EVALUATION

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I made sure that I used as many codes and conventions of the genre, horror so that my media products where as real as possible.

• In my trailer I used conventions that are found and used widely in horror film trailer, as I wanted to ensure that audiences knew what genre the film is. I used an effect called hard lighting. I made sure this was used because in horror trailers the shots are dark, this creates a horror atmosphere.
•  I also used a fade to black transition, when I was researching horror trailers I noticed that this transition was used in great amounts. I also used another transition called cross dissolve, this then helped make the trailer flow better and look more like a horror genre trailer. The fade to black transition was used widely within horror trailers because it denotes blinking, so the series of events happen quickly. The transition also shows being put into the dark and not knowing what is going to happen next, this gives the audience an element of surprise, it also gives time for the audience to ask questions such as what’s going to happen next.
•  Another convention I used was the fast paced in synchronisation of sound effects or music, for example in my trailer I have synchronised fast paced shots with the sound effects of a heartbeat. 
• I personally think that the news report at the beginning of the trailer break the mould of horror trailer conventions. I haven’t yet came across a radio news report in a trailer and I thought this was a good was to tell the story.
•  I also thought that the police call at the end of the trailer was breaking the mould of horror conventions because it is a different way to end the trailer.
•  Another good way of challenging the forms and conventions of horror trailers would be taking and using a convention found in a different genre and using it in our trailer. I was unable to do this because I couldn’t think of any conventions that would fit in with the narrative.

For the production of my poster I used as many conventions of posters and magazines.

•  The first convention I made use of in my poster was just on main image to be placed in the centre of the poster. I used an image from the trailer; I thought that the picture told enough of what the story was, without giving too much away.
•  Another convention is to put the name/title of the film at the top of the poster, this gives film posters structure.
•  Other conventions I have used for my poster was to have/include small print at the bottom of the poster. I have also placed the age certificate on the bottom right hand corner of the page. 
• When I was planning out where to place everything on my poster I took the conventions from film posters and horror posters so that my poster was realistic. The picture I used for my poster was of the caretaker walking away from the camera, with their back to the camera.
•  I think that this poster picture is breaking the mould of posters, this is because on film posters the main character usually is facing the camera, making eye contact which is also called the stare, with the audience. As the picture doesn’t have the character making eye contact with the audience, instead the audience will concentrate on the silhouette of the caretaker.
•  As I was planning to do in my trailer, I was going to find a convention from a different genre and use it in my poster. I was unable to do this because I couldn’t find a suitable convention from another genre; also I didn’t want to confuse the audience. Instead I decided to use conventions from only horror posters to save the confusion.

For the production of my magazine cover I used many conventions of real film magazines.

• The first convention I made use of was the name of the magazine being positioned at the top of the cover, the font size of the name of the magazine is also the largest font used on the cover. 
• Another convention is the issue number, date and price underneath the name of the magazine. I used these as I wanted to make my media magazine cover to look as realistic as possible. These are also important components of the magazine cover.
•  Another convention of a magazine cover I used in my media product was the information of what is in the issue, this is usually a sentence saying what film, interview or behind the scenes information. This information is usually placed around the edges of the magazine cover, it frames the image and gives information about what to find, it is also seen as a unique selling point, people will read what is being featured in the magazine and buy it.
•  Magazine covers also involve exclusive information about a new film which is being realised, this film reserves a place on the cover, this gives the film good advertising and a good USP (unique selling point).
•  Another convention I used was the colour scheme, the two main colours I have used is read and yellow. I used the colour red because it shows evil, danger and blood, also this colour was used widely in the trailer and poster, using it in my magazine cover creates synergy throughout all my media products. I used the colour yellow because it matched with the colour of the caretaker’s high visibility jacket; also it is a usual convention to have at least two similar colours as the colour scheme.
•  I included all of these real media conventions to make my media product more realistic. The picture for my magazine cover is again breaking the mould; this is for the same reasons as it was for my poster.

Overall I feel as though my media products use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products. I have done this by researching and using conventions, breaking the mould and trying to find ways of which to bring a convention from another genre e.g. action adventure into the horror genre.

2. How effective is the combination of your media product and ancillary text

For my media products I have produced a trailer, poster and magazine cover for a film advertising package.

•  It was important that my media products had synergy; this is how everything links together. I used an image that was also used in the trailer for my poster and magazine cover; this is so there would be synergy and a visible link. 
• The pictures I used I used are relevant to the narrative of the trailer, I have done this because this will show continuity throughout my media products, and the pictures I have used will also act as a brand for the film. It was important that the story was able to be shown from the images I used. This is why I used the image of the caretaker walking down the corridor, this is a semantic code because the image shows the corridor is dark, this denotes that something dark is going to happen. Also the shot shows that the caretaker is walking down a school corridor, this is another semantic code because it shows the audience that the film takes place in a school or has a link to a school.
• The title creates synergy because I have used the same title from the trailer on the poster. I have done this to create a link throughout the combination of my media products.
• I also thought it was important to make sure the genre of the film was clear throughout the trailer, poster and magazine cover. This is why I used codes and conventions from horror genre posters, magazine covers and trailers. 
• These codes and conventions are to use a dark colour through the products for example, blacks and blues; also using one strong colour that is relevant to the storyline for example horror film about aliens would use the colours blue and green. I have used red; this is because it denotes danger, anger, blood and evil.
•  I also have used the image from the trailer for the text of the film name; this creates another link from the trailer. For the other fonts I have used a font called Ariel, this is because it is simple and I didn’t want a font that was too detailed, hard to read and a font that would distract attention away from the vital information about the film, e.g. the text, date of release and the taglines.
• I didn’t want to give away too much of the narrative for all three of my media products, otherwise the audience wouldn’t want to see the film. I also wanted to leave the audience with unanswered questions; what happened? What’s going to happen next?

