Problems and Solutions

Whilst planning the construction of our film trailer, we discovered several problems which we may encounter in the future.  To ensure these issues were eliminated as quickly as possible, we organised a brainstorming session to create potential solutions.  Overall we were able to produce a practical solution for every problem that may occur in future creative processes, and below is a photograph of said list.

Codes and Conventions of a Teaser Trailer

After looking at Genre, one of the first things we realised we need to do is to discover the codes and conventions of the very thing we'd be creating. We started out by brainstorming our ideas on what we generally saw in a trailer. It was clear we would need to watch some to further this knowledge, so we watched the likes of Batman, as seen here, The Bourne Identity (here), Collateral (here) and more. This led us to creating the following table, which compares the codes and conventions of a teaser trailer to those of a theatrical trailer.

Teaser Trailer	Theatrical Trailer
Trying to get people interested	More information about the film
Leaves an air of mystery	Voiceover is about the film itself
Voiceovers is speech from a part of the film	More clips from the film
Shorter than Theatrical	Usually shown just before the film is released
Usually start with an establishing shot	Give a lot more information
Build up hype	Reviews and major details
The shots are usually much shorter and faster
Create interest
Long lead time
“Coming soon”, “2013” – vague
Can use symbolism
Do not need footage from the film

We will need to continue to consider these codes and conventions in the production of our own teaser trailer to make it the best it can be.

Iconic image from the Batman teaser trailer

"Coming Soon" - vague release dates are well known in teaser trailers

Key Genre Exploration

Researching genres is an important aspect of creating our Teaser Trailer. We looked at all the key genres and bullet-pointed the main aspects of each, as well as film examples.
Action:
- High energy, big budget, physical stunts and chases, rescues, battles, fights, destruction
- Film examples - James Bond, Karate Kid and Die Hard

Adventure:
- Exciting stories, new experiences, exotic locations, searches, expeditions
- Film examples - Pirates of the Caribbean and Zorro

Comedy:
- Light-hearted plots, one liners, exaggeration, slapstick, spoofs, romantic comedies, black comedy
- Film examples - Police Academy, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Monty Python

Crime (& Gangster):
- Sinister actions, outside the law, violence, mystery
- Film examples - The Godfather, The Public Enemy and Goodfellas

Drama:
- Serious, intense, life situations, reality, plot-driven
- Film examples - Slumdog Millionaire, Brokeback Mountain and Forrest Gump

Horror:
- Shocking, cathartic, sub genres such as supernatural and science fiction
- Film examples - Dracula, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Paranormal Activity

Thriller:
-Split into sub genres such as Action and Psychological
Action:
- Chases, suspense, mystery e.g. Die Hard

Psychological:
- Focus on unstable emotional states of characters, mystery, drama e.g. Se7en

Conspiracy:
- Scandal, mysteries to unravel, chases e.g. Enemy of the State

Science Fiction:
-Imaginative, aliens, extra-terrestrial, planets, quests, futuristic
-Film examples - Cocoon, Alien and Star Trek

War:
-Horror & heartbreak, paired with other genres
-Film examples - Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List and Atonement


We have ultimately decided to explore the Thriller genre further, and base our teaser trailer on this.

Welcome! (:

Welcome to our Year 13 Media blog, where we will be informing you of our process in making our upcoming film teaser trailer, Arcane.