Tuesday 26 January 2010
Monday 25 January 2010
Questionaire
We decided to ask a few questions on what people generally expect to see from a film trailer, not genre specific, but just the features they expect to see. The last question focuses on peoples first thoughts about horror trailers.
Questionnaire 1
Is there anything in particular that would catch your attention when watching a good trailer?
Quite a difficult question to identify what makes a good trailer – but I expect that anything especially funny, exciting or noteworthy would catch my attention.
Where would you be most likely to see a film trailer? For example in the cinema, online and so on.
My job is to programme a small cinema so I often look online at trailers. If this was not my job, I expect that if I was making a decision about what to go and see and had online access, I would take a look at trailers as well synopses. The other location where I am most likely to see a film trailer is at the cinema.
How long would you expect a typical trailer to last?
2 minutes 30 seconds max
How much of a films storyline would you expect to see in a trailer?
I would expect the trailer to tell the story of the film in abbreviated form, in a 3 act structure similar to a feature length film, but without giving away the ending or including any ‘spoilers’.
What do you expect to see when watching the trailer for a new ‘horror’ film?
Indication of what will cause horror / terror to audience and strong sense of menace. Obviously this film genre incorporates a number of sub-genres and repeated themes such as vampire themes, slasher themes, zombie themes, demonic possession, evil children, haunted houses, cannibalism etc. I am not a big horror fan, so find it difficult to analyse what new trends there are in the horror genre at the moment.
Questionnaire 2
Is there anything in particular that would catch your attention when watching a good trailer?
I need a strong idea to catch my attention in the first few seconds... you know how it is when you meet someone new, you kind of make up your mind about them with the first hand shake!
Where would you be most likely to see a film trailer? For example in the cinema, online and so on.
at the moment it is probably a bit of everything, but in order: on-line (my computer opens on the Apple homepage which has a good trailer section) followed by cinema, DVD, and TV.
How long would you expect a typical trailer to last?
think it has to do the business in about a minute, as I don't want to learn too much about the film, just enough to draw me in. Want all the twists in the plot to be a surprise, so please don't feed me a summary of the film as some do, which answers 4).
What do you expect to see when watching the trailer for a new ‘horror’ film?
probably somebody scared shitless... but what is the cause?
Questionnaire 3
Is there anything in particular that would catch your attention when watching a good trailer?
Some trailers turn out to be better than the film their advertising, the Match of the Day syndrome i.e. all the best bits can make the match seem a lot better than it was. The film trailers job is to entice people to want to watch what’s on offer. Therefore its got to be appealing to the demography that its aimed at, it should allow a brief synopsis of the story, without giving to much away, certainly demonstrate the genre and I personally like to see who’s directing the movie and who’s appearing in it. (I would not miss the latest Nicole Kidman).
Where would you be most likely to see a film trailer? For example in the cinema, online and so on.
I am quite traditional, I enjoy seeing trailers in the cinema before the main feature, this I feel adds to the cinema going experience. Admittedly I also enjoy the trailers provided on some DVD’s where you can some times get an appetiser for a more obscure movie,I have purchased DVD’s on the strength of this.
How long would you expect a typical trailer to last?
Not to long, perhaps between 1.5 and 2 minutes except in exceptional circumstances for example The Dark Knights trailer for the IMAX experience.
How much of a films storyline would you expect to see in a trailer?
Just enough to entice your interest, give too much away and theirs no point in seeing the film?
What do you expect to see when watching the trailer for a new ‘horror’ film?
From a quite beginning to a build up of atmosphere and tension. Introduction of main characters. Some scary bits with a coating of blood. One or two blunt/startling tag lines.
Questionnaire 4
Is there anything in particular that would catch your attention when watching a good trailer?
One thing is what the first person said - a good beat. The one in that particular trailer seemed a little too simple and endless though for my tastes. A simple beat's good for me as long as it doesn't last for too long. Also, I hate pictures in a film trailer. Whatever words are used should be selected carefully, and there can be a few words spoken by a character and there, but those are more just to go with the audio and keep the interest of the viewer.
Where would you be most likely to see a film trailer? For example in the cinema, online and so on.
Online. I don't go to the movies often enough.
How long would you expect a typical trailer to last?
The best would be about a minute, but no more than two minutes.
How much of a films storyline would you expect to see in a trailer?
It should be mysterious, but I wouldn't want the whole plot revealed. Maybe showing bits of the climax, and if the concept of the movie (like the concept of a post-apocalyptic time period) is the strong part, then focus on that. If the climax is the only strong part though, then reveal more of the premise and bits of the climax.
What do you expect to see when watching the trailer for a new ‘horror’ film?
A simple audio probably. Visually-speaking, maybe darkness. And through selective wording in the trailer, making the viewer wonder what the horror in this film is (example: In the trailer for "the Orphan", they focused a lot how you won't figure out her secret, blah blah, and kept it mysterious and intriguing enough to the point where people put the spoilers online within days of it coming out because they were so curious XP).
Horror film trailers tend to be awfully alike though, so I'd want there to be some uniqueness to how the trailer plays out...it usually involves the girl running away from the creepy guy or monster, some gore, and searching for help. Doing that isn't necessarily a bad thing, as suspense is needed in a good trailer, but maybe try brainstorming other ideas, like focusing on other sides of the film, like the emotional (not necessarily screaming, but maybe people crawled up on streets, staring at nothing Something like that maybe).
Questionnaire 1
Is there anything in particular that would catch your attention when watching a good trailer?
Quite a difficult question to identify what makes a good trailer – but I expect that anything especially funny, exciting or noteworthy would catch my attention.
Where would you be most likely to see a film trailer? For example in the cinema, online and so on.
