Evaluation

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

The structure of every horror film tends to follow the typical themes of death, the supernatural, mental illness or a masked killer, which the central villain is usually representative of. In order for directors to obtain their goal of producing an effective horror film successfully, they need to include all the characteristics that make a horror film frightening and strike out the emotion of fear and terror from the viewers. The following characteristics are listed below, which were previously mentioned in my textual analysis of Scream.

• Blood/gore
• Dim lighting
• Prosthetics
• Eerie music
• Weapons
• Villain/killer
• Victims
• Strange noises
• Screams
• Masks
• Mirrors
• Running and hiding
• Dolls
• Clowns
• Death
• Haunted houses and isolated settings
• Chase sequences
• Darkness

The horror genre includes many subdivisions such as slasher films, psychological horror and gothic horror. Each subdivision take conventions and find ways of amending them and making them more thrilling and exciting for the audience. My media product uses and challenges forms and conventions of psychological horror, which I will now go on further to explain. Psychological horror relies on a characters fears, guilt, beliefs, eerie sound effects, relevant music and emotional instability in order to build tension. Psychological horror is much different to traditional horror as is contains less physical harm, as it mainly focuses on the factors of mentally affecting the audience instead of displaying the graphic imagery that is usually seen in the slasher genre. Ultimately the psychological genre creates discomfort in the viewer by exposing common psychological vulnerabilities and fears. Well known examples of psychological horror films include:

• Blair With Project
• The Strangers
• The Shining
• Gothika
• Paranormal Activity
• The Ring

The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution, actors, film directors and other film resources. The United States has the oldest film industry, and the largest in terms of revenue.

The Hollywood film industry produces products which typically are all similar with winning formulas. Although psychological horror has gained popularity with the industry over the years, the Hollywood film industry mainly focuses on ‘slasher films. Many American ‘slasher’ films tend to follow the storyline of a group of youths who have gathered together for one night to celebrate their free time. Characters in the film will usually include the rude/obnoxious guy, the promiscuous girl, the peculiar one, and the one who holds the brains in solving how to defeat the killer, or finding out the true identity. The rude/obnoxious character will normally suffer a death in the most brutal way, just after a few other victims have been targeted and murdered. This method has proven to be effective as directors give the audience enough time to develop a strong dislike for this particular character. The survivors towards the end of the film will have definitely endured several close brushes with death. Overall this has proven to be a successful formula for the Hollywood film industry and can be seen in such films as:

• Scream
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• Friday the 13th
• My Bloody Valentine
• Nightmare on Elm Street

In contrast, an independent film company produces films that are outside of a major film studio. Independent films are often produced and/or distributed by subsidiaries of major studios. In order to be considered independent, less than half of a film’s financing should come from a major studio such as an American distributor.

Commenting on similarity of my product with real media products, my trailer focuses on the themes that are commonly associated with the psychological genre. Firstly, within my product, there is the theme of reality which refers to the value of something or someone being real. The victim often tries to determine what is real and what is not within the narrative. There is the use of perception, which is the character’s own interpretation of the world around them through their senses. Often a character will misperceive the world around them, of their perceptions are altered by outside factors within the narrative. There is also the obvious theme of death.

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

A film is marketed with the aim of achieving the maximum number of target audience. Over the years, film producers have spent a large sum of money on promotion techniques, particularly in the Hollywood industry. In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a global product in local markets. The two most commonly known forms of distribution in terms of marketing are film trailers and film posters.

Trailers or previews are film advertisements for feature films that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. Film trailers have now becomes extremely popular on the internet as over ten billion videos are watched annually with film trailers ranking in third place. A film poster is used to effectively advertise a new and upcoming film. The poster usually contains an image with text, though this has evolved over time from image-free bill posters to the highly visual digital productions of today. The text on the poster will contain the film title in large lettering and often the names of the main actors. It may also include the tag line of the film, the name of the director, names of characters, the release date etc.

