Evaluation of Filming

TEASER TRAILER QUESTIONNAIRE/EVALUATION

Film Name: For Better For Worse

Date of Release: Autumn 2012

Were there any fast cuts like in the Harry Potter teaser trailer (45 cuts in one minute)?
No, this is because we wanted to create a slow pace in order to suit our drama genre.

Was there an extremely long take like The Omen teaser trailer?
No, because we wanted to represent reality as much as possible, which meant showing more scenes of the mise-en-scene, especially in the bathroom.

Were there expectations for the film to reveal itself slowly?
Yes, we aimed to attract our target audience of adult women by showing that our film was of a dramatic genre. This meant revealing clues of the narrative and storyline slowly and gradually and successfully presenting a trailer that really managed to 'tease'.

Was there material that was filmed especially for the teaser trailer like Toy Story?
There was a great deal of material that was filmed especially for our trailer. When trying to represent the marriage of the husband and wife, we used shots of a bride walking up a church aisle to emphasise this. The bathroom shots revealing marks and bruises were also used specifically to hint at the plot and narrative, elements that are extremely important when it comes to attracting a specific audience.

Is there an introduction to the main characters?
There was no real clear introduction to the main characters apart from the woman that would be at the centre of the story, meaning that out purpose of 'teasing' our target audience was fulfilled. The advantage of also just showing the woman mean that the audience would be able to identitfy themselves with the 'main' character already and because of the character's gender, the audeicne of middle aged women would most likely feel that they would be able to relate to or understand this particualr character, before even viewing the film.

Were there any introductions to clues to the stroyline?
There were many clues to the storyline. The shots of the church as well as the voiceover of the wedding vows represented the marriage, the bond and the promise that was made between a couple, whilst the bathroom shots presented something that was much more sinister, shwoing the domestic violence and much more earnest side to the story. The shots themselves showed the dramatic genre.

Were there conventional transitions?
There were mostly very straight and therefore conventional cuts to seperate the scenes. This made the trailer quite natural and therefore realistic, however the black fades also made the overall trailer rather dramatic, suiting the genre.

Were there elements of intrigue?
The group felt that the shots of the bruises created a great deal of intrigue, mainly because at first the audience do not even see any marks, so the sudden appearance of a mark is one that would successfully shock them. We also felt that the 'dreamy' effect we applied to the church shots effectively showed that the shots were in actual fact flashbacks.

Were there elements of anticipation?
The signs of domestic violence presented in the teaser trailer certainly presented elements of anticipation. I would also say that the slow pace of the bride walking down the aisle towards the alter in each church shot created a great deal of anticipation, mainly because it would leave the audience wondering what would they might see when the bride reached the alter. We also felt that the music which was a classical piano accompaniment successfully slowed parts of the trailer down, creating a lot of tension.

Was there sound or music?
The sound of the voiceover appeared to work extremely well alongside the classical piano music. The voiceover was also extremely slow pace which made it very realistic to a typical wedding ceremony and exchange of vows.

Were there a variety of of camera angles/movements to demonstrate skill?
There were, in my opinion, a nice variety of camera angles and movements that presented a range of effects. We used tracking to follow the bride walking down the aisle, midshots to show that the woman shown was at the centre of the story (whilst also showing the setting that she was in) and also close ups to present the marks and imply that the domestic violence was an issue that the storyline would revolve around.

Final Evaluation
I think it is fair to say that we sucessfully acheived the short timing of the overall trailer however they weren't made up of very quick cuts. We showed that it was a drama genre by the mise-en-scene of common places in society like a house and church. The purpose was to attract an audience to create anticipation, to excite and to reveal the date of our film whilst still maintaining a great deal of mystery.