Tagline Research

For our film trailer we needed a tagline to attract an audience to our film, so we researched in to different crime films and there famous catchphrases from the most successful films.

This is a short clip of the nine best famous crime tagline/ catchphrases that I made;

From this research we discovered that the tagline was either a famous quote from the films or something related to the story. We also discover that a successful tagline needed to be short, simple and snappy to gather attention of people and be remembered.

The Godfather Films our famous for being successful crime films with many quotes that represent the tag lines or quotes from the films. On the posters there are quotes relating to the action and events of the films. For example; 'Real Power can't be given. It must be taken' or  'All the Power on Earth can't change destiny' this refers to power which is a huge concept of the film and links to the genre well.

In White Heat they use the actors name to play on  words for the tagline.The actor is famous and this intrigues the audience that have seen previous films of his. This allows them to link the taglines in 'Cagney is red hot in white heat'

In Goodfellas it uses the quote directly from the film 'As far back as I remember I've always wanted to be a gangster' which is a famous quote from the film and straight away gives the audience an expectation of what they will see.




This research allowed us to get a good idea for what our taglines could contain and how we could make them relate to the audience, the concept and the title. We gathered together to brainstorm ideas for our own tagline.

Poster Design Theory

Before creating our poster,  we decided to look into design theory of posters, in order to help us create an effective poster for our production.

From this video we came across on YouTube, we noticed the significance of having key elements of the film in the centre of the poster's design, making it a focus of the poster. We also have from this considered how important it is to have appropriate colours and image to suit the genre of the film, so that when people look at the poster, they immediately are interested and have an understanding of the genre.

From this design theory video we considered the important aspects of our film poster and what needs to be included and how, as shown below.

Social Media

For our film trailer we wanted to be able to promote throughout the filming, editing and production process so we made a twitter for our film trailer.

Making Our Own Trailer Rating Card

When we originally were working on our trailer, we included the rating card below at the beginning of the trailer.

We later decided that instead of using this pre-created screen, we wanted to make our own. We also did this as the rating on the original is Restricted, however the BBFC classification we have chosen for our trailer is a 15.

We began by finding a black rating card, we used this as a template to help us create our own.

We created ours in word by inserting a black rectangle and adding text boxes over this in order to created the spaces for the appropriate text. Once we had the layout accurately worked out, we adjusted the text in each of the sections to suit our trailer, resulting in our finished rating card being specifically designed to suit our trailer.

CAP£TAL Inspiration

When creating our poster, we looked at a variety of other posters and techniques they had used to make their poster stand out and appear unique.

We took specific inspiration from the Se7en poster:

For this poster we looked at how the title of the film had been made into an iconic image which stands out, capturing people's attention. We decided this was something we wanted to include in our own poster design.

We chose to change the title Capital to be written as Cap£tal, as this highlighted the dominant theme of our trailer, money, as well as making the pound sign stand out as it is a central image, as used in the Se7en poster. We were also conscious to ensure that the word was still readable, as we wanted to make sure our film's name is easy to remember from our poster.

Trailer Title

For our film trailer we wanted to have a title that linked to the plot concept so we looked at different words that related to money or crime. So we made a list of all names relating to money which we could use.

Then we shortlisted the final five possible titles from our personal choices;

 Dosh
Capital
Assets
Coins
Buck

We then asked a large group of our target audience who gave us a clear view of which title they thought best fit the trailer as we showed them a small teaser.

Many of the viewers thought Capital was the most appropriate title as it references money and the location of the trailer. As it takes place in London and suits the raw action thrilled aspects of the film trailer and is now our chosen title.

Research on posters

As well as analysing existing posters to find out the conventions, we also looked for advice and information about how posters are laid out.

On the Wikihow UGC site, we found a number of articles about film posters, but the one below seemed the most valuable:

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Design-a-Professional-Looking-Movie-Poster

And this is what we decided from it

 

Poster Research - Historic and contemporary examples of film posters

I have researched film posters of the past and present from varied genres, and found these examples. There is a clear evolution of film posters over time, with changes in style and use of colour. Film posters from the years 1930-1970 are presented as more of a spectacle and a theatrical production, however over time, and shown through posters from 1990-2013, posters have become less artistic with them all being photographs, and relying on technology.

A wider range of colours are used in the historic film posters, the posters appear as a piece of art work, with images being drawings, particularly in the case of the 1930's film 'Hell's Angels'. The most recognisable names associated with the film are in the largest fonts, shown in 'On The Waterfront' and 'Citizen Kane', making it an important factor in film promotion, however in more recent posters this is not shown as explicitly.

There are similarities between the two collection of posters, as genre is obvious through the colours used. The poster for 'The English Patient' is clearly a romantic film by the soft light colours, and the images of a man and a woman being joint protagonists, this is also seen in 'Casablanca', showing these features of posters having a constant meaning over time.

Genre Research - Crime film directors

Existing Poster Research

Website Research

How to use Wix

This tutorial was useful for us all to watch before we began the process of designing our website, as none of us have previous experience with using web design sites. We chose to use the site Wix to create our website, as it was a simple to navigate and use. After watching this video and carrying out a small amount of experimentation ourselves, we feel more confident in the creation of our website.

Poster Research - Existing Poster Mood Board

I have created a mood board of existing media posters as research for creating our own product. Most of these posters contain an image of the main character or characters in each film and the colour scheme is reflective of the film genre. Tag lines are a feature of many of these posters as a promotional tactic, as well as positive reviews.

