The Robbery: Sound Track

For our proposed trailer, our group has recognised the fact that the sound track which is played in the trailer must be unique and distinctive, meaning that people will associate the song with the Robbery.

Firstly, we looked at soundtracks from contemporary media texts, specifically Inception. Inception used great use of an instrumental sound track, which was played through out the trailer at different volume levels.

We, as a group, wanted to replicate this. The sound track which we have chosen is 'Numb' by Linkin Park, and is an Instrumental version meaning that the voices in the trailer could be easily recognised without any disruption of lyrics from the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd-6xFGNOW0 - Numb Instrumental

Venue Permissions

Before being able to film the trailer, we have contacted the owners of each location which we intend to film at.

For the opening few scenes, and the main robbery, all of the filming will be conducted at a member of our group Matthew Halewoods house.This meant that there is no issues and we can film here as planned.

The remaining scenes are filmed around the alt park pub and LIDL supermarket. We visited the acting manager at both establishments and permission was granted to film in the area, as long as we don't get in the way of the daily running of the establishments. To do this, we will film at these locations later on when they will, mostly, be clear of families and young children. As well as this, after 5pm LIDL will be fully shut meaning the surrounding area will be completely available to film at.

Running Order - Matching Dialogue

Below is the script to be used in each scene through the trailer.

Running Order

1 - No dialogue will appear in this section

2 - a) 'Leader' - "I presume you know why you are here?"
     b) 'Member A' - "I was going to call you.." -interuption-
     c) 'Leader' - "That isn't good enough, I want it now" - aggresive tone of voice
     -pause, cutting to another scene and back throughout this conversation, possible future-
     d) 'Leader' - "I presume that you have a plan.. go now"

3 - a) 'Member A' - "We've got a problem, we're running out of time"
     b) 'Member B' - "Why, what happened?"
     c) 'Member C' - "We need to act now..."

4 & 5 - 'Member A' - "First, we're going to approach from --"
             \
               \
                 "We'll enter through the garage, it won't be too hard to get in that way"
               /
             /
            "The target should be in --"

The above scnees, 4 and 5, will be edited with fast cuts from one to the other - with the conversation continuing over the top of scene 5.

6 - a) 'Member A' - "Get in, quick!" -worried tone of voice-
          'Member B' - "Wait, wheres 'X'?"
          'Member A' - "They've got him, it's too late, go now!"

7 - a) 'Member A' - "We've got a problem"

The above dialogue may change, and some of it will be cut from the final trailer. However, it is important to film a lot of scenes and dialogue so there is more to choose from rather than there not being enough.

Running Order for the Robbery

I have attatched the running order which myself and the team produced for the filming of the trailer. This includes information about what is happening in each location and who is involved in the location - as well as this, it specifies how long each sector will last.

Press the above image to view in a large scale

The Robbery - Risk Assessment

The Robbery: Prop List/Mise en scene (Requirements for Filming)

For the trailer to be produced as desired, it is important that the mese en scene is perfect. With this, the props used within the trailer must match the story line and characters.

Vital Props for the production of the Robbery

2 Cars / Vehicles - it is important that two cars are visible in the chase scene to create the desired effect

Suit/Formal Clothing - the clothing worn whilst in the 'mafia location' must match that of what is to be expected.

Weapons - it is important that some form of weapons are shown through out the trailer. For example, for the robbery scene - a crowbar would be a good prop to be used.

Through out the trailer, the clothing worn must match what is happening. In the opening scene, the main character will be dressed formal whilst speaking directly to his 'bosses', from here through to planning the robbery - the clothes will begin to get darker to represent what is happening. This is an important feature in any trailer, so that things do not look out of place.

The Robbery: Locations

The locations for the filming of the trailer will be specifically important in creating a professional, mind capturing trailer. The mese en scene in each location used need to be just right for the film to keep the plot believable.

Below are the four main locations which will be used in the filming of The Robbery.

These locations are each used for different purposes in the filming of The Robbery. Location 'A' is the targeted home; a location where a lot of the filming will take place. The home should look quite normal, which I believe it does.

Location 'B' is the location which the chase will end, with the main characters fleeing the car here. From this location, the actors will run down the dark alleyway, Location 'C'. Through out each scene there will be a lot of dialogue, so it was important that the locations arent populated areas to avoid background sounds. Location 'D' is the opening and closing location for the film, the mafia building - the building which opens and closes the film.

The Robbery: Character List

Within the trailer which is created, each actor has been assigned a character to play the roll of.


