MY TV TRAILER AND HOW IS ADHERES TO CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Conventions: The commonly accepted way of doing things. Conventions are expected ways in which codes are organised in a product. These can and most often will be genre and type-of-product specific.
Codes: Signs within a product that an audience can recognise and find meaning in. These can be symbolic (allude to meanings without specifics), technical, codes created through the way equipment is used to produce a product and written (language used, dialogue).
Convention 1: Montage of clips:
Official industry TV trailer
MY TV Trailer
Some conventions of TV trailers are that they include a variety of clips from the show within the trailer to draw the audience in. In the trailer above which is an industry standard trailer from Netflix, they do use a variety of shots of different locations to allude to different plot points and characters. To make sure my trailer matched these conventions, I made sure to use a variety of clips as well from different locations to give my potential audience an idea of what to expect.
Convention 2: Voiceovers
TV SHOW
MINE
As per the convention that Tv trailers must have voiceovers, (as shown in the Netflix trailer above) my tv show had a voiceover at the end to tell the audience where and when to watch the show. Including a voiceover is a technical code of TV trailers so to conform to this expected part of the genre, I included a voiceover at the end.
Another part of the technical code of voiceovers is that they divulge information about where and when to watch it typically at the end of the show. As you can see from my trailer, I did the same and therefore have conformed to this technical convention. They could be put at the end because for TV, most people watch the entire thing, whereas on social media for example, these are typically put at the beginning in case the viewer loses interest.
Convention 3: Fade In/Out
TV SHOW
MINE
Another technical convention of TV shows is that they use fade in and outs to seamlessly integrate scenes together and present them as an overarching narrative instead of different unrelated scenes put together.
As my TV show was a crime mystery drama, I decided to use less fades between my clips, opting for cuts instead. However, to make sure it looked similar to industry standard products which used fades, (went with expected conventions), I used them to fade my ident in and out. I believe doing this makes the overall product look stylish and professional.
Convention 4: Text on Screen
TV SHOW
MINE
As you can see, I used text on screen for the hashtag #FaceThePast at the ending of my trailer. I purposefully chose to put this at the end along with my voiceover so that the audience can see how to follow alongside the show at home. Typically, text on screen is used to engage the audience by giving them something else to look at. It is used to hook the audience and maintain their attention.
By using these, I am conforming to the technical code often used in TV trailers. Therefore, my finished product is up to industry standard.
Convention 5: Dialogue from the show
TV SHOW
MINE
I used dialogue to fit the conventions of the drama genre as these shows wouldn’t be able to exist or engage an audience without excessive use of dialogue and exposition from the characters to create the ‘drama’ and ‘conflict’.
I adhered to the technical conventions of the genre as well by putting dialogue straight from my TV show into my trailer as well as selecting a variety of dialogue from throughout my show to give the audience a selection of what to expect from the narrative chronologically without giving too much away.
Convention 6: Music
TV SHOW
MINE
The technical code of: using music within my trailer. I sourced copyright free music from freesound.com and sound effects throughout my trailer to keep the audiences attention while watching (which is what music is normally used to do).
I also maintained the TV Drama Trailer convention of using building music with beat heavy ending. This is to keep the audience engaged and invested within the story as it mirrors the building plot throughout the episodes. The use of music is in itself a genre convention of TV trailers as you can see from the Netflix one (that similarly uses building music). Me doing this shows that I am looking and matching the codes and conventions.
CODES
TECHNICAL CODES
During the editing process, as I’ve mentioned, I used jump cuts to stitch the clips together to add to the drama genre of the TV show as well as using the music as a template to transition between them on the beats of the music. If there is a hard cut, the show presents itself as more intense whereas fades are a softer approach. This should explain why I opted for more hard cuts than fades although fades are more often in the genre.
I opted to use close up shots of different actions such as a character (dressed in black to match the expectations of a crime drama) cocking a gun or a character opening a door. By not giving things away by using these close up shots, this could lure more of the target audience into watching my show. Additionally, it conforms to the crime/drama conventions the audience expects to see. I used match cuts throughout my trailer along with a continuous zoom in on the main character which I separated into segments and input throughout the trailer to further the interest in what could have got that character so introspective.
