Research Into Similar Products: Trailers that have peaked my interest

Today I was having another one of my regular journeys through Youtube, in which I just so happened to find the movie trailer archives in which I found a couple of trailers which specifically intrigued me. For a start, I found the trailer of the James McAvoy 'Filth':

Filth
(WARNING: Clearly an 18 rated film with sex, drugs and some violence):

When I watched it I was thinking 'Ohh it's that sort of film is it? Ahh, Mr McAvoy is really letting rip this time!' In a good way, because, to be honest I was VERY intrigued by it and someone else in the comments said it reminds them a little bit of 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. I used to cower away and be offended by such films, but now I'm absolutely fine with them...

But anyway, in the comments of 'Filth' someone said:

At the very mentioning of the stunning Michael Fassbender I sought out 'Shame' straight away... And wow, that trailer was just... It took my breath away (which is ironic when you hear Michael's panting in the background... I swooned so much)

Shame:

Now, after recovering from that trailer, I read the Youtube comments and saw:

And I just really liked the contrast between these two trailers really. The first, 'Filth', being of such shamelessly dirty behaviour, and with the comical music being used throughout, even when the scenes get more serious and emotional the music stays comical and contrapuntal. It's filthy, mad and does not apologise for it, and nor does it need to (though it does touch up on the problems caused by the bad lifestyles shown).

Yet in 'Shame', it seems much more delicate in the way it's been made; it's just ONE man's journey and the troubles he faces with his addictions and cravings. It's also incredibly sultry and emotional, taking a more intimate, serious tern on 'Filth'. It's interesting how both films have one-syllable, one-worded titles, both really fitting with what each film's tone is about.

Shame is more sad and individual to that person's singular problems and wrong doing, how they grow to feel shame for his actions but cannot stop since it's become an innate part of him.

I have checked out many other trailers, but these two have peaked my interest the most today. And they have inspired me somewhat in terms of the sorts of issues they address in films these days; I think it's brilliant that they don't apologise for some of the things they show. That's what the age-ratings are for anyway!
But I think each film would get a slightly different audience initially; since 'Filth' is more of a behaving badly movie more aimed at men (though I'm still intrigued by it) whereas by the trailer, 'Shame' could touch the female audience more because of the heavy emotions in it and the fact that it's one man against himself and there's elements of romance in it as well. 

And let's be honest, Michael Fassbender playing a wretched, damaged character along with all the sex would get the women flooding in.

Organisation: Shot list

Since I had some trouble storyboarding my trailer, I'm thinking of first doing a shot list for some of the scenes. I'm unsure of the actual order of the scenes and how I should flow, but perhaps I should decide what scenes should be filmed at least.

Scenes I could use:

Potentially some shots showing a happy couple (whether the couple is Senara with the male lead or a random couple she takes inspiration from isn't decided at the moment) There'll be straight cuts to black throughout the different shots shown of this couple. 

Cut to black immediately with non-diegetic 'dunnn' sound. Then dialogue is heard of Senara as if she's in her world, being ordered about/saying what her next job is to do.

"Seduce a member of authority? Easy..." or something even more vague linking to the scene we saw before. Maybe she asks a question to the audience like Kaa in the Jungle Book Trailer!

"Is anyone feeling the way I do right now...?"

Oh! Here's an interesting selection of shots/scenes:

It starts off with looking at a pretty stool in which you could see a beautiful little pale room in the shot too. There's a close up of Senara's leg as she pulls on some stockings/tights. Maybe this cross-cuts with some other action including Stephen's character; maybe he's walking down the street or at night time sitting at a curb at a road or something (though it'd be difficult to be able to film at night, personally) or he's at a shop, buying something; something a casual guy would do.
Then cross-cuts to some make-up powder and a powder puff, and a close up of Senara either applying it, or maybe it's lipstick instead; a deadly colour, like a cherry red or mulberry. There'll be dialogue with Senara asking questions to herself/audience, like the idea above.

During this cross cutting, maybe it shows the happy couple of Senara and Stephen's character in a park, acting cute. and the cross cutting gets faster and faster and more 'emotional' and more focussed on Senara, for example, her crying in a dark room, or a close up of her fangs with blood in her mouth (fake blood obviously) and then a moment of just one shot of her crying silently (because she's killed her lover).