Roll List


- Paul Conway will feature as the driver in the trailer. 
- Mark Conway will feature as the second driver in the trailer.
- Matthew Halewood will feature as one of the robbers in the trailer. 
- I will feature as one of the mafia security members in the trailer.
- Tony Johnson will feature as one of the mafia security members in the trailer.
- Gary Clark will feature as the mafia boss in the trailer.
- Thomas Pringle will feature as one of the family members in the trailer.


This list will be kept up to date throughout the production stages of the trailer.

The Robbery: Actor List

Myself and the members in my group have compiled a list of actors who will be used throughout the filming of the trailer. Each actor will get around equal screen time in the trailer to not give too much of the plot away about one character.

Characters:

• Paul Conway
• Mark Conway
• Matthew Halewood
• Tony Johnson
• Gary Clark
• Thomas Pringle

This list will be updated throughout the production of the trailer. The above version of actor list is the latest as of 21/12/2010.

Trailer: Title

As a group, we have decided upon the title for the trailer which we are going to produce for L31 Productions.

The title is an important part of a trailer, particularly in helping market the film.

The title for the trailer will be The Robbery. We chose this title after looking at research and contemporary trailers, noticing that the title can be related to the plot to gain a strong effect in marketing.

Research: Questionnaire

To help gain a wider feel about what the target audiences of Action Genre films want to see (and hear) in a trailer, I have produced a questionnaire using Google Documents.

If you could please complete the questionnaire or a few questions, it would be greatly appreciated.

The questionnaire can be viewed: Here

Analysis of Trailer: Mission Impossible (i)

For further knowledge of how the film trailer which the team creates for L31 productions, I have analysed another trailer in the same genre of the proposed film.

The next trailed which I chose to analyse is Mission Impossible. Mission Impossible was an action genre film by Paramount Pictures.

Like the inception trailer, one of the main things which is noticeable in the Mission Impossible trailer is the music - which in hindsight became a distinctive and recognisable sound track for the film. This is a developing pattern throughout the trailers which I have viewed, meaning that it will be important that the trailer which our team creates has a strong soundtrack/backing music.

Music aside, the main feature of this trailer is how the shots are quickly cut between to create a tempo for the trailer - this seems a popular feature in action genre trailers, creating a unique feeling of pace throughout. In particular, I like the opening of the trailer - with two scenes being alternated between, one being planning what the other is showing. I believe that this is a good way of opening a trailer and getting the viewers attention, and is something that our team should look at.

Analysis of Inception: Trailer

The marketing campaign for Inception was huge, with numerous trailers (mostly being teaser trailers) being released. The trailer I have selected to analyse particularly struck myself with its editing and the use of sounds compiled with the backing track.

For a new film, trailers are essentially the main piece of media which can gain hype in the early stages (and late stages) of the marketing period. For Warner Bros Pictures, the marketing had to be just right - and with the set of teaser trailers mixed with the full trailers, they successfully generated a great stream of hype for Inception.

The first thing about this trailer which hits the viewer is a discrete backing track, which builds up throughout the 2 minutes changing in tempo and pitch - generating an impressive experience when viewing the trailer. It's no surprise that the soundtracks used in the film Inception are of this quality - with the director Christopher Nolan (also director of Batman: The Dark Knight) using Hans Zimmer (German film score composer and music producer) to once again create the music for his films. Hans Zimmer is well known for his work on numerous films such as Gladiator, the Dark Knight and the Lion King.

Music aside, the trailer itself is extremely well edited and put together. The trailer is based around the sounds, with the voices used in perfect positions to build up emotions as the trailer continues. The clips shown show just enough of the movie to get a brief understanding of what is happening, but what it does well - is leave the viewer wanting to see more, to understand what is going on in the film.

Overall, I believe that this is a perfect example of how a trailer should be done; it has everything you would expect to see in a perfect trailer.

Main Pro's of trailer:

Use of backing music/sound
Building emotion throughout
Not revealing too much about the plot/story

Analysis of Inception: Magazine Covers

Another part of major film marketing which is carried out, is linking up with various film magazines such as Total Film - and producing articles and front page covers to promote the film (usually these are carried out in Exclusives).

For the analysis of the Inception marketing, I have looked at two of the biggest film magazines: Total Film and Empire.

Click the above images to view them in full scale

In each of the magazines, the front cover is dominated by the headline actor in Inception: Leonardo Dicaprio (who fills the roll of the main character within the film).

