Institutions

Film institutions - 

 A Distributor is a company or individual in charge of the marketing of a film. They set when the film will be released. They decide if the film is good enough quality to go in cinemas before it comes out on video. Some films don't get distributed because quality may be poor or there is not enough money to promote them, so they go straight to DVD or video to be home viewed. Big budgeted films start off at cinemas in one area e.g. London, then go on 'general release'. And low financed films will appear at selected cinemas. E.g Arrow Films

Production companies provides the money and sets the budget. Producers work onside with the director because they're responsible for setting up and may make decisions like what actors to be hired. Executive producers organises the finances and overlooks everything. E.g. Film4 Productions

For Iris - 

The reason why i choose New Line Cinema as the distributor and Mark Johnson Productions to produce the film is because they did My Sister's Keeper. My Sister's Keeper is also a drama tragedy and there are similarities with Iris e.g. main character has cancer. Because Iris is similar, I thought it be best to have the same companies as the successful My Sister Keeper.

Info -

New Line Cinema - American film studio,  founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as a film distribution company, later becoming an independent film studio.  (Distributor for Iris)

Mark Johnson Productions (Producer) is set up by Mark Johnson who is an American film producer. He produced Rain Man which is a Drama film like Iris, and he won Best Picture Academy Award for it.

Research -

You see films on Television or in Cinema

Letters to God

How is narrative created?
Editing -
pace
Slow at the beginning with the equilibrium; boy has cancer and is writing a letter to god about it, the pace is still slow with the disruption; the op-positional character comes in - post guy. This builds up the interest in the story because it creates questions in the audiences mind makes them want to watch the rest of the trailer.
The recognition starts and is slightly faster, this effect builds up emotional tension on the audience. This is the longest and lasts throughout the trailer.
The transitions in the trailer are slow cuts and dissolving, the transitions were firstly slow to match the pace then got faster. It helped build up the tension in the trailer.

Filming -
camera shots
angles - pov
movements
distances

opening
Boy writing letter, reading what's written as voice over. Long shot to show what's going on,
intro to characters
In the first shot the boy is introduced and then the mum and post guy is.
teasing shots
the mum doesn't agree with God's will. Her son believes in God's will because he's been writing letters to God with positiveness and hope.
the convincer
Most of the trailer is convincing because they are so many questions to be answered. Like when mum opens boy's letter, makes audience want to know her response to her son's strong faith whereas she lost her faith. Makes the audience want to know more and to see the film

Sound -
Starts with voice over of the boy, he lets the audience know that he is sick, he has cancer but doesn't say. And at the end he says 'But it'll be okay' so he has faith and has a positive attitude. Non diegetic
There is dialogue between the post guy and the boy, it's more personal this way also the topic they are talking about is personal and emotional too. Diegetic
Music - The music gets louder throughout the trailer. Starts with piano music, piano is a classical and calm instrument - suits with pace of trailer at beginning. Eventually as trailer gets faster, lyrics and more instruments are added to match with emotions later on in the trailer.

How is Genre established?
The genre is Drama because there's social interaction with the audience, setting and characters in the trailer. The characters are going through a struggling experience that the audience can relate to and they feel emotionally attached by it. And finally there is a sort of realisation at the end

Conventions -
Firstly, there's an MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) film rating at the beginning which states the film is a PG (Parental Guidance). This means any age can watch it but parental guidance is suggested as some parts of the film may not be appropriate for children to watch. This shows the film's target audience is anyone, possibly family because it's PG.

Next the production company logo appears - Possibility pictures. This can give an insight of the film because it can be compared to previous films made by Possibility pictures. Again, gives a clue on the target audience.

Shot -
The first shot is a long shot and it's eye level. There's a voice over by the main character, and his actions suits what he is saying because the voice over is his thoughts (diegetic sound). In the first shot he says as the voice over "Dear God..." so he looks up to the sky where God is. He is writing a letter to God, the audience knows this is important as the film's name is 'Letters to God'. This creates a personal and sweet feeling for the audience. The voice over gives a brief outline of the film leaving the audience with questions. There is calm piano background music to match the feeling created by the first few shots.

 And the last shot is the same shot like in the beginning - same location, dark, same character. This effects the audience because now they know what the character has been through but at the beginning they didn't.

Text- 
Some shots are black with gold text. They're short sentences that relate to the film and the audience. The music changes as the first one is seen. It's inspired by a true story which gives meaning and a purpose.
Another text shot is ''Producers of Fireproof and Facing the Giants". This suggest because these producers also made this film, there will be a similarities like genre - Drama.
The credits were right at the end of the film - e.g. names of actors, producers, distributors. The actor names didn't appear through the trailer, this suggests that they aren't easily recognisable actors because they may not be so famous. Otherwise the editor would of put the names in between the trailer to keep hold of the audiences attention.

Codes and Conventions

Codes and Conventions -

Production Company logo - Tells the audience the company that created the film. If the production company made successful films in the past, this gives a good image on the new film and people would want to watch it as before they've enjoyed films made by that company. The more people who watch it, the bigger the profit. Also, sometimes the logo may change the way it's represented to match the genre of film e.g. Warner Brothers.

Cast and Crew - Names of actors and actresses are in the trailer, people may watch film because it features one of their favorite actors/actresses.
Also 'From director of...' This may suggest content is similar to other film. And because the same director filmed it, how ever entertained the audience was in the other film, the audience will be that entertained in the new film.

Paces - 
 Fast pace: cut the clips to show as much of the story possible, giving an idea of the narrative.
Sometimes slow in beginning then fast to create tension and emotions for the climax.

