In this blog I have to document the process of making a trailer with my group. We have to produce a trailer, a magazine cover and a poster to try to promote it. In this process we have to hire actors, collect our own mis-en-scene and film it ourselves. It has to be a 2 minute trailer and we have to try to adapt the codes and conventions of what trailers normally have today to try and makes ours realistic.
I will also try to apply some theories to some of the points or analysing I do and say why I think some techniques are effective in the film industry. I will record my time management, and any edits or practices I do to show my involvement and development.
The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 poster campaign included a lot of posters. Not that the film needed promoting but that since it was the last instalment the posters would probably be seen as special since it is the last film. Each character had a poster to themselves, this could be because we've followed each of the characters since the first film therefore it makes sense. On some of the billboard posters, there are certain scenes shown like when Harry Potter and Voldemort battle and one of Hermione and Ron. These moments have probably been used as the audience want to know what happens as it has been anticipated from the start. Will Harry survive? And will Hermione and Ron kiss? This teases the audience and therefore makes them want to watch the film. Throughout the campaign process there are a lot of 'freeze frames' which reflect on the action and hype of the film. The main part of the poster campaign are the slogans like 'IT ALL ENDS 7.15', this could reflect on the Harry Potter franchise finishing and what happens to Harry and Voldemort in the story. There is a definite colour scheme of blues and blacks throughout which I think apply to the semiotic theory of sign>signifier>signified, in that the blues and blacks represent fear, darkness and the unknown of what is to happen. It reflects on Harrys life of battling Voldemort throughout the many films. The posters of Harry and Voldemort battling reflect on red being Gryffindor and green possibly being Slytherin as we have followed them being enemies throughout and how it has played an important role. There are many close up shots of every character which captures the emotion in their faces, Harry's reflects on the unknown of what is to happen, fear, determination and many more. This will capture the audience and reflect on how important this finale really is.
Video of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 poster campaign
The trademark Harry Potter soundtrack plays in the background to distinguish the fact that it's a Harry Potter film. Since the film is a phenomenon which has been going on for 10 years makes this trailer especially important for it being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Warner Brothers has been hugely associated with it and is a great film for Warner Brothers to be branded with as it has been so successful. Therefore the fact that the Warner Brothers logo has been adapted to the Harry Potter theme shows how anticipating waiting for the film will be as the logo is dark and sinister. The trailer starts with clips that are meant to be from the very first film and comes up with the saying 'Every moment he's lived, has lead to this' which makes it even more exciting. Clips from previous films are shown which shows how far the film has come and increases the hype and anticipation. Sinister music is played in the background as it is the suspense of what will happen and the stories that have lead to this one particular film. The trademark Harry Potter song has definitely changed to a higher pitched tone which sounds like a woman is singing it and seems eerie and mysterious. Then when Voldemort speaks and says 'You have fought valiantly, now join me Harry and confront your fate' and then shows about 6 snippets of the film in the space of 3 seconds which builds the hype and coincides with the pace of the music becoming faster. The music changes upbeat which then gets more into the plot and becomes exciting for the audience.
The clips that are shown contain a lot of strong quotes that will keep the fans enticed such as 'The boy who lived, come to die', 'Tell them how it happened that night, how you looked him in the eye, a man who trusted you, and killed him' and 'Come on Tom, let's finished this where we started...Together!' which keeps the audience guessing. Most of the trailer is dark as it is trying to reflect on a dark time and the audience doesn't know whether it will be a good or bad ending. Since they don't want to give away too much of the plot, there are about 10 clips from the film which are shown for about 1 second and therefore keep us guessing and trying to put the story together. The action packed clips will excite the audience when they see explosions and fights and make it seem that this will be a big ending.
Text such as 'THE FINAL BATTLE' zooming into the screen in fast pace adds to the hype of the film. Since the film used to be aimed at children and then as the films went on it was aimed at teenagers and adults, it brings everyone in as it brings elements of romance, drama, horror and a bit of comedy.