I used high angles aiming to imitate a POV shot of the criminal character to portray the main ‘body switching’ aspect of my show subtly whilst not giving much away. I added a darker effect during the editing process as I was only able to shoot my scenes during the day time due to Covid regulations. This darker effect adds intrigue and mystery into my trailer which appeals to my genre.
The backing music builds in volume through my trailer as the scenes get faster. I believe this highlights the frantic nature of my TV show and brings attention to my show, telling the audience there’s more than meets the eye.
My TV trailer was an industry standard 1920x1080 with 48kHz stereo sound.
SYMBOLIC CODES
My main filming locations were a large open field and the front of a house. The house is essential to my TV trailer as it is the main location that kicks off the plot and the time loop. It represents the main conflict of my show and acts as a catalyst for all the events that follow it.
Having the house as the main focus was important as houses are normally thought of as places of security and safety whereas framing it as the main source of the conflict may interest the audience as it goes against their expectations.
My other footage included a character cocking a gun. Obviously, guns connote violence, fear and disruption as they are often use to defend and hurt other people. Instantly through this association, conflict is introduced into my TV trailer that could get the audience interested.
The main character in my trailer is exclusively dressed in black and has remained purposefully ambiguous so that everyone from my diverse target audience could relate to the character. The differing sharp cuts between the clips could by symbolic of the disjointed timeline that the character is living through and time discourse as a whole, two main themes of my show.
WRITTEN CODES
I added dialogue that featured within my actual TV show script (dialogue that would be featured if the show was actually made). This way you could hear how each of the characters would sound so the audience might start to relate to them more by seeing them less as characters and more as people. This way the audience is more likely to become invested in the show and therefore keep watching it.
Adding dialogue gives the audience another thing to engage with other than the visuals which would be perfect for people who are unable to see the visuals (blind or visually impaired people). Featuring dialogue is also an expected convention of TV trailers so I have achieved that as well.
The voice over acts as a call to action with a formal yet conversational tone to not seem too strict for the target audience. It says where and when to watch my show so the audience know where to find it.
After I had finished my script and storyboard, I went outside to an alleyway in Ilkley to get the rest of my footage. I organised the recording order of the clips so we did not have to go from one location to the next only to realise we needed to film more in the previous location. In total, I visited 3 locations and collected all of my footage within the time allocated on my call sheet.
I gave the voice actors for my narration a script to read from. To record this audio, I recorded everything in a quiet room so there would be little to no background noise. I asked for my voice actor to be expressive with the dialogue and gave him verbal feedback throughout the process.
The direction for filming my main actor were simple actions that did not require much expression, so directing was relatively easy to give. I recorded larger sections of raw footage so I would have large amounts to work with when I edited the final thing as well as taking a variety of shot types to give myself contingency shots in the case I ran out as I wouldn't be able to go back and re-record any of the shots due to clashing schedules .
In my script and storyboard, I wrote that I needed specific props and items for my scenes including a gun, and an alarm clock, neither of which I had so I had to get royalty free stock footage from pexels and pixabay of these items instead. These are copyright free websites that allow their assets to be used and modified in other products so I was also to use them within my trailer with no legal implications. During this time, I also organised an empty classroom where I was able to record all of my needed character, narration and voice lines that needed to be in my TV trailer to adhere to all conventions of TV adverts.
Technical setup:
We used a Nikon D3400 DSLR Camera to shoot the footage to make it the highest possible resolution.
I used automatic ISO to adjust appropriately to lighting changes most of the time as some areas such as the open field was brighter than the alleyway. Most of the film the footage was shot in a medium aperture of around 11 but this was reduced for some of the close up shots. I chose to use a try-pod to create steady footage to minimise the amount of editing during he post production stage.
For recording the audio, I used the standard Tascam DR-05. This records high quality audio in the form of a a wav file. This allows to keep quality that is up to industry standard for my TV trailer and Radio trailer. To record this audio, I recorded everything in a quiet room so there would be little to no background noise.
