STATEMENT OF INTENT WHAT I WANT TO do FOR MY MAIN TASK : TEASER TRAILER

OUR PRODUCTION TEAM

My production team consists of me ( Adeola, left), Terri ( middle) and Solyanna (right). I chose to work with these two girls because we all wanted to do a movie trailer and had similar visions of the product we wanted to create and I knew that once we fused and tweaked each of our visions , we would have a remarkable movie teaser trailer that could compete with commercial trailers. We intend to meet weekly to discuss production as this is integral to the success of our trailer. The intended plan is that we draw up a to-do list and each week we tick at least 3 of the tasks, this will demonstrate that we are making progress and also show what tasks need to be done which will be documented on our blog as part of planning. We also plan to document our weekly meetings via all modes of media such as pictures and videos.

ROLE ALLOCATION

My role is the screenwriter, editor and casting director.

Below is a worksheet that lists all the possible roles needed for a successful trailer. My roles are in yellow and orange.

What do you think is the purpose of your teaser trailer?

• “The purpose of our teaser trailer is to promote and preview the upcoming, British urban movie Bloodline by engaging and securing the audience’s focus through a narrative, sound and cinematography that entices them to pay to watch it.” – FROM ADEOLA LASOYE, TERRI LUCAS AND SOLYANNA KEFLOM

• This the answer me and my group chose, we chose this answer because it fulfils the purpose of a movie trailer in the first instance which is to promote and advertise a new upcoming film. However, me and my group thought that a movie trailer also meant persuading people to go and watch the film and the only way to do this was through cinematography, sound and a gripping narrative which will encourage them to go and watch Bloodline as a film.

BRAINSTORM OF IDEAS• After my research into real media movie trailers, I liked

certain features of different trailers. For example, I liked the booming SFX that was present in opening of Takers lasting for 10 seconds. As a viewer, it automatically engaged my attention and built up anticipation to watch the rest of the trailer as I was curious to find out more about the narrative. Likewise, I also liked the opening sequence of 4.3.2.1 as the taglines used were a quick time movie and had a parallel sound creating me to follow the narrative as well as the action. Thus I would like to incorporate all of the features I liked into my teaser trailer, I think this is a good idea because it will ensure my trailer has a sense of verisimilitude and authenticity as well as fulfil the main purpose of promoting my film by using the codes and conventions of movie trailers.

BRAINSTORM OF IDEAS

Ideas I want to incorporate into my teaser trailer

establishing shot of Stockwell station and South East London

booming SFXgeneric feature

R’N’B soundtrackgeneric feature

non digetic soundgeneric feature

high key lightinggeneric feature

moving taglinesgeneric feature

action sequencegeneric feature

montagegeneric feature

social realismgeneric feature/ USP

BRAINSTORM OF IDEAS

Ideas I want to incorporate into my teaser trailer

digetic sound through dialogue: conversation with ransom

warm and cold colours

institutiongeneric feature

Clock tower tracking shot

creditsgeneric feature

two shot featuring the main characters

props: guns, chairs, tapegeneric feature bold film title

generic feature

fast cutsgeneric feature

a family home

Why these ideas? • I chose these ideas because they are all conventions of real media

products on this particular media platform, this is one of the ways I am using real media texts to influence and create my own designs. I also chose the ideas, because this is what I want my trailer to loosely feature or include my own designs and ideas that fit in with my films narrative and genre. For example, I intend on using a panning shot and a clock tower as the mise en scene at the end of my trailer so that it establishes my genre clearly and the narrative. ( A panning shot together with the r’n’b track will lead the audience to connotations of the action genre and the clock tower will represent time, as the girls are on a mission to rescue their dad under limited time.) I think doing a brainstorm of ideas has helped me because I have some sort of direction as to what I want to do, which will have me be time efficient and organised when discussing with my group, potential scenes and storylines and also help us in creating the storyboard and synopsis for our teaser trailer.

What budget do you realistically think you will need to make the teaser trailer? How do intend to break down the budget for your teaser trailer?

• Our budget for the production of Bloodline is £50, as we think realistically the only expensive features in our trailer will be the mise en scene (props, costume and make up) Also, we intend on taking out the cast for a meal as a form of payment and gratitude.

• We think the rest of our budget we go to miscellaneous matters such as oyster top up for the tube and catering on set.

