Film Website Deconstruction

Website Deconstruction

The Spectacular Now

[website]

• The website is not overcrowded and quite simple. The colour scheme is very neutral the only two colours being cream and green.
• The majority of the website is taken up with the trailer, which plays when the user clicks it, not automatically. We are going to have our trailer play automatically, so that when the user is the on the website, they are drawn into watching the trailer.
• At the top of the website, there are a few tabs that the user can click to find out more about the film i.e. synopsis and cast and crew.
• Below this are links to the film’s social media accounts and websites to purchase the film from.
• The green band at the top of the website is a review, that changes around every 10 seconds, so that the user can see the reviews of the film, so that they can choose whether it is suitable for them or not.
• Below the trailer is an active link to the accounts tumblr tag. This means that when people post pictures/videos of things about the film with the tag #thespectacularnow it appears on the website. This is a way of getting the audience involved with the film and increasing the amount of online publicity as more people are likely to post about the film if they have the chance of getting onto the film website.

Paper Towns

[website]

• The trailer automatically plays full screen when the website is clicked on. The user has an option to close this, above is an image of the website that comes up as a result of that.
• The colours of this website are the same as those on the poster and titles in the trailer. This creates brands reputation for the film, attracting the target audience and allowing all three media products to be linked.
• The yellow and blue work well together as the yellow stands out against the electric blue colour, drawing attention to the tagline and similar films specifically. This targets a specific audience.
• The main image taking up the website is the same as that on the poster. This, again, creates brand loyalty.
• In the centre of the website, there is a banner with the options for the user to find out more about the story, trailer and music, amongst others. This makes the audience more active which benefits the publicity of the film through opinion leaders, who lead the people around them (the passive audience) to believe their opinion, which hopefully is that the film is good.
• Below the banner, is a live link to the film’s tumblr page. Employees of the main production company will look on the film’s tumblr tag to find posts worth reblogging. Once reblogged, the posts would appear on the website. As fans have the chance to get their work reblogged onto the website, more people are likely to upload posts about the film, increasing online publicity.

Film Promotional Website Deconstructions

Sound Research

The sound in our teaser trailer is to be quite fast paced and urban to reflect the negativity and adrenaline of the drug use and alcohol introduced to Rose's life.

Music commonly used in teen drama films include modern indie/alternative songs with synths and a consistent beat. 

As our film idea is for Rose to turn eighteen and her life becomes a lot more based around drugs and alcohol, I thought our opening scene could show a home video of Rose turning 18 with family and/or friends singing Happy Birthday and end the trailer with our shot of Rose in the public toilet whilst playing an instrumental version of Happy birthday which changes off pitch and fades out.
After evaluating this idea the group decided this wouldn't be possible due to a shortage of timing in

My uncle is a songwriter in California. He tours the United States with his band and writes music for commercial use in his free time. His music has been featured in 'The Middle' (ABC) 'The Game' (BET), 16 and Pregnant (MTV), 'Tosh.O' (Comedy Central), '10 On Top' (MTV) as well as corporate projects, iPhone apps, websites and other new media. 

I messaged my uncle to ask if he would be able to write some music for our trailer and he said he would be more than happy to help. I sent him a link to a draft of our film so he could match the atmosphere and timings of the video roughly.

Below is a lin to his page where he publishes his music and events

https://www.reverbnation.com/stuartmoore

Deconstruction of film posters

 The fault in our stars

- The #TFIOS is aimed at young people and social media such as Facebook and twitter so the film can receive ratings and reviews.

- The title is very bold and has the colours blue and white. The blue is a friendly colour which shows the relationship between the two characters and the white shows purity.

-  'Based on the new York times #1 best seller' shows that it is an American film and is very popular.

- There is a little amount of text which concentrates the audience's attention on the main image which is the selling point making them want to go watch it.

- The grass it out of focus and the lighting it on the image which puts the audience's attention on the characters.

- The blue and white title contrasts with the background which makes it stand out more.

- The use of celebrity endorsement makes the film more successful as fans will want to go see it.

Love, Rosie

- The orange heart is broken which shows the relationship between the two characters.

- The colour orange is used repeatedly, and this is seen to be a happy colour, indicating that there will be a happy ending.

- The rating is from the ASOS magazine and so will be trusted with the readers.

- Saying that it was made from the writer of ps I love you makes the genre obvious to a romance.

- The white background shows symbolises innocence and purity.
- The date shows when the film is released so that the audience can go watch it.

Transcendence
- The poster contains the normal conventions that a poster should have such as the star crediting, billings block , tagline and title.
- The poster doesn't show the producers name clearly in bold which shows that he my not be well known however the main character Johnny Depp is popular and well known which is why his name is in bold letters at the top which attracts the target audience's attention.
- Johnny Depp also acts as the unique selling point.
- The blue and white mix of colours suggests something is in-human and out of this world which connotes the genre to the audience which is Sci-Fi.
- The poster gives a sense of mystery as it is enigmatic as it doesn't give too much of the narrative away.

