First Storyboard for Teaser Trailer

The storyboard depicts the following scene; two teens breaking into a car, however when in the car, they both assume that the other knows how to hot wire the car. Neither of them actually knows how to. Meanwhile, the owner of the car is approaching and runs towards the car. He uses the remote locking to lock the two teenagers in the car, trapping them. He proceeds to phone the police and shake his head disapprovingly at the delinquents. The two teenagers simultaneously bang their heads on the dashboard sounding the car horn. Then the screen fades to black and in white writing "THE ESTATE" appears. Fade to black again and then "COMING SOON" followed by a final fade to black.

(The white arrow signifies a duplicate 2nd frame as the 4th frame)

Film Magazine front cover flat plan

I have now completed the flat plan for my film magazine front cover. I have decided to follow rather than challenge conventions. This includes using the rule of thirds. As seen below, i have included a large title for the magazine, the film title is central and there are features of the magazine listed on both sides. On the right hand side of the cover, i have added a section named "in the spotlight" i plan to include a small spotlight graphic that will illuminate the list of new films.

Like the poster, i now need to take the photo for the magazine cover. I plan for the photo to be similar to that of the poster, helping to instil an overall idea of the film when looking at the magazine and poster together. I will produce a version of this flat plan using Pages, thus giving an indication of font and colours.

First Poster Flatplans

After researching posters for comedy films, i have drawn up my first flat plans for my poster. As you can see, i have followed some of the conventions i discovered in my research, i believe this will give my poster the best fell of authenticity.

Having this Flat plan completed, The next thing i need to do for my poster is to take the photo that will feature full page. Much like the examples i looked at, the picture will be overlaid by the film title, release date, strap line and actors names. I am going to make a computerised version of this flat plan, that will feature my selected fonts and colours for the text.

Idea for Film

I have decided to make my film a sort of 'bad boy' spoof. The idea is to have a pair of badly behaved teenagers, who try to be bad, but just aren't very good at it. I feel that this idea will offer me lots of opportunity to create comedic moments in my teaser trailer.

Now, having decided on an idea, i will plan and storyboard my teaser trailer as well as drawing up flat plans for my teaser poster and film magazine front cover.

The title i have decided on is " THE ESTATE"

Research

So far i have begun research on existing media for all three of my coursework tasks. I think that this will assist me greatly in the planning formy pieces, this could be inspiration, or just challenging or following conventions.

Film teaser trailer research

I have looked at a few teaser trailers for comedy films. Especially one for “The Hangover”. From this i can begin to plan my own teaser trailer and perhaps use it as a reference or starting point.

Here is the trailer for "The Hangover"

In this trailer, it gives the audience an idea of what the film is about, without giving away to much of the film. It's made obvious that the film starts at the end and the story of the last 2 days is explained. This is a feature i may consider in my own trailer. This trailer itself isn't a teaser trailer, as it gives away too much for just a tease. I imagine my trailer to be shorter, as well as leaving a lot more mystery, giving the audience more to think and speculate over.

Film Magazine Research

So far i have researched the two most popular film magazines, Empire and Total Film. I have spent a considerable amount of time looking through the examples on both their websites. here are a few that i looked at;

It is evident from above that these film magazines share similar styles. Empire & total film being very popular, don’t feel the need to display there whole title as more often than not it is partially covered by the featured photo or picture. this could be an aspect of design i could keep in mind when planning my own magazine cover. Other features include; a red or white title, the featured film title just below centre, bullet points on each side of the picture and a clear space over the picture, a strap line above the magazine title.

I feel that from this, it will be easier to plan my magazine cover, now knowing what they are, i can use or abuse these conventions. I am more likely to keep these conventions in mind when designing my own front cover. This is more likely to lead to a more realistic looking cover, one that wouldn't look out of place on a magazine rack in a shop.

Film Poster Research

Because i have chosen comedy for my film genre, i made my poster research more specific to that genre. I have studied lots of different types of posters, here are some examples;

It seems that posters for comedy films follow the same trend as magazine covers. With a few differences. The film title is displayed at the top or bottom of the poster, accompanied by a staged photo of the main characters. along with the actors names. Sometimes a newspaper/magazine quote is included.

From this, i can see that the main feature for most comedy posters is a full page photo of the main character/s. This is overlaid by the films title, release date, newspaper quotes, strap lines, actors names etc. This research will help my own poster adopt a more professional feel and in turn make the poster seem more believable and realistic.

Genre and Target Audience

I have decided that the genre for my teaser trailer will be Comedy. I personally enjoy comedy films and hope to enjoy producing comedic pieces of work. I also think that comedy as a genre is quite challenging and will take a degree of creativity. To conceptualise a comedic narrative, will take creativity and inspiration, i will need to think of original jokes etc. and not just use conventional story lines and situations.

I have a vague idea of my target audience, it is most likely to be teens and young adults, between the ages of 12 and 18. This will be gender specific to Males, however, this will be open to debate as i begin to plan my teaser trailer and print pieces.

My Action Plan

This is my action plan for September to January

September - 1st ideas for Film. - begin to look at potential audiences. - Research Film magazines and film Posters. - review some teaser trailers. - begin to plan the Poster and Magazine cover.

October - Begin to storyboard teaser trailer and start flatplans for magazine cover and Poster. - Do some more research into conventions and target audiences. once finished storyboarding, start first filming and camera shoots.

November - continue filming for teaser trailer - Last plans and photo shoot for magazine cover and Poster. - Begin to form the finished products for print. - finish filming for teaser trailer. - start evaluation.

December - bring all resources together, and begin to edit teaser trailer - finalise magazine cover and Poster. - finish editing for teaser trailer.

January - Get audience feedback and make any adjustments.

What is my Coursework?

For my A2 Media Studies advanced production, i have decided to produce a teaser trailer for a film. i have also chosen for my ancillary tasks; A teaser poster for the film and a film magazine front cover advertising the film. The main reason for this is because i greatly enjoyed planning, filming and editing my film at AS level. However i wish to extend my capabilities by taking on print by designing a poster and film magazine.