Media Evaluation

Media Evaluation

‘Pravus’

Oliver Duffy

Introduction

There were four of us in total who worked together on the ‘Pravus’ project, Karl Buckel, Sean Golding, John Burton and myself. Together we decided that we would create a teaser trailer for a sci-fi, horror film. The initial idea was to do a teaser trailer for a modern gangster film, with influences from the series of the very popular Grand Theft Auto video games, however after sitting down and talking about it, the group as a whole decided to change this and do ‘Pravus’ instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksCQYu2S7Jk

Click the link below to view the Grand Theft Auto IV teaser trailer…

Storyline

We are creating a teaser trailer. The basic plot is that a Russian ship has entered British waters without the authority of the British Government. The British open fire and destroy the ship. This ship was actually a cargo ship full of Russian civilians. This prompts Russia to attack Britain. Russian scientists have developed a new virus from a strain of several other viruses to create the new virus, Pravus. There is no vaccine for this. Russian intelligence infiltrate the British water supply. Many people are killed, but everybody with the rare blood type 'o' survive.

The poster which we used in the opening scene when the patient wakes up

GenreThe film ‘Pravus’ has many genres in it. These include sci-fi, horror, thriller and action. It is of course a hybrid. Using lots of different genres gains a wider audience as there is a ‘bit of something’ for everyone. This is what we tried to achieve. The conventions we have used in the teaser trailer all establish the genres. At the start of the film when the patient wakes up, we have used a green filter. This adds a ‘sci-fi’ feel to it and also makes it appear futuristic. The two doctors are dressed with masks, gloves, and white coats – typically how doctors should be dressed, this helps to show that something is wrong because doctors are needed, and also links to the main storyline of the film, about a virus spreading.

Another part of the film shows one character collapsing on the floor and dying. This establishes the thriller and horror genres which are present in the film. Before the character dies we can see him running through back alleys, the editing is fast-paced. This helps to establish the action genre which is present in the film.

It was vital to use typical elements in the teaser trailer so that the audience can clearly see what genres are involved in the film, giving a taster of what is available to the audience if they were to go and actually watch the film. The main idea of a teaser trailer is to give the audience a taste of the film, but not give too much away.

Using typical elements throughout the teaser trailer quickly establishes genres. The audience like genres because they like the expected.

“Repetition and recognition leads to expectation and anticipation” – G Burton

The back alley where one of the characters (John Burton) runs down and eventually collapses and dies.

Genre

Although generally we stuck to the rules of creating a teaser trailer, there were certain things which we did differently. A lot of the footage was shot with a handheld camera using a point-of-view angle. This is different to most teaser trailers around today. By breaking certain rules, as a group, we believe that it helps make our film standout and be different from the rest.

We also used flashbacks of dead people covered up, this, alongside the beeping noise, was a chilling reminder that death was just around the corner! The flashbacks were edited and made into black and white, mainly to show the audience that it was a different time, so that it didn’t confuse the audience. The black and white effect also helped to make the shots look darker and more gloomy.

The narrative of the teaser trailer was non-linear, the teaser trailer didn’t flow in chronological order. We didn’t use any voice-overs, music or noise from the characters, just the beeping noise heard commonly in a hospital. We also didn’t use any captions, this was so that we didn’t give too much away and believe that the video footage was enough to tell the story and let the audience work out what was going on for themselves.

With breaking certain rules when creating this teaser trailer it has made this teaser trailer different to the rest. This would hopefully attract the audience and stop them getting bored of seeing the same types of stereotypical horror/sci-fi films over and over again.

As a group we believe that the film is likely to be successful because it contains hybridity with the genres used. This gives the film a wider market for its audience. As well as this the teaser trailer is different and so offers something new to the audience.

Genre

We had lots of inspiration when creating this teaser trailer. Two films which inspired us a great deal were 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle and the sequel 28 Weeks Later, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Both these films are about a virus which is spreading from person to person, turning them into monstrous people.

The 28 Weeks Later logo

Genre

The 28 Weeks Later logo contains more of the horror genre in it than the sci-fi genre, our film Pravus contains more of the sci-fi genre than the horror genre. This can be seen with the colour schemes used.

We have stuck to the classic green sci-fi lookA blood red colour is used here, linking to horror and torture

Genre

We also got inspiration from the teaser trailer REC.

"REC" turns on a young TV reporter and her cameraman who cover the night shift at the local fire station. Receiving a call from an old lady trapped in her house, they reach her building to hear horrifying screams -- which begin a long nightmare and a uniquely dramatic TV report. (From www.imdb.com)

The REC teaser trailer uses handheld footage and also uses a repetitive phone ring noise when it cuts from footage to a caption.

Click below to view the REC teaser trailer…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqsOaV7NUVM

Genre

Branding

“A brand is not a product, but a make of a product. Branding is about creating an image that people link to a certain type of product and turns a product into something unique. Repeating an advert over and over again, makes the brand image or message of a product, fix into our minds.”

The film ‘Up’ has used branding to raise awareness of the film. The same theme and colour schemes have been used on the website, the trailers and the posters, this is branding. The light blue colour used and the colourful animations suggests that this film is going to be a light-hearted, family comedy.

The teaser trailer is released before the full theatrical trailer. The job of the teaser trailer is to gain awareness that the film will be released at sometimes. It is used to get people to start talking about the film, and creates enigmas, ‘what is the film about?’, ‘what’s going to happen next?’ Most of the time the teaser trailer doesn’t include an exact date of when the film is coming out, this is because the producer doesn’t actually have a fixed date and the film is probably still being made.

