After changing the idea and genre of our film, I have decided to do some research into some Christmas film clichés that I may/may not include in the opening of my film. 1. Unrealistic amount of snow
Something that appears in most Christmas films is defiantly snow, and tons of it! This adds to the Christmas feel and the audience will easily be able to identify the genre just by this mise en scene. Typically american Christmas films produced by large institutions feature excessive amounts of snow, which sometimes looks somewhat unrealistic. Although it would be great to have snow in my film ...this is a convention of Christmas films that I am not certain on replicating in my film as it can not be guaranteed that snow will be forecasted to fit with my filming schedule. 2. The neighbours are your enemies
Something that is common on all Christmas films is that the main dominating family in the film do not get along with their neighbours! As a fan of the Christmas genre this is something I have seen before many times, in films such as Christmas with the Kranks. This is a film I am hoping to take inspiration from therefore maybe this is something to include in my story line if I decide to include neighbours!
3. Santa gets an impostor
This is a cliche that will not be appearing my film as Santa is going to feature in the trailer, yet won't be one of the main protagonists. Christmas films that include characters like Santa typically appeal to a younger demographic yet my trailer is going to be aimed at those teenage/adult range.
After distributing my survey to a variety of people between the ages of 16-20, 6 have completed my online survey regarding film trailers. This is clearly not enoughresults as 6 is a significantly small amount of people, and I aim for about 10-15 people to complete it in order to gain a wider range of results so I can analyse effectively. However for the mean time, I thought I would analyse the 6 answered surveys that are completed.
I included this question in order to establish whether the demographic are interested in watching the trailer first in order to get a understanding of if the film is worth a watch. From the results it is evident that there is a 50/50 split between very likely and likely, therefore it is essential that a competent trailer is produced as this will be a reflection of the real film, and from the results we can see that it is frequent that my target will watch the trailer to decide whether the real film is worth a watch. Linking to the purpose of a trailer being to entice the viewers to watch the full film.
As I am still in the planning stages of my trailer, it is not yet clarified whether I am going to produce a theatrical or teaser trailer. These results showing that the audience prefer theatrical trailers helps aid this problem I am yet to solve! This gives me a definite indication that I will produce a theatrical trailer. A theatrical trailer will therefore allow me to include more shot types and exhale my skills more efficiently as theatrical trailers are conventionally longer than a teaser.
I included this questions as it enabled me to gain a understanding of what film trailers people of my target demographic watch - therefore indicating the type of films they are into helping me with my narrative. Also, this question allows me to do some further research into what trailers have been watched but haven't done a good enough job of enticing the viewer to see the film at the cinema. For example 'Girl on the train' appears twice in the results of this question, meaning that there might be a specific reason for this - or contrastingly they just might not have got round to watching it yet as it is a current film in the market! I will do some further research into this.
This question enabled me to get a sense of whether trailers that deploy the whole narrative from start to finish work effectively. From the results it shows that 2 people think this works effectively, however a greater number of 4 people think that this doesn't entice a viewer to watch the film. Based on these results, in my trailer, I am going to aim to keep the ending omniscient in order to give people a reason to watch the full film and find out what happens.
This question enabled me to get some research on what sound will work effectively in my trailer. It is a common convention for trailers to have a voice over, however I was unsure whether this is something that my target audience find powerful, or contrastingly distracting. From the results 1 person thinks that it is slightly distracting, 3 people think it is not very distracting and 2 people aren't quite decided on what they think. This is a varied distribution of results - however the largest distribution is with 3 people who are not fazed by a voice over, which is something I could consider to deploy my narrative in the trailer.
In the creation of this questionnaire I wanted to gain a idea from a specific target audience of what trailers do not work effectively and in fact subvert the viewer from watching the film. Therefore from the results of 6 and 7 I was able to do so. 4 people interestingly said that they have never been put off by a trailer, however 2 people challenged this and said that they have been put off. I included question 7 to find out specifically what film/films have done so. One result showed that the person cant remember - meaning that the film trailer obviously didn't impact the viewer enough to even remember the name!...Something that I am definitely trying to avoid! The other named 21 jump street, further to this I will do some research into why this trailer didn't adhere to it's purpose and entice the viewer into watching the whole film.
