A Level Film Trailer Presentation Georgia Tamcken

3. The genre I had chosen to do (Psychological
Thriller). This sub - genre is very similar to
the Horror genre, however Psychological
Thrillers do not use psychical violence.
Psychological Thriller trailers are very fast
paced just like Horror trailers and make use
of black screen to create tension and
suspense. The trailers that I analysed also
had a lot of voice over used throughout so I
stuck to conventions with this idea.

4. Psychological Thrillers

5. The posters in the previous slide are well
known Psychological Thrillers that have very
fast paced trailers. Fast paced trailers usually
create suspension because it shows that the
film has a lot of content and that it has a lot of
action. The audience knows that the film will be
good value because lots of exciting and thrilling
events take place within the narrative.

6. I have used short clips in my trailer to stick to
the conventions of a Psychological Thriller.
As you can see here this clip in my trailer on plays
for one second

7. Another big factor about Psychological Thrillers
is that they use a lot of narrative an voice overs
throughout their trailers. Voice overs give the
audience gain a better understanding in what is
happening in the trailer.

8. My trailer also includes
voice overs throughout.
This keeps the story
clear without giving
away to much of the
plot and keeping the
audience satisfied with
what they see and hear
but still leaving them
thinking and interested
about the upcoming
film.
i have used a voice over in the
opening of my trailer to grab
the audiences attention

9. Psychological Thrillers are known for having a
lot of low key lighting shots as it creates a tense
atmosphere for the audience to enjoy. Low key
lighting is used to accentuate certain aspects of
an object or person which creates the sense of
alienation felt by the audience.
American Psycho Trailer
The Shining Trailer

10. I have used low key lighting in some of
my shots for my trailer. I used this
because I wanted to stick to
conventions and I also liked the idea
of alienating my trailer from the
audience. Most of my trailer is in
low key lighting because I wanted to
emphasise the point of unrealism
and the distortion of the characters
mind.

11. For Mise - En - Scene, a lot of
psychological thrillers use props,
most commonly a mirror is used,
most likely to portray the
characters inner self as well as
representing the 'dark side' of a
character. I used a mirror for two
shots in my trailer which
represented the erosion of the
characters mental state.
Black Swan Trailer
Story board
My
Trailer

12. The song I chose for my trailer was very fast paced and dramatic.
I feel like I broke conventions with music as usually Psychological
Thriller Trailers have eerie and tense music to build tension or to
shock the audience. Although my music is not eerie sounding, I
feel as though it still builds up tension towards the climax of my
trailer and shocks the audience.

14. My trailer, movie poster and movie magazine all
represent my chosen genre which is
Psychological Thriller. I have done by
following the conventions of other
Psychological Thriller trailers, posters and
other movie magazines.

15. Trailer

16. My Trailer follows the convention Psychological
Thriller genre and tells the audience what
they're going to expect and are going get in
my trailer. My trailer ties in the with
conventions of my poster and film magazine,
e.g. the colours are dark, I used the same
person for each task and I made sure they all
stuck to my chosen genre.

17. The audience expects Psychological
Thrillers to be fast paced, and to leave
them thinking. The people that will
watch my trailer enjoy Psychological
Thrillers therefore my trailer is aimed
towards them and my trailer will give
them a basic understanding of my
characters, what genre it is and a basic
idea of what the story is and what to
expect in the film.

18. Poster

19. When making my poster, I did not want it to look
cluttered, but I still wanted to follow poster
conventions, so I added a movie title, the actors
names, movie credits and an image.

20. For my image, I only wanted one main
character in the poster. I looked at a couple of
movie posters that had one main character as
the image and I noticed that they were mostly
mid shots or a close ups of the character. I
liked the idea of the audience being able to
look at the characters face and get a sense of
their personality and feelings so I took this
idea to the extreme.

21. I used an extreme close up shot of my characters eye. I
wanted to use the character's eye because I felt that
the eye gave the most emotion, therefore the image
portrayed the idea of fear which can be seen by the
audience. They would then know what genre film this
poster is representing and possibly be sympathetic for
whoever the character is. Also they could get the
feeling that the poster could be watching them
therefore become paranoid which mirrors the
characters feelings in my film.

22. I made the image black and white as I felt it fat
in perfectly with my trailer plot as well as my
chosen genre. However, I kept the eye coloured
as I wanted the pupil and iris to be the main
focus. The iris, being the main colour in the
image also gives it a sense of realism. I coloured
the rest of the eye a light shade of red because I
wanted it to emphasise the tiredness of my
character (as the trailer explains the character
does not get a lot of sleep).

