Assignment 2: Film posters and trailers

Both our Assignment 2 analytical and production tasks require us to be experts on film posters and trailers. 

This means we need to study the key conventions and design features in real depth and analyse the key messages being communicated to the audience. We also need to look for specific institutional details such as stars, directors or other films created by the same film studio.

Film posters: key conventions

• Central image
• Secondary images
• Title
• Tagline (like a slogan)
• Release date
• Stars
• Critic reviews
• Social media hashtags / website details
• Production blurb
• Iconography of the film’s genre

Film trailers: key conventions

• Institutional details – film studio, actors, director etc.
• Clear opening laying out setting, characters and narrative
• Short clips of key moments in film 
• Fast paced editing to suggest drama and excitement
• On-screen text (replaces tradition of voiceover)
• Stars – usually early on and often with text-on-screen
• Title and release date – always at END of trailer
• Critic reviews / quotes
• Social media hashtags / website details
• Production blurb (usually final shot of trailer)
• Sound that communicates genre and ‘feel’ of film

Film trailer: structure

Always look for the typical structure of a trailer:

O = Opening

B = Build up

P = Problems

E = Events

Film language notes

Sound

Sound in film includes:

• Dialogue
• Sound effects
• Music
• Voiceover

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound

Diegetic: sound that is coming from within the sphere of the film. Remember: the characters can hear it. Example: dialogue.

Non-diegetic: sound that is NOT within the sphere of the film – only the audience can hear it. Example: soundtrack/music/score.

Mise-en-scene

Mise en scène literally translates from French as ‘putting on stage’. 

We use it in film studies to describe everything that appears in front of the camera.

When we analyse mise en scène, we need to look at the following:

• Actors (placement, movement, expression)
• Costume and make-up
• Setting and props
• Lighting and colour

Film posters and trailers: blog task

You are currently working on a case study for the film you have chosen from our list of 10. Now you need to complete the following tasks on your blog:

1. Create a new blogpost called ‘Film trailer and poster analysis of [your chosen film]’
2. Find the poster on Google Images and the trailer on YouTube for your chosen film
3. Embed them in your blogpost (you may need to save a small version of the poster to ensure it displays correctly)
4. List all the film poster key conventions you can find. How do these attract a potential audience?
5. List all the film trailer key conventions you can find. How do these attract a potential audience?
6. In your opinion, do the poster and trailer successfully promote the film you have chosen to investigate? Why?

Take it further...

Thinking back to your lesson on institution and the film industry, can you find any good examples of film marketing in the trailer or poster? 

Can you find any institutional details that link to your case study research (director, stars etc.)?

If not finished during the lesson, complete for homework - due next Thursday

Assignment 2: Film case study institution research

For your Assignment 2 coursework, you need to research key institutional information about a film and use this to inform your essay. 

We are giving you a choice of ten different films to choose and you need to work through the questions below to learn everything you can about your one chosen film.

Research the institutional details behind ONE of the following films:

1. Taken
2. Suffragette
3. Spectre
4. Juno
5. Frozen
6. Captain America: Civil War
7. Django Unchained
8. Precious
9. Moana
10. The Hunger Games

Use imdb.com, rottentomatoes.com and any other relevant websites you can access to find out the following information about the film you have chosen...

Your chosen movie
1) What film have you chosen? 

2) Why did you choose this film in particular? 


Institutional background
Use IMDB to find out the institutions behind your chosen film. Find your film, click on Company Credits and then look for the production company and UK distributor.

1) What was the film studio or production company behind your chosen film? E.g. Warner Brothers, Paramount etc.

2) Who was the distributor for the theatrical release of the film in the UK?



No brand loyalty
1) What genre does your chosen film fit into?

2) How can you tell it fits that genre? Be specific with reference to the trailer.

3) Does your chosen film have any stars or a director that are known for that particular genre?



It’s all a matter of timing
1) What was the UK release date for your chosen film?

2) When did the first trailer appear on YouTube for your movie? Find the earliest example you can and embed it in your blog.