This is the mood board that I have created in order to give me a replication the sort of film I am planning on creating in the coming months. As my film is a Christmas film, all of the images I have included are seasonal related - which give a indication of what the type of locations I want to include. These settings include - London in the festive period, Toy shop such as Hamleys, Christmas carol concert, Christmas in the household. This variety will allow me to produce the camera shots and cinematography that I am capable of.
Despite this, there is a range of low key and high key lighting used which I am going to experiment with in my film. The colour tone that is deployed in these images have a slight sepia effect which is obviously a common convention of festive films. This is something I will defiantly aim to replicate in my film. From my mood board it is evident that I want to include a range of different characters, varying from toddlers to elder characters - this mainly to give a sense of what Christmas time is like for a range of people and to give the overall film a family, festive, fun feel appealing to a wide demographic.
Today, Olivia (my co-producer) and I have been thinking deeply about the locations that we would like to include in our film, after looking at our mood board and doing some research we are certain that we want to film a short scene in some stores in the City as they will be perfect during the festive period. This would allow us to use variety of shots in a great location such as the toy store Hamleys, located in London. However to do so, we have to be granted permission from the store, therefore I researched who to contact and have sent an email which I will also forward onto other locations which we hope to film in - such as Harrods etc. The email is below...
The intertitles I will be analysing are for the festive romantic comedy film "The Holiday".
The first intertitle that we are exposed to is in the format of a split screen, the words written in a sans serif font - imposing the romantic element throughout the film. The words that are used state the characters name and her location, giving a indication to the setting before the film has began, allowing the audience to identify/escape based on the location. The text is written in a blue font, suggesting the type of character and personality that the character is going to be in which accompanies the blue titles - in this case a cool and collective character. Despite this, the split screen has been used so that the audience can immediately put a face to the characters name, proposing a relationship between the protagonist and the audience, enticing them to watch the film.
This is again evident with the opposing female protagonist Iris, her name and location is again stated, in this case 'England', allowing those in England to identify with the film and characters as well as the American consumers, appealing to a wide demographic.
The next intertitle states the previous films in which the makers of 'The Holiday' have directed. This makes the audience confident that they will produce a successful film that is worth watching. Despite this, these intertitles have been included as they will appeal to a secondary target audience (those lovers and fans of "what women want" and "somethings gotta give" as well the primary target audience that will be watching for the USP or other values.
Similarly to the first intertitles we are exposed to, the characters featuring in the film appear in the format of a split screen accompanied by there real life names, in this case 'Cameron Diaz', the text is written in the same sans serif font to show the significant similarity running throughout making the trailer more recognisable to the audience. Although it is the same character in the photo, the actresses real name has been used so that the audience can escape from the 'Amanda' that they are yet to know and identify with the popular and established actress that they have seen in previous films. This immediately is a unique selling point as the audience will know that they are guaranteed a great watch due to the actress/actress. This intertitle is repeated with the other protagonists such as Kate Winslet and Jude Law.
This intertitle states the name of the film, and significantly contrasting to the previous intertitles, the text is written in a larger font suggesting to the audience that this is the most important one yet and coherently the one that needs to be remembered. Like the rest of the intertitles, the white background contrasts with the blue font resulting in the text standing out and the white colour imposes the purity that is going to evident throughout the film. This text is a mixture between sans serif font and serif font - this suggests that there will be elements of romance and some harsher meaning throughout the film.
In my production, something I defiantly feel works well and is something potentially I would like to replicate is the editing use of split screening the images and the intertiles stating the characters name and where they are located in the film - as I feel like this imposes a relationship between the audience and the protagonists allowing the audience to relate to them creating a more satisfied targeted demographic.
My team member (Olivia) and I have decided that we are making a slight amendment to our genre, we have been considering including a Christmas element to our film and we have now finalised this idea! We have decided on a Chick Flick genre with a seasonal Christmas theme. We are only in the planning stages yet we are very excited to begin the filming of this trailer in the coming months!
