Shots we used for inspiration

•  Shot on left - We Are Your Friends (2015) - drama/music/romance film set in LA which follows the career of a DJ. The trailer features a extreme close up of a dilating pupil with a sharp focus on the iris and pupil. The shot is only half a second long and mart of a montage of footage of the DJ recording different sounds.
• Shot on right - our teaser trailer - we used a close up shot of an eye to show and emphasise the effects of drug use. Our shot lasts one second which gives the audience time to see the pupil dilate. The eye isn't as close as the shot we used for inspiration but we wanted to show that the eye was Roses.

• Shot on left - Trainspotting (1996) - this is a popular drama film set in Glasgow which tells the story of a group of young men caught up in a cycle of drug abuse. As our film was about drug use in response to mental illness, we were strongly inspired by the shots in trainspotting.  The shot above on the left shows the main character, Renton, injecting heroin into a vein in his arm using a needle.
• Shot on right - our teaser trailer - We attempted to replicate this shot using a needle used for printer ink refills. We obviously could not make the shot look as convincing as the shot from trainspotting as the actor obviously could not actually push the needle into her arm and we therefore made the shot as short as we could, ensuring the belt above the elbow is visible and the needle pushing against the skin.

• Shot on left - Trainspotting (1996) - this is a shot from the same scene as above in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting. This shot shows an extreme close up of heroin being made on a metal spoon.
• Shot on right - our teaser trailer - we were inspired by the shot from trainspotting and recreated it using golden syrup and a lighter. We held the lighter under the spoon and let bubbles form. Using a +10 close up lens attachment we were able to capture this process in very good detail.

• Shot on left - Fish Tank (2009) - this is a shot of the titles on the trailer for social realism drama, Fish Tank. The titles are in a bold, sans serif, capitalised font on a black background. However the text is transparent which reveals a layer underneath on moving water. This therefore creates a visual effect o the water through the text which reflects the films name.
• Shot on right - our teaser trailer - we wanted to achieve similar titles to those in the Fish Tank trailer and therefore researched online how to achieve the same effect and applied it to all of our titles with a shot of Rose running through an orange lit subway in the background.

Music

Above - The XX - Intro - featured in Project X (2012), various crime/thriller shows Cold Case, Person of Interest, Law & Order

Above - Jacoo - Crossing Winds - we 7used this in our trailer due to its resemblance to the XXX's song. The tense heartbeat like percussion and building tempo make it perfect for our trailer.

• We researched music we liked and found artists such as The Black Keys and The Vaccines and other indie-rock artists whose music was used in teen drama trailers. We were oringially inspired by this music styles and looked for remixes and remakes online we could use in our trailer however we thought that as our trailer had a darker mood to it we would look for something more sombre.
• We liked music by The XX but their work was copyrighted so we found an artist called Jacoo on online music sharing site SoundCloud and came across his song Crossing Winds. I contacted the artist to ask for his permission and he replied almost immediately granting us permission.
• The song he produced sounds almost identical to The XX's Intro but has a beat and build more suited to our trailer.

Evaluation

• In conclusion, the majority of our shots inspired by existing work turned out successfully and we combined a range of angles and shots to give a restricted narrative outline of our films plot.
• As for the music, we were determined to find the perfect piece inspired by an existing artist and we added different songs to the clips to test the sounds and found Jacoo's song to be a perfect fit

Deconstruction of social realism posters

Kidulthood
- The colour scheme is very simplistic yet effective, colours such as grey, black and misty blue are used to create a dark atmosphere.
- The females are wearing tones of pink to represent their femininity.
- The white title is bold and stands out from the contrasting background.
- The baseball bat in the character's hand conveys the idea of violence.
- The use of 'powerful, moving and unforgettable' attracts the audience's attention and makes them interested in the film.
- The clothes represents stereotypes of todays youths, with the characters wearing hoodies and tracksuits. The mise-en-scene therefore makes the genre obvious to be a teen urban film.
- The lighting has a mixture of low-key and high-key, the low-key represents the darkness in the lives of the characters.

