Week Two - Research: General Ideas for Teaser Trailer

Research:

Tarot Cards

The Tarot is a deck of cards that originated over five hundred years ago in northern Italy. Although the Tarot was first used in a game called Triumphs, it was quickly adopted by societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The early Tarot symbolism was deeply rooted in Medieval and Renaissance Europe but over many centuries it has grown to include everything from Astrology and Kabbalah to Runes and the I Ching. In today’s period of time, tarot cards are the most popular tool for spiritual examination in the West. Our film focuses around the act of using tarot cards to help predict the future of an individual, which in this case is that of the innocent character. An example of the tarot card that we will use is that of death, which represents a change that is both painful and unpleasant as well as a refusal to face the fear of change or change itself. This will then produce agonising periods of transition and mental, physical or emotional exhaustion. Therefore, by seeing this card in the teaser trailer, the audience then know that this character will experience this points throughout the rest of the film and could lead on to other events, such as her best friend’s death.

Pentacle Symbol

The Pentacle is probably along with the pentagram the symbol of witchcraft most recognised by the general public. The five points represent earth, air, fire, water, and spirit, which are the five factors needed to sustain life. The circle symbolises eternity and infinity, the cycles of life and nature. Overall it represents spirit and protection as well as symbolising perfection in all things that exist on earth. It is also a protective device and in ritual, the pentacle is used to evoke spirits. By using this symbol as a tattoo on the confident girl, it will represent the point that she is a new age witch and has beliefs in witchcraft. Therefore, she would be confident in using the tarot cards correctly to be able to look into her friend’s future. However, her best friend is not completely sure on the idea as she is nervous about what the consequences of it could be for her. Eventually, she agrees to take part in the tarot card reading, although she lives to regret this decision. This is because the main card that appears is that of death and she later becomes possessed. As the story develops, the audience learns that the confident character had already foreseen what would happen to her friend but knew that she would not have been possessed because of the Pentacle on her shoulder. This is because it would protect her even though it does not prevent her friend from later killing her.

Week Two - Media Studies Teaser Trailer - Research: Example of Teaser Trailers

Examples of Teaser Trailers

Within my media studies class we watched a variety of recent teaser trailers. This task was to give our group ideas of how to produce this particular type of trailer. Some examples of films that we watched teaser trailers from are that of “New Moon”, “2012” and “Toy Story 3”. By watching these examples, we were able to discover that the main convention of a teaser trailer is that the film’s title and date of release is seen at the end of it. However, it can be created in a number of ways with different concepts. An example of this is that Toy Story 3 uses the regular animated characters that are easily recognisable from the previous films to build the name of the latest film in the series. However, this trailer does not use actual footage from the film so that it does not give any evidence or information about it away. Whereas the teaser trailer for 2012 is similar to that of a music video. This is because it contains a man singing the film’s theme song, which is centred on love while walking through a city, which is being destroyed. Therefore, this gives the audience a clue that the film will be based around the destruction of a city, although this is the only information that can be taken from it. Finally, the teaser trailer for the New Moon film uses a voice over of a conversation between two of the main characters, which are Bella and Jacob that is actual dialect from the film. This means that the audience of it can have a greater idea of what happens in certain sections of the film. By looking at these examples that have already been produced, I have decided to use short clips of actual footage of our film so that the audience know what to expect before they watch it. Therefore, my film teaser trailer would be most like the New Moon example because I will use scenes from the film itself to give hints and clues to the audience.

Week One - Analysis of AS Level Coursework

Skills for Digital Technology
Whilst carrying out my practical media coursework piece within year twelve, I used a variety of digital technologies to aid me in completing it to a high quality. To film the scenes that were used in my thriller opening, I used a Panasonic DV camera. This type of video camera was compact so that it meant that I could easily transport it to different locations, such as to the dance and drama studios within the school site. Within my group, I filmed the scenes of when the main character is captured. I feel that I successfully carried this out because I used a tripod to make sure that it was not shaky and used a number of different camera angles such as a worm’s eye view, a close up and a point of view to clearly display the character’s panic of being trapped. Therefore, I believe that I would achieve a score of five out of five for my use of the camera for this section of filming. After it was finished, I uploaded the footage onto the Pinnacle program on the computer to be able to edit it into a two minute opening. This was easy to use and enabled my group to delete small amounts of footage that was unnecessary, add transitions to move from one scene to the next and add titles that are required to display our chosen name for the film, which was “The Unknown”. Whilst editing it, I also experimented with the system of Cubase that was linked to a keyboard to produce background music, which we unfortunately did not use in our final product. This is because I discovered music on the pinnacle program that was not copy righted and was appropriate for the genre of my film instead. However, next time I would produce my own music to make the opening more unique and make each area of it individual to me. This is because no one else would have the particular music that I would make and use within my film. Therefore, I think that I would have a score of two out of five because even though I did not use my own music, I did experiment with the process of doing this so that I know how to complete it in my next filming attempt. Finally, I used an Edirol to capture the director’s commentary for my film once it had been completed. I then uploaded it on to the computer and added it to my thriller opening. I did this by pausing sections of it to lengthen the piece so that all of the audio footage would fit in time with the film as it was played. I believe that I would reach a five out of five for this point because I managed to record a commentary, which explained my film in depth and then included it to the footage by pausing a number of sections of the opening that I felt was appropriate and in time with what was being spoken so that they both fitted with each other.