Overall I feel that my media products are effective as a combination because they are all linked visually. They also leave the audience asking questions about the narrative of the film. 

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

For my audience feedback I had shown my trailer, magazine cover and poster to a group of 50 people, who were all of different ages. I asked them a series of questions; these were

1.       From watching the trailer, would you say you would be interested to watch this film?

2.       Do you think these media products are linked?

3.       Was the genre apparent throughout the media products?

4.       What do you believe the strongest aspects of the trailer were? Please choose one of the following:

1.       Camera

2.       Lighting

3.       Sound effects

4.       Mis-en-scene

The results I got from the audience feedback where positive as they highlighted the best aspects from my media products, they also show that my media products are realistic and convincing.

From my audience research I have learned what is best linked from my media products. My audience research showed me that the camera movements and shots and the mis-en-scène of the trailer were seen as the strongest aspects.

The audience research also showed me who my target audience is. From looking at my feedback I discovered that my best suited target audience is for teenagers around the age of 15-19. There was an anomaly in my feedback; this was where a few people of an older age said they liked the trailer and that they would watch the film. This really helped me come to a decision on which target audience the film should be aimed at. I was in transition between giving our trailer a age certificate of 15 or 18 because my audience feedback showed which age would be interested to see the film, the people would also have to like horror films.

From asking an audience whether they could see the link between the media products also taught me that images, text, fonts and colour schemes are all important in being able to see the link between the trailer, poster and magazine cover.

4. How did you use media technology in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

It was important to use modern and up to date technology to ensure my media products were of a good quality. It would also be difficult to create the trailer, magazine cover and poster without the appropriate technologies.

• The technology I used for the trailer was the handheld camera, I used my own camera as it was more easily accessible and I already knew how to work it, so this worked to my advantage. We are also lucky enough to have a slow motion camera and green screen in school. We used both of these as we wanted to use as much technology as possible to improve the quality of the trailer and also add realism. We used an Apple Mac with iMovie to edit our trailer and put all the shots together. IMovie was hard to work at first but we got used to it in the end. I did encounter a problem with some technology; this was linked to the slow motion camera. The shots from the camera take up a lot of memory, so we were unable to save one of the shots onto a memory stick, we did managed to fix this problem in the end by borrowing someone else’s memory stick so that we could transfer the shot from one computer to the Apple Mac. I was lucky that all this technology was available otherwise our trailer would have just consisted of a camera and iMovie.
• The technology I used for my poster and magazine cover were the same, I used my digital camera to get the shots for the images to put on the cover and poster. I also used photo-shop to edit and construct my poster and magazine cover. I used Photoshop because I wanted to experiment with it, also I wanted to manipulate the image to create a link to what sort of genre the film is. For the picture I used for my poster, I made sure that it told the narrative, there is also a sense of enigma to the poster; you’re not sure on what the narrative of the trailer will be.
• For my evaluation, I have used a microphone, PowerPoint, blog and a website called SlideShare.  I wanted to use a range of technologies for my evaluation because I knew my answers for the questions were going to be quite long, so I thought filming and recording me talking though each question would make it more interesting and would help me develop my skills using technology.  
• The technologies I used for my research consisted around internet sites. I used Blogger.com to present my research and youtube.com to get film trailers from. I used these internet sites because they are easily accessible and straight forward to use. To get images of film posters I simply Google searched them and to get magazine covers I used the Empire magazines cover archive on their official website (www.empireonline.com/magazine)
• For my planning I used my handheld camera, I wanted to plan the shots so I tested some shots out, this is so I knew where the camera would go and what angle the camera should be in. These test shots became very useful as they shown me problems that could affect the shots, planning out shots and testing them out gave us time to fix the problems without wasting too much time.

Media Evaluation powerpoint

My evaluation will be found on the disc named Louise Armbruster's Evaluation Powerpoint.

This is my powerpoint, I have put it on slideShare.com for reasons such as easy accessability, I have also put it onto a disk just incase there are any difficulties.

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_7892751"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/LouiseArmbrusterMedia/louise-armbruster-media-evaluation" title="Louise Armbruster Media Evaluation ">Louise Armbruster Media Evaluation </a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/7892751" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/%22%3Epresentations%3C/a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/LouiseArmbrusterMedia%22%3ELouiseArmbrusterMedia%3C/a> </div> </div>

Deconstruction of my trailer

Sound: The sound effects that are used in my trailer are all relevant to the narrative of the trailer. At the beginning of the trailer the sound of a camera taking a picture, this fits in with the shots as the shots are supposed to be giving the audience an idea of that the police are taking pictures for evidence. School bell then follows this, this fits in with the narrative of the trailer, as the caretaker works in a school, we thought that this would give a clear indication to where the caretaker works. After this sound effect there is a heartbeat in the background, this is then followed by a police siren, these small clips of sound tell the narrative and work in conjunction with the camera shots to ensure that the audience understand what is going on. A news report theme tune then starts; this indicates that the next sound effect is going to be a voice over of a news report. This news report tells the audience the story of the caretaker and helps give the narrative away without giving too much information away. There are a variety of suspense sound effects that we used; we used these in conjunction with the shots. An example of a suspense and surprise sound effect is when the caretaker is pulling the knife out of the draw. They also act as a signal for the audience to act shocked and create a movie like atmosphere. The heartbeats that are used at the beginning of the trailer are in sync with the shots, this helps give a better flow to the trailer. The music then starts, we decided on using this particular piece of music because it creates the atmosphere we wanted to create. It also fits in well with the shots. Another sound effect used is the rewinding tape sfx, this is used when the drop of blood is in reverse, this helps give the audience an idea of that time is being rewinded. At the end of the trailer, there is another voice over; this is a voice recording of a police phone call which is made by the young victim. This leaves the audience with questions such as; what’s happened? Is she going to get caught by the caretaker? The last sound effect used is of the phone being cut off, this creates tension throughout the audience, and they want to know what’s happen. A lot of sound effects were used to help the trailer flow better and tell the narrative of the trailer.

