Evaluation question 3 - Trailer

Here is a presentation I have made in response to my qualitative audience feedback.

I also collected some quantitative data from my questionnaire which I have put into charts below:

These two responses are encouraging as the interest for independent, arthouse aesthetics are the largest in popularity. These, for me, are the most important factors in my own trailer. This therefore shows that I have succeeded in catering for my target audience's interests.

These two responses are also very good - my audience was able to decode which genre my film was, some even picking up that it was a combination of both arthouse and thriller.

In terms of editing, I felt as if my use of superimposition made it clear that the protagonist had taken the drug, as it was consistent throughout and made the visuals disconcerting. However, I thought that the strobe was the most striking and was the most obvious portrayal of the drug use. My audience feedback is successful here as my thoughts are reflected in their response.

I also asked my audience to outline the premise of the film in three bullet points.

I found this answer particularly interesting as this person mentioned a ‘moral dilemma’, which adds further substance to the narrative. I am pleased that they picked up on the exploitation point, as this is not make explicitly clear in the trailer, but is rather hinted at implicitly through James’s distress as well as the facial expressions and tone of voice from Andy:

1.     Illegal use of drug to acquire information for financial gain

2.     Young guy putting life at risk to earn money – moral dilemma

3.     Exploitation by older man

Other answers were very accurate, e.g.

1.     The young man is given a dangerous job by the older man

2.     He has to take the drug in order to do the job

3.     He might not survive

Another person actually managed to work out elements of the storyline that are not even mentioned in the trailer:

1.     There was a boy who works for an older man

2.     He needed the boy to test a drug which enhanced the brain

3.     He wanted to do this to prevent other companies from using / perfecting it first

These responses show that my trailer was successful in conveying my storyline, as my audience did not only give correct responses from the content in the trailer, but actually went as far to infer information about the later parts of the film that are not even mentioned or shown.

Trailer presentation and questionnaire for audience feedback

We had a showing of my trailer this week, and I asked my audience to complete a questionnaire in order for me to collect audience feedback.

Questionnaire:

Evaluation question 1 - Trailer

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?





Some stills from my trailer:

Mood and Tone

I am aiming to make my trailer in the style of an arthouse film. It will be exploring alternate, distorted states of reality - this will be shown through expressionistic visuals, the strong use of colour giving a trippy and psychedelic atmosphere. This will be helped with motif (reflections) and editing techniques such as superimposition. 

This alternative, lo-fi style is based on films such as Enter the Void, Under the Skin, Trainspotting and Only God Forgives. 

Please look at my research and planning posts on these trailers, as well as my other influences, for notes and detailed analysis.

Example shots:

1. Reflections as motif

These two shots show James looking at his reflection. In psychology, mirrors symbolise the threshold between the conscious and the subconscious mind - so, by looking at his reflection, he is looking towards his unconscious and the altered, distorted place which his mind is in. Whilst doing this, he is attempting to reach the part of his mind which is able to access the information which he has been ordered to find. 

These reflections and mirrors also symbolise James being reflective of himself throughout the film, as this gives an idea of a personal journey as well as a physical one.

2. Superimposition

I have chosen to use a lot of superimposition in my trailer to heighten the sense of confusion and a distorted reality. It makes the audience question what is real and what is not, and portrays James' unhinged, drug-addled mind. 

This also helps to heighten the suspense and tension throughout the trailer, and visually draws the audience in as there is more than one image to look at on the screen. 

The Trip - Trailer

Here is the final cut of the trailer.

End slate

This is the end slate for my trailer. I have incorporated my 'production company' name from my thriller opening from last year, as well as giving each person in my class (and my teacher) a credit.

Some of the first credits are genuine:
- A film by myself
- Actors: James and Andrew Greenhalgh
- Soundtrack by Chris Hughes
- Sound director: Hannah Faja

The rest have been made up.

I have used the classic 'SF Movie Poster' font, in order for the slate to look more authentic.

I may also change the colours of the release date, so this flashes to match the other inter-titles throughout the trailer.

Titles influence (part two)

In continuation from my Prezi on titles and graphics, I have chosen to use Enter The Void as my influence to how my inter-titles will actually be presented on screen.

I loved the use of vibrant, bold colouring and wanted to use the same neon tones rather than settling for black/white.

For inter-titles to work, they must move in some way on the screen in order for the 'action' and movement in the trailer to continue to flow. 

Therefore, as well as having the colour flash and change, I also added another layer of writing to give a '3D' / interference effect. This gives the notion of double vision which reflects the theme of my film.

In FinalCut, I have written my inter-titles on a 'basic title' text box. To create the strobe effect, I have repeated this text over and over (in four different colours), each one lasting 0.2 seconds. On every third text box, I have added the second piece of text in order to create the interference.

You cannot see here, as these images are stills, but the colours flash as if they are a strobe.

(Please see my research and planning post on Enter The Void for detailed analysis).

This GIF gives a better idea of what the titles look like in the trailer.

I wanted to give the same strobe effect for my end title - this would give an intense, dramatic, punchy ending.

Potential poster images

Filming schedule

Rough cut of footage and notes (shoot seven, part two)

Rough cut of footage and notes (shoot seven, part one)

Soundtrack

My friend Chris Hughes created my soundtrack for the trailer. He describes it as manic, dissonant and an ode to the early Canterbury scene - an early British Psychedelic movement in the 60s - that experimented with different tonal dissonance and effects on electronic instruments.

We may mix the music further with the sounds on FinalCut.

Soundtrack inspiration

There are three tracks that I have used for inspiration - one for each part of my trailer.

Sound from re-shoot

Sound from China Town

Even though I did not end up using any diegetic sound from my China Town shoot in my trailer, I still recorded a lot of audio from that day. Here is some of the best sound from the shoot in the video below.

Rough cut of footage and notes (shoot six)

Rough cut of footage and notes (re-shoot of main scene)

Sound bites needed

These are the sound bites that I need to record myself. I have found clips from YouTube to use for this video.

Rough cut of footage and notes (shoot five)

Rough cut of footage and notes (shoot four)