1. Question One In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. Research into the Theory of Trailers. Types of trailers. Full Length Trailer . A full length trailer is the whole trailer which shows longer clips of the film footage and scenes. Teaser Trailer. A teaser trailer which is used to advertise an upcoming film, television programmes and even products. Teasers are usually very short in length, around 30-60 seconds, and usually don’t contain much of the actual film footage. Teasers are released about a year before the actual film comes out and play for long periods of time, in order to “tease” the audience. Theatrical Trailer. A theatrical trailer is usually released about 3 or 4 months before the film, this trailer is usually shown in cinemas. TV Spot-The theatrical trailer is then edited to be shorter and is shown on television, these are shorter because television previews are more expensive. Full length A full length trailer is the whole trailer which shows longer clips of the film footage and scenes. released about a year before the actual film comes out and play for long periods of time, in order to “tease” the audience. Tv Spot. A TV spot is the theatrical trailer is then edited to be shorter and is shown on television, these are shorter because television previews are more expensive.

3. Research into the Theory of Trailers. How does the trailer show that a film is worth going to see? Trailers always include parts of the funniest, scariest or most thrilling scenes. A star rating or names of director/actors also is a persuasive technique which is used to attract an audience. How are trailers chosen to preview before certain films? Trailers that are shown before certain films are usually within the same age certificate and Genre. How have the ways we come into contact with trailers changed considerably over recent years. How do you think these changes affect the marketing of films? Over the years internet marketing has become increasingly more popular. This makes it easier for film makers to reach a wider audience because the trailers are much more accessible. Why is it important for a trailer to show us the genre and how is this established? It is important for a trailer to show us genre so that the audience can associate their individual preferences with certain types of film. This is established by the conventions of trailers. For example the music, if it is upbeat, the pace of cuts, in a comedy the pace is reasonably fast, whereas a thriller would be slower, establishing the mood and tension that the film should include. Why is the trailer so crucial to a marketing campaign? Theatrical or full length trailers show longer clips of the film footage, which gives the audience a better idea of what the film is all about. Trailers on television are crucial to the marketing campaign because a large majority of the public watches advertisements on television. What is a marketing campaign and why is it needed? A marketing campaign main aims are to target a specific audience and advertise the film by using posters, trailers and merchandise.

4. The pace of the cuts in the footage is quite fast, which relates well with the use of up-beat music that has recently been released and therefore well-known to the target audience. Conventions of “The Ugly Truth” Trailer The trailer has a selection of jokes from the footage which would appeal to a larger audience, rather than just its target audience . . The text titles in the trailer are used as a descriptive tool to help explain the storyline as the trailer continues. The text titles are used to also showcase the actors that are starring in the film. The actors used in this film are usually associated with either romantic, comedy or both film genres. The trailer does not have a voice over, but uses dialogue from the film that describes the story line. The dialogue also overlaps some of the clips. However, there is a voiceover at the end of the trailer which reads out the title of the film. The title logo is a symbol of a woman and a man, so the audience will assume at a glance that the film is to do with Romance and the relationships between men and women. The trailer uses Diegetic Sound, sound that is created within a scene.

5. Conventions of the “500 Days of Summer” Trailer The pace of the cuts speeds up as the trailer continues. The music also changes to an upbeat song which contrasts well with the fast pace of the cuts. There are male and female actors in the first clip we see. This clip has dialogue and diegetic sound, without a voice over so that we see how their relationship develops. This shows that the film is about relationships and romance. There is a voice over in the other clips, it is a deep American voice, which isn’t the common voice over we hear in most other trailers, this makes the audience think that this is a unique and alternative film, which is different to other romantic –comedies. There are text titles used to show the countdown of the days, how long the couple in the film has been together. The text also showcases the film popularity by referencing to the film’s success at the “Sundance Film Festival”. I noticed that the this trailer does not highlight the names of the director or actors and I feel this is effective as the text titles would disrupt the flow of the storyline in the trailer. Instrumental piano music is used to introduce the storyline, setting the theme of the trailer as a quirky and different type of romantic comedy. However, after a sequence of slower paced cuts, the music changes again and again so that the new songs are tailored to the material in the footage.

