Analysing posters I've created

In order to create a poster appropriate for our genre, I produced a few posters on photoshop so I could develop them for the final poster.

This is my first draft. In this poster, the text is very simple and random names and reviews have been inserted. I have also inserted a billings block found on google on the bottom of the poster. However, these elements will be made by our group for our final poster.

This is my second draft for our poster. We thought that the wall behind our protagonist was too plain so I found some images of grafitti on Google then layered it on top of the walls.This poster is much more developed as her make up has been enhanced to give a more tired appearance as our trailer talks about the consequences of drug-use. The tagline is also more visible compared to the previous poster but we are unsure whether this will be our final tagline.

This is our final poster for our teaser trailer "Eighteen". I have decided to use the above title for our poster because it matches the font and writing in our teaser trailer. I have also replaced the previous reviews with the reviews we used in our final media product. We have updated our tagline as we thought that this was much more appropriate as well as making "From the director of FISHTANK" smaller so it draws less attention. Awards used in our teaser trailer have been placed on the right of the poster to balance it out and the 18 age rating has been placed beside our billings block so we target the right audience. I have also ensured that the font used is the same as our teaser trailer and website. 

Evaluation

In conclusion, I feel that creating multiple products benefited me because it ensured that our final poster looked professional and conformed to common conventions in posters within our genre. I found that layering the graffiti on top worked really well as our genre is teen urban. I think that the tagline in the previous posters were too transparent and could have been edited better.

Editing in teaser trailers

- Teaser trailers tend to use small clips of different parts of the film which is used to entice the audience.

- This means that the most common type of editing used in a teaser trailer is a 'cut' between two shots which saves time in the editing process.

- Another popular choice of editing in teaser trailers is a 'fade' this sort of editing technique is used the trailers such as 'Star Trek into darkness'.

- However this editing method tends to be used in shots that are in equilibrium or in romance trailers because the fade makes the trailer smooth and calm.

Other editing techniques:

Continuity editing- Editing that creates action that flows smoothly across shots and scenes without jarring visual inconsistencies.

Cross cutting- Cutting back and forth quickly between two or more lines of action, indicating they are happening simultaneously.

Jump cut- A cut that creates a lack of continuity by leaving out parts of the action.

Matched cut- A cut joining two shots whose compositional elements match, helping to establish strong continuity of action. 
Montage- Scenes whose emotional impact and visual design are achieved through the editing together of many brief shots. 
Rough cut- The editor's first pass at assembling the shots into a film, before tightening and polishing occurs.
Shot reverse shot cutting- Usually used for conversation scenes, this technique alternates between over-the-shoulder shots showing each character speaking. 
Wipe- Visible on screen as a bar travelling across the frame pushing one shot off and pulling the next shot into place. Rarely used in contemporary film, but common in films such as 'Star Wars'.
Sequence shot- A long take that extends for an entire scene or sequence. It is composed of only one shot with no editing. 

Snowdon Teaser Trailer

- The beginning of the trailer uses a 'Fade' effect between each shot which conveys the idea of calmness.

- When the shot gets to the middle of the trailer there starts to become disequilibrium, then there is a use of the 'cut' affect which increases the pace of the trailer.

- At the end there is a 'jump cut' which makes the trailer enginmatic as it does the title of the film. 

Ip Man 3

- Though-out the whole trailer the main use of editing is 'cut' which is used to show the audience as much footage as possible into the trailer. 

- There is the use of a 'Slow-motion' which id used in a fight scene the emphasise the impact of the hit.  

- The shots appear and cut at the same beat as the music and as the music gets faster the shots and cuts appear quicker which makes build-up to the ending dramatic.

- After the build-up and the black shot, there is the use of 'fade' which makes the trailer in equilibrium again

Boyhood Teaser Trailer Deconstruction

Boyhood is a 2014 social realist drama film filmed over the course of a 12 year period to film the same actor as he grows up. This aspect is one of the main reasons for the films global success considering the film was written and produced by the same company as our film, Eighteen. 

The teaser trailer explains this production process in the titles and shows several clips o the same actor growing up.