Lighting: The usual convention so of the lighting in horror trailers are mainly dark and gloomy, this is what we imitated throughout the trailer. The lighting is dark, gloomy and dusty. The lighting at the beginning of the trailer shows when nothing has happened yet, then the door goes and the lighting changes to a black and white CCTV shot, this shows that something bad has just come to the door of the characters house. The lighting is mainly natural and cloudy, so the lighting isn’t bright but it’s gloomy. The lighting shows that the genre of the trailer is horror.

Mis-en-scene: There is a close up shot of the lock on the door, this has a red effect over it, and this shows that something deadly is hiding behind the door. The next shot is of the door, we used a prop of red and white ‘’police tape’’ to make it look as though the police had closed of the door as it is involved in the crime. Another prop we used was the pin board, I made this and ensured that it had newspaper clippings and pictures that would help give the narrative away, without giving too much away. Other props we used were the jacket and the bin bags, which were full of playing balls. We used these to make it more obvious that the caretaker is in fact a caretaker. There is a shot of the young victim walking down the stairs, the girl is walking down the stairs into the dark, and this shows that the girl is walking into something dangerous. We used a black and white CCTV shot, we used the black and white effect because it looks more realistic, also it shows that what is going to happen to her is fairly obvious, the caretaker has come back for revenge. There is another shot where there is a red effect over it, it is of the girl walking through the woods, this shows that she is the victim; it also looks as though you are looking from the eyes of the caretaker. On the pin board shots, I made sure that the picture of the victim was when she was younger, so I used my year 11 school picture and my year 7 one, we then put the shot of the victim older looking, this makes an instant connection to who the victim is. The name of the trailer is done in an x-ray effect; this is because we wanted to make the name look eerie.

Editing: A lot of close up shots where used, this is a convention used in horror films. There is also a wide use of long shots, this shows the whole of an object and gives the audience a clear shot of the object or person. AT the beginning of the trailer, we used a fade to white transition so it acts as a camera flash, this would go in conjunction of the camera sound effects. The shots are mainly at an eye line match, this makes the audience feel as though they are in the shot. We used a hard lighting effect, we used this because it is a convention of horror films to have dark and gloomy shots and this is what the hard lighting effect achieves. There is a zoomed, crane shot of the pin board, so the audience see the whole of the pin board, also giving the trailer more variety of shots and edits. We also used a transition called cross dissolve; this transition adds more variety to the trailer and fades two contrasting shots better.  There is also a zooming shot, this shot zooms into the picture of the victim when she was younger, it then quickly changes to the shot of her typing on the computer, and this creates a link to the victim that must have been her when she was younger. The shots are fast paced, at the beginning of the trailer, the heartbeats are in synchronisation with the shots, and this creates a good flow to the trailer. There is also a panning shot of trees, I put an effect over this called day to night, this makes the beginning of the pan lighter than the end shot of the pan. This created a feeling of being put into a dark situation. Towards the end of the trailer there are fast paced transitions and close up shots, this creates tension, what is going to happen next? This then goes to the shot of the title for the film. The zooming out of the name of the trailer shows that something is being revealed, but you will have to wait and see what it is. 

Deconstruction of my magazine cover

The picture is the same picture used on the poster; this creates synergy throughout all my media products. The picture shows the caretaker, the main character, this is a convention of a magazine cover. The main character is always on the cover, this will helps the audience relate with the cast of the film. The picture looks as though the caretaker is walking into the light out of the dark, as if he is coming out of hiding, he is wearing a high visibility jacket, this shows that he is a caretaker, he is also walking down the corridor of a school, this tells the narrative of the film and shows that he is back and he is going to be as bold and dangerous as ever, his jacket is a sign of warning, as though he is warning people not to mess with him. The name of the magazine is placed at the top of the poster; this is a convention of a magazine cover. The name of the magazine is also the largest and boldest font on the cover; this is another convention of the magazine cover. The price, date and issue number are all important aspects of magazine cover. They are usually placed underneath the magazine name, this is so they don’t take up too much space, but they are also visible. The barcode is another important aspect of film magazines; they are usually placed around the bottom corners or the right hand edge of the magazine cover. The barcode on this cover is placed on the bottom left had corner of the page; this is so it doesn’t take up any valuable space. The fonts I used are simple Ariel fonts, these are simple and easy to read, and this also doesn’t take too much attention away from the other aspects of the magazine cover. The fonts vary in size, colour and boldness; important information that may attract the attention of buyers is put in bold and bright fonts to attract the eye of the audience/buyer. The two main colours used are red and yellow. The red shows horror, danger, violence and evil, this gives the audience a clue to what genre the film is. The yellow has a link to the caretaker’s high visibility jacket; this ties the whole cover together. It is a convention of magazine covers to have a two part colour scheme, depending on the genre of the film. The website of the magazine is placed underneath the name of the magazine. This is an important aspect as the public are starting to use the internet for anything possible because of its great accessibility, also the internet is free. This is another convention of film magazines and magazines in general. There is a lot of text on this magazine cover; this has all the information of what is featured in the film magazine. This is a USP (Unique selling point) as the film magazines will all have different features. 