From here it shows the 7 Deadly Sins routine, and someone she knows asks if she's alright (incorporating some of the quotes from this post) 
In the end, it's the scene when Stephen's character says 'Please come down. I won't hurt you...'
and Senara could say 'And then I'd hurt you...'
But is that a bit too much like the Maleficent trailer?
Or that scene could be in the 'middle-end' and after that is a series of more sparse dialogue, and whenever she does speak, it's a black out until maybe the quote above OR
"Just do what feels natural"
"[giggles] Oh, you don't want me to do that..."

I think I've got something more for the trailer ideas now. I just hope it'l work. I need to work on the pace though; I think it's usually more effective if the speed picks up near the end of the trailer, and then it slows down again at the last moment.
I''ll do some audience research on this idea as well, but I'm so glad it seems like I'm getting somewhere!

Note: I asked for a opinion from Mr Stevens of how he'd expect the pace of the trailer to be, and he said with such a complex narrative, the pace wouldn't be as fast as an action or a thriller since it's not the action we're focusing on.

That's extremely helpful, so that probably means I could get away with the use of less 'jumpy' scenes because it's more of the story-telling rather than the moments of action and violence.

Organisation: A few minor changes

Since mentioning this in my previous post, I have to make a few changes with the characters. My main male actor said he had a change of heart about playing lust-not that I'm making a big thing about it or anything-but that means these two blog posts' intentions have to be altered;

Organisation: A Male Lust

and

Drafting and Planning/Research Into Similar Products: Mr Darling/Captain Hook and Main Male/Lust

To make these two blog posts still relevant to my trailer, I could suggest how, for the Organisation one, I could say that it's research into what Senara could see in the male lead; that she desires him and so I have to film the romantic parts of my trailer with as much 'desire' pointed at the male lead as possible.

As for the Drafting and Planning post, Senara altering from human form to Succubus form could be seen as 'Multi-rolling' and if I can't find an actress for Lust, I could play her instead, since, realistically, Lust is Senara's alter-ego as a Succubus.

This change isn't too much of a problem really, and to be honest, I think Stephen's very right in changing his mind; since he already has a big part in this trailer and I don't want to put unnecessary pressure on him by making him do another role that isn't really needed for him (though the idea was good). In this way hopefully he'd be more relaxed in playing the male lead, and I could capture the romantic emotions and chemistry perfectly (I hope that doesn't sound as cheesy as I think it sounds)

Research Into Similar Products: 'Her' Trailer

In the early hours of Saturday mornings when I have nothing else better to do, sometimes I just grab my phone, go onto Youtube and go from one video to another to another. When I done this once, I was looking at a chain of different trailers until I saw the film 'Her' with one of my favourite actors; Joaquin Phoenix (what a name, eh?)

The trailer was so beautiful that I went onto IMDB to check out everything about it. And with the amount of voice acting Scarlett Johansson does in this film, no wonder I recognise her voice in anything these days (hence when I recognised her from the Jungle Book trailer) 

But after many months, I eventually watched this film in June/July and it was so gorgeous! And since it's a romance with the 'romantic interest' only being heard in the film (probably like how the main male character would be in my trailer) then I decided to put the trailer into good use and take inspiration from it:


Her-Official Trailer

"Theodore: I've never loved anyone in the way I've loved you.
Samantha: Me too. Now we know how."

I absolutely adore this trailer. From the simple, non-diegetic piano music and the diegetic dialogue of the computer OS system, allowing us to get to know the protagonist a bit more with the questions.

And just as Samantha appears with "Hi! I'm Samantha." the music changes with the caption "this fall" with really optimistic, quickening music.

The next shot of the panning of the rising sun over the city scape, then cutting to Theodore's bed with more dialogue from Samantha indicates a new dawn in his life, and a new positive influence.

With many more happy shots with such beautiful, pale colours gives a real soft atmosphere, highlighting the 'Utopian' environment and tone of the film; despite the fact the film does deal with many heavy emotions.

The music changes yet again when Samantha asks "How would you touch me?" to a song that's in the actual film (that Samantha and Theodore sings together). I love the transition from song being non-diegetic in the trailer during all the sweet, little moments between Theodore and Samantha, to the song becoming diegetic at the end of the trailer as well.

