My trailer follows the typical conventions of a romcom trailer:
-a mix of voice over and 'real' sound is used frequently,
-the lighting tends to be soft daylight, (Whenever I could I tried to film on sunny days to create this, however, this didn't always work out. Also, in the scene where the male and female leads are walking, I wanted a foggy day, which it was, to create an air of mystery and separation.)
-medium close-ups, reverse shots and long shots are used most often,
-the trailer often ends on a humorous bit,
-the production company logos and age certificate are shown at the beginning,
-the release date and title are shown at the end.
and imitates the layout of a romcom trailer:It begins with her normal life before 'him' then goes on to how she met 'him' and leaves the audience wondering if they will ever get together (obviously they will, they always do). My trailer follows this traditional narrative arc.
The only way in which my trailer drastically differs from a real media RomCom trailer is the quality of location, costumes and props. However, this is explained by the fact that my trailer is promoting more of an
indie film than a mainstream RomCom. Scenes like Purgatory were deliberately bad, as I wanted them to seem bad to the audience, and the angel wings (which I substituted normal angel wings for as they were too expansive) were used for a comedic effect, as well as the toy stethoscope which was used to promote the badness of God's disguises. This is some ways I have turned things like a low budget and limited places to film to my advantage.
I have generally used continuity editing, to give a sense of real-life, except for the scene in which the girl comes back to life, where the screen fades to white and then back to colour but in a different place; when it fades out she is running towards the male lead, and when it fades back in she is waking up in the 'real' world from being run-over. I have also used non-continuity editing for when the male and female lead run towards each other in slow-motion.
As my storyline is quite complex, I felt I needed a longer trailer in order to help the audience understand what was going on (this is also the reason for the large amount of dialogue and the voice over), but, after managing to cut down the length of the trailer, as it started off too long, my trailer ended up being within the anticipated 2:41mins. However, I don't feel that it is too long as the trailer flows quite well.
I have added in a BBFC logo, with the films name on the certify that it is suitable for PG viewing, as there is only one bit of hinted at violence (the girl being run over. However, this is only hinted at as the audience sees a car hears brakes and then sees a black screen). According to the restriction guidelines my trailer is a PG, as many romcom trailers are (due to the fact they contain little to ok violence, like my trailer)
The production company logo, which I have added in at the beginning along with the BBFC logo, has been placed in the typical place; before the trailer starts. Other things like the 'coming soon' and title of the film come at the end, so it is fresh in the audiences minds.
My BBFC logo A Typical BBFC logo
I have created a production logo for the beginning of the trailer. It is for my 'Take 5' production company, and simply features a clapperboard snapping shut. This is shown at the beginning of the trailer, after the BBFC logo, to follow the conventions of RomCom trailers.
The title slide comes close to the end of the trailer, before the humorous part in which the doctor attempts to hit the female lead with a chair. This is where it is usually placed.
It is on a plain white background to draw more attention to the writing, which is the title of the film, 'Heaven & Earth', written in the same font and colour as on the poster to create a sense of cohesion between the products and to give the film a brand.
You can see the similarities of the title slide here:
My title slide (500) days of summer title slide
I have added a 'Coming Soon' title slide near the end of a trailer, after the title slide, as this is where trailers usually have this.
The slide has a plain white background, and simple, easy-to-read text. The 'coming soon' is in a bigger font so the audience knows to look out for it in cinemas, and the movie website is written in a smaller red font at the bottom to make it different to the other writing on the slide, as this is something the audience can look at before the film's release. The credits are written in the typical credits font and I have imitated the use of smaller font for the people's titles, e.g. 'director of photography' and the larger font for the names. Everything is centred to keep the slide neat.
My Coming Soon title slide
The music is calm, as the piece is romantic so calm music accentuates the romance. Also many romcom trailers use calmer, happier music to make their audience feel good.
How my trailer differs from the norm:
-During my research I found that many RomCom trailers had written interjections, however, I wanted to use a voice over rather than words so there are no written interjections.
-RomCom trailers often start by showing the two of them separately, then end up showing the two of them together, however, I began by showing the two of the together, then showing them apart (although he could see her, she couldn't see him.)
My preliminary products; the poster and magazine cover, followed the norms of their respective genres.
The magazine cover imitated exactly that of 'Empire' film magazine, from the masthead, to the yellow and white bold writing (mostly in caps), to the little yellow '+' at the bottom of the page. I did this to ensure that my magazine cover looked as close to a real 'Empire' magazine as possible.
You can see the similarities here:
A real Empire magazine cover My Empire magazine cover
I have use the following things because they are used in the magazine:
- The 'Empire' masthead. However, mine is in front of the photo, whereas the photo is in front of the masthead in the original.
-Yellow and white coloured fonts which alternate on every other line. I have attempted to get the same font but had to settle for this one as more similar ones cost.
- All caps except for 'Starring', 'Plus!', 'First Look!', 'The on-set exclusive!', 'And 101 more!' because these parts weren't important and they weren't in caps on the magazine which I based mine on.
-A picture of the main character in the middle of the front page in character, except mine is closer-up than the original magazine.
-A background which relates to the film. Mine is of a city as this is where the film is set, whereas the original magazine is of the Caribbean as that's where it's set.
-A button in the top left-hand corner of the page, with the same writing written in the same way, except for the film title, in which I have substituted 'Pirates 4' for 'Heaven & Earth'
- A bar code, except I have placed mine underneath the masthead as the layout was slightly different.
- A yellow '+' in the bottom left-hand corner, which describes a different film to that featured.
- Similar article titles for the main featured film, except where it says 'Pirates 4' and things related to that, I have changed it to 'Heaven & Earth' and things related to that.
- The 'Plus' article, except I have changed the film names to more recent ones, and the '102 more' to '101 more' as I thought it sounded better.
-The date and price of the issue I have placed above the 'M'. Although this isn't seen in the original issue I have based mine on, most other issues of 'Empire' have this feature in the same way as it is on mine.
My poster also followed conventions, having the credits at the bottom of the page along with the 'coming soon' and website and the actors names at the top of the page, above the respective actor, I used typical fonts for these parts. Other things like a clean white background, and having both of the lead roles on the page also followed conventions of a romcom poster.
However, having the title near the bottom of the poster challenged conventions slightly, as not many posters have their titles there (they tend to be at the top or in the middle of the page). Despite this, I think the title works better here as it is one of the last things the audience will look at on the page, so is one of the last things they will think about.
The contrast and similarities of my poster and a real one:
A real romcom movie poster My romcom movie poster
Things the same (or similar), which make my poster stick to RomCom poster conventions:
-The line in going down the middle of the page, although mine is red.
- The two main characters on either side of the line, although they are the other way round to the 'ugly truth' poster, and instead of leaning on the line the male lead is reaching out for the female lead and the female lead is standing nonchalantly.
-I have added the 'coming soon' and website at the end of the page in the middle, and in bold and red, to fit in with the 'ugly truth' poster.
- The credits are centred at the bottom of the page and are written in the same style.
- The film title is written in the film brand font and colours, to fit in with the title slide on the trailer, and is near the bottom of the poster, above the credits. However, my film title is slightly higher than the 'ugly truth's title, as I wanted the line to separate 'Heaven' and 'Earth', as the two characters are separated in the film.
- The actors names are written in the same font as the 'ugly truth's names, and are above their respective actors. The surnames are underneath the first names and are in bold, as people are more likely to recognise the surname.
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