FINAL DRAFT OF MY MAGAZINE COVER

This is my final magazine cover, I used all conventions of a film magazine cover, I kept to the colour scheme of red and yellow. I used the colour red as this is a convention of a horror, I have also used yellow, this is because film magazine covers usually have two colours used. Also the yellow links in with the yellow of the caretakers high visibility jacket. 

Deconstruction of my media poster

The main colours that have been used are white, black and red, but the most distracting colour is the yellow on the caretaker’s high visibility jacket, this type of yellow shows danger. The red shows evils, danger and blood, this fits in with the genre of the poster, this also links in with the image of the caretaker and it gives the audience a clue about the caretaker being the villain. Red is also a convention that is used in horrors and horror posters. The black shows that the story is going to be dark and one which involves death and revenge. The white shows innocence, this links in with the narrative of the story, children are innocent and the story takes place in a school.

There is a lot of text used on the poster; all of the text is relevant to the film. The name of the film is at the top of the poster, this is a convention of posters. The text is done in newspaper clippings, this shows intertextuality. The newspaper clipping also show that the event has been in newspapers, and the size of the clippings are quite large, this shows that the story must have had a large media coverage at the time. This all links in with the narrative of the film and creates synergy with the trailer. Another way that synergy has been shown is that the picture of the name of the film has also been used in the trailer; this creates a link and also a brand for the film. The next piece of text used is the tagline, this has been broken up into two parts, and this drags the eye of the audience down the page. The tagline links in with the trailer as this was used in the trailer. There are also star ratings from two well-known newspapers, this links in with the two step flow theory, this theory fits in with the concept of newspaper and magazine film reviews. People who write for newspapers are highly respected for their opinions, they decide on whether a film is worth seeing or not and they help people make a decision on whether they should see the film or not. These star ratings are done in a white font; this separates the text into information about the content of the film and other information. The different coloured text makes the text stand out and will attract the attention of audiences. Towards the bottom of the poster is the date of release, names of actresses starring in the film and the small print, this is all conventions of film posters. At the bottom of the poster, underneath the small print is the website for the film. All the text has been put into a ranking order, more important information has been placed at the top of the poster and less important information has been placed at the bottom of the poster.

The fonts used are clear and simple; any font which is too detailed wouldn’t fit in with the narrative. The font is also quite bold and stands out without distracting too much attention away from other elements of the poster.

The picture is the only picture used, the lighting is harsh and this attracts attention towards the brightness of the caretaker’s jacket and silhouette. The image of the caretaker is in the centre of the poster and this connects the text from the top of the poster to the text at the bottom of the poster. The image looks as though the caretaker is walking out of the dark into the light. This shows that the caretaker is walking into the light to take his next victim. The picture can also be interpreted as thought the caretaker is coming out of the dark or hiding and getting ready to attack again. The binbags he is holding shows his past and acts as a visual aid to the audience, showing them that he has baggage and he has been dragging this around. This also leaves the audience with questions such as what is in the two bags. 

Audience Research

I shown the trailer to 50 people, all different age groups and asked them a series of questions:
1. From watching the trailer, would you say you would be interested to watch the film?
2. Do you think these media products (Trailer, poster and magazine cover) are linked?
3. Was the genre apparent throughout the media products?
4. What do you believe the strongest aspects of the trailer are?

Here are the results:

1.

2. 

3.

4. 

FINAL POSTER DESIGN

I decided to add some more text, for example I have added the star rating as this give more realism to the poster. I have also added the age certificate logo for the same reason. I also moved the text around as there was a blank space on the bottom of the poster. 

second draft of poster

For this draft, I used photo-shop because you can improve the quality of the pictures and change the light and saturation. I also wanted to experiment with photo-shop and to ensure my poster is high quality. 

Film poster draft 1

This is my first draft of the film poster. I used Microsoft word. I kept to the layout plan of which I posted earlier, the plan seems to have helped me arrange the text and pictures better.

I like the image that I have used on this poster, it is also a shot that is used in the trailer so I feel as thought this will make a link as this is a convention of a advertising campaign. I also like the order of the poster and where everything is placed. I feel as thought I need to improve the quality of the poster. I don't like the font that I have used. In my next poster design I am going to use this picture as it links in with the trailer, making the package seem more realistic.

 Overall I do like this poster design, but I think I need to improve certain aspects of it.

Louise

My magazine cover and Poster

This is the film poster layout that I drew up after de-constructing horror film poster.

When I was researching posters, I found that the same layout is used for all genres of films. I kept to the basic layout as this is just a starting idea. I have placed the image in the middle of the poster, this is because I want to picture to be main focus, also this is a common convention of film posters. I found it difficult to decide on the order of the film title, date of release, star ratings and the small print. After thinking about it I came to the decision that it should go in order of importance. This is a first draft of the layout of the poster I am going to produce, it has helped me realise the importance of placing pictures and text on the poster.  

This is a layout plan of the magazine front cover, I found it hard to work out the layout of this as there are a wide range of layouts depending on what magazine cover. I decided on this layout as it includes all the vital information about the film (picture, name of film, date of release and the tag-line). I found it especially hard to fit all of the information on the one page, but once I had messed around with the layout a little bit I found that this was the best and that I would be able to fit all the conventions of a film magazine poster on to it. The usual conventions of film magazine cover are the name of the magazine being at the top, the date and issue number being underneath the name of the magazine, text being either side of the picture, which is usually found in the centre of the cover, taking up the most space, also the bar code, located at the bottom left hand corner. 

On both layout plans I have put a colour key, this is to help me stick to the colours that are used a number of times in our trailer. 

This has helped me and will defiantly help me with the layout of the poster and the magazine cover. 

