Evaluation

Evaluation Essay- AS Media Studies

My coursework was based on moving image, creating a trailer for a crime film. I worked alone for my Pre Production, creating a moving image storyboard using my own drawings and edited it together using iMovie and voiceover from classmates.  For the actual Production I worked alongside Emily Robinson.  I was in charge of editing whilst Emily focused on camerawork and lighting.  We both contributed to the choice of mise-en-scene and collection of props.

Before I started my Pre Production storyboard I researched the film industry, regulations of film trailers and the bodies that govern them, the codes and conventions of film trailers and finally audience research. The research into movie trailers made me realise that most movie trailers would start with a Corporate Logo with backing music. This song usually does not change; it may fade in and out, or even stop completely if a scene is reliant on sound (for example an explosion). This is a similar trend throughout more action packed genres. Some trailers provide a voiceover or written text that will start to show the films story. The clips shown are almost always not in order, cutting to highlight of the film that will interest the viewer, before moving back to a clip of exposition. This adds tension as the music builds up to points of impact. Some films show graphics layered on with reviews or quotes from critics from newspapers or websites praising the film. At the end of most trailers there is a billing block, showing the actors name, directors name, producers and various companies that have contributed to the making of the film. Whilst researching the regulations of a film trailer according to the BBFC we noticed that as it is a heist film it runs the risk of showing dangerous behaviour or things teens might copy. The BBFC consider the risk of potential harm to impressionable teenagers. For example, dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Whether the depiction of easily accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context and setting. The self-harm and aspect will not feature in the trailer, however the accessibility of weapons may be an issue we would need to take into consideration. The violence shown in the trailer conforms to the BBFC’s rules in regards to showing violence and weaponry, important, as the trailers age rating was only a 15 whilst the main production would be an 18.

This helped me create a storyboard suitable for a select target audience using methods seen in current film trailers. The target audience for the trailer is young male adults, aged 15-21 who are interested in crime films such as HEAT or Snatch. This was chosen because we planned to showcase some violence and weaponry that may be inappropriate to show younger viewers. Also through research in the film industry we found out that crime films appeal most to a male demographic.  To help with the planning of the trailer we created lists of props, places and possible actors we could use in the final Production. For the Production we looked at our Pre Production tasks and combined them to create a more dynamic storyline and use the advantages of both. This would create a stronger piece that should appeal to our target audience’s interests.

For the Production task we were able to use different visual and technical codes to create meaning for the audience. For example we were able to show the state of our characters wellbeing through their clothes, Jack, who plays a fired bank employee is shown wearing a scruffy waistcoat showing his lack of interest with working at the bank anymore and his shift from civilisation to crime. The Card Shark character wore a black shirt during the poker game after he was threatened to symbolise his impending death. Yousuf wore a black trilby hat, which has connotations of mystery and mafias and shirt to show dominance as he played the mafia loan shark. Alex wore a white shirt and scruffy tie; which connotes mistrust and panic. Henry wears glasses and a grey shirt. Grey is a cool, neutral, and balanced colour. The colour grey is an emotionless, moody colour that is typically associated with meanings of dull, dirty, and dingy, as well as formal, conservative, and sophisticated. We all used formal language during the poker scene and the asking of money to show the seriousness of the situation. We changed our tone and clothing when we were robbing the bank to show the adrenaline and urgency of the heisters and the panic of the civilians in the bank. During the bank robbery we wore black suits, ties, surgical gloves and balaclavas. This shows that we were well prepared for the heist. The surgical gloves show the amount of care and preparation we put into the planning, whilst the balaclavas showed out desire to protect our anonymity- similar to how most educated criminals would want to act. The bank scenes from HEAT and Point Break inspired the costumes for our trailer.

The Production task would be consumed before a film starts during the trailer showcase. This is an ideal place to show our trailer because it is too long for TV since it is over 2 minutes long.

Representations were a large focus in the creation of the trailer. Through our research we found out the methods that other crime films use. The protagonists are commonly seen in crime films, the desperate family man, the cocky leader, the clumsy gambler, the cold loan shark to name a few. These are character seen in many crime films such as Heat, Snatch and Point Break. For the location I looked for areas that would appeal to an underground network of criminals. For this reason I chose a large hall with dim lighting. For the bank we looked for clean office spaces and blank corridors, attributes our school had.

I started off ambitiously when editing this trailer using Adobe Premiere Pro; however I felt too intimidated and started to use iMovie. After researching the basics of Adobe Premiere Pro I decided to edit the whole trailer using it, as I thought that iMovie was too basic and could not cope well using footage from two different cameras with two different resolutions.  I am glad I decided to persevere with the use of Adobe Premiere Pro and not just stay in my comfort zone using iMovie as it gave more confidence and skills that I can rely on in future projects.

Overall I think that the trailer was good, there was a clear narrative, correct pacing, interesting camera angles and intense music. As a small crew with no budget or previous filmmaking experience I think that we created professional looking product. The filming took 2 days overall The camerawork was sometimes shaky and the editing could have done with more attention to colour correction however in terms of acting, pacing, sequencing and camera angles I think the standard is very high.  The title graphics I made could have been made much better however I found that the creation was limited in Adobe Premiere Pro. In hindsight I should have made them in Adobe Illustrator then transferred them to Adobe Premiere Pro. I learned the usefulness of editing programmes whist making the trailer in order to create different atmospheres. Despite this I am proud of my editing, especially the pacing, which was, revised numerous times, each attempt faster than the last. The sequence of me asking for money used the dissolve transition to show the flash back. Also in this sequence, in addition to the lighting being dark due to the closed curtains, I used a dark colour filter to “crush the blacks” to show faded memory. The sound design was also an important, most of the diegetic sounds were recorded in one take, though sounds such as the riffle of cards were recorded later as foley. The non-diegetic music was added in and trimmed, based of the soundtrack of HEAT, Inside Man and the opening scene from The Dark Knight.

To conclude I think the trailer came out very well (for an inexperienced crew) and the target audience of young male adults, aged 15-21 with a psychographic of those who are interested in crime films such as The Town, was clearly addressed. The trailer clearly has common conventions of a heist/ crime film in reference to the music, props, costume and locations, as well as the characters portrayed. This provides comfortable reassurance for the audience who would expect these conventions to be addressed as it satisfies their generic expectations of a crime film trailer, therefore making the production suitable for the target audience.