Gertrude Trailer by Manasseh Dalton-Brown, Lauren West & Sebastian Begueria

Q1. In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? By Sebastian Begueria

Evaluation question from sbegueria1

Q3. What have you learned from your audience feedback? By Sebastian Begueria

Once we finished our trailer, we had a lot of feedback; positive and negative, through our focus group which we set up:

We received feedback about the music in our film trailer. On the one side we were told that it had blended in well with the comedy aspect of our film and that our specific genre was very easy to tell. Also, the first song was quite serious which worked effectively and then the song changed to a louder, more fun song which emphasised the comedy genre in our film. However, we were also told that the two different songs played were quite inconsistent and while both songs went well with the genre of the film, the change of the songs in the trailer were quite sudden which created a bit of a negative situation.   

When we asked the audience on how we could improve our trailer, we were told that we could have shortened some of our scenes a bit more in order to make it more entertaining for the viewer’s seeing as some shots were quite lengthy.

Our target audience was teens and middle aged females such as mothers who would most likely appeal to our film trailer. We were also told how our trailer was effective as it didn't give away too much of the plot and so there would still be many surprises when watching the film. Furthermore, our media product is very unique in the fact that there aren't many films out there which are based upon a homosexual man and a masculine girl falling in love. This way we have played around with the key conventions of the film and makes our trailer stand out compared to other similar type films.

We were also told that we played around with the narrative structure of the trailer quite well in the sense that it wasn't in chronological order which again doesn't spoil the film and so it doesn't give away too much vital information. The soundtracks again linked well with the common conventions as it gives a way the comedy genre of the film.

Based on our audience feedback, we are happy with the positive comments we have received which lets us know that we have done a good job. However, the negative comments we have received have also come to an advantage to us as we now know what to do next time in order to make our trailer more effective. Things like shortening some shots which will make the trailer seem more entertaining, the use of the soundtrack was used well, however, it was argued that the different songs used were quite inconsistent and showed a sudden change in the trailer.

How did you use technologies in the construction of your media production?

Film trailer:

For the post-production of our groups work, imovie was used. This vital software was used to cut down our footage to the length and place where we desired. I-movie also allows you to record voice overs, whether that be for a narrator for the movie or trailer, or to be used for voice over when the place in which we filmed was rather noisy. Our group didn't think of this during filming, and therefore i-movie thankfully had this option.

All footage was shot on samsung F80 camcorder throughout the production of our trailer. It was then uploaded on an SD card to iMovie, the selected clips where then dragged onto the timeline where we were to cut them down and edit them. This tool would be something that we use a lot, as a movie has many quick cuts to get the effect of a trailer. Without this tool, we wouldn't have possibly made an effective trailer on this software.

We used the trim and blade tool to cut the footage into the desired length, in accordance to what we wanted for our final production piece. However things weren't as easy as we once thought. Filming scenes where there was a high amount of background noise meant that watching the recording back would be highly fuzzy and definitely not look professional in our trailer. We thus decided on recording a voice over for each of these scenes, so the sound would be as clear as possible.

We therefore used the voiceover and inserted in the place which would be most suitable with the video. 

Title sequences were used in the trailer to make it look like a real trailer, this was made in iMovie also.   This is where we typed the text and then could change the background of our slide, to something suitable for our genre of our trailer. We then could decide what transition to use, whether that be of a sliding or fading transition etc. This also helped us to narrate the trailer, rather than with actual narration, as we wanted purely music, as well as the actors voices playing in the trailer. 

Film poster:

For the film poster we used a Canon EOS 450D digital SLR to take pictures of the two protagonists in our trailer.

The pictures were shot in front of a white screen, and the flash was used from the camera for a professional looking picture.  Once we had taken the picture, we opened it in photoshop where we generally airbrushed the picture, to make it look as professional as possible. We went against the general conventions of a romcom poster, as the female protagonist is seen as rather flustered, and generally quite unfeminine.

We used the magnetic lasso to cut out both our figures so we would be able to select a background of what we wish for our poster. In the long run, this would make it much easier for us to pick a colour or image for a background which we really desired.

We used "dafont.com" to select a text for film name "Gertrude" called "cheeky rabbit". We chose this font as we wanted the film trailer to have an indie vibe about, like that of other independent films. This font is something that we strongly believe goes in accordance to the genre and the main target market; women. We also chose this text because its distinctive and we believe isn't a text in which is used often or at all for movies.

We used a pink/purple colour for the font, as we believed that it set ourselves apart from other movie fonts which use generic colours such as red, black, blue etc. Again, this would appeal to the main target market; women, without being too in your face or bright.

We used a grey background, as we felt that this completed the general colour theme of the movie, that being of pink and white. We generally wanted a simple background, with nothing too busy as we wanted the picture to talk for itself. We feel this added irony in the sense that their lives, those of the protoganists are far from simple, or black and white...or grey for that matter.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? By Manasseh Dalton-Brown

Our trailer Gertrude has many components which link to the final whole promotional package. The poster and magazine both clearly state the name of the film and they both use continuity and consistency in the form of the logo, the fonts and imagery. Our main product from the project was the ‘Gertrude’ trailer in which our ancillary text being the ‘Gertrude’ film poster and magazine front cover. These products were made to create synergy and help promote the film trailer successfully.

For each product the same hand-writing was maintained to create synergy between the products, this was especially effective as it created a type of brand/logo as people would recognize it, which is the plan as we want as many people talking bout our trailer as possible as then more would be able to see it and the then it would be more likely to become a viral success. The main colours we used were red, pink and white; this was done to give it the sort of light romantic feeling as red and pink connotes love and lust which are key elements in our trailer. The grey background used in our ancillary texts juxtaposes the pink font, which draws attention to the text.

One or both main characters are used in our ancillary texts as well as in many scenes, as this would tell the viewers and readers who the main characters are and the impact the characters have in the trailer. This also helps the audience gain an insight into the film as a whole, and create a bit of knowledge as to what the film is about; this would create a lot of attention for the film and hopefully create excitement. Looking at one of the ancillary texts, the reader would instantly know what the film is as it is on all of the ancillaries and would be recognized as a sort of branding. The font itself is clear and easy to read, it is quite feminine, as it has no sharp edges, and is quite soft, which is common in the traditional rom- coms.   

'Gertrude' Magazine Front Cover

'Gertrude' Film Poster