  The following shots are 1-2 seconds long each showing a small scenario on which the character has aged;

 The trailer then states than the writer made 'cinematic history', which also sells the film due to the positive comment and giving the film a legendary status.

• The trailer then includes lots of 2-4 second shots of the young boy growing up in everyday situations such as the young boy fighting with his sister in the car and showing small childhood memories like riding a bicycle and playing with friends. 

• These shots are played with "Family of the Year's" 2012 indie rock/folk song Hero which features a gentle guitar tune and soft singing to support the nostalgic atmosphere to the scenes shown. The music builds and drum sounds are introduced as the length of the shots increase and more action is introduced as the children are with a man (maybe older brother) at a football game. The music also has a less nostalgic, cheery tone as the music develops and the father is show being controlling a violent.

(The boy is forced to have his hair cut)

(His father throws food across the table violently)

• More shots are shown of the boy as he ages and his appearance and voice changes.
• The shots are short to keep the enigma and engage the audience to tempt them to go ands see the film.

The end screen features a number of positive critic reviews

• There is little dialogue in the trailer which is also enigma.
• The trailer ends with the diegetic dialogue of a man asking the boy;                                      "What do you want to be, Mason? What do you want to do?" 
• Which leads to further enigma as the audience will want to know the answer.

Evaluation

• Overall, the trailer has a good balance between footage and titles to give a restricted outline to the films narrative by introducing the characters and illustrating the areas of disequilibrium; but not going into great detail about whether the problem is repaired etc.

Representation of youths

To help with our teaser trailer, I decided to research into youth culture and how they are represented. British youth culture has changed dramatically over the past 50 years due to the strong influence of technology and the demonization of youths in the media. 

The wariness of youth culture made it easy for the media to demonise youth in the 50's, shown in the creation of films such as "Blackboard Jungle", "Rebel Without A Cause" and "Teenage Bad Girl". These are some of the oldest examples of demonization of youth by the media. During the 2000s, hoodies had gained a negative image and was associated with trouble making teens and anti-social behaviour. Due to the increase in gang violence crimes, hoodies became nationally feared and there were many protests in favour to have hoodies banned. Chav refers to an anti-social subculture. Chav is an informal British derogatory meaning a young lower-class person who displays brash and loutish behaviour and wears real or imitation designer clothes.

Teenagers are often represented in the media as being rebellious, disrespectful, lazy and being associated with drugs and alcohol.

Representation of teenage boys

Teenage boys are usually presented as violent, irresponsible and having little respect for authority. Some teenage males have modelled their behaviour on representations these films promote, leading to the rise of gang culture, in particular, middle and lower class areas.

Hoodies have become a symbol of this representation and the wearing of them and constant reinforcement of the representation by the media has created a climate of fear surrounding one item of clothing.

Representation of teenage girls

Another representation is the sexualisation of teenage girls; ie. "Angus, thongs and perfect snogging". Girls are still portrayed as sex/boy obsessed and concerned with their appearance. Girls are bombarded with images of how they should look by the media, causing their perceptions of beauty to be altered. As a result, the distortion of reality causes insecurities and low self esteem as girls feel as if they don't look like the models in magazines

Examples

Breakfast Club(1985)

• Their dress sense is much more covered up and dull
• Youths didn't do many bad things as the consequence would be a weak punishment (detention)

Kidulthood (2006)

• Teenagers are much more free
• Their dress sense has changed; much more revealing with trackies and short clothing
• Youths are much more rebellious and the punishment is much more severe (jail)

Mean Girls (2004)

• Based on a group of girls
• Lots of different hierarchy/segregated
• Much more deceitful

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.

Representation of the working class in Fish Tank

The 2009 social realist film, Fish Tank, an accurate representation of the lives of the working class, especially youths as the film focuses on a violent but vulnerable 15 year old called Mia. 

