Evaluation

For my A2 Level coursework, I have created a film trailer, poster and magazine cover based about the Laura Ruby novel ‘Good Girls’. The aim of the trailer was to challenge the conventional coming of age film by not using happy, upbeat music and teen lingo like ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’ but instead, tackling a slightly older issue and using a meaningful, song along with a voiceover of the main character Audrey.



The editing is very slow and each scene fades or dips in to the other therefore giving the trailer fluidity. The colours in the trailer and magazine cover are quite earthly and naturual so represent the grittiness of the situation which Audrey is in. On the magazine cover, Becky as Audrey is looking away from the camera which would make the reader think that she is deep in thought, this is also shown in the trailer as becky gently goes back and forth on the swing in the playpark. This was intentional so each piece had a link and continuity. Another link is the font in each piece, unfortunately i was not able to gain access to the font for my credits on the trailer so i chose one very similar, the font was intended to give the audience a personal feel as it is almost like handwriting.

The poster is incredibly basic yet proved to be very popular with my audience, they got the relationship between the character just from the poster. My intentions were for Sam as Luke to look quite vacant which is juxtaposed with Becky as Audrey's look of hope. I feel that the poster went with the normal conventions of a real film poster as it captures the overall tone of the film. The magazine cover has adopted all the classic attributes of Sight and Sound magazine, it is simple and attractive. I realised that Sight and Sound magazine always has a special therefore i came to the decision that it would only be right to do the same so i made mine a 'Teen Talent' Special which as far as i know they havent yet done. The trailer, magazine cover and poster all have the same house style. The audience all got the preferred meaning (Stuart Hall) of each media text created.




I asked the audience what would they expect from a coming of age film and they answered 'a definate journey of one character overcoming a problem' which i feel was very well represented in the trailer. The trailer itself follows Todorovs narrative theory of equilibrium (audrey before the picture message), disequilibrium (audrey after the picture message), new equilibruim (audrey getting on with her life and overcoming the situation). This is highlighted with the music gradually leading up to a crescendo and then coming back down again. The trailer does incorporate Vladimir Propp's theory of characters, we have Audrey as the Heroine, Ash as the helper, Cindy and Pam as the villains and Luke as the hero. However the hero is actually a girl, reversing the theory and challenging it.

My audience said that they liked the part of the trailer where Audrey walked past Luke in the street which was incidently my favourite part too! They also gave two pieces of critisism, that was that the voiceover wasnt loud enough and that the first section with Audrey and Ash looked too staged. If i could go back, i would record the voiceover with better equiptment therefore not picking up any other sounds but the voice.

In order to create the trailer, i used Adobe Premiere Elements because it was accessible and easy. I taught myself to do transitions between scenes, clip scenes, remove and add sound and edit the music. Photoshop was used for both the poster and magazine cover because i know how to use it and it allowed me to be as imaginative as possible with editing photos, warping fonts and playing with colours. I had to be especially careful with the continuity in my trailer, i had to make sure that no one cut or died their hair at all!

The book on which this is based, i read a couple of years ago therefore i believe that it would target the many many readers it has. It would also be publiscised on facebook to grab the attention of the target audience. This is a very popular way of advertising nowadays. Because of the low budget/not known actors, my film would probably be shown in arthouse cinemas and produced by a company such as Goldcrest Pictures and Distributed by Optimum Releasing. The audience also agreed with this as they are both companys that deal with low budget arthouse films.

Audience Feedback!

To help evaluate my 3 media products, i have got a group of people in and out of my target audience to watch the trailer and look at the magazine cover and poster.

These are the questions that i will be asking them-

BEFORE SHOWING THEM THE TRAILER

What genre of films do you prefer to go and watch?

How often do you go to the cinema?

What would you look for in a coming of age film?

AFTER SHOWING THEM THE TRAILER

Is the trailer what you would expect?

Did you get an outline of the story?

Did the soundtrack fit witht the action?

What did you like about the trailer?

What didnt you like about the trailer?

Would you go and watch the film?

What certificate would you give the film?

