A research report into conventions of promotional videos

From the survey I made about social media usage I've discovered that all 5 people who answered the survey used Facebook, 4/5 used Snapchat and Instagram and Youtube, only two people used Twitter.
Also all of those who answered the survey used social media for communication and entertainment, and that only 2 people used social media for news and 2 people used social media for buying and selling things.
I also found that four out of the five who answered said they found Snapchat to be easier to use whilst the 5th person said they found Facebook easiest. 4/5 people also said that Snapchat was their favourite platform, whilst the least favourite platform was Facebook.
80% went on to say that they preferred to use one platform over another, however due to the way I had the question set, they did not specify what platforms they used for what.

From my secondary research I learned that film audiences use social media to give their thoughts on a film in the comments sections.
For example in the comments section on 20th Century Fox's YouTube channel and on the more popular trailers such as the trailer for Maze Runner: The Death Cure there are several comments uploaded an hour, despite the trailer being released over a month ago.
Most of these comments talk about how excited for the film they are, however some are also criticisms of the trailer and how they don't have high hopes for the film.
YouTube also has a feature where people can give likes or dislikes, currently the trailer has 76532 likes and only 1189 dislikes. This shows that the trailer is popular. The trailer also has over 12 million views, showing how popular it is.
Meanwhile the Instagram for Maze Runner has an average of 25000 likes on their posts and an average of 300 comments.
Also the majority of the comments are positive and don't criticise the movie.


Disney's approach to social media is similar but at the same time very different.
The company's main Instagram page doesn't just post teasers and behind the scenes for their movies but also announcements of said trailers as well as images from movie premiers.
They also post fact videos about their movies, for example a video featuring Easter eggs in Moana.
They also post images of pets under the "Disney Pets" line.
As well as this they post a variety of Disney related content.
These posts get anywhere between 50,000 likes and 400,000 likes, with hundreds of comments on the posts.
They often post a few times a day depending on if there is Disney related news or not.
Meanwhile the Disney YouTube channel currently has 671 videos online.

Instagram and YouTube are very different platforms.
For instance, Instagram is photo based and the majority of posts are pictures whilst YouTube is entirely video based.
Also YouTube is more accessible as you don't need to make an account to access the site therefore YouTube is more likely to get more hits.
Also Disney and 20th Century Fox are very similar companies. (Ignore the fact that Disney has now bought most of the company as that's not yet come into full effect.)
Disney is a more family orientated and therefore they don't  directly produce movies with film ratings above 15-18 but rather do that through Touchstone Pictures.
However 20th Century Fox has produced many films that are a 15, for instance Logan and Deadpool.

The Hunted Scene by Scene Breakdown

The Hunted

An interactive film by Tom Barber, Jess Graham, James Walkden and Oliver

BEN is trapped in an interrogation room, accused of assault, with a choice to give information about his boss, a nefarius gangster terrorising the country.

SCENE 1

BEN “Maverick” Parsons is handcuffed, sat at a table in a dimly lit interrogation room. A door opens and a man in smart attire walks in. He sits opposite to Ben and puts a file down on the table.

Introducing himself as D.I. BURTON, he tells Ben that if he plays his cards right, he can go free. BURTON’s only request is the identity of Ben’s boss, DESMOND Crane.

SCENE 2 A

BEN tells D.I. BURTON about a time when DESMOND saved someone from being mugged.

The screen fades to a flashback.

In an alley, someone is in the process of being mugged and attacked by a man.

There is a shout and DESMOND steps out of the shadows, he is tall and intimidating, wearing purposely torn clothes, he punches the attacker in the face who then falls to the ground, he throws the stolen items to the victim and continues to attack the victim whilst BEN watches on.

SCENE 2 B

BEN tells D.I. BURTON about a time when DESMOND had attacked another gang member for believing he had snitched.

The screen fades to a flashback.

In a living room DESMOND is sat on the sofa with BEN and other gang members when one person, JOHNNY walks in. DESMOND gets up and starts aggressively berating him, JOHNNY tries to convince DESMOND that he hasn’t snitched but it’s not good enough for DESMOND who starts attacking him, eventually stabbing him.

SCENE 3 A

D.I. BURTON orders BEN to stop stalling and to tell him DESMOND’s location.

BEN pauses for a moment and sighs, looking to the right and shaking his head, he tells D.I. BURTON that DESMOND has a hideout in a warehouse in the south part of the town.

D.I. BURTON thanks him and lets him go free.

SCENE 3 B

D.I. BURTON orders BEN to stop stalling and to tell him DESMOND’s location.

BEN looks to the floor, worried and tries to tell the detective that if DESMOND knew it was him who gave away his location, he’d be killed, D.I. BURTON assures him that he’ll be granted witness protection. BEN gives in, telling the detective that DESMOND is located in a hideout in the basement of a burned down pub.

D.I. BURTON thanks him and lets him go free.