7. Conventions & Elements I have developed from my research of Romantic-Comedy Trailers. Voice over or dialogue from the film. This helps to introduce the story line to the audience and lets them know where the story will be heading. Release date and Title of the movie are used at the end of the trailer. This provides important information which necessary for a films’ success. Names of the Actors and Director. This is an important feature of a trailer because the actors and director are showcased. This means an audience can then decide if they would like to watch a film with certain people contributing the film. Text Titles are sometimes used as a descriptive tool to highlight key points of the storyline. They can also be used to highlight the actors or director credits to break up a sequence of action scenes. Dialogue in trailers usually consist of small clips of conversation, or one liners. Film footage. Fast and short cuts in the footage may be used to show particular events or characters. Music and Sound effects are used in romantic-comedy trailers to create atmosphere and to emphasise a certain theme, for example in the film “The Holiday” most of the clips are humorous and this is exaggerated by an upbeat, soulful song. Film Title. As the trailer comes to a climax the name of the film is shown to create impact.. Montage. This is a series of shots from different points of the film edited together. This is often used to highlight the most dramatic, humorous or fast-paced aspects of the film.

8. Text Titles . I decided to use text titles as a descriptive tool to highlight key points of the storyline, that sequence with the music and pace of the cuts in the footage. I also used text titles to highlight the director credits and to break up a sequence of action scenes at the middle and through the montage that concludes the trailer. In the trailer for “the Ugly Truth” we see that all through the trailer and more frequently in the concluding montage , there is use of text titles to separate action and describe key points of the story line. The colour scheme of the text titles I have used in my own trailer also conform to the conventional structure of Romantic- Comedy trailers. The title I have created are similar to the style of the titles used in “the Ugly Truth” . By using a background of white and then adding a black text for the first line of text. Underneath I added slightly larger text (10pt larger) in a crimson colour, this meant that the titles still look effective without being over complicated and hard to read, but the audience will emphasise the secondary word as they read it through. Discuss how and why your film relates to the conventions that you have identified.

9. Music and Sound effects For my trailer I decided to use two songs to represent two moods. I wanted to start off the trailer with a rock song from the eighties which describes parts of the storyline which has attitude. I decided on “The Romantics- What I like about you” because it had a good introduction which was effective when sequenced with the slower footage at the start of my trailer. For the second song which would conclude the trailer I had chosen to use Letters to Cleo- “I want you to want me” because the songs lyrics related to the storyline and also was a cover of a copyrighted song so it is not well known and the meant it was less likely to have my trailer removed by You tube. However when I began adding more montage material to my trailer, I found that the song “Letters to Cleo- I want you to want me” was too slow when sequenced with the faced paced cuts of the footage. It also didn't really work well with the final results of character types and storyline. I felt that the trailer needed a another song that could be used in the background that was more fast paced and still maintained the upbeat mood of the scenes that begin to conclude the trailer. So I researched some of my favourite romantic comedy trailers and came across a clip from the film from “500 Days of Summer" which uses a song called "You make my dreams come true" by Hall and Oates. Using these songs as background music my trailer conforms with musical conventions that are used in romantic-comedy trailers to create atmosphere and to emphasise a certain theme, for example in the film “The Holiday” most of the clips are humorous and this is exaggerated by an upbeat, soulful song.

10. Release date and Title. In my Trailer I chose to use the same text that I had used in my Advertising Campaign (Movie Magazine and Poster) in order to be in keeping with the visual appearance of the house style. Following the conventional structure of Romantic-comedy trailers, I decided to arrange the title of the film so that it concluded the montage of shots at the end of my trailer. I thought this would look best because hopefully the audience would be interested in the film and would be dying to know what the name of the film was. The release date is also introduced at the conclusion of the trailer. Introducing the name of the film and release date right at the end of the trailer helps to embed this important information in the audience memory. In the trailer advertising the film “Knocked up ,the release date and title are also featured at the end of the trailer. The text used for these two titles are in keeping with the house style of the Advertising Campaign for this film. What I find interesting about the release date of the “Knocked Up" trailer is the fact that specific date is not stated for the release of the film. It only states the season that the film will be released in, which means that there is enough time and opportunity for TV spots, theatrical and full length trailers to gain even more interest for the film. The audience would be willing to watch all three of these in order to find out the release date and other important information such as the director and actors who are in the film.

