To avoid the pain staking task of having to apply for music from a music label or studio, I have decided to research royalty free music.
Royalty free music is music released into the public domain. There are either no accredited artists or the artists have intentionally releases it into the public domain. Never the less, this music is free and can be used on a project freely.
There are many sites which offer royalty free music but the best I found was Incompetech which has a search option which allows you to find music based on the way it is supposed to make the audience feel.
As you can see this site allows you to choose music based on not only it's genre but it's feel as-well. With my trailer most likely following the horror genre, I have decided to look into the horror genre as well as a feeling of unease or unnerving.
Released in 2008 Cloverfield is a film which follows 6 New Yorkers who were in attendance of a going away party when the city was attacked by a giant monster. The film was made successful through its marketing techniques. By withholding much of the information until after the film was released, trailers and press releases were actually misleading and made the film seem much greater than critics and audiences eventually discovered. While it has a run time of 84 minutes (11 of which being credits) the film felt like it dragged on far too much and featured very little of the monster.
By throwing JJ Abrams name into the trailer, and putting a heavy influence on the soldiers appearance in the film it makes it feel much more action packed than it actually is. The films hype is most evident through the fact that the name was change frequently through production, Matt Reeves explained that the title was changed frequently due to the hype caused by the teaser trailer. "That excitement spread to such a degree that we suddenly couldn't use the name anymore. So we started using all these names like Slusho and Cheese. And people always found out what we were doing!"
While in production the film would release nameless titles and these saw rise to speculations on what the film would be about, even with the misinterpretation of the line "it's alive" as "it's a lion" causing some to believe it would be a film about Voltron.
When the film was eventually released after a 6 month viral marketing campaign and was successful with the most common complaint being the nausea inducing camera work. It was a hit with critics but for audiences it felt not only dull but also dragged out. Atop all the blurry shots of the monster there is an unnecessary love story between Rob and Beth which feels so forced it somewhat detracts from the pace of the movie. 5 years after release it is mocked as a slow and boring film, and with the release of the current Godzilla it will be long forgotten. Well except for the success of it's viral marketing, the film is praised for it's marketing strategy with many newer films trying to follow suit. From its initial trailer as 01-18-08 to it's final release it was marketed as a monster movie for the "youtube generation" heavily relying on online and social media to create a buzz. A technique which is now seen as the norm
When it comes to post production of a media text nothing can be more irritating than bad sound quality and a high level of noise. Using a microphone (mic) can greatly reduce noise and improve sound quality to a near professional level. There are 3 main types of microphone that are used in film.
Cardioid Mics
Cardioid or unidirectional mics are aptly named for the cardioid shape of it's sensitivity pattern. Cardioid microphones are commonly used as vocal or speech microphones, since they are good at rejecting sounds from other directions. While these mics are great for stage performances they have limited to no usage for film production outside of the idea of interviews.
Lavalier (Lapel) Mics
These mics are specially designed to be hidden whilst also picking up great sound, They can be attached to nearly any piece of clothing and can often be seen during panel shows. They pick up most sound and while this is a great quality it can also be problematic in post production. These mics will often pick up the rustling of clothes around them drowning out dialogue.
Shotgun mic
Probably the most versatile and most commonly used type of mic for film making, With it's shape designed to only pick up sound directly in front of it. Usually placed on a "Boom" poll it can be manipulated to point towards whoever is speaking allowing for audio to be captured from all members of the cast on set.
Ideally if I had free choice over what microphone I could use to record the voice acting that is due to take place in my teaser trailer I would most likely use the "Snowball" microphone. This microphone is used by many Bloggers, Vloggers, and YouTubers. It produces clear sound and can pick up multiple voices simultaneously. The microphone clocks in at around £50 and it is unlikely that the school would pick this up.
For my first film I have chosen to look at a, 2013's Gravity
The appeal of this as a Sci-fi film was that it boasted realism and was set entirely on iconic space stations. It was held in high regard for it's ground breaking special effects and featured both Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The trailer begins with a black screen with facts about space fading onto the screen. The sudden noise combined with the chaos of a spinning space shuttle and Sandra Bullock spinning as she reaches for the audience drops the audience all too suddenly into the film. The arm on which Bullock is standing brakes and she begins spinning closer to the camera whilst George Clooney is telling her to detach. This is one continuous shot and shows the high quality of the special effects with a Geographically correct earth sat in the background.
