Final storyboard of Cause Unknown

Our trailer's final music

Our final teaser trailer music included a mix of static sounds and a 'creepy music box' sound, Garageband allowed us to layer them upon each other.  It had the gradual tension build we wanted to include and the deep piano keys which created an eery effect, this carried on throughout.  

The non-diegetic sound was slow and steady to keep the concept of not revealing a lot about the girl who's an enigma.

 

Un-used Footage

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventional Teaser Trailer

• One minute long

• Establishing the concept and the genre of the film

• Released months before the film or the theatrical trailer 

Teaser trailers are very different from conventional theatrical trailers 

• Two – three minutes long

• More detailed, showing clips from the actual film 

• Precise details of the film - actors, actresses, director, release date 

We looked at the teaser trailer of Batman- The Dark Knight on YouTube, which we believed was a very successful teaser trailer, only being 55 seconds, with a voice over revealing very little about the plot. The only image shown throughout the trailer is the iconic symbol of Batman and no footage from the film.

For us it was important to make sure we stuck to the conventions of a typical teaser trailer, throughout our trailer we do not reveal the storyline, only the genre of psychological thriller.  The scenes included may not even be incorporated into our actual movie, this would add a surprise element to the audience. The Train Spotting teaser trailer is another trailer we found on YouTube that we felt was very effective. 

The clip is not shown throughout the trailer, and we wanted to use and develop this idea so that we could really grasp the brief of creating a conventional teaser trailer, this is similar to our trailer because you would not actually see the girl writing on the wall, like shown in Cause Unknown and if it is shown it would only be very briefly. The reason that we decided to show this in our teaser trailer is because we wanted to reveal the concept of mental illness, for the audience to question what she is doing and why she is doing that. This may generate sympathy for the young girl or in fact the complete opposite it may cause the audience to fear her because her actions are not a social norm.


Representation of the girl 

• Blond hair 

• Blue eyes 

• Young

• White/Pale pink dress 

The way in which we presented the girl was very important because we needed the audience to feel sympathy towards her, she is young, with blond hair and blue eyes and this stereotypically suggests innocence, vulnerability and purity, this was then emphasized with the dress. However, we also wanted the audience to feel uneasy, and potentially fear towards her because although she stereotypically looks this way, she is suffering from a mental illness. We therefore felt it important to make the wall she was writing on dirty and scruffy, making something once clean and pure, dirty, used and discarded.




 

Our trailer challenges media conventions because the majority of the trailer is a time lapse, fragmented by short clips of moving image and then moving image at the end of the trailer. We do not introduce the audience to the character until the end of the trailer, and even then it is very briefly, on top of this we do not have any speech or set up a storyline, only a concept. 

 

Website

This is the latest website for Cause Unknown where changes have been made
Have a look here http://www.wix.com/shrimapatel21/causeuknown

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation?

Construction We incorporated various technologies such as SLR cameras, Mac computers and other software to help us create our teaser trailer, Poster and Website.  The image to the left is the 5D Canon camera we used it to take pictures and a 500D to film (right) our teaser trailer.  This ensured high quality viewing for our audience and captured the detail of the writing on the wall.  It was easy to connect the cameras to the Mac and transfer the images to edit with ‘lightroom’ adjusting the contrast for all the pictures.   To create the time lapse we used a device which took pictures every 2 seconds.  We also looked at YouTube clips in how time lapse's work and what they are.   

 

Wix was very easy to use to make our Cause Unknown website.  Click here to see more on how we constructed the website with different features.

To gain audience feedback  we used YouTube, Facebook (using our own profiles and making a 'like' page) and SurveyMonkey this helped us on our research in improving our teaser trailer.  We also created a Twitter account due to the ever growing popularity of the social networking site.  People are able to see what we are doing with our film and can interact with us on a more personal level.  Audience feedback is most effective online because of how easy it is for people to access the internet through smart phones, Ipads and computers where ever you are.  Nearly all technology has the internet so it is quick to respond to surveys and watch videos.     

