Friday, 26 February 2010
Original Images Before Editing
These are the original images I have used for my Ancillary texts. Both images were shot during the filming and were shot in the same location as the many shots from the trailer including: the disapper of bloody mary, the pan up of bloody mary and the stair shot. All the images were shot with the texts in mind so that had to capture the atmosphere, mood, tone and genre of the film and I feel that they were sucessful.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Final Teaser Trailer
This is my teaser trailer for "Bloody Mary". I am pleased with the trailer as it has many horror conventions and techniques.
Final Ancillary Texts
These are the final texts for my media project. Overall, I am pleased with both of my final pieces as i believe that they work well together at advertising and teasing the audience.
The Poster
The Movie Magazine "Promo"
The Poster
The Movie Magazine "Promo"
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
This project has introduced me to many new types of technology as well as using ones I am more familiar with. The introduction of Macintosh computers to do the work introduced new interfaces I had to understand. I do however, feel I used all of the programmes effectively and that I understood all of the features on them.
New technologies helped with each of the different stages of my project:
Pre-Production:
- YouTube
I used this web 2.0 website to watch old trailers and used websites such as Imdb and Wikipedia which allow any to edit and contribute to research movies of a similar genre to the ones I was most interested in.
- Photoshop
I used Photoshop to put together the mood board of ideas so that I could show the other members of my group what ideas I had for the project, I feel this worked well as many of my ideas such as the use of claustrophobic locations and many close ups were used.
Production:
- Cameras
The varied cameras gave me a wider knowledge of the processes and each had their own benefits and advantages which made them easier to work with. For example the uploading camera was used in one session for recording instead of the usual recording camera and we found its bulkiness to be an annoyance. The video camera was not as good as the digital camera for shooting images and the digital camera had many different modes, such as low light, to make sure the image was correctly exposed.
Post Production: Poster and Magazine Cover
- Photoshop
Photoshop has many tools to create realism to the ancillary tasks, giving them a more professional look which is what I wanted to achieve.
- DaFont
The font website, DaFont, was good for giving me a wide choice of horror styled fonts as Photoshop contained very few fonts that would have worked in my project.
Post Production: The Trailer
- Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro was the center piece to the project and was what bought everything together.
- Sound Websites
The two sound websites gave us a wide selection of royalty free music which was used to give the trailer its eerie feel that we wanted to portray.
- Live Type
We used Live Type to create the inter titles for the film and for the production companies, we wanted the companies inter titles to look genuine, and they were, one fellow student thought they were real companies.
- Garage Band
After looking through many, many, many websites for the sound of Bloody Mary we had no luck, so we used Garage Band to create her distinctive "hiss" sound to add our own individual flair to the sound.
Evaluation
- Blogger
Blogger made the evaluation process much simpler as the blog could be accessed anywhere. therefore lifting restrictions on when I could work on the project. The fact that it was online meant that I could easily show peers my work to explain something to them or to ask for help and I could also ask for feedback and opinion much easier. The final reason why Blogger was great help was because it didn't become lost or crumpled because it wasn't on paper. The work wasn't a long essay, it was much more interesting to read and very interactive.
- Flickr
Flickr made analysis of images much more interesting, I could keep all of my images online to easily view them therefore being able to view my work and progression in the project very simply. The fact that the images could be annotated was another positive because I could attach notes to the specific part of the image that I wanted to avoid long descriptions.
New technologies helped with each of the different stages of my project:
Pre-Production:
- YouTube
I used this web 2.0 website to watch old trailers and used websites such as Imdb and Wikipedia which allow any to edit and contribute to research movies of a similar genre to the ones I was most interested in.
- Photoshop
I used Photoshop to put together the mood board of ideas so that I could show the other members of my group what ideas I had for the project, I feel this worked well as many of my ideas such as the use of claustrophobic locations and many close ups were used.
Production:
- Cameras
The varied cameras gave me a wider knowledge of the processes and each had their own benefits and advantages which made them easier to work with. For example the uploading camera was used in one session for recording instead of the usual recording camera and we found its bulkiness to be an annoyance. The video camera was not as good as the digital camera for shooting images and the digital camera had many different modes, such as low light, to make sure the image was correctly exposed.
Post Production: Poster and Magazine Cover
- Photoshop
Photoshop has many tools to create realism to the ancillary tasks, giving them a more professional look which is what I wanted to achieve.
- DaFont
The font website, DaFont, was good for giving me a wide choice of horror styled fonts as Photoshop contained very few fonts that would have worked in my project.
Post Production: The Trailer
- Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro was the center piece to the project and was what bought everything together.
- Sound Websites
The two sound websites gave us a wide selection of royalty free music which was used to give the trailer its eerie feel that we wanted to portray.
- Live Type
We used Live Type to create the inter titles for the film and for the production companies, we wanted the companies inter titles to look genuine, and they were, one fellow student thought they were real companies.
- Garage Band
After looking through many, many, many websites for the sound of Bloody Mary we had no luck, so we used Garage Band to create her distinctive "hiss" sound to add our own individual flair to the sound.
