Introduction to Film Trailer Research

GENRES OF VIDEOS

Using the internet, you need to write in your own words, what genre means, giving examples of videos that match each category by embedding clips into the blog entry.  You might also like to comment on which category your video will fall into or explain if it will be a hybrid of two or more categories.

RESEARCH INTO THE MOVIE INDUSTRY

For this entry you need to carry out some research into the movie industry showing your knowledge and understanding of how the industry works etc.  This entry should be completed as some sort of slide show either on Slideshare, Prezzi or Powerpoint and then uploaded to your blog.  In your presentation you could cover some / all of the following points:

·         How are films generally made?  What is the production process?

·         What is the purpose of a film for the companies that make them? Difference between Institutions?

·         Who are some famous directors and why are their videos so well known / successful?

·         How much money is usually spent on the average movie?  Have any been made very cheaply or are there any that have had huge budgets?

·         How do audiences access movies?  Where can they be seen?

THE MEDIA INDUSTRY IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

·         Research into the development of web 2.0 and TV, including channels (MTV), the Internet, technology and explain how this has changed the music industry. Consider the production, distribution, marketing and promotion process. What is happening to the production company?

·         What is the impact of Video on Demand?

THE HISTORY OF THE MOVIE INDUSTRY

·         What is the history of movie industry video in your chosen genre?

·         Create a timeline; using visuals (including stills) to create a timeline of the genre. You should also include any new media technologies that impacted on the production and consumption.

·         This one is pretty awesome!

·         http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/10/31/horror-cinema-02.jpg

ANALYSING Trailers

Intro

·         Institutional/reference information

·         Which video are you analysing, who directed it?

·         How is the Institution looking to sell this  movie?

·         What image of the director/studio is being offered?

·         How does this video relate to previous videos by the director/studio?

·         How would you describe the audience for the videos you have analysed?

What genre? How can you tell – what conventions

·         What do you know about actors, stars, writers etc? Bearing in mind their associations, meanings and histories, why have they been chosen for genre piece?

·         How are characters used – heroes and villains etc established. – Vladimir Propp

·         What is the narrative or the logic of the order of its component?

·         How have specific narrative techniques been used? – Todorov!!!

How is meaning being represented at connotative and denotative levels

·         How are non-verbal communications (gestures, facial expressions) being used?

·         What can we tell from the positions of characters or objects?

·         How have clothing, props, mise-en-scene, sets and setting been used?

·         How have soundtrack, commentary and language been used?

·         What is the tone of the text? How does it change?

·         How are sound and visual techniques used to convey meaning? (e.g. camera positioning, editing, the ways that images and sounds/words are combined to convey meaning).

·         What is the iconography of the text? What are its dominant images and their relevance to major themes of the text?

·         What genre does the text fit into? How can you tell?

·         Who is being represented by the text?

·         In what way?

·         By whom?

·         For what purpose?

Theorists/Theories

v  Stuart Hall’s Audience Reception Theory – preferred – film appeals to main audience who have seen the show before, know the story and accept the ways the characters have been represented.

v  Todorov

v  Vladimir Propp

v  Uses and Gratifications – Diversion from every day life, Surveillance – insight to life in New York in the 1980s – information on homosexuality and HIV/AIDS which was said to be the “gay plague” at this time. Personal identity and relationships – audience can build up their own views and apply to their own lives from the relationships shown in the film.

v  Maslow – Physiological needs – shelter, warmth, food etc – characters have this but due to poverty, have very little, esteem needs – part of a group, audience part of a fan base – fans termed ‘RentHeads’ – Belonging and Love – various relationships both heterosexual and homosexual so it appeals to a diverse audience etc…