Questionnaire Results

This questionnaire was created to give me background knowledge on what people think about crime dramas. Question 5 gives me the most useful information as it shows what people are most interested in when watching a crime drama film

Crime Drama Questionnaire

I aim to give out 30 questionnaires and then base my trailer around my results particularly the last question

The Shawshank Redemption trailer analysis

Like the flawless trailer this trailer begins with a rating by the MPAA. This is then followed by the Warner brother’s company brand. The first shot is again an establishing shot of a courtroom. This is generally the case in most film trailers as establishing shots are used as locations change so the audience can follow the trailer easily. The cuts between the scenes in the courtroom are not very quick at all. The music follows this as the music is slow and has a low bass line. This low bass line creates suspense. As the shots change a loud bas not is heard again creating suspense. The inclusion of the gun in many of the opening scene shows its importance to the opening sequence of shots. As the judge reads out the sentence the camera tracks towards the actor who looks directly at it. The music in the background sounds like a countdown which tells the audience that the scene is about to end as the music increases in drama. The opening dialogue is important to the overall scene as it gives the audience background information about why the man has ended up in prison which is where the majority of the scene will be.

               

  After the court scene there is another establishing shot of a prison. This shows the audience that the man in the first scene has been convicted and is now at the prison. This shot slowly fades in and the music changes but remains slow paced. As the pan reaches its end a voice over can be heard. This is the same as in the Flawless trailer. The shots quicken at this point as the audience gets an impression of the prison and what it’s like. The main characters are revealed as Morgan Freeman and the prison governor have speaking parts in the trailer. The mise-en-scene of the trailer shows that again it is a crime drama not set in the 21^st century. A low-angle shot at 1 minute 13 is used to show the vastness of the prison. The music in the opening prison scenes is upbeat and does not create suspense. However some scenes are designed to be intimidating such as the prison guard scene in which guards lock up the prisoners at 1 minute 17.

                At 1 minute 23 seconds the music builds up as a pan across the ocean begins. This brings excitement as it is a completely different world than a prison. The lighting in the prison shots are light and do not create suspense. However some scene s like the escape scene are very dramatic in there lighting. The close up on the rock that the actor is holding shows its importance. The trailer then cuts back to the ending of a previous scene as the dialect acts as a voice over for different scenes as the guard checks why the main character is not in his cell the camera tracks backwards. It cuts back to allow the audience to view the people that are speaking over different scenes this increases the speed of the trailer.

              

  As the trailer comes to its close the music begins to build and the titles begin to come up on screen. The names of the main actors come up on screen at the end of the trailer which is the same as the flawless trailer. The last scene of the trailer is extremely dramatic as the camera flies up away from the actor as the mise-en-scene shows that it is dramatic as the actor is standing in a dramatic pose the rain is falling hard and the background noise is that of lightning which adds to the drama of the scene. As the scene ends the music drops for the final title which fades into a billing block.

The music in this trailer does not build up until the last 30 seconds of the trailer but does change dramatically from the courtroom scene to the prison scenes.

The pace of the trailer is slow throughout. There is no one point that is much faster than another.

The titles appear at the end at the end of the trailer unlike the flawless trailer in which the titles are throughout the trailer.

The lighting of the trailer does not change up until the scenes in which the main character escapes the prison in darkness.

Flawless trailer analysis

The trailer starts with a rating from the MPAA which is the motion picture association of America. This company rates films in terms of their content and how suitable they are to different age groups. In this case the film has been rated a pg-13 which means that “some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.” The trailer begins with music and a fast fade to low angle shot of a building panning up. This makes the building look tall and dominating to the audience. Low angle shots are used for this affect in many circumstances whether it to show a dominant character or just to show how large something is. It is immediately clear what the trailer is about as the building has the word’s “London Diamond corporation” on the side of it. This gives an immediate impression about the film as it pictures wealth which is sometimes the ultimate goal in crime dramas.  The opening shot is accompanied by a voice over which adds tension to the trailer. The next shot cross fades with the first shot and another low angle pan up onto the actor Michael Caine which immediately involves him with the story of the film. This shot cuts to medium body shot of Michael Caine although he is not the main subject in this shot as the mise-en-scene in which he is working shows that he is surrounded by wealth again giving the impression that it is a crime drama. The next two shots are a track left while the safe door is opened to a quick cut of photographers walking through the door. The cut to the next shot is timed as the camera flashes. The technique of timing cuts with the sounds in the shots is a technique that is applied in a lot of film trailers in many different genres.  The mise-en-scene in this film gives the audience a first suggestion to the time period of this trailer as the camera’s and clothing used by the photographers is that of the 1960’s. This scene is significant as it gives the audience a first view of what the trailer promotes as the items that are to be stolen. The safe scene then cuts to Michael Caine standing outside the safe door again in time with a camera flash. A low angle pan up shows Caine looking at the door which is then cut to a track forward over the shoulder shot of the safe door.  He is deliberately made to look small in this shot to show the significance of the safe to the storyline.