11. Names of the Actors and Director. Following the conventional structure of a Romantic-Comedy trailer ,I made sure to showcase the name of the director and state some examples of other films that the director had managed .I did this because it is an important feature of a trailer, it means an audience can then decide if they would like to watch a film that has been made by a director they particularly like or a certain style of film that they enjoy. However, I also challenged the conventional structure of a Romantic-Comedy trailer by not featuring the actors names. Instead I wanted to rely entirely on the director angle. I wanted to imply that these actors are so well known that they do not need to have their names featured in a trailer. An example of this is the trailer advertising the film “He’s not that into you“,. In this trailer there is also text which shows us the names of actors who are well known for doing romantic comedies. Audiences may choose to watch the just because of a certain actor who they enjoy to watch.

12. Voiceover and Dialogue. Following the conventions of Romantic-Comedy trailers, I have decided to only use a small sample of dialogue taken from the footage as a descriptive tool, in order to help support the text titles tell a story. However, I decided not to use a voiceover and this challenges the usual conventional structure of a romantic-comedy trailer. I felt that a voice over may over complicate the visual quality of the trailer and by using a selective choice of descriptive tools, the whole appearance of the trailer may look more effective. In t he trailer for the “Ugly Truth , there is not a voice over, the trailer relies on the use of dialogue taken from the film footage to describe the story line.

13. Film footage and Montage. For my trailer I decided to use longer cuts at the start of the trailer to acts as an introduction to the characters. This helped to set the mood and the scene of the storyline. I then moved on to an establishing shot and then a medium close up of the two characters’ reaction to the problem that occurs in the story line. These two shots are slightly longer and helps to stall the flow of the previous longer shots. These two shots are then exaggerated by a sequences of titles, showcasing the director. This is then followed by a montage of faster and shorter cuts of footage used to highlight the most dramatic, humorous or fast-paced aspects of the film, conforming with the conventions of romantic-comedy trailers. The montage is also broken up by descriptive text titles, which sequence with the fast paced footage. The trailer then ends with a a longer paced medium shot of the two characters head to head, concluding the montage. An example of the gradual increase in the pace of the cuts that I have used in my own trailer. In the “500 Days of Summer” trailer the pace of the cuts speeds up as the footage comes to a conclusion. Another convention I had noticed in this trailer was that the music also changed to an upbeat song this helps to change the mood of the scenes as the storyline develops.

14. The colour scheme of the text in most romantic-comedy film posters seems to be black or blue contrasting with a brighter colour such as red or pink, that are stereotypically known to represent girls pink/red) and boys (blue) .This technique is very effective because red represents love and passion, which is very relevant to romantic-comedy film. We can see this technique used in the styling of the actors clothes and props as well as logos and the colour of texts. Conventions of Romantic-Comedy Film Posters After browsing I found that most romantic-comedy films use simpler posters to advertise. The posters are have mostly white backgrounds. I think this is because they are easier to look at and understand at a glance. The co-ordination of the costumes and styling of the actors is a common convention of romantic-comedy film posters. I think this is done so that the visual image of the characters relates to the colour scheme and house style of the poster. The film title is designed as a logo so that it is unique to any another other film title. For my poster I had designed many different logos before I settled with a typewriter font with an image of numbers underneath the title in a crimson colour. I had noticed that most of the romantic comedy posters I had looked at used a similar basic font, without serifs. I found a similar font, “Arabic Transparent” that I decided to use on my trailer text titles. For my poster I used this font in capitals for the names of the actors.

15. In the poster from the film," The Ugly Truth”, I think the plain white background is very effective. The background is emphasised by a black screen that line which divides the man and woman on the page. By using bolder text for the title and last name of the actors it creates the concept of pronunciation, which helps to underline what is most important in the film. This technique is used to showcase particular actors, director or producer. The styling of the actors costume is tailored to the house style of the poster. The female’s costume consists of red tones in the garments, whereas the males clothing is mostly blue and black.. These colours are opposites which helps to imply the basic idea that men and women are completely different from each other, which is a important concept in the film itself. The logo for the film is very simple, consisting of a thin, black font. The text is without serifs and has a great impact with a white background. To exaggerate the main part of the title, the font is made bold to create more of an emphasis on the subjects and concepts of the film. Props are used to showcase the romantic side to the hybrid genre. Using the shape of a heart represents the concept of love. I think this helps the audience to understand at a glance exactly what the film will be about.

