Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire results from WillJKearse & Toby Howell

Questionnaire - film trailer

Film Trailer Questionnaire

 

1.    How old are you?

A: 16-21

B: 22-27

C: 28-33

D: 34-39

E: 40+

 

2.    What gender are you?

A: Male

B: Female

 

3.    Do you like the post-apocalyptic film genre?

A: Yes

B: No

C: Not sure

(If you crossed the box entitled “No” please specify why)

4.    Do you like the survival film genre?

A: Yes

B: No

C: Not sure

(If you crossed the box entitled “No” please specify why)

5.    Cross one of the following film titles which you prefer

A: “Forsaken Skies”

B: “Devolution”

C: “The Deprived”

D: “7:13”

E: “Wormwood”

6.    Which of the following aspects do you most enjoy in a post-apocalyptic film?

A: Fast paced action

B: Suspenseful sequences

C: An over-powering soundtrack

D: Character development

E: I don’t know

F: Other (please specify)

7.    Which of the following settings do you think would best suit a post-apocalyptic film?

A: Ruin down factories and houses            

B: In the forest

 

8.    Out of the following lengths, how long would you prefer a trailer to be?

A: 1:30

B: 1:45

C: 2:00

D: 2:01+

E: It doesn’t bother me

Children of Men - Trailer analysis

The Genre

Dystopian Survival - Which focuses and is defined as a society characterized by a focus on negative societies such as mass poverty, suffering, oppression that has been brought to light by society itself. We can tell the genre because of the narrative, the problem faced by the world as a society is mass infertility, to the point where populations are decreasing. Due to possibilities like pollution, and human DNA engineering which is heard in the dialogue of the trailer. We can also tell it is a survival as they are being hunted by the authorities and the public, trying to kill them, as they journey to the human project on the coast.

The Narrative

Set in 2027, when civilization has succumb to Infertile in the female population, no children have been born for the past 18 years and science is at a loss to the cause, or indeed any sort of cure. Lower economically developed nations like that of some African, and Eastern European countries, have collapsed due to their dwindling populations, forcing them to migrate to richer counties like the UK. In the middle of the nationalistic violence on the streets and rioting between authority and rebels, a London peace activist, turned bureaucrat, is forced to team up with his revolutionary ex wife. As she needs someone she could trust in the protection of a valuable piece of cargo. A young woman, who is pregnant, needs transportation to the coast where they can give her to a human project who will keep her safe. All hope for the future of humanity rests in their hands, as a shrinking population grows ever older.

Sound

Diegetic voice over is heard at the star of main character Theo, the sound is asynchronous as it is carried through a variety of shots of him and others. He talks about the situation of the world,"All Hope is lost" and "Since women stopped having babies" to give the view a sense of narrative, to make the visuals of him in a riot more understandable. This voice over dominance continues throughout, switching to different characters who share their own views and situations. The soundtrack is split into two parts, the first at the start is played by string, with high and low pitches fluctuating, creating a sound of suspense and mystery, which is combined with the voice over to give a very negative feel. The second part at the end is completely different, now focusing on more positive outlooks and how they are planning to save the girl who is pregnant, we hear a orchestral piece with smoother note transitions, giving a more hopeful atmosphere to the trailer.

Code of Enigma

The trailer brings up many questions, of course there is what is the final outcome of the movie? but also how did it end up in this situation? Why and how is this woman the only pregnant one in the world? Why are women infertile? All make the trailer a more successful form of product aadvertisement as the chances of a view being generate are a lot higher when there is an effective code of enigma.

typical Shots/ Camera

The trailer uses well and often a series of tracking shots following the main character of Theo, Him running through crows and just generally walking. This is used to show his journey through the narrative and how we are following his journey, and the people associated with him. Also conventional for a trailer is the use of fade ins and and outs to create a sense of pace. which is reduced as the trailer builds in pace and instead uses cutting to achieve this

Film Trailer Analysis - "Children of Men"

http://youtu.be/2VT2apoX90o

Props - Adam

As Adam is a teenager of 17, he will show this through items of clothing that normally you would see young people wearing, such as Hoodies, for this I have found him a faded scruffy looking one, that after a bit of editing, ripping sowing, should look really good under his main coat.