Louise 

Monster Research

When we thought of our film, we decided that our film was going to be based around a monster. I think that it is essential that I research into monsters that have been used in other horror films, as we have not yet decided on what our monster will be, I think that researching all different monsters will help make the decision. We could also make up our own monster, using the information I am going to find. I found that researching monster films was too vague, so I had to be a little bit more specific. As our film trailer is going to be based at night (usual convention of a horror film)  I decided to research monsters who are only seen at night.

There has been a wide variety of films based on monsters. I was looking at some old fashioned monsters, but if anything they were more comical then fearful. Therefore I have decided to look at more modern monsters in films. There have been all different types of monsters and strange creatures ranging from robots to the zombies.

Thinking about our trailer I instantly thought of the monster from the horror film The Grudge. The monster is a women with white skin and black eyes. I think that this monster/creature would look fit in well because our film is based in the snow, this would explain the pale white complection.

This is an image of the monster/creature in the film The Grudge.

Paranormal Activity Research

Paranormal Activity Poster

The main colours of this poster for Paranormal Activity are blue, black, white and red. The red denoted blood, horror and danger. Red is only used on two parts of the poster, the name of the film and a small piece of text at the bottom of the poster. Blue denoted calmness; this is ironic considering the film is about a paranormal experience. Black is used to show mysteriousness, black is a fairly blank colour and can cause confusion with what it actually means. The colour white can show light, innocents and it is seen as a heavenly colour. This shows that using the other colours there will be death, danger, mysterious actions and confusion. All the colours that are used on this poster are usual conventions of what colours you would find on a horror poster. When I was looking at The Fourth Kind poster, which is also about paranormal activities, the colour blue was used, I have noticed the wide use of this colour in a lot of films about aliens, demons and other paranormal creatures. The picture used is in the centre of the poster. This is the main focus as it is the only picture on the poster. The picture is in the settings of a handheld camera or a CCTV camera. This is made obvious by the grainy image and how it is in a blue shade. This is what you would usually assume a CCTV camera would look like. It also has the time at the bottom of the picture; this is another link towards the idea of the picture being used as a CCTV camera image. The image is framed by text and a small white line which acts as a picture frame. This make the picture stand out more, as it has a frame, it also draws attention to the picture, as it gives a small space of a brighter, light colour, otherwise the picture would just blend in with the black background. The layout of the poster is fairly simple, there is a lot of text on the poster, and the image is framed by the text. The text is at the top and bottom of the poster, this gives it a better balance, and it also breaks up the poster. The picture is positioned in the centre of the poster, this helps break up the text and creates a good flow so that the audience isn’t concentrating on too much at once. The usual conventions of the layout is that the small print is at the bottom of the poster, it doesn’t take up too much space and doesn’t attract much attention off any of the other items on the poster. There is also a quote from the horror film review website Bloody-discusting.com, this is at the top of the poster, and this is another convention of a usual layout of a horror film poster. With the quote being at the top of the poster, this will be one of the main focusing points of the poster, humans like to know what other people’s opinions of things are. The tagline is positioned about the name of the film, there is also another tagline used underneath the name of the film. Personally I think that taglines built audiences up to see the film. If the tagline isn’t very good, the worse you think the film will be. The tagline for this film is scary, in a way it warns people not to see the film by yourself, this will make people want to see it more as it is saying ‘’don’t go alone’’. The tagline is in a white font. This makes it effective and as it is a little bit bigger as the other fonts, it makes it stand out a lot more. This is a clear indication that the text is in fact the tagline. The font of the text is all the same throught out the poster. The text looks like the text from a CCTV camera, this links in with the storyline of the film and also the picture on the poster. The USP (unique selling point) of the poster is the picture. I haven’t seen a picture like that on another poster. I think it links in really well with what the film is about and gives the audience a clue to what the film is about as you can see a shadow and the main characters pointing towards it in fear. I really do like this poster, everything links together really well and it tells the story using a picture, title, fonts, tagline and a quote.

Paranormal Activity Film Magazine Cover

I have found it basically impossible to find a film magazine which features Paranormal Activity on the front cover. I have searched all different film magazines including Uncut, Empire, Total Film, Odeon and Movie Club magazine. Hopefully I will be able to use my knowledge on general horror films and the research to help produce my film magazine poster.

Paranormal Activity Trailer

Sound

You can hear the audience of the film talking in the background at the beginning of the trailer. It makes the trailer seem more realistic as it is showing the reactions of the audience throughout the events of the film. There is a lot of talking through the trailer, this helps the audience understand what is going on and what the film is about. There are a lot of loud sound effects like Booms, footsteps, screams, atmospheric sounds, heartbeats, floor board creaking, slamming of doors, flickering sounds and what sounds like a gunshot. All these sound effects make the trailer a horror trailer, without all the sound effects the trailer wouldn’t have the same effect on the audience. There are gasps and screams from the audience, this makes it a lot more scary as it is showing you real reactions from a film. There are also eerie silences throughout the trailer. This makes you expect a loud bang, so it causes tension and suspense throughout the audience.

Light

The film is being recorded on a handheld camera so the lighting is pretty much natural, outside lighting or artificial light from indoor lighting. Night vision is used in reactions shots of the cinema and in the night of the actual film trailer. It also makes it seem much more eerie. Bright light is used in the form of a torch. It concentrates light on only certain areas, so the audience will focus on only where the light is shining. CCTV camera lighting is used; it looks dark and dingy, with a blue/grey tint. this make the audience feel scared as anything in the dark and at night becomes instantly scary.

Mis-En-Scene

Text is used at the beginning of the trailer when you see the shot of the audience waiting to go into the cinema; the text explains what the audience is waiting to see and how they will react to the film. There are a lot of reaction shots; this is mostly of the audience. It makes the trailer seem a lot scarier because you are seeing real people reactions towards the film; it also creates an adrenaline rush, seeing other people’s reactions make you question both the film and how you will react towards the film. TV static is used in between some shots and also in between text transitions. At the end of the trailer it shows where the film is going to be shown. In one of the shots you can see the cinema screen and the heads of all the audience, this makes it seem as though you are in the cinema watching it too.

Editing

The shots are very quick and of a fast pace A lot of close ups and zooming in is used, this is used to show exoression on people faces. Reaction shots are also used, especially in the shots of the audience. The transition of fade to black is used a lot throughout the trailer; this is commonly used through most horror film trailers. The transitions are mostly quick but there is a few slow fades to black is used, this makes you feel although when an images does finally appear it will be bad. This causes tension. Some of the shots are fairly slow, this is only when the audience is being shown something that has happened. There are quoted from different horror film websites, the first quote is from the website that is used on the poster. The quote sticks in your head the more times you see it. Taglines are used too, this makes you built up an emotion towards the film, and this is usually feared. Name of the film is shown on the screen for quite a while, this give the audience time to digest the name of the film, and to think about what the film is going to be about. After the long shot of the title a very brief shot of a girl is shown up, this is in a white and black tint, this is only shown quickly so it looks like a subliminal message. Then it flashes straight to the text of where the film is going to be shown again. 

Deconstruction Of 4 Old Horror Trailers

When I chose the film trailers to deconstruct when I was looking at horror films that have been made in 2010 I chose them carefully. The newer trailers that I chose where A Nightmare on Elm Street, Saw 3D, Piranha 3D and The Last Exorcism. These films are remakes or have trilogies. In this part of my research I am going to look at the older trailers from these films, (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Saw 1 and Piranha) after deconstructing these trailers I will they be able to compare the trailers in detail and see how trailers have improved or whether they haven’t.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

At the beginning of the trailer, there are three children playing with a skipping rope, this shot is used in the new Nightmare on Elm Street too. The kids are wearing white, this shows innocence and purity. Freddy Kruger is shadowed for most of the trailer; you don’t see much of his face. This is mysterious and makes the audience want to see what he looks like. It also makes the character well recognised; whenever they see a shadowed figure they will recognise him for Freddy Kruger. The same music is played all the way through the trailer, music usually gets more tense when the trailer starts to get faster, shows the horror parts in the film, but in this trailer because the music stays the same all the way through, you don’t quite know when it’s going to get more tense and scary. Mostly natural lighting is used, this don’t make the trailer look as fake, adds to the realism of the trailer. There is a part in the trailer where a male is about to get killed by Freddy Kruger, the lighting is blue and black and you cant see any detail on their face, you can only see the outlines of them, with only being able to see their outlines, the audience can only know what emotion they are feeling by what they are saying. The text is in red, this shows danger, blood, and horror but also romance. There are both diagetic and non-diagetic sounds, for example screaming and talking is diagetic and the music in the background in non-diagetic.  The voice over that is used in the trailer is deep and scary, this shows the audience what type of film it’s going to be as the voice over being deep and mysterious is a convention that is usually used for horror films. 

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The lighting is blue and black; this is dark and mysterious, show audience what the type of genre the film is before any shots of film are shown. Gospel music is used, this links in with the idea of an exorcism as they are performed by priests, religious member of society. When the scene changes, a heartbeat goes off, this creates a flow and doesn’t make the transitions from one shot to another seem too fast and unorganised, it also relates with the film so it links in really well. Non-diagetic and Diagetic sounds are used, for example the diagetic sounds are the speech, laughing, screaming and whispering. The non-diagetic sounds are sounds like the heartbeats and the music in the background. A lot of white is used, in the background and when Emily Rose is being exorcised she is wearing white, this shows innocents and purity, also heavenly. The fact that Emily Rose is being exorcised whilst wearing white goes against the fact that she isn’t pure and good as she is being possessed by a demon. Text is used a lot in this trailer, it tells the audience the basic story of what the film is about. Quick shots are used at the beginning of the trailer, they then get slower as the trailer goes on, this isn’t usually what happens in a horror trailer, usually the slower shots are used at the beginning of the trailer to help get the audience into the trailer and help them understand the general storyline of the film before the trailer gets into the horror part of the trailer and starts to get faster. Heartbeat plays over the shots as they change; this makes the trailer flow better. In the trailer, thunder and lightning is used in a shot, this is pathetic fallacy, this is when the weather reflects the mood, for example thunder and lightning when someone’s angry or sunny and bright when someone’s happy. A shot of Emily Rose’s face shows up at the end of the trailer, the background changes from dark to white, this makes her face seem as though its an illusion.  

Saw 1

The lighting is dark, mainly blues and blacks, this is dark, sad and depressing, and this shows that the film is going to be a gruesome horror film. The darker the colours used, the scarier the film is usually found. A heartbeat is used when the shots change, makes the trailer flow more and also creates an atmosphere of panic, as the heartbeats gets quicker, the trailer gets more scary and shocking. There is a shot of a white room, this changes to dark suddenly, and the audience knows that the people within the room are going to get killed; the room being all white is heavenly yet dangerous. Jigsaws voice (main character in the Saw films) is played; this gets the audience familiar with the main character. There doesn’t seem to be much music in the trailer, it just sounds like a montage of all different sounds. This gives the trailer its own unique soundtrack. The text is black, is swipes across the screen there is a grey and black background. Even the text in the trailer is sad and depressing; there is nothing happy or positive. The colours that are used mainly in the trailer are bland colours, white, grey black; these colours create a mood of sadness and fear. There is a small clip of music at the end of the trailer, it’s quite tense and leave the audience wanting more. The audience will question what’s going to happen to the people? The trailer gives enough information for people to understand the basic just of the story but not too much information, so the audience doesn’t know too much. Non-diagetic and diagetic sounds. Diagetic sounds are noises such as talking and screaming, Non-diagetic sounds are sounds such as heartbeats and music.  There’s a shot of an electric clock counting down, this shows that time is running out, also the numbering on the clock is red, and this shows danger and horror. There is a shot of newspaper headlines, they all have the names of the main character, Jigsaw on the newspaper headlines, this also helps the audience familiarise with the main character.