I have decided to analyse the Alice in Wonderland trailer as it is a fairytale remake like ours. Since the director was Tim Burton, I think it resembles my genre of trailer because it has been a remake of a classic tale with dark undertones which makes it appeal to a wider demographic. From the beginning it shows the story to what everyone knows the original to be such as Alice falling into a hole and then being transported into a fairytale world. The difference between the modern twist and the original is that there are better graphics which make it seem like reality and can draw in an older audience. There is a lot of small clips consecutively on in the space of 5 seconds showing all the characters. They probably did this to make the audience familarise with it and see the similarities of it with the original like the Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts. If the audience pick up on the similarities then it may persuade them as it is an old classic. Actors such as Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Fry, Anne Hathaway and Alan Rickman are in it which would persuade different demographics and fans from different films. For example, Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham Carter could bring in Harry Potter fans. Only Johnny Depps name was mentioned on the screen, since he is the main character and is a huge well known actor. Clips with well know phrases such as the Queen of hearts saying 'OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!' creates excitement and hype. Since this is a modern twist, the audience don't know what to expect and therefore the dark, gothic undertones to the trailer shows that its not the same and gives more dimension to the film. The film seems the have bigger scenes, the mis-en-scene looks grand and better compared to the original which makes the film look likes its a bigger, better version. Tim Burton's style is quite quirky in his work which you can definitely tell from the trailer. The costumes, the colour scheme, the mis-en-scene and even down to the script is reflected on his style which I think puts an interesting twist onto the story which may persuade people to go see it. Other films Tim Burton is famous for is Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare before Christmas, Batman and Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. Either way is work is famous and whether his take on Alice in Wonderland will cause excitement or controversy will definitely get people wanting to watch it. His quirky style is even reflected in the text that showed the credits.
The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 poster is centred around the elder wand as it plays a massive part of the film. The statement of 'IT ALL ENDS 7.15' shows how important the film is since it is the last film in the series. The effect of this is that it gives a dramatic effect to the audience that is has to be seen since it is the last one. The image used is a close up of the side of Harry Potter and Voldemort looking at each other, it shows the battle between them and the emotion in both of their eyes and concludes how their story has been between them throughout all of the films. The light coming from the elder wand and reflecting onto Harry and Voldemort shows how it will play an important roll within the film. The effect of this onto the audience shows how important is it and will cause the audience to wonder about what will happen. The poster doesn't even need a title or heading because everyone knows that this finale film is down to the meeting of Harry and Voldemort and the consequences of it. The purpose of a close up of a person is to show their emotion which is which my draw the audience or remind them what the story was about. The colour scheme of the poster is dark blue, black and red, if you look at the actors' faces, you can see that different colours are reflected onto them, like the red and the light. The red could reflect the anger and conflict between them both and the light could reflect on the unknown ending of what is to happen. Generally red reflects anger or danger, which is normally used in horror films. The Harry Potter poster campaign involved a lot more posters of each character, it was acceptable for Warner Brothers to do this since we had gotten to know every character throughout the each instalment throughout the years and it was liked saying 'farewell' to all of them. This gives a dramatic effect by giving a characters their own poster as its like giving a message of that its the end of all the characters journey through Harry Potter.
The Red Riding Hood poster reflects on different genres, bringing in romance from the love triangle and horror that are portayed in the dark colours of blue, black and red. Compared to the Harry Potter poster, there are is a lot of text such as the title, the credits and the slogan. Since Harry Potter had been an instalment, then it makes sense they the use of a lot of text was not needed, whilst Red Riding Hood needed the text to inform people. Text such as 'FROM THE DIRECTOR OF TWILIGHT' persuades the audience that the style of the film may be as good as Twilight and therefore want to watch it. The slogan of 'BELIEVE THE LEGEND. BEWARE THE WOLF.' makes sure that people know that the fairytale has a modern twist and more features that will be it more interesting than the original. It will also appeal to other demographics. Gary Oldman, a well known actor, has a credit at the top of the poster which may draw in the audience, this may attract Harry Potter fans and the same applies to Amanda Seyfried as she has been in romantic films such as 'Letters to Juliet'. Now that Seyfried is in a dark romance film then it may persuade her audience from previous films to watch it as its still a romantic film but with dark undertones. The positioning of the characters show who is more important than who, obviously Red Riding Hood is the main character but the main love story is between her and the woodcutter who is in the middle and then the third person in the love triangle is Max Irons. Even though Red Riding Hoods red costume is relevant to the original tale, it is also applies to the semiotic theory created by Ferdinand De Saussre who came up with sign>signifier>signified. The red cape represents anger, danger and love which is exactly what this film is all about. The way Red Riding Hood's cape covers most of the poster shows how dominant she is in the film. As we don't know who the wolf is, normally the clothing can hint to us what each character is portrayed as. The second character of the woodcutter is wearing all black whilst the third character, Max Irons, is wearing a white shirt. The white against the black could hint at who is good and who is bad. Could the woodcutter possibly be the wolf? Even though he is Red Riding Hoods love interest? This bring a whole new dimension to the film in which would probably cause excitement for the audience.
