DEATH IN BLOOM: SECOND DRAFT

WEBSITE

LINK TO WEBSITE

TRAILER FEEDBACK

We received feedback on the first draft of our trailer from our teachers, shown above.
The audio of our trailer was definitely the weakest part- we struggled to make the dialogue and background music harmonious. We discussed our options and we think its best to use GarageBand to reduce the harshness of the dialogue and, in particular the creaking noise midway through the trailer.

INDIE COMEDY: AUDIENCE RESEARCH

PRIMARY RESEARCH

We created a questionnaire about indie comedies or indie films in general and asked 11 people of different ages to fill them out.

• With the seven 16-25 year olds we asked to fill out the questionnaire, five of them watched films 'sometimes', one 'rarely' and one 'often'. Donnie Darko, Submarine, Frank, Juno, Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Mean Girls, Monty Python, Moonrise Kingdom, 500 Days of Summer, Heathers and Adventureland were answers to indie comedies that came to mind, most of them being indie comedies. Out of this age range, themes and conventions that were believed to be in the genre included experimental colour themes and lighting, not a lot of dialogue, strange and bizarre characters/settings, a consistent visual style, an underdog character, interesting characters and awkward romantic tones.
• From age 51 and older, indie comedies that came to mind when asked consisted of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Full Monty and The Mask and Mrs Brown's Boys. The expectations of the genre for this age range were English humour, an unusual ending, genuine truth about life, different music and sound effects, an odd sense of humour and pleasing visuals. The types of films that were mentioned were not as accurate as the films that were the answers for the 16-25 year olds, meaning that the younger demographic would be more suited for our film.
• The audience expectations of the themes in indie comedies or indie films in general are fairly similar to both age ranges, with an interesting/abnormal colour scheme or visuals being the most prominent expectation.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

• http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-audiences-2015-11.pdf shows that audiences around age 45 and over showed a strong preference for independent films.
• http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yy9XATBuenMJ:flavorwire.com/564907/how-senior-citizens-became-independent-films-most-powerful-audience+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari Last year's highest-grossing indie movies also included the Helen Mirren vehicle Woman in Gold, The Second-Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Mr. Holmes. In 2014. . . the MPAA found "the share of tickets sold to 40-49 and 50-59 year olds were at all time highs, while the share of tickets sold to 60+ year olds (13%) was at its highest level since 2011." And during that same period, fewer tickets were sold to 18-24 year olds and 35-39 year olds.
• http://variety.com/2016/film/features/how-indies-can-survive-1201750485/ 'older audiences have “a lot of disposable income, while the teenage audience doesn’t have $15 or $20 to drop every week on the latest blockbuster. So variety seems to be the spice of life, and the only way indie cinema won’t survive is if they stop making movies.”
• From these sources, it shows that older audiences are targeted by indie films, due to independent cinema being slightly more expensive and them having disposable income that they can spend on it, shown by the sources from Variety. The article from Flavorwire shows that an older/senior audience is common with indie films, but the films mentioned that had such a large audience of this specific demographic were films that feature older actors and actresses. For example, Helen Mirren in Women in Gold, and The Second-Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, where the vast majority of the cast consists of seniors, as the narrative evolves around their lives. 
• So from that article, it shows that the age of the characters/actors in the film can determine the demographic, and our film's protagonists are aged around 17, so the primary demographic will consists of those around this age, as elderly people would not be as interested in a film evolving around teenagers than around seniors.

FILM POSTER (FINAL)

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED WHEN EDITING

TECHNOLOGIES USED AND HOW THEY WERE MASTERED

DEATH IN BLOOM: FIRST DRAFT

FILM POSTER: EDITING

SHORTLIST:

EDITING:

DEVELOPMENT:

IMAGE 1: ORIGINAL IMAGE
IMAGE 2: COLOUR GRADED IMAGE WITH EDITED BACKGROUND
IMAGE 3: FIRST DRAFT
IMAGE 4: HALFWAY THROUGH CREATING FINAL DRAFT

STAGES OF THE COLOUR GRADE

Adobe Photoshop C36 was used to colour grade our trailer; we used our own knowledge and assistance from a friend to transform shots such as those above. We wanted to use a lot of warm tones in our trailer to connote the romantic theme, which is evident in the first screenshot of the bin. We graded Mara and Sam's shots separately so to emphasise the contrast between the blue and red shades which represents the binary opposites in our narrative, life and death, boy and girl, extroverted and introverted, etc. In the shot of Sam spitting out water the background was initally compromised of pink tones but we drew out the colour purple in the edit so to show how his life, represented by the colours pink and red, was being changed by Mara (red and blue create purple). In the last screenshot, we were disappointed with how the camera muted the colours in the original footage; thus we targeted the red colour in the edit because colour is such a strong symbol and motif throughout our trailer. 

SOUNDTRACK

We initially planned to create original music for our trailer, inspired by the soundtrack of 'Swiss Army Man' but changed our minds after one of our actors recommended the alternative band 'Fox Academy'. They have a very atmospheric, nostalgic, and original sound which compliments our trailer well because it reflects it's independent and authentic style. We sampled a variety of their songs before directly messaging one of the band members on Twitter asking if we could use their music in our final project. He gave us permission and we quickly shortlisted which songs we wanted to be used.

This song will be used for the opening sequence because it's instrumental beginning has a fast paced but subtle sound which mimics the visuals. We don't want our soundtrack to be too overpowering because a lot of our trailer uses voice overs which establish the plot and characters. It is important for us that the music accommodates the visuals and the dialogue rather than it dominating the trailer.
















We are using this song as a backing track for the montage sequence and the penultimate scene of the trailer. It's combination of fast paced guitar instrumental and repeated lyrics mimics the swift editing of the montage and combats the serious and emotional tones of the trailer which threaten the trailer's comedic value.