Creativity
To create the atmosphere, which was eerie and mysterious for my thriller, I used creepy music that had previously been created so that I knew that it was well made. I also used a small amount of lighting within the scenes in which the character is captured so that the audience does not exactly know what is taking place. When viewing my coursework I can see that if I was to complete it again, I would use more artificial lighting within the darker scenes by using objects such as torches and lamps. This is because the use of natural light alone meant that it became difficult in places to see what was happening so it needed to be brightened. Therefore, I think that I would reach a four out of five for my creativity used within my film because I used different methods to create the atmosphere even if they were not fully successful.

Research and Planning
The research that I carried out before planning was by watching openings to a variety of previously produced films, such as “Donnie Darko” and “Seven”. This helped to show the types of conventions that needed to be included within my own film as well as ideas for different storylines and the target audiences that they attract so that I could decide what age range to aim my film towards. However, next time that I carry out a piece of coursework, I would ask for audience feedback in the form of a questionnaire, once they had watched it. This means that I could make any improvements to it that they had been suggested before submitting it as my final product. This means that I would rate myself a three out of five for my research because even though it helped to look at other films to give me ideas for my own work, I needed to know exactly what the people watching it would think to make it appropriate for my particular audience. As well as using research for my coursework, I also planned the footage that would be shot. I did this to make sure that I knew exactly what I had to do to complete all of my coursework as well as making sure that I used the time and resources available to their fullest. This meant that I managed to reach my deadline in time. I did this by drawing storyboards and writing a script for the dialogue of the two characters so that everyone within my group knew exactly what they had to do by the time we had to film the scenes, which saved time. The next time that I carry out a piece of coursework like this, I would take still photographs to experiment with the mise en scene of my scenes, such as the lighting and costumes to be able to clearly see which points are successful and work to show a clear portrayal of the characters within the film. Therefore, I would give myself a four out of five for the planning of my opening because even though I planned the filming of the scenes in detail so that it ran smoothly and took place in time, there were other means of planning such as the photographs that I did not use this time, which would have helped to develop the film’s storyboard.

Post Production
Whilst editing the footage for my coursework in post production, I added transitions to make sure that the scenes flowed smoothly to each other as well as showing a change in time. I also added titles to show the audience exactly who was in the film and to give them an idea of what it involved through the name of it even though the title of this particular film was vague to increase intrigue. I then included background music, which was a part of the Pinnacle programme. This made the footage more interesting and eerie than simply having the sound of the character’s dialogue. When looking at my finished coursework, I can see that if I was to complete it again I would make sure that the background music faded whilst the scenes of dialogue was being used. This is because the music drowned it out so that it was hard to hear what the characters were saying, which made it less important and less focused upon while the music was dominant. Therefore, I believe that I would achieve a four out of five because although the music was slightly too loud for the piece, the other points that I added to the film in post production were successful and improved the overall product once it was completed.

Using or Challenging Conventions
Within my thriller opening I used conventions that are typical of the genre and that had all been used in some way within the opening to the films that I had watched as part of my research before the project had begun. The conventions that I used are that of a black background and a white font for the film’s titles to make them boldly stand out, eerie background music to put the audience on edge, a variety of unusual camera angles to disorientate its viewers and finally, cross cutting from the past and present periods of time to make its audience members think more closely about what is happening to the characters within it and to help them to try to work out what is taking place in the present day by finding out information about the past. I would therefore reach a score of five out of five because I had used a large amount of the popular conventions of thrillers to obviously show what genre it was a part of.

What are the Social Implications of Different Media Representations of Different Groups of People?