16. In the poster advertising the film”500 Days of Summer” we can see that there is minimal text used, to showcase the names of the actors. Instead the poster relies on the star rating at the top of the page to advertise how good this romantic-comedy film is. I also like the use of photographs in the poster, think that it is a very clever and unique way to introduce a cast of actors through still advertisement. This technique also helps to unveil some of the plot to the audience. The audience can gather that the film is mostly about the romantic relationship between the male character in the main part of the poster and the female character that is shown in prints on the his t-shirt. The logo of the title has a minimalist style, the text used is a thinner sky-blue font that co-ordinates with part of the background. The text used for the title logo is without serifs and is used in capital letters, so it is bold and easier to read. I think the minimalist house style of the poster works well with the theme of the film which is an “indie” romantic comedy. What I also noticed is how the male actor is mostly featured in the poster. Whereas there are only smaller scale photos of the female character. We can see the male character is observing the comic strip of photographs on his t-shirt, which implies that the film itself will be in his point of view rather than the female character's. His whimsical smile lets the audience know the film is likely to be amusing.

17. What I also noticed about the “Made of Honour” poster was that it has a very simple house style of black and red which co-ordinates with the styling of the characters featured in the poster, for example the colour of the brides flower bouquet matches the colour of the smaller text in the title. In the" Made of Honour” poster advertisement there is also a simple white background used with black bold text without serifs, which is similar to the text used in “The Ugly Truth” poster. In this poster there also is a tagline, which was a convention I had not seen in the other posters that I had looked at. I think using a tagline helps to describe an element of the plot, the audience will then understand and establish what time of storyline this particular film will have. What I also found interesting about this poster is how the photograph used has been cropped to only feature the main characters in the plot rather than the supposed groom. This is done to give the audience some idea of the storyline, that the groom will not be an important part to storyline. The plot will actually be about the relationship between the two characters fully featured in the poster.

18. Conventions & Elements I have developed from my research of Romantic-Comedy Film Posters Using a white background. A white background is used in nearly all romantic-comedy film posters. I think this is done so that the main element of the film, this being the characters are showcased and the interest of the audience is not diverted by a complicated background. Varying font styles and sizes. In the layout of posters advertising a romantic-comedy film, a basic bold text is used rather than a more complex font with serifs. This is because a more basic font represents a more casual appeal to the film. Whereas in Westerns or thrillers more complex font is used to help the film look more formal. Using props. Props are mostly used in romantic-comedy posters to help the audience gather what the film will be about. For example in the film poster advertising the “Made of Honour” the female character is carrying a bouquet, which immediately informs the audience that the film is about a wedding. Styling of costume. In many romantic-comedy film posters I have seen, the costumes of the characters are tailored to match the house style of the poster. The female’s costume usually is of red, whereas the males clothing is mostly blue and black.. These colours are opposites which helps to imply the basic idea that men and women are completely different from each other, which is a important concept in many modern romantic comedy films. Using a Tagline. A tagline is mostly used in a film poster to aid the main image and title to help the audience understand what the film will be about. Logos. This helps to make the advertisement campaign individual and completely unique to any other Romantic- Comedy Film. The font used for a Romantic- comedy film logo is commonly known to be basic, a font without serifs that could be used in a basic colour like black or white.

19. Looking at fonts and Logos When I first began to look at film logos I decided to create a selection of varied texts in order to compare how my chosen title for the film looked in each style. I first looked at more bold and modern texts and compared them to handwritten styles. I found from this experimentation, that even if it is a conventional element to romantic-comedy film posters to use a font without serifs, I think the handwriting style adds a more personal edge to the film and it helps relate the house style to the attitude, genre and theme of the film. I then began to add backgrounds to significant styles of text which I had taken from the first slide. I found that I could start to design house style colours around some styles of text. After experimenting with different backgrounds I then moved onto designing texts that I had changed by using different letters from other styles or by distorting the shapes of the letters in Photoshop. You can see my progression of individual logo designs in the screen grabs on the right. I then went on to create my final logo design, which I had experimented with in the first and second images. I decided to keep the logo simple by using a white background ( similar to the basic house style of the “Ugly Truth” poster) and dark grey handwritten text but to make it unique I decided to change the “R” because it was quite hard to read. I did this by using a different text for the ” R” and the using the free-transform tool on Photoshop to rotate it until it was level with the rest of the text. For finishing effects I added a drop shadow in the same colour as the text to create extra impact. I also decided to use the drop-shadow effect on other texts that would feature in my poster, such as the release date and names of the actors, you can see this in the last image. For the smaller text in my film poster I decided to use a simple font, Arabic Transparent because it didn’t have serifs and is clear to read from far away. I wanted to conform to this convention of using more basic fonts, because I could see how effective it looks in real media texts, like the “ Made of Honour” Film poster title and tagline.

