Task 2.3- Video Game Trailer Research- Michael Cartledge and Harrison Marlow

Trailers

Title: Watchdogs

Game Studio: Ubisoft

Genre: Action/Adventure

The trailer for Watchdogs has a narrative in the form of the voice over, the main character speaks over the top of game play footage to inform the audience of the main plot of the game and the unique selling point of the game. The game play shown consists of action and the uniques selling point of the game (the ability to manipulate the electronics in the environment by hacking them). In the trailer we see the main character, random civilians, random enemies and other small characters in the game, The main character is wearing a rather cool looking outfit, which would make the audience more fond of the idea of playing as him, it is an outfit that enables him to conceal his face as he is a vigilante. Both the hero and the villain carry guns and the hero appears to have a signature weapon, a police extendable baton, which he uses to great effect. The protagonist also carries his phone, which he uses to hack into the different electrical devices around. There are lines connecting the different electric devices to show you what will effect what which create a kind of webbing, showing everything is connected. The trailer is all animated.
Sound-wise, incidental music plays behind the voice over, we can also hear a police scanner which tells us that the protagonist is actually a wanted man. Folie sounds such as gun shots and car crashes are also heard.
The camera is mostly handheld, which gives it a more frantic atmosphere as the protagonist runs down a road, bumping into people, panning is also used to emphasise the movement of the action. Occasionally shots are shown through a phone camera which links to the games heavy theme on technology.

Title: Max Payne 3

Game Studio: Rockstar Games

Genre: Action/Adventure

The trailer for Max Payne 3 has narrative in the form of a voice over by the main character, he tells us the basic plot of the game, while he speaks we see action in the background which shows of the unique selling point of the game, which in this case is bullet time (going in slow motion while diving around shooting people). In the trailer we see the main character, a bunch of smaller characters and random enemies that the main character is firing at. The protagonist is wearing clothes that fit into his surroundings, at one point he is on a job at a party so he is wearing a suit, and in other parts he is more casual, in holiday wear as it is a hot country he is in. The entire trailer is animated.
We hear the soundtrack in the background of the voice over, which gives a sense of atmosphere and mood as well as folie sounds of gun shots.
The beginning of the trailer is purely narrative, the shots fade in and out of each other slowly to give a calm feel, until the action kicks in , and then the shots cut from one to another at a higher tempo. There is also a close up panning shot of a bullet in slow motion to show of the unique selling point of the game.





Title: Dead Island

Game Studio: Riptide

Genre: RPG

The narrative of the Dead Island trailer is in reverse and slow motion, it slowly reveals the story of a family who have taken a vacation only for it to turn sour when a zombie outbreak occurs. The trailer is fully cinematic, no gamplay is shown. The family in the trailer are not actually characters in the game, although you do feel an attachment to them due to the slow incidental music we can hear. No ambient sound or dialogue is in the main part of the trailer, only in some small snip-its that are not or slow motion or reverse that show how the daughter of the family ran from the zombies but ended up getting bitten. Although no game characters are shown, the premise still is.

The characters are wearing holiday clothes, shorts and t-shirts, props include makeshift weapons that the family use against the zombies in an attempt to defend themselves, both clothing and the weapons used suggest that they were not prepared for this outbreak.

The cutting between shots is slow, to match the tempo of the music and the mood of the story being told and the camera work is handheld in the short cut aways to the girl running to emphasize how frantic she is. Vertical tracking is also used at the start where the girl is shown falling up (in reverse), after an extreme close up of her eye which zooms out to reveal that she is dead.

Title: Star Wars Battlefront

Game Studio: EA

Genre: Sci-Fi FPS

We open with a view of just show and a blizzard from a first person/point of view perspective all we can see is snow and some burning debris, the only sound we can hear is the ambient sound of heavy wind and footsteps, and the extremely heavy breathing of the character we are seeing it all through, this makes us assume that the person we a watching this from is injured and in some sort of trouble.

