My Audience

My target audience is young mature people who are interested in the cinema and more specifically the detective genre of film. It is aimed at people who don't just want constant action in a movie but something that makes them think.
The majority of the audience would likely be male though a female audience may be interested in the film just not as much. This is because the majority of the characters are male and though it isn't a dominating feature action scenes would appear in the movie. A female audience may be attracted through them being interested in trying to solve the case and figure out what is happening. All in all the film could attract both genders because of the different elements of the film, it just likely gains the attention of one more than the other.
People who watch the movie are likely to be easy going, smart people who enjoy something that makes them think. They will have likely seen other detective movies or TV shows and may be into reading detective novels.
The target audience can range from lower to middle demographic class as all these people can afford to go to the cinema if something is on that they want to see.

Rough Script of film trailer

This post is a rough idea of what will be happening in the film trailer. The timings  and what will be contained in the shots will be refined and things will be added to the trailer to lengthen it.

1. Animation of producer that made the movie (fictional) 0.00-0.03
2.Establishing shot of street opening arrest scene will be in. 0.04-0.05
3. Long shot of crowd of people 0.06-0.07 (Detectives, Criminal, Civilians who came to watch)
4.Close up of Northcott's boss congratulating him on catching the criminal 0.08-0.09
5.Cut to close up of criminal struggling whilst the congratulation is going ahead 0.10-0.13
6. Cut to Northcott saying something along the lines of "It's what I do"..."It's what I'm good at" etc. 0.14-0.15

EDIT- In refined Script post, this scene may include shots of all the main characters as is conventional with film trailers.


1. Shot of Northcott, his partner and his boss walking into an office, throwing envelope on table 0.16-0.18
2. Close up of envelope on the table 0.19-0.20
3. Medium Close of of Northcott explaining "With this new evidence we will be able to blow this drug gang right over. 0.21-0.24
4. Fades into Northcott and his partner leaving saying "See you tomorrow," to boss. 0.25-0.26


Text shot on black background saying "When a crime..." 0.28-0.29
Low angle shot of boss looking at envelope, slowly zooming towards him, fades out 0.30-0.32
Text shot on black background saying "Goes deeper than anyone thought possible..." 0.33-0.34
High angle shot of envelope on table, slowly zooming in, fades out 0.35-0.37
Text shot on black background saying "Loyalties will be tested..." 0.38-0.39


Northcott gets phone call from boss at home saying "Someone else is on the case" and him replying in disbelief 0.39-0.42
Shot of boss putting phone down and destroying evidence 0.43-0.45


Text on a black background saying "Friendships will be stretched" 0.46-0.47
Northcott speaking to his colleague his colleague insisting something is wrong 0.48-0.50
Northcott's colleague telling Northcott to "Let is go" 0.51-0.53


Text on black background saying  "Rivalries will form" 0.54-0.55

Shot of Northcott marching up to Sylvester 0.56-0.57

Shot of Northcott demanding to know what is going on 0.58-0.59

Shot of Sylvester grabbing Northcott's shirt (less than a second)

Close up of Northcott as bosses Sylvester explains "Back off while you can, this goes deeper than you know 1.00-1.03

High angle shot of Northcott sat on a sofa with his head in his hands at home 1.04-1.05

MCU of Northcott's wife asking him "Why can't you just let this go"  1.06-1.08

MCU of Northcott who says "This is my job" 1.09-1.11

Scenes
Tracking Shot from behind of Northcott chasing hooded figure 1.12-1.14
Shot of Northcott running around a corner before being hit in the face 1.15-1.17
Black screen with Northcott Breathing in the background 1.18-1.20
High angle shot of of Northcott bloody, kneeling on the floor with a club/blunt object in front of his face 1.22-1.24
Title of Movie appears here 1.25-1.26
List of producers and actors appears 1.27-1.28

Northcott's Voice Over
"And I won't give up on this..."
"...even if it kills me"

Ideas for Name of Film

Nick Northcott

Northcott

Detective movies are often named after the main character 'e.g Sherlock Holmes, Frost (Touch of Frost) as it defines to an audience which famous detective will be in the film and draws existing fans to it. In the case of my film trailer this may be inappropriate due to the detective in my film being one I have only just made up.

Truth

Convicted 

Search For Truth

These titles are all to do with a part of the plot of the film, in my case, a detective fighting his superiors to discover what is actually happening in his department. 

Evaluation of Reconstruction

For our reconstruction piece we decided to remake a part of the paranormal activity 2 trailer which a member of our group (Dan Troupe) had made a storyboard of in the summer. Making a film trailer helped me more than a music video as for my final piece I am creating a film trailer. It gave me experience in what I needed to do to make it successful.

 For our production we needed a small group of people, one for being thrown back into the camera and a group of around six or seven for the cinema scene. The locations we needed, we substituted with college locations that had a similar feel. We filmed in corridors, classrooms, a stairwell and a rooftop(Though the shots on the roof weren't used) It took us around 2 hours to film including re shoots and this was spread over 2 or 3 lessons.

(Static Shot)

 For the static shot we used a 'noise' effect in Adobe Premiere Pro which made the above effect so it appeared as if static is on the screen. To get the sound effect for static we went to a free sounds websites called www.freesound.org and chose 'static' which gave us the effect.
 An alternate idea we had for the static was to create a static image on photoshop and place it over the top of the scene. This however took more time and getting it to look right was difficult and not everyone agreed on this. In the end we stuck to the first static effect as we thought it looked better and was simpler to do.