He will be wearing a pair of grey faded, muddy jeans that have rips and tears down them and maybe a bloody bandage tied around one leg.

Over his jumper he will be wearing a large coat, slightly bigger than him, to give an idea that maybe it could have been his fathers or just one he scavenged, I want to sow patches of cloth in area on the coat to make it look more makeshift and worn, which applies for the majority of clothes any of the cast will be wearing. Also blood and dirt will be applied to mimic the bleak and deadly environment.

 

To fit with the environment, and to show that he does have some common sense he will be wearing worn scruffy walking boots. As they are in a rural area they need as much comfort and traction they need to walking boots will be seen on both characters.

"The Deprived" First poster draft

 FIRST DRAFT OF POSTER

As part of the main task of producing our own Film Trailer, we were also asked to construct another form of advertisement, a poster. This above is my first draft, of which I will be adding to, as feedback from peers and teachers have given me pointers in ways I can improve my work to make it even better. Along with The poster I wrote a full analysis of it which you see below.

"THE DEPRIVED"

MOVIE POSTER ANALYSIS

The motion picture title "The Deprived" could mean a multitude of things, but when combined with the font and the rest of the poster, it becomes more apparent that it is referring to the character as "deprived" What is he deprived of? This alone begins to raise questions relating to the film, such as; Why are these characters or a character being described as deprived? Or, what has happened to result in them being deprived? The font of the title directly relates to the meaning behind it, as it is a decaying, almost rusted font. This could symbolize the decaying or decay of humanity or civilization. It could even be taken as deep as saying that the degrading of the title could mimic that of the characters state or mental health.

The code of enigma is further added to when looking into some of the key images, or most important art featured in the poster. The central piece is the figure standing facing away from the camera. In his hand is a picture of two boys, who these boys are and why he is clutching their photo are more questions raised by this image, adding to the mystery of the piece and the possibility of a potential viewers interest being peeked. looking into the details of the figure, or, mise en scene, the viewer starts to build a better understanding of the possible narratives or themes the movie could contain. The costume of the character, whom we presume is male, due to his posture and clothing, is ragged and damaged. Dirt, armature stitching and blood covers his faded coat and hooded top, this tells us that he has been involved in violence and is potentially living rough, due to the condition of his clothes and person, as we see blood running down his hand onto the faded crumple picture.

Further analysis of the blood shows it dripping down over the picture, and it seems as if it is almost separating the two boys from each other. The blood could represent their segregation through death, or just something of an evil nature. Again more questions to add to the code of enigma. Also on the character is a rucksack, help together by string and duck tape, this shows how resourceful the person has to be, maybe due to his position, which is unknown. Along with the bag he holds a wooden baseball bat in the side holdall, again relating to the themes of violence. Such a blunt instrument gives a sense of brutality, it is not as quick or demanding of any skill to wield, which could suggest the character as aggressive and maybe even brutal in his acts. 

Other key images include the newspaper on the floor, and the man-made pole and rubbish bin overturned on the road. The newspaper, although taking up little space in the bottom right hand corner of the page is significant in the sense that it gives more background information to the narrative "RIOTS HIT CITIES" and "Death count Rising" But this insight again seems to raise more questions than it can answer, and so again the code of enigma grows. In the other section of the poster we can see an electricity pole with wires wires dangling and the pole itself sitting unevenly to the ground. Up the sides we see vines growing, the same can be seen on the ground around the rubbish on the road. This could give us a key insight into a possible theme of the movie. Nature fighting back, as it is growing over the man made objects.

In terms of the posters iconography, the only aspects I can see as iconic are the use of blood on the character and the decaying objects like the pole. The blood maybe linking to the horror or thriller themes in the story and the decaying environment seen in genres such as apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic, which would explain the characters mise en scene as being so damaged and decayed.

