Effectiveness of Trailer, Poster and Magazine cover

Our trailer along with the poster and magazine cover was aimed at a mainstream audience. We chose to aim it at a mainstream audience because we knew this was a large audience and that thrillers are popular with mainstream audiences.

One element I feel has worked very well on our trailer is the variety of types of shots. Using a lot of different angles and types of shot was something we knew would be important. We decided to film things in many different angles so that we could see which angles worked best. Also, we knew from looking at other trailers that using a variety of camera angles would be important. In our trailer we have a range of shots such as close ups, mid shots and long shots. We had to choose very carefully which type of angles and shots would work for each part of our trailer. We chose to use close-ups of Mia when we wanted to see her emotions. An example of this is when we have a close up of her face looking at the chess piece. This works well because you can see clearly what it is she is looking at and you can also see her confusion. Another type of shot we used was a long shot of her running away. We chose to use a long shot for this because we wanted to be able to see the setting more and also her whole body running. This shot works well because you can see a different setting in the trailer. We also have filmed from different angles such as the high angle shot looking down on Megan in the bath and the low angle shot looking at her put the chess piece in the bin. I think that the variety of shots we have used is something that really makes our trailer work well. The amount of angles and types of shot means that the trailer does not get boring to watch and therefore engages the audience.

Something else that I think is very effective is our use of a non-diegetic sound. After looking at trailers such as 'Disturbia' and 'Iron Man 2' we saw how none diegetic speaking can be used successfully in trailers because they give the character a chance to talk about something in the movie. This means the audience can gain a greater understanding of what the film is about or something it includes. We used some non-diegetic sound of the character in our movie making a phone call to her doctor. In this phone call she sounds worried and clearly sounds as though she is going slightly insane. We wanted to have he calling a doctor because this means she knows there is something wrong with her. We felt that this would be something the audience would find interesting because they would wonder what was wrong with her. I think this is a very successful part in our trailer because not only does it keep the audience guessing about the content of the film but it also makes the piece feel more like a trailer and less like a story.

Another element of our trailer that is quite successful is the music. When looking at other thriller trailers we noticed how the music was often quite intense and had no singing included. Therefore when creating our own music we decided to bare this in mind and we didn't include any singing. I think the music works well because it builds up and gets more intense along with the trailer. This helps to keep the people watching the trailer engaged. The music also fits in with the feeling of confusion in the trailer. I also think the way that the music fits in when the release date and billing board comes up sounds very effective. We also used more dramatic sounds in the parts of the trailer where the chess pieces were. This was a decision we made because we wanted these parts of the trailer to stand out therefore by using the dramatic sound they were enhanced. Another sound that we deliberatly chose to keep in the trailer is the sound of the water running. We kept this sound whilst we saw the mans feet going up the stairs so that it is clear that he is in the same house. I think this sound works well because it means there is obviously someone in her house and this is the same person that opens the door.

One of the difficulties we have overcome in our trailer is when filming the kitchen scene. We wanted to be able to see words appear on the window in steam. This took some time because we had to get the right angle so that the words were visable. However, we overcome this by filming this shot from many angles and picking one where you could clearly see the words. Also, in this shot we wanted to see Mia making tea and the kettle causing the steam. However, we found that the shot would be too long because the kettle took a long time to boil. We overcame this problem when editing because we cut the shots right down and put a few of them together. This made this part of our trailer fairly successful. However I feel it would have been better if we had taked some more time getting the exact right angle to be able to see the words on the window.

One thing I feel had not been greatly successful with our trailer is the amount of settings used. Although we orginally planned to film in my house, a party and outside shots. We ended up having mainly clips of inside the characters house, and at school. I think these shots work fairly well however by using more settings it would of made our trailer even more interesting. I also think it would have meant that the audience would be more engaged and interesting and the trailer would have looked even more like a real trailer and less like a short story.

When looking at our poster, one of the things that has worked well is the image we used. When taking this photo we knew exactly how we wanted it to look. We planned well how we wanted her to look and what angle we wanted the photo. This meant that we knew exactly what we wanted and I think this made it easier for us to get a successful image. I think this image works well because she is gazing into the camera and this is something that helps her to connect with the audience. I also like the fact that the photo is in black and white because these colours are typical of a thriller movie and create a sense of mystery.

A problem with the poster is that the chess piece we have placed on has not been edited that greatly. I think it works fairly well however on the left of the chess you can see that it has been cut out and put onto the image. To improve this we could of taken more time to carefully edit the photo. However this does not make our poster un-successful because it still looks very bold and the chess piece means that the title makes more sense because there is a clear indication that chess plays a large role in the movie.Also, even though we noticed that the line was very sharp, we thought it worked well because on the other side it is very blurred. The fact that it is a sharp edge means that the shape of the chess stands out and is clear therefore we haven't changed this.
Looking at our magazine cover one of the elements that works well is the text we have used. We took a lot of time arranging this text on the magazine cover. We also looked at other movie magazines so that we knew how much text we should include. Using a variety of sizes and colours of font is something that makes the magazine cover look very realistic. Also we made sure that the text did not take over the magazine cover or take away the focus from the photo. After we were fairly happy with the way the text looked, we printed the magazine cover and checked that all the text was read-able and not too small.
Something I feel is not that great about the magazine cover is the image used. I think that the quality of this photo is not that great because it appears to be blurred in places. However this does make it appear that the image has come from the movie and that she is walking in the dark.We chose this image out of around 60 photos that we took.Although it is blurred in places we felt it would work well because it really looks like it has come from the film.