Evaluation Question 1

Genre - 1

Specific conventions are found among observations of Big-City Crime Thrillers within real media texts, bringing together ideals of high production values and vibrant lighting as seen within Welcome to The Punch, Hummingbird/Redemption and Only God Forgives. Within conventions of trailers, this can then be reflected through motivational editing between an ambiguous antagonist and the city in an attempt to show a claustrophobic atmosphere with the bright lights of the surrounding area acting as an analogy for the emotional and situational manipulation of the antagonist, especially within our trailer. Segments of Act 2 utilise cutaways between Aaron Mays (The protagonist) and the suggested antagonist, further emphasized within the montage, where these cutaways are shown in conjunction with brightly lit shots of the city. Even within the opening shot of the trailer, which is an attempt to show equilibrium, the handheld downwards tilt of the ominously lit building show how the proposed safety found throughout conventions of Act 1 is instantaneously challenged. In this way; conventions of the genre are both questioned and conformed to, reflecting Welcome to The Punch’s opening city shots while contrasting the lighting and intimacy within the bar.

Welcome to The Punch

There are, however, aspects of hybridity which can be found within the trailer. The desire to produce a high production value crime thriller on no budget meant that some shots had to still be stylised, although were not able to take place in the city. Due to this My Brother the Devil-like shots such as the alleyway panning shot found within the montage and enclosed hallway shots through Act 1 paint the genre of the film as more of a drama-cross-thriller film, utilising both locational and lighting tropes of crime thrillers in combination with narrative connotations such as revenge, innocence, and friendship, commonly found within Drama films (Fight Club, American History X, Boyhood). In this way I believe there has been an interaction between genre conventions, both being challenged and conformed to, leading to a development within tropes of the genre. Classic themes, such as The Bourne Trilogy’s revenge, are developed upon in conjunction with dramatic motifs to form a more character based Crime Thriller which still adheres to both trailer conventions and the vibrant, high budget aesthetics found within The Dark Knight Rises.

My Brother the Devil

Location - 2

Particular care was taken when deciding upon location due to the aforementioned tropes of the Crime Thriller genre. We attempted to find an anonymity within the locations chosen, using stylishly lit locations which could be representative of a big city anywhere. By doing so, our trailer moves away from the traditionally British ideals of Social Realism (Shifty) and in to a more American genre of thriller, drawing upon Barthes Cultural code amongst active audience to increase tension and interest in the film. This interaction between traditionally British Guy Ritchie-like isolation and Christopher Nolan’s big-city blockbusters places the audiences focus on the main characters, with the location acting as a suggestive analogy which can be decoded by segments of our wider audience. Examples within our trailer can be found within the RockNRolla type bar, where dark surroundings are used in conjunction with a dim blue wash, joining tropes of the aforementioned directors, as well as bustling city shots such as the handheld tracking shot of Aaron and Georgie through China Town. The merging of the two paint implicit messages regarding the characters situations, again developing upon conventions of real media products through an interaction between cultural tropes concerning location.

RockNRolla (Top) and Shifty (Bottom)

Graphics/Title - 3

Drawing upon the previously mentioned hybridity of our conventions of genre, the narrative graphics and title which were produced have both implications and tropes of Drama and Crime Thriller films. Reflecting the bright and vibrant blue lighting aforementioned, the graphics take on an action-based aesthetic look which draws together the trailers stylistics and the connotations of the colours which are present. The main influences for our narrative graphics was that of Welcome to The Punch’s colour and aesthetics with an expansion upon Only God Forgives’ presence of a motivated background image, with this being found especially within the final title. The raise from 0% opacity to 25% opacity on both the particle stock and the light stock draw upon connotations from both big-city and Western films; using the particle stock to reflect the isolation within the protagonists situation and the flaring red lights which can either symbolise danger or police. The final title then raises up from 0% opacity, with both ‘Two’ and ‘Evils’ utilising a radial blur in an attempt to form an analogy between the text and the narrative. Within the text of the prior narrative graphics; ‘When you are caught between two worlds’, ‘Which way do you turn?’ the same blue lighting is used, however, the motivational editing of both the police and main antagonist group reflect the aforementioned blurred distinctions concerning moral boundaries which are relevant to both Drama and Crime Thriller films. The use of a bold and wide typeface in conjunction with the already thick font both allowed for the background stocks, representative of the city, to be fully appreciated as well as the clear narrative message of the trailer to be taken in to account. In this way we conform to the conventions of genre with regards to graphics; the colour and stylistics of the narrative graphics and title are paralleled to that of Dark Knight Rises, Drive and Gangster Squad, emphasizing the usefulness of our research and planning in to previous graphic influences. 

