Unit 3 Audio Visual Media Project – Papa Giuseppe: the fall of an epic trailer
What is it?
The video is a short (2 minute) trailer for a documentary detailing the events that led to the downfall of a millionaire pizza tycoon’s business and social standing as the truth about his company and personality come to the attention of the public eye. It is set in a continuity wherein the pizza tycoon, Papa Giuseppe Onfroy, had worldwide success and fame with an advertisement for his small chain of restaurants, “Epic Pizza” and the rise and fall of the brand.
How is it shot?
All the scenes are shot in the style of a satirical documentary (a “mockumentary”). What this means is it will include interviews and “candid” shots of the fictional characters within the product, acting as though they were real.
How is it edited?
The product is edited in the style of an official trailer. The trailer is edited in such a way that it makes it look like the product I am trying to promote exists. There are cuts to black in order to add suspense to the trailer as well as a question posed to the audience throughout the trailer to try to entice them (Barthes’ “enigma” codes).
Target audience
The target audience for my product would be aimed at people within the 15-30 age demographic.
As the documentary trailer will be advertising a documentary based on someone who got famous on social media and who was an enormous worldwide hit, this age demographic is more likely to know about the effect social media can have on someone and it might therefore be more impactful and funny for this audience.
Because the target audience is very likely to have experience with the power of the internet and has likely spent a good majority of their time on it, they will be more likely to believe in the real life possibilities of such an event as the one detailed in the trailer actually happening, which makes the resulting consequences of these developments and the absurdity of the characters involved will therefore create more humour.
Products like my product
There are a few examples of products that have been filmed in the same way as what I have in mind and I will be referring to and drawing inspiration from these products throughout the production of my project.
The examples are:
Come Fly With Me:
A classic and perfect example of a mockumentary, the given context to the show is that a documentary is being filmed at one of the busiest airports in the UK and interviews are conducted to the staff of the airport and the camera crew follow them as they go around their duties. The humour comes in from the fact that all the characters are over-the-top caricatures of different types of people and put them into interactions with ordinary people, making for some excellent visual and auditory comedy.
What I’m hoping to take from this style of product is the comedy of my fictitious characters interacting with characters that seem to be ingrained in the real world (though of course they won’t be).
The Office:
“The Office” refers to two shows both made in the same style, one set in the UK and the other in the USA. The basic premise of the office is that there is a documentary being made detailing the lives of the workers within the office, a standard office room that is ambiguous to be applied to any kind of job, and the workers are interviewed. They too are comedic but not because of an over-the-top type of character reaction but rather because the reactions of the character to amazing and exaggerated events is so mundane it gives off the same effect just the cause is reversed.
Trailer inspiration
Conversations with a killer: Ted Bundy
“Rotten” trailer:
Characters
The main character and overall focal point of the mockumentary is “Papa Giuseppe,” the founder of a pizza company called Epic Pizza that became world famous due to an advert that became viral on the internet.
The trailer of the documentary will provide context to the story the main documentary will portray, showing behind the scenes footage of the original advertisement that served as the trigger for the rest of the events that the documentary will cover.
Pre-production documents
Script for the trailer
Initial narration
Pizza, an industry worth hundreds of millions, the most popular and lucrative fast food on the market and universally adored. The pizza industry is one founded on tradition and love; so how did we let it be dominated by lies and deceit?
Interview question
- - Who are you and what were you to Giuseppe?
- - What were you experiences with Giuseppe?
- - Did you ever notice anything strange about Giuseppe?
Business Dillon response
- - I’m an entrepreneur and investor in promising talent. I funded the original advertisement after Giuseppe pitched it to me whilst on a gondola in Venezia I’m not a huge fan of pizza; he could cook pizza, but his true talent was in selling the idea of pizza. That is why I invested.
- -Past the advertisement, I didn’t see him very often, once or twice a month, and he only ever shown me promising figures. I like to keep out of the way of my clients, it inspires creative freedom.
- -*ppppplllllllrbt* At some point back in March, he began to avoid my calls and he was never in the office when I came by, I could only schedule appointments with him through his assistant but he’d still always flake me off.
Actor Dillon response
- -I’m Dillon, I’m a Liverpool-based actor. *American* I was a huge fan of the giuseppe and the chain, that was until I worked with him. *British* I was employed for the original advertisement months ago and I still haven’t received my payment.
- -*British* On set, the man was a monster; I’ve never seen someone throw so big a tantrum over something so little. *American* He wouldn’t let me smoke between breaks in case my voice sounded a little different, he threw a phone once at the other actor, Aaron, because he was in the corner of the shot. *British* I didn’t see the big deal but it would seem he thought it was his magnum opus.
Customer Dillon responses
- -I’m no one really, just one of many, who have been left unsatisfied with their experience with Epic Pizza. I was back in Liverpool, visiting some family on my mother’s side when we decided to order a stuffed sausage lover with cheesy balls and sauce; it was a terrible mistake my arsehole was sore for weeks.
Inspector Liam responses
- -Uhhh, I was a health inspector for the FSA. My job was to travel between restaraunts in the Liverpool area and assess the standards of their food hygiene and facilities. I met Giuseppe when I was doing an assessment of his restaurant. I am ashamed to say that he bribed me to turn a blind eye to the appalling facilities that I witnessed in his kitchen. You would think he thought that the rats he had in his kitchen were under his employ as he trained them to fetch meats from the freezer which was impressive but very illegal.
- -The man was in violation of so many health and safety regulations you would think he was going for a full house.
Cody responses
- -My name is Cody DeWitt and I am a delivery boy. I met Giuseppe when I was still finding myself in university and we’ve been inseparable ever since and when he made the business, I was his delivery driver from the start.
- -We did everything together, literally everything. He was my wingman and my best friend and he always loved pizza. When he told me he wanted to make a business outn of his love for pizza, I volunteered to be his first ever delivery boy and help him grow the business from nothing. He liked to spin it like he did it all himself, but we were partners back then, two halves of a whole.
- -As the business grew, it felt like his detachment from me and everyone else grew as well, he was becoming his own separate entity who relied on no one and nothing and his temper became shorter and shorter.
A lot of this audio actually went unused in the actual trailer due to the fact that there simply wasn't enough time to be able to fit it into the 2 minute time frame I gave myself to do the trailer in. I didn't want it to run over too long so as to not bore the audience or lose their attention.
This is the second iteration of a script we went through as originally there was a plan to produce the whole documentary but due to time and budget constrictions, there had to be some revisions that would allow for me to meet a deadline without sacrificing quality of product, only the time.
Storyboard
The storyboard we followed highlights the key aspects of the documentary that we thought needed special attention and the video was edited according to these key aspects. In order, the aspects I considered to be the most relevant to the video was the intro, that talked about how pizza was a traditional and loving art, with accompanying visuals followed then by the interviews with the various characters that would have been included in the actual documentary. Then a panel showing an example of the text that appears on the screen throughout the documentary, the text was extremely important for the trailer due to the fact that it provided all the exposition that the interviews through the characters could not imply. The last three panels are significant as it is meant to show a steady decline for the character of Giuseppe, so in a way it is a concise visualization of an issue that the documentary will cover in whole. The fourth panel shows the facade, the mask that Giuseppe wants people to see as opposed to what he actually is, the fifth panel depicts that facade slowly cracking and the sixth shows a full-on meltdown of the chef, telling a whole story in about a minute, but leaving the audience wanting more, which is the goal.
How it was made
The only software used to create the trailer was Sony Vegas Pro 13, I've had 3 years amateur experience with the software and it has a lot of features on offer with a very simple, minimal design that allows me to see where I'm up to and what layers contain what scenes etc..
