"Soldier Unknown"_Trailer_analysis

Trailer Conventions & influences:

*Going back to the same clip. Ben's asynchronous speech to the audience, keeps getting cut back to and starts to clear up as the scene progress. Connoting how the answers can start to become clear only after a long journey.
-This was inspired by "Clockwork Orange", as the camera keeps cutting back to "Alex" and his "3 stogies". So we had it cut back to Ben, but instead of a zoom in to Ben we had the image slowly become clearer and more define.

*Music minimal
-This allowed the audience to focus on our trailer and what is happening then the music.
-helped create tension and put people on edge as the music was in the back of their head.

Final_Draft:"Soldier Unknown Trailer"

The Final Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS07MGx9XEY&ab_channel=JackWarner

This is our Final trailer from our film "Soldier Unknown" this is the 7th draft of our trailer after all our feedback from select groups, pier groups, and family/friends.
We took all criticism and opinion under advisement, to restructured and edit our original plan to our final product.

"Soldier Unknown" Film_Poster

Film Poster:

This is the film poster I created for our A2 product.

"Soldier Unknown" Magazine_Cover

Evaulation_Task_No.4: Media_Technology

Camera:
In my A2 production the most valuable item was the camera. This was new media technology as it was a upgraded camera from my last year. we where given this camera from a friend mate who was already in the film making industry. He learnt me his camera for a 2 weeks as he had his own duties to for fill. This gave us a good amount of time to film and if need to make adjustments if needed. By having such a high quality camera it means that when i was filming I was able to film at more of a professional level, thus meaning we are able to have our desired camera shots, movements and angles. This is all down to the camera quality. By having such a high quality camera it allowed us to use different camera techniques such as accurate panning and tracking shots, we also used a shoulder mount for a more steady shot and allowed us to get in better positions than a tripod offered. The shoulder mount allowed our camera man to get in better positions for high and low angles, this so that we can get real detail. This is so that we could show authority dominance with the low angle and in the high shot to show what the girlfriend is vulnerable to our main characters domain.

Adobe Photoshop:

I had some experience with Photoshop before, however I wasn't familiar with the load out and the software. this was an issue to start off with. This meant I had to put some practice in to improve my skills on it. This is because I wanted to make the best film and magazine poster I could. Throughout the making of both poster and cover I asked people for feedback so I could make improvements to get a better cover and poster. In Photoshop it has many tools some I didn’t know what they are but ones that have improved my skills was the magic wand, this is because I needed to cut out the main character so I can place him on my poster and cover. Then I had to create titles for these posts I’ve made and there was a range of titles I had to try and use. To start off it was all trail and error based. The titles I ended up with helped the poster achieve the connotations needed. to make it professional looking I had to use a tool called ‘bevel and emboss’ tool, this allowed me to make the titles look sharp and clean. For example when I made a title that had one on top and one below there would be a big gap by using this tool it allowed me to squeeze the titles together meaning more space on the poster and the titles look good. Finally using Photoshop I was able to change the brightness and the colouring of the poster. this meant I could achieve linking dark colours to match my genre.


Adobe Premier Pro:

This was the software that we used to edit our film trailer. This was a hard step for me as I am not use to the load out or any tools inside. this meant it was a struggle for me to have any input on any editing. This meant I had to take the back seat of the ride. As I didn’t know any technical requirements I was able to advice on when to cut scenes and when to add in fade to blacks in. by using this basic skills it allowed me to be involved with key decisions and also watch my fellow member use tools to make the clip seem even better.

IMovie:
As a group we only used iMovie because they had titles that we could use. This meant we can have our production company logo. One of my partners had iMovie installed already thus meaning I was able to play around with the titles to match our production name. I went with a tree with a sunset. That matched our name of twisted tree vines production.

Blogger:

This was an easy website to use. it is very simple so that it was easy to move around and found things like creating posts etc. It was very accessible this was because it was a simple format, this meant I was able to find my way around and easily post.

Social Media:
I used social media to help organise filming dates in the best way possible. This was an easy tool to use as communication, such as "Messenger" allowed us to message the actors individually and then once we had organized it we made a group chat that meant we could make sure everyone was up to date with the production.

Using Facebook to create a page to promote and advertise the film, we also put behind the scenes photos on the page to let the audience be taken in by the whole production.





Gmail:
I used Gmail many times as its my personal account so it was easy to use and operate. This meant it was easy to communicate with what work that was being shared between us and using it to send across our production logo and the title of the film.

Evaluation_Task_No.3: What_have_you_learned_from_your_audience_feedback?

My thoughts:
When I had finish my A2 product, I didn't believe it was perfect. So after I have published my film trailer, magazine poster and film poster I asked my peers (of family and students) and my teachers what they thought of my product. This allowed me to change and improve my overall grade. Most feedback was positive this was brilliant but some were negative but you will always get this on what every you do. What I do is that i see negative feedback as constructive criticism, this is because all feedback is a way to help you improve. This meant I could make adjustments to the mistakes and improve my blogs and then i can help utilize my conventions when it needed it.

Film trailer:

Positive feedback:

The use of low key lighting is really good in setting the mood and it corresponds with our aim to have good cinematography. this was main aimed at the end with the silhouette of the gun, as it put most of the spectators on edge.

Editing was done well, keeping the the pace and tempo at a pleasant speed, many through it wasn't to fast for them and kept them entertained, as the transition and titles were very smooth.