3) What other examples of marketing (teaser trailers, main trailers, newspaper or TV interviews etc.) can you find for your chosen film from before the film’s release date?



It’s a social thing
1) What was the word-of-mouth like for your chosen film? If you can’t find tweets (probably blocked) use the IMDB user review rating or the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer rating to judge whether the public have given the movie a good review.

2) Find three quotes (no more than 25 words each) from user reviews of your movie to create a picture of what the public reaction to the film has been. Post them on your blog.



Risky business
Use IMDB to find out the box office records for your chosen film. Find your film, click on Company Credits and then Box Office/Business. You may want to use the excellent website Box Office Mojo to find out the budget and box office success for the film.

1) What was the original budget for your chosen film?

2) How much money did the film make in the opening weekend?

3) How much money has the film made in total? (Look for the subheading ‘Gross’ which has the total box-office earnings listed).

4) For a film to be considered a box office success, it needs to make at least two-and-a-half times the budget in box office takings. Using this method, was the film you have chosen a success? (Or, if it's a recent release, do you expect it to be a box office success?)



Stars in their eyes
Research the stars and director for your chosen film.

1) What films has the director previously directed? Are they in the same or similar genres?

2) Who is the main star in the film?

3) What other films has the main star appeared in? Are any of the films similar to the one you are researching?

4) Are the stars or the director or writer mentioned in the trailer for the film?



Take it further...

If you've finished the questions above, work through the following tasks to take your case study to another level:

Newspaper reviews
A more traditional starting point for word-of-mouth is press reviews of the film. Almost all national newspapers carry film reviews of the big releases and positive review quotes are often used on the film's marketing material.

Read three newspaper reviews of your chosen film and select five quotes from each review that tell you what the reviewer thought of the film. You can look at the Guardian film website, the Telegraph film website and other reviews in magazines such as Empire.



Additional promotion
Look back 'It's all a matter of timing' question 3... What other examples of promotion can you find for your chosen film? TV chat show appearances (e.g. Graham Norton, the One Show etc.) Radio interviews? Make notes and embed any clips in your blog. 

Assignment 2: Introduction to Film Genre

Assignment 2 is on Film Promotion - which means we need to understand film, genre, trailers and the institutions behind the movies.

Key notes from the lesson:

Genre

One of the key details a film production company uses to market a film is genre.


A film genre is made up of a repertoire of elements. That repertoire could include particular iconography, lighting, sound, or actors and directors associated with the genre. This list of features is known as a ‘repertoire’ because any given film within a genre may not use all of the possible elements, but it will use some.

NCIS

A useful acronym to remember what you need to look for when analysing the genre of a film is NCIS:

N = narrative (storyline)
C = character (people/character types)
I = iconography (what we can see)
S = setting (where it takes place)

These four aspects will provide enough evidence to identify the genre (or a hybrid of genres if the film fits more than one category).

Blog task / Homework

Your blog task today is as follows:

1. Make sure your blog is up-to-date with your finished Assignment 1 magazine cover.
2. Choose three film trailers, embed the clips from YouTube and write an analysis of what genre each film belongs in and why. Use NCIS to help you. Note: if the YouTube video is not embedding, post a link to the trailer instead.

Example:

Taken (2008)

Genre
Thriller

Narrative
The storyline is clearly shown to be a father willing to go to any lengths to rescue his kidnapped daughter. This is a tense, dramatic narrative that fits the thriller genre well.

Character
The characters are typical of a Hollywood thriller - the main hero: strong, brave and willing to do anything to rescue his daughter. The daughter is a classic 'damsel in distress', a female character requiring saving by a male hero. There are stereotypical villains - in this case Albanian, another typical aspect of a Hollywood thriller.

Iconography
There is plenty of iconography typical of the thriller genre: a car chase, gunshots, violence, technology, running and jumping from a bridge, explosions and smashing glass. All of these are typical of the action or thriller genres - in connection with the narrative, we can confidently say this is a thriller.

Setting
Although the trailer is only two minutes long, it has a safe American location for the daughter's birthday party and then a glamorous foreign location (Paris) for the rest of the narrative. Within Paris, there are clearly action sequences on roads, off bridges and in other settings that suggest action and drama.


