Evaluation 1A: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Trailer)

1. I chose to put my films title at the end of my trailer as  this is one of the generic conventions followed in the construction of trailers. This also helps audience members as it is the last thing they see once all the action and information we want them to receive comes to end. This suggests that this is the last thing they will remember and they will then try and further analyse and think of the films narrative in their head further on from what they have seen. I chose to put my title in white text as I feel it stands out nicely against the black and doesn't distract from anything or give away any false ideas. When I asked some of my target audience members they mentioned that they thought the white worked nicely as it could connote the baby's purity and how although his birth mother is put in a difficult situation, it will have a bright future as he has people that care about him no matter what happens. Following my films title, I also added an extra inter-title which has the release date on it and the hashtag (#pricelessfilm) along with the social media usernames for my film which all audience members will be able to gain further information about the film or even interact with the producer and actors. A film which is very similar to mine and that I used as inspiration throughout the research and planning as well as construction stages is Fish Tank, not because of its narrative but for its structure as it is a film within the social realism genre and I feel it has effectively managed to captivate its audience members. Fish Tanks title, similarly to mine, was placed at the end of the trailer in the blue colour and beneath that are the names of the three main protagonists in white coloured text following the colour of the rest of the inter-titles they have included. After that, they included the release date of their film as well as billing blocks, giving credit to all those who contributed in any way while creating this film.

2. Throughout my trailer I tried including as many locations as possible to  expand the narrative and give my audience members an insight as to where my characters are from and why this would be important in my film. The shot of the left is one of the first things which the audience members see in my trailer and this is of a well preserved building in Central London. This is an important shot as it establishes location and prepares the audience of the type of characters that will be introduced. This building and generally the location suggests that the characters that will be introduced most likely come from a wealthy background and are living in London. Furthermore, this could suggest to the audience members that chaos may be included throughout the film either in the form of a problem, incident or even a lifestyle. I think including such a location is important as well as effective because in a trailer such as Fish Tank as seen on the right, locations help further establish the story and what will happen. As well as this, it adds an authentic feel to it, conforming to the conventions of a social realism film. In Fish Tank, I screnshotted this one because I feel that the character herself fits in with the location shown in the background and this therefore gives an understanding or even an assumption to the audience of the character type this person has taken on in their role within the film.

3. I think that the costumes I included in my trailer fit in nicely with not only the narrative but also the genre I chose as I feel it effectively shows contrast between "rich and poor". The shot on the left is of one of my protagonists Julia, going to Athena's house, especially in this scene in my trailer, once she is in Athena's house, the contrast is clearly presented as Julia is wearing a designer coat and has a Mulberry handbag connoting this character has wealth. This is further supported, as previously mentioned, when Athena is in her house and appears to have a minimal amount of things and is dressed down, in a robe and tracksuit. I think that this is again effective as it allows the audience members to see the clear contrast between the "two worlds" and makes them wonder what will happen further. The costumes and props used, are very helpful as they give clues and hints to the narrative and the characters. The shot on the right, is one I chose from Fish Tanks trailer and it is of the protagonist Mia wearing a hoodie and the lighting is very dark, this tells us as an audience where she comes from and what she is like as she doesn't seem to be wearing nice, clean clothing suggesting that perhaps, unlike my protagonist Julia she either doesn't have the money or just doesn't care as much about her physical appearance. 

4. While editing my trailer, I tried using a variety of transitional techniques in order to keep the audience directly interesting in the trailer and focus on the clues and content shown. This shot is an example of one of the transitional techniques I used and this is of the "cross blur". I used this because before it, I had an inter-title and wanted it to link although it was a slightly different scene. This helped it transition smoothly, allowing the audience to realise that this is an important piece of information. This shot is one which shows my protagonist Julia holding a cheque which she is offering to Athena so she will give up her child for adoption once she gives birth. I think that this shot as well as attracting the viewers attention for the narrative also makes it further clear that this particular character is presented in a financial advantage in comparison to Athena as her nails also support the idea that she is wealthy, I think this slight over the shoulder close up only works due to the costume which helps deliver those clues. The only thing I think challenges conventions and doesn't seem to work, although a slight detail and hasn't seemed to be picked up by anyone who has seen my trailer are the names on this cheque as my mum who played Julia, wrote Athena's actual name on it. However I do think this isn't a distraction as it just adds to the authenticity of the trailer. An example of other transitional techniques, still smooth yet different, are those used in Fish Tank's trailer shown on the right, which demonstrate how they used their skills to show a variety of action packed scenes in their trailer and did so through using different parts of the scenes previously included in the trailer with quick paced jump shots. 