Website Research - Existing Website Mood Board

This mood board shows some film websites of the last few years. A common feature of these website home pages is a recognisable picture from the film and also a video of the film trailer. The award nominations and wins are also shown, as well as names of the recognisable cast members increasing publicity.

Fonts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87QKdOJNv8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPZ8Bgl6xlc

Character Names

For our trailer we have 3 different characters and we need to choose an appropriate name for each character and what there name represents. 

For the 'skater' boy we looked a wide range of different names that would fit the look and personality we were looking to achieve.

From this list of 54 different name we managed to round it down to 5;

Emmett
Alec
Xander
Camden
Wyatt

I looked in to the different meaning of each name to help us decide and Alec meant 'Defender of the People' and we thought this fit well with our piece as the skater boy character has an element of being protective of the other characters and defending them.

For the girly girl name:

Cecily
Aurora
Mirabella
Larissa
Arianna

We looked in to the meaning of the names again and Arianna meant 'most holy' and we thought with girly girl we wanted her to have a sense of 'innocence' and her to be the good one of the trio so we thought the name Arianna fit perfectly for the character.

Grunge Girl

Lolita

Asia
Ruby
Dominique
Tallulah

With these name we also looked in to the meanings as well as what sorted the character best. We thought that Dominique suited the character well as it could be shortened to 'Dom' which implies a tomboy element as well as the meaning being from a male name originally.

So the final names for our charcters are:

Alec
'Dom' Dominique
Arianna

Interesting shots

From this we have decided to experiment with focus pulls, dolly out zoom in, lighting on an extreme close up of the eye, the close up of the fist, the soom in to the peephole then zoom out of the eye

We liked the inside the car shot and the frantic zoom movement, although we felt that this could potentially give the trailer a slightly comedic feel which is something we wanted to avoid

We will try to incorporate the rule of thirds and also the idea of speaking space to compose more cinematic and professional looking shots for our trailer.

Non-Diegetic Sound

Trailer Research and Planning - Film Festivals

Sundance Independent Film Festival 

• Founded in 1978, now held in Park City, Utah, Sundance is of the largest US independent film festivals. Featured films include A Streetcar Named Desire and Deliverance.
• The chairperson is Robert Redford which adds prestige and eliteness to the festival.
• It highlights the potential of independent films, and acts to increase visibility for filmmaking while presenting a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions.
• The festival also highlights the work of regional filmmakers who work outside of the Hollywood system.
• More than 60 films were screened in its second year, however when the festival was bought to The O2  in 2012 for the first time, 14 films were screened. In 2013 the UK version of the festival was sponsored by Jaguar, suggesting how recognisable the festival is.
• Quentin Tarantino, David O'Russell and Darren Aronofsky are directors who got their big break after their films being premiered at Sundance.
• Films include; Saw, Reservoir Dogs, Little Miss Sunshine, (500) Days of Summer and Napoleon Dynamite.

Venice Film Festival

• First ever major festival which were held in 1932.
• Considered highly prestigious and awards filmmakers such as; Al Pacino, Sylvester Salone and Spike Lee.
• The Golden Lion Award is presented for Best Film, for which previous winners have been The Wrestler and Brokeback Mountain. 
• The festival is international and therefore other recipients are relatively unknown to the Hollywood system.
• A Silver Lion Award for the Best Director and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and Actress are also awarded.

Cannes Film Festival

• Founded 1946 the festival is prestigious and invitation-only.
• Golden Palm prize for best picture, Best Short Film, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay awards are also given out.
• Best first feature film and Student films are also rewarded.
• Huge media exposure and is a good source of publicity for film producers to launch new films and attract distributors from around the world.
• Previous winners include The Tree of Life in 2011 which adopts experimental elements and The Pianist. Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now from the 1970's are also previous recipients.

Berlin International Film Festival

• The festival was founded in 1951 and has been held annually since 1978.
• Golden Bear award for best film and Silver Bear awards for various acting accolades.
• The Generation section showcases films targets at youths.
• Previous films screened at the festival are; Marley, The Land of Blood and Honey, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate and a restored version of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, showing the variety of film the festival showcases. 

Raindance Film Festival

• UK's largest celebration of independent film making, takes place in London in October.
• Founder of the British Independent Film Awards.
• Pulp Fiction debuted at Raindance in 1994, Whats Eating Gilbert Grape 1993, Momento 2000 and Once 2007.
• The festival holds a jury which has previous members such as Lou Reed, Judi Dench and Iggy Pop.

Tribeca Film Festival

• Founded in 2002.
• Festivals mission is to enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film by redefining the film festival experience.
• In 2006 and 2007 it screened 1500 films and featured a variety of documentaries, narrative features and short films.
• Festival draws around 3 million people including elusive celebrities from the industry.

South by Southwest

• Began in 1987, the festival showcases new directing talent in his film section, however in more recent years, mainstream films such as The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and Spring Breakers held their premieres there.

London Film Festival

• First held in 1956, it is now held annually by BFI and sponsored by The Times.
• UK's largest film festival screening 300 films and documentaries from around 50 other countries.
• Hosts high-profile awards contenders, public forums, educational lectures and Q&A's with filmmakers and film talent.
• The Sutherland trophy is awarded to the Best film of the year and isn't exclusive to the UK unlike festivals such as the Vancouver Film Festival.

The festivals most suited for our film would be the Raindance Film Festival and the Sundance Independent Film Festival UK. This would be due to the focus on independent films and the fact that they are London based meaning that these are the most likely ones it would be screened at.

Cocaine research