The full theatrical trailer will contain a date of when the film is being released. It will also contain footage from the film, as when the full theatrical trailer is released, the film will have been finished, this gets the audience ready and advertises the film.

Posters are also produced to raise awareness and establish a brand image. Most films will also have a website which contains information about the film. The branding will be similar on the website as well.

Branding

To view the teaser trailer click below…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE_V0g9q4g0

To view the full theatrical trailer click below…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORFWdXl_zJ4

The same colour schemes are used in each poster

Branding

Here on the ‘Up’ website, the theme is the same as on the posters and trailers

Branding

As a group we created two posters as part of our branding. One of the posters was a full theatrical poster and the other was a teaser poster (see blog.) We decided to come up with the tagline ‘Death is Infectious’ and so this tagline was used on the teaser trailer, the full theatrical poster and the teaser poster.

Using the tagline ‘Death is Infectious’ helps create a brand and create enigmas about the film. ‘Why is death infectious?’ ‘Can we stop this infectious virus?’ The teaser trailer and the full theatrical trailer both include a green filter on them, to add a sci-fi look. The teaser trailer is a bit different however because it is mainly black and white, with red blood dripping from the tap. This made the blood stand out better and made the poster appear more frightening. This is another example of how we have broken the rules, as although the full theatrical trailer and the full theatrical poster are consistent with the colour schemes and the branding, the teaser trailer is slightly different. The magazine cover also contained a green look to it, again giving a sci-fi feel.

Branding

Other examples of branding…

Branding

Audience FeedbackWe a questionnaire at the start of the project to find out about what the audience are interested in and how they use the media etc.1) What is your gender

a) Male (7)b) Female (3)

2) How old are you?

a) <12 (1)b) 12-15 (3)c) 16-18 (5)d) 19-25 (1)e) 25> (0)

3) How do you like to watch films?

a) DVD (2)b) Movie channels (1)c) Cinema (3)d) Internet(4

4) How many times a month do you go cinema?

a) Never(2)b) 1(4)c) 2(3)d) 3(1)e) 4>(0)

5) What is your favorite film genre?

a) Comedy (2)b) Horror (3)c) Science Fiction (4)d) Action Adventure (1)

6) What forms of advertising do you like?

a) Billboards (1)b) Bus advertisements (0)c) Freebies (1)d) Posters (3)e) Magazine adverts (1)f) Interviews with cast (0)g) Trailers (4)

7) What is your favorite film industry?

a) British (3)b) Hollywood (7)c) other (0)

From our questionnaire and with our own knowledge we decided that our target audience was going to be: Male Aged 16-25 Enjoys cinema Enjoys watching films online Science Fiction Horror Most popular form of advertisement are teaser trailers and posters

This was a good target audience because these were the most popular choices in the questionnaire. To have a successful film you need a wide audience, this target audience was the widest.

Audience Feedback

The whole class sat down and watched our teaser trailer on a projected screen. After the teaser trailer had finished, they filled in a sheet which had six questions on…

1) Do you think the product is typical of film trailers? If so in what ways is it similar?

2) Does anything make it different or does it stand out from typical teaser trailers? How?

3) Does it work? Why?

4) Name two impressive/interesting elements from the video

5) Could this product be stronger? How?

6) Do you think the pace of the video is typical of this kind of product?

Audience Feedback

These were somebody’s answers…

Audience Feedback

These were another person’s answers…

Audience Feedback

The results in bar chart form…

Audience Feedback

The results in bar chart form…

Audience Feedback

Media TechnologiesTo create the teaser trailer and the rest of the project I used several pieces of equipment…

Apple Mac – edit the project using certain software

Digital Camera – take location shots

Pen Drive – save files externally and transfer files to other PCs

Camcorder – record the footage of the teaser trailer

To create the teaser trailer and the rest of the project I used several pieces of software…

Final Cut Express – edit the footage

Adobe InDesign – create posters and magazine cover

Adobe Photoshop – edit images

Media Technologies

To create the teaser trailer and the rest of the project I used several websites for ideas, inspirations and information…

www.youtube.com – looking at other trailers for inspirations, uploading Pravus for extra feedback

www.imdb.com – looking at information about other films

Media Technologies

Final Cut Express allowed us to edit the footage which we had taken. For the flash backs we added a black and white effect. When the patient wakes up at the start we used a green filter, for the sci-fi look. Final Cut Express also allowed us to crop bits of footage that we didn’t need and allowed us to create a fast-paced teaser trailer.

Throughout the teaser trailer there is a constant beeping noise. This had to be downloaded off the internet due to us not being able to create the noise ourselves. Also the EKG flat line which occurs in the teaser trailer also had to be downloaded off the internet because we weren’t able to create this ourselves in the time that we had and the facilities that we were given. The EKG flat line was downloaded off YouTube, the link is, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8i79SWkBIo.

Media Technologies

The timeline on Final Cut Express, this showed how long the footage was, and was useful when cropping footage

Various buttons to edit the footage, crop material etc.

Media Technologies

The software which I enjoyed using the most was Adobe InDesign. In the teaser trailer there is a newspaper with the title, ‘Pravus Virus Spreads’. This was edited using Adobe InDesign. First of all I found a normal newspaper. I then edited it on Adobe InDesign to change the title to make it relevant to the film Pravus.

The original image The edited image

The title is now relevant to the film

The bullet points are relevant to the UK

Media Technologies

Teaser Trailer

I was involved in all aspects of the making of this project, as was the rest of the group. I contributed to making and designing the magazine, designing the teaser poster, edit parts of the footage and getting background information and research.

To view the Pravus teaser trailer click the link below…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlXwZkhJCqc