Audience Research - Film Trailer

In order to make a good quality magazine I have created surveys in order to find out the target audiences preferences, likes and dislikes, what stories interest them and the target audience that it is going to have to appeal to, which is most likely the social classification C1 – E.

Survey monkey results

The results from my survey monkey found that the majority age group that answered my questionnaire was in the 16 - 18 and 24 - 26 age band. So this is going to be my main target audience and so to appeal to this audience I would have to make the text and images relevant to this.

The majority of people that answered my questionnaire were males. This however does not mean my Trailer should be gender biased.

 

I also asked which of the Trailers shown did they like the most, out of The Woman in Black, Saw VII, Insidious or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The people that answered my questionnaire drew between Saw VII and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so I should  style my trailer after these.
 

 

Furthermore, I asked the audience why they watch a trailer, and I found that the majority watch them for entertainment, so I should include interesting features such as a good sounscape and visual effects.

 

 

Finally, I asked my audience whether or not they wanted visual effects added in like an animated title sequence and found that the majority did want visual effects.

 

 

 

 

 

From these results, I can deduce that my audience will want to watch an entertaining film trailer like Saw VII and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, featuring good visual imagery and music.

Audience Research - Film Poster

In order to make a good quality magazine I have created surveys in order to find out the target audiences preferences, likes and dislikes, what stories interest them and the target audience that it is going to have to appeal to, which is most likely the social classification C1 – E.

Survey monkey results
 

The results from my survey monkey found that the majority age group that answered my questionnaire was in the 16 - 18 and 24 - 26 age band. So this is going to be my main target audience and so to appeal to this audience I would have to make the text and images relevant to this.

The majority of people that answered my questionnaire were males. This however does not mean my Poster should be gender biased.

Futhermore, I asked my audience what the Poster should be for either entertainment, information, escape or excitement , from this I found that most people picked Entertainment and information, which means that I should try and create a poster both visually pleasing but with relevant information. 

 

I also asked my audience if they wanted a simple three colour scheme for the poster as most posters don't overuse more than three colours in order to keep the focus on the image and text and not distract the viewer. I found that 75% of people wanted a three colour scheme, most likely because it is a tried and tested method, so I will use this in my poster.

 

 

 

 

Finally, I asked my audience what the most attractive part of the poster is to them, either the colour, layout, imagery or the genre of the poster. I found that most people liked a combination of all of these factors, so in my poster I will focus on all of the different aspects rather than just one or two.

Audience research - Film Magazine

In order to make a good quality magazine I have created surveys in order to find out the target audiences preferences, likes and dislikes, what stories interest them and the target audience that it is going to have to appeal to, which is most likely the social classification C1 – E.

Survey monkey results

The results from my survey monkey found that the majority age group that answered my questionnaire was in the 16 - 18 and 24 - 26 age band. So this is going to be my main target audience and so to appeal to this audience I would have to make the text and images relevant to this.

The majority of people that answered my questionnaire were males. This however does not mean my magazine should be gender biased.

I also asked which of the magazine covers shown did they like the most out of Uncut, Total Film, Premier  or Empire. The people that answered my questionnaire drew between Empire and Total film, so I  should be style my magazine after these publications.

Furthermore, I asked the audience why they read a magazine, and I found that the majority read them for entertainment, so I should include more interesting features such as sneak previews of films and exclusive interviews, rather than long - winded articles on theatres.

 

From my results of the survey monkey, I can deduce that the target audience for my film magazine is going to be a range from 16 - 30 year olds, which are male but not make the magazine too gender biased as not too discourage female readers. These people would prefer to read entertaining stories about the latest film. Because of the age group and demographic of the audience I would place them in the C1 – E social classification. (C1 - Lower middle class and E - urban ventures)

Analysis Poster - A Nightmare On Elm Street

The Masthead on this poster is situated at the bottom of the page, in bold text, with a worn styling to it which connotes the age of the image or the age of the brand as this is a remake of an old classic series. Having a Masthead at the bottom of the page is not a generic convention of posters as the top of the page is generally where titles are featured. The Masthead itself is coloured blood red which instantly connotes the genre to the audience as blood and horror go hand in hand, which also shows that the poster does follow some generic conventions of the horror genre.

It also features the phrase "He knows where you sleep" which does connote an aspect of danger, and directly relates to the content of the film, as it is a remake the film is going to be based around the same characters and roughly the same story, so it is safe to assume that the main Antagonist is still going to attack the other characters in their dreams, as the original had scripted.

The imagery used in the poster is very minimalistic, as it only features a pair of figures looking toward the audience, with the figure in the rear with his face masked from view but with claws, this infers that he is the main villain in the film., This seems to show the other figure is meant to represent one of the victims as she is shown as relatively innocent with little sinister intent hidden. The liquid on the floor seems to be water due to it being reflective, which could connote that the film  is meant to be set in dreams as the victim is shown up to her waist in water when the hallway but the image shows the antagonist standing over her.
 

The colour used in the poster stands out vividly as it only uses different shades of red with a black border. The red is a classic convention of the horror genre, mainly because it resembles the colour of blood and as most horror films feature an aspect of gore it makes it very easy to connote the film genre to an audience. The text featured is coloured white to help differentiate between the imagery and title which is a simple and effective design choice.
 

 

Magazine Analysis - Empire

 

 



The Masthead on this magazine is broad and easily recognizable, although part of the text is hidden by the main image, this works for a well known publication like Empire as it is a long running product, with a wide fan base, allowing for bold stylistic choices such as this. Above the Masthead it says in thick text “Meet the new action A - list!"which connotes the theme of the magazine being films in the action genre , and it seems to have a faded gold colour styling to it, which connotes the old style cinema theme to it as classic cinema used gold stylings on alot of their advertisements and became a staple of the genre, this also connotes that the magazine is a classic of the industry. The main masthead is featured in a striking red colouring, this is the same colour used for most of, if not all of their mastheads as it is the company logo, and an instant indicator to an audience that the magazine is Empire as it ihas become one of the best known film magazines of all time.

The imagery used in the poster is very eye catching, as it features a main image of Robert Downey jr. who is a well renowned actor, and is therefore used as the star vehicle in the publication, this connotes to an audience the quality of the magazine as it features a highly paid, famous actor on the cover, showing that the product is of a high standard. The main image is also from the first Iron Man film, which was a big hit, but also infers the genre of the magazine to the audience, as Iron Man was billed as being a huge - must see action blockbuster, which again reinforces that the magazine is covering the action genre in this issue. The three other teaser images on the cover are of Shia LeBouf, another well known actor, who is featured as Indy jr. which refers to the Indiana Jones series of films, which again connotes not only the genre of the magazine and the film, but the quality of it as well, as it has two major actors on the same cover giving exclusive pictures and interviews, which tells an audience how good this product is. The second teaser image is from "The Chronicles of Narnia" and the third from "Speed Racer" these are both family - action films which connotes that the magazines audience is very broad as it appeals to both younger - teenage audiences and also older, more sophisticated readers as it features a variety of films which appeal to a wide audince.

The typography used on the cover follows the same style as the masthead, and the text itself is very  in your face, which isn't appealing to a specific audience as the text does get the message across quickly and effectively, using bold and clear font. All the text used is precise and to the point, without having reems of text taking up the entirety of the cover, insted, it uses minimalistic phrases in order to keep the magazine uncluttered,  making the overall image more clean cut and proffessional.
 

The colour used on the cover stands out vividly as it contrasting shades of red, balck, white and gold, which create a visually pleasing colour scheme which would appeal to a wider audience as the colour used is neutral and not gender biased. The colour on the magazine is used effectively to seperate different images and text, like at the bottom the have used white and red font so it is easier for the audience to read, making sure the text does not blur together, which is an effective style choice with added benefits for the reader.

 

Analysis Trailer - The Woman In Black

 

The target audience for this film is mainly teenagers and adults due to the nature of the film, although its age rating is only a 12, this however could just be another way of bringing in audiences due to more people being able to watch the movie. This along with the fact that the star vehicle is Daniel Radcliffe who was the star in the recently concluded Harry potter Saga of films which will also help to attract an audience purely from his fanbase and also because he has starred in a highly successful series of films aimed at a younger audience it may help to attract younger viewers to the cinemas.