Empire: In the Empire edition of Inception, the main image is a high quality picture of Leonardo with a striking caption at the top of the page, "The Dark Knight Returns" - which was obviously a very successful film directed by Christopher Nolan (who also directed Inception). This will instantly attract fans of the Dark Knight to Inception, with a link being placed between the two. The directors name is clearly visible in the center of the portrait with the title being stretched across the width of the cover. I believe that the main feature of this cover is the image of Leonardo Dicaprio - a recognisable world-known actor who instantly draws attention to the film Inception.


Total Film: In the Total Film edition of Inception, the main attraction to the page is the redesigned total film logo - which doesn't change much - thus signifying the importance of this film and how highly they rate it - and this is just from looking at the logo. As well as this, across the middle of the page is a shining logo for inception - which instantly makes the film title stand out. Behind the title is an image of the main character in the film, Leonardo Dicaprio.

In comparison, I believe that the each cover is good for different reasons - with the Empire magazine playing off the image of Dicaprio where Total Film is highlighting the film a lot more, especially with the change in image for the title of the magazine.

Analysis of Inception: Film Posters

For the film Inception, three main posters were produced. Each of the three posters have strong similarities, not revealing too much but creating an image that can intrigue a viewer to want to know what is happening. 

          

Press the above images to view in full scale.

First look: Similarities


On the first look of each of the three posters similarities are instantly visible. All three posters show a city of some sort, but in different ways. In each poster, the way in which the city appears is considered wrong in a normal expectation. In the first poster, the city is flooded - it appears that the sea is coming in on the city. In the second, the buildings appear to be bending around the characters, like the city is collapsing in on them. Finally, in the third poster, the hole city itself appears to be folding in half. This creates an understanding that something is different, that something is happening to the city itself. The use of these manipulations create a confusion for the viewer, wanting to understand exactly what is happening and why it is happening. 


Other similarities in the poster are the people within - it is clear from the posters who is the main character within the film, as the same person is at the center of each (this being Leonardo Dicaprio). The way in which the characters within are particularly informing about what is happening. In the first of the three posters, the main character is standing in what appears to be a sea in the middle of a sea - but he looks calm, and is just watching. This suggests that he knows why it is happening, and the gun which can be seen in his hand suggests that there is some sort of fight/war ongoing. 


Warner Bros Film Posters


For Warner Bros films, the marketing is very similar - in particular for film posters. Throughout different marketing projects, a lot of Intertextuality is used on the film posters which are created.


In relation to the Inception posters, there are a couple of film posters created by Warner Bros which can be strongly compared with those created for Inception.

 

Above are a poster from three movies: Inception, The Dark Knight and The Matrix.


From simple looking at the three, it can be easily seen that there is a lot of intertextuality occuring - with large buildings being placed around a character located in the middle of the portrait. In each of the three posters, it gives a sense that the characters are small - with massive things (buildings) surrounding them. 

Analysis: Inception

To gain knowledge of film marketing and how trailers should look, I have chosen to analyse the recent film: Inception.

Inception is a film directed by Christopher Nolan, producer of films such as The Dark Knight. As well as having 'one of the best' directors, it includes film mega-stars such as Leonardo Dicaprio and is a big budget film.

Choice of Genre

For the task set by L31 Products, myself and my team have been thinking about the film genre which will be used for the portfolio of marketing products.

Firstly, we conducted research on the mainstream genres, of which I have listed below.

Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Documentary, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Horror, Musical,  Mystery,  Romance, Science Fiction, Sport, Suspense, Thriller, War, Western.

We then decided the mese en scene which will be used, the props and the actors - and which genre(s) we could create the best marketing for - with the above factors included. The genre which we singled out was Action, this would be suitable for our products as the skills which we have would enable us to create this successfully - with skills using softwares such as Adobe Aftereffects, allowing for action styled details such as explosions and sharp effects.

A good example of a film for the action genre is James Bond - Casino Royale.

We settled on having the Genre as Action, combining the skills of the group and what would best motivate the members.

Introduction to task

I have recently been informed of the task set for me and my group by L31 Productions and this is my first in a series of blog posts of which I will complete, keeping a log of the work which I complete and the order of which I complete the work.

L31 Productions have asked that my group aid the marketing of a new film to be released in November 2010. The marketing products should include:

A)

• Two 60 second trailers in length

or )

• One trailer which lasts 120 seconds in length

With the selected choice from above, the trailer(s) will have to be combined with a Film magazine and a poster. Each aspect of the marketing should be linked creating media synergy of the product. Each aspect created should be of a high quality, keeping in mind the mise-en-scene, actors displayed and involved, the props used and most importantly the editing used.

L31 Productions have requested that all decisions taken are logged on this blog to keep themselves up to date - the blog will also be tracked by the production team to ensure that the portfolio of work, including the marketing products, are completed on time.