Evaluation

In what ways did your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In making our own media product, we used forms and conventions of existing media products so that our movie would fit in to its genre and be recognised as a horror trailer, specifically a teaser trailer. However, we also developed several of these conventions to make our product individual, and produce a unique selling point.
-Binary oppositions: We used opposing pairs to create contrasts, such as good and evil, supernatural and natural, introvert and extrovert, and sane and insane.
- Propp's character theories: As put forth by Vladimir Propp in 1969, we used several stereotypes of character used in most media products today such as: The protagonist, the villain (ghost) , the dispatcher (Counsellor) and the helper (friend).
- Conventions of horror setting: We used dark isolated scenery to show the protagonists seclusion from the rest of the world, portraying a sense of helplesness.
- Mirrors- The idea of having the villain appear extremely rarely at the beginning stages of the film is very conventional of horror films. They tend to appear in unlikely places such as mirrors and doorways when the protagonist leasts expects it. We decided to use this convention of appearing in the mirror for our own film. Shown above is an image taken from the film "The unborn" next to a screenshot from our own movie. Both show a scene in which the protagonist sees the ghost in a mirror.
- Conventions of music: The music we used was dark, ominous, orchestral music to denote horror and familiarize the audience. This is very conventional of trailers within the horror genre.
- Editing: In terms of editing we used varied shots and fast paced editing to heighten the suspense. We also flipped and sped up some of our footage to make it appear supernatural. This is something very stereotypical of the horror genre, as disturbing images have proved to be one of the key features of its success.
- Camera shots: High angle tilts were used to show a power balance. Tracking shot to show running.
- For our magazine we used several conventions of Empire and Fangoria magazine as shown in our research.
As shown here, our magazine cover was based largely on the conventions of Fangoria magazine. We used the idea of images down the side, as well as the large central image, and a pug to increase the success of the magazine. We also enlarged the name of the film the magazine is currently advertising, and what the main image is of. This is shown on the Fangoria cover. This ensures that the audience are aware of this new release and attracts and sustains their interest, making them want to not only read on, but go and see the film.
- Our research has shown that iconography is extremely important within the genre, as well as in terms of synergy. The cemetery was our prime location, and can be seen as very iconic due to its links to the supernatural and the macabre, something very conventional of horror films.
Conventions we developed:
-Theory of equilibrium: We did conform to the conventions of this theory somewhat, however not completely. Instead of beginning with a state of equilibrium, we began with the protagonists childhood trauma that leads us into the main part of the story. It is only then that we see a state of equilibrium as she has began her new life. This is disrupted when she moves back to her home town, and finally restored at the end when she faces her fears and confronts the ghost.
- We identified the fact that the font should be one of the most important features in a horror magazine, so we therefore enlarged it significantly. However we did not make it central. We positioned it at the top left so that attention would not be taken away from the images and the rest of the page, however it would still be noticeable and effective.

How effective is the combination of your main product and its ancillary texts?

From our research, we have learned that synergy and cohesion of media products is extremely important for the success of any film, and we focused on this specifically within the horror genre. In order to create synergy, we had to make sure that we effectively combined our main product and its ancillary texts. I felt that we did this successfully and that each one linked to another. In each product we drew on the existing conventions of the horror genre and developed them in our own way. We created our own specific themes and iconography and made them apparent in each of the products. We felt that it was important to create products that could stand alone as media products, but also compliment and support eachother. In terms of iconograpy and mise en scene, something that we used to link the products was colour. Black, white and red are used in all three of the products therefore the audience can associate them with one another. These can also be seen as subliminal codes for theme. Black reflects the theme of death and darkness, red represents blood and anger, and white represents the innocence and purity of the protagonist, making it seem even more disturbing that they are being punished by the supernatural villain or ghost. As shown here, the colour scheme is red and black in all three products. We also used very similar fonts in all three of the products, which helped create synergy, and of course the images can also be associated with one another. We wanted to promote the face of the villain and the protagonist so that our audience would be familiar with the actors. Therefore we featured an image of one of them in each of the products. Another example of this synergy would be that for our film poster we used an actual shot from our trailer. This will enable our audience to identify the film we are advertising. If they have not seen the film or trailer, using this image will encourage them to see it, therefore we felt that this was very useful in terms of advertising. In conclusion i feel that our trailer combined very successfully with its ancillary texts, and that each text related to eachother cohesively and effectively.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

One of the most influential things in the construction of our media products was audience feedback. We had to take on board their positive and negative feedback and use it to our advantage. We tried to question our target audience as much as we could to gain feedback during the production process. We asked media students of this age group from our own school, as well as others outside of school in order to gain varied opinion. The majority of the feedback was very positive, however the small amount of constructive criticism we gained was used to our advantage. For example a few members of our target audience felt that the original image we were going to use for our magazine wasn't as effective as simply showing the face of the ghost. Therefore we decided to use that instead, and it proved to be highly successful. We took on board suggestions from our target audience about colour and images. This involved ther ideas for colour scheme and where to position certain images that we had. They suggested reds and blacks which we used for the magazine cover. They also said that they feel it would be good to see the face of the ghost more, so we decided to include a shot of his face as a ghostly image over the beaker of spilt acid shown in the trailer. In all, audience feedback definitley helped the success of our final media products.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?


In our A2 coursework we had to use several different media technologies to present and create our products. One of the most important media technologies we used was blogspot. I had previously used this website in my AS work, therefore i had no problems with using it and was able to upload posts correctly. It also was extremely convenient in that myself and my teachers could easily track my progress, and they were able to access it online in order to give me any neccesary feedback.