A YouTube converter allowed us get non- diagetic sounds but make it sound diagetic.  This was particularly used on our website with the sound of a girl whispering.

Garageband on the Mac computers was useful as it has been in our AS level work last year.  We can layer different sounds to make it more realistic within our teaser.

To create the typography on the website and blog we searched on the internet for 'handwriting' fonts to get the child like writing we were looking for.  Urbanfonts has thousands to choose from making our font look unique.  

For our teaser trailer we used iMovie '11 this uses up to date features and we are able to set the frame per second (fps) to our accordance which was 2fps.  We trimmed clips to bring focus on the wall and the writing itself.  

  

Draft and Final Trailer

 Draft Trailer

                                                


Final Trailer

Our draft trailer was uploaded on the 29th of February. With our final trailer uploaded on the 27th of March. Both the 1st and final drafts of our trailer were posted on to YouTube and shared on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

 Our draft trailer undertook a lot of feedback which we addressed. The most obvious change to the final trailer we made was changing the ending to make the girl have more of an identity to engage the audience. The music was also changed to make categorizing the genre more easily and also making the audience a bit more uncomfortable when watching.
 We decided to use a time lapse to show the fragmentation of the scene, and can give insight into the mindset of the character who suffers from a mental illness. The effect of the time lapse can emphasise the fact that the character has schizophrenia, and may lead the audience to empathise with the character.  It can also bring confusion to the audience due to the disjointedness of the clips.
This is also shown by the quick zoom in on the writing on the wall, the camera work is hand held.  The time lapse also indicates that it is over a long period of time, showing everything that is written on the wall.  A few seconds focusing on a matchstick being lit illustrates the danger element within the film and a close- up concentrating on the flame is eye catching to the audience, it stands out and would make them question what is going to happen. Shortly after a 1 second flash on a close- up of the girl's eye is shown; looking up then down to give a dark element to the film.  A mid- shot of the girl standing looking directly at the camera is edited to be a black and white shot and very dark lighting to give mystery and make the audience think about what they cannot see and raise questions on the location.  

 

Question 3: What have you learned through Audience Feedback

 Before the filming and editing of out trailer, we had to conduct research from within our target audience. There were many ways we conducted research, mainly through SurveyMonkey, a questionnaire website which enabled us to ask direct questions about specific things. We also used social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter which are more popular among our target audience. Finally we used YouTube once a piece of music, a clip or the whole trailer was uploaded.

 We imagined our target audience  as a Female who was between the ages of 15-30. They would have an interest in films and brief knowledge on some mental disorders, particulary schizophrenia. They would have an income and be able to afford to go to the cinema or buy/rent DVD's from shops.

Initial Audience feedback on our idea:

- When showing Schizophrenia it had to be clear

- Majority of audience weren't aware of the details of Schizophrenia but from recent feedback we learnt that people did think the white dress did have links to a hospital gown or a mental asylum. 

- Many knew it was similar to Multiple Personality Disorder

- Drawing would be as effective as writing on the wall

- The audience would have wanted to be educated about the effects of Schizophrenia

 In our audience questionnaire, a resounding 81% of the responses suggested that the genre we should use is a Psychological Thriller.

Our audience responce suggested we used the following style in our trailer:

- Fractions of fast paced editing

- Dramatic music aimed to build on the atmosphere

- A disorientating element from the editing to make the audience uneasy

- A voice over or sound effects such as breathing

One part of the trailer we wanted to perfect was the Time Lapse. We had practised using the time lapse in our initial attempt, setting up the wall and the actual attempt. Feedback on the use of a time lapse was positive, although the mise en scene had to be right in order for it to be effective.

Feedback on the trailer:

- Genre was clear to see

- Audience wanted to watch the film to see more of the girl's problem

- Music is effective at the beginning

- Some shots in between the time lapse could be moved around to make the trailer more dramatic

- Young girl is mysterious

- Good use of costume, audience thought outfit represented a hospital / mental patient

- Wider variety of shots more effective

On the Social Networking site Facebook and the video uploading site YouTube there is a "like" system that is usually more popular then a comment. We received additional feedback through the use of the "like".