It can be difficult to investigate the social implications of the representations of youth culture that occur throughout a variety of mediums, such as British films and soap operas. This is because the particular culture can be interpreted to its audience in a number of ways, which would then produce different outcomes and reactions. The examples that can be used within this essay are that of “A Clockwork Orange” and the “Harry Potter” series as British films, which different genres can provoke certain social implications through the representations that it contains. However, these examples can be compared to British soaps, such as “Emmerdale”, which is main stream so that it has to appeal to a greater audience with a soap like “Hollyoaks” that is aimed at a more specific age range.
The 1971 film of “A Clockwork Orange” portrays a negative idea of the youth culture of a broken Britain, set in the future. It shows the bad aspects of the lives of teenagers and young adults within that particular social group because it includes a number of criminal acts such as rape that is committed by the film’s leading character of Alex. When Alex is finally arrested for his crimes and goes to prison, it does not completely punish him because once he is released he eventually turns back into his old ways by the very end of the film. This shows the audience that even if they do carry out dreadful crimes then they will not necessarily suffer the full consequences of it or may reoffend afterwards so it may influence the people of the youth culture to complete these types of actions. Also, Alex does not respect authority figures such as his parents or the police. This is because he does not follow their rules or laws but does exactly what he likes, such as not going to school and instead going to the Korova Milk Bar to drink milk laced with drugs to give him energy for his nights spent carrying out his criminal acts. Therefore, this shows that the youth culture do not have to obey or do what they are told to do and instead can carry out what they want even if it means hurting other people. Another point is that there are a majority of male characters in dominant roles with high powered careers within “A Clockwork Orange”. Whereas, the women are mainly seen as objects that can be controlled and used for sex. This means that they normally do not have important careers apart from one doctor and psychologist that are seen within the film for short spaces of time. This may be due to the period of time in which the film was produced because even in the 70’s, women did not have jobs with a large amount of power like police officers. This could influence the male viewers to not respect women or see them as not being as important as themselves. It can be proven that this certain film contains an excessive amount of serious, hard hitting issues because in the year of 1973, its director, Stanley Kubrick decided to ban the film from Britain because the styles of violence that is included within it were being copied by other people and it was therefore seen as being too dangerous. This means that the film was influential because it helped to give its viewers ideas on ways in which to commit acts of violence.
Unlike “A Clockwork Orange”, the “Harry Potter” series of films portrays a positive aspect of youth culture. This is because Harry Potter learns from the older characters that are around him such as his teachers like Dumbledore. These characters help him to learn and develop into a young man. This shows the young people who watch the films that they can have role models that of an authority figure such as their parents or teachers, who they can look up to and can be taught life lessons by so that they can be good, moral people throughout their adult lives. Another positive representation that is used within the films is that he only surrounds himself with friends that mainly follow the rules of their society correctly as they try to defeat evil with good. This point can show its viewers that it is good to have friends and family close to you because they will always keep you on the right path and support you to carry out the correct actions even when times are difficult. Harry also has to learn how to face his fears and find his inner strength to do so. Therefore, members of the youth culture can be influenced by this to find strength from within them and discover who they really are as they grow into adults.
When examining the representation of youth culture in soap operas, such as “Emmerdale”, a positive portrayal of youth culture can be seen by its audience members. This is because it shows a realistic angle of the lives of teenagers and young adults within today’s society. This is due to the fact that a majority of the characters within this certain television programme have a job and care about their future by training and developing skills within careers that they can progress in and receive a great deal of money from. An example of a character that is similar to this description is that of Debbie Dingle. This is because she has her own garage as a mechanic that is the only one of its kind within the village that it is located in. This means that it is constantly busy and earns Debbie a great deal of money even though she is only twenty years of age. While owning a business, she also cares for her four year old daughter, who she named Sarah. This shows the soap’s audience that people within the social group of youth culture can be successful in life and earn their own money to support themselves even if they have a teenage pregnancy. This means that they should not be ashamed of being a teenage mother, which is becoming a popular issue as the number of pregnancies of girls of this age group rises across Britain.
Another example of a soap opera that includes representations of youth culture is that of “Hollyoaks”. However, unlike “Emmerdale”, which is targeted at all ages and contains storylines that are suitable for a majority of the British public, the television programme of “Hollyoaks” is mainly aimed towards the youth culture. Therefore it contains a majority of people between the ages of sixteen to thirty. This means that it focuses on the issues that people of that age group face within society. However, these issues are normally about more risky topics than other soaps because it does not have to be as appropriate for all ages due to its specific audience. An example of an issue that this soap has recently contained is that of bullying by the new character of Gaz. Within the storyline, he is nearly killed by the other teenagers that are in the programme, such as Newt, in a wooded area. They do this to seek revenge on him for trying to terrorise them and making all of their lives in the previous months a hell. This portrays a negative view of this age group because it shows that they bully each other and that those who are suffering from the bullying do not prevent it from happening in a suitable manner that does not contain violence. However, Newt is arrested for attempted murder, which shows the audience that people who try to commit crimes are prosecuted. Therefore, this point may stop them from carrying out these types of criminal acts within their own lives because they have witnessed the consequences that they could face by watching the soap.
By looking at this essay, it can be concluded that the different negative and positive social implications that are found within these examples of films and television programmes can have an effect on the teenagers and young adults that regularly watch them. This shows that even though the audience have their own minds with a variety of opinions, they can still consume the topics that are included within these examples. Therefore, their behaviour can be influenced in a good way by watching films like “Harry Potter” and soaps like “Emmerdale” or in a bad manner by becoming an audience member to films such as “A Clockwork Orange” and television shows like “Hollyoaks”.