The purpose of the trailer is to promote and persuade people to go see the film.

It is made to show the

theme, storyline and main actors to try and persuade people to watch the film at the cinema. The trailer
is made to be viewed before a film at the cinema. The purpose of this film was to overcome the stigma
of HIV/AIDS ,educate people on the disease and to make money from it.

I conducted a survey to see who the audience is for this product. Below are the results.

Age of survey participant:

Gender of participant:
I mostly interviewed 16-30 year old male in my survey.

Do people like watching films about problems in the world?:

Most people who took the survey liked to watch films that involved problems about the world. Whilst a
quarter of people will only watch it sometimes. A female 16-30 year old put depending on the
circumstances for this answer which I put into the sometimes group but this shows that a person might
only watch a film about real life issues depending on the actors or the sensitivity of how the topic is
dealt with. This person later put in the survey that they could be persuaded to see a film based on the
actors that is in it. The same person explained why they did like to watch some films about problems in
the world as “its nice to be more aware of these problems”. A participant agreed with this girl saying “it
is beneficial to know what is going on in the world”. Another participant said that “positive change
comes from viewership” even though “we still get a good film”.Someone else just liked watching them
for entertainment value saying they “enjoy watching films based on true stories”. One said the complete
opposite saying they “don’t enjoy movies with problems about the world. The oldest person(46-60) who
put something down for this question agreed with the previous response and said they “see enough on
TV every day”. They might of answered this way as they have more experience of life and over the years
have heard so much about world problems that they are now bored of hearing about it.

Real world subjects that would interest people into watching a film:

Mental health and world conflicts are the most voted for subjects that would persuade someone into
watching a film with 11 votes for each. The next most voted subject is terrorism with 8 votes. This may
be because these issues are the ones most often covered on the news. Mental health is a very new topic
that is widely talked about within media. Therefore it would suggest that people believe issues that are
talked about and covered by the media are more important than others. This maybe due to the
hypodermic needle model in which a passive audience can have ideas implanted into their heads. The
media chooses what news and how they will present it to us. A good example of this is how quickly
terrorism and muslims have become a widely covered issue in the media. Over the years since the 2001
attack on the world trade centre in American muslims have been the target of much of the blame for
terrorism whereas incidents of western countries committing terrorism in other countries have been
omitted from the media. Incidentally a stereotype of a terrorist, in the western culture, is a muslim. This
is due to the idea of all terrorists are muslims being planted inside our consciousness for a long time.

Can people be persuaded to watch a film based on actors from them?:

Does Tom Hanks or Denzel Washington starring in a film persuade people to watch it?:
Most people say that they can be persuaded into watching a film based on the actors within. However
in the next question most people said that the actors being Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington wouldn’t
persuade them into seeing a film. This may be due to both actors being more active and popular in the
1990’s and most of surveys participants being 16-30 therefore they may not be as familiar with their
works as older generations. A person who said they would be persuaded to see a film because Tom
Hanks and Denzel Washington was in it said it was because “they are talented” whereas another simply
said because “they are well known”.

Genres people watch:

Platforms people watch films on:

As seen on this graph streaming is the most widely used form of platform for people to watch films on. It
has taken over DVD/Blu-ray which was the most prominent way. Younger generations mostly use
streaming services as they provide a large amount instantaneously viewable films for a considerably less
cost than buying DVDs/Blu-rays for each film they watch on a streaming service. Cinema is the joint
second most used platform as it is common for many generations to visit the cinema.
The screenshot is from the first scene of the trailer. This scene is juxtaposed to the rest of the trailer in
the fact that Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks) has power. You can tell this by his surroundings and
the people around him - sat on the top floors of a skyscraper in a wood clad room with men drinking and
smoking cigars. This scene is made to show Andrew Beckett at the height of his power and fortune
before the way people reacted to his illness makes the world collapse around him. The scene is created
in a way to make the situation Andrew is in feel safe. This is for maximum effect so that when everything
goes wrong for him it has a larger effect on the audience because as an audience we thought he was
safe but soon has a very large fall from grace. The people around him are made to appear as his friends
as they are all congratulating each other and laughing together. Also, the lighting in the scene is dark
and warm also the furniture as well therefore the room gives a safe and cozy feel. However, the scene is
made in a way that conveys a slight sense of uncomfortableness. Several things convey this sense such
as how the camera zooms into Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards), the camera lingers on Tom Hanks also
seeming as though the shot has been slowed down and how there is a pause and emphasis on Andrew
Beckett as he says faith and shakes Charles Wheelers hand. I think they edited it like this as Charles
Wheeler abandoned all faith of him as soon as they realized he had AIDS and also that people would
avoid touching Mr.Beckett when they knew he had AIDS so it foreshadows events to come.