Where do you think the film would be shown?




AFTER SHOWING THEM THE POSTER AND MAGAZINE COVER

Did the magazine a poster appeal to you? And why?

Could you tell that all three linked?

'Good Girls' The Trailer

Magazine Cover!

Here is the final copy of my magazine cover!

Final poster decision

I asked my media class of 15 people which poster they preferred out of the two given options and the reasons for their decision. It was unanimous. The Close up of the two main characters won for its simplicity, beautiful colour choice and over all appeal to teenagers. Both characters are good looking and the font 'cutie pop' from http://www.dafont.com/ is very swirly and girlish.


The pink and blue colours in the text relate to both male and female thus giving a greater appeal to a wider audience.

The only critisism was the thought cloud around 'Good Girls' as it was drawn by hand so i changed that in order for it to look less rushed and more professional.

Becky as Audrey is looking at Sam as Luke with very open eyes, she looks hopeful yet puzzled where as from Sam as Luke's expression, the audience have no idea what he is thinking, his expression is almost vacant therefore the relationship between the two is not completely established making the audience wonder and draw them in.

The tag line is 'Life is Hard when you're 16' so the age of the characters is established and the target audience's attention is captured as we are directly addressing teens (preferably) around that particular age and relating to them, telling them that we know what its like and how difficult it is and that they arent the only ones to have problems.

Movie posters

I have created two different magazine poster prototypes which is will have to choose between for my final product so i have decided to upload them both so friends can access tem and help me decide which is the best to use!
From their feedback, i will change any aspect which are not liked and choose from the two posters.





They are below-

Photos for my Poster

The photos for my magazine cover would work better with just one person on it, in my case, the main character of my trailer Audrey. However, a movie poster works better with more than just the main character. Therefore i have taken photos of Audrey and her love interest Luke who is played by Sam Woodhams. Both characters are very good looking therefore would attract a male and female audience.


Here are some photo samples-

Photos

I began to think about taking photos for both my poster and magazine front cover. I took a mix of photos of just Becky (Audrey) and her group of friends. I really wasnt sure whether i wanted Beckys character to come across as vulnerable or brave therefore i just took a whole bunch and will decide which is appropriate in due course!

Narrative

Everyone has different cultural experiences therefore everyone would have different interpretations of media texts. Society’s ideologies have however guided us to focus on the preferred meanings of texts (the ways in which the writers want us to take the text) but depending if we are active or passive, we still have the choice to question the ideologies or absorb them.

My trailer is of a coming of age film genre which could in a way relate to everyone’s cultural experiences as we have all/are going through the process of growing up. The trailer is similar to that of ‘my sisters keeper’, directed by Nick Cassavetes in 2009, in the way that part of it is narrated by the main character who is a young girl that shocks her parents by suing them for using her as an organ donor for her ill sister, in my case, the narrator would be by Becky (who plays Audrey) and the voiceover is mixed with slow beautiful music that builds up to a crescendo then brought back down in order to highlight the use of Todorov’s narrative theory (that is that every well made film should have the structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium).

It is difficult to decided whether to explore different conventions and narratives in order to keep the audience on their toes or stick to go with the weave and make the audience feel comfortable! I like to think that as much as my narrative is conventional, the plot of the story is not and the both juxtaposed is a new effect.

In my trailer, not much is given away to the audience. The basic storyline is portrayed through the convention of equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium. It begins with Audrey (the main character) and Ashley sitting in a car discussing the night before which is shot through both the passenger and drivers windows in order to get both perspectives. The scene is then interrupted by a picture message on Audrey’s phone at which point the music (‘Make a Difference’-Sam Wills) begins and the diajetic sound is removed whilst the voice over is added in so we can relate to and become at one with Audrey. There are then slow shots of the people in Audrey’s life consoling her and living around her problem which all merge together for the end of the trailer in which Audrey is beginning to start over and enjoy life and we have the line ‘so look at the picture all you want, I am so much more than what you see’. This statement is personal and confident therefore we have a deep respect for Audrey.