Without audience feedback making the right decisions for the trailer would have been hard as our judgement may have hindered the overall effect of the trailer. By having audience feedback that judgement is reduced as we listen to what our target audience suggest and make it more appealing for them.

If we had to start the project again I would make sure to include a more detailed audience feedback, this way, we would have a more pinpointed image of our finished product. We would also have more knowledge on our audience and what they would prefer.

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The combination of products is what entices an audience into paying to see the film. We wanted all our publications to feature a common theme, and use the same symbolism in each. We looked at the Dark Knight Rises ancilliary, as they each use minimalist symbolism to tease the audience into watching the film. The poster uses the 'Bat' logo as an instant draw, very simplistic yet instantly recognise. Although we do not have our own symbol, we can use one, such as a white dress, to represent something that will draw our audience in.

The Dark Knight Rises website uses black to represent darkness, and a broken Batman mask to represent Batman being broken. The rain and figure of Bayne represent how he has been left outside, alone and without help. It is this style and symbolism that we used for inspiration for our combination of ancilliary texts, as we used the angelic figure of the dress to symbolise a light in the darkness, and kept the same gritty theme throught out publicatuions.

Our teaser trailer shows innocence, paired with confusion and fear with the ripping white noise creating unease and discomfort. This contrasts with our poster, as our poster only shows the innocence we are trying to convey. The absence of writing on the wall is also a choice we made, to separate the trailer from the poster and website. We have also hidden her identity in both the poster and website, which conveys innocence.

Creating a balance between similarity and contrast to create a consistant and visually distinct style was our biggest challenge when creating our ancillary texts. All pieces convey a dark feel, with the white dress and blonde hair representing an angelic feel, with a sense of lighting up the darkness. The trailer also plays on this symbolism with the match lighting up the surroundings with a luminous glow.

Our website uses similar imagery as the other two publications, however we opted for a darker theme. Using a photograph of the drawn-on wall, we have created a dark scene,with our trailer at the center. Using the trailer in the center, Eva (our main character) is mostly covered up, removing some innocence from the scene, whilst drawing more attention to our trailer.




The poster is our most 'innocent' publication, as it doesn't give much away to the audience and shows Eva is a dim but fair light. Attention is drawn to the centre of the poster, which shows a souble shadow of Eva. this double shadow is representative of her mind, fragmented into two - the innocent little girl, and the angry and seemingly endoctrinated tortured soul. The title is also split in two, which is also a symbol of this.

Our trailer is a combination of both innocence and darkness, and is the most revealing of all our pieces, as we reveal Eva's face. The time lapse shows how this is happening over a long period of time, and expresses her frustration and confusion. The trailer compliments our poster and website by keeping with the same angelic feel of Eva, however when we see her face at the end of the trailer the image is black and white with her in darkness, looking angry. This contrasts with our poster, but also shows the two sides of Eva - the angelic figure, and the angry tortured soul.

The idea of our ancillary texts are to draw our target audience to our trailer, which is more revealing than the website and poster. All our pieces are good advertisement, as each piece leads the audience to ask questions - The poster and website leave her without an identity, whereas the trailer reveals her face, however that leaves the audience asking why she is angry.

Cause Unknown Trailer 1st Draft

This is the first attempt at a final trailer for us. Please could you leave a comment with your thoughts on what is good / what could be improved. Thank you.

pictures from shooting the trailer

Creating the Website

This is a draft of what the website looks like currently without the trailer. We used Wix.com to create it and it was very simple to use with lots of different features such as fade in, changing the behaviours of the different sections.  
We made the background picture transparent because otherwise users would not pay attention to other areas of the website and other tabs would be disguised.  We went for the white coloured font so it stands out from the blackness of the background.  The white symbolises purity and innocence, representing the young girl but the black is there to tell the audience that there's a dark side in the narrative.  
The sound adds an eery effect to the page with whisper sounds (sourced from YouTube)- it also can depict the idea of schizophrenia we have put into the trailer with different voices in her head which is put on to the wall.