A teaser poster or an advanced poster is an early promotional containing a basic image or design without revealing too much information such as the plot, theme, and characters. The purpose of a teaser poster is to incite awareness and generate hype for the film. A tag line may be included. There are some instances when teaser posters are issued long in advance before the film goes into production, although they are issued during the film development. A good example of a teaser poster is the poster for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

In the media industry, synergy is the promotion and sale of a product throughout the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate, e.g. films, soundtracks or video games. Walt Disney pioneered synergistic techniques in the 1930s by granting dozens of firms the right to use his Mickey Mouse character in products and ads, and continued to market Disney media through licensing agreements. These products can help advertise the film itself and help to increase the film’s sales. Another example of the use of synergy within the media industry is the Spider-Man films, which had toys of webshooters and figures of the characters made, as well as posters and games.

Teaser trailers consist of small, cryptic, challenging, advertisements which anticipate a larger campaign for a product launch. Teaser trailers are often made while the film is still in production or being editing and as a result they may feature scenes or alternate versions of scenes that are not in the finished film.

Recent examples of major motion picture events that used teaser trailers to gain hype are the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Disney/Pixar film Cars, the newer Star Wars films and the Spider-Man films. Some teasers have appeared over a year prior to the movie’s release date. The teaser trailer for The Incredibles was attached to the May 2003 film Finding Nemo, a full eighteen months before The Incredibles was released. Other examples include Star Trek, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Alice In Wonderland.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

My questionnaire’s helped me with a great deal during my pre-production as the responses given to each question assisted me in producing a much more effective teaser trailer for my target audience. The second question, “what is it you mostly like about a horror movie?” the majority of the participants answered a twisted plot. Straight away from the popularity of this answer, I knew in order to gain the attention of the audience, I was going to have to construct a story line that is not always typically viewed by the public. For example, instead of following the slasher genre and typically producing a plot that revolves around a masked serial killer who terrifies and taunts its victims before brutally killing them, I decided to produce a trailer that relates to the psychological horror genre. Psychological horror intentionally strives to mess with the viewers mind, sense and judgement of their surroundings and of the people they are enclosed by. Ultimately this creates a twisted plot and lures the audience into the narrative slowly as the story unfolds. Also from analysing the effectiveness of my questionnaire, I knew that in order for my teaser trailer to prove to be even more successful, I had to create the elements of fear, excitement, tensity, and suspicion within various scenes of my teaser. Overall this heightens the viewer’s anticipation to see the trailer again and to see the actual film.

An audience theory that has been discussed in the past is the Reception Theory. This theory emphasizes the reader’s reception to a text. It focuses on the area for ‘negotiation’ and ‘opposition’ on the part of the audience. This means that a text, whether it be a book, movie or any other creative piece of work, is not just passively accepted by the audience, but that the viewer interprets the meanings of the text based on an individuals cultural background and life experiences. Overall this theory stresses that the essence of a text is created by the relationship between the viewer and the text itself.

Another audience theory is the Hypodermic Needle Model. This theory implies that the mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on audiences and can infuse a message into an individual due to the images that they see. However, as research continued it became apparent that the media overall have selected influences on people. Therefore not everyone is influenced by the images they see within a movie or by what they hear.

Once completing my trailer, I then gained feedback from several viewers on what their overall thoughts were about the trailer. The majority of the comments that I received was that the trailer was an overall success as it was very fearful, psychotic and the use of the fast paced editing that I had essentially incorporated, effectively drew the viewers into the narrative of the film. Thus presenting my product to be a huge success with the public.

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

The media technologies that I have used in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages are iMovie, Garageband and Photoshop. I used all these applications on the Macintosh.

In order to produce a teaser trailer, movie poster, magazine cover promoting my movie and a logo for my production label, I brainstormed ideas regarding current themes and my interests.

I decided to focus on a psycho-thriller as this is the most effective sub-genre by far. Psychological thrillers ultimately prey on an individual’s fears, self beliefs and the mental state of not just the character’s mind but also the mind of the viewer. This overall keeps the audience enticed and drawn into the plot of the movie.

Teaser Trailer

Firstly, I made a story board for my proposed trailer. I shot the footage and then used iMovie to edit the content. In terms of editing, I organized each clip so it followed the storyboard I had made previously before. I shortened the duration of some clips in order for the trailer to be quicker and more effective for the audience to view so they would be kept enticed. I also changed the pace of some of the clips e.g. some were slow paced and some were quick paced, as some of the trailers that I had viewed within my research and planning have used this technique. Examples include: Scream, The Panic Room and My Bloody Valentine 3D. Applying this technique to my own trailer would ultimately have more of an impact on the audience as the fast paced editing of the clips would keep the viewers enticed.

Movie Poster

I created and edited my movie poster in Adobe Photoshop. As the movie focuses on psychological horror and on the illusive mind, I decided that the most appropriate image to use would be an eye. I took an extreme close up photo of my main character’s eye and imported this image into Photoshop. I then applied filters to the image and overlayed with colours. I’d also imported screengrabs from my movie trailer and overlayed these with the same colours. It was important to overlay the images with colour so that the theme throughout the whole project (magazine cover) was kept consistently branded.

The typography used for the poster was taken from a website called dafont.com and again, I imported this into Photoshop to apply filters. I then placed the tagline and age rating of the movie clearly on the poster to make it look authentic. The last task I carried out on my movie poster was taking a screengrab from the movie trailer of the villain's face and placing it in the centre of the eye image. I then reduced the opacity to make the overall image subtle yet sinister and natural as seeing the villain's face within the eye gives the impression that it is a reflection.

Magazine Cover

Again, I created my magazine front cover in Adobe Photoshop. The influence behind the magazine title, “Redrum” was taken from the horror movie The Shining. Redrum is murder spelled backwards and I came to the conclusion that this would be an effective title for my magazine as this is what is typically seen within every horror movie belonging to any sub-genre. Taking inspiration from Empire and Total Film magazine covers, I layered the eye image used for my poster and applied a gradient mask tool to make the image fit in with the black background of the magazine cover. I then layered the text over the image, which was all applied in the same font in order to achieve consistency and then added the term ‘sleeper hit.’ This term is used within the film industry to describe a movie that is an unexpected hit and that relies on the word-of-mouth and reviews rather than big publicity.

Film Poster and Magazine

After creating and successfully producing my teaser trailer, I then created a film poster and a magazine front cover advertising the film. Both are show below with a summary of how i constructed each piece of work.

I created my film trailer poster within Photoshop. In order to construct my poster, I firstly took a close up camera shot of the main character’s eye and uploaded this image into Photoshop. Once uploaded, I then used the filtered tool and overlaid the colours within the image in order for it to look more fearful. The next step I took was to take a screen grab from the trailer itself of the villain and place this image within the eye and again, overlaid the colours. By placing the villain within the centre of the eye I was able to make the overall image look more terrifying and fearful to the spectators’ own eye. The last two final steps I took were to then add the tagline of the film and place it underneath the eye in small bold writing and then add the title of the film at the bottom of the poster in bold text.

When researching film posters, I came across ‘teaser posters’ which effectively contain one large image relating to the film itself and state the tagline and name of the film. I wanted to create a similar ‘teaser poster’ in relation to the ones that I had come across as I feel that teaser posters are a lot more effective and successful with the public as they leave the public wondering what the film could specifically be about and raise talk about the film. I feel that my finished film teaser poster is of somewhat effect as the overall image leaves you feeling tense, anxious and on edge, thus presenting my poster to be successful.