Fish Tank
- The orange font contrasts with the blue background which makes it stand out to the audience. The size of the font also draws the audiences attention as it takes up half of the poster.
- The tagline 'live, love and give as good as you get' stands out as well as the white contrasts with the black from her trousers.
- The low angle shot represents Mia as a powerful character. The low angle also portrays her as imitating as she looks as though she is looking down on the audience.
- The images of the buildings in the background suggests that it could be an urban drama.
- Mia's clothing suggests that she is working class and the use of the hoodie conveys that there could be crime and violence involved.
- The use of the clouds in the background and the bight orange title suggests the idea of freedom.
- The lighting on her face is half in the shadows and half in the light which shows that she has had a difficult past and is moving in to a positive future.

Bullet Boy
- The lighting is dark behind the boys head and bright on his face which suggests that he has had a difficult pst but is moving on to a brighter future.
- The colour of the image in his head connotes the idea of danger.
- The image of the young boy is holding a gun which suggests the film battles the social issues of gun crime and violence which working class youths.
- The tagline 'you only get one shot at life' is enigmatic which makes the audience want to know more on the narrative.
- The reviews contrast with the green and black background which make them stand out and the one worded reviews such as 'striking' catches the audiences attention quickly.
- The fact that the character is the only person on the poster porters the idea of loneliness.
- The background image is a eerie muggy green colour which creates mystery about the main character.

Deconstruction of London to Brighton (inspiration)

 

London to Brighton is a 2006 award-winning British film. The film was written and directed by Paul Andrew.

Kelly is a working class prostitute that becomes Joanne's mother figure as they travel to Brighton. The role of the mother figure is evident through kelly making sure she was fed and showered. The first scene we see of kelly goes against Todorov's theory of equilibrium as Kelly is seen to be running into a public toilet with a black eye in panic.

The representation of the working class is shown through the council houses, drugs, smoking, guns and a work man's cafe. Joanne and Kelly are seen to be working class they are vulnerable as they are targeted by dangerous men that intend to kill them.

Joanne's childhood differs from others as she runs away at the age of 12 away from her abusive father and motherless home. She wears childlike clothes, eats ice cream and plays on the beach which shows her innocence however she smokes which subverts the common representation of young children.

The characters subvert common media representations as Kelly is a prostitute yet acts as a mother figure to Joanne and acts maternal, along with shielding and protecting her on their journey. Furthermore the character 'Stuart' subverts representations of a middle aged and middle classed man, instead he is abusive towards Joanne and Kelly and kills two men.

Brighton is represented as safe place to get away from the prostitution and homelessness however that quickly changes and Kelly and Joanne end up in a worse situation. Their end goal is to get to Devon however their dreams are unrealistic and because of their vulnerability makes them unable to achieve it.

Deconstruction of the Endscreen of Trailers

Deconstruction of Endscreens

Fish Tank

• The text has the same 'water' effect as the rest of the typography throughout the trailer which plays on the title 'Fish Tank'. 
• The text is relatively small for the screen, but the billing's block is for accreditation of the people involved and therefore the audience do not necessarily have to be able to read it. 
• Normally, the billing's block is in all capitals, this one is in sentence case. 
• It conforms to common conventions by having a range of sizes throughout the text. The role of the person is smaller than the person's name, due to the accreditation being more for the individual than for their job role. 
• The production companies and producers of the film are at the top of the screen, followed by the actors and other job roles i.e. casting director and production designer. 
• The loo's of the production companies and producers are at the bottom of the screen.

The Selfish Giant

• This is a more conventional billing's block. The typography is thin and tall, which is commonly used for billing block's. 
• The text is in all capitals which makes the font easier to read in the short time that it appears for. 
• The text is a range of sizes which again, makes the billing's block easier to read due to the job roles being split, for example: BFI and FILM4 present a MOONSPUN FILMS production.
• Some of the words, on the small screen, cannot be read. This doesn't matter as again, the billing's block is for accreditation and not for the audience. 
• Under the billing's block there are the 5 logo's of the producers and production companies.