The two most popular actors in the film -Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks- are displayed in this scene
using a two shot. They have obviously tried to include this shot as early on in the trailer whilst still being
in a good order because they will have wanted to show the two most famous actors together as they
might persuade people into to seeing the film because they star in it. At the start of this scene the mood
is comfortable and relaxed, this is indicated by the laughing and smiling. The two characters shake
hands, as a greeting, and Andrew Beckett tells Joe Miller that he has AIDS. As soon as he mentions that,
Joe Miller lets go of his hand and a concerned look emerges on his face. He also wipes his hand on
himself to try and clean his hand of Andrew Beckett’s germs. When Joe Miller realises what Beckett said,
the shot of both of them changed to a high angle long shot. They probably did this as they wanted to
show the need that people wanted to get away from people with AIDS. This scene is a manifestation of
the fears of the public at this point in time. People didn’t want to be anywhere near someone who had
AIDS and had a great fear of touching them in case they got it too as people didn’t understand that it
couldn’t be contracted in that way.
In this scene, Beckett is made to appear weak and tired. This can be seen by the hair change colour and
style change, pale makeup and accentuation of bags under the eyes through makeup. This is done to
show the audience the terrible effects AIDS can have on the body. At the time film was realised there
was still stigma surrounding AIDS and the depiction of Andrew Beckett , in this film, getting more weak
and more ill as it progressing might of been so that people watching this film would then feel sympathy
and understand the difficulties of living with AIDS more and therefore be more accepting of it. This
might also have been done because this scene is the first of the trailer that he is in the courthouse
battling the case of unfair dismissal. He might have been shown this way because he comes over as
extra vulnerable against Wyant,Wheeler,Hellerman,Tetlow and Brown and therefore seems like even
more of the underdog in this situation. His appearance could also represent the emotional pain he has
inside him due to knowing he will die, betrayed by people who thought were his friends and that
everyone thinks his some kind of monster.
In this scene, something in the courtroom has obviously gone Mr. Becketts way and you can see a
relieved look on his face and joy from Joe Miller. As seen earlier in the trailer , Miller was worried about
touching him and even being breathed on by him. The joy on Miller’s face, for the slight victory, suggests
that he is starting to support the cause and therefore Beckett as well. This shows that the character of
Miller has developed into a more acceptive person. Miller could also be the manifestation of how the
public was starting to change their mind on AIDS throughout the trial . This story is based on a similar
case which happened to Geoffrey Bowers so it could represent the real world views of AIDS as the trial
progressed. Due to stigma surrounding gay people, at the time this film was released, Miller could
represent the audience on how the audiences prejudice could reduce as they watch the film.
Low key lighting and red lighting is used in this scene. This creates the semiotic of anger. It works with
Tom Hanks facial expressions to convey sadness and anger. The darkness around him adds the feeling of
despair and sadness.

An independent producer called Scott Rudin initiated the project. He then brought in the writer Ron
Nyswaner. The idea of the film was originally published as original however Rudin and Nyswaner met up
with the family of Geoffrey Bower, a lawyer from New York whose story is very similar to the story of
the film, and completed several interviews with him. After the interviews they said that they was no
longer going to write about his experience and follow a different plot instead. In 1996 the family of the
late Geoffrey Bower’s won the court case that the film was heavily inspired by Geoffrey Bower and he
was not given any acknowledgement to his involvement. Rudin, as producer, will have then worked on
creating the treatment and pitch so that they could get money for developing the script. When the
director Jonathan Demme started working on the film he didn’t want Rudin on board. Rudin left the film
and was never credited in the film credits. After Rudin left, the producers on this film was the director
and Edward Saxon. As producers they would have worked with the managed production as the film
progressed. As this film is about real life issues there would have probably been a team of researchers
that helped Nyswaner write the script so that they portrayed AIDS as accurately as possible. The
producers then will have made sure the script is finished and made sure they agreed with the events of
the film. The Demme and Saxon will have then decided what they want the film to be like and if they
want any stars to be involved in acting. After this they will have had a better idea of how they want the
film to turn out and therefore they might have gone to different companies to see if any of them would
finance the film. The studio that decided to finance them as SONY. Once they had the financing secured
they would have employed the full crew artists, cameramen and sound. They will have then casted the
actors. Casting of actors is normally done by 4 roles: director, producer, casting director and studio
executive. The casting director would have compiled lists of actors for each major part and held
auditions for more minor parts. He would have probably cast all the minor parts by himself however for
the larger parts the director, producer and studio executive will have worked with him and conducted
several rounds of auditions in order to get the actor for the right part. After all the actors and crew have
been employed the process moves into pre-production. The first steps in the pre-production is creating
a storyboard which transfers the script into pictures that displays the shot types and what happening in
the scene-the production designer does this. After the storyboard is created the other work in pre-
production can begin. Locations and sets will be chosen and decorated by the art director who will
create a recce of the locations they are going to use. The art director would have then also sorted out
and ordered any props that they wanted. A risk assessment would have been needed for each location
also. A budget would have been devised by the producer and financial team once the locations had been
confirmed as they need to factor in renting the locations so therefore cannot make a budget before they
have been confirmed. The last bit of pre-production to complete would have been the production
schedule. The producer would work on this and it would outline deadlines of the production. The film
would then move on to the production phase of the film. Another crew member called a
cinematographer is important in this phase as they make sure the director gets what they want from a
shot by using lighting and the cameras technical abilities to achieve that. When shooting a scene they
would have had several cameras- not passing the 180 degree line however- because this gives them
several different shots to cut between and choose in a scene. They would have recorded the audio of
the scene via a boom mic that is held above the actors. After production is finished the next stage- post-
production- is entered. The editor is the most crucial role in this process and has a huge impact on the
final film realised. Craig McKay was the editor for Philadelphia. The editor often works closely with the
director so that they both get the film they want. An editor assembles all the footage by choosing which
clips to use, what scenes to use and even the sequence of scenes and events in the film. Other jobs in
post-production include adding music and film scores, sound mixing and foley sound. Foley sound is
when sounds are reproduced and then added onto the film. Several edits are made - including an offline
edit which is just assembly of the clips- before the final online edit is made.