Any use of music in this trailer complies with 'Fair Dealing' under the 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act (UK), Sections 6(i) and 6(ii); Fair dealing is a term used to describe some limited activities that are allowed without infringing copyright. Briefly these are as follows: Section 6i: Research and private study. Copying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or of a typographical arrangement of a published edition for the purpose of research or private study is allowed under the following conditions: The copy is made for the purposes of research or private study; The copy is made for non-commercial purposes; The source of the material is acknowledged; The person making the copy does not make copies of the material available for a number of people.
Here is the finished product of our film trailer for the our social realist thriller 'Raze' which has been edited and exported using Adobe Premiere CS4 and then uploaded to our group YouTube account entitled 'RazeFilm'
This film trailer features 2 minutes and 28 seconds of the audio soundtrack Cracks by Flux Pavillion (Freestylers Remix) as well as the Optimum Releasing Ident and UK Film council lottery funded logo.
Evaluation:
In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
As many of the film trailers from the social realist thriller genre that I looked at during my research, contained male lead characters, we wanted to challenge this code and convention by using a female lead character to play the role of the protagonist. As to ensure that we didn’t stray too far from these existing codes and conventions, and represent either sex in a negative way, we wanted to show a shift in character, to show the change a youth may be forced to take if life struggles become too much to cope with. Of course I didn’t want to portray violence or aggression as a solution to problems, but merely suggest a story and some reason as to why so many youths from socially and economically deprived backgrounds may find themselves in these vulnerable situations.
We showed the shift between Erin’s character with the witnessing of a gang attack on a young male and the symbolic representation of her cutting off her hair signified the change in her character to a more dominant, antagonistic and aggressive Erin that tried to take control of her mother’s alcoholism, the bullying at school, which unfortunately spirals the wrong way out of control leading her into threatening a teacher and becoming homeless, alone and even more vulnerable.
The film challenges the common withheld stereotype of ‘hoodies’ and ‘chavs’ and the antisocial behaviour of these social groups that many people brand all youths as adopting. This films purpose was to show the vulnerable side of these youths, which ultimately are children, an image of these people that many people fail to see due to the mediated version of events the press and television gives off surrounding inner city youth culture. We wanted to ensure an audience connection was made, which is one of the main aspects of the genre of social realism, so that the audience could relate to Erin and her life and empathise with the events that she goes through throughout the film and bring to light issues of violence, neglect and bullying that many people may face in their own lives.
I hope that this film, through its gritty, realistic and stripped back approach will help people to see the vulnerability and the turbulent home life that many youths face on an everyday basis and help people to change the ideologies and the mediated fear surrounding youth culture that has created a generation gap, due to misinformation and lack of understanding, as many of these youths feel alienated and even more alone due to the negative way in which they are perceived, creating a vicious cycle as many then believe that turning to crime is what they are expected to do to survive. I hope that through this film we will be able to challenge, if not change these ideologies, and help reconnect the youths of today with the rest of society.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts & have you created a brand?
The coherence of our film trailer, magazine cover sleeve and film poster, overall, is very smooth with ideas, as well as graphological and typographical coherence taking place throughout, helping to create a specific product brand. The use of the same font face of ‘Distorted and Scratchy’ throughout all three medium helps to create this brand and also gives a relatable key aspect to all of the media texts allowing the audience to immediately identify with the product when seeing any of the products of promotion and advertisement.
As setting the scene for the narrative and giving an accurate representation of ideologies and a feel for what the narrative of the film will be about, as well as, of course, firmly establishing genre, is vital in ensuring these media texts fulfil their purpose it was crucial we thought every image out before deciding on the final ones to use for the magazine cover and film poster, as we wanted it to merge with the film trailer as best as possible. As the final scene of the film trailer shows Erin sat alone in the underground subway looking up into the camera with her hood up, this being the first time she really connects with the camera and subsequently the audience, right before the title of the film appears, we thought that this would be a perfect shot to use for the magazine cover as it allows the character to be relatable and this is also the most memorable scene of the trailer as its the final image that is left with the audience before it ends.
Throughout the film trailer we can establish setting through the mise en scene, creating an urbanised feel to the location from the inclusion of police sirens, grimey parks and most importantly the derelict and graffiti ridden subway, that again is shown in the final shots of the film, reinforcing this urban feel to the film and also establishing the characters social class background which is also reinforced through the dress codes. This use of the subway also sets the mood and feels to the whole narrative, as it’s dirty, gritty and grim, much like the plot and storyline that is faced by Erin, and leads her to take such drastic measures in her life.
To link the texts as closely as possible we used this subway location for the photo shoot for both the magazine cover and the film poster, so that a setting can immediately be established from the poster and magazine cover by the audience, meaning that when they go to watch the trailer, they will already have a feel for the age and background of the character and be able to relate it to their own lives, as I think that the texts show off very well that this film depicts the real life struggles of a youth and therefore is most relatable to for youths.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
From my audience feedback I was delighted to learn that they thought that the music and audio that we chose to use fitted perfectly with the narrative and social realist genre of the film trailer. Both the beat and climax of the audio piece which was a drum and bass song, a genre very popular in the contemporary music culture , especially amongst the youths of the inner city areas, called ‘Cracks’ by Flux Pavillion (Freestylers Remix). This allows the primary target audience an immediately recognisable link to their own youth culture, gripping them from the first shot of the trailer.
