Suppercurriculars

 MAKING TRAILERS

In this article, Ian Wall outlines how to make successful and gripping trailers for films, specifically for a media A-Level NEA.

He outlines that, to make a good trailer, you have to add key points from your film. Because, in A-Level, there is not a film to take shots and points from, you should have at least a vague idea of what the film hypothetically would be about, and the trailer should follow this vague plot.

However, this does not mean it should give away the ending. It should supply the audience with the main premise, the key action points, but not how it ends - just like a traditional trailer.

The song choice for the trailer should also be taken into consideration before editing, or even before shooting, as you will need to edit the clips to the music and make sure it is on-beat.

It should be compiled of short clips, rather than long ones, to keep the audience's attention throughout and to make sure they are sufficiently gripped. Along the same line, the trailer itself should be relatively short, not pushing it too far over the two minute mark. It should convey the sufficient information in a short period of time.

As well as this, title cards should be used to display information about the upcoming film, including the title, release date, and other important things.

These skills can, hypothetically, also be used to make a music video, which is what I plan to hopefully do for my coursework for media studies A-Level. The advice for shooting a trailer could be used as advice for shooting any shortform video-based media type, and I will take such things to heart if I create the music video as I intend to do.

SHELTER AD

I chose this ad due to the intertextuality of the song choice within. It shows a young boy who always has Total Eclipse of the Heart stuck in his head, and it is revealed at the end that this is because it is the hold music for accommodation services.

It shows that anybody, no matter how "normal" they seem, can be struggling with money and housing problems. In the beginning, he is shown as a somewhat annoying but otherwise unassuming child, which makes it all the more shocking at the end when he is in such an unfortunate situation. The ad raises awareness and understanding of people suffering in the housing crisis, while also attempting to raise money for them as well, which is a strong signifier of altruistic behaviour.

The advert utilises intertextuality to draw attention in the beginning, playing a song that the audience is very likely to know, and then twists it into something sadder, the hold music for the housing service. This manipulation of changing an inferred meaning in the eyes of the audience makes it more impactful and emotional. As well as this, it shows more vulnerable groups (a young child and a seemingly single mother) to make the audience more sympathetic to their situation.

MARK DIXON ON HESMONDALGH

Initially, my presentation on Hesmondalgh spoke solely on how tentpole products are built (through conglomerates using strategies like popular stars, copy-paste plotlines, and continuation of pre-established brands). In doing this, I neglected the digitalisation aspect of his theory, which Dixon writes about. Hesmondalgh views the "internet revolution" as a disturbance to media consumption. 

He thinks that, while there are a few rogue people who are competent enough to navigate the digital world, the majority of the population cannot utilise it well at all. They do not have the skillset required to partake in the participatory culture that it supposedly promotes. The internet is fundamentally dominated by a small group of overpowered companies. He states this commercialisation has then, in turn, made it even harder for the average person to use productively.