Research and Planning: ....
Since September, we had been dong research into all types of films and their trailers and marketing strategies. We looked at every aspect of films/trailers and their marketing:
-Genre, and key elements of: (lead characters, stock characters, plots and stock situations, icons i.e key symbol of the genre, backgrounds and decor and themes.
-Titles - why certain titles are good/bad, meanings behind the title, the font and colour of the title (if it signifies the genre of the film/what it's about.)
-Imagery - Key images, props and colours (do they signify the genre/plot?)
-Sound - Types of music/sound FX (again, how they show genre, meaning and plot)
-Voiceover - What is said and how it is said. I.e it helps us make sense of the narrative by giving us background, it showcases the stars and director and producer and the films they have done. It also builds a sense of anticipation and reinforces the title of the film. We also looked at what types of trailers have a voiceover, and do they need it?
For example, independent films tend not to have a voiceover, as they don't have an established ***story***
-Lead and stock characters - We looked at the types of characters used in different genres of films. When we knew we were going to produce a slasher/horror trailer, we looked closer at the lead characters in horror films, and the conventions of these characters. For example:
with a few exceptions, the killer in slasher films are generally male. His identity is quite often unknown and/or concealed by a mask or creative lighting and camera work. He is often mute, and seems to be unstoppable, withstanding shootigs and stabbings. His background often includes a childhood trauma that explains his choice of victim, weapon and location. Slasher killers tend to have hand held weapons such as knives, axes, chainsaws etc.
The victims in slasher films tend to be young, attractive high school or college-aged teens. These victims are usually punished for being amoral, such as taking drugs or having pre-marital sex.


As well as looking at the conventions of trailers, we were looking at different marketing campaigns and how they were carried out.

killers.
examples of trailers that helped us:
titles:

Our brief says:
'A London based film company called Filmworks wants you and your team to create a film concept and marketing campaign for release. You are to produce a teen based movie, within the horror genre. Filmworks wants the film to target an older teenage audience of 15 and above. It would also like to widen its market by also appealing to independent, creative and aspiring adults.'
Basically, our trailer had to be interesting, creative and scary.
First of all, we had to do research into films in the 15 category, to see exactly what we were and weren't allowed to do. We looked on the British Board of Film Classification website:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
at the 'classification guidlines' link down the left hand side, then looked at the guidlines for a certificate 15.
After we knew what we were and weren't allowed to do, we decided what forms and conventions we would follow and challenge.