If I decide to make my trailer a theatrical release, then I think I'd take the approach of this railer; since there's limited actors and the shots change from his home, workplace and different places in the city. The trailer is mainly driven by the dialogue and acting rather than the environment they're in. So this approach would make the trailer much easier to accomplish if I don't have the pressure of having specific locations to film in all the time. I especially like the moment when Theodore is sitting at the curb of the road as Samantha discusses his beak-up. I love the humble, human, normal things people do in terms of the action.

'Her'- Trailer 2

The second trailer is just as beautiful as the first! It gives so much more depth into who Samantha is, and the lines;
"Samantha: I can feel the fear that you carry around. I wish that I could help you let go of it, because I don't think you'd feel so alone anymore.
Theodore: You're beautiful."
are just adorable, and so in line with the sorts of dialogue I love to write.

This trailer also makes me wonder, what if I make the main male character was the actual protagonist, and Senara is the equivalent of Samantha; the person he loves but cannot love since it's forbidden.

Stephen may not be available to act in my tailer as much as I'd like him to, and just as we speak he said he doesn't really want to play 'Lust' especially since it's more of a 'feminine' character and he doesn't really like the idea of wearing make-up. So, that idea's a little bit out the window, but fortunately he's still alright with playing the main male lead.

If anything, this change has made me more determined to make the male character as well-rounded and visible in the trailer as possible; it also gives the trailer the opportunity to be more like 'Her' in the sense it's all about the relationship, not entirely about Senara.

Here's another set of clips from the film, with such beautiful dialogue from the film I just found; I had to post it here since it'd be so helpful for me when thinking of moving dialogue between characters:

I adore this video; it's so honest and real (but I'm a tad annoyed at the dude in the end totally ruining the mood with his 'Rated R' line...)

"Theodore: And sometimes, I think I've felt everything I'm ever gonna feel, and from here on out I'm not gonna feel anything new...
Samantha: I know for a fact that is not true. I've seen you feel joy, I've seen you marvel at things. I mean, you just might not see it at the exact time but that's understandable. You've been through a lot lately... I thought 'why do I love you' and then I felt everything in me let go of everything I was holding onto so tightly and it hit me I don't have an intellectual reason and I don't need one; I trust myself, I trust my feelings. I'm not gonna try to be anything other than who I am anymore. And I hope you can accept that." 

I adore the above quote too. It really made me think, and it's so relatable. Words can be so beautiful...

I've also had a bit of trouble in terms of WHO and WHAT Senara is... should she still be a dark creature, or should she just be a normal girl having a rough life...

I do love the idea of her being a dark creature who has to disguise it, so I don' think I'll let go of that idea. Maybe instead the '7 Deadly Sin' idea would just be a more minor thing rather than how it was, in order to make room for exploring the relationship between the two protagonists...

And I probably have to find a new actress this time to play Lust... Unless if I multi-role as lust instead since that's Senara's biggest weakness.

It concerns me about how many ideas are still in the air, and it's not long before I should start filming; I hope I'll buck-up my ideas soon and get to grips with what I'm doing.

Research Into Similar Products: Maleficent Trailer

I'm still yet to watch this movie, yet I do love the trailer (I remember getting so excited by the trailer when I watched it the first time). It's not only the beautiful, haunting song (I'll write down the lyrics further down the post) but also the dark spookiness of the trailer, as well as Angelina Jolie's giggle at the end being so captivating, suggesting the sassy, malicious nature of her character (though in the actual movie, you see that she's like any one of us, but life just pressed all the wrong buttons too much; which is realistic of most/all 'villains')

Maleficent Traier 'Dream'

Lyrics:

I know you, I walked with you

Once Upon a Dream.

I know you, that look in your eyes

is so familiar a gleam.
And I know its true that visions are seldom all they seem
But if I know you, I'll know what you'll do

You'll love me at once, the way you did once
Upon a Dream.
... Upon a Dream

Maleficent Official Trailer 3

I love the moment in this trailer after it says 'Now Find Out The Truth' and you see Maleficent hiding behind the tree; it mimics what I want to do with Senara in my trailer as well!

