Research & Planning - Trailers

What is in a trailer

• Gives away Genre 
• Reveals a little bit of the plot line
• Protagonists
• Setting/Year
• What draws the audience to watch the film (Hook)
• Good/Bad moments 

Spike Island

The trailer shows that the film is located in Manchester and the year is 1990. The protagonist(s) is a group of male friends, trailer counts down to a concert for a Stone Roses concert, this hints to the viewer that the films plot line is about the protagonists journey to the concert. The release date is included, informing the audience when the film is available in cinemas.

One Day

The trailer introduces the protagonists which are a male and female who are each others love interests, the music played throughout the trailer sounds is a romantic score and the song played near the end sounds positive, this also hints to the audience that this film is a Romance. The film scores music is also quite emotive halfway through giving a sad/angst feeling to the audience letting them know that this film is not just a heart warming film, but also heartbreaking. Also, there are various amounts of kisses, conversations about their relationship during the trailer which also gives away the films genre. A title is shown at the beginning of the trailer, 'Scotland 1988', informs the audience that that is where/when our two protagonists met each other. We can tell that the film jumps through time, as the voiceover informs us that the couple have met up with one another since the day they met for 20 years, till the present which would've been 2008.

Summer Holiday Research - Film Posters

A film poster is used to advertise a film. There are many posters advertising films all over the world to gain publicity from the audience. Most of them contain an image e.g. main character from the film posing, along with some text and tag lines. They're usually displayed in public areas e.g. billboards, cinemas (Inside & Out), Newspapers, Magazines.

Film posters advertise before the film is available to premiere in cinema, the reason for this is because posters give audiences a little teaser, an idea of what the film is about just by looking at the cast (pose, clothing etc.) and name of the film.

Difference between a Teaser trailer and a Character Poster

Teaser Poster

A teaser poster is an early promotional film poster which includes an image or design, but without much detail to it, not revealing any of the storyline at all. This is a publicity stunt, it catches the audiences attention and causes excitement for the premiere of the film. Sometimes a short tagline is included or the poster can just contain an image of a prop or a brief shot of the main character (most likely facing away from the camera).

Character Poster

A Character Poster is featuring the main character or group, most posters feature an individual character from the film e.g. Harry Potter. Most posters include:

• The Title of the Film
• Age Rating, audiences will know whether the films appropriate or not for kids to watch
• Tag Line, a brief synopsis
• Star Ratings by film critics
• Quotes from the film critics (Sometimes)
• Cast (At the top of poster) & Crew (At the bottom in Steel tongs font)
• Release Date

Summer Holiday Research - Film Magazines

Film magazines review the latest conglomerate and independent films, they also rate the films and inform the audience whether they're worth premiering. The magazines also include facts and behind the scenes information to make the upcoming film interesting. Most of the time they include interviews with the latest actor/actress promoting their film, these interviews will persuade young audiences such as teenagers, as their favourite celebrity crush is being interviewed e.g. Hugh Jackman, in the latest edition of Wolverine.

On the front cover of a film magazine, the cover model is of the latest actor/actress promoting their upcoming film in character. Audiences will be persuaded to buy the magazine as their favourite character from a book series or comic book or they might just have a big liking for the celebrity, is now being premiered into a film.

Coverlines such as "100 greatest Heroes & Villains" help to attract audiences, because fans who like Action/Adventure films would love to read this article and would be interested in finding out who are the greatest heroes & villains from a film critics prospective. Some coverlines inform audiences what being on a film set is like for the cast & crew, other coverlines give away little film spoilers for upcoming films. Film critics notify audiences immediately on the front cover if the film is worth watching or give the film a rating, most of the time it is positive feedback.

Empire

A British film magazine and is published every month by Bauer Consumer Media. Empire magazine is the biggest selling film magazine in the UK and is also published in parts of Europe and even the US. Empire hold their own annual Empire Awards, they give awards (voted by the readers of the magazine) to the best actor/actress in their latest film.

Total Film

Another British film magazine which is also published every month and is owned by Future Publishing. The magazine offers cinema, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features. Also includes spotlight interviews with actors and directors, on-set pieces for new and future premiering. Each issue will always include an Interview, a chat with the actor or director asking about their upcoming film.

Entertainment Weekly (EW) 

An American magazine, owned by the Time division of Time Warner, each issue is release every two weeks. EW focuses on film, TV, music, Broadway, books and pop culture. This magazine mostly concentrates on entertainment media news and critical reviews. EW write articles about TV ratings, movie grosses, production costs, concert ticket sales, and in-depth articles about scheduling & producers. EW more likely targets more on a general audience.