SCENE 4 A

BEN leaves the police station and walks down an alley, the same one where DESMOND stopped the mugging. Out of the shadows steps DESMOND, he pins BEN against the wall yelling profanities at him. BEN tries to tell DESMOND that he gave the wrong location to the police but DESMOND doesn’t buy it and starts choking him.

BEN struggles and sees DESMOND brandish a knife.

DESMOND pushes the knife into BEN’s chest and stabs him several times, walking away from the body with bloody hands.  

SCENE 4 B

BEN waits a while at the police station before leaving, escorted by the detective, he passes DESMOND who is being lead to the same interrogation room that he was in.

BEN steps out of the station and smiles, knowing his past is now behind him.

Interactive Breakdown of the Pacific Rim Uprising Website

Unit 7 Production Log

23/01/18: Today I've made a concept website for The Hunted as well as looked at and downloaded fonts to use for the title.

26/01/18: Today I have made interactive content on H5P.org, this content is a breakdown of the homepage of the Pacific Rim Uprising website.

29/01/18: Today I was given the task of creating the site map. There will be 9 pages on the website and four links to social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

1/02/18: Today I started work on the social media strategy. 

Movie Websites.

The promotional website for the upcoming biopic The Darkest Hour has many features to help promote the movie and help create a buzz, which in turn makes more people aware of it promoting it further.
The first aspect of the website is the footage that plays on repeat, even when viewing the synopsis, this is to keep the idea of what happens in the film going through the minds of the person viewing the website.
The website also features the trailer for the film so people can watch that and hopefully decide to see the movie and tell their friends about it.
One prominent feature of the website is the option to buy tickets. On the homepage under the title it has a link to buy tickets for the film and when you open the link it goes to the page to buy tickets rather than the homepage itself.
The homepage also clearly shows the release date, 12th January and that Gary Oldman plays Winston Churchill, the protagonist.
In the synopsis page not only does it tell you what the movie is about but it also tells you who the cast and crew are, for the crew it is specifically the director (Joe Wright) and the various producers.
One minor note is the website has a gallery although it only features one image.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
The top of the page features the movie's logo expanding and retracting and an animation of the main cast and an aligator in the water, which is animated. As you scroll down it features a synopsis of the film and informs us that it is about four teenagers who are sucked into a videogame. The synopsis also informs us that the avatars of the teenagers are played by: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black.
Below the synopsis is a list of cast and crew, informing us that the director is Jake Kasdan (son of Lawrence Kasdan who is famous for writing multiple Hollywood productions such as Raiders of the Lost Ark). Because of this family link and Jake Kasdan's previous work, this could encourage someone to watch the film.
The website also features bios for the "avatars" of the main characters, as well as a game and a 360 degree experience.
The page also features a link to buy tickets, for the same reason as The Darkest Hour, to get people to see the film and talk about it, creating a buzz.
Creating a buzz is the reason why the page also features a link to share the webpage on Facebook.

The 20th Century Fox animated movie Ferdinand, like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle does not have a website of its own but rather a page on 20th Century Fox's website.
The first see on the page's header is a picture of a Bull, Ferdinand as well as a comment from a review from a publication.
Below the header there are links to share on Facebook and Twitter as well as to buy tickets, something that appears to be a convention of these websites and webpages.
Below there are several videos including a trailer, clips from the film and other promotional videos. This is all to get the audience of the website excited to see the film.
The webpage also features a synopsis and informs you that it is by Blue Sky Studios, an animation studio responsible for the Ice Age franchise, this may entice potential viewers as the Ice Age franchise has been held in high regard (despite gradually declining in critical and audience reviews according to Rotten Tomatoes).
The page also has a list of the cast which again, may encourage someone to go and see the movie.
Unlike the other websites, Ferdinand's webpage features games, this is likely due to the fact that it is an animated movie for children. And unlike Disney Pixar's Coco, Ferdinand does have a webpage but I'm not sure why a children's film that doesn't appear to have appeal to other audiences (unlike the Pixar movies and films like Paddington 2) as children don't typically have access to the internet without parent's permission.














Molly's Game is a crime drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.
The official website for the film opens with the trailer but it has the option to close it.
The main page of the website has a black and white photo of Jessica Chastain's Molly. To the right of the page is the title of the movie and above the title is the announcement that it is nominated for two Golden Globes, below the title is the statement that the film is based on a true story.
The left side of the websites informs you that it has academy award winners Idris Elba and Kevin Costner, as well as telling us that Jessica Chastain was nominated for an academy award..
The nominations for Golden Globes may persuade a potential audience member to go see the movie as it must be good to have been nominated for best screenplay.
Also as the websites tells you that two members of the cast have Oscars and the lead was nominated for one may also persuade someone to watch the movie because if it has good actors then the movie is probably also good.
The fact that the movie is based on a true story may also get someone to watch the film as people may find the fact that it was based on a true story more interesting than if it was purely fiction.
In the top left of the website there is a drop-down menu which features a synopsis, two trailers, a gallery that features several stills from the movie and a link to buy tickets.
In the top right there are links to share on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to create a buzz to promote the film.

