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.