The title of the song in itself represents perfectly the way in which everything becomes too much for Erin’s character and she feels a need to break free, change and escape causing her to snap or in many ways 'crack' herself. The beat of the song a long with the climax up to the drop of the beat also fitted perfectly with the shift in character with it building up as Erin walked towards the boy lying on the floor and then began smiling, signifying her change. I think if we were to improve our film in any way it would be through more trial and error with more advanced editing software and technologies to create more spectacular effects, although due to the grittiness and social realism that we wanted to create I think that a more simplistic approach makes it feel more realistic and look more believable, as it shows Erin stripped bare, exactly as she is.
Our audience feedback also suggested that we established a stereotype for the character well and maintained it throughout the film trailer, and other media texts which I think was made possible by the fact that we had a very clear set out narrative and storyline and both me and my partner holly, had a very specific way in which we wanted her character to be portrayed, as we wanted the emphasis to be on the shift in character and the problems she faced in everyday life, but also to focus directly on the loneliness and vulnerability of her character due to the negative home life she has experienced from an early age. There was also very positive comments surrounding the acting of the protagonist Erin, as well as accompanying actors, as we wanted to create a realistic and authentic product as possible, sticking closely to the codes and conventions used surrounding both framing of shots, editing transitions and effects as well as creating and maintaining a narrative throughout, and ensuring appropriate titles were used to fit with the genre and in time with the music and shot sequence, using typical features that we had adopted and analysed from our own research of trailers from the genre.
I think that we managed to create a build up of of narrative throughout the trailer, with the shots becoming more action filled and intense in correlation with the climax of the music, which was a feature we had noticed throughout many of our style models and research on trailers from the genre, creating suspense leading to the final scene where the actor finally connects with the audience, before leaving the final scene of the film title which itself is catchy and thought provoking, which ultimately is what social realism seeks to achieve. Overall i think that our film trailer was such a success due to the fact that we had a shared idea, and well thought out plan of what we wanted to achieve and how we wanted it to look in terms of editing and representation of the characters, meaning that we experienced little, if any, disagreement, making the whole process enjoyable and allowing us to focus directly on what we were trying to achieve.
This social realist genre, where one character, or a group of characters lives takes centre stage of the entire film was also conformed to through the use of our filming shots and angles. A number of people commented that they liked the point of view shots and the use of lots of close up shots of Erin as it allows the audience deeper into the story, to become absorbed in it, and also to gain a deeper and more empathetic understanding of the protagonist.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The use of media technologies was vital throughout all aspects of production in ensuring an authentic and professional final film trailer and accompanying magazine cover and film poster. Throughout the planning stages I used the Internet a vast amount in researching films, the codes and conventions found within both social realist films and thriller to see what parallels there were and what differences and found that in both cases the lead character was usually male and therefore wanted to challenge this code and convention not only to create a more generally equal genre but also to do something new and exciting as, with a media that changes so frequently and drastically its vital that an element of contemporary is withheld and maintained to achieve.
The use of blogs for posting my work, essays and analysis has also allowed me and my partner in production, Holly, to communicate outside of lessons and share ideas in a more open and frequent way. One of the most important aspects of media technology that has enabled us to create and distribute this film is the Web 2.0 and the introduction of file compression. This allows large film files, such as our ‘Raze’ trailer, to be uploaded quickly and easily to a file sharing site such as YouTube which has a mass fan base, spanning across the globe at the click of a button, as well as giving us, as producers an easily accessible target audience with easy and ample opportunity to receive direct audience feedback not only from YouTube but also through social networking sites like Facebook which allows people to comment and give feedback quickly and easily. This in itself has opened up opportunities for everyone allowing anyone to theoretically become a producer.
Another vital aspect of media technology is the Adobe Premiere CS4 editing software as well as Adobe Photoshop Cs3 which has allowed us to edit together, construct and be experimental with our own film and effects to create an individualistic product that adheres to common codes and conventions of real life mass produced film trailers, as well as enabling us to create authentic looking and professional posters and magazine covers which advertise and promote our product in a authentic way and ensure that the audience are gripped at first glance, and eager to find out more. As filming technology itself is also now so widely available, with most compact cameras now having a film and video mode built in; this has created spontaneity amongst the film industry as well as allowing more creative and expressive genres to form giving the power of production to the audience itself.
Overall I am really impressed and proud of the overall outcome of all of my media productions. I feel that we have established an easily recognisable brand for the film Raze, which captures the social background, genre, urban location and setting and the gritty realistic nature of the social realist thriller theme perfectly throughout the film trailer and ancillary texts. The character that we have created is relatable to by our primary audience of youths and young adults, and challenges the stereotype and negative image that is created by the mediated press across our society, giving a counter side to the story as to why some young teens may lead a life of loneliness or feel the need to turn to violence as a way of survival. I feel that we have been able to produce these media products to such a good standard due to the fact that we were so thorough and thought out in our planning and research and ensured that we knew exactly what we wanted to achieve before we set out to produce it.
I feel that the area we could improve on most would be using even more advanced editing software to be more bold and daring with our edits and to also enable us to create more complex sequences of shots, although I feel that we have used the software available to us, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, to its full potential and maybe trying to make the speech of some of the shots clearer, through the use of larger and more complex microphones to make the editing process easier, as we did have to alter the sound levels of some of the scenes and then merge it through across the others to make sure the film flowed smoothly and coherently.
