Music lesson!

 In one of our media classes we were assigned to try out a music composing site called Cubase. This involved playing around on the software, finding out what it is used for and all of the different audio tracks that you can record and play. After my group and I had spent some time playing around on the software, it has made us want to go the extra mile and to be able to compose our own music for our teaser trailer. As none of us are musicians, we have decided to ask a close friend who is willing to help us compose the music. We are hoping to compose audio tracks that will relate to the genre of our film, romance.

What is Cubase used for

• record and edit information (e.g record from your keyboard)
• record and edit audio information (e.g record vocals, guitars etc)
• mix and playblack audio tracks all at once (the amount is only limited by the power of your computer) and create a stereo mix to burb to a CD
• You can add countless types of audio effects to your recordings
• Enhance your arrangement with many instruments that play within Cubase, such as ''Halion One'' (this has lots of sounds, such as pianos, bass instruments, strings etc.)

TO DO LIST

Research

• Soundtrack research (non copyright music)
• Costume and location research
• Actors and props photos
• Audience Research (typical audience member and similar films)
• Uploaded YouTube videos of teaser trailers and titles analysed in detail
• Institution research (Paramount etc)
• Certificate research
• Font research for magazine/poster etc
• Film Magazines researched and analysed
• Teaser posters researched and analysed

Planning

• Own film idea brainstorm
• Own film treatment
• Shot lists
• Questionnaire (and feedback)
• Photos etc of filming
• Diary of filming/editing etc with photos and screen grabs
• Mood board
• Storyboard - animatic
• Script
• Practice titles created and uploaded

Assessment week

There is some detailed analysis here with good use of ICT in the presentation of it. You should narrow your focus now to your chosen genre and begin finalising your ideas for your production piece, with storyboards etc.

Mind Maps (Horror, Romance and Action)

Horror Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHfSBZOgDaI

• Above I have posted the trailer for All the boys love Mandy Lane, the trailer opens with a girl walking down the corridor at school, we assume this is the main character, whilst she walks down the corridor boys are looking at her. This is there to show the audience that the main charachter is an object of lust or love from the male population.
• Mandy does not seem to like recieving attention from the boys are there are numerous shots of her turning them down or appearing aggravated by the attention.
• There is a shot of the car driving away from their hometown insinuating that the teens are going on a roadtrip or somewhere in the middle nowhere as we see a shot of the sign 'last gas for 150 miles'. The sign is there to let the audience know that the horror element of the film will start from then on due to the far away destination, the sign also implies that no other people will be near where they are going which is a very common element in the horror genre.
• All the teens are laughing and having a good time, this is a sure sign of everything going quickly wrong. Mandy appears quiet and a little shy making the audience question if she is infact the victim or the killer.
• There are numerous shots of the land around their house showing a stretch for miles and no other houses in view, letting the audience see that the group are alone. There are also close-up shots of knives and the terror on the girls faces, this relates to the genre of the film
• The trailer ends with the girls running away from a certain hooded person with a knife, we are to assume this is the killer.
• The unique selling point (usp) of the film would be the attractive females and males in the film which would appeal to a wide audience. The young element of the film , with shots of road trips and drinking games will appeal to teens aswell. The film may not appeal to a older audience due to the age of the cast all looking under 20 years old.
• Credits are used throughout the trailer with lines such as, 'somebody wants her alone', 'all the boys want mandy lane.' 'Somebody will do anything' is on its own with a red background, implying the 'anything' would be death or injury.

One Day film trailer analysis

Here I have decided that it would be appropriate to look at many other genres and types of teaser trailers to allow my group and I, to gain a wider knowledge of the variety of teaser trailers and how they can be shown to the audience in a way to evoke different responses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GU4qLmIXbOE

• I have posted the trailer 'One Day' which introduces very little information on the story line, along with representing the genre, narrative, target audience and along with many other aspects to the film.

• The trailer begins by playing soft romantic music and showing a clip from the film which has dialogue. The dialogue that is used  for example, ''when we were at university I had a crush on you'' hints to the audience already the genre of the film. The audience straight away know's that the genre of this film is romance, this is done through the use of dialogue, music and the way the two main characters are represented i.e cuddling and kissing in a way that two people in a relationship would. This hints the target audience would range from the age 16 and above.