Piranha

The music used in this trailer is scary and tense, its orchestra music but the use of violins makes it sound intimidating than it should sound. The sound of a heartbeat is used, this gets faster as the trailer goes on, this makes the audience know that something bad is about to happen.  The lighting that is used is mostly natural, this makes the trailer seem more realistic and not as fake and made up. The colours that are used are mainly used is red, this denotes horror, gore, danger and warning. At the beginning the characters are doing an advert for the lake, it then goes on to show people having fun and messing around, makes the audience feel happy and excited. The shot then moves to an underwater shot, the shots is blue and the water is murky, this shows that its unclear what is about to happen, People in the lake are in the unknown. Examples of diagetic sounds that were used are sounds such as talking, screaming and shouting. Examples of non-diagetic sounds are the music that is used and the heartbeat. The music creates panic and an atmosphere of fear. There is a little bit of humour, one of the characters says ‘’ ’Sir, their eating the guests’’ Black humour, changes mood from scared and threatened to funny and comical.

In conclusion, I found that older trailers have to same conventions of new trailers, it’s just the quality of the trailers that has improved, I also found that newer trailers are a lot more detailed and imaginative than the trailers that were made a few years ago. 

Comparison Of Old and New Horror Film Trailers

When I picked the trailers that I was going to deconstruct I made sure that the four trailers had or where remakes of a film or that they were part of a trilogy. This will make it easier to compare the film trailers to each other.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

I found that the newer trailer was defiantly more intense and scary than the original Nightmare on Elm Street trailer. There was a part in the second trailer when they used the same shot, but just re-filmed it. It was of three children playing all wearing white. The new trailer has more about the history of Freddy Kruger (the main character) in the trailer, whereas in the first Nightmare on Elm Street trailer there was nothing about his past and why is was haunting people in their dreams. I feel as though the Re-make of a Nightmare on Elm Streets trailer was defiantly better.

The Last Exorcism and the Exorcism of Emily Rose

The last exorcism and the exorcism of Emily Rose are two completely different films, but they are both about the same thing. I found that the trailer for the Exorcism of Emily Rose was different to other horror trailers; the fade to white was definitely something that they didn’t do in The Last Exorcism. The Last Exorcism trailer was scarier compared to the Exorcism of Emily Rose. Everything in the trailer linked back to the storyline, even the music linked in.

Saw 3D and Saw 1

I felt as thought the new saw 3D trailer was very well made. The film is in 3D so the trailer had shots of the audience watching the film and torture items where flying out of the cinema screen. It gave the viewers an idea of what the film is going to be like in 3D, as this is the very first Saw film in 3D. The Saw 1 trailer was also very good; it had all the usual conventions of a horror film.

Piranha and Piranha 3D

The first Piranha film trailer was made in 1978. The older trailer didn’t show too much detail on the actual piranha, and when you do see a piranha I didn’t find it scary, I found it quite funny. It looked really unrealistic and fake. I think that the new paranha is scarier and has more of the usual conventions of a horror film, for example the colour scheme of red. The camera shots, the wide use of close ups to show the expressions on people face, I also felt as thought there were more shots of the piranhas so it made it clear that the film was about piranhas taking over a lake. The piranhas also look more realistic and less fake as the ones that were shown in the original piranha film!

Overall I found that the newer film trailers are more realistic, the older trailers definitely set an example of how the new trailers where going to look. I think that without technology getting better film trailers wouldn’t improve. I also think that the technology is one of the most important things when it comes to making a good horror film trailer. 

Usual Conventions Of Horror Trailer

I have noticed how different film trailers can be when watching them in the cinema and at home. The trailers are exactly the same but there is always something different about watching at horror film at home rather than at the cinema. The usual conventions of a horror trailer, I personally think that trailers where made to watch in the cinema, it’s dark and loud and you don’t get distracted because its just a large screen and some seats, where at home you can easily get distracted and pay no attention to what is going on, on the TV. From the horror trailers that I have watched both at home and in the cinema, I have noticed that there are similarities. One of the similarities that I have noticed is the music in the background of the trailer, the music is usually rock or metal music, this creates a atmosphere when the film on the trailer isn’t creating one. Another similarity I have noticed was the colour schemes. When I was watching trailers I noticed that the colours on screen are misty yellows and greys, a lot of blues and blacks are used. This is like a subliminal message to the audience that this film will be a horror, even before anything in the trailer happens. Other conventions that I have noticed whilst watching horror film trailers are that the shots of the trailer are always fast paced; this makes the audience feel tense and create the atmosphere of terror within the audience.  Whilst I was watching some of the horror trailers that had come out recently I had noticed that there was always a part in the trailer where the screen went blank and the voice over would play, this is because it makes people concentrate on what the voice is saying, without getting distracted by clips of film that are being played in the background. This is also a good way of scaring the audience, after the blank screen; there is sometimes a jumpy piece of film that is shown, scaring the audience. Personally, the more scared I am of the trailer, the more I will talk about it to other people and I will go and see it. The people who make the trailers want their trailers to be different and to stick in people memories so that more and more people will watch the film. I thought it would be a good idea to watch a film trailer without the music going on. I thought that it would help me pick out some of the conventions that are shown on screen without getting sidetracked but the sound effects, vis versa, The film trailer that I watched without the music was The Crazies. I have seen this film and thought that it was horrible, it really was scary, but when I watched the trailer without the music, it didn’t look scary or anything, this made me realise that without the music, films and their trailers really wouldn’t be scary at all! The music is always an important part of the trailers and the music and sound effects must be chosen carefully to ensure that it is as real as it looks.