My job is to programme a small cinema so I often look online at trailers. If this was not my job, I expect that if I was making a decision about what to go and see and had online access, I would take a look at trailers as well synopses. The other location where I am most likely to see a film trailer is at the cinema.
How long would you expect a typical trailer to last?
2 minutes 30 seconds max
How much of a films storyline would you expect to see in a trailer?
I would expect the trailer to tell the story of the film in abbreviated form, in a 3 act structure similar to a feature length film, but without giving away the ending or including any ‘spoilers’.
What do you expect to see when watching the trailer for a new ‘horror’ film?
Indication of what will cause horror / terror to audience and strong sense of menace. Obviously this film genre incorporates a number of sub-genres and repeated themes such as vampire themes, slasher themes, zombie themes, demonic possession, evil children, haunted houses, cannibalism etc. I am not a big horror fan, so find it difficult to analyse what new trends there are in the horror genre at the moment.
Questionnaire 2
Is there anything in particular that would catch your attention when watching a good trailer?
I need a strong idea to catch my attention in the first few seconds... you know how it is when you meet someone new, you kind of make up your mind about them with the first hand shake!
Where would you be most likely to see a film trailer? For example in the cinema, online and so on.
at the moment it is probably a bit of everything, but in order: on-line (my computer opens on the Apple homepage which has a good trailer section) followed by cinema, DVD, and TV.
How long would you expect a typical trailer to last?
think it has to do the business in about a minute, as I don't want to learn too much about the film, just enough to draw me in. Want all the twists in the plot to be a surprise, so please don't feed me a summary of the film as some do, which answers 4).
What do you expect to see when watching the trailer for a new ‘horror’ film?
probably somebody scared shitless... but what is the cause?
Questionnaire 3
Is there anything in particular that would catch your attention when watching a good trailer?
Some trailers turn out to be better than the film their advertising, the Match of the Day syndrome i.e. all the best bits can make the match seem a lot better than it was. The film trailers job is to entice people to want to watch what’s on offer. Therefore its got to be appealing to the demography that its aimed at, it should allow a brief synopsis of the story, without giving to much away, certainly demonstrate the genre and I personally like to see who’s directing the movie and who’s appearing in it. (I would not miss the latest Nicole Kidman).
Where would you be most likely to see a film trailer? For example in the cinema, online and so on.
I am quite traditional, I enjoy seeing trailers in the cinema before the main feature, this I feel adds to the cinema going experience. Admittedly I also enjoy the trailers provided on some DVD’s where you can some times get an appetiser for a more obscure movie,I have purchased DVD’s on the strength of this.
How long would you expect a typical trailer to last?
Not to long, perhaps between 1.5 and 2 minutes except in exceptional circumstances for example The Dark Knights trailer for the IMAX experience.
How much of a films storyline would you expect to see in a trailer?
Just enough to entice your interest, give too much away and theirs no point in seeing the film?
What do you expect to see when watching the trailer for a new ‘horror’ film?
From a quite beginning to a build up of atmosphere and tension. Introduction of main characters. Some scary bits with a coating of blood. One or two blunt/startling tag lines.
Questionnaire 4
Is there anything in particular that would catch your attention when watching a good trailer?
One thing is what the first person said - a good beat. The one in that particular trailer seemed a little too simple and endless though for my tastes. A simple beat's good for me as long as it doesn't last for too long. Also, I hate pictures in a film trailer. Whatever words are used should be selected carefully, and there can be a few words spoken by a character and there, but those are more just to go with the audio and keep the interest of the viewer.
Where would you be most likely to see a film trailer? For example in the cinema, online and so on.
Online. I don't go to the movies often enough.
How long would you expect a typical trailer to last?
The best would be about a minute, but no more than two minutes.
How much of a films storyline would you expect to see in a trailer?
It should be mysterious, but I wouldn't want the whole plot revealed. Maybe showing bits of the climax, and if the concept of the movie (like the concept of a post-apocalyptic time period) is the strong part, then focus on that. If the climax is the only strong part though, then reveal more of the premise and bits of the climax.
What do you expect to see when watching the trailer for a new ‘horror’ film?
A simple audio probably. Visually-speaking, maybe darkness. And through selective wording in the trailer, making the viewer wonder what the horror in this film is (example: In the trailer for "the Orphan", they focused a lot how you won't figure out her secret, blah blah, and kept it mysterious and intriguing enough to the point where people put the spoilers online within days of it coming out because they were so curious XP).
Horror film trailers tend to be awfully alike though, so I'd want there to be some uniqueness to how the trailer plays out...it usually involves the girl running away from the creepy guy or monster, some gore, and searching for help. Doing that isn't necessarily a bad thing, as suspense is needed in a good trailer, but maybe try brainstorming other ideas, like focusing on other sides of the film, like the emotional (not necessarily screaming, but maybe people crawled up on streets, staring at nothing Something like that maybe).
Saturday 23 January 2010
The Guardian Article - "A Little Bit Of What You Fancy."
Movie Trailers used to be pretty formulaic - just shw the best bits - but, in the age of the internet viral, they're now works of art in themselves, says Jane Graham.
If you’re looking for art or auteur-ship at the cinema, you’re likely to be waiting for the main feature, not concentrating on the trailers for what were quaintly known as “coming attractions”. As long as they have existed, trailers have been the tool of film marketing departments aiming solely to secure the maximum number of bums on seats. Experimentations with the form has not been a big part of the story. There have been brief flourishes of artistic advancement, such as the move towards fast-edit montages led by Kubrick in the early 1960’s, and periodical oddities, like Hitchcock’s personally hosted guided tour of the Bates Motel for Psycho, and the mock advertisement for the Ghostbusters’ services, which led to the advertised phone number taking 1,000 calla an hour for six weeks In 1984. But the vast majority of studio-financed trailer-makers have played it safe, their audience-tested trailers following the basic three-act rule of set-up, jeopardy and emotional- or action-based blow out.