Anything you don't finish in the lesson is homework.

Assignment 2: Intro to Genre and NCIS

Genre

One of the key details a film production company uses to market a film is genre.


A film genre is made up of a repertoire of elements. That repertoire could include particular iconography, lighting, sound, or actors and directors associated with the genre. This list of features is known as a ‘repertoire’ because any given film within a genre may not use all of the possible elements, but it will use some.

NCIS

A useful acronym to remember what you need to look for when analysing the genre of a film is NCIS:

N = narrative (storyline)
C = character (people/character types)
I = iconography (what we can see)
S = setting (where it takes place)

These four aspects will provide enough evidence to identify the genre (or a hybrid of genres if the film fits more than one category).

Blog task / Homework

Your blog task today is as follows:

1. Make sure your blog is up-to-date with your finished Assignment 1 magazine cover.
2. Choose three film trailers, embed the clips from YouTube and write an analysis of what genre each film is in and why. Use NCIS to help you. Note: if the YouTube video is not embedding, post a link to the trailer instead.

Example:

Taken (2008)

Genre
Thriller

Narrative
The storyline is clearly shown to be a father willing to go to any lengths to rescue his kidnapped daughter. This is a tense, dramatic narrative that fits the thriller genre well.

Character
The characters are typical of a Hollywood thriller - the main hero: strong, brave and willing to do anything to rescue his daughter. The daughter is a classic 'damsel in distress', a female character requiring saving by a male hero. There are stereotypical villains - in this case Albanian, another typical aspect of a Hollywood thriller.

Iconography
There is plenty of iconography typical of the thriller genre: a car chase, gunshots, violence, technology, running and jumping from a bridge, explosions and smashing glass. All of these are typical of the action or thriller genres - in connection with the narrative, we can confidently say this is a thriller.

Setting
Although the trailer is only two minutes long, it has a safe American location for the daughter's birthday party and then a glamorous foreign location (Paris) for the rest of the narrative. Within Paris, there are clearly action sequences on roads, off bridges and in other settings that suggest action and drama.


Anything you don't finish in the lesson is homework.

Due: Next THURSDAY in the lesson - no excuses!

Assignment 1 DEADLINE now GONE

Assignment 1: Analytical Task

You should have all now completed your Assignment 1 Analytical Task - our first piece of written coursework and have added it to your Research and Planning + Magazine cover in your folders.  

A reminder of the task AQA have set you:

Analyse the cover pages of two popular magazines. How do the covers appeal to their audiences?

Word count: 750 words
10 marks

AO2: Analyse and Respond

Remember - we add a couple of details to that. Firstly, the two magazines must be from the following choices and aimed at different audiences:

Magazine 1: GQ OR Men's Health
Magazine 2: Glamour OR Empire

Secondly, you also need to analyse your own magazine cover. You'll get some lesson time later to finish your cover so don't worry if that's not yet complete.

You can find guidance for the layout of the Assignment 1 Analytical Task here.

Remember, you must use the official magazine Media Packs to help you with the target audience:

GQ Media Pack
Men's Health Media Pack
Glamour Media Pack
Empire Media Pack

Remember, we analyse something by explaining HOW and WHY it is produced in that way and the EFFECT it has on its audience. For an A*, you need to explain in real detail and offer alternative interpretations.

One of the ways of doing this is making sure we use those key words and phrases to show connotation:

This tells the reader...
This could signify...
A possible interpretation of this is...
The reader could infer that...
This shows the audience...
This suggests to the reader...
From this, the audience will understand that...
This connotes...
This is significant because...
This creates...
This emphasises...

Your deadline has now passed so any more work on this needs to be completed after school or at lunch time (to be cleared with your teacher.)

Marks + feedback will be given ONLY to completed work that is in your folder. 

Intervention Sessions on Saturday morning will take place this month and in the coming half term. More details TBC but do expect to be coming in on a Saturday if you are behind or your work is not up to the standard of your target grade.