BBFC Rating

We have chosen the rating of our film to be 15 because it will allow us to demonstrate violent scenes that would not be allowed for anything below a 15. However, we didn’t want our trailer to be all about violence so the rating of a 15 will also restrict us on what topics we can portray.

The 15 rating means No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a 15 rated video work.

Topics that can be covered are -

• Discrimination – The work must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour but there can be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language.
• Drugs – Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
• Imitable behaviour – Dangerous behaviour should not focus on the details that could be copied.
• Language – There may be strong language.
• Sex – Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail.
• Violence – Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.

Plot Ideas Mind Map

This is a mind map of our plot ideas that we came up together as a group. We will now think more about each one and eventually choose one that we think we can produce effectively.

Our Chosen Genre

As a group we have decided to make a trailer for a crime drama. During the process of picking a genre, our two favourites were crime drama and horror but we then decided to do crime drama because it is something that hasn’t been done before. We also chose to do horror for our AS media coursework so we didn’t want to repeat all of last year’s work.

Crime films are a genre of film that focuses on crime. Crime drama is a combination of crime and dramatic films.

Characters

Crime drama films are centred on the actions of criminals or gangsters, particularly bank robbers, stealing and murdering their way through life.

Narrative

This genre often highlights the life of a crime figure or a crime’s victim(s). They can also glorify the rise and fall of a particular criminal(s). Rivalry with other criminals in gangster warfare is often a significant plot. Questions such as how the criminal will be apprehended by police, special agents or gangs. 

Genre Research

Films are put into different genres depending on common conventions. Each genre has a list of conventions that an audience would expect to see when watching the film. Genres help to target a specific niche audience. 

Genres do change over time and can merge together to become hybrids. This means the genre of film is more than one, such as rom-com.

Some of the classic film genres are listed below:

• Action
• Thriller
• Science Fiction (Sci-Fi)
• Comedy
• Drama
• Horror
• Musical
• Adventure

Romance Trailer Codes and Conventions

The narrative of romance trailers usually follow the conventional "boy meets girl" plot, which consists of the main male character meeting the main female character and eventually falling in love. This has proven to be a successful narrative structure of romance films and the target audience often expect to see a plot like this. Often the film will involve some sort of disequilibrium which forces the characters to break up or be separated, the cause of this could be one of them moving away or even one of them dying, for example, P.S. I love you.

The location used is often somewhere rural, because it is known to be beautiful and peaceful which are both associated with the romance genre. Close up shots are used to emphasise the significance/importance of certain things in the narrative, this shot also shows the characters emotions. Shot reverse shot edits are used to clearly show a connection or relationship between two characters and establishing shots are used to show the location.

Sub-genres of Romance

• Romance Drama
• Romance Thriller
• Rom-com

Sci-Fi Trailer Codes and Conventions

The genre incorporates hypothetical and science based themes into the plot of the film. Many sci-fi films use a futuristic setting; this may be away from Earth, such as other planets or in space. The film may also take place on Earth, but in the future, where the world has a different look than it currently does in the present day. Another common convention of the sci-fi genre is futuristic technology, which is technology that has not been invented yet. The technology is sometimes used by the characters to help them in some way. The film will also have a focus on special effects to further enhance the futuristic setting and make it more realistic for the audience. In many cases, special effects and CGI are used because it wouldn’t be possible to create the technology or environment physically, so it is added in in the editing phase.  Most sci-fi films have a large budget since using SFX can be expensive and low budget films will not be able to do this as easily.

Comedy Trailer Codes and Conventions

The setting is always dependant on the type of comedy that you want to use. The most common places for a comedy sketch to occur are in bright places, towns and cities that have a welcoming atmosphere. The lighting in comedies is often high key lighting or natural lighting. Bright and warm colours are used commonly to show that the scene is happy, such as blue and yellow. The scenes are usually set in daylight. Mid-shots, close-ups and two-shots are used commonly to show the relationship between each character, the reactions to jokes and the main focal point of the story line.

Sound is very important within the comedy genre. Diegetic sound such as dialogue has to be very clear to make sure that the audience can hear all of the dialogue. Non-diegetic sound is also very important, edited sound that is added helps emphasise the event on screen, this induces more laughter, and most common usage of sound within the comedy genre is studio laughter and sound effects. The trailer shows clips of a few of the funny scenes but not all of them so that the audience don’t know everything about the film before they watch it.