Animal Crossing

You play a character who arrives at a new town. Once you have arrived, you live the lifestyle of your character. You have things to do like make your town better by donating fish or fossils to the museum, improving Nook's Shed or another thing you can do is meet new people and completing tasks for them.
It doesn't really follow any theory.

Video game genres

Video game genres are used to label video games based on their gameplay interaction. A video game genre is decided by a set of gameplay challenges. Genre is defined by content in game

Examples -
 Action - Grand Theft Auto
Adventure - Legend of Zelda
Role-Play - Dragon Age
Sports - Fifa Soccer

Evaluation

The trailer ‘Iris’ is influenced by a true story. The purpose of the film is to show that life is precious and you should not waste it. Also when everything falls apart, there is hope.  And finally when someone you love might die, you need to do what is best for that person; you might change your whole life for this.

It is about two best friends who have known each other for long time, they live a ‘thug’ lifestyle and do not care for no one but themselves and each other. The two are always together and the bond is strong. One day Iris gets sick with cancer and Jen does not know what to do because she has never been through this before. With Iris being in hospital, they learn to live without each other. Jen knows she will have to change her lifestyle for this and does what’s best. In the end Iris passes away and Jen carries on without her best friend beside her.

Uses and gratification theory: The trailer has normal characters that struggle in life and waste it by partying and drinking; this informs and educates the audience the world that they live in. The characters are working class or from working class families therefore the target audience can easily relate to them. Iris has cancer and this is easily relatable to anyone, maybe the audience will inform others about the film because of the cancer as it is a topic people know and talk about. The message from the film is strong and influential; can takes the audiences mind off their own lives and escape into the characters.

 Hypodermic needle theory:  ‘Iris’ injects messages of life, hope and change into the audiences head. They can influence the audience to change themselves and be a better person.

My audience has been targeted through the conventions in my trailer. Like the story of the film would appeal to a teenage, mature, active audience because they will understand the disease is fatal and the emotional impacts it has on people. The cast look ordinary; they play characters that are relatable with the target audience.

 Iris and Jen have an ideology that is young, lively and vivid. They live a thug lifestyle when they are teenagers. This was achieved from their clothing, actions and the editing colour effects. This also represented them as young troubled gang members.

The mise en scene  is average places like the park or hospital. The shots with the gang have beer bottles and drugs to represent troubled youth, the place is isolated and quiet, every character is wearing a hoodie.

Post Production – conventions – The trailer does feature multiple locations e.g. Richmond Park, Civic Centre, Bedroom, all these locations are places working class people normally go to therefore the target audience can relate easily.  The film rating is at the beginning of the trailer – PG 13. And the Institution, Production Company appears in trailer. The resolution is not seen but lot of the equilibrium is to let the audience want to know how the film ends. The genre signifiers through the use of music, the effect from it is melancholic, the tempo of it changes and slowly gets louder to match with the climax seen in the trailer. They are different edited paces throughout the trailer and this keeps the audience entertained and gives them an insight on the pace of the characters life.

There is a range of transitions – like cross - dissolves, fade to black, fast cuts and white lights. Each transition was used for a reason to create an effect for the next shot. The voice over was used on top of a white light and it is of Jen finding out Iris has cancer, the white lets the audience picture it in their head and the voice over suggests how personal it is.  Also the trailer uses natural lighting to make it more relatable for the audience and white light because it means hope. This was achieved because people who watched it said all this. The editing changes the colour in some shots like when Iris is in hospital it is very white to suggest purity.  They are no reviews in the trailer because ‘coming of age’ Tragedy Drama trailers do not feature them. The Production Company (Mark Johnson) and Institution (New Line Cinema) are known for making Drama films and they are seen in the trailer.

The Action code is Iris fainting. This is a significant event that moves the narrative forward because afterwards the audience finds out she has cancer. The trailer has many Enigma codes from beginning to end. Do they stay best friends?, Why are they now trouble makers?,  How does Iris cope with her cancer?, How does Jen survive without her?, “What happened to their lives after this?, “Does Iris die?. All these questions pop into mind when watching the trailer. This is good because the questions intrigue the audience to watch the film.

I thought the Binary Opposition suited ‘Iris’ a lot because it was a mix of Tragedy Drama (My Sister’s Keeper) however attracted a teenage audience (Now is Good).

People who have watched the trailer had an emotional response and said they can relate really well. It was a success as people who watched it had an emotional response of sympathy and sadness.

Planning and research – We had a schedule of when and where to film and who from the cast was need there. To make sure we kept in contact, we used our phones and email addresses.  Our production roles were decided although in the end we all shared all the roles because we take turns on the camera and we all suggested new ideas. The equipment – own camera

For my research, I analysed a variety of Drama trailers – Letters to God (Drama Christian), Now Is Good (Teen Drama, ‘Coming of age’) and My Sister’s Keeper (Drama). I did this to understand Drama trailers, see their conventions and how the genre can be identified so I can use it for ‘Iris’. I realised Drama trailers do not use ratings, shows the equilibrium and the complication but never the resolution, many inter-titles, range of shot sizes and paces, use of a voice over (non-diegetic) and some dialogue (diegetic) from the film. The music is intense and matches what goes on in the trailer to create the mood for the audience. All of this was used in ‘Iris’ to achieve a successful Drama trailer.