Length of Shots - How long a shot is gives an effect. so each second counts. Short shots show important bits to the plot. Longer shots hold info about storyline.

Music - Matches pace of film, sets mood.
Dialogue - Tells story, seems more personal
Text - Creates suspense, helps tell story


Conventions of Drama genre -

Firstly, genre should be easily recognized by target audience because you want them to watch your film. Genres are used to form a script and attract the target audience.

Drama -

• True life situations with realistic characters, stories and setting
• Shows journey of character development
• Strong social interaction
• Storyline purpose is to move audiences emotions
• What makes drama is the conflict - inner/outer struggles, pain
• Audience can easily relate to characters
• Keeps audience emotionally attached and tension going - by using climaxes and anti climaxes.
• Form of realisation at end

 Iris is a hybrid because it's drama, tragedy (suffering, weak, illness) and coming of age (grow out of bad lifestyle, turn mature)

Iris

  My official film name - Iris. 

Iris - Used as girl in film is called Iris but it's also ironic as rainbow connotes happiness, harmony and luck which doesn't relate to sad story in film. Although it can relate to message in the end because rainbow also means life.

Genre - Drama, 'coming of age', Tragedy

Pitch 

When two teenage girls waste their lives, all that matters is they have each other.  Iris and Jen are two best friends who live a lifestyle of smoking, drinking and partying. The bond is unbreakable between the two. But when Iris gets sick and is diagnosed with cancer, how will Jen survive without her?

Synopsis

Jennifer Bates and Iris Stanley are 14 year olds,soon to be 15. They are best friends who both loathe their families and live in Brixton, South London. They Stay out all night and instead of going to school they sit in the local park, drinking, smoking and doing all the things teenagers shouldn’t be.
Eventually their mayhem lead them to a group of young thugs and the girls find themselves stealing cars, selling drugs and robbing from the local community.

One day Iris falls ill. Iris is diagnosed with cancer - a brain tumour. With the newfound love and support of her family,Iris goes into hospital leaving her beloved friend behind to fend for herself in a world which until now, she understood.
The bond between the girls is tested as they are torn apart by the possibility of death and the harsh reality of loneliness in a cruel and unforgiving world.
This is a story about two desolate lives, brought together by a basic human need to survival and be loved… but when all they have known is how to survive together, how will they learn to survive apart?

Things to include in trailer - Beginning and abit of middle, not resolution as it'll give the whole film away.
 

Beginning:
· Sad desolate environment of 2 young girls· Friendship is made and hence they create their own “family” together.· Bond becomes apparent to trailer audience.
Middle:
· Bond is reinforced for trailer audience·The 2 girls create havoc together, strengthening their relationship.·After bond is strengthened – conflict is created and audience discover 1 character has cancer. Posing the question: what happens now? 

(This is not shown in trailer) End: Iris doesn't survive, leaves Jenn alone forever. However, Jen's life has changed for the good as before she was surviving without Iris and Jen wanted to change for the better. 

 In the trailer, can add keywords with white flashing light as background: Survival, change, light, hope, death, life - message from film

White is pure and represents peace and purity. It's a colour which is like a light at the end of a dark tunnel - hope.

Warm Bodies

 

The voice over is used to introduce characters and narrative - it lets the audience know the lifestyle of the one zombie as he explained himself also that he wishes he could connect which is what relates to the narrative of the trailer. This supports the genre of the trailer because its drama and comedy as it was explained in a humorous way. There were many cuts to keep the trailer short. The non diegetic sound was the music - which build up during the trailer, 
Even though the voice over was targeted at the audience, the main character in the film could hear it as well since it was him talking - diegetic sound. In addition to this, the characters talking, shooting from guns, any sound that happens in the film is also diegetic.

Todorov - 5 part theory, 
equilibrium - The beginning introduces zombies, setting is dead and abandoned. This may represent the zombies since they're all dead.disruption - Character see's girl in shooting scene, zombie takes her and looks after hercomplication - girl's dad kills zombies - problem because zombie and girl are friends, them being together infects other zombies. Zombie is learning to be human from this.The restoration was kind of seen because the zombie turns human and kisses the girl but something might of happened from there. Normally, in trailers the restoration isn't seen because it'll reveal the whole film.

                   

Byzantium

The girl writes in a book about her story which will never be told to anyone. Her mother drinks human blood - she's a vampire. Some humans know about it and from there in the trailer there was many cuts featuring action scenes suggesting when people started finding out it created a complication. Also the girl wasn't keen on being a vampire and wasn't a true one as she told her boyfriend suggesting she may not want to be vampire.
The movie is a Hybrid - Thriller because it's jumpy from the vampire attacks and it excites the audience. Also it's a Fantasy because it features vampires and vampires are made up creatures.

 

Beautiful creatures

In Beautiful Creatures, the Sound is non-diegetic and diegetic. The background music and dramatic sound effects are non-diegetic because the sound is only heard by the audience. style changes and so does the mood of the trailer.

 Whereas sound like  Glass smashing, characters talking are diegetic because the audience and everyone in the film can hear it

The picture is fantasy like, it has creative graphics to suit the movie genre. 

The Titles are bold with a feminine feel as its sliver (like jewellery) and the text has thin line/waves at the end of some letters (stereotypically the way girls/ young women/teenage girls write). This may suggest the film will appeal to women most. 

The colours in the film are dark to suit the dark fantasy genre and plot.  In the trailer there was a lot of cuts to keep it short and neat.