• After the billing's block there is a title stating the date of release. 
• It is in the same typography as the titles during the trailer, and the same colour background as throughout
• The social media links are listed below in a colour not used anywhere else in the trailer. This is to attract the audiences attention, so that they look up the sites.

Research: Writing on the mirror

To decide what we wanted to write on the mirror, I did some research to find some suitable quotes which would link to social realism. 

In the end, we decided to write 'Happy birthday to me' on the mirror instead to emphasize how lonely she is and how her life has changed compared to the year before. In the second to last scene, Verity is shown wiping the words then it ends with her sitting alone against a brick wall.

Title Ideas

Ideas for Titles

We had to ensure that the titles kept the enigma of the trailer, while giving away as much as the plot as we could so that the target audience, genre and plot were clear, conforming to Syd Field's narrative theory.

We came up with the titles:

Every moment that changes your life, changes who you are

This shows that the character in the trailer has had her life changed by something. Although, we didn't think the wording was very strong.

After this we focused on the main factors that affect the character's life. We wanted the titles to be slightly poetic, this led to:

Depression is an internal battle

Isolation is a dream killer

These titles didn't give enough of the plot away, which left the audience confused. The internal battle and dream killer parts were too vague for the audience to understand the character's journey, which means that the trailer will not attract the target audience. 

To conform to common conventional titles in social realism trailers, there is often a rhetorical question. To refer to her pain being taken away by heroin and smoking, we came up with the titles:

If there was something to take the pain away

How much would you risk to keep it?

Again, the wording of this isn't very strong which would confuse the audience again. We decided that we wanted a rhetorical question as this promotes enigma and encourages the audience to want to see the film. It also a common convention of the social realism genre.

To create better titles, we listed a range of words that are related to the plot or character of the trailer. From this, we could develop ideas.

Depression

Isolation

Addiction

Adulthood

Risks

Struggle

Freedom

Responsibility

Oblivion

We decided to use the words fight, depression and addiction in the rhetorical question.

Can she fight to take back her life 

From the depths of depression and addiction?

We decided to use the words Freedom, Responsibility, Consciousness and Pain in the rest of the titles. This gives the audience an insight to what the film includes i.e. the character having more freedom but not being able to cope with the responsibility it entails. As well as giving an insight into the characters opinions on drugs, i.e. her being conscious rather than being high causes her pain because of the bad life she leads.

With Freedom comes Responsibility

With Consciousness comes Pain 

Deconstruction of Fish Tank (inspiration)

Fish Tank is a 2009 British drama film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. The film is about Mia Williams, a volatile and socially isolated 15-year-old who lives with her single mother, Joanne.

- Mia is seen to be trapped and isolated by this never ending circle of negative representation. The idea of isolation is symbolised through the horse owned by billy, as it is chained up, has little freedom and is malnourished.   

- As Mia failed the school system she lives at home with her uncompassionate mothers and uses dancing as a form of escapism. Dancing is her dream and once she realises she’s not part of that collective identity, she gives up all hope at being a professional dancer.

- Mia has no social group and no friends except from billy resulting in a loss of identity, this would be enhanced is she went to boarding school as she would be isolated from the outside world.  
- At the last scene she looks back at her sister as she knows she has the same self-fulfilling prophecy just like she did.

- Mia has two different relationships with Connor throughout the film, one as a father figure and the other as a physical and intimate relationship, however due to her vulnerability he takes advantage of her and her situation.

-  Connor is seen as a father figure from the scenes of giving her first aid, carrying her to her bedroom and encouraging the family to bond. However this father figure is vanished when he starts to touch her and eventually sleep with her. 

- The mise-en-scene that portrays working class youths are the high rise flats, caravans, track suits, drinking and smoking, all of which are common media representations of this class.

- The subversions included the young working class girl Mia, having an ambition to be a successful dancer, this subverts common media images of working class youths because they are usually portrayed to be lazy and undetermined in life.