Trailer

Storyline/ narrative, pace, target audience, sound both diegetic andnon-diegetic, voice overs, typography, types of shots and pace aresome of the things I closely considered.I decided to follow most of the conventions of real media products, as Iwanted my audience to be able to easily recognise what my productswere and also the genre they belonged too.

ShotsI noticed that close-up shots especially of characters’ faces and theirexpressions at key points were conventional of real thriller trailers thatI analysed such as Se7en.I followed this convention using close-up shots at crucial parts of thetrailer such as; when Rachel’s friends are being kidnapped

Trailershots

Sam has been kidnapped in this shot and, her kidnapper (the eliminator) is opening the door to where she has been locked away. The close up shot has exaggerated the terror and fear in her facial expression. Allowing the audience to easily sympathise with the character (Sam).

Furthermore, the angle used in this shot is a slight high-angle which is used to make the object seem inferior typically used for the ‘damsel in distress’.

Trailershots

Also, when Rebecca, is tiedup, I have filmed this sceneusing a close-up shot whenyou see her hands strugglingto untie her legs, once againin order to for the audienceto be able to tell this is a keyscene and instantly noticethat Rebecca is tied up sothey are aware she is beingeliminated.I also slowed this scene down

to create more of an impact This also helped me to realisehow the combination of sound, type of shot, pace and angle can work together to create a suspense filled atmosphere which evokes feelings of anxiety in the viewers.

Trailershots

Alternatively, close ups have been used in real thriller trailersin order to create a sense of mystery such as in se7en’s trailerwith the metronome and the feet. The viewer is unaware ofthe whole context of the shot (mise-en-scene) therefore,without this information they are left asking questions suchas; who/what is that? What is happening?

I used a close-up shot for to add mystery to my trailer, this wasat the beginning of the trailer; there is a close-up of glovedhands rubbing together, in hopes of getting the viewer to askthemselves questions already such as; what is that, (afterrealising its hands) then, who’s hands are they? Who is thisperson? And what is there role/ significance in the film?

Narrative

Throughout the A2 course I have been learning media theory, one ofthe main theories have been ‘Narrative theory’ from this I know thatthere are two different types of narrative range; unrestricted andrestricted, thrillers are most likely to have restricted narration which iswhen only minimal information is offered regarding the narrative, thisis mostly used in thrillers since they are characteristically mysteriousand suspense building this can only be achieved if parts of thenarrative are restricted.

Non-diegetic sound such as sound effects beginning airy and low andwith the occasional loud ‘bang’ which interrupts scenes withstatements and questions, giving the audience more to questionthemselves about hopefully making them want to pay and watch thefilm, sine the film is a commodity I am trying to sell.

Narrative

• I have managed to keep the narrative of mytrailer restricted just like the real trailers througha range of different techniques such as, camerashots, angles, sound and edits/ transitions.

• I have achieved this mainly by using a lot of close-up, meaning that the audience’s view is literallyrestricted not allowing them to see the wholesetting, which hides clues and information

Narrative

Todorov believed that all films follow the same narrative pattern of : 1. State of Equilibriumat bus stop 2. Disruption of the Equilibrium Sam screams 3. Recognition there has been a disruption Rachel calls Sam, Rebecca's mum at door 4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption Missing posters, Rachel walking around 5. A return of restoration or new equilibrium My trailer has left this as a mystery so the audience will have to watch the fullfilm to find out the ending, this is what real trailers do.However, since this is a trailer only the first three steps are completelyevident and the third partly, if all steps were established in the trailer theaudience would feel no need to watch the film in cinemas.

Typography

There is a regular occurrence of Roman styled fonts used inthriller trailers dark and mysterious tone of the genre.

I also believe that some are semiotics involved in typographygiving deeper meanings/ connotations such as in se7enwhereby, the t’s in the typography resemble crucifixes and theI’s candles this relates to the religious basis/ relation of theplot which is based on the “seven deadly sins”.

Typography

• Additionally, for the title of the film ‘Seven’ there hasbeen a play on the word, using a number “7” for the V,and also added a tally adding up 7.

• I decided to do something similar using “1” for all ofthe three I’s in “EL1M1NAT1ON” as my tag line for thetrailer and poster is “one by one” and also winter isEliminating Rachel’s friends to get to the ONE hewants.

Typography

• The reason why I followed this convention ofthe typography and symbolism was in order toallow the audience to easily identify the genreof the film trailer and also, so that the film’stitle becomes more of a brand so itsrecognisable by just a glance without havingto actually having to read just like what logosand symbols do.

Sound • Voice over Once I had previewed my trailer after my first draft, I received feedbacksaying that although the majority of participants understood the storyline, afew did not so I considered ways to make the plot/ storyline even clearer toviewers, I went with voice overs, as this was a convention I often came acrossin my research when analyzing real thriller trailers.

However, my voice over is slightly different to that of the real thriller trailers Ihad seen as it was coming from the voice of the mysterious ‘Eliminator’ whois ever fully seen, rather than a narrator’s point of view, I felt this made itmore personal and gave the audience more of a connection with thecharacters on screen.

I however did follow the convention of the deep tone of voice for the voiceover, as I believe this adds to the overall mystery and dark tone of the trailer.

The link below is the voice over recording before I manipulated it.

https://soundcloud.com/el1m1nat1on-project/raw-voice-over

Camera movement

- Handheld camera

The use of a hand held camera whilst filming denotes a kind ofrealism, and makes the audience feel as though they are partof a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozenposition. I decided to begin the trailer with this type ofcamera movement exactly for the audience to feel more of aconnection to the trailer straight away in hopes of moresuccessfully grasping their attention. Allowing me to sell theproduct being advertised (film views).

* On the next slide you can see a short clip of this scene

Camera movement

Characters

The age of the characters tend to be in reasonably closeproximity with that of the target audience in real trailers Ibelieve this is in order for the audience to be able torelate to the actors on screen and therefore, lead to moreenjoyment and understanding and a greater ability toempathise with the characters.

For this reason my actors/ characters are an average ageof 19, as my target audience ranges from 15- 25 I feel thatthis is a good age allowing them to easily relate.