23. There is a small silhouette in the light of the eye. I placed it there to
emphasise the fact that my character is afraid of someone or something.
The audience will see this and possibly feel unnerved from the small
image because they can see and feel the fear of the character in the
poster.

24. I wanted my movie title to be the brightest of the text as it is the most important. I
made it white to stand out because I wanted the audience to know and remember
the title of my film. The title is also the largest of the pieces of text and is in the
centre because of the same reasons. The title is the same font and colour as the one
in my trailer which combines the two together.

25. I used an effect on Photoshop to make it look like
there were lights surrounding the title of the
poster because I felt that just plain white text
would be boring to look at so I added this effect
to make it nicer for the audience to look at and
make it more interesting and easier for them to
remember it. I also feel as though it gives the title
a sense of delusion and mystery.

26. My two actor's name are smaller than the title but are a little larger than my
movie credits. They are also a deep red which makes them stand out from the
other pieces of text and the image. Red is a sense of danger, blood and death
therefore, having the actors names coloured red could indicate that something is
going to happen to their characters.

27. The movie credits are slightly faded as I felt that they weren't to
important in my poster and I placed them there because I wanted
to stick to conventions. I made the ' COMING SOON' a deep red
because I wanted it to stand out from the rest of the credits so it
was more noticeable to the audience which creates anticipation.

28. Magazine

29. When making my film magazine, I wanted it look formal and organised, i followed
magazine conventions like, the masthead, a plug, a feature article photo, a subhead
and the magazine title.

30. When analysing other film magazines, I noticed that
most of their feature article photo's were positioned
in front of the masthead. I followed these
conventions as I liked that it drew more attention to
the feature article photo, which is the main focus and
article of the magazine.

31. For my feature article photo, I used the same person playing the main character. I took
a mid-shot of the character as I wanted to show the body language as well as facial
expressions of the character. Her facial expressions show that tired and possibly fed up
with whatever is happening. She is also looking away from the camera which suggests
that she is lost in thought or possibly, watching something. this leaves the audience
questioning what she is looking at. The person feature article photo is wearing her
character clothes, which is a grey t-shirt with a red flannel shirt and a red hat. I chose
these clothes for her to wear because the character she was playing dresses scruffy
because in the trailer she seems a little unbalanced with herself and her life.

32. My masthead does not follow my colour scheme as it is blue not red. My
feature article photo is placed in front of my masthead because I wanted the
photo to be the main focus of my magazine and it show that the magazine is
so recognisable that the audience does not need to see the whole masthead
to identify the magazine.

33. I used the same font for my Tormented subheading. I
did this because it would be recognisable to the
audience and they would instantly know what this
article is about.

34. I followed the conventions of other film magazines and
added some small images of other movies to show that
this magazine has other articles on other big films. This will
attract a different demographic of people and possibly
interest them into reading the main article.

36. Before designing my trailer, I made a audience survey
to find out what people liked and expected from
psychological thrillers. My survey was quantitive and a
qualitive which benefits me because it allows me to
get numeric data as well as know what people actually
want in my trailer. My demographic was people above
the age of 17 and who generally enjoyed Psychological
Thrillers.

37. I started off with a simple
question. "What do you like
about psychological
thrillers?". I asked this
question because I wanted
to know what effect I
wanted to create for my
audience. The pie chart
shows that most of the
people I asked like the face
that psychological thrillers
left them with unanswered
questions. I took this into
consideration when making
my trailer.

38. I then asked them what they
liked about the trailers. As you
can see, an equal amount of
people answered suspense and
jumpscares.
Therefore I added a couple of
jumpscares into my trailer. I
thought that it was a little
difficult to create suspense in
my trailer but I felt like i
achieved this through use of
clips, lighting and music.

39. I asked my audience whether
they liked a lot of narrative or
little narrative in trailer and
more than half of them said that
they don't like to have a lot of
narrative as they felt as though
it took away the feel of the
trailer. They also said that they
like to use they're imagination
and think of what might be
happening rather than the
trailer telling them.
I agreed with them therefore I
only had a few parts of my
trailer with narrative. I felt that
it gave my trailer a sense of
mystery as - like my
demographic said - that it let
you imagine what might be
being said.

40. My demographic said that
they didn't really mind what
music was used as long as
fat with the genre of the
trailer/film.
My music choice didn't
really fit with the genre
however, it still created and
built tension and
excitement for the
audience.

41. My demographic did not want
to much information about
the protagonist or story to be
given away in my trailer as
they felt that it would just
ruin the whole film and there
would be no point to watch it
if you already know what's
going to happen.
I took this into consideration
and only gave away a small
part of the plot and only
showed a little character
development because I
wanted the audience to feel
sympathetic for my character.

