Representation

As my film trailer is about 3 nerds at school trying to become well known and popular, it is important that my audience call tell when they're un-cool and when they're trying to be popular. A way I can help send this message to the audience is the clothing they're wearing. I will make sure the clothes they're wearing as nerds represent a geek look by tucked in T-Shirts, a low posture when standing still, bags high on their backs and their trousers tucked into their socks. I know nobody who would classify themselves as a geek and where a clothing style like this, but this clothing has been used in many films which represents a good geek look. As my audience will recognise this stereo type, I will defiantly use this in my trailer. When the 3 boys start to become cool, they won't have a normal fashion sense, it will move from on extreme to the other. They will be wearing sunglasses on a normal winters day, hats, hoodies, low trousers and stand and talk differently. Again, I know nobody popular who dresses in this way but this is the way a lot of films portray young popular people so I will use this stereo type to represent the cool side of them.

Proforma: First sight of the main character/s

I am interested in when comedy film trailers reveal the main characters to the audience. This is an important moment for the film itself as this is the audience's first view of the characters in the film and how funny the film could be. I will look at 9 recent comedy trailers and see at what point in the trailer they reveal the characters to the audience which will give me an idea how much of a build up I should give the trailer before showing them to the viewers.

Inbetweeners: After 14 seconds all characters are shown together
StepBrothers: 20 seconds
21 Jump Street: 6 seconds
Ted: 30 seconds
SuperBad: 8 seconds
Role Models: 8 seconds
Kick Ass: 20 seconds
Hallpass: 25 seconds
Horrible bosses: 45 seconds

In most action trailers such as James Bond, the main character is introduced to the audience after showing clips of the country the film is based in and usually the supporting cast as well to help build tension and a scene for the for the main character. Where as in comedy film trailers, the main characters are introduced into the trailer almost immediately. This helps show the audience that the main point of the film is about the jokes the characters are cracking instead of the surrounding background they live in. It also helps the first impression of the film if the trailer immediately makes all of the audience laugh.

Some key and different points I have noticed in some of these trailers is the start kicks off with music that brings action into a film trailer, and then for it to all stop for a joke. This is a good effect as the film trailer almost shows the audience that it's going to be an action packed film and then changes the genre completely. This helps the impact of the joke using the element of surprise. This is a technique I could use at the beginning of my film. Almost every trailer also started off with the age certificate of the trailer before showing the trailer itself. This is done to prove a point to the audience that what they're about to see is suitable for them. I should consider adding this in to make my trailer seem more realistic. A few of the trailers also have a lot of sound effects added when the title of the film appears on the screen. This is to attract attention and to build the scene for the rest of the trailer. I will search around and try out a few music effects so when my title of the film bursts in, it sounds like an explosion or something to impact the film into being over the top and comical.

My year 12 magazine notes

Media Language / Mise en scene

• The title font blends in with the wall and urban feel
• Initials of music and base used as a slang name
• The big space of wall above our heads
• Fonts used as graffiti
• The writings all on a slant to show the style and give a an impression to the audience that it's about the latest trend and not how neat it is
• The hoodies/clothing help give the magazine leak what's in side
• Fashion of the boys shows the genre and the audience it's aimed for
• Lots of colour going on to make it stand out a lot more
• Sharp fonts to make the audience read and pay attention to them
• Basic use of language to appeal to a wider teenage audience

Institution

• Set in a cold street by a wall in England
• The magazine is made by their owners and not a big well known company
• Some of the titles show that sponsors are used inside the magazine and so they the magazine is an institution in its own right
• It's an institution for famous bands and singers to get publicity

Genre

• The clear genre is an urban/street styled magazine
• Can tell the style through font, mise en scene, background, and the clothes the band is wearing
• Also has an indie look to it as well
• More of a formal genre due to the slanted writing, the urban fonts used and the stance of the band