Legal and Ethical issues:
Copyright: I made an asset table to show where I sourced my assets from to avoid any copyright issues.
Consent forms: All of the people starring in my final project have signed consent forms as you can see below so I had permission to film them or have their voice within my projects.
Risk assessment:
I completed a risk assessment to minimise risks from the location to the actors during the filming of my TV trailer. If anything went wrong during my filming (which it thankfully didn't) then I would have referred to this risk assessment to know what to do.
Under the different circumstances that CoronaVirus has brought, I used actors for both the acting roles and speaking roles who were in my family bubble to adhere to the government restrictions as of the time of filming. Any equipment I used was sanitised after filming to further minimise any possible risks. Before filming, everyone involved reported a negative Covid-19 test result.
There should not be any copyright issues as I created most of my own footage, or sourced video from copyright free sites such as Pixabay and Pexels and therefore would be licensed through either a Pixels or a Pixabay license. I own all intellectual property rights as the original idea was mine and I have documented the generation of ideas on my blog.
As there were no other brands in my shots, I have not infringed on any company trademarks so there shouldn't be any legal issues.
As for permission to film, all my locations were on public land (fields, alleyways) so there was no need to ask anyone for permission.
Representation within my TV trailer was purposefully vague to not exclude any target demographics or to inaccurately represent any communities. Due to this, I filmed the back of my main actor's head and their face was not shown. The rest of my shots were either copyright footage from the internet of nondescript gloved individuals and environments or were of vague countryside scenery.
Editing:
I opened up Final Cut Pro and created a new project called 'Face The Past TV Trailer'. I set the video to be a 1080p HD format with a resolution of 1920x1080 and a frame rate of 30p to conform to the demands of the brief. After this, I imported my footage through Image Capture to maintain the image resolution. I then started to assemble my clips in order onto my timeline. I started by inputting my own shots to see what I had available then went onto pexels and pixabay to secure the missing video clips. I sourced my background music from freesound.org and sourced my sound effects from the BBC Sound Effects library which is a copyright free site so there are no legal implications either.
I had my Tv trailer script on hand at all times when ordering my clips in the timeline to make sure they both lined up. I then imported my other clips that were sourced online and began to use the trim tool to cut my clips down to size (as the whole teaser trailer aimed to be shorter than a standard trailer). After trimming them down appropriately, I added in my background music to see if the footage worked along with my music. As it did, I started to use the 'cross dissolve' transitions on my music so the music volume could smoothly go up and down where speech would be so it could be heard clearly over it. To conform to the conventions of Tv adverts and trailers, I imported and placed my ident at the end of my trailer along with the BBC Logo. I placed a text box with the release date of the TV trailer to make sure people know where to find it and where they will be able to watch it when it's out.
Next I worked on creating an ending sequence by using a background transition of a white paint splatter off of pixabay and used keyframes to change the opacity to create a fading in effect which I replicated with my ident (a png) to adhere to my target style and to make sure they know the name of my TV show after watching it. I then put in my audio voice lines and narration and trimmed them down to size using the blade tool so I could carefully select which takes of my lines sounded the best. I then, using my script, put them in the correct placement and adjusted the volume of these speaking lines, keeping them below -6 so it does not sound too pitchy in comparison to the rest of the clips and to keep with the industry conventions so it could be shown on TV.
I recorded all of the narration and voice lines using a Blue Snowball microphone onto the voice recorder app on my computer so they were easy to implement into my Final Cut Pro timeline. I used the blade and trim tools to crop out any unnecessary silences in the audio.
The final stage was to put everything together, match all the audio so it was consistent throughout the entire video and added some voice effects from the voice panels over my narration so it was audible. I adjusted the background music with keyframes so that the volume decreased during the speaking parts then, I increased when there was just video on the screen.
After this, I exported the video as a master file with the video and audio format using the video codec of H.264 and within the resolution of 1920x1080 so the quality would not be reduced when uploading to YouTube.