Continuing with his slow paced walking we hear a very distinctive sound of a laser blast, as the blast hits the ground next to him the camera shakes in an almost documentary styled hand held camera, we hear more laser blasts still with no music, all ambient sound, shortly after hearing the laser blasts be hear an explosion, and we see from through the blizzard a snow speeder flies through the snow and past the camera as we hear an explosion behind us.

After we see the snow speeder fly past through the blizzard we see the immediately recognizable hoof of an AT-AT smash against the floor, the camera starts to fade to black and upon the screen titles appear reading ‘STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT’ a long awaited sight for the fans of the series.

This trailer is just a teaser, not giving any information or real view of the game all it gives is the assurance that the game is happening and is therefore starting the drip feed effect for the fans, the fans want more than the 34 second long teaser, but with ‘EA’ knowing this they will slowly give the fans more trailers and more looks at art and the gameplay until they release a real gameplay trailer approximately a year before the game comes out leaving the fans interested and wanting more until they know they have to have the game.

Conventions of Game Trailers

• Title card at the end.
• Narration.
• Unique selling point of the game apparent.
• Action is shown.
• Brief outline of storyline.
• Release date.
• Platforms
• Game studio.
• Website/social network address.

Cases

World of Warcraft

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Gears of War 2

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Fallout: New Vegas

Max Payne

Conventions of Game Cases

• Picture of main character on the front.
• Title of game on the front.
• Game studio logo on the front.
• Game's age rating on the front.
• Console/format the game is on.
• Console and name on the side.
• Quotes from internet reviewers on the back.
• Barcode.
• Health warnings.
• Copyright information.
• Game information (eg. how many players, whether it is online or not).
• Screenshots of game.
• Features of the game.
• Run down of the plot in a paragraph.

Magazine Adverts

Doom 3

Omerta: City of Gangsters

Painkiller: Hell & Damnation

Halo 4

Conventions of a Magazine Advert

• Name of game.
• Picture of main character.
• Some sort of representation of the action/gameplay.
• Websites (official or social network).
• Release date.
• Picture of game case.
• Platforms the game is on.
• Copyrights.
• QR code.
• Game's age rating.
• Quotes from reviewers.
• Game studio.

Task 2.2- Documentary Film Research - Michael Cartledge and Harrison Marlow

Documentary Analysis

Documentaries as a rule have certain rules/codes that they stick to in order to try and entice the audience in to what the presenter has to talk about, using some of the main conventions such as a Voice Over to give the documentary a feeling of excitement and drama or like they know the answer to the question they are posing to the audience. In documentaries in order for the information collected to be sound and accurate they set up interviews with experts on the documentaries subject matter, often using Incidental Music to give the documentary an exciting feeling over the top of it, the music often reflects the subject matter e.g. if it is about Nature it will be soft music with a slow flowing tempo, if it was a crime documentary it is likely they would chose some sort of high paced Hip Hop music. CGI is often used to make the documentary look more interesting toward the audience to try and hook them into the audience. Often-video montages of clips on the subject possibly using archive footage giving the audience a first hand video evidence of the event in question hooking the audience even more so because they know it’s true.

Films

Title: The Fabric of the Cosmos (2011)

The Fabric of the Cosmos is a documentary about physics and how the universe is put together. It begins with an establishing landscape shot, with a voice over, in the background incidental music can be heard faintly, as to not overpower the voice over, which is introducing the audience to the subject matter of the documentary.
There are a number of CGI images showing space and planets. There are images in reverse to illustrate points that the voice over is stating which shows that illustrations can be used to better help get a point across and help the audience understand.
We see a number of interviews with experts which are used to make the documentary seem more reliable as these people have studied the subject deeply and know their stuff, these experts are shown in a "Coming Up..." part which would allow the audience to see what they can expect to see and learn which, if somebody takes an interest in science, sound very interesting.
Titles begin and we can see that the theme of space and science continues as the words fly in in a professional looking font. After these titles we see a city that has been sped up with a voice over over the top, this time the voice over is done by the talking head that we were introduced to before the titles. The talking head is then superimposed above the image of the city and everything around him freezes in an attempt to explain a point he is making.