In terms of websites, another important one was Youtube. This was extremely helpful in the research and planning stages of producing our trailer. It allowed me to access a wide range of videos and analyse them, which inspired me for my own trailer. To enable me to post videos from Youtube directly on to my blog i had to use the embed code, which i was already familiar with from my AS coursework.


When we began the filming, we had to use a HD camera to shoot footage for our trailer. I personally was not familiar with these, however another member of my group was. This was very useful as he was able to show me the different functions of it and how to use it properly. I had to learn to use a tripod which was vital to the proffesionalism of our trailer. A particular shot that needed a tripod was the running scene. We used a tracking shot to follow our protagonist down a dark alleyway as she runs away from the villain. Using a tripod made this shot alot steadier, and the audience could clearly see her being followed by the camera in a proffesional way.

When the footage had been shot we had to use Adobe Premier Pro to edit it. I found this fairly difficult to start with as i had not previously used it, however the uploading of footage and cutting and dragging it in the editing bar was fairly easy, it was just the experimentation with effects that took a while to get used to. This programme was vital to the effect of our trailer, and offered us several different tools to get the intended effects that we wanted. An example of this is when we reversed a short shot of our villain walking away from the camera, and made it appear as though he was walking towards the camera in a frightening and unnatural way. This made our trailer seem more proffesional. We were also able to blend shots in to one another smoothly to fit with the eerie feel of our trailer.

For the ancillary products, we used a canon digital camera to take photos, and then used Adobe photoshop to edit them. I was already familiar with both of these technologies from my AS coursework so using them was not difficult. However i had never before created a product within the horror genre, so some experimentation was neccesary.

Trailer feedback

After completing our trailer, we had to collect feedback in order to see how successful it was. We posted it on social networking sites such as youtube and facebook to collect feedback from our target audience, since these sites are very popular amongst our particular age range. We also showed it to various other media students within our target audience. The feedback we received was largely positive. The most positive feedback we received was through social networking sites. We received some encouraging comments on youtube as seen here where we posted our video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYk70ObCgeA. The majority of people asked when the release date of the movie was, we took this to be a very positive thing as clearly our film could be mistaken for a real movie. We also were asked a number of questions about the rest of the plot such as "does the girl die", and this clearly highlights the interest of our target audience. The short, creepy shot we used at the end of the trailer proved to be highly successful, and we received some shocked and alarmed responses which is what we originally intended to do.

Re-shoots/Re-edits

Luckily the footage we originally filmed was good enough for us to use it in our trailer, therefore we did not have to do any re-shooting. Although, we took several shots of the same thing and then looked at which one of them would be best to use. We experimented with different angles and camera shots. However, we re-edited our actual footage several times to make it more effective and appealing to our target audience. The main reason for our re-editing was audience feedback. Throughout the whole editing process we frequently asked our target audience what they thought of particular shots, for example the length of them. We edited five parts of our trailer altogether.

1) The first shot that we had to re-edit was the chemistry lab scene, where we showed the boy walking through the class, getting tripped up, and getting acid spilt on him by our protagonist. We showed a close up of the beaker that spilled the acid on him. However, we edited this footage so that it was not in chronological order. We showed a shot of the spilled acid from the beaker first before showing what happened. This was proved to be the most effective way of presenting our footage by our target audience. It gives the audience a sense of suspense, and an understanding of what happens. We then cut to the shot of the boy walking before he gets tripped up, back to the beaker, and then shows the liquid spilling on him. The final shot of the beaker fades out gradually to give it a mysterious feel, and the feeling that something is about to happen. While this flashback scene is happening, we used the audio from our first clip of the protagonist and psychologist talking to each other about childhood trauma. We also sped up the scene to give it a sense of panic, and used an ominous piece of instrumental music to give it an eerie feel.

2) The second part of re-editing we did was within in the same flashback scene. Our target audience found it to be simple yet effective. For the original shot we had of the slow fadeout of the beaker that split the acid, we decided to use a ghostly image of the boys scarred face behind it. This is a contrast with the fadeout of the beaker, as the protagonists memory becomes more faded, the boys face becomes clearer. This denotes the idea that bad things are about to happen. Its almost as though his life has ended, but his new life as a psychological horror has begun after death. We did this by stretching and cutting the scene with the close up face to make it a slow frame. We then put it on another video track to make it the main image. We made the opacity roughly 40% to make the ghostly face look faded and mysterious.

3) The next piece of editing we did was in the graveyard where we edited the gravestone moving away from the flashback scene. This is the part where the boy/killer first appears in front of the gravestone. The first shot we did was of the gravestone by itself by the church. The second was the boy appearing by it looking straight in to the camera. We made this transmission smoother with a cross fade giving it a ghostly appearance. We also sped up the shot to fit it in with the pace of the rest of the trailer. We simply added the cross fade between scenes and used the stretch tool to shorten the shot.

4) The fourth piece of editing we did was the final shot after the credits, where the killer comes towards the camera quickly and unexpectedly. We did this after the credits to shock our audience as they think the trailer is over, therefore do not expect a final disturbing shot. The shot was initially backwards, and not as startling, so the movements appeared to be more natural, but we felt that an unnatural movement would be more effective. We sped up the scene significantly so that it is so fast it is almost subliminal. This was to leave a lasting flash of a gory image with out audience.