The wide range of camera shots throughout the film trailer. The audience noticed shaky cam whilst kidnapping, they say said it was good to show realism.

Negative feedback:

The sound quality, as there wasn’t enough sound for most of the audience to enjoy the trailer. As the non-diegetic sound was to quite for the audience to help build up the suspense. Meaning there was a lack of atmosphere.

The Actors where also criticised, as scene where the doctor is talking to the the antagonist he doesn't suit the role of that job which the audience have pointed out. And most said he voice sounded to robotic.


Film Poster:

Positive Feedback:

The layout and colour scheme was really good to the audience as the main image left enough room to have other things around it, and the colour scheme was clean and crisp.

Negative Feedback:

It was too plain and simplistic for some of my peers meaning they  didn't find it that interesting and very dull.

Magazine Cover:

Positive Feedback:

The different colour scheme to the poster and the use of the same image of Murray. Giving the magazine nice look that would attract audiences.


Negative Feedback:

Very simplest look to it and very formal for a magazine cover, as well as the colour scheme. with very simple looking titles.

Evaluation_Task_No.2: How_Effective_is_the_Combination_of_your_Main_Product_and_Ancillary_texts?

For my A2 production the main common elements that I have used in my texts is the use of low key lighting. These can be seen in my magazine cover which didn’t have dark colours has it helps attract people who would be walking past and will notice it as it has bright fragrant colours. While with the film poster and within most of trailer involve dark colours and low key lighting as the trailer conventions of a thriller have low key lighting so we took that and used it in our trailer. With the film poster I used dark and dimming colours to inform people that that there is the unknown is this film and by having both black and white colours garbs the attention of our audience. I also used an army theme thought all of my products. I had a two of our characters in camo gear to make sure the like was not lost from the army.. However, both of the characters look different to one another but I just wanted some synergy within all my different texts. Some of the common occurring colours that were used we dark and moody to give it an edgy feel.

In my magazine and film cover I used a image of our antagonist. This is because when looking at other film and magazine covers I came across Shutter island film poster and the magazine cover was from Empire. This inspired me to use our antagonist as my main image. This is because the audience can address themselves to my poster and cover and begin to see if they can understand him. Our antagonist is suffering from PTSD. this makes him feel like he's in control but can easily lash out at any minute. In both poster and cover he has a terror-stricken. This is was key for me to take this image, because straight away it is leaving an a enigma code for audience to decipher. They might not know what is going on which will make them feel intrigued and will want to watch our trailer then that will entice the audience to watch our film. While his facial expressions is key his clothes he is wearing is also key. This is because it gives key clues to the audience on what the film will consist off. He is wearing a beret this is an indication of who our character has been or who he is. Mise en scene was also key in the use of my 3 texts. On my film and magazine cover the use of dark dual colours on our antagonist represents to the audience that something is wrong with him.

In both of my magazine cover and film poster the image tells the same story of the antagonist/protagonist as being frightened and unsure. These images of the magazine cover and film poster share a very important relationship this is because both images indicate in our film trailer where everything takes a spin for the worst. For example in the film poster  Murray has a shocked and lost look connoting his own mind this could suggest he is having a flash back which can tell the audience something significant has happened at that point in time. By having this strong relationship with the trailer it allows the audience to see the inside of what the film is going to be about, which is key to draw the audience in.

The reasons I attracted the audience due to the involvement of PTSD. This offered verisimilitude to the audience, this key factor could attract the audience because people can relate and sympathise to those dealing with these problems. It also helped by having low key lighting which when compared to my target audience the use of it suggested to the audience it was a action/thriller which broads out to a mass audience as it offers enjoyment to both spectrum's.

With the two print texts the conventions were mainly used in the film poster this was because on the magazine it was meant to stand out more than the film poster. For example on the film poster it has the use of low key lighting and the urban. This was emphasised in my film poster because this was the first thing to be released and we wanted to grab the attention of our audience by using the low key lighting and urban area. This is because it sets of indicators for our audiences as some viewers can relate by understanding the lighting situation and this means they will want to come and watch my film. if I was able to go back i would add some more conventions to magazine cover this is because the only one is that my antagonist is in dark colours to symbolise that there is something wrong and that was emphasised on both magazine cover and film poster but by the magazine cover only having one i will add more conventions to entice the audience in more.

In most Action/Thriller trailers the main effect used would be jump cuts, as they create suspense keeping the audience on the hook. By doing research and looking at other film trailers for example ‘Zodiac’ trailer there use of jump cuts was used in a fast pace, this can also be seen in "A Clockwork Orange" which uses a lot of jumpcuts to leave the audience in suspense. I took advice of that trailer and turned that information onto my film trailer. this is because it has such a positive effect on the audience. Secondly we used some fade to whites but as some flashes this is because we had jump cuts with them to symbolise something positive is happening. Also having some fade to blacks helped as it singled end of a scene.

To sum this all up i believe that my campaign was very successful this is because of my magazine cover and film poster were sharp and clean which meant it was really appealing to our audience and the trailer was really effective as I promoted it on social media. This is because modern cicity are normally are on there phones this means they can send the trailer to their friends if they like it. thus meaning more people would view my product. Also i had to think hard on the conventions of a thriller/action when creating my 3 texts this is because if i was able to exploit them conventions then my product will be good enough to draw in the audience. With all that considered i believe that it was a successful campaign.