Now, however, thanks mainly to that feral little monster, the internet, and one of its most recent and riotous offspring, the viral, there are strong signs of a creeping rebellion in trailer-making. The teams behind trailers for the likes of Cloverfield, The Dark Night, District 9, Paranormal Activity and Inglourious Basterds have risen to the challenge of the new frontier, ushering in what might reasonably be considered a golden age of invention in the field. The future direction of film marketing is unclear, and that provides fertile ground for risk-taking - not because the studios have learned to stop worrying and take a punt, but because they’re navigating unknown territory. It’s not quite the wild west out there, but a comparison to the early days of rock’n’roll might stand up.
“The studios have had to learn to relax in terms of controlling the film promo,” says Ryan Parsons, owner of Traileraddict.com, a site that gathers and posts trailers. “The internet is wild. Things come out before they’re supposed to, info is leaked, footage is leaked. The studios are just now learning to exploit that, rather than try to curtail it. The marketing people I’ve talked to say that even when they’re chasing down the source of a leak now, they know it doesn’t really harm them - it all reminds people the film exists.”
Trailers are immensely popular online. According to research by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, movie trailers rank third in popularity among the 10bn videos viewed online every year, after news and user-created video. The growth of social networking sites, and particularly the instant buzz of Twitter, in the last two years have moved the goalposts. That process has been further boosted by the development of movie virals - which count online-only videos and interactive “alternate reality” games among their techniques for sucking punters in. The street-smart trailer-makers are the ones involved in multi-platform campaigns for which the release of the trailer is either the climax or the launch pad.
JJ Abrams’ Cloverfield trailer, released in July 2007, was a brilliant example of the latter. Shown in US cinemas before the blockbuster Transformers, this teaser used footage from what looked like a home movie featuring screaming, running crowds and explosions in New York. Flying in the face of the first commandment of film promo (constantly supported by market research) that the more a trailer explains and reveals, the more commercially effective it is, it was devoid of information and untitled - only a release date and the name of JJ Abrams appeared onscreen.
“In the case of Cloverfield the trailer started the viral,” says Nick Butler, who runs the site movie viral.com. “People watched the trailer over and over to look for clues, because the whole thing was such a mystery. Some people thought it was about terrorism, or maybe it had something to do with Lost [Abrams’ TV series]. The trailer sent people off to check out the associated website, thousands of people did exactly that and the online buzz grew like crazy. In the next few months, we were sent all over the internet. In the end I saw the film four times, constantly looking for links between it and the trailer.”
Cloverfield is a perfect example of a trailer that capitalised on the new, more demanding world in which trailers now operate. They must fight for attention online against hundreds of others, be available for viewing 24/7, and face the fact that while they might spark a rush of excitement, they can also cause a sigh of disappointment. Cloverfield also proved that for those studios willing to take the new challenges head on, the rewards could be plentiful. No surprise then that Sony moved in on the action, steering the team at LA’s Create Advertising towards a similar approach for Neill Blomkamp’s alien thriller District 9.
“The studio had a big online and billboard campaign planned,” says David Stern, owner of Create. “They were working on the notion that maybe it was better to pose questions in the trailer than tell people everything. When we found out about their campaign, we actually ditched our first, more traditional, story-orientated, trailer for one that just implied something is going on in District 9 but we’re not telling you what. We even made two versions - one blurred the alien and didn’t subtitle his words, so it really made people wonder what was going on.
The experiment paid off - District 9 took $37m on its opening weekend this August and stayed strong through the summer. Sony approached its early trailers for Roland Emmerich’s 2012 in the same way, again backing them up with a wave of viral marketing.
Trailer-maker Mark Rance has been a victim of the studio’s natural timidity in the past. His daring ideas for promos for The Prestige, which proposed to use the screen like a theatre stage, complete with red curtain framing, were received with enthusiasm by director Christopher Nolan and his producer-partner Emma Thomas, but rejected by Touchstone Pictures. A mere year on however, he was involved in a campaign for The Dark Night that saw the studios, increasingly aware of the possibilities for a film’s extra-curricular online life, loosen up a little.
Rance was hired to direct a series of online trailers titled Gotham Tonight. They aired once a week for the six weeks leading up to the film’s release and expanded on an ostensibly minor thread within it, prior knowledge of which was rewarded with a narrative pay-off in the movie.
The Dark Night was accompanied by a wildly varied and imaginative viral which involved numerous websites, interactive games and a treasure hunt, climaxing with the Imax-hosted launch of a six minute trailer, showing the effervescent heist scene from the film (James Cameron went seven minutes better with the Imax-premiered Avatar trailer this August). Rance agrees that the dawn of virals and Twitter have forced the studios to experiment with trailers, but he firmly believes that their inherent conservatism will lead to a more homogenised approach once they get their heads around the territory.
“Clamping down is part of the system,” he says. “They’ll end up just copying other ideas that have worked. Of course a viral shouldn’t be a repeat of another viral , it should be like improvised jazz, taking on it’s own life. But to call the studios cautious - that’s a polite way of putting it.”
As David Stern suggests, the most significant impact that Rance’s “improv” virals have had on trailers has been to free them from a commitment to plot information. The best online trailers don’t go beyond “teaser” territory, needing only to intrigue, or even confuse, to set film fans off on a detective’s quest. This has allowed for some genuinely innovative and smart promo work, like the fake news report on Dr Manhattan that formed part of the alternative Watchmen universe, and the Coraline trailer in which Neil Gaiman gravely described the effects of koumpounophobia, the fear of buttons, which set the tone for his script.