The marketing campaign I am going to focus on is Red Riding Hood as it is a classic fairytale with a horror/thriller twist which is the same genre to my film trailer. The teaser trailer and the poster were released in November 2010, featuring "The Wolf". The second trailer was released in January 2011. The film had actors like Amanda Seyfriend, Gary Oldman and Shiloh Fernandez that sold the film due to their successful acting careers. It was also directed by Catherine Hardwicke who has been directing The Twilight Saga and this is recognisable in Red Riding Hood.
Red Riding Hood trailer
Red Riding Hood Posters
Magazine scan
Amanda Seyfriend interview
Max Irons and Shiloh Fernandez interview
Red Riding Hood website
From the synergy of the marketing campaign for the film, it is clear how it is consistent throughout by the same image of Amanda Seyfried in the Red Riding Hood costume which seems iconic to the film. The red costume keeps the classic fairy-tale intact with the modern horror twist. Throughout the different subsidiaries, the colour scheme has been the same which I think makes it recognisable to the audience. The marketing campaign was thorough and from my experience I definitely was aware about it through the TV, magazines and posters. I think what attracts the audience to it was that it’s a story that everyone knows and since supernatural creatures are becoming a trend lately with Harry Potter, Twilight, Vampire Diaries and True Blood, then it’s evident that people are going to be attracted to it. There have been a lot of interviews with Amanda Seyfried and the rest of the cast to try and promote it, different companies such as Clevver TV, Tribute movies, Love film, Empire, Sugarscaper and many more have had interviews off them. If different companies like Sugarscaper who are aimed at a female teenage audience watch it then they will be reaching that target audience and same for Empire who are probably for the older audience who are interested in films. Catherine Hardwicke, the director of Twilight, has become more known since the worldwide popularity of Twilight in which her name is now popular. Now on the posters and DVD covers, it would normally say 'FROM THE DIRECTOR OF TWILIGHT', this may help with persuading Twilight fans to watch it as they know from that, that Red Riding Hood may have a similar atmosphere or the way it has been shot. Throughout the campaign, people have always known the fairy-tale version to be less horrific, but people have probably wondered where the story would go in a modern, more 'grown-up' take on it. A fairy tale with dark undertones: surely that can find an audience? These stories have been around for hundreds of years and have in-built branding. Therefore slogans such as 'WHO'S AFRAID?' and 'BELIEVE THE LEGEND. BEWARE THE WOLF.' sets a tone and lets the audience know that this film is different and therefore create hype and interest around it. Another feature that has been brought to the film is that there is a love triangle which may attract females or people who are after romance in general. The fact that there is a mixture of genres like horror, thriller and romance makes it seem more appealing and has given the original tale loads of dimensions to make it seem more realistic and riveting. The film itself raked in $14.1 million, compared to Twilight it was inevitable that the film wasn't going to do better than it because there has been a craze around vampires at the moment. But there had been a lot of modern twisted films such as Alice in Wonderland. The marketing campaign for Red Riding Hood concentrated on a barrage of different tag lines ("It wants her" "The truth will tear her apart" etc.) and the mystery of who the wolf was, yet it didn't show the wolf nor provide the context for why people should care. Distributor Warner Brothers' research showed that 64% of Red Riding Hood's audience was female and 56% were under 25 years old. The website is another way for the audience to interact with the film and get involved like prosumers. Normally the website would be open to use before the film has been released which means that it can become known and tease the audience into trailers and play games to interact with characters and take a liking to them. Once the audience gets attached to characters and they start getting fans, its how the film starts getting a fan base and therefore becomes popular.
The two film magazine covers I will be analysing are the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Empire cover and a film similar to my genre of The Twilight Saga Entertainment Weekly cover. On the Twilight cover it says 'The hottest books since Harry Potter' in which I think is why it would be interesting to compare.
The Empire magazine cover for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is strong magazine cover since it is the last instalment of the Harry Potter series. The house style of Empire magazine is normally red, but since Harry Potter has been a worldwide phenomenon, it seems to make sense to base the whole magazine to the film and change the colour scheme. The plain background and gold writing give a statement for the film showing how special it is and how sad it will be to end. The gradient black background gives the cover a modern twist and since its simple it means that the focus is on the characters. The audience have watched Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint grow up, so to see them grown up on the cover and dressed stylish and out of their Harry Potter costumes shows its the end. Normally on an Empire magazine they would have pugs, puffs, subheadings and many more to try and sell the magazine, but Harry Potter is so popular everywhere that the last instalment sells itself. The Harry Potter empire doesn't need persuading people, its success has already done so. The statement 'THE LAST CRUSADE. THE PERFECT FAREWELL." pulls in the audience, words such as 'last' and 'farewell' makes the ending of the series sad since the films have been entertaining us for 10 years. The gold compliments the black well and the calm contrast of colours reflect on the ending of Harry Potter compared to the normal red text and white background. This cover doesn't really fit in with the consistency of the films synergy since most of them have been concentrating on the film itself and selling it, whilst this cover is focussing on how the film is ending in which I think gives it it's own selling point. The positioning of the actors are the biggest feature of the page as it is focussed on them, you can tell that Daniel Radcliffe is the most important as he is in the middle and his stance is slightly more forward than the other two. The fact that their standing next to each other and you can see them clearly shows they are important as well. Also that they are staring at the camera which engages the audience and also shows that it was an exclusive interview for Empire magazine, normally in the past when Empire have done a special for previous Harry Potter films, they have got a shot from the film.
The Twilight Breaking Dawn Entertainment Weekly magazine has a similar approach to the last Harry Potter film since this is the last of the Twilight instalments. Twilight has been seen as a rival to Harry Potter since it has been so successful itself which is why I wanted to compare them, plus it is also similar to my genre. Compared to the Harry Potter cover these covers have pugs and subheadings to support the images which Harry Potter didn't really need. Twilight may have had to have more exposure since it wasn't as big as Harry Potter and was mainly aimed at females whereas Harry Potter could reach audiences from children, teenagers and adults from both genders. The gradient background is the same as the Empire magazine, it puts the focus on the image of the actors more. The cold colour of the blue reflects on the cold, thriller atmosphere of the film. The close up shot of the characters draws in the audience as its so concentrated on the characters and its all about them like the Harry Potter magazine covers. The Taylor Lautner front cover, like the Harry Potter cover has the actor looking at the camera which therefore draws the audience in again since its so close up and especially the female audience will be attracted to it. In some of the subheadings, words such as 'Love', 'Sex' and 'Death' will probably draw the audience to buy the magazine as it may seem like interesting subjects and look like shock words. The Harry Potter cover seems to base the whole page on the image of the actors as the image speaks for itself in a lot of ambiguous ways, whilst the Twilight cover seems to have subheadings over the image and puffs like '2 Part Twilight Finale' to try and persuade the audience. I think they are both effecting and seem current, personally I like simple front covers and put the focus on an image. I think a lot of text over the image can be tacky and loses the meaning of the image. The gradient background also makes it seem modern and compliments the image. Since both images have been used from an exclusive photo shoot for each of the magazine company's, it makes the interview more personal and also looks better as people normally see them in their characters costumes. Taking an actor away from their characters seems to make out that were getting to know them.