The character is positioned so that we can only see his one side, his head and left arm are completely cut out of shot, creating a further era of mystery, what could he be holding, if anything, in his other hand? And more importantly who the character is, and whether he is one of the boys in the picture or if he is unrelated. His posture seems relaxed as he lightly hold the piece of paper, although his condition would suggest otherwise. Maybe he is under some mental trauma? Or his motivation, to possibly find one of the boys in the photo is gone.

The tag line "When they come, will you run? Or fight?" This directly asks the viewer a question. What would you do in his position, would you be more reserve or aggressive? Another aspect adding to the code of enigma, the tagline suggests that there is something to run from "they come" and that an option would be to run, implying that they, or, it, is dangerous. This poster gives the impression that its audience is towards the older end of the spectrum, 18 - 25 years. The poster gives a very negative them, and I find is similar to that of "The Road" which itself is a film that contains some disturbing images. Its unique selling point I believe is its main characters, usually there is a dominant male and a more vulnerable young girl or male. In this the story is surrounding two similar ages males in their late teens, but with the difference of contrasting morals instead of sex or dominance.

FEEDBACK

Teacher: Positives// - I managed to create a memorable image, that will help the view to remember and think about my poster, with effective connotations.

- I created an effective film title and a font to go along with it, that is effective in reflecting the narrative of the film.

Negatives, things to improve// - The positioning of the tag line, within the title is hard to distinguish, so re-position this to a place that is more effective.

- To allow the audience to relate to the character, show maybe the back of his head to get more of a sense of age and identity. Or maybe place other items that suggest youth ( Idea, badges of bands or sayings on his bag ) making him seem more vulnerable.

- Must add Billing Block into the poster, along with Multi-media platforms, Twitter, Facebook etc. which will tend to the target audience that is younger adults.

- Another problem I found was that the telegraph pole in the background might be hard to create or find, whereas a decaying building may be easier to find and may even be more effective.

Peers: Summary// - I received similar comments from my classmates, that I need to include the billing block etc. But mostly positive feedback from everyone.

All in all I was pleased with the way I created my poster and the end product, I believe that if I take all the feedback and apply it to the poster I will definitely receive even better results from it. So I will be updating soon, a new version of my poster, with added content that I received from my feedback.

Mood Board - setting and environment

Film Trailer | Audience Demographic

 

Upon creating the plot, we as a group, had strong feelings for a post-apocalyptic survival story, a story that would engage and keep the audience hooked with the trailer. With this in mind the following blog will inform you of the target audience, demographically and psychographically, that our trailer is aimed for.

After researching the genre online I have found that often in this genre the films are incredibly bleak and contain strong language and violence. They are physiological challenges on the audience that almost prove to be a test, to see how much they can take. They often contain suspenseful elements to link in with the survival genre and thus create a gloomy, yet incredibly eye-catching atmosphere. With these facts in mind I have chosen a age range of 25-40 years of age. This has come after gaining secondary research on sites such as (www.idmb.com) which told me that due to the physicalogoical baggage the genre can inflict on the viewer, the intended audience would need to be of an older age bracket. After linking this in with my project I feel that this is a valid statement and would influence our intended audience. I feel anyone under the age of 25 are vunerable to be mentally affected by the bleak intensity of the film and this (in my opinon) has to mean 25+ is the correct age bracket. To stop at 40 years is simply a prediction that those aged 25-40 would find the film more entertaining, more hard-hitting than those older than 40, possibly because those who are 40+ are more immune to the hard-hitting nature of the film, and this is something I would want every member of the audience to feel, affected. This is why the film will be a 18 certificate.

The ideal target audience for the film, would be an avid film fan, one with a vast collection of films, and one who is immersed in all film genres. The person takes pride in their love affair with motion pictures and actively goes to the cinema on the regular basis and this person has inter-textual knowledge in the film/TV world.  This demographic find films as a art form and loves to discuss their passion. They are hard working and from a working class background with a committing job. Jobs most notable consist of computing, blogging and other jobs in media that relate and link in to their passion of movies. They are also avid gamers, with at least one big name console. Their income will be low to moderate, showing their determination to exhaust their passion of films whilst overcoming possibly strict financial barriers. The demographic would be 65% male and 35% female symbolising the stereotypical "nerdy" culture and nature that the audience will possess. Psychographically the demographic also possesses the urge to spend fairly large sums of money (in accordance to their earnings) to satisfy their film cravings, either in conventions, cinema trips or a friendly get together.