Also fantastically curiosity-pricking was the trailer for the German war film Nation’s Pride - “by Alois von Eichberg” - which seemed to come from nowhere when it debuted this August. Nation’s Pride turned out to be the (Eli Roth directed) film within the film of Inglourious Basterds and, apart from ramping up the Basterds-related buzz, it showed film fans that Tarantino was truly one of them, an enthusiast who had fun with the parallel online life of the movie.
Cheeringly, the incredible word of mouth around the hugely successful $11,000 budget horror Paranormal Activity - bolstered by what Hugo Grumbar, president of distribution at Icon Films, calls an “experience trailer” showing terrified audiences’ reaction - proves that viral marketing is not restricted to top-end films. In fact imagination and original thinking is more crucial to the success of this kind of marketing than big bucks, as the mid-budget District 9 also showed.
Of course there are other, more subtle, ways of exploiting the opportunities that high-speed word of mouth presents and the ever-pioneering Disney Pixar is master of the “double hit”. Pixar has always made pester-power-engendering trailers, full of high-speed adventure and snappy one-liners, then rewarded parents with the high quality of its finished films. Recently it has gone further, hitting unsuspecting mums and dads with mournful stories of broken-hearted widowers and a surprisingly faithful, highly literary Dickens adaptation, ensuring a whole new promotional afterlife for Up and A Christmas Carol after their release.
Grumbar admits he attempted a similar trick with Icon’s Bridge To Terabithia. “I thought if we slightly missold the trailer as Narnia or something like that, people wouldn’t feel cheated when they saw the film because it was satisfying for all kinds of audiences. Did it pay off? Absolutely.”
If you’re looking for art or auteur-ship at the cinema, you’re likely to be waiting for the main feature, not concentrating on the trailers for what were quaintly known as “coming attractions”. As long as they have existed, trailers have been the tool of film marketing departments aiming solely to secure the maximum number of bums on seats. Experimentations with the form has not been a big part of the story. There have been brief flourishes of artistic advancement, such as the move towards fast-edit montages led by Kubrick in the early 1960’s, and periodical oddities, like Hitchcock’s personally hosted guided tour of the Bates Motel for Psycho, and the mock advertisement for the Ghostbusters’ services, which led to the advertised phone number taking 1,000 calla an hour for six weeks In 1984. But the vast majority of studio-financed trailer-makers have played it safe, their audience-tested trailers following the basic three-act rule of set-up, jeopardy and emotional- or action-based blow out.
Now, however, thanks mainly to that feral little monster, the internet, and one of its most recent and riotous offspring, the viral, there are strong signs of a creeping rebellion in trailer-making. The teams behind trailers for the likes of Cloverfield, The Dark Night, District 9, Paranormal Activity and Inglourious Basterds have risen to the challenge of the new frontier, ushering in what might reasonably be considered a golden age of invention in the field. The future direction of film marketing is unclear, and that provides fertile ground for risk-taking - not because the studios have learned to stop worrying and take a punt, but because they’re navigating unknown territory. It’s not quite the wild west out there, but a comparison to the early days of rock’n’roll might stand up.
“The studios have had to learn to relax in terms of controlling the film promo,” says Ryan Parsons, owner of Traileraddict.com, a site that gathers and posts trailers. “The internet is wild. Things come out before they’re supposed to, info is leaked, footage is leaked. The studios are just now learning to exploit that, rather than try to curtail it. The marketing people I’ve talked to say that even when they’re chasing down the source of a leak now, they know it doesn’t really harm them - it all reminds people the film exists.”
Trailers are immensely popular online. According to research by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, movie trailers rank third in popularity among the 10bn videos viewed online every year, after news and user-created video. The growth of social networking sites, and particularly the instant buzz of Twitter, in the last two years have moved the goalposts. That process has been further boosted by the development of movie virals - which count online-only videos and interactive “alternate reality” games among their techniques for sucking punters in. The street-smart trailer-makers are the ones involved in multi-platform campaigns for which the release of the trailer is either the climax or the launch pad.
JJ Abrams’ Cloverfield trailer, released in July 2007, was a brilliant example of the latter. Shown in US cinemas before the blockbuster Transformers, this teaser used footage from what looked like a home movie featuring screaming, running crowds and explosions in New York. Flying in the face of the first commandment of film promo (constantly supported by market research) that the more a trailer explains and reveals, the more commercially effective it is, it was devoid of information and untitled - only a release date and the name of JJ Abrams appeared onscreen.
“In the case of Cloverfield the trailer started the viral,” says Nick Butler, who runs the site movie viral.com. “People watched the trailer over and over to look for clues, because the whole thing was such a mystery. Some people thought it was about terrorism, or maybe it had something to do with Lost [Abrams’ TV series]. The trailer sent people off to check out the associated website, thousands of people did exactly that and the online buzz grew like crazy. In the next few months, we were sent all over the internet. In the end I saw the film four times, constantly looking for links between it and the trailer.”
Cloverfield is a perfect example of a trailer that capitalised on the new, more demanding world in which trailers now operate. They must fight for attention online against hundreds of others, be available for viewing 24/7, and face the fact that while they might spark a rush of excitement, they can also cause a sigh of disappointment. Cloverfield also proved that for those studios willing to take the new challenges head on, the rewards could be plentiful. No surprise then that Sony moved in on the action, steering the team at LA’s Create Advertising towards a similar approach for Neill Blomkamp’s alien thriller District 9.
“The studio had a big online and billboard campaign planned,” says David Stern, owner of Create. “They were working on the notion that maybe it was better to pose questions in the trailer than tell people everything. When we found out about their campaign, we actually ditched our first, more traditional, story-orientated, trailer for one that just implied something is going on in District 9 but we’re not telling you what. We even made two versions - one blurred the alien and didn’t subtitle his words, so it really made people wonder what was going on.