Title: Prisoner X (2013)

Prisoner X is about a mysterious prisoner that was being kept in Israel that the identity was kept hidden, it starts with an establishing aerial shot, it has a voice over explaining the story to the audience. We see archive footage and reconstructed events to help the audience better understand the event, these pieces of footage and reconstructions are filmed using a handheld camera. Ambient sounds and incidental music can be heard behind this, the incidental music is used to connect with the audience and make them feel for Prisoner X more, while also adding atmosphere.
Interviews with experts are shown, these people are people who were involved so they are a trustworthy source of information on the matter, they do a lot of paralinguistic features to keep themselves interesting while also using them to illustrate or exaggerate a point. We are introduced to a talking head who also seems knowledgable on a subject so that we trust that they know what they are talking about.

Title: A Very British Gangster (2007)

A Very British Gangster is a documentary about ex-gangster Dominic Noonan, who has gone straight and tells the story of his experiences, his opinions on different things and the temptation to go back to a life of crime to the reporter Donal MacIntyre.
The documentary starts with an establishing shot of the skyline of Manchester at night (night because the voice over from Dominic Noonan states that night is when "the gangsters own the city"), the camera then pans down to Noonan standing with two other men, the juxtaposition of these men shows that Noonan is in charge as he is in front of them, and in the middle. There is then a sound bridge of stereotypical gangster music as the title sequence begins, this sequence shows the men we have just seen walking around empty streets and in less than reputable places. The shows title is in the style of a helicopter's spotlight, which could link to a police helicopter, which links with the theme of crime, as well as black and white shots that are made to look like CCTV footage. The director's name and other creators are superimposed onto the screen. We see low angle shots of the gangsters to show their power.
We then cut to an interview with Dominic Noonan, there is an extreme close up of his hands for the first part, which bare a lot of golden jewellery while also creating an air mystery, then a cut to his face, also in an extreme close up to show the expressions on his face as he recalls a story of one of his many exploits.
Archive footage is also present in the first five minutes to give the audience a better idea of what has happened in Noonan's life, footage that the film makers would have been unable to show otherwise.

Conventions of Film

• Establishing shots at the beginning introduce the audience to the subject matter, usually with a voice over on top.
• Archive footage which allows the documentary to show footage they otherwise would not have.
• Talking heads who connect to the audience.
• Incidental music, quietly behind the talking head or interviewee's speech or loudly otherwise to give a sense of atmosphere.
• Interviews with experts which give the audience confidence that the documentary is trustworthy.

  

Adverts

The 9/11 Faker

One Born Every Minute

An Idiot Abroad

Conventions of Adverts

• Channel name, so people know which channel the documentary is on.
• Time and day, so people know when the documentary is on.
• A picture that shows what the documentary is about.
• The documentary's title.
• A form of tagline to entice the viewer.

Task 2.1- Music Video Research- Michael Cartledge and Harrison Marlow

Music video are only a recent concept (in the grand scheme of things), the first was released in 1964 in the shape of the Beatles' movie 'A Hard Days Night'. The movie was created in an attempt to push advertising for the Beatles' music without the band having to travel the world promoting it. At the time director Richard Lester did not know he was creating the very first music video, so he shot it as if he would a documentary. At this point music videos did not catch on due to the lack of mediums that they could play on, with only a few channels and no YouTube.
When the channel MTV was first broadcast on Saturday 1st August, 1981, playing 'Video Killed The Radio Star', the music video became something that all artists wanted to be part of, artists such as Duran Duran and Michael Jackson,who realised that having there music on TV would make people more willing to buy their records. Of course with serious music videos come parodies, with people such as Weird Al Yankovic making sillier versions.
It is likely to find homages or pastiches to classic music videos more recently, for example Shania Twain's 'Man, I Feel Like A Woman' payed homage to Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love' but switching gender roles between the videos.

