Critical Reflection!!!
The trailers for the film Shutter are intended to convey a sci-fi/fantasy story of a teenage girl and her journey in discovering a camera with hidden powers. Through the use of two separate trailers, audiences can gain enough context about the narrative while also obtaining an inside look at the characters. This was done to shed light on the characters Olivia and Bennett’s relationship, while not giving away too much.
Prior to the making of the Shutter trailers, I had done ample research on movies and television shows within the sci-fi/fantasy genre. This included viewing the trailers of Everything Everywhere All At Once, the movie posters for Arrival, and the thumbnails for Stranger Things. Since this project, the Film Promo Package, required three separate components, there was more research that needed to be done than what I initially anticipated. All the pieces that I research heavily impacted my production choices. This can be seen immediately in the movie poster. As I mentioned on my blog, I viewed various samples of movie posters but decided that the one from Arrival was the best fit for my piece. 
I gained inspiration from the tagline, actor names, and title placement and adjusted that in a way that worked on our poster. This led me to embrace a convention aligned with sci-fi/fantasy film posters. I probably could have done a better job at making the poster more realistic. For example, the title on the bottom of the page reminded me of cartoon text rather than the title of a sc-fi/fantasy movie. I highlighted the three main actors and included a mysterious tag line: How far would you go to undo the past?
I gained inspiration from the tagline, actor names, and title placement and adjusted that in a way that worked on our poster. This led me to embrace a convention aligned with sci-fi/fantasy film posters. I probably could have done a better job at making the poster more realistic. For example, the title on the bottom of the page reminded me of cartoon text rather than the title of a sc-fi/fantasy movie. I highlighted the three main actors and included a mysterious tag line: How far would you go to undo the past?
The majority of the research I conducted occurred in the earlier weeks of the project. This specifically pertains to research surrounding the trailers themselves. As Abby and I created our schedule for the nine week duration of the project, we allocated a greater amount of time towards the pre-production and post-production in order to focus mainly on those aspects. This is, and the thumbnail component, is what required the most research. I focused mainly on the thumbnails for the Stranger Things series as I had never worked on something like this. I embraced the conventions surrounding this aspect by leaving the Netflix logo in the top left of each thumbnail and keeping it simple by letting the key art speak for itself. Most of the Stranger Things thumbnails were shots from the series itself rather than a staged photo, and we did a mix of both with one thumbnail stages and one captured during filming. 
Each component of the portfolio required individual research which led me to being successful in each respective area.
Each component of the portfolio required individual research which led me to being successful in each respective area.
Abby and I worked diligently to have our products engage with the audience. We established our target audience as young adults (high school students to early twenties), so we had to use this to our advantage. Of course, social media is a major component of the project. This benefited us as our target audience uses social media frequently, specifically Instagram. With social media, we made the page easy to access and one that shows off the characters and content. I added individual "highlights" for each character along with the feed posts. We added behind-the-scenes footage and the thumbnails to keep the audience engaged at all times. We also made sure to interact with our audience on social media, not just posting so they can view it. We added a poll on one of the "stories" asking viewers "who should keep the camera? Olivia or Bennett?" This way the viewers feel connected to the storyline rather than just watching it unfold. Aside from the Shutter Instagram, audiences are able to engage with our product through our print pieces. We created two thumbnails along with the movie poster to market the film. The movie would be released onto Netflix exclusively, so it would be at the disposal of our target audience. We had also researched the most popular streaming and social media platform for individuals within our target audience. The two trailers that we created would be available on the Instagram and YouTube.
The brand for Shutter is one that is meant to engage with this type of audience, but also highlight the individual characters and items throughout the piece. Like I mentioned previously, we had "highlights" for each character clearly marked on our Instagram in order for audiences to click on them and discover more about each character. This was also a major aspect of the pro-production stage. 
I created mood boards for each of the characters shown in the trailer in order to get a better idea of each of them. This contributed to our brand as it was more individualized. This is also evident through the thumbnails as they key art either focuses on Olivia and Bennett as the main subjects of the piece or a simple camera in a box. Not only were the characters extremely highlighted, but so was the camera. Right when we developed our idea and overall brand for Shutter, we wanted the camera and word "shutter" to be the star of the show. We incorporated this into the social media as the profile picture is numerous cameras together, the initial post with the clicking sound and "Shutter" appearing, and the repeating title hashtag on every post. We did this to reinforce the story behind the camera and show that it is the most important part of the film. Both the camera and the characters were the center of our brand.
I created mood boards for each of the characters shown in the trailer in order to get a better idea of each of them. This contributed to our brand as it was more individualized. This is also evident through the thumbnails as they key art either focuses on Olivia and Bennett as the main subjects of the piece or a simple camera in a box. Not only were the characters extremely highlighted, but so was the camera. Right when we developed our idea and overall brand for Shutter, we wanted the camera and word "shutter" to be the star of the show. We incorporated this into the social media as the profile picture is numerous cameras together, the initial post with the clicking sound and "Shutter" appearing, and the repeating title hashtag on every post. We did this to reinforce the story behind the camera and show that it is the most important part of the film. Both the camera and the characters were the center of our brand.
Our trailers did not strive to represent social groups or issues in the way that it should. We could have used a more diverse cast, but they were all high school students, which represents the target audience. This was done so the viewers could relate to them in an easier manner. Also, it was important to us to reference the COVID-19 pandemic, which we carried out in the trailers with Olivia jumping back in time. It is slightly difficult to offer enough representation in just the two trailers, but we could have been more efficient in this sense through the other mediums.
Working with this project for the last nine weeks has led me to be able to say that we created a well-produced brand for Shutter. I feel that all of our components worked well together, but there is still more work that could have been done.
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