Horror Trailer

Recce Report

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

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

Evaluation 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The audience feedback that we collected in were all generally pointing out the same flaws in our trailer and they were that at some points the sound didn’t fit the shot and that none of the trailer really made much sense.

When we made the trailer we tried to make the storyline fairly hard to understand but because it was nearly everybody that gave us feedback on this we most likely made it too hard for people to understand. The original idea of this was to make quite an obscure trailer showing almost a different story in each shot which we hoped would get the audience interested and want to know how all of these things are pieced together but if no one can really understand anything that’s going on then no one will want to see it.

With the sound when our group attempted this we tried to keep with the same obscure theme of putting strange sound into our trailer. Everyone said that the sound was good until one part where there was a babies laugh and when we watched it back in front of everyone we all agreed that it didn't really fit the shot that we put it on or maybe even the whole trailer.

If I could do this again I would definitely try to have a more solid story line one that is easily understandable but doesn't give a way too much. I wouldn't really change the sound I think if I was to do this again I  believe that I would just need to put a little bit more of my time in to finding what shots suit the sound effects.

I think that the sound is something that we will need to work on, maybe try out software like garage band and try to find more suiting sound clips to fit our trailer. I think that long droning sounds work well in horror trailers  and that is why they are used in most horror trailers because they create suspense up until the montage of the trailer which is where the musics tempo is changed (normally made faster) until it reaches the end where it tends to fade out . 

however there were a few pieces of positive feedback that we got from our audience. Most of it had to do with the locations that we filmed in and the cinematography of our trailer and i agree with them. i believe that we did take some time deciding what shots to use and where what locations to film them in which we have shown on our shot list. I believe that it is important to get the right shot because it tells people whats  happening without any words being spoken, like our running shots you can tell someone is running away from the killer because the shot when its moving looks like someone is running with it and the previous shot showed the killer. 

Evaluation 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I believe that my main product is effective in the way that it would draw people in to want to watch it due to our unknown story-line. When we created our trailer we did have a full idea for the piece but we wanted people to not really understand the concept of it to an extent so that they will want to go and see the full film. This trailer may not be as gripping and as powerful as we may have once wanted it to be but I do believe that our trailer does give a certain effect wanting to know what is going on within in the trailer and how all the different shots connect to each other.

When we filmed our trailer we had the shots of the computer, these shots were quite important for our full film idea as you may have guessed from the title ‘.Com.’ We also had the religious shots which shows the killers story to a certain extent and hopefully after watching this trailer people will want to see how these two things are connected and why the killer is doing what he does.My ancillary texts don’t really show anything to do with the story other than a part of the killers face however I still think that they both give off a strong effect. I used the same image for my poster and magazine cover, but I changed a few things to the image so they weren't the complete same, I did this because I believe that it was a strong image, an image that would get people to want to see the story behind this dark and gloomy picture.

I believe that the combination of my products do work together and also will want to make people want to see the film. I think that my ancillary texts will make my audience want to see the trailer, due to the obscurity of my main image, then will go on to watch our trailer and as I have previously wrote will want to see how the film will come together and what will all of the shots that were filmed end up resulting in.

When creating my ancillary texts i had this in mind, i wanted to keep the obscure theme of the trailer when i did my movie poster and my magazine cover. I can understand how this may not bring in much of an audience as i have found out from the student feedback that we have collected but i like the idea of not really knowing what is going on and keeping everyone wondering until the film is released. 

More ways in which my ancillary texts and trailer are connected are that they both briefly show the killer. My poster and magazine cover both have a slightly distorted look on the image which happens to be the killer, you wouldn't be able to tell who it was if your saw them out in the street. My trailer also shows hidden shots of the killer where his hood is up and the shots we have with the killer in them have been either shot in a dark place or have been made darker in the editing stages after we made our trailer. 

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

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

The Story – The story of our trailer I believe doesn’t and doesn’t follow the normal forms and conventions of media products. I believe it does in the actual storyline where it is basically just another slasher film on where a murderer goes around and kills teenagers. I think that it differs from real media products in the way that the two different sides to the story the religious views of the killer and the idea of a horror film based on social networking, its like two different horror films have been put together.