Actors, Locations and Props

Cast

 

The two leading rols of Jack and Adam, who play the two teenaged boys will be played by myself, William Kearse and a fellow student Robert King. Me playing the younger boy Adam, and Rob playing the older, more agressive Jack. As for the rest of the cast, consisting of gang members, A gang leader, and other wanderers. These will be played by other members in the group, Toby Howell, Lloyd Pocknell and Charlotte Parfitt. the gang leader being played by either Toby or Charlotte, as of yet is undecided. For extras and gang members I have managed to find a few people that are willing to take there time out tohelp with the trailer, mostly close friends. Will be uploading a full character profile for the two main boys, with images of actors.

 

Location

I have identified and visited many of the locations in which me and my group will be shooting at, these area are public and more often out in rural areas so any permission to enter or film in these area should not be needed. One of our main locations is up the side of the Blorange Mountain, overlooking Abergavenny. This is where we have found an abandoned farm house in which we can shoot a lot of our scenes. We have also explored the woods to the east of Abergavenny and found a number or deralict stone houses in which we can film. Most of our other locations will be on quiet roads as our film depicts a journey.

Props

At this point I have started to collect the props we need, such as clothing for the actors, bags, wepons etc. Also rubbish, as we need it to create a better Mise en Scene of our locations.

Codes and conventions of The Post - Apocalyptic, Survival Horror (Thriller) genre

To sucessfully create my own trailer of this genre, I though I would do some background research into the common codes and conventions of the Post apocalyptic Thriller genre.

• A tight community of protagonists/ survivors of the apocalypse. - Such films as "The book of Eli" follow this convention, although the film does not follow the towns people, rather a lone survivor passing through. But it still gives a sense of civilisation, no matter how barren or damaged. Other movies such as "The Road" as this follows two male figures, and any signs of other survivors are depicted in canibalistic smaller groups, or families of dead people, hanging from trees, this creates a larger sense of hoplessness in the audience and challenges these conventions.
• Abandoned and Isolated locations. - This is a very common convention for this genre, and is probably, in my view, one of the most important. Creating a sense of loss of a civilised society, barren wastelands of deralic houses and cars does this theme justice, and agin created a sense of hopelessness that the audience feels for the characters.
• Survival. - All movies of this genre must stress the survival theme, as it allows us, the audience, to feel real fear and loss for the characters we are identifying with.
• Heroic male protagonist, mentally and physically. - This is again important as the audience needs a dominant character to give the narrative, and the story a chance, if the character was weak and vulnerable we would not expect them to survive the apocalypse, so making the film unrealistic.
• Dangerous and deadly antagonists. - This can be shown in the general sense or through a single character. Usually in this genre it is a dangerous male, with a gang or group following him, that do his bidding. For example, "I am Legend" although the antagonist is not human, there is still a ranking of authority, with him at the top, and his minions below him. Again the Book of Eli is another good example of this, with a man in charge of a large gang of ravengers, making him appear more dangerous and deadly.
• Death. - Death is another key theme in this genre that needs to be highlighted. To create other themes in the movie such as fear, hatred, loss, and depravity, death is the usual strating point. "The Road" is a exe;ent example of a movie that uses this to its advantage. Showing images of families that have hung themselves and people that have been brutal killed for the basics of supplies. It is rear to find a post - apocalyptic movie without a large influence from this theme.
• A dangerous and deadly environmeant. - This links to both the abandoned and isolated locations and the dangerous antagonist. A deadly environmeant in the movie means that throughout the film there is always a sense of tension, as the characters can never really escape the danger. As they live and journey in it. And this links to the next point of;
• Constant fear.