The experiment paid off - District 9 took $37m on its opening weekend this August and stayed strong through the summer. Sony approached its early trailers for Roland Emmerich’s 2012 in the same way, again backing them up with a wave of viral marketing.
Trailer-maker Mark Rance has been a victim of the studio’s natural timidity in the past. His daring ideas for promos for The Prestige, which proposed to use the screen like a theatre stage, complete with red curtain framing, were received with enthusiasm by director Christopher Nolan and his producer-partner Emma Thomas, but rejected by Touchstone Pictures. A mere year on however, he was involved in a campaign for The Dark Night that saw the studios, increasingly aware of the possibilities for a film’s extra-curricular online life, loosen up a little.
Rance was hired to direct a series of online trailers titled Gotham Tonight. They aired once a week for the six weeks leading up to the film’s release and expanded on an ostensibly minor thread within it, prior knowledge of which was rewarded with a narrative pay-off in the movie.
The Dark Night was accompanied by a wildly varied and imaginative viral which involved numerous websites, interactive games and a treasure hunt, climaxing with the Imax-hosted launch of a six minute trailer, showing the effervescent heist scene from the film (James Cameron went seven minutes better with the Imax-premiered Avatar trailer this August). Rance agrees that the dawn of virals and Twitter have forced the studios to experiment with trailers, but he firmly believes that their inherent conservatism will lead to a more homogenised approach once they get their heads around the territory.
“Clamping down is part of the system,” he says. “They’ll end up just copying other ideas that have worked. Of course a viral shouldn’t be a repeat of another viral , it should be like improvised jazz, taking on it’s own life. But to call the studios cautious - that’s a polite way of putting it.”
As David Stern suggests, the most significant impact that Rance’s “improv” virals have had on trailers has been to free them from a commitment to plot information. The best online trailers don’t go beyond “teaser” territory, needing only to intrigue, or even confuse, to set film fans off on a detective’s quest. This has allowed for some genuinely innovative and smart promo work, like the fake news report on Dr Manhattan that formed part of the alternative Watchmen universe, and the Coraline trailer in which Neil Gaiman gravely described the effects of koumpounophobia, the fear of buttons, which set the tone for his script.
Also fantastically curiosity-pricking was the trailer for the German war film Nation’s Pride - “by Alois von Eichberg” - which seemed to come from nowhere when it debuted this August. Nation’s Pride turned out to be the (Eli Roth directed) film within the film of Inglourious Basterds and, apart from ramping up the Basterds-related buzz, it showed film fans that Tarantino was truly one of them, an enthusiast who had fun with the parallel online life of the movie.
Cheeringly, the incredible word of mouth around the hugely successful $11,000 budget horror Paranormal Activity - bolstered by what Hugo Grumbar, president of distribution at Icon Films, calls an “experience trailer” showing terrified audiences’ reaction - proves that viral marketing is not restricted to top-end films. In fact imagination and original thinking is more crucial to the success of this kind of marketing than big bucks, as the mid-budget District 9 also showed.
Of course there are other, more subtle, ways of exploiting the opportunities that high-speed word of mouth presents and the ever-pioneering Disney Pixar is master of the “double hit”. Pixar has always made pester-power-engendering trailers, full of high-speed adventure and snappy one-liners, then rewarded parents with the high quality of its finished films. Recently it has gone further, hitting unsuspecting mums and dads with mournful stories of broken-hearted widowers and a surprisingly faithful, highly literary Dickens adaptation, ensuring a whole new promotional afterlife for Up and A Christmas Carol after their release.
Grumbar admits he attempted a similar trick with Icon’s Bridge To Terabithia. “I thought if we slightly missold the trailer as Narnia or something like that, people wouldn’t feel cheated when they saw the film because it was satisfying for all kinds of audiences. Did it pay off? Absolutely.”
Monday 11 January 2010
Music.
Possible song for the beginning of our trailer, Follows similar music from other horror film trailers - Eerie sounding, sharp and jarring.
The Camera.
Effects -
We found that, when setting the camera to White Balence and using colours other than white, we could achieve a different colour for filming. For example, if the camera uses White Balence on an orange colour rather than white, the effect will be a darker colour for filming, which can work in changing day to night while shooting.
We also found that we had to get the focus and exposure perfect for our shot to have the look of a real film. However within some scenes we found that over exposing the camera worked really well as it gave it a creepy unnatural look which works well for the horror genre.
We also experimented with changing the shutter speed which also gave it an eerie look as it slowed everything down, and caused a juddering effect on the movement within the shot.
Possible Locations
Some possible locations for our trailer:
- Looking up at a window from the street. We plan to put a shot like his in our trailer, with the "stalker" looking up at the girl as she's in her room with another boy.
- Looking up at a window from the street. We plan to put a shot like his in our trailer, with the "stalker" looking up at the girl as she's in her room with another boy.
Camera Shots/Angles
Point of View Shot
Horror Films often use point of view shots, to give the audience more of a first hand account of what’s happening. Obviously the idea of a horror film is to reel the audience in, and make the empathise with the characters; the idea being making us feel the fear that they do. A good example of this is in the original Friday the 13th, we get to see the reactions of the characters as the killer, Jason advances at them. Its also a good way of masking your killers identity as obviously if we are in the ’shoes’ of the killer. We cant actually see him/her, which gives the film a sense of mystery, and makes it a lot scarier as the scariest thing is in effect the unknown.
Low Angle
Low angles make the ‘Victim’ seem powerless. They are usually used when the ‘killer’ is in his prime. For example the picture is from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, when ‘leather face’ is killing a character. They create the feeling of being trapped, that there’s no escape. The victim is helpless and small.
Long shot
Long shots can be used as establishing shots. They help set up the movie, and work well at the beginning of trailers as well. They set the scene and give the audience an idea of were the film is set/located. They work well for Horror films as a long shot can show the audience an isolated area. They work well when showing us how alone the characters are, but it also reinforces the fact that later on when things start to go wrong there is nowhere to run.