There are 3 main types of music video:

• Parody based- This is where an artist would parody or make fun of another song or the music video and re-make it with their own altered words or lyrics, this is a way for the parody artists to in their own unique way to pay some sort of homage to the original artist.
• Performance based- This type of music video pretty much explains what it is, it’s an artist or a band performing their music live toward a camera, it has no narrative it’s just the band putting their music as if they were playing a live gig.
• Narrative based- Where the video has a clear storyline.
• Abstract- This is a rarer type of music video but it happens, it is when a music video has no correlation to the song or the lyrics but instead mean nothing really it's just meant to profound the audience as most of the time it means nothing it's just trying to be weird... 

Music Videos

Artist: Needtobreathe

Genre: Rock

The music video for 'Keep Your Eyes Open' by Needtobreathe has no obvious narrative, it is simply a group (the band) watching a music video of their own song from an old movie prejector. The song is sung towards the camera, and the singer looks straight down the lense when singing, there are also clips of the band playing as a whole to no audience, which we could assume is to the camera. There are no other characters in the video, other than the band.
Throughout the video there is a semantic field of old fashioned things, the band wear old fashioned waistcoats, there are old eye testing equipment, an old telephone and an old chalkboard within the video. These along with the film projector that the video is supposed to be being played through, with a lot of vertical wiping transitions give the video the same feel all the way through.
There was no animation within this video.
Editing wise, when we are seeing what the film projector is showing, there is a black and white filter on everything, and the occasional negative filter, again, to keep with the old fashioned vibe. There is nothing fancy about the camera work, there is no tracking or panning, just simple straight shots on the subject except at the end, the camera falls over, revealing that the room the band were in is simply a set, showing that it is all fake.

Title: I Wanna

Artist: The All-American Rejects

Genre: Rock

The music video for 'I Wanna' by The All-American Rejects depicts a man (the lead singer) who is at a party when his ex-girlfriend arrives on the arm of another man, you can instantly tell that the man still has feelings for this girl through the sadness in his face. As the party goes on the girl's new boyfriend gets drunk and passes out, causing her to seek new company in the form of the lead singer, they reconnect and they all live happily ever after. Amongst the narrative there are shots of the band playing at the party, to the guest, as well as to the camera, although the words are directed at the girl in the narrative. In the casting; the main character is the lead singer, the rest of the band are amongst the party guests, the girl, her new boyfriend and the rest of the randomly assorted party gust extras.
All characters are wearing clothes that fit the casual party scene, just everyday clothes. For the props there are the band's instruments, copious amounts of alcohol and mobile phones. The mobile phones are used in a rather clever way in the video, we see many of them put together to tell the story of what happened between the main character and his ex-girlfriend. For example, we see the girl walking down a street, she will walk off the edge of the recording on one phone and appear on the edge of another, as if walking through them.
There is a lot of quick cutting between shots in this video, to emphasise the tempo of the song, as well as the tempo of the party. There is also a lot of hand held camera work, to immerse you in the party, and make you feel as though you are there.

Title: Sugar, We're Goin' Down

Artist: Fall Out Boy

Genre: Rock

The narrative in the video for 'Sugar, We're Goin' Down' by Fall Out Boy is strange, there is a boy with deer antlers, who kids make fun of, who finds love, although the girl's dad does not approve of him as he does not except his differences. After the dad is angered too much, he attempts to kill the boy with a bow and arrow, yet gets run over in the process. The boy sees this and walks over to the girl's dad, who is revealed to have deer hooves. After the boy accepts the dad for his differences they all live happily ever after. There is a message through the narrative, although given in a satirical light, to accept people of all creeds, beliefs and deformities.
Within the narrative there are clips of the band playing in a room to the camera, the band do not appear in the narrative however, there is only the boy with antlers, his girlfriend, her father and the kids that mock the boy.
People in the story wear hunting gear, checked shirts and body warmers as the video is set in deer country. The props within the sotry are the boy's antlers, the dad's hooves and the bow and arrow that the dad uses.
There is no sound heard but the pre-recorded song. We see a point of view shot through binoculars when the dad is hunting the boy, and when he is watching the boy and his daughter being all lovey dovey.