42. For this question, I
already wanted to make
the audience have
unanswered questions
from my trailer, however I
wanted to see if the
audience wanted the
same.

43. A lot of my demographic asked me
what I meant by 'disturbing', and I
answered with violence or drug
use etc. It was then when they
answered no because they
thought that if I used disturbing
clips or images then they would
instantly think that my trailer
would be for a horror film rather
that a psychological thriller.
I understood what they meant by
this however, I used a clip in my
trailer of a blood covered pair of
scissors. I felt that although it is
not violent it is still a disturbing
clip as it leaves the audience
questioning what happened.

44. I based the story of my
film/trailer on this question
because when I asked this, I
was unsure of what people
wanted and expected in a
Psychological Thriller.
My story was about a girl who
had insomnia and needed
medication. She took some
medication that was not tested
given to her from the doctor
and started to have side
affected which in time affected
her mental state. This fits in
perfectly with what people
wanted and expected.

45. I then went back to the same
people after I had finished my
trailer and asked them 4
questions about it. Here is what
they said.

46. Did you like my Trailer?
Yes
No
I started with a simple
question, "Did you like my
trailer?". The majority of my
audience said that they did,
however, a few people said
that they didn't because they
didn't understand the story or
what was going on in my
trailer.

47. What Genre do you think my trailer is?
Horror
Psychological Thriller
Other
When asking them what genre they thought my trailer falls under, there was a
lot of conflict between the Horror and the Psychological Thrillers genre's as my
demographic thought my trailer used conventions from both genres.

48. What did you like about my trailer?
Tension
Dark
Unreal
Other
Most of my demographic
said that they liked the
unrealism of my trailer and
that it got them interested
and questioning about the
character's metal state. The
few people who said other
wrote that they liked the
fast paced clips and that it
kept them on the edge of
their seats when watching
my trailer.

49. Would you watch this film if released?
Yes
No
Maybe
Most of my demographic said that
they would love to see this as a
movie because they wanted to
know what happens to the
characters in the trailer. A few of
them then went on to ask if I was
going to make it into a film and
were disappointed to hear that I
wasn't.
It was an equal result for both the
answers, no and maybe. The people
that said no said that the trailer and
story of my film did not interest
them. The others were unsure and
they felt like the story was to
complex for them to completely
understand.

51. Research and Planning
When analysing other trailers, film magazines and posters, I
used Microsoft Word. This makes it easier to upload to my
blog. After analysing everything, I began my planning,
however, I did not use any technology for my plans or
storyboard, I drew them all by hand. I then had to scan them
all into my user and then upload them to my blog. This wasted
time, however I preferred drawing my plans rather than using
technology like Photoshop or Microsoft Word.

52. Construction
When creating my trailer, I used a program called Adobe Premier. This
technology allowed me to easily organise and move around clips that I had
recorded using a video camera. The cut tool also allowed my to cut unwanted or
unnecessary sections of my clips.
Example of Cut tool

53. One of my clips was to long and it pushed my trailer over the
limited time that we were given. So I used the time stretch tool
to speed up the clip so it fat in with the fast paced conventions as
well as staying within the time limit.
I shortened the
clip from 8
seconds to 4.

54. I added Dip to Black transitions to some of my
clips for my trailer as I felt that it created tension
and suspense.
I used the
Dip to Black
transition.

55. For my film poster and magazine, I used the program Photoshop Element 8.
The first thing I did on this technology was to create layers. I did this because
this makes it easier for me to create different effects on different layers and
it's also easier for me to edit and organise them.
This drop down list allows
you to change the style of
the layer. For example, I
used the overlay layer to
change the blue and red so it
looked more realistic on my
poster.
I could also change the
opacity of each layer which
was effective when creating
my smoke effect for my
magazine as it gave it the
faded look.

56. I used the Gaussian Blur filter
to blur some paint brush lines
I had created. I did this
because I wanted to create an
ominous feeling in my poster.
I could change the radius
of the blur. The higher the
radius, the more blurred
the layer will become.
As you can see, after
applying the filter, it
blurred the layer creating a
smoke like effect.

57. Lastly I used a filter called Maximum.
This tool works the same as the
Gaussian Blur tool with the radius.
However, instead of blurring the layer, it
compresses it making it appear thinner.
I used this to create my smoke effect on
my poster and magazine.

58. Evaluation
For my evaluation I used two different technologies. One was
Microsoft PowerPoint and the other Coral Show. Both
technologies did the same thing, however I used one at school
and the other at home. Both had similar features; New Slide,
Add Shape, Add Textbox, Add Picture, Transitions etc.