The first title of the trailer appears on screen as the music changes. This shows the company involved in the making of the film. This is consistent with film trailers and most contain company names within trailers. In this case magnolia pictures and Pierce/Williams Entertainment feature as the first company names within the trailer.  The music changes with the company name introduction making the music faster and upbeat. The music also sounds like music from the 60’s which supports the mise-en-scene of the trailer.

The next shot sets the scene as it is a high angle shot of a busy London Street. This is followed by the introduction of a new character.  The screen is then split into 2 sections as the date in which the film is set flies in from the right hand side of the page. The title is clear and is not there for long. Titles are often on the screen for no longer than five seconds in film trailers depending on the speed of the trailer.

The next section of the trailer portrays her role in the film that the women will play. It is clear from the start that the cleaner in the start of the film will work together as they speak to each other in the first shot of the section and then continue to have dialogue between each other in the film. This gives the audience the knowledge that she will play a large part in the film. This section of the trailer gives Demi Moore (main female character) a motive for committing a crime as she feels hard done by. This attracts the audience’s attention as it is an unlikely partnership between a cleaner and business women. The whole section is filled with camera shots that portray her as the outsider. The male extras in the scenes are always shown in groups and she as a female is represented as the loner in the business.

The pace of the trailer changes in the next section as the dramatic planning scenes begin. Again a split screen is used to display a slogan that states items of interest to an audience. This gives the trailer good continuity as this technique is used earlier in the trailer. The shot on the left again shows male dominance as it is a low angle shot looking up at a man. This is followed by different shots of Demi Moore thinking about what the cleaner has said to her. This creates suspense in the trailer. The close up shot of the business men whispering also creates suspense as the audience cannot tell what the characters are saying. This is in my opinion one of the key elements in a crime drama, suspense.

The next shot is a three screen split shot with another slogan to attract attention in the middle of the screen. This is surrounded by the same shot but mirrored on either side of the slogan. This is followed by fast paced cuts between the two main actors as they talk to one another. Their conversation acts as a voice over to the following shots of the trailer which are also fast paced. The falling of the mop handle links into the flash of white into in the next shots which again show the planning of the robbery of the diamonds. This section gives the audience a preview of what is going to happen in the film. It creates suspense as the audience wants to know more about the film. In this scene the female character seems to be agitated by the plans yet the male character remains calm.

The next shot is split into three giving good continuity with the other three split shot. The music changes pace in this section as the shots cut fast between each other increasing the pace of the trailer. Another three split shot is used with another mirror image between the slogan. The close up shot of the Camera shows the importance it plays in the shot and this is emphasised when it is used in the next shot looking down at Demi Moore. Close up shots are used to emphasise the importance of objects such as the close up shot of Caine dropping the diamonds into the hand of Demi Moore and the turning of the safe handle.

The release date for the film is stated at this point in another three split shot. The suspense is heightened at this point due to the discovery that something has been stolen from the safe.  The music again changes to a faster pace building on the suspense that has been created throughout the trailer. A detective is thrown into the trailer and the mise-en-scene of this scene is typical of that containing a detective as he is holding a magnifying glass. The tension is heightened when the detective begins asking questions and the previously calm Caine begins to whisper to Demi Moore.

The actors names are then panned onto the screen as the music builds and as the trailers end approaches the time between cuts becomes quicker and the amount of fast moving scenes such as Caine running and the stopwatch scene quicken the pace of the trailer rapidly before a sudden drop in the pace as a dialogue shot is shown then then the music picks up again and the title of the film is flashed on screen. There is then another shot of dialogue then the billing block is shown on screen followed by the release date s.

In summary

Music- the music starts slow then drops into fast paced music. This continues up until the last few scenes as the suspense builds. It reaches its maximum pace at the end of the trailer. The pace of the music is directly related to the speed of the shots.

Pace- The trailer starts slow and then gradually gets faster as the trailer progresses reaching its peak at the end of the trailer. It drops slightly between the speech scenes but speeds up again as the trailer quickens.

Titles-Most of the titles in this trailer appear in the second half of the trailer. But the company names appear in the opening few shots of the trailer and at the very end of the trailer.

Lighting- the lighting in this trailer is generaly extremely bright however it does vary slightly on location. 

The codes and conventions of crime drama films

Codes and conventions are certain methods by which something is done. In film codes and conventions refer to camera methods, lighting of shots, and other technical methods that are used in film. They also refer to the location in which a genre of film shot for example a horror film would be filmed at locations that benefited the Genre. The clothing of characters within the film would also follow codes as certain clothes would be inappropriate for different genre's.

I believe that the codes and conventions for crime dramas are

• Mystery
• Excitement
• Action
• Dialogue 
• Believable story lines

Final Magazine front cover analysis

Final Magazine front cover