In conclusion, horror films are basically the same, the music is mostly the same genre and the techniques that are used are usually the same too, the only thing that isn’t the same in a horror trailer is the plot of the film, but this can also be very similar. 

Deconstruction Of 2010 Horror Trailer

A Nightmare on Elm Street

The colour scheme for the Nightmare on Elm Street trailer is blue/grey this denotes sadness and darkness, this sets how the audience will feel and will give people a clue about what type of movie it is. Horror trailers colour schemes are mostly dark and depressing. Children are singing in the background of the trailer, this type of sound effect is called non-diagetic. Children in horror films always make the film/trailer scarier. The edits are very fast, this creates tension and suspense. The colour scheme starts to change from blue and greys to red; this denotes blood, pain, death. The scenes in the trailer change as the beat of the music changes, this creates a flow to the trailer and it also creates tension throughout the audience. There is a shot of three children playing with a skipping rope, they are all wearing white clothes, and this shows the innocents of children, purity. The character Freddy Kruger played by Jackie Earle Haley, is mostly shadowed, this is mysterious. Another character says ‘’he’s burnt’’ this gives the audience a clue of who it is if they haven’t seen the first make of the film. The screen of the trailer goes black at one point, in the background there is screaming and shouting, this makes the audience feel uneasy and scared. Also the film is about a man who kills people in their sleep, this is in the dark, so this part of the trailer is linked in to the film, its not just there because it looks good. The shots are really quick and short, this creates panic and can make the audience feel scared. The trailer had the directors name, the date it comes out and then a quote from the film ‘’don’t sleep again’’ this also gives another clue to what the film is about. The diagetic sound in the trailed consists of loud breathing, this creates panic. There is both diagetic and non diagetic sounds, this makes the trailer seem more real. There Is also a shot which shows the name of the street ‘’Elm Street’’ , this is another clue to the audience that this is the trailer for A Nightmare On Elm Street.

The Last Exorcism

There is gospel non-diagetic sound in the background of the trailer. This links in with the idea of exorcisms, this also creates an atmosphere as gospel music, religious horror films can be very scary. The colour scheme is very dark, depressing, this then changes to red when the demon appears from the girl, and this shows death, danger, and blood. The use of a handheld camera makes the trailer seem more realistic and believable. The shots are very quick, this creates tension. There is a lot of diagetic sound for example, dialogue), breaking bones, snapping, heavy breathing, guns, screaming. At the beginning and the end of the trailer the shots are distorted, this makes it seem as thought the audience is actually there, it looks as thought the camera is in a dream like state. The colours that are mainly used is red, this denotes death, blood and danger but also love.  There is a tutting noise before the girl speaks, when she is turned into a demon. This is an indication of when something Is going to happen. The music is eerie, it creates a fearful atmosphere. There is a lot of dialogue throughout the trailer, all this text tells people the basic story of the film and leaves the audience wanting more.

Saw 3D

There is a sound of a clock ticking, this shows that time is running out. As the film is in 3D, there is shots of the audience with items jumping out at them, this shows the audience reactions and will make people feel uneasy and scared, This technique was also done in the Paranormal Activity trailer. There are quick shots this creates tention. There is a bkue colour scheme, this shows sadness, the end of an era of Saw films, and also sadness for the charators as you know that something bad is going to happen. There is dialogue, within the dialogue traps that have been used in the previous Saw films has been incorporated, this acts as a reminder of what has happened in the Saw films and what the main character, Jigsaw has accomplished. The music is not loud, its mostly just played in the background, the diagetic sounds are mostly heard, this is sounds like talking, screaming ect. The voice over in the trailer is eerie and scary, this will scare the audience. The shots are fast paced, and quick,this will create tension.

Piranaha 3D

The shots are very quick, this creates tension. The music (non-diagetic) has a strong beat, sounds like a heartbeat. The colours that are used are red, this is used in the dialogue, this denotes death and danger. The music changes from happy and fun to scary and tence, this is juxtaposition. There are shots of the lake, this is where the story is based around, the shots will help the audience familurise themselves with the settings of the film. There is a blue colour scheme, this is also the colour of the lake, this denotes sadness and depression. In the trailer ther is a part where the screen goes black, this breaks the trailer up, but unlike the Nightmare on Elm Street trailer, it has nothing to do with the film and doesn’t link in with the story of the film. In the trailer, there are shots of people dancing, having fun, this then changes to shots of people rushing away from the lake and being trapped in boats, this is also juxtaposition. Girl gets bitten, goes quite, screams sounds like she is gargling, links in with the idea of the sea/lake. The dialougue/text that is used has a white and red colour, this looks like blood floating around in water, this links in with the lake idea.

In conclusion I have noticed that that in horror trailers, the music, colour schemes and sounds both diagetic and non diagetic. This has become obvious as in all of the trailers I have looked at that are horror trailers, they all have a colour scheme, music and sound that really does create the whole idea that it is going to be a horror film. When editing and making my film trailer I will definitely concentrate on these points.