Aurora:
I know you're there. Don't be afraid.

Maleficent:
I am not afraid.

Aurora:
Then come out.

Maleficent:
Then you'll be afraid.

I just adore this small piece of dialogue, it just reveals so much about the new relationship between Aurora and Maleficent;
Aurora's adventure and curiosity as well as her caring nature, but also Maleficent caring nature in not wanting to scare Aurora, but also her sense of either insecurity (knowing she's scary to Aurora) or maybe she underestimates Aurora's experience and bravery.

One trailer is obviously more dialogue heavy than the other, and I think I'll end up making mine into a teaser trailer, just like the first 'Dream' Maleficent trailer, and the Jungle Book trailer I've investigated in his post since I'm a little unsure about how much footage I'll be able to film etc. 

And perhaps for my trailer, if I don't have much dialogue, maybe I'll put in a song like the 'Once Upon a Dream' song of the first Maleficent trailer.

But I've found looking exploring these trailers incredibly helpful, since I've hit a bit of a rock the past while in terms of trailer content; I think I need to check out some more trailers within the 'romance' genre as well as 'fantasy' to get inspired.

Organisation: My New Camera has arrived! And putting together the look of Senara again...

My new 'Sony a5000' has arrived and it's so beautiful!

I don't have very good lighting to take a photo of the camera, so Google Images shall be my friend here:

And since I got my fangs and fake blood (as well as having made my horns) I decided to record myself applying my Senara/Succubus make-up (I'll edit it down at some point soon... along with that location vlog I still have to edit down too which I mentioned back in June...) and the photos turned out beautifully, without me even having to try in the way I used to.

I was planning on making latex elf ears, but I hadn't the creative 'umph!' to do that yet... but the fangs were a messy business to apply, so it may be an 'either or' thing between using fangs or latex ears for Senara... And yes, I know the fake blood on my fingers looks more like tomato juice! But I'll just have to go along with that. 

But as I was saying from the start, this is a brilliant camera, especially since it has a vari-angle screen which I could flip up to record myself/take selfies. So that'd help immensely when playing Senara, as well as the compact, small size of the camera being so cute and easy to handle (rather than the massive, chuncky Fuji camera I'd use for filming beforehand). Also, the make-up video I done was about an hour long and the camera could've taken much more footage aswell! So the memory (using a SanDisk 32 GIG memory card) is really big and the battery practically lasted all afternoon (I'll probably bring a spare charged battery on filming days) I'm so pleased!

 I'm really looking forward to using this camera for the rest of my production related videos and photos, as well as for the actual filming of my trailer! It's going to be a lot more hard work, but I'm determined for it to work out brilliantly!

Research Into Similar Products: The Tragedy genre

"Tragedy is a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes in its audience an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in the viewing."-Wiki

What Aristotle says:
Aristotle wrote in his work Poetics that tragedy is characterized by seriousness and involves a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune (Peripeteia). Aristotle's definition can include a change of fortune from bad to good as in the Eumenides, but he says that the change from good to bad as in Oedipus Rex is preferable because this induces pity and fear within the spectators. Tragedy results in a catharsis (emotional cleansing/purgation of emotion) or healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama.

His direct definition of the Greek word 'tragedy':
Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is admirable, complete (composed of an introduction, a middle part and an ending), and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in different parts; performed by actors, not through narration; effecting through pity and fear the purification of such emotions.

New forms of social media and electronic publishing have expanded modern tragedy stories from static works of literature to dynamic, near real time stories inviting the audience to participate. An example is the WordPress blog icallyouluv, a 100 entry story of deeply personal emotions and intimate details of an anonymous couple that fate had determined would not be together.

For more information, click here.

A lot of my favourite (and most famous) tragedies are from Shakespeare himself;

*Antony and Cleopatra*
Julius Caesar
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Romeo and Juliet
and Macbeth

Just to name a few.

Shakespeare's Tragedies end in death, whereas his Comedies end in marriage!

I once described before how my trailer is a lot like 'Antony and Cleopatra':

And I do love a tragedy, they can be so inspiring, especially if it becomes a redemption story in which the stages of events turn from unfortunate to hopeful!