Homework 9 part 2: My completed trailer storyboard

Homework 9 part 1: Selected scenes for my film's trailer

• Future city - establishes future world and other races.
• Prison and guards - shows oppression in city and the power guards have over civilians, establishes disruption.
• Joe punching guard - shows power Joe has in overpowering guards.
• Joe and Flor - establishes flor as a character and reveals origin of the voiceover. Introduces love interest. Gives hope for resolution.
• Joe and Flor in flying ship - demonstrates action in film. 
• Exploding building - demonstrates yet more action. 
• Axe - introduces villain, binary opposite.

Homework 8 part 2: Shotlist for my film's opening sequence

1. Helicopter pan across city. ES pan. City sound FX.
2. Camera zooms in to Joe chasing Axe. LS. City sounds and high pace music.
3. They run into the road. Joe shoots at Axe but misses. LS. City sounds gunshots high paced music.
4. Axe runs into road and this slows Joe down. He aims at Axe but his gun clicks. Crowd and high paced music.
5. Joe realises his gun is out of ammo and puts it away. MS. Gun clicks, high paced music.
6. Axe runs into abandoned building through broken window. LS. City sounds high paced music.
7. Joe follows. Camera zooms out to show building. LS. City, suspenseful riff.
8. Joe creeps along and peers through darkness. MS. Suspenseful music drips and echoes.
9. Joe turns on torch and looks around, sees contraptions. MS. Suspenseful music drips and echoes.
10. Axe is on a rafter, looks down on Joe. MS. Suspenseful music drips and echoes.
11. Axe pounces on Joe, Joe drops torch. LS. "AAH", Suspenseful music drips and echoes.
12. Axe gets out knife, pins Joe to floor. MS. Grunts, action music.
13. Axe about to cut Joe but Joe punches him. CU. Punch, action music.
14. Joe Punches Axe and they both fall backwards. LS. Punch, "AAH", action music.
15. They fall into cryogenics machine. MS, "AAH".
16. Machine shuts and screen says "3000 YRS". CU. Machine noises, abrupt action music.
17. Graphics of frozen body parts. Graphics: Christian Bale. CU. Electricity. Theme tune.
18. Graphics of frozen body parts. Graphics: Lawrence Fishburne. CU. Electricity. Theme tune.
19. Graphics of frozen body parts. Graphics: Scarlett Johansson. CU. Electricity. Theme tune. 
20. Graphics of frozen body parts. Graphics: Producer Christopher Nolan. CU. Electricity. Theme tune.
21. Graphics of frozen body parts. Graphics: Director Paul Greengrass. CU. Electricity. Theme tune.
22. Graphics of frozen Joe and Axe. MS. Electricity. Theme tune ending. 
23. Graphics: 3000 YRS. Abrupt noise.

Homework 8 part 1: Storyboard for my film's opening sequence

Homework 7: Iron Man 2 marketing research

One of the strong points of the marketing of Iron Man 2 is the brand tie-ins. The film collaborated with over 12 different brands, including Audi, Burger King and LG. This meant that you were bound to see a tie-in with some sort of brand that you like or know, building a trust and recognition with the audience. These tie-ins benefited both the film and the companies, as both subjects are being simultaneously advertised. Tie-ins included websites, adverts, branded products and competitions. This gives a vast variety of ways for the audience to interact with the film.

You cannot bring out a film these days without an accompanying website, and IM2 is not short of these. Among them are an LG microsite, an Audi microsite, a Royal Purple microsite, a Land O' Frost online game, a viral Stark Expo site, an Oracle microsite and an augmented reality app, as well as the film's main website. Unfortunately, as IM2  has come and gone, most of these websites have now been shut down. All these websites help the audience  really delve deep into the film and make them excited about the film, creating a hype.

Creating a hype in the lead up to a film is vital, and IM2 managed to do this well. By leaking small snippets  of information about the film before its release, audiences become intrigued, and want to learn more about the film. One way of doing this is through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, where people associated with IM2 like Jon Favreau, the movie's director, write about creating the film and generate yet more interest. Initially, there was a single teaser poster, right, as well as a fake newspaper clipping, left. These were gradually followed up by various full trailers and posters, for example this interactive trailer, which I cannot embed for some reason.

As well as all this, there were various products made to market the release of IM2. The soundtrack was a fairly big part of this film, and to fit with this, Sony Music released an ACDC collectors box set, with IM posters and comics. There was also an official game released, which is fairly normal for the superhero genre. Following are also images of just a few of the products released in association with IM2; Dr Pepper limited edition cans, Burger King toys and Diesel Cologne.

I think the IM2 marketing was, if not that innovative, then still very effective. After all, over $100 000 was spent on the marketing of this film, and if that won't pay for effective marketing, then nothing will. The film's main focus was on a strong brand association, and I think this was achieved very well. I think the marketers had a pretty easy job to do, as whatever marketing they did, there would be a large fan base from the previous IM film, as well as IM comic book fans, ready to see the film no matter what. In the end, the film grossed $312,433,331, so I think it's safe to say that IM2's marketing strategy was very effective  

Homework 6: Moodboard to represent men and women in A-A films

I found it pretty easy to do the men's side of the mood board; A-A is a genre dominated by men, and the archetypal male character has not changed over the years. This character has become a solid A-A staple that will be hard to change. I found the women's side much harder as women feature much less in the A-A genre. As I filled the page with images, I realised, unlike men's portrayal in A-A, the archetypal A-A woman has changed over time. She has changed from a helpless damsel in distress, who needs a man to save her, to someone equally as capable as the man, sometimes even more so. 

My Film's Iconography

There will be the typical iconography of a futuristic sci-fi world in my film; hovercraft, laser guns, alien races mixed in with humans etc. There will also be the usual A-A conventional iconography, with explosions, high speed chases and shoot outs. As the main character is a detective, he will be wearing the normal detective outfit, consisting of a long coat and a badge. He will also say the usual police phrases, like "freeze" and "the target has escaped". The film is set in an oppressive city, so there will be guard robots, and lots of cameras and monitoring devices floating around. The aliens will all speak lots of different new languages.