• Set in East London, the film portrays the working class in a negative way, showing adolescents smoking and drinking alcohol and a lack of social mobility leaves them trapped by their own values and representation. 
• Mia is represented as an aggressive yet naïve teenager, which is seen as a norm for the audience as other teens are heard cursing and acting in a hostile manner. Mia however is not part of a collective group as seen in the opening scene of the film where she confronts an old friend, Keeley, which ultimately leads to a physical fight, adding to the violent representation. Due to this loss of identity and social isolation, Mia is left to find happiness in alternative ways, such as dancing. 

• Mia’s passion for dance is symbolism for her escape from the working class as an audition gives her an opportunity to move up from her basic and misfortunate life in poverty. Mia also finds happiness by seeking male attention, and this attention happens to come from her mother’s boyfriend, Connor. 
• Connor is of a higher class than Mia and her family, and he is seen as a paternal figure to Mia and her younger sister, which Mia is not used to after growing up in a single parent family with her mother having little interest in her life. However this family structure means Mia’s behaviour is influenced by her mother as a role model as Stryker quotes ‘a consistent set of behaviours reinforce the identity of a person or a group’ – supported by Mia’s behaviour mirroring her mother’s (drinking, dressing and dancing provocatively). 
• Mirroring her mothers behaviour leads to a blurring of boundaries between a paternal and intimate relationship between Mia and Connor, as he becomes more suggestive and lustful in the way he talks and acts around Mia. This increases audience comfortability and Mia is underage – this manipulative behaviour also highlights how the middle class exploit the lower class through capitalist ideologies. 

• Throughout the film, Mia continuously visits a traveller site where an undernourished horse is seen chained to the ground. The horse is representative of Mia’s freedom as she is unable to leave her working class background to live her dreams of being a dancer. Later in the film, after a failed dance audition, Mia returns to the traveller site to find the horse had been shot by its owners as she was ‘ill’, along with her failing dreams and loss of Connor after being used, she breaks down in tears. This is the first time we see Mia upset which subverts the stereotypical strong and apathetic personalities of working class youths as she suddenly loses everything she relied on for happiness and hope. 

• By representing the youths as different to audience expectations, director Andrea Arnold shows the audience that the working class are not all they seem and the reality is they have no choice but to collectively live in poverty due to oppression from the ruling classes. ‘the mass media…place subjects in such a way that their representations are taken as reality’ – Althusser states, showing that although typical but realistic working class mise-en-scene is used such as council estates, crime and violence, the stories of why the working class live this way is shown through the thought provoking storyline.

Our Films Classification

In a previous blog post, I researched different age ratings and which aspects puts a film into each category. I summarised the definition of each rating and from this we, as a group, decided on which age rating most suits our film and trailer.



	Bad Language	Sexual Behaviour	Violence	Behaviours that could be copied	Drug reference
Universal	Infrequent / very mild (damn, hell)	No overt focus, mild reference allowed	Very mild, reassuring outcome	Must be disapproved	None unless there is a clear anti-drug message
PG	Mild, context important (sh**)	Unlikely unless undetailed	Mild, no detail	Dangerous behaviours must be condemned	References without strong focus
12A	Strong language depending on manner and frequency (f***) non discriminatory	Briefly and discreetly portrayed	Moderate without great detail	Accessible weapons must not be glamorised	Infrequent sights of drugs but portrayal must not be glamorised
15	Great deal, no limit on no. of uses	Activity can be portrayed without great detail	Strong, no focus on infliction of pain or injury	Should not dwell on detail of dangerous behaviours	Can be shown without encouraging or promoting use with instructional detail
18	No limit on use of any language	Strong and detailed portrayals allowed	Strong with detail, pain and injury can be dwelled on	Very dangerous behaviour may be cut	Can be shown without encouraging or promoting

• Our film fits the criteria for the majority of the 15 category due to less extreme presentations of violence and language. However the strong language and hard drug use bring the film into the 18 rating due to its ability to expose children and younger teens to dangerous behaviours and extreme language.

• Below is the age rating block I created for the billings block which highlights the rating and description of the films harmful content to which the audience should respond to respectively.

• Further detail into the 18 rating category can be seen in the image below which is an extract from the BBFC classification document which clearly highlights the limits within each category. This includes exceptions for adults freely choosing what the consume and how the 18 category differs from the R18 category.