Soundcloud Experiment

Soundcloud Inspiration

In order to begin the search for music, I looked on sound cloud to find inspiration. We know the type of music that we want for the trailer - indie pop/alternative pop.
In order to find music matching this description I searched similar bands.

One Republic Inspiration

When I searched this the following results came up:

I selected the violin cover as we are not sure whether we want the music to have lyrics or not. The cover does not have lyrics which makes it a good comparison to some of the other songs I found.

The song slowly builds, starting with one violin for the first 13 seconds. A strong bassy drum beat is added on top of this. The drum is at the same pace as a heartbeat which would be suitable for our shots.
At 27 seconds another violin is added, which increases the depth of the music, and it could be used during a point of our trailer when there is increased tension.
Although, the song does not progress much after this, which may not be suitable for our trailer given the genre and plot line.
Our trailer had lots of disequilibrium throughout which means that the trailer needs to constantly build, rather than building more at the beginning and continuing the same throughout.

Coldplay Inspiration

When I searched this the follow results came up: 

The song ‘Midnight’ is relaxing and is mostly done on electronic instruments, which is suitable for our target audience.

The song starts with a slow, electronic piano melody for the first minute and 8 seconds. A fast, snare drum beat is added on top of this.
Again, there isn't a lot of progression in the song, and given our genre and media form, it is not a suitable song for this purpose.

The Weeknd Inspiration

When I searched this the following results came up:

This is the only song that I selected with lyrics. The song is a cover of The Weeknd – High for This by Ellie Goulding.

The song starts with a monotone bass and someone snapping their fingers. At 13 seconds there is a high pitched bell every second. This is also when the ad-lib vocals come in. At 26 seconds, all of the sounds built up stop and there is a low pitched wave sound, over this Ellie Goulding sings the lyrics of the song.

“Open your hand
Take a glass
Don't be scared
I'm right here
Even though you don't roll
Trust me girl
You wanna be high for this”

These lyrics are suitable for our genre and plot due to the song implying the use of drugs, and drugs are the main focus of the trailer. These lyrics could be ‘sung’ from the point of view of the drugs, the “trust me girl” could be a temptation for the character to take the drugs and become reliant on them.

Awolnation Inspiration

When I searched this the following results came up:

The song starts with a drum beat similar to a heartbeat, with a type of chime, quieter in the background. This happens for the first 16 seconds.
After this, a dubstep sound is added. This could be a good for the trailer as it builds tension, which we are doing in the trailer to attract the target audience.

At 47 seconds, there is a higher pitched ‘dubstep sound’. Another drum beat is also added, again, it is higher pitched and faster than the other and is more like a light tap on a cow bell. This adds tension, and could be used to show a different direction in the characters life. We could link this part to a flashback.

There is not much progression after this, which means that it does not suit the genre or trailer form, although, the song does progress quickly up to the minute mark, which will be the length of our trailer. Therefore, we could use the song and cut the last minute when there is no progression.

Film Poster Design Experiment

Film Poster Design Experiment

I experimented with designs we could use for our film poster. Both of the images below are very rough drafts, using stills from clips that we shot to use in the trailer.

In the first draft I concentrated more on layout and colours. In the second draft, I used the layout of the first draft and worked more on the typography i.e. sizes and fonts.

First Draft

• I chose to use white as the main colour for the typography as it stood out well against the orange/yellow in the background image. This makes it easy for the audience to read in the short time they are looking at the poster.
• I wanted to have ‘pops’ of a bold colour, which is a common convention in film posters. I used an electric blue as this is the colour that clashes with orange in the colour wheel. I used it for the stars on the reviews and brackets around the award. This draws attention to the positive things about the film, making the audience more likely to want to see it.
• The billing’s block is in the conventional position. I used a template for this, but it will be personalised for the film in the final draft of the poster.
• I used transparent logos of production companies, this allowed me to change the colours so that they stood out against the background image. As they are at the bottom of the poster, where the background image is its darkest, it used white so that they are distinguished.
• I placed the reviews on the left hand side of the poster. I only wrote two, but we could use more in the final draft of the poster. They take up the middle half the height and about a quarter of the width of the poster. The review is larger than the critic, this is a common convention as the audience are more interested in what is being said about the film than the critic and who they are representing.
• In the image used, the character is slightly off centred, this conforms to the golden rule, as the audience’s eye falls on one of the four corners. In all of the corners there is something that draws the eye around the rest of the poster.
• The title is the largest text, in the top right corner of the poster. This draws the audience’s attention, and leads the eye to the tagline in the top left corner. The tagline is smaller than the title, a convention of all film posters.

