The Message Bloopers

The final trailer for my coursework 'The Message' went up yesterday. As well as this I also uploaded a collection of out-takes that happened while filming. Some of the locations changed based on either feedback or practicality, as did some of the actors, for the same reasons

Second Version of The Message Trailer

In the second version I made some changes based upon the feedback I received. Firstly I changed the background on James' speech to 10 Downing Street, making it look more 'official'. While this worked in a similar way to adding the news channel banner (layering on Final Cut Pro), something happened during the beginning causing some movement and the top of James' head to disappear momentarily. However, the effect was achieved by cropping James and filtering out the background.
Other changes to this version were: using a different actor to portray Robert King, as I found the scene too dark, and some felt that he was the one mugging Chloe's character in a previous scene. As he had other commitments, a new actor was found, a different location used, and I made sure the clothing worn was different.
Text was added to give more depth to the victims, and some of the title graphics were added/moved, depending on feedback. Finally a new scene was added, naming (or at least partly) the organisation behind it as 'The Order', which could be seen as adding to the enigma of the trailer

The Message: Linking Texts

There are many ways in which the Message trailer is linked to the magazine cover and poster.

Firstly all three feature Charli (as Alex Davidson) and she is the sole character in the magazine and poster, although the poses are different.

All three feature the title, and the poster and the trailer use similar font for it, which was done to show that the film being marketed is the same, and to keep consistency through marketing tools. The font is also reminiscent of a type-writer which is often associated with thrillers and conspiracies, due to their use before computers were publicly available. The magazine would have a house style and so would not use the same logo, however, but the title font on it is still similar to that on the trailer/poster. The remaining text on the trailer is used to describe Charli's character, as the words a 'brilliant mind' appear on both, as character posters normally have a description or short quote about the character, and quote demonstrates how her character is seen or portrayed in the film, and is not seen differently to different people. The effectiveness would not be as great if the same character was described in different ways, as this may confuse the audience. The date and film studio appear in both the trailer and on the poster, while the date of the magazine is earlier in the year. This is however very common, and films will normally have a cover a few months before release, either new information or the big reveal. It also means that the promotional trailer and poster would be released at the same time, as release dates may change, or the information may not be known. However, it may also be that this one element is simple to edit, and is also something which is key, as different dates would confuse an audience, lower it's effectiveness and therefore how many people would watch the film. The background colour's on the magazine cover and the poster are the same, which provides another link, as well as emphasising the tone (light hearted or comedies would have lighter backgrounds. Thrillers tend to be dark). This was mainly done to show the tone, but also because of recognisability, as certain colours may be associated with films (AVATAR and blue, The Expendable's and yellow for instance), and so using a grey colour that wasn't metallic would likely stick in the mind of the target audience (for instance grey was also used for marketing 'Taken' another thriller)

While all three share common links, they can all be viewed as individual products, rather than just Photoshopping a still from the trailer, new specially shot images are used.
From the feedback I have gained on all three products, I would say that the combination is effective.

Ancillary Tasks: Completed Poster and Magazine

These are the first versions of the Message Poster and the cover of a magazine titled 'Spotlight' where The Message is the cover film:
MAGAZINE COVER

This is very similar to the original draft of the cover.
It uses the conventions of magazines (name related to topic, at the top of the page), while the barcode and text for the extra features means this would be a retail version (many subscription covers will feature only the cover image and title, sometimes the cover image will be different for subscribers, especially if multiple covers are available for that issue). 

POSTER

While many aspects of this poster are similar to the draft, there is no longer any pictures of the five victims, and the text at the top of the poster is different (now a description of the character), making this now a character poster. Using my research on posters, I noticed that very few of the character posters had the Actor's names, unless they were Blockbuster action films, and so this is omitted on the final poster.

Like my main product, this has got a positive reception, with many saying that the poster looks better than some posters for real films, while other's said that they could imagine the magazine cover being on the shelf of a newsagents.

First Version of the Message Trailer.

This is the first version of the main product: the trailer. From the feedback I have gained already I am going to add in extra titles and have quicker cuts in some sections.

Any Extra feedback on this version is welcome