(Image of our person being thrown into camera)

Something our group found difficult was making a person flying towards the camera look effective. Obviously we couldn't literally throw someone at the camera for health and safety reasons, nor did we have access to any sort of dummy or the means to make a realistic one. Early on we contemplated stuffing a sleeping bag or something similar but once this was tested it didn't look right.

For the final shooting of this scene we used Joe who walked backwards towards the camera. We then sped this up to make it look like he had flown into it and quickly cut to the next scene of the camera on its side. Without better equipment or more time this is likely the best we could hope to achieve when making this scene.

From this task I have improved my editing skills, camera use and now appreciate how important organisation is. I feel the task would be easier if we followed our schedule more and allowed ourselves for more opportunity to re-shoot. 

 I will use what I have learnt here to improve my work on my own film trailer.

Synopsis for Film

Nick Northcott is a successful high ranking detective of a British police department. Living happily with a family on a steady payroll and excelling at what he does. He is highly respected by his colleagues who regard his skills with both respect and jealousy. After just finishing a case that will lead him to the boss of a big time drug dealer, Northcott thinks he is doing good...
So when his superiors start acting suspiciously, when things seem amiss at work...Northcott does what he does best...he investigates. As he digs deeper and deeper into the mysteries of his own department, the horror and feeling of betrayal begins to consume his life. As he hits more and more dead ends, is tripped up by his colleagues and looked at with pity by his family, Northcott faces a battle to find the truth and also to keep his sanity.
Putting all of his friends behind him Northcott must go head to head with his superiors after years of being under them in a search for the truth. 

Location Shots for media text

The following pictures are location shots we used in our reconstruction of the paranormal activity 2 trailer.

This is taken from the roof of Wyke. We took it when nobody was around to make the shot feel lonely and give it the right feel for the trailer.

This is a shot of an empty corridor. We had to look for a corridor with a blank section of wall to make it look bleak and empty. It suggests that the are being filmed is lonely which suited the trailer.

These two shots are of a staircase we used though only the top image featured in the trailer. When filming we rattled the chain to make it look like "Paranormal activity" was actually happening in the clip. The second image is where we filmed the shot from looking down the stairs.

In this shot we pushed a chair from behind the table again to give the trailer a paranormal feel. By hiding Dan behind the table we made it look like the chair was moving of its own accord.

Codes and Conventions of a Film Trailer

The codes and conventions of a film trailer follow similar conventions though they will differentiate depending on the genre of the film and the target audience of the particular film trailer. The film trailer I will be analysing for examples is Sherlock Holmes (2009)

 Most film trailers tend to start off with an image or animation of the production companies logo, in this case the Warner bros logo (Seen below). This is used as an advertising tool for the producers whilst allowing the audience to know how big a budget the film will be and, if they know of the producers other work, what style the film will be in. The film trailer will also either bring up close up shots of major actors and/or bring up their names in near the start of the trailer so people know who is in the film giving them a better idea as to whether they will like it. This can also help market the film as people are more likely to see a film if it has a well-known actor in it. 

 The majority of a film trailer consists of often very short cuts of footage not necessarily in the right order. These short pieces of footage give an audience an idea of what the plot of the movie is whilst not giving spoilers due to the clips being short and in a random order. These clips also introduce plot some ideas of plot and who some characters in the movie are. They also set the scene and contain numerous establishing shots of landmarks an audience may know to establish a definite location. (Example below of close up shots introducing characters and establishing shot of London)

 In between the clips is text on a black background usually in a font that suits the film trailer it is being made for (e.g. a horror film may have red, blood covered text in its trailer). This text is used to either explain the plot of the film along of the clips shown or list the actors who are starring in the film. The text adds a dramatic feel to the trailer and helps the trailer stick in people’s minds. At the end of a trailer is generally the release date which is similarly presented on a black background like the rest of the text in the trailer.

 A film trailer will be different depending on the genre of film it is portraying.  For example, action trailers will be fast paced with lots of short, quick cuts to emphasise a lot is going to happen in the movie. A horror movie trailer may be slower and have fewer cuts to build up the tension that is what makes a horror movie.
 Some film trailers will have voice overs done either by one of the characters and or in the past a voice not related to the film. They act as a narrator for what is happening in the trailer and what an audience can expect to see in the film.
  Film Trailers are often seen alongside other media products of a similar genre to the trailer. By doing this the film trailer is more likely to be shown to people who would be interested in watching the film and get as large an audience as possible to see the film.
Codes and Conventions of the genre that the film trailer is will be used in most film trailers to let fans of that genre know that they will like the film. When an audience sees the codes and conventions of a genre they recognise they think that they are more likely to go and see the film. People enjoy recognising and knowing what will happen during a film so by keeping codes and conventions the same the makers of the film can often be sure of a positive response to their work.

 To sum up, the codes and conventions of film trailers follow a similar pattern but will alter depending on the genre of the film. Almost all film trailers will have text describing the plot, and will introduce the plot and main characters within the trailer. The genre decides how the above is put together so the film trailer gets across the effect that the overall film is meant to have on an audience.

Pictures Below

Finished Reconstruction of Film Trailer

Paranormal Activity Trailer

Outakes for our film trailer reconstruction

This is a video of unused footage from our film trailer reconstruction.