The film’s genre is horror, you can tell this from the trailers from the use of; Fog, Heavy rain, an abandoned mansion, barren fields, flooding, dark lighting and whispers and screams which have all been bundled into this one short trailer. The trailer also connotes the genre quite clearly because of the types of shot it uses, they include quite a few close ups of the protagonist going into dimly lit, ominous looking rooms and also a particularly interesting tracking shot of where they are watching the protagonist enter a room from the perspective of the doorway and slowly moving backwards as he is approaching them creating this mystery and tension as to where he is going.

The opening of the trailer starts with quick flashes of the producers’ logos and goes directly into building a background as to what is going on, from then it uses progressively quickening scenes where there is a voice - over giving a brief overview of what is occurring at the time. The scenes fade to black with each transition and there is a drum that is played during the climatic scenes in the trailer adding the overall tension to the video.

They used special effects in the trailer such as fog and heavy rain, although these seem generic they really add to the overall effect of mystery that the film portrays and help to connote the sinister setting that the directors where aiming to create. The trailer does not feature much else in the way of special effects, they do however, use colour to good effect which is demonstrated well inside the mansion itself where all of the metal work was coloured a dusty brass which helps to portray the age and state/condition of the mansion to the audience.

Analysis Poster - 28 Weeks Later

 

The Masthead on this poster is big and bold with a worn styling to it which connotes the age of the image, and directly relates to the title 28 weeks later as the name of the film suggests a unit of time; this creates a link between the style used and the theme of the film. The Masthead itself says in thick text “WARNING!” which does connote an aspect of danger, and it does seem to have a faint blood spatter across some of the lettering which helps to infer the danger element, and does connote the horror genre through its use, although subtle.

The imagery used in the poster is very minimalistic, as it only features a figure in a biohazard control suit wielding an assault rifle, but the image reinforces the danger aspect of the image and is in keeping with the style. It also seems very realistic as it does seem like a genuine quarantine poster, especially with the use of the biohazard symbol which altogether connote that there is some kind of infection or disease which is threatening human life. The only other imagery used is the border of the images which connotes a sort of professionalism to it as if it was government issued, and the entire poster seems like it was designed to instil fear into those who have been quarantined.

The typography used in the poster follows the same style as the masthead, and the text itself really reinforces the ideology of the film having “Maintain the quarantine” as the top line which easily connotes the content of the film to an audience and it also features more aggressive text saying “deadly force” which connotes that disobedience of the warnings will be fatal. This helps to connote the situation to the audience, as the entirety of the text seems like a military or government force made it.

The colour used in the poster stands out vividly as it only uses different shades of red with a white border. The red is a classic convention of the horror genre, mainly because it resembles the colour of blood and as most horror films feature an aspect of gore it makes it very easy to connote the film genre to an audience. The white border is also useful in that it helps to separate the colour of the text from the main image. The white around the outside also aids the verisimilitude of the poster as it actually looks like a real poster that would be issued, bar the film title.

The film genre is quite easy to identify, although at first glance you may mistake it for an action film, however, after reading the text and seeing the style of images it does seem more like a horror film poster, as it doesn’t seem cheesy like some action posters and has a very serious appearance.

Although it may not be the clearest horror poster ever devised it is very effective at connoting the film style and content, using common conventions and minimalistic imagery.

Trailer - Saw VII

This is the trailer for saw VII, I looked at this trailer as this is a long running film franchise and a classic of the horror genre. I looked at this trailer for an idea of the regular common conventions and styles used in a horror trailer, however, this trailer is unique in the fact it has certain CGI segments in which they use to virtyually transport the viewer around the rooms, and using small television screens to show actual footage. Unfortunately, this is something that we will most likely not be able to replicate despite it's effectiveness due to the programs required to create this sort of imagery.
The other standard footage is what i will try to incorporate into my production, along with the same tense and atmospheric music, which I can create using a combination of Final Cut and Garage Band.