• We intend to break down the budget for out trailer in terms of importance through a pie chart. By creating a pie chart, we can clearly divide the budget into 4. For example, looking at the pie chart, props take most significance as it has 75% of the pie chart, representing it’s 75% share in the budget- £37.50

Props58%Cos-

tume23%

Post Produc-

tion Dinner10%

Miscellaneous9%

Budget

What title will you be choosing for your trailer? How will this generate interest and create an automatic fan base as regards your potential target audience? What fonts will you be using for your title?

• The title for our trailer is called Bloodline, which is the title for the movie we are also promoting. We decided to use the same name as the movie for the teaser trailer as we didn’t want confusion between the movie and the trailer and also it is a typical convention that real media texts use to establish branding between their media products on different media platforms. Our title, is memorable as it is concise, short and direct and illustrates the film’s narrative and caption of “Blood is thicker than water”, thus creating a USP for our trailer as through our creativity it is unique due the title not been based on a existing films or existing film titles in our genre.

• Looking back at our research medias texts, film titles in the urban action/action genre are a bold, plain, simple sans serif font, thus we have also decided to use these fonts for our title. With a main focus on “velvenda cooler font” as it fits the qualities we were looking for ( bold, plain, legible and urban). Through, our creativity we also decided to go against conventions and use two different colours for our title, which was a bright red and pure white. The connotations of these colours are simple, the red symbolises “Blood” which is signified with family relationships; a key theme in our narrative that will appeal and relate to our audience . We decided to follow conventions of the action genre colour scheme which always has one neutral colour amongst the colour scheme such as black, grey or white. We chose “pure white” because it represents the pure love that family members have for each and also representing their girls innocence as we want the audience to have an preferred reading to the storyline and see them as victims. It also stands out from our black background making our title as a whole, more striking and noticeable which is crucial as our title will create an automatic fan base in regards to our potential audience.

What will your story be about and how will it relate to your chosen genre?• Bloodline is action film which resolves around

a small family living in South London. The plot explores the extreme lengths that two sisters, Amber and Taylor have to go through in order to save the life of their father Paul. Unintentionally, the two girls are  left with the pressure and responsibility to return a valuable memory stick to a notorious gang leader of the south London area. The data on this memory stick is worth a lot more than the health and safety of Amber, Taylor and Paul, as far as the gang leader is concerned. As well as being under strict time conditions, the girls are faced with many obstacles, trials and dead ends. The movie reveals how family values, loyalty and personality traits are tested.

• Bloodline relates to our chosen genre of urban action because the narrative offers a representation of family life in Britain; it is set in a inner London city borough and the female teenage protagonists illustrate lifestyle of drug lord's daughter following love, betrayals, friendship and family.

How did you evolve the concept of your teaser trailer from the trailers you have researched?

• Following, my media research into real media texts, I looked at concepts of movie trailers and noticed that they all used a certain structure that helped them in terms of narrative and organisation in evolving their concepts. I have decided to use part of the 5 stage narrative structure to evolve my trailers narrative and to also allow our creativity and own ideas to have a sense of structure and organisation :

• 1. Exposition: I intend to establish setting and the main characters, in the beginning of the trailer to help my audience understand the narrative. For example, by using the first ten seconds of my movie showing establishing shots of Stockwell and montages of the main characters the audience will have summarised this is a feature film following the lives of two girls in Stockwell, South East London.

• 2. Development: Here, I intend to introduce more characters such as the kidnapper and the father as the situation develops, the audience will find out that the girl’s dad has been kidnapped and held for ransom.

• 3. Complication: something happens to complicate the lives of the characters. In my narrative, the complication will be the girls are under a time limit and must find a memory stick containing vital information.

• And finally the ..• 4. Climax: This is when matters come to a head, suspense is high and a

decisive moment is reached. For example, the climax in Bloodline will be whether or not the girls reach the clock tower in time with the memory stick. Will their father be murdered?

• The resolution will not be shown, as I am creating a trailer, the main aim is to leaving the audience in curiosity about what will happen, thus prompting them to watch the movie, thus the matters will not be resolved. This is one of the ways I worked out the solid structure of my story before writing the first draft of the screenplay.