5) Finally, we re-edited the audio track. In order to use the track most effectively, we slowed it down while the psychologist was talking to the protagonist, not only to give it a creepy sound, but so that the audience can understand the conversation and aren't too distracted by the music. We also added an exponential fade at the end of the audio track to give the trailer a fade out as opposed to an abrupt and quick end. This made the trailer look alot smoother and it flowed together better.

Editing process

The editing process was the most important part of constructing our own trailer. The first step in doing this was simply to impport the video files from the camera into "premiere pro". To do this, we clicked file, import, and selected the folder that contained the files we needed. All of the imported clips are found in the side panel to the left of the preview window.

The main tool used in the editing process is the razor tool, this is used to cut a single clip into multiple clips, in order to move them around, edit them separately and shorten clips.

This is what the clip will look like once cut. In order to move it all you need to do is drag it and drop it where you like.
There are several tools on the toolbar, the only other one we used however, was the stretch tool.
As mentioned this tool simply stretched or shortened the clip or audio track we chose, this would speed up or slow the FPS (frames per seconds) and the speed of the audio clip, speeding up the audio track would make it higher pitched whereas slowing it down would make it slower, so editing the audio is difficult and not recommended. When this must be done in order to synchronize the audio track with the video, audio transitions can be used to blend both audio clips together

We imported the audio track in the exact same way as we imported the video clip. When editing an audio clip the tracks will appear on the bottom few rows, they look like this. The top of the 3 is the main (default) audio track, the picture of the speaker in the top left corner is to toggle the mute option. We used this for all of the audio sections of the video clips we wanted silent. We then dragged the audio into the second lane labelled "Audio 2" and muted that lane.
When we needed captions in between frames rather than editing them on premiere pro, we decided to create them on photoshop and import them as image files

The images are imported the same way as everything else, the images will appear with a purple square beside them, whereas an audio track will have a green square next to it and a video, will have blue.
Like every other media type, the images are dragged onto the work area under the video section alongside videos.

The eye in the top left determines the visibility of the media. We used the "video 2" lane in order to change the visibility of the scenes which we wanted the audio of.

When the image is placed on the track it will look like this.

When it is placed in the window it will look like this. Originally it didn't fit the screen, so we had to click the image and drag it into the correct size. when the image fits the screen, simply press the enter key and the image will stay in that position, this process was used with every picture uploaded.
Transition effects between frames and images were very important and made the difference between a smooth video and a jagged, messy video. The main transitions i used were the dip to black and cross dissolve. The fade to black scenes are useful to fade into the captions and images because the background for these images are black.
The cross dissolve transition was used between captions to make one word appear as the previous one disappears because this transition blends two clips together. This is also how w managed to get one subject look as if it was appearing as if from nowhere. We did this by using the cross disolve effect between two video clips

Effects are always just dragged onto the clip, and can be stretched out to make the effect last longer.

The title sequence at the end uses the transitions Iris box, dip to black and cross dissolves.
At the end of the audio track we have used an exponential fade to give the audio track a fade out, and to stop it from sounding so abrupt i stretched the effect to make the fade gradual.
The yellow line on the audio track determines the decibel level, for the music track we increased the decibels to roughly 5.67 making the volume higher.
The yellow line on the video layer changes the opacity, taking advantage of this allowed us to ghost an image of the killers face over an image of the corrosive beaker by putteng it under the "Video 4" layer

The video may not work very well and run slowly unless it is regularly rendered. To do this, simply press the sequence drop-down menu and press render entire work area, this will make the video run smoothly and apply all effects.

Final movie poster

This is the final copy of our movie poster for our movie "Memoria". From my previous analysis of movie posters i have learnt that simplicity is often best, as it leaves the audience wondering, and poses several unanswered questions for them that make them want to see the movie. For this reason, we decided to keep our poster fairly simple, however still conveying the conventions of the horror genre; darkness, the macabre, and isolation. In terms of mise en scene, we have simply used a picture of our protagonist staring back behind her towards the camera in a cemetery. The idea of cemetery denotes the theme of the macabre, and also sets the scene for our movie. It is also conventional of horror film, therefore doesn't give too much away about the plot of our film. The title is placed in the top corner. We used relatively large font so that it is easily recognizable, however does not dominate the whole poster. The font we used was appropriate in terms of relating to our movie. The swirly writing gives it a mysterious and surreal feel, and the red colour stands out as well as represents blood and death, this relates to our plot. The caption "your past will find you" is also very appropriate for our plot, we felt it to be a short but memorable caption that would sustain the interest of our audience. It would also help in terms of success for our movie, as it could be used as a type of synergy. It would be the official caption for the movie, printed on any other merchandise that would come from it. This would mean that our audience would associate it with our film, and therefore it would become more memorable and eventually more successful. For authenticity purposes, we downloaded a small font for the names of the actors positioned at the top of the poster. We also included a website adress and release date at the bottom.

Final magazine cover

This is the final magazine cover for our movie "Memoria". I felt that previously analysing magazine covers was extremely useful in constructing our own, as we were able to create an effective and eye catching magazine cover that related to the horror genre and reflected its conventions. We felt that the main image we used would be appropriate as it is rather gory and shocking. This is something we have found to be extremely common in our previous analysis of the horror genre as a whole. Gory and shocking images tend to appeal most to our target audience. We enlarged this image and used it as the background so that it is clear to the reader that this is the main story, also that it is new and exciting, making them want to read about it. The image also blends into the colour scheme of black and red very well, giving it a professional look. This is a technique i discovered when analysing "Empire" magazine. The masthead we used, "Asylum" was the most preferred name out of our original choices that our target audience saw. We felt that it best reflected the genre, and our own movie. It reflects the surreal entrapment that our protagonist experiences throughout the film. It also reflects the idea of restraint, and denotes the idea that the magazine is the place where all the famous horror villains are held and can be seen by the reader within its pages. We decided to choose the font "Cold night for alligators" from www.dafont.com as it was proved the most popular amongst our target audience. It appears as though the title is written in blood, something stereotypical of the horror genre. We also included a barcode, issue date, and issue number for authenticity purposes. At the top we included a promotional offer against a gold background to draw attention to it, as it contrasts to the red and black seen on the majority of the page. We felt that this would attract the reader, as they have the chance to win a luxurious prize. Also in gold, we placed a pug on the page to attract the audience. Along the side, we have included sub stories to show other upcoming films within the genre. The images and stories we used for these are relevant to upcoming films in the horror genre today, so it would be relevant to a modern audience.

"The Ring poster analysis"

This poster is fairly simplistic, yet highly effective. The title "The Ring" creates an ominous undertone as it is vague but conveys horror. This is then enhanced further by the distorted font giving it an unnatural feel. The white colour of the font against the black background serves as a contrast. The title tells the audience what the film is about to an extent but sparse background makes them focus particularly on the title and image creating a sense of tension. The picture has an ominous feel as it is faded and distorted. This represents the horror genre. In terms of colour, the black and white used represents death, horror and the unknown. From the poster however, there is no clue to the plot of the movie keeping the audience intrigued. There are no actors names displayed showing that the story line is clearly more critical than the actors involved. This also gives it a sureal feel, as the audience are not familiar with the actors previous work therefore cannot judge them. The tagline "Before you die" simply gives the poster a dark feel and a terrifying message. This causes the audience to feel alarmed and intrigued, therefore making them want to see the movie to answer the questions hat this poster poses. The main thing about the simplicity of the poster is that it doesnt give too much away, grabbing the attention of the target audience.

Analysis of existing horror movie posters

In addition to constructing a magazine, we have also had to construct a film poster for our movie. In order to do this successfully I have researched and analysed some existing movie posters within the horror genre, as well as identifying their conventions and considering which ones I could apply to my own poster. Firstly, I analysed the poster for the 2008 film "The eye" (Dir: David Moreau).
It is clear on first glance of this poster that it is advertising a horror film. The colours are dark and shadowed, and the disturbing image gives it a feeling of the unknown. Disturbing images are something that i have found to be very common within the horror genre. They shock, alarm or disgust the audience which is what makes the genre as a whole so succesful. The eye itself is shown in low lighting, which gives it a sinister feel. It looks as though this person could be hiding. The hand shown gives it a more disturbing feel, and poses several questions for the target audience that they want to answer by seeing the film. The poster itself is fairly simplistic, therefore leaves the audience clueless. An eye is one of the most iconic images within the horror genre and therefore can mean different things. It could mean that someone is watching someone or being watched themselves, or it could mean that someone is seeing things (this relates to the idea of our own film). In terms of text, this poster is extremely limited. The only visible text is the name of the film and the name of th actress "Jessica alba." By having her name shown in large red text, the interest of the audience is increase as they may well be familiar with Jessica Alba as she is such a well known actress. The fact that her name is shown in red, a colour associated with blood and anger, denotes the idea that she may be a villain in this film. The font used is Sans Serif which gives the poster a modern feel, denoting that it is set in the modern day. There are also some technical codes shown in the poster that create subliminal messages. The lighting around the eye is dark but becomes light when it reaches the name. This is not only to make an eye catching contrast of hues, but to convey the idea that the person is dark on the inside (the darkness on the eye) but may appear normal on the outside (the lightness shown beneath the eye). The eye itself also shows a scared expresion as the pupil is somewhat dilated, this reveals a bit more about the plot. It could also convey the idea of awareness of what is happening.

Final initial idea- Magazine.

We put together all of the feedback that we collected from the research below, and we have now constructed an initial idea for our magazine, as shown here.

Layouts

These are three of the layout designs we showed to our target audience in the research process for our magazine. The most popular layout proved to be layout number one. We asked our target audience the reasons for this choice and they said that they liked the idea of having the main image as the background, and that seeing something like this would be most likely to grab their attention. They liked the conventional elements however also liked our own individuality by having the font in the top left corner rather than in the middle of the page, as used in most horror magazines.

Fonts

These are the fonts that we showed to our target audience during the research process in constructing our magazine. The most popular font proved to be font number three, the third font down from the top. We asked our target audience their reasons for this choice and they seemed to think that this font looked most conventional of the horror genre therefore it was most effective. We then asked the same audience their preferred colour for the font. The choices were black, red, blue, grey or green. The majority of people chose red. They said that it reminded them of blood which fits in with the conventions of horror.

Magazine research

After we had researched existing magazines, we took several of their ideas into consideration when constructing our own initial idea. We did a survey in a local WH smith in order to speak to people interested in magazines. We presented them with several different layouts and names and asked which one they preferred. The names we came up with were; Asylum, Freak show, Slaughterhouse and Filmfest. The majority of people decided that Asylum was the best name, and it seemed to not only reflect our genre but also our film. Asylum reflects the idea of not only a horrific situation but also the mental entrappment our protagonist experiences. Shown above are some of the visual aids we showed to our taret audience (15+)

Filming schedule

We devised a schedule for our filming, so that the whole process would run smoothly and effectively. We had to consider actors, locations and times in doing this.

Tuesday November 9th-
All indoor scenes
Location- Film at Katie's house
Cast needed: Katie (filming) Hannah (Filming) Josh (Filming and acting) Steph (Acting) Mus (Acting) Dan banner (Acting)
Time: 4:30-6:30

Wednesday November 10th- Chemistry lab and Half outdoor scenes
Location 1- Chemistry lab at school
Cast needed- Katie and Hannah (Filming) Josh(Filming and acting) Steph (Acting) Dan banner and Matt Boucher (Acting as extras)
Location 2- Cheshunt park
Cast needed- Katie and Hannah (Filming) Josh (Filming and acting) Steph (Acting) Dan banner (technical equipment and lighting) Michael grayston (Transport)
Time 5:30-6:30 (darkness is needed)

Tuesday November 16th- Final outdoor scenes
Location- st marys church
Cast needed- Katie and Hannah (Filming) Josh (acting and filming) Steph (acting)
Time: 5:30-6:30 (darkness is needed)

Reshoots TBC

Storyboard

Alteration: As shown here, we decided to have a boy tripping up our introvert boy rather than sticking to our original plan of having our female protagonist do it. We decided that it would be better to have her be the one to spill the beaker of acid, this is because it can be seen as an accident so that the audience sympathize with her and see that although she feels guilty, she has not purposely done any harm to the young introvert boy. By having the audience sympathize with the protagonist, we have stuck to the conventions of most horror films.

Magazine research

We felt that in order to increase the success of our own magazine cover, it would be necessary to research and analyze existing ones on the market today. We felt that Fangoria magazine was particularly influential as it is so successful. We considered its different aspects and thought about how we could modify these and apply them to our own. What we were immediately struck with was the familiar red font that is used repeatedly throughout the horror genre. The name Fangoria also reflects its genre, as fangs is something you would typically find within several horror films. We felt that this concept was interesting and took it into consideration. The layout is the same on every magazine, with the title across the top, bar down the left side and the main image taking the majority of the space. The simplicity of this proved to be quite effective, and we may take this into consideration when constructing our own magazine front cover. We also looked at Empire magazine, one of the most popular movie magazines around today. Like Fangoria, the font is eye catching and bold. It is also written across the top of the magazine. The central image also takes up most of the space and acts as the background. It also dictates the theme of the magazine, and the colour scheme matches the image. For example when the colour green is used for the central image, the font and text on the page will also be green or something contrasting to green like white to attract and sustain the readers attention. In conclusion the main image being shown at a large scale is what attracts the reader most. They thrive on shocking or gruesome images that they may see in the trailer. This is something we will take into consideration when constructing our own magazine, and also could apply to our film poster.

Audience feedback

In order to improve the overall success of our trailer, we showed our storyboard to roughly twenty people from our target audience at various different places. Firstly we asked year 12's and 13's in the mac rooms what they thought of our storyboard as we felt that not only they are the correct target audience for our movie but they also have an interest in the media as they study the subject. We also went to Cineworld cinemas in Enfield, after a showing of the new horror film "Let me in", so we knew that we would be dealing with fans of the horror genre. We had a variety of results. The majority of people agreed that it would be a good plot line and something that they would be interested in watching it, however some felt that it was somewhat difficult to follow. Some of the people we asked had some comments to make about the location of our filming, however they felt that it would be more effective to have our protagonist locking herself in the bathroom rather than crying in the kitchen, as this would heighten the sense of chaos and entrapment.

Conventions of horror films

Horror films are made generally to: frighten, panic, cause alarm, invoke hidden fears, captivate audience, often conclude in a shocking finale. For different types of people, horror films can deal with different fears such as alienation, death, identity and the unknown.
There is always a lead character or protagonist, who often comes out as the survivor.
The killer/monster/villain often has a trademark such as how he kills victims or the weapons he uses. For example in the "Saw" films, the killers trademark is to trick his victims into killing themselves. In nightmare on elmstreet, victims are killed through their dreams.
The characters fall prey to an evil force that is trying to victimise them in some way.
Sometimes the killer/villain wants to corrupt its victims by making them do something evil, for example: the shining.
There is often a fight between good and evil.

We have taken these conventions into consideration and plan to create a trailer using some of then, but putting our own unique twist on our trailer.

Initial ideas for own trailer

In developing ideas for our own trailer we have had to consider ways in which we could use camera angles, editing, mise en scene, sound effects, music, special effects and dialogue.

Camera angles:
Camera angles are very important in filming our trailer because they are useful in denoting things about our movie. For example, we've decided to use a high angle shot on the victims to show their vulnerability in the situation. We plan to use this shot when our victim is crying in the corner conveying her helplessness and inferiority in the situation. We will also use this type of shot at several other points during our trailer. in contrast to this, we've decided to use a low angle tilt shot for the villain to show their superiority in the situation, conveying a sense of power. We've decided to use close-ups at several points in our trailer, mainly to show the actors expression but also to convey a sense of claustrophobia and disorientation. We plan to use tracking shots to speed up the pace of the trailer when our victim is running, as well as over the shoulder shots to show conversation between characters.

Editing:
We will be using a variety of cuts during our trailer to denote different things. There will sometimes be fairly long sections of dialogue between cuts, for example when the dialogue is important and a vital part of the story is being told. This also gives our audience a chance to establish who characters are. We will also use a series of short cuts as the flashes of scenes get faster and shorter to quicken the pace of the trailer and heighten the suspense. The use of fading the screen to black as though it is being condensed will be used to convey an eerie feel, as well as contrasting between the previous several fast scenes. We are aiming to use this to denote that there is no way out for our victim.

Mise en scene:
We plan to use mise en scene to really denote the helplessness of the victims situation. Following the conventions of horror, we will have our villain dressed in dark clothes to denote the darkness associated with his character. We will film most of our trailer at night, again to give the eerie, dark feel to it (again conventional of any horror trailer). We plan to use iconography such as blood to conform to horror conventions aswell as the scarred face of the boy due to his severe burns.

Sound effects and music:
The music we will use will have an orchestral feel to it, however we felt it would be easier to create our own music using glockenspiels to be able to mould it exactly to our own preferences. The music will sound dark and ominous conventional of most horror films to denote the darkness of the situation. In terms of sound effects we plan to be fairly stereotypical to familiarise our audience somewhat with the fact that it is infact a trailer of the horror genre. We will use loud crashes, bangs and screams for this purpose.

Setting:
As our trailer will be filmed at nightime, this will show the isolation of the victim. The location will also show this, as we will shoot in dark, secluded empty streets and other secluded places. The interior of the house of the victim will remain dark again to show the victims imprisonment. This can be seen as symbolic in showing the mental imprisonment of the victim as she is being imprisoned by the hallucinations of the past. We will also use a therapists office to show that our victim is mentally unstable.

Dialogue:
We will have a limited amount of dialogue to let the action speak for itself. We won't use narration because we don't want to give too much away, however we will have the dialogue of the actors as they speak to show small snippets of the action that goes on in the movie and to give our audience a vague idea of the story.

Focused analysis- Location and mise en scene

One of the most important aspects of a good horror movie is to create a sense of fear and dread without any hope of someone coming to the rescue or having our main characters somehow escape the horrible fate that has been bestowed upon them. Typically horror films are usually set in a dark isolated place, set apart from the rest of society. A good example would be Cube (1997) where seven complete strangers wake up in a maze that consists of several square rooms, the victims are completeley isolated from society.
For our trailer, we will show that the protagonist has been isolated from the rest of society by moving so far away from home,but when she returns she is again isolated as she hasn't been there in years and no longer has anyone to turn to. She is also isolated in the manifestations of her mind.

In terms of time, horror films are often set at night time to create a dark feel and the idea that anything could happen. We will follow this convention for our own horror film.

For mise en scene, there is often repeated iconography throughout horror films for example an eye, a cross or repeated images of blood. In terms of clothing, the outfits worn by the protagonst often begins normal, but by the end is typically covered in blood or dirt after the journey they have embarked on. The monster/villain/killer will often wear dark clothes that hide his or her identity for example a large coat and hat, or a mask.

Focused analysis- characters

There are different types of character in horror films, however the same type of characters are used repeatedly within the genre.

The monster/killer/villain is often enshrouded in darkness and we rarely see its face. It is mostly a single entity and tends to be pictured in the background if at all as if to be lingering over it's victims. They often have a trademark way or tool of killing i.e a claw, knife or hook.
Examples:
Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on elm street), Hannibal lecter (Hannibal lecter), Samara (The ring), Leatherface (Texas chainsaw massacre)


The victim: The victims are often displayed in different colours than the text and monster to show innocence or neutrality. The lead character or protagonis that is often the sole survivor (another regularly used convention of the horror genre)
Examples: Alexandra coyle (Nightmare on elm street), Rachel (The ring), Kate Coleman (The orphan)


The protagonist: The protagonist is often very naive, vulnerable attractive and usually young. Most horror films are a journey for the protagonist, and usually results in them growing in confidence and becoming a more strong willed character, usually ending up as the survivor.


Characters in our film:
Our protagonist is a young female who is stereotypically naive and vulnerable. When first faced with the obstacle of her situation, she is scared and paranoid. However as the story progresses she becomes a stronger character and becomes alot braver. This relates to the stereotypical conventions of character within the horror genre.

Focused analysis- sounds and music

Most people will agree that orchestral music is the most characteristic type of horror film music, the reason being that it is so incredibly versatile. However,the main reason is that powerful orchestral music simply works very well when there is a need to convey emotions and set a certain mood. Most orchestral music has a dark ominous tone which is perfectly fitting for horror movies, although sometimes the music can be more upbeat which creates a disturbing contrast between music and events. Orchestral music is frequently used in horror trailers, and typically uses a crescendo to fasten the pace of the action. It is usually high pitched and has an eerie sound. With this in mind, we will choose appropriate music for our horror trailer.

Nightmare on Elm Street trailer analysis

Sound: The first 15 seconds of the trailer show the sound of heavy breathing, which gives the trailer a sense of panic and suspense. There is a loud crash just as the action sets in, this is stereotypical of horror film. There is also very fast paced music and the sound of a car. This gives the trailer an action-packed feel. The dialogue heightens the sense of panic as the central actors shout their words rather than speaking them. Also, one character is adressed as "krueger", this means that the audience can immediatley identify him as the victim. As the captions appear on screen there is a series of short, sharp beats in time with them which heightens the suspense. The dialogue suggests what the plot is about. The singing of the children is unconventional because usually this would be something innocent, however as it has an echo effect it sounds distorted and sinister. There is a regular beat in time with the childrens singing that sounds like footsteps, this gives the impression that something bad is coming. Inbetween the singing there is the sound of screams and loud crashes and bangs. This all comes to a silence before the child sings the line "never sleep again", as this is the most important line, relating to the plot. Afterwards there is a series of short sharp screeching noises that can be see as reflecting a heart beat, this shows the panic of the central characters. There is then a series of screams before it goes into silence as the title appears on the screen, this is very conventional of horror films. It then ends with dialogue of the villain which is quite a lasting effect.

Editing: The editing is fairly normal in this trailer. It involves the conventional start with slow shots fading into one another creating an eerie feel, but then goes into a series of short ones to convey a sense of panic. The interesting this is that the editing varies. One minute there will be a slow, short shot, and then it will immediatley go into a fast one which suprises the audience. The editing is often in time with the music which makes it more easy to comprehend and highly effective.

Mise en scene: Conventional of horror film, the beginning starts in a dark secluded place. It is set at night time. This fits in with the plot of the film in that all the action happens while the central characters are asleep. The protagonists are shown to be dressed in light colours, as opposed to the villain who is dressed in black and appears to have blades for a hand. This immediatley makes the audience aware of who the characters are. The idea of having children present in the trailer juxtaposes their innocence with the harsh realities of what happens to the victims. The disturbing images shown are stereotypical of horror. There is a woman syringing herself, and the villains arm appearing in the shot at several times to frighten the audience. The expression on the characters faces also gives alot away about their reactions to the events that occur in the film.

Paranormal activity trailer analysis

Sound: The trailer begins with a deep, echo-like sound. It reflects the idea that something bad is about to happen. This is going on as the audience are seen queueing up to see the movie, it implies perhaps that they are victims for having to witness the film. The sound is very similar to thunder, conveying metaphorically that a "storm" is coming. While the dialogue is going on, this sound continues. There is a sudden loud crashing sound in time with a shrill scream which is supposadly from the audience. There are series of very conventional sounds such as screeching, deep instruments and unknown noises. The "sound" of silence is even more sinister, as it contrasts with the loud, tense sounds from before. This heightens the suspense. Again, this crescendos into a loud bang at the same time as the door slams and the audience scream at this sight. There is another series of conventional sounds, some of which sound like a mobile phone being cut off a if the victims are in complete isolation. The dialogue gives away some of the story, and shows the conversation between the central couple aswell as the professional help they recieve (psychologist). As the credits come on screen, there is a flickering sound as if the television is about to switch itself off- denoting the idea of paranormal activity.


Editing: At the start of the trailer the editing appears to be fairly normal. It shows regular length cuts of the audience coming into the cinema to watch the film. When the film has begun, the editing becomes more obvious. Each shot slowly fades into another giving it an eerie feel. The editing becomes particularly clever as it alternates between shots of the audience and shots of the actual film that they are watching. This shows both the action on screen and the audience reaction. It gives the film a sense of reality. A caption describing how scary the film is as a quote by critics fades slowly on to the screen, again sustaining that eerie feel. The editing in this trailer much like other trailers becomes increasingly faster and fits in time with the sounds that can be heard. More captions then fade onto the screen. The shots seem to flicker before they fade onto the screen conveying a sense of disorientation.


Mise en scene: This trailer is particularly clever in that it conveys a sense of realism. It begins by showing the audience queing up to see the film, so that the audience watching the trailer can share the reaction of the audience watching the film at the time. The on- screen captions make the audience aware that this was the first audience that viewed the film and "this is what they saw". The alternation between the action on screen and the audiences reaction is particularly clever as it shows their reaction and sustains the idea of reality. The audience are shown in a green light that looks like they are in night vision, which gives the trailer a dark feel and makes it immediatley conventional of the horror genre. The action on screen shows a sense of equilibrium. It is clear that the film has been produced to look like a hand-held camera has captured all the action, and this an interesting idea. Throughout the trailer, at several times the audiences reactions are shown. This is particularly importan because you can see the horror in their faces. This shows how scary the film really is and will therefore increase its success.

Amityville horror trailer analysis

Sound:
The trailer begins with the non digetic sound of gunshots. This establishes a threatening and dark atmosphere. As the screen is black at this moment, the audience are left in curiosity. As the editing becomes quick, there is a sound of razors on violins prompting a numerous amount of cuts. When the police officer begins to narrate the action, the non-diegetic sound of a low pitch instrument accompanies the diegetic sound casting and continuing the overall ominous tone. We are then presented with a home video of the family moving into their new house, and the sound of active film reels sets the time period. The video however is not happy because the sound of childrens laughter has been distorted giving it an eerie and disturbing feel. The final part of the trailer is characterized by a mix of digetic and non digetic sounds. For example the sound of screaming is mixed with the sound of amplifying violins.

Editing:
The editing is mainly quick. There is alot of information being transmitted in the opening sequence such as close ups of headlines on newspapers. The use of quick cuts quickens the pace of the trailer, and is usually closely in time with flashes of lightning. By this the threat is intensified. Throughout the trailer the text fades onto the screen, almost like it is condensing. This is very effective in giving the trailer and dark and eerie tone.

Mise en scene:
The beginning of the trailer shows alot of black and white, giving the trailer an old and dark feel. In the faster part of the trailer there is a frequent use of pathetic fallacy. It appears that the weather is being used to reflect. In the home video the weather appears to be calm and sunny, representing equililbrium, followed by harsher weather representing the threatening situation. We also see a variety of disturbing images for example a dead man in a bath, which is used to keep the audience intrigued and on the edge of their seats. The recurring image of blood red is used throughout the trailer. Most importantly, at the end where we see two windows of the house dyed blood red.

Structure:
The trailer is structured in three parts, the first part introduces the house, the second introduces the characters, and the third combines both creating a horrfic outcome.

Grid of 9- Saw

grid of 9

Grid of 9- The orphan

grid of 9

Grid of 9- The Human Centipede

grid of 9

Tsvetan Todorov's theory of equilibrium

Todorov was a bulgarian philosopher who specialized in literary theory. He came up with the theory of equilibrium, which has become one of the most influential theories in the media industry today. This theory was a basic structure for all narratives. He said that all films started with a state of equilibrium, a calm period. Then, agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, where the calm state is broken and there is a period of unsettlement and and disquiet. This is finally followed by another state of equilibrium. However, this state may not be the same as the first. Events in the plot may cause the characters to find themselves in a new state of equilibrium very different from the first. An example of this would be "The Orphan". It begins with a state of equilibrium where the main family are introduced, the disequilibrium then begins when they bring a new child, Esther into their home. This child is posessed and causes all types of chaos and horrific events for the family, the only way to rid their family of this is to kill her as the family soon realise. The equilibrium is then restored at the end where Esther eventually dies and the family can continue their life as normal. A film that does not support Todorov's theory would be "Paranormal activity". It does not begin with equilibrium, as the lives of the main characters (Katie and Micah) are disrupted by Katie's belief that she is being haunted by a demon that follows her wherever she goes. The main body of the film shows their struggle to get rid of this demon, as several paranormal events happen to the couple. At the end, equilibrium is not restored as Katie becomes posessed by the demon and kills her partner Micah. In some ways our own movie supports this theory, however we have decided to break conventions and put a unique twist on it. The story doesn't begin with equilibrium, as the start of the movie shows that the incident that happens in the chemistry lab. However, there is a period of equilibrium between the acident and the main body of the film. This is where our protagonist has been living away from home for several years and has been in a stable relationship for some time. The disequilibrium comes when she returns to her home town and the manifestations of guilt begin. The new state of equilibrium is brought about when she eventually faces her past and is able to continue her life with her husband.

Levi strauss- Binary opposition theory.

Strauss was a french anthropologist who lived in the early 1900's. He believed that the way we understand certain words depends not so much on any meaning they themselves directly contain, but much more by our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'opposite' or, as he called it 'binary opposites'. For example, our understanding of the word "villain" depends on the difference between that word and the opposing word "hero". Within the media field, binary oppositions are used very frequently in films, especially in the horror genre. Many horror films include sets of binary oppositions in their plots. Particularly good and evil, sane and insane, rational and irrational and human and supernatural. Our own movie utilises this highly influential theory. It includes several binary oppositions in terms of character, such as introvert and extrovert (protagonist and boy who dies) and sane and insane (protagonist and her friends). These oppositions are very conventional of horror films, therefore will familiarize our audience with the genre.

Mood board

This is a mood board of some of the horror films of today that i consider most influential for this project.

Storyboard details

Media

Summary of film

We are making a psychological horror in which the protagonist is haunted by the manifestations of a guilty conscience from her past, this film takes a relative amount of thinking but the storyline is ultimatley easy to follow.
Our USP (Unique selling point): Because the character of the young introvert boy is tripped over by another boy in his class, the audience are led to believe that he would be the one being haunted. However, it is in fact the girl who spilt the beaker of acid. This will suprise the audience as she is in fact not guilty in any way as what she did was an accident. Also, our story does not really conform to Todorov's equilibrium theory. At the end when the protagonist and her friend share an embrace, the audience believe that equilibrium is restored. However, the ghost then appears once again, this also makes room for a sequel.

Movie Plotline- Film trailor

Movie Plotline

Introduction

The coursework option my group decided to choose was a film trailer. We chose to do this for a number of reasons, for example;

- It provides the opportunity for each member of the group to have a fair role in the production of our final product, as there are plenty of tasks that have to be carried out.

- It gives us the opportunity to show creativity and to rise to the challenge of developing a final product not only conforming to typical conventions of genre but also creating a USP (unique selling point). We will also be creating two ansillary texts to support our trailer, a film poster and a magazine front cover advertising our film.

From this task we hope to;

- Understand media conventions of genre through thorough analysis of film trailers of the horror genre

- Use working in a group to the best of our advantage 

-  Be able to produce a good final original yet conventional final product 

Back to the future- Camera exercise

We were given a sheet with various camera angles and locations on them, along with an approximate time of how long each shot should last. We were given a camera each and went out into various areas of the school and filmed each shot. After a short editing process, we watched the original extract from "Back to the future" and were able to compare how similar our own filming was.

Doing this task helped me learn;

- How long it takes to shoot a short extract of film, in this case about one minute long.

- The editing process can be fairly difficult, and that to make future editing more easy, i should try and find locations with limited background noise in them.

- In order to decrease difficulty of holding the camera extremely steadily to get a good shot, i will always need to use a tripod when filming to make shots more steady.

- I will always need to book equipment when i know i need to use it

- When planning to film from scratch, i will need to consider a variety of different camera angles

- Continuity needs to be taken into account for example, if we began the filming process wearing different clothes than when we finished it, we would have to change this.