The target audience for this film is mainly adults due to the nature of the film, and the age classification of 18 reflects this, however,  this would seem to reduce the potential audience of the film as younger audiences would not be able to view it, due to it's use of nonsensical violence. The tailer itself has no star vehicle as the actors featured are not featured, conversely a lot of actors in the horror genre are not famous due to there viewership being smaller when compared to the action or comedy genre's.

The film’s genre is horror, you can tell this from the trailers from the heavy use of; dim lighting, blood stains, weapons and screams, which have all been bundled into this one  trailer. The trailer also connotes the genre quite clearly because of the types of shot it uses, they include quite a few close ups of the protagonist going into dimly lit, ominous looking rooms and also a tracking shot of where they are watching the protagonist enter a room from the perspective of the doorway and slowly moving backwards as he is approaching them creating this mystery and tension as to where he is going. They also use fast cuts between flashing lights and the protagonist, this creates a sensation of panic for an audience when twinned with the screams, and also helps to immerse the audience in the film.
 

The trailer goes straight into the narrative, this differs from a lot of film trailers, which tend to set the scene first and introduce the characters, however, by going straight into the story they give the audience a taste of what the film is about and its content. This seems to work for this trailer in particular as this franchise is very well known, so revealing some of the narrative gives the audience a taster of what they know and love.

They used special effects in the trailer such as CGI, although these seem generic they really add to the overall effect of panic and danger that the film portrays and help to connote the sinister setting that the directors where aiming to create. The trailer does not feature much else in the way of special effects, they do however, use colour to good effect which is demonstrated well inside each animated room, where all of the furniture are made with aged materials and damaged or blood covered objects, for example the bloodstained hook in one of the CGI rooms. These simple items really connote the genre, content and intent of the film to the audience.

Institution Research

We researched various institutions that produce magazines for different companies, the institutions we looked at were the four main institutions for magazine production, these are; Bauer media who are the largest privately owned publisher in europe, IPC media who have been producing magazines since the 1950's, Hearst one of the biggest fashion magazine publishers and Conde Nast who produce a wide variety of magazines from automotive to fashion.

The magazines that I analysed were; Kerrang and Q, both of these magazines are owned by Bauer. The research for Bauer media and other magazine producers is on the prezi that has been created.

My magazine would most likely fit into the category of main stream magazines, as it doesn't go against the common conventions of music magazines and so would most likely be produced by a company like IPC media or Bauer, who produce mainstream music magazines like Q and NME.

New media technology has created many new advantages and disadvantages for both existing companies and also new companies. The advantages for new companies is that they have a chance to diversify themselves by using digital production to distribute magazines making them interactive and unique allowing them to enter a relatively new market and have a fair chance to succeed, whereas, the bigger oligopolies are going to have some of their market dominance removed because of this new, cheap digital distribution, however, the oligopolies can also press there respective companies into creating digital distribution giving them a wider audience and allowing them to produce magazines for businesses abroad because they only have to send the file instead of printing hundreds of thousands of magazines and then transporting them to shops around the nation.

My initial thoughts on the style/genre I wish to work in

My initial thoughts about the genre I wish to work in revolved around Horror; I have chosen the Horror genre because there are a wide variety of styles you can use when making a Horror film. I liked this style of film particularly because Horror films are not overly action packed liked your everyday action film would be, but instead it uses music and tension to create an atmosphere and convey it to the audience. This being said it will be easier to make a trailer for the Horror film because there are not as many standard conventions that have to be followed when compared to the action genre (Cars, Girls, Guns, Explosions, etc.) I also believe it should be quite easy to convey the films genre through this medium because of the standard conventions of horror which would include tense music, screams, dark lighting, and blood and gore etc. making a nice list of things to put into the trailer. Also, Horror films do not usually feature big name actors which means our trailer will not have to feature any recognisable actors to be successful.

Below I have listed the the most successful film genres from 1995 to 2012

As you can see from the figures above, the most successful film genres are comedy, adventure, drama and action. The reason we did not make a trailer in these genres was because most action and adventure titles have a high amount of expensive special effects like explosions and car chases etc. 

