Evaluating Conventions

This is the first print screen I have taken from our trailer. I like this shot because I think that it feels as if the camera is almost planted in our characters bedroom which adds to the mystery of the story and as if the stalker in question is always watching her. Also the bedroom is quite a private place and the camera is invading this like the stalker of the film. I think this angle works well because it shows a natural movement of her curiosity which continues through to the audience. This shot reminds me of the Paranormal Activity trailers as it is as if the camera is trying to catch the characters everyday movement. This shows that our research has had some influence on us and we have used different angles like other trailers to represent curiosity.

This is our billing block that appears on the screen at the end of our trailer. We have done this beacuse we found from our trailer research that a billing block is a convention of all trailers as it the credits to the most important people of the film. We produced this ourselves and included our film institution and production company. I think the billing block works well with the trailer beacuse as well as informing the audience of the people who contributed to the film it is also a sign of the trailer finishing as we have found that many trailers have this towards the end. The billing block definitely helps make our trailer look more professional and as if the trailer is advertising a real film.

This shot is one of the main links to our title 'Checkmate' and we repeat this at different speeds throughout. As a group we felt it was important to have this connection to show where we got the idea of the title from and why we used it as one of the main symbols. We also felt that most trailers represent to the audience why the films are called what are they are for it to make sense to them and also show that the title informs them of the what the film is about. I like that the shot is from the same hiehgt of the hand which forces the audience to watch the movement of the chess piece. I think the shadows created from the chess piece really accentuate their shape and design which re inforces the symbol which i again shown when the title appears in the trailer. I think that this being the only time the audience see anything from the stalker works well beacuse like other thriller genre trailers we were trying to not reveal to much to the audience. This is another convention we spotted when doing our research. We found it also hepls build the tension of the trailer and urges the audience to wacth the film to find out who is behind the chess board.

 

When watching trailer we found that one of the most common conventions of a trailer is there film institution logo being shown. We found that many trailers have them at the very beginning but we decided against this as we wanted the filming to engage the audience straightaway. However, we have kept the logo near the beginning of the trailer so it doesnt disrupt when our trailers tension begins to build more and the cuts become quicker. Adding the logo inbetween shots has worked well and makes our trailer appear to be realistic.

Here we have deicided to use an split screen effect on the shot to show how we can use different tools and to help create the confusion shown from the actress. She looks very stressed in the shot and to empahsise this we felt adding the split screen would give the audience a lot to concentrate on and give an insight to how she must feel inside beacuse she has so much happening to her. The spilt screen is a convention we saw in the 'Disturbia' trailer which is one of our main trailers that we took insoiration from as it is a thriller genre. Howver, they used the split screen to show other people acting at the same time whereas we hyave used one charcter to help create her distress. 'Disturbia' used four parts in their split screen but we felt we only needed two because it is of the same character. Also something we would have liked to change is that the two sides had different footage but we still think this works well because the reverse footage implies that everything keeps playing over in her mind. We have wanted to use a split screen in our trailer since our storyboards but we have developed it and used it on a different shot to what we previously decided. I think we made the right choice in where we have included it as I think it works well with the emotion from the character.

I have chosen this print screen because I like how the camera is looking down on the character making her look very vulnerable. This is something typicallly seen in trailers as well as films because it automatically suggest to the audience the characters position in the film and their role. For example this character is the damsel in distress throughout the film and trailer. We chose to put the character behind the door to show that she is trying to block everything out and keep away from the stalker. The lighting looks very natural and I think you can tell that is a room light so it tells the audience that it is at night which adds to the threatening atmosphere.

This shot is towards the end of the trailer where the character is trying to drown herself. We wanted to add a dramatic scene like this to represent how the stalker is affecting her and she feels that there is no one to help. We have quick cuts up until this point and this is beacuse we wanted to show how much was happening to her and then how she feels this is the only way to deal with it. I think this has worked well because I like the contrast in speed and in fact we made this shot longer to empasise the isolation and to help the audience sympathise with her. The shot was quite difficult for our friend to do as she had to hold her breath underwater but I think what we managed to capture works great because her eyes being open give a sense of her being lost and make it much more freaky for the audience to watch. We decided to add this because we felt that from our research trailers had something towards the end that really grabbed the audiences attention and spirals questions of what happened. I think the only apect that we wasn't too sure on as a group was that our actress is dressed but this is something that we think could imply her madness and represent that she isn't preparing herself for a bath but to take her life.

After the titles if our trailer this shot appears as she pulls herslef out of the water. We did this to shock the audience as they may have thought the trailer had finished. It is also shows that she didn't carry out the suicide so the audience then want to know what actually happens to her. This is a convention we have seen in trailers and I think we have used it well here as it fits in with our genre aswell as the storyline. I like the shot because of the dripping water from her face and the smudged make up which makes her eyes look quite dark meaning the audience can't connect with her. The smudged make up is something seen intrailers to show the characters tress or upest and we have used it here to show both of those elements. I think the postioning  of this shot in the trailer has worked particularly well and I think definitely would urge the audience to watch it as it shows that something unexpected may happen in the film.

Along with the billing block the date of the film release appears on the screen. This a very important convention of a film trailer as the purpose of the trailer is to inform them what the film is about and when they can watch it. It is typically seen a the end of the trailer so the audience engage with the actions throughout the trailer and make their opinion and then decide if they want to see it. We have used black and white like all of our titles in the trailer and clear, bold font. I think the black empty space around the text adds to the eery atmosphere after seeing the character pull out of the water. It also fits in with the slow beat at the end of the trailer and I think this makes it effective as it tells the audience it is something important that they need to know.