Title: The Pretender

Artist: Foo Fighters

Genre: Rock



A performance based music videos with some almost story elements (with the riot police), the video starts with an establishing shot of an empty air hanger, with a red square in the back of the supposed stage, as the lights flicker on we see Dave Ghroll walking towards a microphone and his guitar, the camera then changes to a shot directly behind him as he puts his guitar on, the camera cuts to an extreme close up of Ghroll  wrapping a bandage around his guitar strumming hand, an arguable match on action angle as he wraps the bandage round his hand, the camera then cuts around his back again.

The camera cuts to a long shot of the band walking toward their instruments, and cuts to close up’s of the musicians put on their instruments, the main angles of the video are close ups and quick sweeping shots of the band playing, with the occasional longshot of all of the band playing together, the camera also cuts to the riot officer, this cut happens throughout the song as more and more riot police start to surround the band.

‘The Pretender’ is an example of a performance based music video the only real moments the song tell a story are through the use of the actors playing riot officers and the big red square breaking and crashing into the officers as they charge toward the band, this is red and represents revolution as the band revolts against the officers and win the fight. This is performance music video because there is no real story elements the main focus of the video is the ‘Foo’s’ playing this can attract a good audience as it gives the music video the look of a live event, this makes it seem the fans could be there watching the band.

Title: Good Riddance

Artist: Green Day

Genre: Rock

The Video starts with an establishing shot, this is a long shot of Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day's front man) sat alone on a matress on the floor in an empty room, the lighting is dark through curtains still giving the scene a dark yet warm atmosphere, everything in the room (possibly an appartment) is dirty, broken and bare, the only things on the wall are a few sheets of crumpled up pieces of paper possibly song lryics or love letters? We don't know, the pieces of paper could even be from an old relationship, and Billie Joe wants to say goodbye and 'Good Riddance'.

As the video progresses the camera fades into shots from the appartment and into a city (possibly Califonia) as the shots transition into the city we see car lights pass as we go giving us a sense of traveling from one place to annother making the audience move on as the characters in the song are having to do, the shots go into close up's of expressionless and blank faces, looking into nowhere watching as the day seems to pass them by, the one thing about the video the is consistant throughout is that no one looks happy everyone looks miserable or even lost all of them possibly having the same thoughts in their heads.

There are no real impressive shots in the video there are a few tracking shots as the camera follows and zooms into the characters faces and a few transitions, the video is mainly consisted of close up's and some medium long shots (Billie Joe sat on a sofa during one of the transitions) the main purpose of the video is for the band to say 'Good Riddance' to the 'Punk' genre as they turn to a more pollitical rock band. The reason for the band's change into rock is because Punk was about being indipendent and as 'Green Day' became much more successful they had more record deals and more offers for their music to be played in large telivision shows in America at the time, for example 'Good Riddance' was played during the finale of the American sit-com 'Seinfeld' imediatly bumping up the songs popularity to American audiences. The music video is classed as a narrative music video, this is because it tells a story as well as gives a few shots with performance by Billie Joe, so it has elements of a performance based music video, because we see the lead in Green Day playing guitar and singing, performing to the camera making the narrative based story with performance based elements

Conventions of Music Videos

• Range of camera angles and editing techniques.
• The speed of cutting between shots goes along with the tempo of the song.
• The costumes used match the narractive being told, nobody looks out of place (unless purposely)
• Intersesting appraoches to story telling (such as the mobile phones in 'I Wanna').
• A narrative that follows the theme of the song in some way, or sends a message of sorts.

CD Covers

James Blunt- All The Lost Souls

Various Artists- The Magic of Disney

Taylor Swift- Fearless

Conventions of CD Covers

• Artists name
• Picture of artist, with anchorage to the name.
• Name of album.
• Track listing.
• Barcode.
• Record studio logo.
• Copyright Information.
• Consistent colour scheme and design.

Magazine Album Adverts

Florence and the Machine- Lungs

Kings of Leon- Only by the Night

All Time Low- Nothing Personal

Conventions of Magazine Album Adverts

• Name of band, noticeably large at the top.
• Name of album.
• Picture of album cover/artist.
• Mention of songs that appear on the album.
• Release date.
• Logo of shop where you can buy the album.
• Record label's logo.