Close-up
Close ups are a really important factor of Horror films. They Show the emotions of the characters, which tells the audience how they should be feeling as well, which is usually scared. They can show reactions (reaction shots) to different situations, which help keep a story moving. Close ups provide a way of communicating with out speech. For example in a scene were a ’killer’ is in the room, and a character must stay quiet and hide we may see a close up of them shaking and crying.
Extreme Close-up
Extreme close-ups work the same way as close-ups but they make the situation seem un natural. Perhaps a reaction to an un-human killer. They also show reactions to heightened and magnified situations. Horror films are usually really dramatic so they work well to show this. They can also be of things directly related to horror, such as weapons, or body parts, so they create a bigger impact and emphasise things.
Over the Shoulder shot
Over the Shoulder Shot lets the audience take a ‘back seat look at things. Unlike the point of view shot which places them directly in the midst of the action. We can still see the characters reaction to what’s happening. This works well if we already know who the killer is, for example we see ‘Freddy’ in the picture, throughout the film so its not like a big reveal. The shot also lets us see everything that’s happening within the scene, but were still quite close thus still involved allowing us to feel the fear , or any other emotion. The shot also reinforces that something is happening between to characters , like talking or in this case, an exchange between victim and killer.
Horror Films often use point of view shots, to give the audience more of a first hand account of what’s happening. Obviously the idea of a horror film is to reel the audience in, and make the empathise with the characters; the idea being making us feel the fear that they do. A good example of this is in the original Friday the 13th, we get to see the reactions of the characters as the killer, Jason advances at them. Its also a good way of masking your killers identity as obviously if we are in the ’shoes’ of the killer. We cant actually see him/her, which gives the film a sense of mystery, and makes it a lot scarier as the scariest thing is in effect the unknown.
Low Angle
Low angles make the ‘Victim’ seem powerless. They are usually used when the ‘killer’ is in his prime. For example the picture is from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, when ‘leather face’ is killing a character. They create the feeling of being trapped, that there’s no escape. The victim is helpless and small.
Long shot
Long shots can be used as establishing shots. They help set up the movie, and work well at the beginning of trailers as well. They set the scene and give the audience an idea of were the film is set/located. They work well for Horror films as a long shot can show the audience an isolated area. They work well when showing us how alone the characters are, but it also reinforces the fact that later on when things start to go wrong there is nowhere to run.
Close-up
Close ups are a really important factor of Horror films. They Show the emotions of the characters, which tells the audience how they should be feeling as well, which is usually scared. They can show reactions (reaction shots) to different situations, which help keep a story moving. Close ups provide a way of communicating with out speech. For example in a scene were a ’killer’ is in the room, and a character must stay quiet and hide we may see a close up of them shaking and crying.
Extreme Close-up
Extreme close-ups work the same way as close-ups but they make the situation seem un natural. Perhaps a reaction to an un-human killer. They also show reactions to heightened and magnified situations. Horror films are usually really dramatic so they work well to show this. They can also be of things directly related to horror, such as weapons, or body parts, so they create a bigger impact and emphasise things.
Over the Shoulder shot
Over the Shoulder Shot lets the audience take a ‘back seat look at things. Unlike the point of view shot which places them directly in the midst of the action. We can still see the characters reaction to what’s happening. This works well if we already know who the killer is, for example we see ‘Freddy’ in the picture, throughout the film so its not like a big reveal. The shot also lets us see everything that’s happening within the scene, but were still quite close thus still involved allowing us to feel the fear , or any other emotion. The shot also reinforces that something is happening between to characters , like talking or in this case, an exchange between victim and killer.
Narrative Thoery.
There are ten story types found in screen narratives as described by Phil Parker in The Art and Science of Screenwriting.
I think that most of these story lines can be applied to Horror films, if they are altered slightly, as the stories themselves are very different to other genres as they have to convey very different elements.
The Romance
A person is missing something or someone. There is lack and desire for that thing or person. The character struggles in overcoming all or many of the barriers between him/herself and the object of desire. The closure of unity is eventually achieved.
Example: When Harry Met Sally
The Horror Romance
A person is missing something or someone. There immense desire for that thing or person. The character eliminates all or many of the barriers between him/herself and the object of desire. The closure of unity is temporarily achieved for the desiring character.
Example: All The Boys Love Mandy Lane
The Unrecognized Virtue
A virtuous person enters another world and falls in love with a powerful person in that world. The person seeks love but the power gets in the way. The person tries to help the powerful person and their virtue is eventually recognized.
Example: Pretty Woman
The Unrecognized Virtue Horror
A virtuous person enters another world and falls in love with a dangerous person in that world. The person seeks love but the danger and differences gets in the way too late. The person tries to escape the dangerous person and their virtue is eventually recognized.
Example: The Lost Boys
The Fatal Flaw
A successful person uses opportunities for personal gain, often at the expense of others. Then, seeing the damage, the person seeks to repair it, but the quality that led to success eventually leads to failure.
Example: Macbeth
The Fatal Flaw Horror
A successful person uses opportunities for personal gain, at the cost of others lives. Then, as others see the damage, the person seeks to repair it, but this eventually leads to failure/capture.
Example: Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.
The Debt That Must Be Repaid
A person wants something or someone, for which there is a high price. The person accepts the price but seeks to put off paying the debt. Eventually, though, they have to pay it.
Example: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Debt That Must Be Repaid Horror
A person wants something or someone, for which there is a high price. The person accepts the price. Eventually they have to pay it, perhaps with their lives.
Example: Hostel
The Spider and the Fly
A person wants another person to do something. Lacking the influence or power to demand it, they seek to ensnare the other person, tricking them into compliance. They are successful and a new future is faced.