Drive (Left) and The Dark Knight Rises (Right)

Colour/Style - 4

The emphasis upon colour within the previously mentioned categories is due to me and my partners’ influences within the neon/high budget films of the 21^st century such as Drive, Sin City and Manhunter. Colour within areas such as surroundings, narrative graphics, the title and character affiliations allow a development within narrative and connotations which doesn’t require speech or an increased amount of shots. Starting out with the neon teal lighting of the opening shot, the motifs of danger and 24/7 insecurity are shown throughout the trailer, coming to a head within the montage with the consecutive shots of the London Eye, the purple lit Waterloo Bridge and the similarly lit downward tilt of the shot in which Aaron is on the phone. The movement from the warmly lit, comfortable interior of the board room to the harsh and cold lights of the city emphatically represents the narrative journey of Aaron, moving away from the traditionally British ideal of Social Realism and in to a more connotation based sub-genre of Crime Thrillers.

Drive

Character/Costume - 5

Due to the aforementioned hybridity between genres it was important to create a bond between the characters and audience; this was attempted through motivational editing within the first act where personalised close ups of Aaron are viewed in conjunction with speech reflecting his past and the narrative events which would lead up to the breaking of equilibrium. His sense of power is lost within the first 30 seconds of the trailer, moving from domineering low angled shots within a business like environment to the asymmetric framing of the Bar shot, in which his transition from Suit and Shirt to scruffy polo and jeans reflects the change in his narrative situation. The idea of loss and eventual retention of power is one typical of the genre, being found within staples such as The Dark Knight Rises, Hummingbird, Heat and Lucky Number Slevin. This conformity to both genre and trailer conventions is further enhanced within the casting of Aaron, highlighting the characters metrosexual and appealing nature, reflecting the lead actors of James McAvoy, Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds within previously mentioned films. These actors sometimes adopt the look of vulnerable yet powerful individuals which is further developed within the casting of both the main villain being older and the police boss being a similar age. This de-familiarizes the perceived main villain’s character and allows Barthes Action Code to take effect; playing with ideals of expectations and representations within class, age, and power, something common within the Crime Thriller genre’s conventions.

Hummingbird

Narrative/Structure - 6

Within the narrative structure of the trailer we have conformed to the conventions which are prominent within the media business, moving from equilibrium and character development in Act 1 to a break in the normality of life and plot progression at the end of Act 1/Start of Act 2 and a high paced montage for the final Act. By adhering to this structure we were not only able to introduce a variety of characters and individual situations clearly but also utilise our extensive research and planning in to the film genre, reflecting Welcome to The Punch’s motivational interweaving of meeting and action. Not only does this draw upon Barthes, but also Todorov’s narrative theory with specific relevance to “The Biter Bit”; Aaron Mayes throwing off his oppressive situation to a suggested positive outcome. Within the narrative development, as aforementioned, an emersion in the characters situations is necessary to best utilise Barthes Semic and Action codes, and as such a voice over was not deemed relevant. We felt that the non-diegetic sound would distract the audience from the characters development, motivational lighting and pathetic fallacy which is put in place to develop upon narrative. While influences such as Memento and Fight Club do not conform to this three act trailer structure causing the definition of trailer conventions to blur within this genre, staples like Se7en, Léon, No Country for Old Men and Reservoir Dogs’ three act structures were definite influences for our own production. 



Editing/Sound - 7

The editing of our trailer was specifically tailored to replicate the increase in tension that comes across through final cut effects such as sudden fades to black and breathing sound effects. Similarly to the aforementioned colour connotations, this sound layering develops upon the aesthetically explanatory images shown to the audience in an attempt to expand upon ideals of stress, desire, insecurity and danger which are staples of the genre. Through increasing pace throughout the trailer after a sudden drop following the conclusion to Act 1, the audience is exposed to the slow degradation of Aaron’s situation with relation to both the police and alternate antagonists. A sense of danger and threat was necessary if the trailer was to conform to conventions of the genre and as such the closing shot was specifically placed there to highlight an unresolved conflict which was to be expanded upon within the final film. Through the previously mentioned development of characters within Act 2, the montage is then intended to have a greater emotional engagement from an active audience due to the relevance of family, friends and protection which is once again drawn upon in Barthes narrative codes. As with Welcome to The Punch, A History of Violence and Kill the Messenger, this emotional development upon surrounding characters relevance within the narrative is a trope of the genre which we definitely conform to.