Representation

• The fonts of the subtitles are represented as graffiti on the urban styled background
• The band are in trendy and stylish clothing to represent an up to date boy band
• The stance of the band represents the formal look to the magazine
• The title of the magazine's font looks worn out and scratched to represent an old but cherished magazine
• The street styled picture is used to represent the life and style of teenagers
• The different colours used represents the use of diversity in their magazine, and the different types of bands interviewed later on in their magazine
• The location represents the hangouts of teenagers all over the UK

Audience

• The location on the street shows quite a teenage style
• The use of clothes the boy band is wearing shows quite a fashionable style which will be done for the teenage population
• Teenagers are well known for being crazy over boy bands and music so this also shows who the magazine is aimed at
• The boy band themselves are teenagers which gives the magazine and the audience something in common
• The graffiti styled wall looks quite diverse but stylish. This is exactly what the majority of teenagers prefer in a magazine
• The fonts have an indie look to them. Indie style is highly populated by teenagers at the moment

Certification for my film trailer

The certification of my film is going to be a 15. This is because of the bbfc guidlines  (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009_5.pdf), say that the language used will have to be a 15 as its too rude and/or constant for a 12A. I will also have a bit of violence in my film, although it will be funny for the audience, it still doesn't meet the limitations of a 12A. During my research, I've found that most 15 comedy films have a U or a 12A trailer so they can advertise their film in all screenings to attract as many people over 15 as possible. I am considering also using this tatic with my film trailer, but doing this, I will need to make sure I don't use a lot of bad language or dwell on a lot of violence.

Stepbrothers: Trailer Notes

Media Language / Mise en scene

• Starts off with an introduction to the characters of the film
• Scratching pen writing the names down at the start
• Starts with soft music, then beat kicks in later on
• Fast cuts between clips to show the comedy involved in the film
• Music in the background was quite cheery and funny its self
• The font used as narration was bubble writing which came across as quite silly to match the film's jokes
• Lots of close ups on the characters at the start to show a comical expression
• Music stops on some jokes which adds to the comedy
• Had no swearing in it even though the film certificate is a 15
•  The Trailer was aimed at more of a teenage audience with lots of comedy used. The trailer was a U as it showed little violence, no swearing or drug references. This was to catch as many adults to their film as possible. As the film is a 15, it did limit some of their potential audience
•  Change of music for the change of the stepbrother's relationship
• As trailer moves on, less close ups are used and more medium/long shots replace them too show the audience the environment

Institution

• Set in L.A
• Columbia made the film
• Showed the Columbia badge after introducing the characters of the film. The did this to attract your attention and then showed you who made it in the hope the audience would notice Columbia more

Genre

• A clear comedy throughout
• Told the audience this through the music, fast editing, camera close ups and font used for titles
• Didn't mix with any other genre

Representation

• Males dominated the screen throughout the trailer
• In the interview the 2 main characters showed disrespect to the boss
• Interviewer was a lady
• Bad side of kids beating up the Stepbrothers
• Wealthy background but silly children
• Not a good view on adults behaviour either
• Unemployed members of he public were shown in a bad light too
• It was all bad representation for every group of people that was shown

Audience

•  Good appeal to everyone by having 2 huge actors involved
• Trailer was for everyone so they could advertise it in U films so parents will see it whilst they are watching a film with their children
• Used lots of comical violence which tends to attract teenagers more than the other age groups
• Was all clean comedy used in the trailer
• Was all evolving around Will Ferrell and John.C Reily to try and push the big names out to everyone even more

Narrative

• The trailer runs on the plot of Todorov's theory. It roughly has an equilibrium that gets disturbed and shows what happens
• As this is a trailer it briefs over the plot, but it shows enough detail to realise that even a pure comedy film has situations added and that it follows Todorov's theory
• It doesn't follow any other narrative as the film's goal is to make you laugh and not to sit back and watch a situation enfold before your eyes
• If it followed Propp's theory, the film would lose it's comedy theme and become more of a fairy tell instead