes and the Is candles this relates to the
religious basis/ relation of the plot which is based on the seven
deadly sins. 9. Typography Additionally, for the title of the film
Seven there has been a play on the word, using a number 7 for the
V, and also added a tally adding up 7. I decided to do something
similar using 1 for all of the three Is in EL1M1NAT1ON as my tag
line for the trailer and poster is one by one and also winter is
Eliminating Rachels friends to get to the ONE he wants. 10.
Typography The reason why I followed this convention of the
typography and symbolism was in order to allow the audience to
easily identify the genre of the film trailer and also, so that the
films title becomes more of a brand so its recognisable by just a
glance without having to actually having to read just like what
logos and symbols do. 11. Sound Voice over Once I had previewed my
trailer after my first draft, I received feedback saying that
although the majority of participants understood the storyline, a
few did not so I considered ways to make the plot/ storyline even
clearer to viewers, I went with voice overs, as this was a
convention I often came across in my research when analyzing real
thriller trailers. However, my voice over is slightly different to
that of the real thriller trailers I had seen as it was coming from
the voice of the mysterious Eliminator who is ever fully seen,
rather than a narrators point of view, I felt this made it more
personal and gave the audience more of a connection with the
characters on screen. I however did follow the convention of the
deep tone of voice for the voice over, as I believe this adds to
the overall mystery and dark tone of the trailer. The link below is
the voice over recording before I manipulated it.
https://soundcloud.com/el1m1nat1on-project/raw-voice-over 12.
Camera movement - Handheld camera The use of a hand held camera
whilst filming denotes a kind of realism, and makes the audience
feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it
from a detached, frozen position. I decided to begin the trailer
with this type of camera movement exactly for the audience to feel
more of a connection to the trailer straight away in hopes of more
successfully grasping their attention. Allowing me to sell the
product being advertised (film views). * On the next slide you can
see a short clip of this scene 13. Camera movement 14. Characters
The age of the characters tend to be in reasonably close proximity
with that of the target audience in real trailers I believe this is
in order for the audience to be able to relate to the actors on
screen and therefore, lead to more enjoyment and understanding and
a greater ability to empathise with the characters. For this reason
my actors/ characters are an average age of 19, as my target
audience ranges from 15- 25 I feel that this is a good age allowing
them to easily relate.