A2: Film Poster Analysis

The film poster I had produced for my ancillary task received a lot of positive feedback from audiences.

Main Image - The main image I chose to use as the background for the film poster was in fact a still shot from the trailer. This supported typical conventions for film posters as it looked appealing and linked to the psychological thriller genre as well as telling the audience a little about what the film is going to be revolved around. The main image also features a shadow of the protagonist, this was done in order to create an effective link with the psychological thriller genre.
I also merged another image using photoshop. The second image was an extreme close up of the protagonists eyes. At first the poster only featured the main image on it, however I figured that a lot of existing posters have an image on the front that make direct eye contact with the reader. This looked effective as it looked more sinister and appealing at the same time.

Ratings - The star ratings at the top of the poster are used as lures to persuade the reader to watch the film. The star ratings are from different magazine tabloids and newspapers make it look more realistic. I also featured one particular review at the top of the poster 'Brilliantly written, terrifically acted... one of her best!' These reviews are included by a lot of mainstream film posters, crediting the film to make it appeal to the audience such as this one:

Title - The title of my film 'Mental State' is positioned on the right hand bottom side of the poster. This is simply because I have created a house style and decided to stick to this as it made the film much more recognizable and creates a synergetic pattern. Even the colours used, red and white link to the house style making the poster stand out from others and immediately allowing the audience to link it to the film.

Colours - The use of reds and whites link to the films theme and house style. I kept synergy in mind whilst constructing the poster to make it look much more professional and realistic. However, I also introduced a new colour - blue to give the audience a glimpse of the film and make it look more pleasing to the eye as it creates a nice contrast with the red, white and black.

Credits and Date of release - It is typical of all film posters to include credits and a date of release. The credits tell the audience who acts in the film as well as giving them details about the producers, directors and other main people who worked in or on the film. The date of release is perhaps one of the most significant aspects of the films promotion. This gives the audience details on when the film will be released and showing in mainstream cinemas so they can go to watch it.

Overall, I was pleased with the final result of my films poster. I had received positive feedback on it and made final changes after receiving suggestions on what I should change from my media class.

A2: Editing

Editing the trailer took more time than expected. I received feedback on what I had already done and this was effective as I was able to make proper changes to the trailer. 
I edited my trailer on imovie using the mac and I soon became used to the software and using the tools on the programme to help me edit the trailer. 

I had already gathered footage and had to work on putting this together effectively to make it look like a professional trailer as part of a promotion package for a real film.

I received suggestions on my trailer on how I should make it look good. Some of the suggestions I received were:

• Include various cuts and increase the pace of the trailer
• Make sure the pace of the music also increases whilst the cuts and editing is increasing
• Use the imovie text and transitions tools to include cuts to a screen with text on it to tell the audience more about what is happening in the trailer making it more effective and clear for them
• Use a mix of both diagetic and non diagetic sounds in your trailer that make the link to the psychological genre much more clear

A2: Filming

I began filming the trailer in sequences, starting with the shortest. I made sure to include a variety of shot types such as a point of view shot, long shot, extreme long shot and a close up as well as a canted angle shot.
I filmed in a non linear chronology and this proved effective as I managed to edit everything together without the trailer looking as though it had been filmed at different times in a non linear order.

A2: Research and Planning - Trailers

Trailers
A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the theatre after the films ended, but the name has stuck. Trailers are now shown before the film begins.

Movie trailers have now become popular on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, as well as on the Internet and mobile devices. Of some ten billion videos watched online annually, film trailers rank third, after news and user-created video.

Definition 
Trailers consist of a series selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film, these excerpts are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers. For this purpose the scenes are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film. A trailer has to achieve that in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the maximum length allowed by the MPAA. Each studio or distributor is allowed to exceed this time limit once a year, if they feel it is necessary for a particular film.

Some trailers use "special shoot" footage, which is material that has been created specifically for advertising purposes and does not appear in the actual film. 

MPAA rating cards for theatrical trailers 

A green band is an all-green graphic at the beginning of the trailer. Until April 2009, these cards indicated that they had been approved for "all audiences" and often included the movie's MPAA rating. This signified that the trailer adheres to the standards for motion picture advertising outlined by the MPAA, which include limitations on foul language and violent, sexual or otherwise objectionable imagery.

Action trailer Analysis

There are approximately 30 cuts in the first 35 seconds of the trailer. Because it is a action movie, it would have more cuts and the pace of these cuts would increase as the trailer moves on. This creates more of an effect on the audience and increases the tension and suspense of the dilemmas and actions in the trailer.

The use of voiceover at the beginning along with the sound effects creates an exciting effect as the audience gets to know what sort of characters are in the movie. Everything included in the trailer such as the fact paced edits with extreme long shots and quick instant close ups link to the genre - action/adventure. From this I learnt how to create an almost synergetic effect in the trailer alone where absolutely everything links with each other. The music and the pace of it increases in the trailer.

A2: Research and Planning - Film Posters

As part of my research, I decided to look at different film Posters and analyse them.

One of my favorite Film Poster that i came across was the 'Limitless' one. The idea of three images being present on the cover made it look more appealing. As well as this, the editor added the names of the actors under each image. The title of the film 'Limitless' is  positioned on the bottom of the page.

The layout of this particular poster appealed to me and may be one of the posters I base my film poster on.

Two conflicting images were present on this poster as well as the vertical film title positioned in the middle separating the two images.

A2: Research and Planning - Film Magazine Covers

Researching different covers for film magazines and analyzing them was useful as I came to fully understand the generic conventions used.



Masthead - A defining feature of Empire magazine is the ever changing appearance of the Masthead. While the location and size of the title remains the same, the colour and theme often changes with the genre of the film advertised in the main image. This is a very attractive and appealing method of grabbing the reader's attention and automatically relating the topics of the magazine to the film story, so if the style appeals than the reader will be inclined to read on.

Main Image - The main image is the focal point and main focus of the front cover. It is positioned in the very centre of the page which is particularly eye catching and perhaps the biggest feature on the page. The mid shot of the character holding a weapon immediately tells the audience that the film belongs to the fantasy/adventure genre. The image also feature another merged image with the supposed villain looking at the character. The main image not only looks visually stunning but also informs the audience a little about the plot.

Catch-lines - The catch phrases used particularly 'THE FINEST MIDDLE-EARTH COVERAGE CONTINUES INSIDE' provide encouragement to the reader and almost lures them in persuading them to read more inside and buy the magazine.

Colour Scheme - The colour scheme of the magazine is very important to the theme of the magazine's story, it also stands out to the audience in numerous ways. The dark blue contrasts well with the black used and also contrasts well with the golden coloured text making it clearer for the reader to read. The colours are used to perhaps connote mystery, adventure and evil. At a glance, the genre of the film is instantly recognizable.

A2: Genre

Psychological Thriller

Psychological thriller is a fictional thriller story which emphasizes the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states. In terms of classification, the category is a subgenre of the broader ranging thriller category, with similarities to Gothic and detective fiction in the sense of sometimes having a "dissolving sense of reality", moral ambiguity, and complex and tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of mystery, drama, action, and horror, particularly psychological horror. They are usually books or films.