Cast, props and location list

When it comes to filming my trailer I must take all elements shown on the screen into consideration, including the characters in my film, the props I will be using and the locations where I want individual scenes to be set. Below is a list showing the all details of the above.


Cast List

• Gareth Walker - Darren. A confident teenager whose main passion lies in acting and performing on stage. Darren is optimistic that his and Jamie's routine will be enough to beat the prestigious snobbish London Drama Academy students. I chose to cast Gareth to play this part as he is an active member of the Hull Truck Youth Theatre and has been in plays organised by the theatre, and has strong acting skills.
  
• Erdogan Elma - Jamie. A passionate, talented teenager, who enjoys mainly acting, along with break-dancing. Jamie is less confident that his and Darren's routine will be successful in the competition, and almost lets the pressure get to him. I chose to cast Erdogan to play this role becuase he is also an active member of the Hull Truck Youth Theatre, and again has been in plays organised by the theatre.
  
• Bridie Sproats - Emily. A singer and a dancer, who wants nothing more than to beat the Hull Drama students and bring them back down to earth. She is portrayed as being snobbish and stuck-up. She believes that the Hull students are merely amateurs. I chose to cast Bridie for this particular role as she is a strong performer in both dance and drama, and is auditioning to do a course in performing arts at University. She has also been in several plays organised by the college.
• Jodie Smith - Fiona. Much like Emily, Fiona is snobbish and thinks herself superior over the Hull Drama students. She believes that her and Emily's dance routine is unbeatable and that the other team doesn't stand a chance against them. She is a talented yet boastful dancer. I chose to cast Jodie as a dancer in my film as she studies a course in A2 level dance and is a strong and versitile performer.
• Steven Shakespeare - Mr Jones. He is Darren and Jamie's teacher at their drama group at school. He has faith that the boys can win the competition, yet he does not underestimate the threat of their rivals. I chose to cast Steven as the role of the teacher in my film because he has an interest in drama and was willing and eager to take part in my film.
  

Location List

Wyke College:

• Theatre - the college theatre fits in with the genre of a musical because it is an iconic location associated with this genre. In the theatre I will be able to use proffesional stage lighting to create a range of different effects. The large floor area is suitable, safe space for performing, dancing and doing stunts (e.g. backflips).
  
• Ash Building - this building has good lighting and lots of quiet areas suitable for carrying out undisturbed filming.
  
• Wilson Building - this building also has good lighting, lots of floor space and quiet areas suitable for doing filming with good quality sound.
  
• College grounds (outside of the Wilson Building) (shots 13, 14 and 23)

Props List

• Newspaper (shot 5)
• Scripts (shots 11, 24, 27, and 29)

Storyboard

I have scanned in a copy of my storyboard for my film trailer and pasted it below. The storyboard includes conventional details such as the length of the shots, camera movements, the framing of the shot, the types of edit and diegetic/non-diegetic sound, including dialogue, music and voiceovers.

Script

The next stage in the production of my film trailer was to produce a script, giving details of the character dialogue and actions, voiceovers and the setting of each shot. I produced my script in the form of a word document, which I have scanned and uploaded onto my blog.

Audience Research

In order to find out what it is about musical films that my target audience, teenagers and young adults, particularly enjoy, I have carried out research in the form of a questionnaire.

The way in which I have chosen to collect this information is through an on-line poll which I have posted on my blog (see opposite), the results from which I have used to expand my research. I have posted the address to my blog on a variety of social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, as the majority of the people on these sites fit the age criteria of my target audience. Therefore, the information I gather will be directly relevant to my own trailer.

100% of the people who took part in my pole were aged between 17 and 22 years of age, which means that all results are directly relevant to my product as this is my film trailers primary target audience. My pole revealed that the majority of my voters, 57%, considered themselves fans of the musical genre, which tells me that ny film is more likely to appeal to my target audience. 66% of voters have also been to see a musical film at the cinema within the last 6 months, which tells me that my target audience will be influenced by trailers, which aim to persuade people to see the films at the cinema. This also gives me a sense of how going to see musicals is a popular leisure activity for my target audience.

I also asked voters on their favourite songs to feature in musicals. The most popular two choices were memorable, sing-along tracks, with 17 votes cast, and well known, iconic, classic songs, with 15 votes cast. For this questions I allowed voters to choose more than one option. These results have convinced me that the song I want to feature in my trailer should be catchy, memorable and familiar to the audience, whilst fitting in with the fast narrative pace of my trailer.

I also asked the people who took part in my poll on their favourite aspects of musical films. These results will give me a clear picture on which elements to focus on in my trailer in order to make it appeal to my target audience as much as possible. The two most popular options were singing and dancing. Singing gained 17 votes overall, and dancing was cast 15 votes. Other popular options included learning about the characters and costumes, but a fewer amount of votes were given to setting and backing tracks. When I come to writing the script and storyboard for my film trailer, I will make sure to give more screen time to shots focusing on the characters singing and dancing, as this is what my target audience seem to enjoy the most in musicals. I will also pay attention to developing the characters in the on-screen narrative, although this is already a conventional feature of film trailers.