Music – The sound that we have used in our trailer was normally long, held, low notes as well as the occasional creepy sound of a baby laughing or a door opening and these I believe are all forms and conventions of a similar media product

Editing – I think that the editing that we done on the shots of our horror trailer are very similar to what you would see on a real horror trailer there was plenty of fading, a slow motion scene, all things that are present in current horror trailers. This has been done to help the effect that the trailer has on the viewers.

Locations – The locations that we found I believe would most definitely be used in any horror trailer with a similar story line. The church and graveyard has been seen in many horror trailers for years and the shots that we filmed in college would also be most likely seen in a teen horror movie due to the concept of it. The grassy hilly area that we filmed the running scenes on I also think would fit the forms and conventions of a real horror trailer.

Characters – The use of character in our trailer I believe is very stereotypical due to the use of gender. Our killer was a male and throughout the whole trailer you never saw another male scared or in distress. The only shots that we did which showed the murderer and a victim at the same time, we used a female for the victim so this is definitely a normal thing that you would see in horror trailers.

Costume/Props – The costume that we used for the killer was just a few plain pieces of clothing that we could find as well as the wellington boots and the upturned hood. We did this to try and make him look like a serious character and keep the attention of what he is wearing rather then what he is here to do. The prop we gave this character was a cricket bat, a very typical weapon for a horror film killer. The use of fake blood is also a must have on a horror trailer so we went with the normal forms and conventions on this one aswell.

Magazine cover

Film Poster

Filming Schedule

Before we started the filming process we wrote down what we would be filming where we would be filming it and for how long, this is all shown on our shot list. We looked for local places that we may be able to get to and that would suit our film. Also all the locations that we chose would have had to been close enough for our whole group to get there so we could pitch ideas to make our shots better once we were there.

17/12/12
This was when we began filming the college shots for our trailer. we filmed it during the afternoon because everyone was more willing to film during this time and would put more effort in to it. Also we we chose a time during the day where there would be a lot of people around to make it look more realistic and actually give it a college life type of atmosphere.

18/12/12
We uploaded the shots that we had collected from the previous day onto our system so we could get the starting shots in order and see where we should go from there.

28/12/12
On this day we filmed the computer shot at my house. i had the whole group come round during college time so we could all be there and all give our ideas on how to make it look better. we shut the curtains to give it the night time feel that we were going for, we also tried to just get the camera pointed at the computer screen and nothing else so it would give a better effect.

5/1/13
This day we filmed our alleyway shots which were the first shots we had filmed of the killer. We done these shots around midday and in a relatively secluded area because we didn't want people walking around in the background of the shots. We filmed the three friends walking down the alleyway, the running sequence and the killer dragging the cricket bat across the brick wall.

7/1/13
On this day we filmed our religious the shots, the church and graveyard sequences. For this we had to get permission to film on the churches premises. We also chose to do this relatively early in the day so there wouldn't be many people walking past in the backgrounds of the graveyard shot.

20/1/13
This was our final part of filming which was filmed on Caister beach we chose this beach because it had a hilly landscape which would be good for seeing the victim before you could see the killer we also chose to film this shot on a dark afternoon so the sky would look dull and eerie to create an atmosphere for what is going on within the shots.

Props and costumes

Props

. Knife

. Car

. Cricket bat

. Crucifix

. Fake blood

Costume

Victims/ Friendship group

. Everyday clothing

Killer

. Denim jacket

. Jeans

. Wellies

General Audience Research

The audience that watch horror are are people that are wanting to be scared and frightened, mainly a teen audience is is what fills up the cinema when a new horror movie comes out.Some people enjoy the blood and gore in horror films other people enjoy the psychological aspect of them and both of these sub-genres are very popular in the horror community.Also males are a popular audience in the horror genre so a lot of films will show the females in the film getting killed for a lot longer than the male characters because the majority of the male community would rather see a woman on the screen for longer than a male character.

The reason that horror trailers are such a big hit is because it gives people feelings that other films just wont do like comedy will make you laugh and and action films will make you feel excited these are all positive emotions but horror films make you feel unnerved, frightened and sometimes paranoid, these are feelings that people don't like to feel very often but something psychological makes people want to maybe challenge themselves to see how scared that they can be. This also shows why teenagers are a big money maker for horror films because they will want to prove to themselves or someone else that they aren't scared of what they are watching, it makes them feel older than what they are.