• I intend to use a blueprint screenplay as a guide in creating my script so that I wont get stuck and also my characters actions, emotions and body language will have a sense of realism as the blueprint will be detailed in the actor/ actresses description, dialogue etc.

Brainstorm of our narrative

How do you intend to open / close your teaser trailer? why?

Possible ways to open our trailer

montage of main characters to establish who the storyline follows or surrounds

fade in are a typical convention in starting action movies, used to build up suspense and excitement in the audience

booming SFX to grab the audience’s focus and to entice them to watch the rest of the trailer

flashbacks to show what has happened previously in the narrative, helps the audience understand and follow the storyline

establishing shot of setting helps to convey narrative effectively and also provides a sense of realism due to the real locations being used

voiceover as a form of narrative cue, helps the audience feel more included as they are being directly addressed

fast cuts of scenes to ensure the audience’s focus

How do you intend to open / close your teaser trailer? Why?

Possible ways to close our trailer

credits to illustrate the cast, producers, director which may persuade the audience to go and watch the movie

fade out to create anticipation with in the audience

Title graphics/ captions to show when the movie is coming out

non digetic sound to create anxiety, excitement and curiosity as it feels like an abrupt end

soundtrack to show that the movie is being supported by these artists and to illustrate the genre

medium close up shot of characters to show their reactions

SFX to maintain focus and provide a “wallop” giving the audience that the film will be a smash hit in the box office

Genre I intend to establish • The genre I have chosen for my film trailer is urban action. To

establish my genre in the trailer I intend to focus on: Characterisation : the characters in my trailer, are going to

reflect my genre and follow some typical archetypes such as the villain, the hero, sidekick etc which are typical characters in the action genre.

Mise en scene: Like, most urban action films, I intend to use location shooting and authentic locations such as family homes, council estates and tube stations to create a sense of social realism which will be part of the film’s USP.

Technical codes: I want to use an unobtrusive filmic style with a variety of camera shots, angles and movements which is a typical convention of this genre.

Written codes: captions and taglines are essential in conveying parts of my narrative, as I will not be relying on narrative cues such as flashbacks for the audience to piece parts of the narrative together. I will be using bold fonts and dark backgrounds which are typical codes used in the captions of my genre.

For my media product, genre is a useful promotional device as my target audience can easily recognise genre conventions and can therefore make active audiences easily recognise genre conventions. As a producer, genre is going to help me generate interest as my target audience will gain a sense of familiarity mixed with the promise of variation through the female dominated theme, as part of the film’s unique selling point.

What representations do you think will exist in your movie trailer?

• I think representations of ethnicity and age will be conveyed in my movie trailer through the characters. Representations of Ethnicity in the mass media often rely on this notion of ‘ otherness’, thus my characters are going to be shown to be ‘culturally different’ from hegemonic representations. For example, representations of the Black race and ethnicity as being “ the other "will be explicit. This is because stereotypes of Black males being violent are confirmed in the narrative through characters such as Sylvester and his actions. Such representations are going to be a way for us to maintain marginalisation and stereotyping of particular ethnic minorities in this case, African Caribbean's.

• Representations of age will also be explicit, as the characters are mainly part of the young generation, thus it will be reflecting the lifestyles and attitude of youth in Britain 2012. For example, Sylvester represents youth attitudes of 2012, he wants instant gratification so he is a top gangster who sells crack cocaine, to get the latest fashion, gadgets and other material objects, the youth of today are pressured into, instead of working his way up society through legitimate means which is a familiar career path in South London.

• I think such representations in my film reinforce the notion of social realism as it pushes the boundaries.

WHAT ArE THE CONVENTIONS OF YOUR CHOSEN GENRE AS REGARDS TO EDITING, LIGHTING, SOUND, MISE EN SCENE AND FONTS APPLIED TO YOUR INSTUITIONS AND TITLES, STYLES OF EDITING, SPEED OF EDITING AND COLOUR, CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOT TYPES?