20. Styling of costume. For my own film poster I had decided to style the actors similar to the look of “The ugly Truth” characters. The female’s clothing consists of red tones in the garments, whereas the males clothing is mostly blue and black.. I did this to imply the idea that men and women are opposites and completely different. Using a white background. After looking at a selection of romantic-comedy posters, I had found that nearly all use white or plain backgrounds, so that all focus is on the photograph of the characters .I had decided to conform to this convention because I think it looks very effective and works well with basic texts and logos in the real texts from my research. To mimic a white backdrop I decided to use the white wall in my bedroom because it is white and completely plain so this meant it would then be easier for me to remove the background in Photoshop. I would do this by using the magic wand tool to selected larger areas and then I would go over the image with the rubber tool in a small size to remove any smaller detail left. Using a Tagline/Using props. I decided not to use these conventions because I felt that the poster was quite crowded and by adding more text or images would make it harder for the audience to understand and interpret the poster.

23. Conventions & Elements I have developed from my research of Movie Magazine Covers.. House Style. There is never more than three colours used in a real media text. The text on a cover is usually tailored to match the colours used in the main image on the page. Subtitle. The actors, director or the name of the featured film are always showcased by the use of larger text at the lower-right of the cover. Bar Code. The bar code is usually on the bottom right hand corner of the page. Thought sometimes it can be seen on the bottom left hand side. Price, date and website. Most of the movie magazines I have researched are all priced at around $3.50, this of course depends on the where the magazine is published to and the currency. The price ,date and website are always placed near or underneath the masthead so that it is one of the first parts of text that a buyer can see. Masthead or logo. This helps to make the advertisement of the magazine individual and completely unique to any other competitor. The main image on the page can either go in front or behind the masthead. What I had noticed was that the main image will reach the masthead in all cases. Banner. Movie magazines also have a banner at the top of the page advertising various aspects of the magazine. This will be used to attract their target audience's attention, as this section of the magazine will be seen at a glance by on any magazine stand. Using a Tagline. A tagline is mostly used in a movie magazine to promote the magazine itself. Subheadings. Smaller sub-headings are used down each side of the page on a cover to showcases certain articles that the target audience would be interested in.

24. Movie Magazine Cover (First Version) Main Image and creating a House style. For my Magazine cover I decided to keep the image I was going to use as the main photograph, simple and plain, using a white background in order to not over complicate the photograph and cover itself . I also wanted the magazine layout be in keeping with the house style of the other texts I had created for advertisement campaign. I firstly converted the photograph to grayscale on Photoshop to create more of a “classic” look to the shot. I then added an effect called Gradient, which I selected in a diamond shape. This gives the effect of stars and diamonds which are associated with block buster actors. However, I felt that it looked quite plain and this new effect could benefit from some colour. So I decided to use the gradient tool once more on it’s original setting( a horizontal or vertical merge of colour) to create a subtle pink/red colour when blended with the white gradient underneath. However, I felt that the pink/red colour wasn’t as effective as I had hoped, so I used the hue/saturation tool on Photoshop to change the gradient effect to a sky blue shade, which had a greater impact on the look of the Magazine. I then incorporated this new blue colour into the text and subheadings to link to the covers house style. I also used the colour white as part of the house style as I think it worked well with the vivid shade of blue and the dark grey tone of the main image and film logo.