An example of a top selling film of 2012 would be 'The Avengers', this film made a total of $1,511,757,910 at the box office,  making it one of the best selling action films of all time. The reasons why it was so successful would be because of the all star cast featuring the likes of Robert Downey jr., Samuel.L.Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlet Johansen and more, which alone would be enough to attract an audience, along with the full spectrum of special effects, the CGI alone costing a fifth of the entire expenditure. Robert Downey jr. was paid $50 million for his role in the action blockbuster. When you compare the budget and tools available to most action film productions to our own media project, we do not have anything capable of producing the effects needed, making this genre not applicable for our groups trailer.

Another example here is 'The Hobbit' one of Peter Jackson's latest films, this is an Adventure film and as the trailer and film show it uses a wide variety of settings and scenes, some of which are hand crafted by background specialists, others are filmed on location and lastly, CGI constructed. The location filming was all done in New Zealand which had the appropriate landscape for the film and they had the money to take the crew and actors around to any location filming. However, we are limited to a crew of four people and any locations had to be within reasonable driving distance. This makes an Adventure film/trailer hard for our group to do because the location variety will not be as most Adventure films feature.

and a comedy trailer has to be funny and not give away all of the key joke moments in the production while still maintaing an incentive for the audience to see the production. Also, writing comedy is very difficult to do and the dialogue and sound quality has to be exceptionally good in order to make the comedy moments stand out. An example of a successful comedy production would be Happy Gilmore, this is partly because of the star vehicle of this production which is Adam Sandler. Having an established and well renowned comedy actor in the main role of a comedy film, would have a profound effect on the target audience of the film as it would appeal to fans of not only comedy film, but also fans of Adam Sandler as well. However, we cannot afford to have such actors in our trailer, which makes it not viable for the genre of our trailer.

Finally, Drama was also not a viable choice for our production as most Dramas use a wide array of character archetypes requiring lots of actors to participate in it's production and as we only had a limited amount of people to star in the trailer, it would have been unlikely that the trailer would have met the common conventions required by this genre. The example featured here is 'Django Unchained' the most recent production from Quentin Tarantino, also feature big acting names such as; Jamie Foxx, Leonardo Dicaprio, Samuel.L.Jackson and Christopher Waltz. All of these actors have their own fan bases, again making it hard for our production to follow such conventions.

How technological advances have impacted film trailers

Recent technological advances have made it a lot easier to produce and edit video content to the same standard as large scale film production companies, for example apples’ iMac has a plethora of editing programs ranging from video, sound and image which allow to tailor any material to a high standard which are the same programs which are used by the big production companies like Paramount who would use editing programs such as Final cut Pro to create a high quality film. Another technological advance is with the cameras used to record the scenes themselves, because more and more cameras today have the ability to record moving image in HD quality allowing for a clear picture and detailed action within the scenes at a price which is affordable and not ludicrously expensive and unavailable to most people. When you combine this with the editing technology we have today anyone can make a high quality film with relative ease. 

Legal Restraints

Film trailers are strictly monitored and reviewed by the BBFC (British board of film classification), to check that the trailer complies with the legal requirements for any video being publically displayed to audiences throughout the UK. The BBFC detail what restraints a Film or in this case a film trailer has in terms of content. They have detailed that a trailer or film must not; contain any extreme pornographic images which are grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character, which features an apparently real person, and which portrays, in an explicit and realistic way; it is illegal to make, distribute, show or possess indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child (a child is classified as being under the age of 18); It is illegal to distribute, show or play to the public a recording of visual images or sounds which are threatening, abusive or insulting if the intention is to stir up racial hatred or hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, or if racial hatred or hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation is likely to be stirred up. It is also illegal to distribute, show or play to the public a recording of visual images or sounds which are threatening if the intention is to stir up religious hatred;  It is illegal to show any scene ‘organised or directed’ for the purposes of the film that involves actual cruelty to animals; It is illegal to supply, publish or show or possess with intent to supply a video recording of an ‘animal fight’ that has taken place within Great Britain since 6 April 2007; It is illegal, in the course of a business, to publish a tobacco advertisement.