Production – Everything was filmed on my own HD camera, the clips lasted between 5 – 10 seconds long because I knew what I wanted to film also I filmed the same scene in different shot sizes and angles. The editing was done on Final Cut because Final Cut is easier and more effective to use compared to iMovie. Weaknesses strengths-new ideas

The trailer was successful in the preparation and production - the collaboration with the cast and group went well, the characters wore clothes that represented who they were, the multiple locations made the trailer interesting to watch and the editing created the effect of sadness on the audience.

It could have been better if the whole group was able to make one edit, reasons for not doing one edit was because of the lack of contribution to the edit and one member was hardly at the recording. If this was prevented then the original edit could have been better because everyone worked hard on it.

target audience, character

Target audience-
Working/middle class - can relate to film
Teenage girls (above 15), Young adults
Appeals to these Ppl- mature, compassion, kind towards ppl, relate, vaule relationships.
Music- alternative- mature taste
Shop at High street, Holister (older teens and younf adults shop there), thrift shops, River Island, Topshop

Jen changes her whole lifestyle for her friend. She learns, forgives and grows. For example, she left the gang because she knows they will hold her back from being a better person. Also attends church, a place of hope. This shows Jen has hope for Iris and that she cares for her.

Iris also changes because of her disease. Her mind has grown and realised what she took for granted. She wished she lived a happier, healthier, active life. Her regrets are what makes Jen want to change. Also seen as a lesson - Life is too short, do not waste it.

My Sister's Keeper

The voice over helps give an insight of the purpose of Anna's birth. The voice over finishes with "Born to save my sister's life", a medium shot of the sister's is shown and you see her sister has cancer because  she is bold from chemo therapy. Anna was born to save her sister from cancer. The disruption is shown first.
Next the equilibrium is seen -  a happy family lifestyle. There is a voice over of the farther and he talks about their happy lives. The editing shows different shots of their happiness by using cuts, this edit allows the story to be seen quicker. The shots match with the farther's voice over, there visuals to what he is saying. This creates a better understanding for the audience. When the farther starts talking about 'the cracks' within their lives, the editing uses dissolves making it slower also the shots are more sad and dark.
A shot with text - 'Based on the best selling novel by Jodi Picoult'. This is used to attracts fans of the novels to gain a bigger audience. Text shots like this attracts an audience, another example is ' A true story..'. It attracts an audience because it makes the film seem more interesting to watch.
Iris will feature 'Based on a true story' since it is but also to make it more interesting.
The complication is introduced with a dissolve. Anna does not want to help her sister by giving up her own body. The use of diegetic   sound reveals this " You're suppose to give her a kidney?" "I want to sue my parents for the rights of my own body".
The climax is then seen. The editing uses a lot of cuts, different shots and the pace is slightly faster. The music starts of slow at the beginning of the climax and then gets faster and louder, this helps build up the tension and emotions in the audience. There is a range of diegetic and non diegetic sound for the same reason.
Throughout the trailer, the transitions are dissolves and cuts but the end shots are white lights. White is a pure colour which represents the innocent love between the characters and symbolises purity, life, rebirth, angels, heaven and even death. The paradox of life and death are major themes and are both possible outcomes for the main character and the white light reinforces this for the audience.
For Iris, these transitions are highly used in the trailer for the same reasons.

Both Letters to God and My Sister's Keeper does not have star ratings. - Drama trailers do not feature them. Instead, they show the equilibrium, complication and some of the climax. A main feature of a drama trailer is the plot, this is why it is seen like a story (only certain parts of the plot can be seen because it can not be fully revealed). Drama trailers can be hard to produce as you need to create a trailer featuring the story of the film without revealing all of it.

Surprisingly, the My Sister's Keeper trailer does not mention the main actors/actresses names even though they are very popular for their high quality acting. A good leading cast can gain a bigger audience because the audience knows the actors will be good compared to actors starting off. But that shows the story is most important.

pics

Factors in a film

Camera work - makes film interesting to watch

Good Plot - grabs audience attention, emotionally engages the audience, original new story, use imagination and don't get bored easily

Good leading cast - gains audience if features popular actress/actor. - know acting will be high standard compared to actor starting off.

If film gives you something to think off - gain a response or perspective, stimulation. With Iris, many perspectives - Iris who has the cancer, Jen who is suffering for her friend. Audience learn there is hope and change is good.

Good soundtrack - music that connects with the actions. Gives off the moods, attracts the attention.

Never too late - goes well with Iris because it is 'never too late' to change and believe for the best.  Jen wants to be there for her friend but she can not.

Without you - both friends are always together, without each other they are not complete. When they are separated this is an impact on their lives.