Example: Double Indemnity
The Spider and the Fly Horror
A person/thing wants another person to do something. Lacking the power to demand it, they seek to ensnare the other person, tricking them into compliance. They are successful and a new future is faced.
Example: Jenifer's Body
The Gift Taken Away
A person has a gift which is lost. Seeking to regain the gift leads them into a new situation, to which the person eventually becomes reconciled.
Example: Rain Man
The Gift Taken Away Horror
A person has a gift which is lost. Seeking to regain the gift leads them into a new situation or place to which the person eventually becomes reconciled.
Example: Silent Hill
The Quest
A person is set a task to find someone or something. The challenge is accepted and the quest is eventually won. There may or may not be a prize.
Example: Star Wars
The Quest Horror
A person is set a task to find someone or something. The challenge is accepted and high prices must be paid for the quest is eventually won. They may or may not live.
Example: Saw
The Rites of Passage
A person knows they have reached a new stage in life and seeks to find what must be done to complete the transition. They pretend that they already know, then meet a challenge that shows they do not, yet also provides the route by which they achieve the full transition.
Example: Stand By Me
The Rites of Passage Horror
A person knows they have reached a new stage in life and seeks to find what must be done to complete the transition. They pretend that they already know, then meet a challenge that shows they do not, yet also provides the route by which they achieve the full transition.
Example: Shrooms
The Wanderer
A person arrives somewhere new and finds a problem there. In facing the problem they show why they left the last place. They then seek to move on, repeating the pattern.
Example: Shane
The Wanderer Horror
A person arrives in a new situation and finds a problem there. In facing the problem they show connections to previous situations. They then seek to move on.
Example: Prom Night
The Character Who Cannot Be Put Down
A person demonstrates prowess, but then faces a bigger challenge that tests that prowess. They succeed.
Example: Die Hard
The Character Who Cannot Be Put Down Horror
A person demonstrates prowess, but then faces a bigger challenge that tests that prowess. They succeed.
Example: Untraceable
I think that most of these story lines can be applied to Horror films, if they are altered slightly, as the stories themselves are very different to other genres as they have to convey very different elements.
The Romance
A person is missing something or someone. There is lack and desire for that thing or person. The character struggles in overcoming all or many of the barriers between him/herself and the object of desire. The closure of unity is eventually achieved.
Example: When Harry Met Sally
The Horror Romance
A person is missing something or someone. There immense desire for that thing or person. The character eliminates all or many of the barriers between him/herself and the object of desire. The closure of unity is temporarily achieved for the desiring character.
Example: All The Boys Love Mandy Lane
The Unrecognized Virtue
A virtuous person enters another world and falls in love with a powerful person in that world. The person seeks love but the power gets in the way. The person tries to help the powerful person and their virtue is eventually recognized.
Example: Pretty Woman
The Unrecognized Virtue Horror
A virtuous person enters another world and falls in love with a dangerous person in that world. The person seeks love but the danger and differences gets in the way too late. The person tries to escape the dangerous person and their virtue is eventually recognized.
Example: The Lost Boys
The Fatal Flaw
A successful person uses opportunities for personal gain, often at the expense of others. Then, seeing the damage, the person seeks to repair it, but the quality that led to success eventually leads to failure.
Example: Macbeth
The Fatal Flaw Horror
A successful person uses opportunities for personal gain, at the cost of others lives. Then, as others see the damage, the person seeks to repair it, but this eventually leads to failure/capture.
Example: Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.
The Debt That Must Be Repaid
A person wants something or someone, for which there is a high price. The person accepts the price but seeks to put off paying the debt. Eventually, though, they have to pay it.
Example: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Debt That Must Be Repaid Horror
A person wants something or someone, for which there is a high price. The person accepts the price. Eventually they have to pay it, perhaps with their lives.
Example: Hostel
The Spider and the Fly
A person wants another person to do something. Lacking the influence or power to demand it, they seek to ensnare the other person, tricking them into compliance. They are successful and a new future is faced.
Example: Double Indemnity
The Spider and the Fly Horror
A person/thing wants another person to do something. Lacking the power to demand it, they seek to ensnare the other person, tricking them into compliance. They are successful and a new future is faced.
Example: Jenifer's Body
The Gift Taken Away
A person has a gift which is lost. Seeking to regain the gift leads them into a new situation, to which the person eventually becomes reconciled.
Example: Rain Man
The Gift Taken Away Horror
A person has a gift which is lost. Seeking to regain the gift leads them into a new situation or place to which the person eventually becomes reconciled.
Example: Silent Hill
The Quest
A person is set a task to find someone or something. The challenge is accepted and the quest is eventually won. There may or may not be a prize.
Example: Star Wars
The Quest Horror
A person is set a task to find someone or something. The challenge is accepted and high prices must be paid for the quest is eventually won. They may or may not live.
Example: Saw
The Rites of Passage
A person knows they have reached a new stage in life and seeks to find what must be done to complete the transition. They pretend that they already know, then meet a challenge that shows they do not, yet also provides the route by which they achieve the full transition.
Example: Stand By Me
The Rites of Passage Horror
A person knows they have reached a new stage in life and seeks to find what must be done to complete the transition. They pretend that they already know, then meet a challenge that shows they do not, yet also provides the route by which they achieve the full transition.
Example: Shrooms
The Wanderer
A person arrives somewhere new and finds a problem there. In facing the problem they show why they left the last place. They then seek to move on, repeating the pattern.
Example: Shane
The Wanderer Horror
A person arrives in a new situation and finds a problem there. In facing the problem they show connections to previous situations. They then seek to move on.
Example: Prom Night
The Character Who Cannot Be Put Down
A person demonstrates prowess, but then faces a bigger challenge that tests that prowess. They succeed.