Typically in teenage films you will have good looking actors, fresh music and angst which are the elements I have used. The film itself is an adaptation of the book ‘Good Girls’ by Laura Ruby who’s preferred meaning of the book was to highlight social issues amongst teens and show an audience whether it be young or old how difficult teenage problems can be and hopefully through my trailer, I will present this.

Even though the audience get a clear hint of the storyline, they are left to guess the reason for which Audrey is deemed to be not a good girl and according to audience feedback, this, along with the past elements mentioned would entice a trailer viewer to go and watch the film.

Music

We have been told that we cannot have copyrighted music to run alongside our movie trailer which isnt good news seeing as i had the perfect song for my trailer however a friend of mine is a singer/songwriter and very kindly gave me permission to use one of his songs!

Artist-Sam Wills

Song Name-Make a Difference

Unfortunately i couldnt upload the song onto here so here is his myspace and you can listen to the song by finding it on his music player.........

http://www.myspace.com/samwillsmusic

Movie Posters

Movie posters play a big part in the advertisment of films. They can be on billboards, at bus stops, in magazines or on the internet. They are everywhere. They are there for the main reason, to sell the movie-to make you want to go and watch it.

The mains ways in which a poster does this are:

-Using BIG BOLD WRITING to capture your attention
-Using Attractive people
-Using colours and fonts to give you a sense of the genre
-Having a catchy slogan for the film

-By Possibly having the main character on the poster looking straight ahead as if at you therefore getting your attention and making you feel involved.


We can see in this poster that the main character whom Uma Therman is playing is looking straight towards us with a helpless look on her face therefore making us sympathise with her. The Bright coloured background is juxtaposed with her serious expression to make an audience focus on Uma Therman-the focal point of the poster.








-The tag line for his film is 'There are no time outs' which again gains the audiences sympathy for this particular character.

-The Font of the title is as if it has been drawn on with a crayon giving us an insight into the main characters relationship with children-that they have taken over her life and that she is simply a mother whos life is run by her children.


I think this poster is quite interesting as it has quite a simplistic design and nature about it which i would base my poster on, The white background leaves an audience focusing on the main character.


-the main chaacter is not directly addressing us as he is looking away and thoughtfully up at the three women above him suggesting that he is thinking about them all.

All characters on the poster are attractive and relatively well known thus appealing to a lot of people.


-The tagline is 'three relationships, three disasters, one last chance' which hints at a storyline without giving too much information away. The simplicity is shown again with the white title which stands out against the grey/blue of the man actors shirt making the piece seem incredibly realistic, down to earth and not over acted.






When creating a poster, you need to think about the intended effects that you want it to have on the audience.

For me, i want my poster for 'Good Girls' to convey a sense of simplicity as in the above poster for 'Definately, Maybe' but also portay the beauty of youth.

Film Magazine research

I need to produce a movie magazine cover for my film so here are some options of current magazines that i could use-

Filmmaker

(from wikipedia)

Filmmaker is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was established in 1992 and it is published by IFP (Independent Feature Project) an advocacy organization that supports and serves the independent film community.

With a readership of more than 60,000, the magazine presents an insider's perspective on the world of independent filmmaking and includes interviews, case studies, financing and distribution information, festival reports, technical and production updates, legal pointers, and filmmakers on filmmaking in their own words.



In this edition, Lee Daniels (director) is talking about his newly directed film 'precious'. The magazine contains information about the Sundance movie festival which shows the types of films that it specialises in (independent). The colour scheme consists of browns to give you an earthy feel.

British film Magazine

After 3 years of development, the British Film Magazine released its first issue in june 2005.

(from Wikipedia)

British Film Magazine is designed to report on every new British film on general release in Britain and all films released in Britain with major British talent involved, usually at directors or lead actor. It also reports on such films in production; on small budget British independent films and shorts, on training programmes in Britain and on British film or talent on DVDs.



This is the premier editition of the magazine in which the cover feature is about Keira Knightly being voted the best British actor. This magazine doesnt specialise in Independent films as it discusses actors such as Jude Law and Stephen Fry therefore it probably isnt the right choice for me!

