Film Poster and Film Trailer Inspirations

These particular shots within the movie is what we wanted to achieve in our film Trailer and similarly to our film poster.



 

 The film The Kings of Summer inspired us to produce our film in a way to suit the our film title We Will Shine, the warm glows from the sunlight suits the mood of the film.

We used these inspirations into our film trailer where the text about our film is shown to the viewers.

Similarly to The Kings of Summer, our film is about three quirky female characters coming of age. The glow of yellows and the uplifting mood suits the friendship between these characters.

The lights which bounced off the camera lense emphasising the glows in the sun, this was the effect we wanted in our trailer, luckily able to succeed this from the sunny weather we had. 

Sound Research: Badly Drawn Boy

Most of the trailers I have been watching include at least three different soundtracks throughout. A new soundtrack is used to reflect the particular section of the story which helps distinguish the various sides of the narrative, as well as maintaining the flow and viewers interest. The first soundtrack of the Son of Rambow trailer and Juno trailer are two examples of the style of music appropriate for our film. They both include indie songs which are very stripped down and have a simple feel to them. Predominantly, I have been listening to the soundtrack for About a Boy which was composed by indie singer-songwriter, Badly Drawn Boy. Most of the tracks on the album are exactly the kind of sound I imagined for the lighter parts of our trailer; there is frequent use of the guitar, bass, piano, keyboard, strings, glockenspiel/celesta, tambourine and other light percussive instruments. The combination of these instruments create a very warm, cheerful tone which is what we hope to achieve overall.

Below are a few of the songs I have selected from the About a Boy soundtrack which would suit our film well and also a demo I have created which was inspired by Track 2. Dead Duck.

                                      

Product Research: Film Poster- Little Miss Sunshine

Promotional Package: Product Research- 50/50

3. 50/50 (2011) - Markers & Same Scenes

The trailer for 50/50 uses four distinct markers throughout the sequence which indicates the emotional state of the protagonist. I think this is a really good way of splitting up the story in order to show the important stages of the film. A similar idea is also used in the trailer for Submarine. This way of structuring not only helps the audience follow the story, but it I think it would be useful for us as creators to help mark key moments and make sure we are portraying a sense of development throughout the trailer.

Another thing I liked about the structure of this trailer was how a different clip from the same scene was used at another point in the sequence. The initial shot is of the protagonist just about to shave his head. The dialogue between the protagonist and his friend creates quite a comical moment so when a different part of the same scene is shown later on, it's funny for the audience to see this development. This in turn helps the audience begin to connect with the characters.

2. The Kids Are All Right (2010) - Achieving a Light Hearted Tone & Interrupting Music

This trailer caught my eye because I like the way the light hearted tone is sustained throughout. The majority of the trailer focuses on the comical moments which shows the audience that the film is quite upbeat. Each time there was something particularly amusing within the dialogue, the sound was interrupted. This happened quite frequently (nine times) which suggests that the film is more comedy oriented than drama. The dramatic elements only came in towards the end of the sequence, taking up thirty seconds of the whole trailer, and even then the sound was interrupted suddenly after, quickly reverting back to the comedy. If we decided that we wanted to achieve a more light hearted feel to our own trailer, then I think this structure of comedy outweighing drama could be an idea to keep in mind. I definitely think that dropping the music works well when you want to mark a funny moment but I don't think we'll include it as many times as this trailer has!

1. About a Boy (2002) - Half & Half Structure

What I liked about the 'About a Boy' trailer was how clearly the genre was established; the first half of the trailer introduced the comedy and the second half brought in the drama. I think it works well having the comical parts at the beginning as it immediately allows the audience to connect with the plot and characters. If there are parts that make the audience laugh then you can be sure that the audience is engaged, and I was. It was the editing, dialogue and voiceover that helped to pinpoint the funny moments, but most importantly, the music help to distinguish the light hearted tone. The music included upbeat drums and guitar and quite bright sounding vocals. The soundtrack really helped to show the exact moment when this tone changed and led into the more dramatic side; a melancholy piano introduction along with light percussion was followed by smooth, sombre sounding vocals. So, I think the structure of the trailer as a whole allows the audience to experience and understand both sides to the story clearly.

Product Research: Structure of trailers

I've been watching a whole of range of comedy-drama film trailers recently and one aspect in particular that I have noticed are the varying structures. There are a number of interesting ways in which trailers are pieced together so I've picked out three that I like in terms of structure, and which I'm considering to use for our own trailer.

I also found this really useful website. It gives a variety of tips for making a good movie trailer:   
The Art of First Impressions: How to Cut a Movie Trailer