Again, to create my magazine front cover I used Photoshop. I decided to use the image that I had used previously for my poster and place this on my front cover to effectively show what specific film was being advertised to the public. The magazine title, “redrum” comes from the successful psycho-horror The Shining. The reason for why I decided on using this as my magazine title is because redrum is murder spelled backwards, which is typically what happens in a horror film. I then decided that the colour of title should be red as the colour red typically denotes danger, blood, killing and death which again are usually the typical elements found within a horror film. The next step I took was to place the title of the film on the front cover so as to establish what film is being promoted. The use of the phrase “psycho sleeper-hit” is a term that is used by the industry itself when publicizing a new and upcoming film and therefore decided that this would be an effective way of promoting my film. The last action I carried out was to place the barcode, date and price on the front cover to make the magazine look more authentic and genuine, thus completing my overall magazine front cover.

Horror Teaser trailer

To edit my trailer, I used a programme called iMovie, which is available on an Apple Macintosh. After careful and well though out editing, my teaser trailer is now completed. The link is provided below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRxz-CPEUN8

Cast list, location settings and props list

Cast List

Hannah Wilkinson - Kristen/central character

Georgina Weller - Annabelle/villain

Naomi Wilkinson - Amy/previous victim

Props and Costumes

When researching what villain's have specifically worn to represent their identity within horror movies, I came across 'ghostface' who is the killer for the successful Scream trilogies. 'Ghostface' wears a long black cloak and a mask to hide his identity and is always seen with his weapon - a sharp knife. Therefore I decided that the villain of my narrative should similarly be dressed in the same manner. The villain is wearing a large red hooded top in which the hood will always be up. Black eye make-up will be put around the eyes in order for the villain to look more fearful, dark and menacing. Black gloves will be worn as well and a knife will be used as the weapon for the killing.

The central character will be dressed in normal everyday clothing. She will be wearing jeans, top and a long blue coat.

In preparation for the filming of my teaser trailer, I have decided to record each and every scene within one evening. Below I have stated the date and roughly what time I shall begin recording.

Date

Monday 15th February 2010

Time

5:00pm - 9:00pm

Story Board

In order to construct my teaser trailer and to give me a guideline as to what scenes I am going to record and in what order, I decided on creating a storyboard of each scene that is going to take place. Below is my storyboard along with a rough outline of what is happening in each scene.

The opening scene will begin with footage of a train going ahead.

This will then cut to an extreme close up shot of one of the anonymous victim's laying on the ground - dead.

Scene will then cut back to the train still moving ahead.

WarnerBros. will then appear on screen so as to show the major conglomerate who is essentially funding my film and will also make my trailer look more authentic and effective as most trailers state the conglomerate who is funding their film.

"Lose Your Mind" will then appear on screen so as to engage the viewer further into the trailer and into the narrative itself.

Medium close up shot of the main character walking past the psychotic villain.

The villain will then jump out on the main character, who in turn looks twice to see whether or not the villain is actually real. This shot will be slowed down so as to have more of an effect on the viewer.

Will then cut to the main character running frantically in fright and this shot will be in subjective point on view.

The next scene is of the main character sitting on the bathroom floor feeling vulnerable and in terror of what they have just witnessed.

Cuts to the villain who has a knife in their hands and is making their way to their victim.

The main character is washing their hands and splashing water on their face trying to calm themselves down.

Once the central character looks up into the mirror, they see the villain in the mirror who is holding a knife thus terrifying them further.

The next scene is of the central character lying on the floor. Quick paced close up shots of firstly, her hand holding the knife that the villain was holding previously.

Then of her other hand which has cuts and blood markings.

And finally, a shot of her whole body lying dead on the floor with the villain looking over.

Cuts back to the bathroom scene, once the victim has seen the killer in the mirror, they turn around, however the killer is no longer there.

Close up shot of the killer holding the knife and looking menacing and fearful.

Next shot is of one of the character's who has been previously killed by this villain.

Cuts back to the train which is now in reverse angle shot.

Extreme close up shot of the person who has been previously killed.

Title of the movie appears - Unconscious.

Final shot is of the villain who is again jumping out but this time at the viewer themselves thus making them feel like a victim.

Release date of the film is then given.