5. For my trailers inter-titles and titles font style to be a block capital almost hand written one to add to the authenticity of the film but also make it stand out and be easily read. I added "some people have everything" along with other inter-titles as for my trailer I heavily relied on both footage and inter-titles to clearly deliver my films storyline to the targeted audience members purely because I didn't use any dialogue unlike most trailers, which I think this is something which challenges the form of a real media product as most use dialogue to help make the storyline and plot clearer. However, because my actors weren't professional, I didn't want to risk them not conveying any emotions or scenarios the way I wanted to. For this reason similarly to Fish Tank, but in particular Shank as that is the only trailer I analysed which used as many inter-titles as I did, they are used to help unravel the narrative as the trailer continues. Another reason as to why I didn't want to use dialogue, is because I didn't want anything about the plot to be given away and the inter-titles I used effectively make it clear and give enough insight, filling in the gaps of any questions that audience members may have. I chose to add "some people have everything" as it suggests that the next character introduced will be one with a financial advantage as well as allowing the audience members to know that they should be expecting to see a contrast as if it sounds like after that there will be another inter-title showing the opposite of these characters and this is something typical expected to be seen in a trailer of a film within the social realism genre. The inter-titles used in Fish Tank are again effective as they are only include one word, making it more interesting and gripping, leaving the context open for interpretation. 

6. I think that this is a good example of a shot which clearly explains and captures the story being told through one shot. This is because this shot in my trailer is actually shown to the audience members after the one below (number seven). This is because this shot shows this protagonist anxiously waiting in what appears to be a doctors waiting room, we can assume this because the image below shows the couple walking past a building with Harley Street written on the side of it and this further tells the audience members that this couple is going to consult a doctor for something, which is later on revealed that they have a problem conceiving a child. I feel like this is a good example as it portrays a main character in a realistic and lower point of her life and perhaps of hers in the film with an authentic insight. This is a matter which a lot of people around the world can connect to, so I think in this scene, her particular body language along with the music I added creates sympathy and/or even empathy towards this character who seems to be going through something tough. This is a stereotypical type of shot for a film within the social realism genre because it shows the calm as well as anxiousness in a worrying situation and shows how this character deals with it, giving us as an audience an idea of what type of character Julia is, suggesting that she is strong and is optimistic as seen later on. The shot on the right is again from Fish Tank and shows the protagonist Mia getting in a fight with some girls within her age group and I think this perfectly captures the film's story as it shows a teenage girl in a run down area with character types of a girl which seems to be behaving in an aggressive manner. 

7. I chose to screenshot two parts included in my trailer which I thought effectively showed how the genre is suggested within my trailer and I think a main hint of this is the company logo which is the very first thing we see as an audience. I chose UK Film Council as my distribution company because they have created a variety of successful independent films within the social realism genre as well as films of other genres so this lets my audience members from the beginning know what type of film this will be. Some social realism they have contributed to either for funding, production and distribution include Fish Tank, Bullet Boy and Adulthood, so I think that this as well as suggests the genre also manages to capture an already established audience. Another shot which I thought demonstrated how genre is portrayed within my trailer is the shot of Athena and Julia. The body language, mise-en-scene, costume, music and shot type for this scene help establish the idea that through this film audience members will see a raw and realistic insight of themes covering issues such as family, friend relationships and financial situations. The shot on the right however, is of Mia from Fish Tank drinking from a can of beer, I chose this one in particular to show how the genre is being captured because it clearly demonstrates one of the most stereotypical portrayals of teenage girls that come from such areas as for example, they behave and do things they wouldn't be expected to do at that age capturing that idea that these kids from these areas try and grow up ahead of their time. 

 8. For Julia and Steve, this is one of the first shots used which introduces them to my audience members. This shot is one of them walking down Harley Street, through this we assume that they are either a couple or married and are going to a clinic (as Harley Street is known for its well respected doctors) for a consultation. As well as the idea presented that they may be going through something tough in their life, this shot even as an introductory one is extremely effective as it gives the audience members further insight on these protagonists. Through the mise-en-scene and their costume we can tell that they are perhaps a wealthy couple as they are dressed very nicely and as these are the first characters we are introduced to in the trailer, this suggests that they perhaps very important for the development of the films narrative and we will be able to see why this is later on in the film. The shot on the right however, captures Mia and her mum in the middle of a fight, both of their language and body language being quite aggressive, conforming to the stereotypes of people who live on council estates and giving us further detail into their backgrounds. 

9. In my trailer, as well as a variety of transitional shots, I also tried using some other techniques to try and make the trailer as visually interesting for the form it takes as well as it's footage included. This shot demonstrates the use of special effects I included in my trailer, which is a side by side (split screen) of two videos of my main protagonists on the phone and through their body language we are able to tell that they are on the phone to each other and this is because Athena is talking while Julia's facial expressions are quite sad, neutral like. This suggests that at this point in the trailer, there has been progression into the narrative and I think it is an effective one as it shows at the same time both sides of the story and how this may possibly impact each character, giving the audience members the opportunity to decide which character they are sympathising with. This is one of the shots towards the end of my trailer and has a somewhat ambiguous ending, leaving the audience members wondering what decision Athena will make and what will happen to the baby. An example of these special effects and other editing techniques used in Fish Tank are at the very beginning of the trailer where Mia is getting ready and it shows her putting on eye liner to then fading to a black screen and then showing a shot of her drinking alcohol out of a bottle. This is put in place in order to conform to those same stereotypes and make the trailer flow a lot faster and smoother also possibly suggesting that although she is still young this may be a very dark time in her life.