Along with my movie trailer and magazine, I need to produce a poster and a music magazine cover to promote the film itself.

I will have to make sure that the magazine fits in with the genre, the size of film and would appeal to my intended audience therefore i had to do some research into current magazines to decided which one my film would have a place in.

These two magazines would not work with my film therefore my choice is......

Sight and Sound

Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the BFI.



In this edition (november 2009) The magazine contains details on the cover feature of 'Fantastic Mr Fox' and discusses recent film releases such as 'sorority row'. This magazine,focuses on low budget films as well as discussing moderately well known ones. The man on the front is looking to the camera to engage with the audience. The cover is simple, calm and classic with light blues which gives you a sophisticated feel. The font is Roald Dahl's well known handwriting who wrote 'Fantastic Mr Fox' the childrens book. The reason why this cover is successful is that it isnt too crowded with text and photos and the cool blues highlight the masthead which is a bright yellow therefore it stands out.

Shooting Dates

Below are my dates of shots for the trailer

Wednesday 14th October- SHOT 6 + 7

Wednesday 27th October- SHOT 3 + 4

Monday 9th November- 5 + 8 + 9 + 10

Shots!

This was just the initial idea for shots. Shots 3 and 4 were filmed in and outside the car but it didnt look right so the location was changed to in Vena Living room. Charltte walking up the stairs didnt look right so that section was also cut.

Research of 2 similar films that relate to 'Good Girls'

To really understand the the struggles and stages of creating a film, i have researched 2 films that are similar to my own

Sixteen Candles (1984)





Sixteen Candles is a film about a young girl called Samantha whos parents get wrapped up in their other daughters wedding to the point that they forget about Samanthas 16th birthday.

Sixteen Candles is considered by many to mark the birth of the so-called Brat Pack. The Brat Pack refers to a group of young stars who played in similar coming-of-age themed 1980s movies.

Actors and actresses often associated with The Brat Pack often include Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy.

As Sixteen Candles was made in the 80's, promotion was through posters and adverts, it had nowhere near the amount of promotion that films have nowadays. However, since teen films have become more popular, the film has been re-released and promoted through programmes such as '50 greatest child stars' and through internet advertisment.

The main production company and distributor are Universal which are an american company.

It was incredibly hard trying to find much information about the production and distribution of the film as it was made over 20 years ago.


Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)



Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a coming of age comedy about Georgia who has to come to terms with her dads job in new zealand, her non existent love life and growing up.

The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha who also directed films such as 'Bend it like Beckham', she is very well known and usually focuses on the direction of coming of age or teenge films.

The film itself is a book adaptation therefore appeals firstly to the teens that have read it. The film is moderately big with an unpublished budget! It is rumoured to be around £25,000 but this is just a rumour. However, the film itself grossed over £5,000,000 in the first month.

Other than through videos on youtube, tv and cinema adverts, Angus thongs and perfect snogging was also promoted through bebo and myspace.

The PCC (the picture production company) were approached by Paramount pictures to help promote the film in new ways, i went on their site and this is what they said 'We recognised that it wasn’t enough to focus on online advertising and a microsite during the weeks leading up to the film. We felt that Web 2.0 gave us an opportunity to start raising awareness of the film at a far earlier stage.
To start with, we wanted to drive conversation and create a community around the film well in advance to attract a web-fluent core target audience. We then expanded this to a more traditional advertising method closer to the release date to ensure a more mainstream audience.
The centrepiece of the campaign was a Bebo profile for Georgia. Users could become friends with Georgia and get to know her and the other characters long before the film was released.
As the film was still in production, we had the opportunity to film and produce original content and behind the scenes footage. We scripted, produced, filmed on-set and edited 21 original webisodes.
These were launched weekly in the run up to the film’s release through the Bebo profile, and were also pushed through the widget'.

By the opening night of the film, Georgia had 20,915 friends on myspace and the bebo page had been visited by 199,633 people.

