The Convetions of a Film Poster

MOOD BOARD

This mood-board includes films that we have looked at for inspiration and not only provides visual of how we might like our film poster to look but also similar plots and ideas that we want to incorporate in our film trailer.

HOW HAS THIS RESEARCH HELPED US?

Even though we have chosen the genre crime drama we still wanted to create a inspirational movie, that will make our audience think into its themes and motives.. By comprising a mood board of inspirational movies our group was able to look into their trailers and posters to see what we could include to make our trailer and poster just as successful.

This mood boards also acts as a reminder of what the aim of our trailer is, which is to entertain but also to inspire.

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Modern Descartes Trailer

Modern Descartes Trailer- 2nd Draft

From the feedback that we received from our first draft our group tried to focus on the most frequent points that came up on the what we can improve list. These points included:

• Incompleteness of the trailer
• Title and Release date 
• Sound 
• Fluidity of shots

Our group was able to complete the trailer, the last draft that we created finished at 1 minute 18 seconds but now our second draft finishes at 1 minute 45 seconds. However when uploaded our second draft onto YouTube we saw that the video lasts for 5 minutes 13 seconds. The reason for this is because we forgot to g=cut the music down to fit the timing of the trailer. So even though our trailer may have finished the music continues but nothing is on the screen. To improve our group will make sure that next time we will cut the music so that it fits to the trailer.

In our last trailer we did not include a title our release date. So in our second draft we made sure to included the title of the production. However instead of putting a release date our group put 'COMING SOON' however, later on whilst discussing the further plans for the trailer our group decided that by putting an actual date it would be more professional. As we already have put the date on the poster as May 15 so this is the date that we will use on the trailer.

Our group went through the trailer and took note at the shots that were not fluid so we tried to edit the shots that there would be fluidity. However upon loading the trailer I found that there are more shots that we have to edit in order to have a fluid motion.

We gave our class and teacher another response form, so they can give us helpful criticism in order to create the best trailer that er possibly can:

 Teacher Response:

What do we have to improve?

• The first point that our teacher said that we have to improve is sound. When we asked if she could expand she told us that the sound grainy towards the end of the trailer, this included the soundtrack and the voice overs. This may because in the last trailer we could not really hear the voiceovers so our group increased the decibels of the voiceovers and the soundtrack. To improve on this our group will reduce the decibels so that the music and voiceovers do not sound grainy.
• The next point that we have to improve is the 2nd film company identity. This point came up previously on the response forms that we received back on the first draft. The reason why our group has not improved this feature is because we have been on schools holidays so our group has not been able to access the program that we used to create the identity at home because the program only exists on the schools computer. So when school vacation is over our group will improve the film identity on the school computer then add it to our trailer.
• The next point that our teacher said that we need to improve on is fluidity of shots. In the response forms that we received back on our first draft, one of the most frequent points of things that we needed to improve was fluidity of shots. So our group sat down and reviewed all the shots that were not fluid. We used serif as the program to edit our trailer and it is a bit slow and jumps a lot so it was hard to distinguish which shots were not fluid and what shots jumped because of the system. Now we know the shots that are not fluid our group will edit them.
• Our teacher said that we needed an actual release date rather than coming soon as it is more professional to have a date. To improve our group will use the date May 15.
• The last point of improvement is cutting the music so it fits the trailer as trailer finishes and the music continues. To improve our group will cut the music.

Student Response:

Our classmate has the same points of improvement as our teacher, so we are going to list what he liked about the trailer:

• Our classmate liked how we changed the beginning of the trailer. The reason why our group changed the beginning of the trailer is because we thought that it will be more suitable as we wanted to slow down the pace of the beginning. When we slowed down the pace with the old opening scene it looked grainy so we thought that it would be more suitable to change the shot
• Another point that are classmate liked is the song selection.. As a group we decided that it would be more suitable to choose a different song. The reason for this is because the previous sound was too, so deliberation we thought that the new song was had a good beat but was still uplifting.

What have I learnt?

Through this feedback we are able to realise what we have to change to make our trailer successful. We find the feedback forms useful as they allow us to understand how another perspective when critiquing our trailer.

Response to First Draft

After completing the first draft and looking back over the response forms from the rest of the class our group has realized that there are 4 main points of improvements that seems to appear on majority of response forms. That is sound, fluidity of  shots, the incompleteness of the trailer is and also the title and release date.

Even though I believe that are group did a good first draft there is still a lot of improvements that we have to make in order to reach our final goal of having a successful trailer.

The three main points that we will be focus on for our 2nd draft. This is Fluidity of shots, incompleteness and title and date release.

The reason why we are not focusing on sound as much is because at the moment the school has been dismissed for school holidays therefore it is hard to get individuals for sound so we have to wait till we are back at school to record them. 

Even though we have to improve on these points there are features of our trailer that I really do like. One of these features is the format and sequence of the shots, it makes our product look like a trailer rather than a film opening sequence which is important. 

One thing that i personally disliked about the trailer is that we have not finished and included the common features of a trailer such as BBFC rating and release date. This is will the main focus in our second draft, that we include all the common features of a trailer so that we can create a successful trailer.

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT?

This personal evaluation of our first draft has allowed me to understand what I personally feel about the trailer and allowed me to come up with some ideas that will enhance the performance of the trailer.

Modern Descartes Trailer- 1st Draft

Our First Draft:



To know what to improve our group gave a response form to our class and teacher to fill out, so that we will be able to understand the perspective of others when viewing our trailer and gain constructive criticism in order to create a successful trailer.


Here is an example of one of the response form that we received back:

Our response to student feedback:

• Emily stated that the trailer seemed incomplete. This is true due to that when we were filming we were using someones iPhone and as a result we were not able to get the footage from the phone and edit it before the deadline for the first draft. To improve in our second draft we will makesure that the footage is complete.
• Another criticism that we received is that our trailer has no title or date of release. This is very important as the audience wont know the name or when the movie is coming out which is bad marketing. The reason why we had not done this is because our group was not sure on the font and design that we should do for our trailer so we did a questionnaire to find out what other people thought. We did our first draft before we did the questionnaire. As a result we did not know what we wanted to do foe the title. However, our group does recognize that we should at least included the title.
• Emily stated that one thing that we could improve is the sound. The reason why our sound is irregular and not fluid is because many of the shots that we had filmed had a lot of background noise, so we had to mute the shot and dub sound over the shot. Our group has not completed the sound yet as we are still figuring out the sequence of shots and moving things around. Once this is completed we will start on the sound.
• On the response form Emily said that one thing that we can improve on is the fluidity of the shots as some scene cutty. I wanted to know more so I asked if she could stay back so i can ask some questions and she said that at the beginning of the trailer with the graveyard scene she thought that the shots were to fast and too sharp they were not fluid also she said because it is a sad moment we need to slow the pace down. To improve we will go over that specific part in the trailer and use some animation techniques in order to slow down the pace of the trailer.

Our response to teacher feedback:

• Our teacher had the same outlook as Emily on our trailer as she she said that the trailer was incomplete, there is not title, or release date. She also said that the sound was not good and that we need some voice overs to complete the trailer.
• Another criticism that we received is that in the shot were the protagonist is being chased we here someone speak but it is cut short. To improve on this our group is going to extend that particular shot so that we can hear everything that they are saying.
• Another thing that the teacher said that we need to improve on is our second identity. When on full screen we can see when the images are cut cropped correctly and as a result you can see a shadow. To improve this I will crop the images correctly so our film company identity does not give of a shadow.