Trailer Inspiration Research

Before I start planning my trailer in depth, I watched other trailers of movies that followed a very similar storyline to mine and/or contained some similar elements of my story. I wrote down characters, shots and hero's journey elements that I can learn from and possibly adapt.

Movie Trailer	Storyline	Shots I can learn from	Characters I can adapt
Whip It	[HERO’S JOURNEY] A girl doesn’t know who she is; her identity. She then finds rollerblading as an escape and realises that it is her passion. Her parents don’t approve of this as they wanted her to become a beauty pageant.	high angles looking down on Hero when they are in low states and low angles looking up at Hero when they are in victorious moments.	Shy main character, doesn’t know who she is. Parent/s that push her to become something else
If I Stay	[not hero’s journey] A girl having a deep passion for music but dies in a car crash. Her inspiring story up until that point is shared throughout the film. She had auditioned then got accepted into Julliard.	long shot of main character playing their instrument on stage switch to panning shot of their hands on the instrument switch to a shot of their face being concentrated on playing the instrument	Main character who has a deep passion for music/an instrument Goddess that has a interest in the main Hero.

Hero's Journey Trailer Events

Ordinary World	Georgia Mae Hudson is a normal high school student. She is shy, an outcast, she doesn’t know what she wants to be  Doctor announces to Georgia and to mother that Georgia has social anxiety. Doctor asks what kind of things Georgia does to release of her stress and anxiety and this is to play piano.
Call to Adventure	School talent show is coming up and Georgia’s piano teacher thinks she should enter because she knows how much talent she has and that it should be recognised by people Despite Georgia’s disorder, her piano teacher positively encourages her and believes in Georgia 100% to overcome her fears
Refusal of the call	Georgia doesn’t think she is able to do it and has doubt in herself. This is her negative and scared side of her defending.
Meeting the Mentor	Georgia’s Doctor suggests she sees a councillor and her councillor becomes an important mentor in her life. Georgia had already had Miss Belle as a piano teacher for many years Her best friend is another one of her mentors, keeping her in the right mind set and being there to support and guide her.
Initiation	She had been practising casually for many years but when she is put to the test of playing at the talent show, she rehearses more seriously and puts her mind to it. Georgia wants to be and do the best she can and try to fight the disorder.
Crossing the Threshold	She approaches the stage of the talent show in front of the whole school and plays the piano beautifully.
Test	Georgia is to play piano in front of the whole school Suddenly, onstage, in the middle of her piece, she stops and starts shaking. She suddenly realises how many people she is performing in front of and mentally breaks down on stage, running off.
Allies/Enemies	Georgia’s social anxiety is her biggest enemy Her mother doesn’t want her to go onstage and pursue her piano teacher’s vision. Georgia’s mum is only wanting to protect her, though.
Belly of the Whale/Approach the inmost cave	She is outside having an anxiety attack with her best friend by her side trying to help her. Georgia says “I was doing just fine, I thought I could do this but I realised how many people were there and I just stopped. I couldn’t continue knowing how many people were watching and judging me.”
Ordeal	Georgia spreads awareness about social anxiety and tells young people that they shouldn’t let anything get in their way to what they want to be. Georgia has made it to audition for Julliard and this is a very successful achievement of hers as it is extremely difficult to get into
Atonement with the father	Georgia begins to increasingly overcome her illness. Her mother (who had not wanted her to perform in public at first) realises that she shouldn’t hold back Georgia and let her overcome it on her own.
Reward	Georgia is successful and is accepted into Julliard school with a piano scholarship She gets this mainly because of her talents and partially because she is determined which is evident with her spreading awareness about social anxiety within teens

Hero's Journey Trailer Essentials

List of monomyth elements that we must have in our trailer to make it clear that it follows the hero’s journey:

• Call to Adventure
• Refusal of the Call
• The crossover
• Montages of Scenarios and Tests in the story

Hero’s Journey characters that are very important to show in our trailers:

• The Hero
• The Mentor
• The Antagonist

Although there are other elements and characters included within the Hero's Journey, the ones listed above are crucial to show in our Hero's Journey Trailer. 

Creative Lighting Options

Today in FTVNM we watched a video about how we can successfully use only 1 light in a film.

Some techniques included using everyday household items to reflect the light. Such as:

• Alfoil
• Coloured T-shirts
• Coloured Sheets
• A table

Different colours of material used to reflect light changes the colour of the light and can assist in setting a certain mood and idea.

Avengers: Age of Ultron & Target Audiences

Today in class we watched different trailers for Avengers: Age of Ultron. We discovered that we liked one particular trailer over the others and this is because that particular trailer was targeted at an audience of our age and possible gender. Then, we answered questions about how a film can be advertised and promoted to reach target audiences.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

How had the Avengers: Age Of Ultron been advertised and promoted?

• Youtube
• Facebook
• iMdb
• Television ads and shows
• Radio
• Awards shows
• interviews
• Twitter
• Buzzfeed
• Posters
• Billboards

How many Official Trailers were released?

3-5. If you don’t include the SuperBowl or extra 

Name some other forms of online, tv, cinema promotion used.

• Youtube; advertisements and trailers, recommended list of videos 
• Facebook; advertisements and sponsored videos, and friends sharing, celebrity promotion
• iMbd; shows up on movie lists depending on what kind of movies the person searches for
• Television shows; talk shows like Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, The View
• Radio; word of mouth and interviews. 
• Award shows; interviews on the red carpet
• Interviews; on the radio, talk shows, youtube
• Twitter; celebrities promote their movies and interact with their followers getting them interested
• BuzzFeed; through articles and quizzes, obtains the attention of different types of people
• Posters; in shopping centres and general public places, bus stops, on buses and trams
• Billboards; on the road, people in cars past eye-catching film advertisements

No social media; imagine you are marketing to the same audiences.

