Classification

I would class my film as a 15 certification because it does not  encourage discriminate in any way. I think it would be too strong for a 12/12A as there is a sense of discriminitary language and there is a bit of imitable behaviour like the bullying and fighting. I think in my own judgement that the theme of the trailer is not suitable for 12/12A either as it contains quite mature themes like bullying and also the horror content is more than moderate is quite frequent. When considering the classification I went by the official guidelines from the BBFC.

I also took into consideration classifications from the trailers I researched. the trailer for 'Tormented' is a 15. This seems about right for me and since my trailer is heavily linked to it, it had an impact on me and my trailer. Other trailers I previously did research on like ' What Lies Beneath' and  'Blair Witch Project' are both 15. It seems that all of the same type of films are classified as 15 so it makes some sense to put 15 on my trailer.

Audience Theories

Two Step Flow

The theory suggests that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. Individuals, who are opinion leaders, pay close attention and receive information from the media. They then pass on their own interpretation of the information to people who are in social contact with the opinion leader. The opinion leader has personal influence on the medias messages and could change other people’s attitude and beliefs towards the media.

The Hypodermic Syringe Theory

This theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to the mass media. It started in the 1920s, the Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that audiences passively receive information from the media and get manipulated into believing what they see is true without being given a chance to question the message. The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a  large group of people directly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a response.

Reception Theory

This theory uses the audience’s individual background and circumstances to explain how the media affects the audience. The theory says that a person’s gender, class , age  and ethnicity effects how the audience interprets and reads the media.  Depending on the culture of the audience, the audience will read the media differently and have different views on the messages the media sends.



Uses and Gratifications

This theory is also more about the audience than the actual message in the media as it is considered an audience-centred theory.  The theory says that the audience look for a particular type of media to meet their needs.  Their needs do alternate though and the media provides a large variety.

My Trailer Planning

I expanded my trailer ideas to make the storyline and to choose the cast.  While I was looking at trailers I started to get a more specific idea of what I wanted to do. I chose to loosely base my trailer on the film 'Tormented' in the end because it was a film from my sort of age group and I thought it would very interesting to film.  Although it will be a remake, it will be a bit different as I am going to add in my own bits and do it my way. The storyline is  about a lonely sixth former who is bullied to an extreme extent and ends up being killed. Here is the storyboard for the trailer explaining the sequence.

Characters


The cast of the trailer was particularly easy because the characters are sixth form school boys. The main character is the that gets bullied and I chose Matt Daniel for this role. I chose him because he fitted the criteria of this character which included age, gender and looks . Then I had to find about three or four other people to play the bullies. I chose Nick Conner, Max Ansell, Frank Mowatt and Matt Scott as they are all the same age and gender and are all  also roughly from the same social group so they are naturally friends and comfortable together.


Location


There will be two locations in the trailer, the school and just outside the school in the road. The school is just an obvious and relevant location as the trailer is based on a sixth former getting bullied at school so it is just obvious. The road is used for a car scene.



Camera Shots and Titles


The camera shots I'm intending to use are a mixture. I am going to try and be versatile with my camera shot to make my trailer look professional and as interesting and possible.
I am also going to use intertitles as well during the trailer that will say about release date, title of the film and rhetorical questions. This will also make it look more professional and draw audiences in.

More Research into Trailers

I carried out more research into trailers with a bit more depth. As I looked at in my other post, the trailer for Tormented was influential and was very relevant to my ideas so i decided to look at it in more detail.

In the trailer for Tormented, there is no voice over in the trailer, they use quotes in scenes to help tell the storyline. They also use intertitles with  a slogan saying ' the best days of your life.... dont last forever'. There is a break between the intertitles as well. Thoughout the trailer there is information on the film like the release date and the name of the film. The editing of the trailer changes but at some points its very quick and pacey especially at the leading up to the climax's.

I also looked at  the 'What Lies Beneath' trailer.  This film has some relevance to my trailer because it is a supernatural thriller. Again this trailer has no voice over, quotes from the film is used to tell the story. This trailer gives away a lot of the film and I dont really want that to happen in my trailer. The beginning of the trailer starts off quiet and gentle music but quite scary at the same time. It stays like this until about half way through where it starts to get jumpy at the scary scenes to scare the audience and to attract horror and thriller lovers. It seems like a trend that most trailers have intertitles near the end saying like a slogan, in this trailers case, it reads  ' He was the prefect husband...until his one mistake....followed them home' and again there is a break between these intertitles.

The other trailer I looked at was  the 'Blair Witch Project' trailer.  The way this film relates to my ideas because it is about spirit that kills.  The whole film is used with a handheld camera, so the trailer uses this effect. The trailer is not very long at all and the only thing that helps tell the storyline is at the beginning of the trailer where there is a bit of writing. The intertitles in the trailer are film critics opinions given by magazines. Also there is no real music during the trailer, they use sound effects really that are trying to shock and draw in the audience and encourage them to see the film.  They still say the release date for the film though and also give a website to visit.

My Trailer Ideas

The first thing I needed to decide was the genre of the film trailer which I already had an idea on. I chose to make it a horror/thriller trailer because I have always liked horror films and it would be fun making a trailer for one.After choosing the genre, I had to choose what kind of path I wanted to go down within horror/thriller. I brainstormed categories.

After brainstorming, I realised which category and what kind of films that I have seen the most of and what I knew most about. This helped me choose my storyline because it convinced me to go into what im most familiar with, which was the supernatural category.

So knowing what my genre and category was, i researched some supernatural based films. I came across some good ones that  inspired me like  the trailer for Paranormal Activity and Tormented.

Conventions of a trailer

Conventions of trailers include a voice over. A voice over is used to help give the audience a grasp of the storyline of the film. In trailers, they usually establish the genre of the film, so that it will attract their target audience. Actors are shown as well because people will be more encouraged to go watch the film if they have an actor that they like to watch in the film.
Trailers also give you details about the film like release date, title, credits etc.

The trailer 'Piranha 3D' shows you that is an thriller/horror film with the music being jumpy and builds tension. The film also shows its unique selling point which is that its in 3D,  as its in the title.  The target audience is established as they show a party at the beach, full of teenagers and young adults. The pace of the trailer is quick with quick editing. There is dialogue throughout the trailor, with quotes from the film being used. Credits are also used, with  a rhetorical question being used 'Can You Swim' as well as giving information about release date, producers and directors.    Watch the Piranha 3D trailer here

The purposes of a trailor

There are a few reasons why trailors are used.
Trailors are used for advertisement. It gets the film out in public so people will hear about it through television, cinema or even the internet.
Its also to attract the target audience and draw them into watching the film by making the film look as attractive as possible.
Trailors are used as a teaser as well.  To give the audience a taster of the film and ultimately try to get people to want to see the film.