Audience Research Independent

When deciding what our horror trailer was going to be about we wanted a idea that effects everyday life, something that people use a lot. So we came up with the idea to do a horror trailer based on the social networks. The idea for this came when we created a questionnaire to ask our target audience which were teenagers from around the ages of 16-19 and this is how we would see if this idea we had would work. On our questionnaire we asked our audience about social networking sites and how they affect their lives. we had questions like "how long do you spend on social networking sites a day?" And "Do you feel social networking sites are a big part of the world we live in today?" Questions like this gave back the responses that we were expecting, they both ave us positive results to which would confirm the idea to create our horror trailer on this topic.

Shot List

These are the shot lists our group came up with before shooting our trailer throughout the filming we came up with new ideas and changed some of the original ideas, we wrote the changes and new format of the trailer on the page at the bottom right on the photo

Full Film Idea

Full Film Idea Our movie trailer is called ‘.Com’ we came up with this name because it revolves around the dangers and potential threats of social networking in this day and age, we made a trailer to portray one of the worst scenarios from the social networking world. Our trailer is based around the idea of a person signing his group of friends up to a what seems to be harmless website called ‘how you will die’. Having this sort of thing on a social network you wouldn't usually think anything of it but throughout or trailer you see not to always trust what you think is just a bit of harmless fun between you and your friends. We came up with the idea to get one person to sign his friends up as a bit of fun but little do they know on the other side of the website is actually a killer waiting for innocent naive students/people to sign up to it. and little does Chris (character signing them up) know that the killer will try kill them off one by one exactly how he’s told them on the website. We decided to make the killer highly religious to put that religious twist on the trailer to show there is a reason for killing the people on the website and it’s not just random killing. The story behind the religious part is we went for the message from God idea telling him to kill people who have sinned and to do it he has to set up the website to pin point the sinners amongst the area he is in. By doing this we challenged the whole idea of God sending a message down to Jesus to sacrifice himself to save us as we done the opposite God sent down a message to our killer to kill the people to save them. We believed this gave our trailer a bit more of a gripping deeper story line and would test people’s beliefs in good and evil. We all agreed our target audience was mainly the male gender aged around 16-20 because it’s based around college students and based in a college setting so many people this age can relate to the surroundings and the characters involved. We came to the conclusion our film would come under the sub-genre under horror as a religious slasher. We have similar aspects to ‘final destination’ where the students are toying with death and trying to dodge faith after seeing how they are going die. Also we followed the brutal and bloody deaths. Our trailer contained binary opposition, as it had the idea of good vs evil in the killers mind. He believed that he was doing good by listening to God, when in reality all the viewers and people in society know he was going against all forms of social norms.

Horror Poster Analysis

Representation of women in horror films

Female characters in horror films are represented as the weaker characters in these films because they are shown being killed in more graphic content than male characters so they are the more memorable victims in horror films. I believe that this is done because the majority of the audience for a horror film will be male and they would rather see a pretty female actress for longer during the lead up to the kill than a male actor.

There are different types of female characters in horror films, they will have certain characteristics which defines them as there own unique character. One female character which will also in most cases end up being the final girl or the hero in some cases will be a nice, quiet and smart girl, also in teen movies this girl may be the virgin of the group and this shows the audience that she is good and well behaved maybe has a slight lack of confidence and could be the one in the group who is the least accepted. Then you get the complete opposite type of female character the loud and stupid girl which is normally attractive, this is the girl that will in most cases get the group into trouble or she will be the first victim that is killed.

The representation of female characters in horror films based on the film ‘Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho’ shows me that a normal working class young lady can still be the main victim in a film. During the murder scene in this film where Marion, the female lead in this film, is killed in the shower with a knife this very much supports Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory because this scene shows parts of a naked female character being killed with a knife which could also be seen as a phallic symbol. This shows this has a mostly male target audience, due to the sexual references towards women in this film.   

The opening scene to the film ‘Scream’ shows an A class celebrity (Drew Barrymore) killed within the first few minutes of the film and also the character that this actor was playing challenges the female gender role a little bit to. At one point during this scene you think that this female character is going to get away from her attacker because she fights back for a little bit, in older films you don’t really tend to get this you will just be shown the woman being killed in a gruesome way. Also this scene would have shocked the audience a little bit as well which I think the creators of this film wanted to do because they have this very famous actor in this film killed of in the first few minutes of the film. This does however follow the male gaze theory again because I knife is used which again could be seen as a phallic symbol and the shots of this character are being shown in quite a bit of detail because the audience, which are mostly male, would much rather be watching a woman on the screen for longer than a male character.