Teaser Trailers Viewed - My Bloody Valentine

In order for me to further understand how horror trailers are constructed and what obvious conventions are made apparent, I decided to view the trailer for My Bloody Valentine 3D which is the 2010 remake of the original film which was first brought to screens in 1981.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rcoc46onlE

Trailer Analysis

First thing the audience sees is the name of the production company - Lionsgate. Four short clips are then given of the main location of the movie and a small part of the narrative is given by two of the characters speaking. The question asked by on is "Exactly what did you see here?" and the response given is "something was following us." This lures the audience in and gets them questioning as to what or who could have been following them. A short clip of the mysterious killer is then brought to the screen and is attention grabbing towards the audience. The audience are unaware of the killers identity as he is wearing a black gas mask, this opens up the question of who is this killer? Why is he brutally attacking and killing many innocent victims?

Again more short effective clips are shown of the victims in fear, screaming and running from the killer and once again a small part of the narrative is given with a female stating this brutal killing as "the valentine's day massacre."

As the trailer continues, the sound of the heartbeat is heard which gradually speeds up as the clips become faster and more terrifying.

3D effects are included such as a knife being thrown into the audience, making each individual feel as if they are one of the victims. The knife is immediately thrown as soon as the narrator says "tear through the screen." The reaction of a live audience watching the movie along with the 3D effects are effective as the people watching the trailer will be lured in as the 3D effects create a thrill of excitement and an adrenaline rush.

As the pace of the clips becomes quicker and more petrifying, the sound of the killer breathing through a gas mask is heard. This possibly makes the viewer feel as if the killer is close by and waiting to pounce on his/her next victim, thus adding suspense and excitement and making the viewer feel nervous. The title of the movie "My Bloody Valentine 3D" is then followed after this. This is very powerful as the majority of movie trailers tend to state the title of the movie at the very beginning, but the director has taken a different approach with this trailer. He has kept the audience in anticipation as to what the title of the movie is. The colour of the text is red. The colour red denotes love, danger, and blood. This fits in perfectly with the theme of the movie as the My Bloody Valentine is simply about a masked murderer on a killing spree.

Towards the end of the trailer, a real life audience is shown watching the movie as a large flame of fire is thrown out into the audience in a 3D manner. The audience's shocked and amazed reaction is seen and heard. The flame of fire was unexpected bu nevertheless still exciting.

The very last thing that appears on screen is "coming soon." The release date of the My Bloody Valentine 3D has not yet been given, which possibly makes the viewer feel more excited and pumped to anticipate this new slasher movie.

Horror Synopsis

Below is the horror synopsis and tag line for my movie "Unconscious".

Unconscious

Tagline: “Anything’s possible if you just lose your mind to it.”

In 2006, Amy Stewart began hallucinating a young girl, who she believed very much existed and was apart of the real world, when in fact this girl was nothing but a figment of her imagination. Amy named this figment ‘Annabelle’ and deluded herself into believing that she was possessed, however, Amy was unaware that she was suffering from a psychological state named Hallucinosis, which leads a person to having continual hallucinations. She convinced herself that Annabelle wanted to harm and kill her, which therefore, led to her tragic and sudden death, which in her own eyes Annabelle had committed but in fact Amy had killed herself.

Amy had a younger sister, named Kristen, aged eighteen. Four years later, after coping with the loss of her sister, Kristen began to re-live a very happy teenaged life as she had good friends, wonderful parents and a loving boyfriend, but all this happiness was soon going to be taken away from her. Her first hallucination of Annabelle was when she was traveling home from work on the train and saw her when walking to her home. Everywhere Kristen looked, Annabelle’s menacing face appeared from each corner taunting her with an evil stare. Kristen began to panic and fear and thought that she was deluding herself of this girl.

As she carried on making her way back to her home, Kristen’s hallucinations of the sinister girl carried on and gradually became worse as Annabelle watches Kristen with each step she takes frightening her further. She frantically runs home in alarm and believes that because she is in the comfort of her own home, the menacing girl will not appear and terrify her any longer However, this is not the case as Kristen’s psychological state still has the rest of the night to delude her of this girl, resulting in her own death.