• Posters outside shops targeted to the type of people who shop there. e.g. 
• Advertising trailers in the cinema with a movie that relates to the one the audience is watching
• Talking on the radio on channels that the target audience listens to by talking to celebrities or . e.g. 60’s channel would be something that 
• Merchandise in shops, makes people think that they have to watch the movie to be in fashion. They create dolls and action figures and advertising them on television.
• Newspapers/Magazines articles and adverts
• Television ads and trailers
• Public areas like the library 

No internet at all; how can you target audiences.

• Arcade games, game boy games and prizes.
• McDonalds toys target younger generations and bug there parents to get them.
• Merchandise in shops, makes people think that they have to watch the movie to be in fashion. They create dolls and action figures and advertising them on television.
• Newspapers/Magazines articles and adverts
• Video stores promoting films on posters in order to sell them.
• Prizes in food boxes
• General songs or specific theme songs that associate with the films.

Star Wars Trailers

In class today we looked at two different Star Wars trailers. We compared and contrasted the two and identified how they have portrayed the hero's journey differently. Here are the links to the trailers.

“1977 Star Wars”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_1T4ilm8M

“Star Wars; Revenge of the Sith”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Cdj3GpobM

How have they used the hero’s journey?

• Both trailers included snippets of an action-packed scene of the Ordeal.
• They showed different archetypical characters within the hero’s journey. Like:

1. The Hero
2. The Mentor
3. The Shadow/Antagonist
4. Ally/Sidekick
5. The Goddess

How were the trailers different?

• The 1977 trailer has a non-character voice over as a narrator as well as included dialogue from the film, whereas the Revenge of the Sith only has dialogue from the actual movie and no third-person narrator.
• “Star Wars; Revenge of the Sith” has more complex and detailed computer generated imagery and has a higher image quality compared to the 1977 Star Wars trailer.
• The 1977 Star Wars trailer focused more on the whole storyline whereas the Revenge of the Sith concentrated more towards the main character (hero) and his journey.

Monomyth Trailer Brainstorming

Last week my class started on a new assessment of ours which is based off the Hero's Journey. We are to create a 2-3 minute trailer that clearly shows aspects of the Hero's Journey and specific archetypical characters within it. I am very excited to start this trailer as it is just like our last trailer assessment but we get to extend the length of the trailer, leaving space for more depth into characters and the storyline.

Below are some brainstorming points that I had made to help the development of my trailer. I have chosen to go with my second idea as I feel I have a close connection with it, and the basis of the story was easier to build upon.

Idea #1

• Girl who loves fairytales and books, opens one in the school library and gets taken into the book and has to go through the novel to get back home, must go through different obstacles.
• Normal girl, turns into the Hero
• Witch is the mentor, helping her to get back home
• The fairy is the bad guy, not wanting to let the main character out of the book

Idea #2

• Georgia Mae Hudson is shy, outcast, doesn’t know what she wants to be, has social anxiety
• Has one best friend that she’s had since her toddler years, she knows she wants to be a lawyer though.
• Her mother wants her to be a lawyer like Jenny (who is smart and has good grades)
• Doctor announces to Georgia and to mother that Georgia has social anxiety. Doctor asks what kind of things Georgia does to release of her stress and anxiety. 
• Georgia like to play piano. Only in her spare time and at home, though.
• School talent show is coming up and Georgia’s piano teacher thinks she should enter because she knows how much talent she has.
• Georgia had tried to perform a piece in front of her music class and gets too frightened and runs out of the room. “I can’t even play in front of my own music class, how am I supposed to play in front of the whole school?”
• Her piano teacher keeps encouraging her and telling her she can do it, she is very supportive and helps her in every way she can
• The night of the talent show, Georgia slowly walks onto the stage, her mother and piano teacher sitting side by side, smiling at her supportively. Georgia successfully plays. “You don’t know, until you try.”

Type	Name	Association with Hero	Info
Hero	Georgia Mae Hudson	-	16 years old. Doesn’t really know who she is, shy, an outcast, soon becomes diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, plays piano to release stress but only ever at home.
Mentor	Miss Belle	Piano Teacher	Has a lot of faith in Georgia and her piano playing and thinks it is time she should show the world. Miss Belle suggests Georgia enters the school talent show.
Shadow/Antagonist	Social Anxiety	Georgia is diagnosed with the disorder	Georgia spends the whole movie trying to overcome it.
Ally/Sidekick	Ally Deyes	Best friend	Has known Georgia basically her whole life, they have stuck together for so many years.
Shapeshifter	Mrs Hudson	Georgia’s Mother	At the beginning she has doubt in Georgia, not understanding why she doesn’t know what to do with her life. Once she realises Georgia has social anxiety, she tried her best to support her and in the end she is proud of her performance at the school talent show.
Goddess	metaphor		Georgia’s future and what she wants to do.
Goddess	Phil	A boy that goes to her school	He is a cellist and may have a little bit of interest in Georgia after seeing her play beautifully on the piano.

I then talked to Mr Andrews about my storyline and gained some feedback on my storyline. His tips will most definitely help me develop my storyline into a greater and more powerful depth.

TIPS FROM MR ANDREWS:

• Go further; next step.
• The school talent show isn’t enough of a big reward
• The hero is supposed to be more selfless so the big reward at the end should also help others rather than themselves.