Early Man is a stop motion animation children's film due for release in late January 2018.
Like the website for Darkest Hour it has footage from the movie in the background on a loop.
It also prominently features the option to watch a trailer and to book tickets like the other websites.
Like the websites for Ferdinand and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the website for Early Man features games.
The website also features a gallery with pictures and videos and, like Jumanji, has a bio for the characters, but unlike Jumanji's there are more characters with bios but many are shorter.
At the top of the website it states that the film is "From Nick Park, Director of Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit." Both the film Chicken Run and the Wallace & Gromit series are critically acclaimed and award winning, therefore as Early Man is directed by the same person it is likely to be very good as well.
Like the other websites Early Man's website features the option to book tickets which takes to a map to find a local cinema.
The website also prominently features the links to social media websites and the official YouTube channel to share their promotional videos.

The Commuter is a mystery/crime movie starring Liam Neeson and is directed by Jaume Collet-Sera.
The website, like the website for Darkest Hour and Early Man, has footage from the film playing in the background of the website. In the middle of the website is a button to play the final trailer for the film, this may entice someone to go to the cinema to see this film as the trailer could convince them more than the website would on its own.
One interesting thing to note is that in the gallery all of the images move, this may be a useful feature for my website.

From everything I've seen of these websites, I've decided to have a still from the movie in the background of the homepage, to have a gallery with stills and videos, maybe I'll also have the images move with after effects. I'm also going to involve a 360 degree picture of the set and it'll have clickable points. Of course the website will also have a synopsis and a list of cast and crew.
The website will also have a link to social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube.

Unit 6 Production Log

23/01/18: Created a mind-map of ideas for "The Hunted" and made a branch chart as a template for the interactivity video. Also have come up with ideas for the four different interactive arcs within the video.

25/01/18: Completed the branch chart for my arc of The Hunted and started the scene by scene breakdown

28/01/18: Made the storyboard for The Hunted

30/01/18: Started working on the pre-production paperwork for the hunted.    

31/01/18: Finished the first draft of the script for The Hunted.                                                                      

The Hunted Target Audience

The certificate will be a 15 and the target audience will be 14-18 year olds

It's a crime thriller with action aspects.


The content the TA is looking is clips from the film


14-18 year olds mainly post memes


What's the backstory, is it based on a true story, is there death?


There will be an instagram and a snapchat that will post a few times a day before the release of The Hunted

Interactive Video Test

Task 2 social media audit.

The Relationship Between Audio And Video in Film

The 2016 movie, I, DANIEL BLAKE, written by Paul Laverty and directed by Ken Loach is a drama following the life of 59 year old Daniel Blake as he struggles to find work after being deemed fit for work and having his benefits frozen, despite his doctor telling him that he isn’t following a heart attack.

He meets a newcomer to the city of Newcastle called Katie and her two children,  Daisy and Dylan.

The film re-enforces realism to promote the issues that are presented in the narrative and because of this in many scenes it focuses on diegetic and natural sounds.

For example in one scene in the middle of the film, Daniel is at Katie’s house and is putting together a makeshift heater as they don’t have hot water.

In the scene there is no music and you can hear every minor diegetic sound from the sound of Katie cooking in the background to Daniel putting the pots over the candle. All of these sounds are natural to help to immerse the audience into believing that they are in the room too and to help them to feel the situation that both Daniel and Katie are in.

All of the natural sound effects were probably added in post with foley or were at least augmented as it is unlikely the microphone picked up everything.

Daniel has one notable vocal tic in this scene when he pauses to remember the name of Daisy, this shows his age and also how he’s only known them for a short time at this point and their names haven’t been solidified in his mind.

The way Daniel and Daisy speak in the scene is very natural and seems as if it was improvised to help sell the realism of the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkNTjcuB4iQ

On the very other end of the spectrum is the 2016 animated Netflix show: Voltron Legendary Defender.

In season 4, episode 2 the character of Pidge finally discovers information about the whereabouts of her brother who was abducted a year prior on a mission to Kerberos, one of Pluto’s moons.

The scene titled “family reunion” sees Pidge discovers the hideout of her brother, Matt. She is attacked by him before the realize who each other is, embracing but being interrupted by a bounty hunter. Pidge and Matt then fight the bounty hunter and defeat him.

As the programme is science fiction and animated, most of the sound effects, especially in fight scenes are hyper-real. For example Matt’s staff makes loud metallic noises when it comes in contact with Pidge’s bayard. Matt’s staff also makes hyper-real “swooshing” noises when he spins and swipes with it. The bounty hunter’s “whips” also make electrical crackling noises

The voices of the bounty hunter and Matt wearing his helmet have been augmented to make them sound more electronic and futuristic.

The music is mostly ambient to replicate the emptiness and mysterious aspects of space. It is very electronic to fit with the science fiction genre of the show. During both of the fight scenes the music gets fast paced rather than the usual slow music.    

When Matt and Pidge hug the music starts to sound happier to re-enforce the emotions of the characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3LsaWzU17w

Social Media Survey Results

Survey

Review Sheet for West Kent College TV