Second Draft

• Again, I chose the main typography to be white. This is the colour that stood out most against the background image used. Although, the colour doesn’t work everywhere i.e. the left hand side of the mage is quite bright, so the white can’t be read very easily. As we are not using this image as the poster, this will not affect our final draft.
• The colour ‘pops’ compliment the background image used. I used a similar red colour to the doorway to the right of the poster for the brackets around the Sundance Award and the stars in the reviews. The light, pastel red attracts the audience’s eye around the poster. I also used the same green/grey colour in the doorway the character is sitting in for the tagline, again complimenting the image.
• The reviews are in the same place as the first draft poster. But I worked more on each review individually. There are certain words that are larger than the others, these words summarise the review and mean that the review can be read in a short amount of time, keeping the audience’s attention for longer i.e. Powerful. Moving. Masterpiece. compared to powerful and moving, an emotional masterpiece.
• The bold, blocky font is common convention for social realism film posters, which I did not use in the first draft. This font is a draft of what we will use in the final poster as I didn’t work on the colour/effect of it.
• In the final draft of the poster, we are likely to add an effect to the typography to incorporate it into the image used i.e. a spray paint effect so that it can be placed on a wall in the image.

Typography Conventions in Social Realism Films

Deconstruction of the Typography used in Social Realism Films

Social realism film posters follow conventions within the genre. I will be deconstructing the use of typography in the posters i.e. colour, size and position.

Fish Tank

• The majority of the typography is an electric blue colour. Although, due to the use of a baby pink colour in the photograph used on the poster, there are also uses of the same pink colour within the typography.
• The colours work well together, the title and reviews stand out, due to being bigger than the other parts of text. The star reviews also stand out, as they are the only pink writing on the poster.
• The less important text, i.e. the actors (given that these are not the selling point of the film) and the billings block are in smaller black text, which do not stand out as much, and therefore not drawing the audience’s attention
• All of the typography is within the left two thirds of the poster, with the main character filling the right third of the poster. This conforms to the golden rule as there is nothing in the centre of the poster, instead the title is slightly to the left, drawing the audience’s attention around the poster.
• All of the typography is the same font. All text is in capitals. This font is commonly used for social realism films. There is no special element to the text, it is quite basic and blocky. Instead, the typography is incorporated in the image, with peeling wallpaper effects being used.

This is England

• The title of the film is in bold colours. This is different to the rest of the text on the poster. The red, white and blue used represents the Union Jack, a symbol of patriotism. This conforms to the title of the film, allowing the audience to relate the two.
• The rest of the typography on the poster is black, making it seem less important than the title. The black stands out well against the light blues used in the poster, making it easy for the audience to read in the short time they are looking at the poster.
• The title is the largest text on the poster which fills the whole width of the landscape poster. The other text is smaller, again making it less important. The direction is the second largest text, showing the main selling point of the film as the audience are likely to enjoy this film is they like the director’s past work.
• The ‘This is England’ is slightly above the centre of the poster. It is above the characters in the photography used. The awards and reviews are at the top of the page, drawing the audience’s attention all around the poster. This billing’s block is in the conventional place, but very small and white, making it barely noticeable against the grey floor in the image.
• The same font is used throughout, apart from the director. The text stating the director of the fil is ‘spray painted’ onto the fence the characters are standing against. This incorporates it into the image, making the typography standout against the other text.   
• The rest of the typography is in al capitals in a bold, blocky font, common for the social realism genre.
• The ‘This is England’, has an effect on it, which incorporates it into the image. It looks as though it is on the corrugated iron fence the characters are standing against.

The Selfish Giant

• The title of the film is a light red colour. This contrasts to the neutral coloured image used for the poster and the brown typography used for the reviews.
• The red font is continued for the director/writer of the film. This highlights that this is the main selling point of the film as it stands out against the other text.
• The title of the film is very large compared to the other typography. It fills up half of the height of the poster and two thirds of the width. The rest of the space, minus the image, is filled with reviews including bold stars. The stars allow the audience to quickly see the reviews of the film – the more stars, the better the review.
• The position of the title is slightly off centre, fulfilling the golden rule. It is slightly left and above the centre of the poster. There are reviews written above and to the right of the title, making effective use of the rest of the space available. There are ratings of the film (stars) below the title is rows, this allows the audience to see a summary of what different critics think of the film, without spending too long looking at the poster. The billing’s block is the conventional place.
•  The same font is used throughout. An all capitals, bold and blocky font, a common convention of social realism film posters. The title of the film has a slight gradient, with the colour being a dark red at the bottom of the three words. There is an image incorporated into the title – electricity pylons.