The main production company and distributor for this film was paramount pictures which are very well known and picked the film because of the amazing direction from Gurinder Chadha and for the fact that the film can be enjoyed by a large audience.

Distribution and Production Companies

For my production company, i would use Goldcrest Pictures. My reasoning for this is because they like to work with book to film adaptations such as 'Twilight' 2008 'Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging' in 2008. The company itself hasnt been around for long and it only began to Produce films in 2008 however it seems to choose films that have done incredibly well!

For My Distribution company i would use Optimum releasing as they distribute mostly low budget independent British films as they are a British company. Titles include Vera Drake (2004) which was directed by Mike Leigh. Optimum releasing has also distributed book adaptations such as 'The Merchant of Venice' 2004 which is useful as my Film is a Book adaptation.

Both companies thrive off of independent films such as moderately mainstream ones therefore they would be perfect for my film.

Voice over

I decided that my trailer needed a voiceover so i found a narrative paragraph which is on the jacket of a version of the book. I changed it around to fit the trailer and it is as follows......

'Life is strange when you're 16. Crying in cars and gazing at stars. Best friends, old new and out of the blue. A boy so beautiful he's like a punch in the throat. Mistakes, misunderstandings and misconceptions. Good girls, bad boys and everyone inbetween. So look at the picture all you want, I am so much more than what you see'.

Alongside the voiceover, will be the song 'what about now?' by Chris Daughtry. The song is questioning the present. The Line that pops out to me is 'what if you're making me all that i was meant to be?'. This fits in with Audrey accepting that the photo is a part of her life.

The song is beautifully written and has a climax at the chorus which symbolises Audry moving on with life.

Characters

According to literary critic Vladimir Propp, each film should have a certain group of character, which consisted of....


1.The villain — struggles against the hero.
2.The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
3.The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.
4.The princess and her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
5.The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
6.The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
7.[False hero] — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.


In my trailer, i will need the main character (the heroine), the love interest, two helpers and two villains. therefore my plot does fit with propps theory.

My actors are-

Audrey-Becky Tutt
Luke DeSalvio- Sam Woodhams
Ash- Verna Colosi
Joelle-Mel Sexton
Pam- Charlotte Russell
Cindy- Grace leaney

Genre

The genre of my movie is coming of age. This generally involves teen actors who have to overcome a problem. On the back of the book that my film is based on (Good Girls-Laura ruby), it says-

-'beautifully written and truelly contempoary, frequently sexy yet never exploitative, this accessible, groundbreaking novel pulls no punches. A hands-on-your-heart, must read book for teenage girls and women who remember what it was like to be young and talked about. good girls proves that good girls are the girls who are goo to themselves'.

The film will be quirky but tackle the issues in a heart warming and sympathetic way.

Analysis of movie trailer

As previously mentioned, the main influences for my filming are 'sugar rush' and 'Angus, thongs and perfect snogging'.

Here are the trailers........

Angus, thongs and perfect snogging (2008)



The trailer begins with a scouting for girls song 'shes so lovely' which every teenage girl would know, this immediately captures the target audience as it is modern and upbeat. 'When you're 15 years old, you know exactly how it works'- this, along with the age of the main actors are directly addressing the target audience and engaging you. The trailer is full of quick wipe cuts that have a reinforced 'whoosh' sound, this keeps it exciting, this excitement is backed up by the bright colours and happy music. Inbetween shots, there are cuts to a page of a notebook with sentences such as 'how to flaunt it' and 'how to style is', these carry on from the first statement which i have previously mentioned.

Sugar Rush (the tv series)




My film with be no where near as provocative as this tv programme!

This clip is full of swearing, sex and soft seductive voices, the target audience is for girls 16-25, we can tell this from the fact that young girls might not be mature enough to handle the content and older women might be offended by the sexual story lines. There are red objects all the way through the clip for example red boots and a red sofa to symbolise the lust between the female characters, there are different types of music, soft guitar music for the sullen moments and provocative music for the taboo moments. There are many quick cuts juxtaposed with a voiceover of sugars seductive voice, this is to highlight the excitement and sexual pleasure in sugars life.