The main character in the film ‘Silent hill’ challenges the way that female roles are seen in horror films. Throughout this whole film all the females in this film could be seen as strong characters and during this film the main character is fighting back to what she knows could kill her all in the hope to get her daughter back. There is a male character in this film and by the end of this film the audience will be able to see that he is a lot weaker than the female character in this film. Throughout this film the audience are show a good selection of dominant female roles some of which are good and some which aren't.  This challenges people ideas on what horror films normally are like because in this film the male character does nothing to help his wife or daughter, its not his fault because he is stuck in a different dimension to them but the male character doesn't go through hardly anything compared to his wife.

History Of A Horror Character

History Of

Jason Vorhees

Jason Vorhees is the killer in the “Friday The 13^th” series. He is a well known and feared killer in all of the horror films. He is well known because the character was such a big hit in the first ever “Friday The 13^th” in 1980 and the different producers also went on to make 11 other films with this character in it. I think this is because the character had such good reception and after a few films were made Jason I believe is seen as a one of the pioneers of the slasher horrors. Jason Vorhees also has a very memorable look because he always wears his Hockey mask and carries his machete, so he is a face that people will instantly recognize.

In the first film of “Friday the 13^th” Jason Vorhees was the main character of the film but he was never seen other than in the memories of his mother. Jason’s mother was killed in the first installment of the series and after this film he became the main character of the “Friday the 13^th” films. In the second installment to the series “Friday the 13^th part 2” which was released a year later Jason exacts revenge on his mother’s killer but at the end of this film is the first time the audience are left thinking Jason has been killed. Friday the 13^th part 3” has a major scene in it which helps to create this character. When Jason hides in a barn to rest his wounds he kills all the victims that enter and one of them was wearing a hockey mask which Jason takes to seal his identity.

Throughout the other 8 films that run in this series the main plot really is a murderous man who murders victims that go to a place called “Camp Crystal Lake”. In a lot of the films the audience are left thinking that Jason has been killed but in the newer films it has been discovered that Jason has regenerative powers and this is why he can not be killed so easily apart from in the last film of the series not including the prequel. In “Friday the 13^th 10” Jason has been frozen in time during testing in a research lab and is found by a team of students 445 years later and as everything is futuristic the final scene results in Jason being thrown of a spaceship into the Earths atmosphere and with him hurdling towards the Earth, burning in the atmosphere without time for regeneration.There was also a film made titled “Freddie vs. Jason” which has the star and killer out of “Nightmare on Elm Street” which is Freddie Krueger. Freddie manipulates Jason to kill people in a place called Springwood, but Jason doesn't want to stop killing so it results in Freddie and Jason having a fight in both of the sets that are from both films, the dream world for Freddie and Camp Crystal Lake for Jason. The final scene shows Jason holding Freddie’s severed head but the head winks at the camera and laughs so no one really knows who won the fight.

The role of the production company

The role of the production is to supply producers for a film that is in the processes of being made. Without producers there wouldn’t be a film. Producers generally bring in the director and cinematographer for films and this is what creates the films that we watch today, but this is only the pre-production side of things. The producers will also create the scenes and supply the props for the film that is being created.

The production company will also be the funding behind most films that are made. Everything that is put into the film that is in production has to go through the producers first like the script etc. This is because the production company wont want to waste there money on a film in where they don’t think they will get it back and make a profit because that is what all production companies will be wanting to do.

The production system works by a final script being produced by the screenwriters and then it enters the pre production phase where the production company will hire their staff and look for the actors that will be right for the film, most productions don’t get this far due to lack of funding or not being able to find the right person for the job. After all of the staff is sorted and the production company have rights to shoot on the chosen locations and rights to use whatever needs to be used then filming will begin, it is very rare that a production will be cancelled during this stage. The post-production phase is where the producers and the production company will sort out marketing and publicity for the film that has just been produced all in an attempt to get the amount of viewers they want and gain a profit after they have funded for the whole film to be created.  

Magazine Analysis

Film Analysis 3

Sinister

Film Analysis

Sinister is a horror film about the occult, you don’t find this out till quite a way through the movie though. The film is about an author who writes books on certain crimes and what the police may have missed out on. The main character takes his family and they move into the house of a crime scene where a horrible act occurred in the back garden. The main character goes on to find clues of this murder as well as other murders that he believes are all connected because in every single murder the whole family was killed apart from one child who went missing. The main character is tormented and teased by the killer or killers throughout the film by supernatural things happening in the house. As soon as the story unfolds and all the questions are answered in one of the final scenes the main character realises that what has happened to all the other families is now about to happen to him.