• conventions of camera angles and shot types used in the action/urban action genre that I intend to incorporate into my teaser trailer:

- long shots to establish character, setting and dilemma.-close ups of the main characters -high angles to show superiority between characters-panning and tracking shots used within action sequences- A variety of high and low angle shots- reaction shot is show the characters expression.- two shot to establish power and relationships between the

characters- omniscient point of view shot, which gives a sense of

uncertainty, for the viewer

WHAT ArE THE CONVENTIONS OF YOUR CHOSEN GENRE AS REGARDS TO EDITING, LIGHTING, SOUND, MISE EN SCENE AND FONTS APPLIED TO YOUR INSTUITIONS AND TITLES, STYLES OF EDITING, SPEED OF EDITING AND COLOUR, CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOT TYPES?• conventions of editing used in the action/urban action

genre that I intend to incorporate into my teaser trailer:

- straight cuts to join one scene to another- graphic match of the cities and skylines which provides a

transition for the next shot.- a split screen to illustrate and establish main characters- pyrotechnics are used to create a sense of action, excitement

and shock in the trailer.- jump cuts to form two sequential shots together and to show

a jump in continuity and time- fade outs where the transition from a shot turns to black

where the image gradually becomes darker

WHAT ArE THE CONVENTIONS OF YOUR CHOSEN GENRE AS REGARDS TO EDITING, LIGHTING, SOUND, MISE EN SCENE AND FONTS APPLIED TO YOUR INSTUITIONS AND TITLES, STYLES OF EDITING, SPEED OF EDITING AND COLOUR, CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOT TYPES?• conventions of mise en scene used in the action/urban

action genre that I intend to incorporate into my teaser trailer:

- costume that reflects narrative, genre and character stereotype- careful character positioning to convey body language- authentic locations and settings to support narrative and provide

a sense of social realism- props to help construct and assist narrative- high key lighting and low key lighting to create a variety of

atmosphere and moods- facial expressions to illustrate feelings, emotions and attitudes- warm colours to give the impression of a “Hollywood” produced

movie- cautious positioning of objects within a frame

WHAT ArE THE CONVENTIONS OF YOUR CHOSEN GENRE AS REGARDS TO EDITING, LIGHTING, SOUND, MISE EN SCENE AND FONTS APPLIED TO YOUR INSTUITIONS AND TITLES, STYLES OF EDITING, SPEED OF EDITING AND COLOUR, CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOT TYPES?

• conventions of institutions and titles used in the action/urban action genre that I intend to incorporate into my teaser trailer:

- written codes such as captions are used as a form of credits- title graphics used to establish genre through colour choice- written code of the film’s institution as a form of insurance - captions are used to help the audience follow the narrative

WHAT ArE THE CONVENTIONS OF YOUR CHOSEN GENRE AS REGARDS TO EDITING, LIGHTING, SOUND, MISE EN SCENE AND FONTS APPLIED TO YOUR INSTUITIONS AND TITLES, STYLES OF EDITING, SPEED OF EDITING AND COLOUR, CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOT TYPES?

• conventions of speed of editing used in the action/urban action genre that I intend to incorporate into my teaser trailer:

- each shot lasting no more than three seconds- fast speed editing to get as much of narrative across within

time limit- low speed editing on specific frames that appeal to

audience emotions

WHAT ArE THE CONVENTIONS OF YOUR CHOSEN GENRE AS REGARDS TO EDITING, LIGHTING, SOUND, MISE EN SCENE AND FONTS APPLIED TO YOUR INSTUITIONS AND TITLES, STYLES OF EDITING, SPEED OF EDITING AND COLOUR, CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOT TYPES?• conventions of sound used in the action/urban action genre that I

intend to incorporate into my teaser trailer to reflect my chosen genre:

- parallel sound as the images on screen complement the music- sound bridges are used to help create a smooth transition from one scene to

another- digetic sounds such as dialogue to help convey the narrative easily and also

reveal narrative enigmas- booming SFX to create tension, suspense and excitement among viewers

and to also persuade them to watch the film as the booming SFX will create parallel sound with the moving images. The value of SFX is significant to trailers as I gathered from my initial research as it adds to the “ wallop” of a teaser trailer, I hope this will engage and maintain the focus of my target audiences attention so that they can follow the film’s narrative, as my trailer will require the audience to play an active role in piecing the narrative together.