The Camera begins spinning with Bullock crating a nauseous if not helpless feeling as we are unable to focus on any one thing. Sound plays an important role in setting the scene here with only diegetic sounds being used right up unit Bullock detaches from the arm. When this happens the Warner Brothers logo is shown and a synthetic heart beat styled noise is played under heavy breathing.
Another disorientating tracking shot is used as we following Sandra Bullock while she spins and screams "I don't know, I can't" in a fashion causing her and the audience to feel helpless and lost. The screen keeps randomly cutting to black with the speed of these cuts increasing until they are perfectly matched with Bullocks gasping breaths. It shows some of the most dramatic moments of the film and again showcases some of the phenomenal special effects.
An example of a hybrid action sci-fi film is 1984's Terminator
This film trailer follows many of the conventions of an 80's action film complete with grizzly voice over, narrative portrayed through the trailer and action spanning from the entirety of the film. Being a sci-fi however there are some minor differences. The trailer makes use of P.O.V. shots in order to ensure we know that the terminator is a robot. It also ensures this point by showing the terminator with parts of it's skin missing and referring to it's construction as a machine wrapped in human skin. The film features Arnold Schwarzenegger well known for other films he had made before terminator and a key reason in which people went to see this movie. This was James Cameron's first major film and his name was not yet synonymous with greatness. Arnold had already featured in smaller films as well as Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer in which he won awards. Michael Biehn had also featured in some much smaller projects such as an extra in grease and acting in a made for T.V. movie. The success of this film therefore was purely based on 3 things special effects, the trailer's ability to spark interest and finally Arnold. The trailer features elements of a conventional action trailer but it is hard to say that it has the conventions of a sci-fi trailer as sci-fi is generally a hybrid genre.
Firstly looking at a conventional trailer I have chosen 2012's Silent Hill Revelation.
This trailer features a plethora of conventions not only relating to horror but film trailers in general. From the very start of the trailer there is an air of ambience as a sweeping pan reveals a desolate forest engulfed in fog, non-diegetic sound supports this with a deep "boom". The scene is immediately set and people can easily associate this as some form of horror. What comes next is a series of shots cutting between black screens that show the phrase "There is a town, that hell, calls home". The scene is now set for the audience and chilling tagline combined with chilling deformed creatures and gut wrenching sound creates an air of fear.The camera work is as disconcerting as the sound with the randomness at which it swaps between wide shots and close up making it hard to focus on any one thing.
Cut to a women waking from a bad, the mood of the trailer changes. The music becomes almost surreal with the piano theme being played. It is important to note here that this is the "Silent Hill" theme and therefore fans of the games and previous movie would now recognise the film for what it is. The Open Road logo is shown, a convention in all trailers as to give credit to the people who worked on the film. Scenes are shown from the girls school before the surreal music stops, the corridor suddenly becomes rust coloured and run down. A twitching monster (mannequin) can be seen in the foreground and she backs into one of the other students returning the corridor to normal. "But the nightmare wants her back" This trailer and its use of text combined with editing not only creates tension and interest with the viewer but also flashes references of the original silent hill games thus influencing fans of silent hill into watching the film.
The trailer continues in a linear fashion. It portrays the essence of the story without giving too much away which is often the convention of most trailers. The trailer also picks up in pace towards the end. This is done so that the most prominent thoughts of a viewer of that is what they last saw, tension and fear.
An unconventional trailer, 2004's Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Taking on the guise of an anti-aging commercial this trailer for 2004's resident evil is as unconventional as a horror trailer could possibly be. Withholding on the scares it has a very calm atmosphere as it advertises Regenerate from the umbrella corporation (an evil organisation who create a zombie virus in the first film and the games). To those with prior knowledge it is clearly a trailer for resident evil but to the shock of those who do not know about the franchise it would come as quite a shock when the woman's rejuvenated face suddenly becomes disfigured and it cuts away to a vertical pan of a desolate street and a lone woman with a shotgun. This then aptly returns to the original commercial and mentions the release date and name of the movie.
I have chosen to look at this trailer as it is purposefully unconventional which makes it extremely interesting to watch and rather intriguing as a piece of editing. Something of this nature would definitely catch the eye of someone and stick with them much longer than a normal trailer would.