25. Movie Magazine Cover First Version) Masthead. After editing the main image I moved on to designing a title. I decided to use the name “Crossfire” for my magazine as I felt this could relate to the concept of Genre cross-overs,which is a common element of postmodern film that I have been studying in my media theory this year. For the main title I decided to use a simple font without serifs, which was easily readable at a glance. I also made the title text light grey as the colour worked well with the gradient effect in the background of the magazine cover. Subheadings. I then went on to create subheadings to promote articles and extra features. For this I used in blue and white smaller text to surround the image in the centre. I also made sure to promote my film by using the films logo as a subtitle on the magazine cover as a featured article to contribute towards the audience’s interest in the film. As a finishing touch, I then added a drop shadow effect on the text of the poster using Photoshop, which helped to make the text easier to read as well as adding more impact to the whole look of the magazine

26. Movie Magazine Cover First Version) Bar code In my movie magazine layout I felt that the barcode should be positioned to conform with the conventions of real media texts that I have looked at, so I positioned it on the bottom right hand side. Date, Price and website. For the smaller text that promotes a website or informs us of the date and price of the magazine, I decided not to conform to conventional structure and to only include the date because I felt that many statements of text it may over-complicate the cover. Tagline On my cover I decided to use a tagline that relates to the theme of the title. I thought that this would help to create a kick-ass “image” for the magazine that would work well with all genres of film. Banner I decided to position the masthead at the top of the age in order to attract their target audience's attention when stocked because this section of the magazine will be seen at a glance by on any magazine stand.

27. Movie Magazine Cover (Second Version) Making changes to the House style and Masterhead. After receiving some constructive feedback from teachers and fellow pupils about my first movie magazine cover, I decided to design a second version. I thought that this would show variety in the style of my work. However, I did decide to keep the layout of the text and the photograph the same because I felt they worked well together. I first began to design my new magazine cover by creating a new masthead. I decided to use the same name as my first version, but changing the colour scheme and house style. I also wanted to relate the style of the title to the chosen name of the magazine and I eventually came up with the idea of a target in the space of the “O” letter. To do this I copied an illustration of a target from Google images to a Photoshop file and then cut out the white rings of the target leaving only rings of red. I then filled these ring shapes with the same colour as my title to be in keeping with the new house style. I then moved the target to fit the inside the letter “O” by using the free transform tool. I then added a drop shadow in a light grey colour to create more impact on the title.

28. Movie Magazine Cover (Second Version) Making changes to the Masterhead. Though I still felt that the cover still looked very basic so I decided to add an illustration of a film reel to build up the layers on the cover. I thought a film reel would be appropriate for a movie magazine because it could help the audience to understand the content of the magazine from a glance. I first filled the image of the film reel in the same colour as the feature and title text, in order to co-ordinate with the developing house style of the magazine. I then positioned it vertically to the left hand side, which worked well with the left justified features text. However once I had moved onto creating subtitle text for the main feature of the magazine, an interview with Sabrina Ellsworth, the film reel image was taking up too much room and made the layout too crowded, swell as being the same colour as the text. So to improve the layout I changed the colour of the illustration and then moved it using the free transform tool. I first positioned it so that it crossed the top of the magazine cover, but when I layered the main title over it, it didn’t look as good as I hoped. I think this was because the photograph featured on the cover has some elements of symmetry in it and would benefit from a more symmetrical layout of text. So after experimenting with the angles of the illustration, the idea came to me, that it would look better if there were two images of the film reel crossing over each other, which also compliments the name of the magazine.

29. Movie Magazine Cover (Second Version) Making changes to the Subheadings. I then went on to add other text to promote the features of the magazine, for this I decided to maintain the orange/red colour that I had used for title, though unfortunately the colour of the text was quite hard to read. So to improve this I added dark grey rectangles underneath the text to make the text more distinguishable. I also played around with the angles of the text and rectangles that promoted the features of the magazine and found that the cover looked more effective when the text was angled to create a circular shape. However, by doing this, it disrupted the photograph in the background and crowded the bottom half of the magazine, so I could not add any more text about features in that area. Instead I decided to remove over half of the text and rectangles and leave remaining two statements that gives the audience the basic idea of the feature, leaving a lot more space for subtitles I would be adding later on. For the subtitle at the bottom of the page, I made the text much larger in order to gain more attention from viewers. I decided to maintain using the same red colour for this text, so that the whole magazine would be linked with a grey/red colour scheme. For finishing touches I added smaller text to explain some of the less important features, like Oscar Nominees etc. as well as a date and tagline. I also added a drop shadow to all of the text on the magazine to help make the bright colour of the lettering stand out.