- a r’n’b soundtrack that has similarities between the lyrics and film’s synopsis

Have you thought of characters for your movie trailer? I then created some character profiles for our narrative, here are the characters me

and my group agreed on :Character profiles• Amber- 21, female, part time bar worker, oldest sister, mixed ethnicity (African and Asian)• Taylor- 18,female,student,youngest sister, ( African Caribbean)• Paul- 35, male, gangster/ drugs lord, father ( African Caribbean)• Sylvester- 23, arch enemy, rival gangster ( African) We have chosen and created these characters for our trailer, because they fit

narrative themes of typical characters in action movies such as the villain, heroes etc thus reinforcing our genre and presenting characters the audience are familiar with. I think these characters are a good representation of age and ethnicity which reflect my target audience, this is crucial as we feel the audience are mostly likely to use our media product for personal identity and social integration.

WHO ARE YOUR POTENTIAL TARGET AUDIENCE AND WHY WILL YOU HOPING TO AIM YOUR TEASER TRAILER AT YOU?• From my research and initial thoughts, I

can now conclude that my target audience for Bloodline is:

• Mainly the African/ African Caribbean ethnicity and race

• 18-20, 20-24 age range• social class C1, C2 and D• males and femalesI am hoping to aim my teaser trailer at this

specific audience because they are more likely to relate to my trailer’s genre, narrative and representations that will be portrayed. I also feel that they will be able to appreciate the social realism element in the trailer and use it in their own lives as a learning curve by connecting with the characters and storyline. Here are some pictures of my target audience…

My target audience

digital technology Programmes I intend to use

• Adobe Premiere: is a video editing software application. It is part of the Adobe Creative suite, a suite of graphic design, video editing and web development applications developed by Adobe Systems. I intend to use this to programme to create and edit my teaser trailer, I have decided to use this programme because I feel it has the right features such as the 3D and 2D monitors to create a professional trailer. It has also produced commercial films that have gained critical success such as Avatar, thus I feel it is the right direction for my first film feature.

• Adobe After Effects: is a digital motion graphics and composting software published by Adobe systems, used in the post production process of film making and television production . I will be using After Effects to create motion graphics such as my taglines and captions. I have decided to use this programme because looking back at my initial target research, I found that my audience responded more positively to title graphics that moved, thus I have decided to incorporate this feedback into my own media product.

• Screenwriting Pro: is a complete script-formatting solution that represents a huge step forward for writers and filmmakers. With no software to install and no technical matters like upgrades to deal with, Screenwriting Pro allows me to focus on what really matters: writing the screenplay. I have chosen to use this script writing package because it has advanced features such as industry standard formatting and revision tracking which will allow me to create a detailed and through screenplay. A detailed screenplay will allow me to collaborate appropriately with my production team as the mise en scene, dialogue and camera angle will be specific. For example, I can work with the costume designer on creating the right look for the cast so that their wardrobe fits the storyline and their individual personality which will be represented through their dialogue.

Lighting/ moodFrom my initial research, I have decided to use high key lighting and warm colours to create a specific mood and atmosphere. Below, is a mood board of the different types of lighting and mood that I found in my real media texts that I would like to incorporate into my teaser trailer. I think the mood board is a good way of reminding the type of shots I want to use in terms of lighting and mood in my trailer.

LOCATIONS/ social realism• Here are some pictures of the locations we

intend to use. We have chosen these locations because they are authentic and provide a sense of verisimilitude through the family home, council estates, London underground etc and we feel that they represent our genre and help us remain loyal to the social realism genre that is a convention in this specific genre, whilst at the same time providing a fictional world that is real that the audience are familiar with. In total, we intend to use 4 different locations ( family home, Stockwell park, London underground and a warehouse ) because these are the main locations that will feature in the scenes of our trailer. Our location scout has found a balance between the aesthetic and practical sides. For example, it is more practical to shoot in Stockwell park during the day as there are less people around, but less aesthetically pleasing as we need a nightime shot for the storyline to be effective and believable.

locations I tend to use to illustrate social realism

CONCLUSION • Creating a statement of intent gives me direction, about the

type of trailer I want to create with a specific target audience in mind. This is because it has provided me with guidance so that when creating my storyboards and initial draft trailer I will have guidelines and ideas to stick to and will have not just made things up as I go along, it will also give me some control of my creativity whilst designing and constructing my trailer. Likewise, so will my co workers, once we have pitched out ideas we can then choose the one that best fit our film narrative and genre ensuring that it will engage our target audience. This allows our teaser trailer to look like professional media texts, as we have done our research and chosen ideas that will suit our genre. I now feel more confident in creating my teaser trailer as I know what I want and how to go about it.