Sinister has one main killer who possesses children to do his dirty work for him but he is always watching over them while this is happening. The main character and his family I suppose you could say are the victims in this film. Being that this film is quite a mystery up until the end of the film is quite unpredictable as to what will happen because the whole film is quite confusing till it is all brought to a conclusion at the end of the movie when everything has been explained.

In this film couldn’t really see much relation to society within it due to the fact that is a film about things that don’t exist so none of this could ever really happen. The demon type character in this film has been made up for this film only so it’s hard to see a direct link to society in the film. This film may have hidden meanings within the plot of the film but I didn’t seem to catch any when I watched it, I think this was just a horror film made that didn’t need to have any form of hidden meaning in the film because the film was good enough without it. It was exciting and left the viewer full of suspense while watching the film as to what will happen and overall I thought it was a very good film.

Film analysis 2

Saw

Film Analysis

This horror movie that I watched you could say was a Psychological Thriller to a certain extent due to the strange plot twists within this film. The film is about a man who puts his victims into machines or scenarios where they will either die or have to do something horrific to wither themselves or someone else to come out of what the killer in the film calls “a game”. There main plot during this film shows the story of two men who have been captured by Jigsaw, the killer. It shows how they were captured why they were taken and what happens to them while they are take hostage and put into there traps which is a chain around there ankles connected to a metal pipe and the only way that they can break free is if they saw through there own foot before the poisonous gas in the air kills them.

When the film starts it throws the audience straight into the action by showing a minor character in the film in one of Jigsaw’s traps and it tells the audience what the film is going to be about straight away. This is the minor characters only appearance in the whole film because the only reason he is in the film is to show the audience the idea of the film and he dies in the first scene.

The types of characters in this film challenges the original idea of what horror films normally have in film, the film does have one killer and numerous victims but the killer also has an acquaintance in this film who helps him kidnap one of the victims wife and children but this acquaintance ends up being a victim in because jigsaw mad this man do these things if not he would die. This is what I mean about this film being a psychological thriller it has a lot of plot twists within the film that you generally find out at the end.

This film has been written quite cleverly because the killer in this film doesn’t just kill random people he kills people who have done bad things in there life and Jigsaw always talks about how it isn’t him who kills them he gives them a chance to redeem themselves if not they kill themselves. So this relates to society today really and it asks people questions, do people who do bad things deserve to die or be put in these positions?

Film analysis 1

Let The Right One In

Film Analysis

“Let the right one in” is a Swedish vampire film about a young boy who is bullied at school and he doesn’t seem to have any friends until befriends a young girl by the name of “Eli” who has only just appeared in “Oskar’s” (the young boy’s) neighbourhood. As the film progresses the audience are shown that “Eli” is a vampire who is looked after by an older male who is assumed to be her father. This man that is assumed to be Eli’s father goes out and kills victims and drains there blood so he can feed Eli rather than her having to go out and put herself in danger. During the film it seems that a love story is blossoming between the two children, Oskar and Eli, and she goes on to teach him ways to stand up for himself and she ends up saving him from the bullies in the penultimate scene.

This is a film where I believe it leaves the audience to make up what they think of who the victims are in this film, it also lets everyone make there own decision upon what the relationship between Eli and her male acquaintance may be. I think that films like this leave more of an effect on the audience rather than a film where all the questions are answered because it doesn’t leave you thinking after the film has finished.

This isn’t a typical horror because there isn’t a victim and a killer, in a way I suppose you could say Oskar is a victim but also the killer because if he had not existed then Eli would not have killed his bullies and they could be the victims. This is why I find this film very interesting because it is all up to the viewer on what they think and who they think is the killer and victim really is in this film.

This film also brings up the question of whether the bad person in this film is actually a bad character or is only doing these awful things for survival. The last scene of the film shows Oskar on a train with a box which Eli is in. This shows the audience that they may be running away together and she could just be using Oskar like she was using her male acquaintance, to get blood for her so she won’t get caught. This brings up questions as well like how many times has Eli done this and how old could what the audience assumed was a young girl.