Example: Die Hard
The Character Who Cannot Be Put Down Horror
A person demonstrates prowess, but then faces a bigger challenge that tests that prowess. They succeed.
Example: Untraceable
Thursday 7 January 2010
Textual Analysis On a Trailer -Friday The 13th (remake)
What Genre is this film and how does the Trailer indicate this? The trailer for Friday the 13th is obviously a horror film trailer. As most Trailers and Films for horrors go, we usually see some form of equilibrium at the beginning, this trailer does exactly this, we see the untouched lake, the sunset, which suggest a sense of peace and serenity, but we also hear the birds call. Obviously this is to be expected because of the setting but although it fits in perfectly with the ’peace and quiet’ it also suggests a sense of loneliness, its the only thing we can hear. It goes along with the expectations of a horror film, ’there’s no one here to help you’. It also reinforces the expectations that the ‘setting sun’ create, it’s the birds last call before night fall, and again one of the scariest settings for a horror film is simply in the dark. It also subtly hints at what’s going to happen later on in the film/trailer, it’s the birds last call before nightfall, therefore it could be someone’s last breath, or someone’s last words before nightfall, will everything be the same by sunrise? After this first shot, everything we see is generally dark. It makes the audience empathise with the characters who are seen in the trailer, as in effect we can only see what they can. But it also has the sense of mystery we cant really see what’s going on, which makes everything seem a lot more scary and obviously makes people want to watch the film to find out. We see a lot of shots with flashlights swerving around, this creates a sense of disorientation, which again makes us empathise with the characters, we don’t know what’s happening which is really a lot scarier than actually knowing what’s going on and adds to the fast paced effect we usually see within film trailers. The sound within the trailer is a major giveaway to the fact this is a horror film trailer. Like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre trailer, we also hear a heartbeat sound in the Friday the 13th trailer, again this makes it seem quite fast paced as the heartbeat gets faster as the shots get faster. It works really well as the heartbeat is in sync with the characters realisation that something is wrong , that something bad is happening, and so as an audience we can make the connection. Throughout the trailer we can here the ‘typical’ horror score. We hear eerie echoes and whooshes , the ‘sound of silence’ and so on, these are a big factor of horror film trailers as they tell the audience what they should be feeling. When we hear the echoes we feel a ‘creepy sensation’ which tells us something is wrong, the whooshes designed to draw us in, they usually lead on to a louder sound, perhaps a scream, which obviously makes the audience jump. The ‘sound of silence’ the sound which sounds eerie and silent, makes us feel like were alone, but aware, something else might be (and probably is) watching, waiting. There is a voice over in this trailer, something which seems unusual for a modern horror trailer, as usually they tend to change the feelings an audience has about the film , it makes them seem less scary. However this voice over works well. This Trailer relies heavily upon sound as they have chosen to create the chilling atmosphere by almost blinding the audience with darkness, which works really well. However it also limits how much of the story they can convey in the small time slot they have, which is where the voice over comes in. They use it to give the audience an idea of the storyline, of what the films about, as obviously the idea of a film trailer is to sell your story and your film. We can also see how the trailers relies on sound to help create the tense atmosphere they are looking to achieve as the voice over is really the only speech we hear throughout. Towards the end we hear screaming, and whimpering. But the only speech we hear is a girl saying ‘Oh God’. I think this works well as it makes the audience actually feel the atmosphere rather than having someone hand it to them on plate. This works especially well when we have extended shots of a black screen. As the audience has to actually use there imagination, which draws them into the film, and makes things seem scary but it also means that the trailer is not giving to much away. A lot of the sounds we here are normal everyday things, which are used to make the audience nervous, even scared as they are things that they might actually hear often. For example there is a shot with someone opening a door slowly , and we can hear the sickening creaking sound as it happens, this is something we often see in horror films/trailers, for example the same idea is used in the trailer for the original ‘Halloween’. We also hear footsteps running, and heavy breathing in horror film trailers as these are the most basic things and yet the scariest. There are a lot of hand held shots within the trailer, another common feature of horror films as it makes things seem as though they are out of control, and in some scenes unnatural. This particular trailer also used unnatural lighting. Although this is a must as most scenes are set in the dark at night but I also think it works well as it reinforces the fact that the ‘killer’ is human but also unnatural. We also see the darker scenes covered with a bluish tinted colour. This is seen within most horror films. It makes things seem cold, and again reinforces the idea of the ‘unnatural’ killer. It also adds to the idea of ‘being alone’ especially in this trailer as they are in an abandoned camp. I think that this film differs slightly to other horror films trailers, as we don’t actually see anyone die, or anyone in real danger. There is a lot of running and screaming, but we only see one actual act of violence, which is towards the very end. I think this works well as again it makes the audience use there imagination, they have to think about what’s happening. We also only start to see close ups of characters towards the end an I think this has the same effect as leaving out the violence, we see there reactions to what’s happening at the end (which is when we usually see the most gore) but we don’t know why these reactions are necessary. We also see one of the close ups in black and white, which I think works well as it shows that these are raw emotions, just like black and white are raw colours. What do you learn of the story of the film from this trailer? We don’t actually learn a great deal of the story from this trailer. Which I think works well as it makes people curios. But I think that because it’s a remake they can afford to leave things to guess work as the majority of people have heard of or seen the original Friday the 13th film. Nearly everything we learn about the story comes from the voice over. We know that it is set at what we assume is some sort of holiday place or camp or school, as we know there were counsellors. We the later see a sign that says ’camp crystal’ we assume its abandoned as there is no real sign of life within the trailer, and not enough characters to make it seem as though they attend. We know a boy called Jason drowned and that the day we assume we are seeing (Friday the 13th) is his birthday. We know that people are in trouble and we assume that the man we see in the mask is after them.
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