• The Narrative of the film is two characters meet eachother at uni, they become close friends, slowly dirft apart and move on from one another, later on they both realise their in love, ends with a tragic accident and the girl dies.

• The unique selling point of this film varies. One of the main unique selling points would be for the fact that one of the main characters is a very well known actress, Anne Hathaway, which makes the film appeal to a wider audience. Also that the genre of the film is romance which usually appeals to women rather than men however, the film is not a stereotypical romantic film. Another aspect of the film which is unique is how the film is used as a timeline (going back in time). Lastly the most important unique selling point for the film is the fact that the film is a novel which has become successful and well known.

• The music throughout the trailer is romantic and a fast pace at the beginning to show the setting, however the pace then starts to slow . This is accompanied by a voiceover who is telling the story ''on the day they met, Dexter and Emma never imagined how their lives inerside over the next 20 years'' leaving the audience to want to find out more, and to know exactly how the film ends. The music reflects on the type of mood in the film i.e when Emma and Dexter are kissing the music reflects the mood (happiness) however, when you see Dexter looking down and troubled ''I need to speak to someone, not someone you'' the music changes.

• Medium and long shots are used briefly to show the audience where the film is taken place (Scotland, London) though the shots are very quick, meaning the audience is given just a brief idea as to where the film is taken place. The pace of the film is fairly slow due to how long the actual film trailer is, (2 minutes and 37 seconds) which is quite long for a trailer. Some shots are longer than others, but by showing only small glimpses of the film, it puts the audience into the question of what is really going on?, which trys to grab the audiences attention to make them want to watch more. For example one bit in the trailer, Dexter and Emma decide to go skinny dipping, this would make the audience intregued and wanting to find out what happens.

• The dialogue that is used is loving  for example when Dexter says to Emma ''I'm so much better when you're around'', this is used to show that Dexter trusts Emma and shows that he has passionate feelings for her. The type of dialogue that is used is stereotypical to the kind of dialogue you would find in a romantic genre.

• Credits are added to the trailer towards the mid-end of the film such as 'Friendship and Loss'. The font is the same throughout all the credits (bold with white font) with powerful words 'Power' and 'Love' to stand out to grab the audiences attention to keep the credits remembered, so if the audience look back on the film they will remember that it was about 'friendship and loss'. The types of words that are used in the credits 'love' give away to who the film is most likely to be targeted to, teenagers and women.

• Overall I think this trailer is effective because it ticks off the main conventions of a film trailer, quick shots, fast and short paces throughout the trailer, it manages to represent the genre (romance) and shows the audience to who the film is targeted to and uses great parts of the film without revealing too much of the plot line, wanting the audience to be intrigued to find out more.

Research and Planning- Who are trailers aimed at?

Today in our media lesson, we were assigned to analyse different types of target audiences from different film genres. Below I have posted the table in which we were assigned to complete: 

Trailer	Target Audience	Features Appealing To Target Audience
Age Of Heroes	- 25-35 skewed to men - Historians	- Action Genre - Guns and explosion - Set in war times - Details of the war - Fast paste editing - Short takes - silver and grey colours, bold text which represent masculinity
Transformers: Dark of the moon	- 16-25 years skewed to boys - possibly to young teenage girls who are interested in the young romance between the two main characters but is mainly dominated to boys	- Robots and astronauts which represents males interests - The film starts off as a documentary/factual style - High use of dramatic music/slow tension music building up at the start of the film
Senna	- 25- 35 skewed to men - Targeted for people who like formula 1 racing - Beginning of the trailer is much more factual like - Predominantly skewed to men	- Fast paste music  - Sense of humour - Font is simple, clear and white - Words which are used, genius and legend are targeted towards competitive men and are aimed towards men as opposed to women

By analysing the different target audiences for these three film trailers, it has been able to give my group and I an idea as to what kind of audience we are going to need to aim our film trailer to. This has helped as  three of these films having a similar genre to one another which is action. This task has also helped by showing us the types of features we have to include in an action film to appeal to our target audience.