Evaluation
- Blogger
Blogger made the evaluation process much simpler as the blog could be accessed anywhere. therefore lifting restrictions on when I could work on the project. The fact that it was online meant that I could easily show peers my work to explain something to them or to ask for help and I could also ask for feedback and opinion much easier. The final reason why Blogger was great help was because it didn't become lost or crumpled because it wasn't on paper. The work wasn't a long essay, it was much more interesting to read and very interactive.
- Flickr
Flickr made analysis of images much more interesting, I could keep all of my images online to easily view them therefore being able to view my work and progression in the project very simply. The fact that the images could be annotated was another positive because I could attach notes to the specific part of the image that I wanted to avoid long descriptions.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
To gain audience feedback I showed my trailer to my class and to a few friends who did not study media to gain critical reviews from those who understood the subject as well as those who didn't. I felt that this was important because I covered a wide range of opinions and viewpoints. Many of the people who were shown the trailer outside of class would watch it, as did many in class, but the class comments came with more constructive criticism.
My trailer was shown to my peers (ages 17-20), which is part of my target audience (16-24) so they're comments would be very suitable as the product is aimed at them. Some similar problems and negative comments arose. Many found the diegetic sound quality to be poor, this was partly due to the location of filming. Some found the pace and length of the trailer to be weak, and there were comments stating that the inter titles, in particular the film titled one were not obvious enough. The most recurring point of negativity was that the soundtrack ended too early at the end of the trailer, leaving a few seconds of silence.
There were however many positives, the audience liked the choice of an ordinary, everyday environment of the school and liked how the same area was used for the scenes of the blooded taps and running water as it showed binary opposites. A large part of the group did like the inter titles and thought the reddy mist fitted well with the theme. The trailer was commented on being well timed, using close ups effectively, using motivated light well and having an overall good soundtrack. The shot of Bloody Mary traveling down the stairs was a favourite one from the viewers as well as the disappearing of Mary with the swinging light and the hiss and jump out at the screen by Mary at the end was also praised.
Overall, there was more good feedback than bad which is positive, the same negative points came up and many are easily rectable. One audience member wanted to see more of the story and said the idea would of worked well on the big screen which is something that I was pleased to hear.
My trailer was shown to my peers (ages 17-20), which is part of my target audience (16-24) so they're comments would be very suitable as the product is aimed at them. Some similar problems and negative comments arose. Many found the diegetic sound quality to be poor, this was partly due to the location of filming. Some found the pace and length of the trailer to be weak, and there were comments stating that the inter titles, in particular the film titled one were not obvious enough. The most recurring point of negativity was that the soundtrack ended too early at the end of the trailer, leaving a few seconds of silence.
There were however many positives, the audience liked the choice of an ordinary, everyday environment of the school and liked how the same area was used for the scenes of the blooded taps and running water as it showed binary opposites. A large part of the group did like the inter titles and thought the reddy mist fitted well with the theme. The trailer was commented on being well timed, using close ups effectively, using motivated light well and having an overall good soundtrack. The shot of Bloody Mary traveling down the stairs was a favourite one from the viewers as well as the disappearing of Mary with the swinging light and the hiss and jump out at the screen by Mary at the end was also praised.
Overall, there was more good feedback than bad which is positive, the same negative points came up and many are easily rectable. One audience member wanted to see more of the story and said the idea would of worked well on the big screen which is something that I was pleased to hear.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Media distributors have three sections to focus on to make sure that the film is successful and they are: Advertising, Promotion and Publicity. The advertising is the trailer and poster. The trailer will be shown before films in the cinemas to gain interest from cinema-goers. The teaser trailer would be shown around March/April time to begin with, this is early but this then will tease the audience from an early point and the interest would snowball with people visiting the websites and when a further trailer would be shown the interest would already be high. The poster would be shown in cinemas from around late August/ Early September so that the film is visually noticeable and in peoples mind to have tickets booked.
Publicity would be magazine as it is not run by the film or film company therefore it is an outside opinion and view on the film and with the film featuring on the front cover means it is of interest, this is uncontrolled by the film company and can be a "make or break" decider for a film. The promotional pieces are interviews and tie-in merchandising - things that the film company can control. The interviews featured in the magazine would be aspects of both promotional and publicity, the interviews themselves if they were set up by the film company would be promotional where the questions, and what is actually printed would be the magazines and therefore a form of publicity.
My media trailer states that it will be released 10/10/10, the date is memorable for the audience and also relates to some underlying story aspects of the trailer. October 2010 is set for many film releases, with two horror heavy weights (Paranormal Activity 2 and Saw VII) so 'Bloody Mary' would be released the week before attracting viewers and gaining in box office takings. This stops the film going up against too much competition in the form of horror films during its opening weekend, as this is seen as the "make or break" time for the film. The film would be seen as memorable due to its unique release date.
The trailer is vital to the project. They are single biggest marketing technique, the teaser trailers show the best parts although mostly using footage from the early parts of production, the trailer's aim is to show a very delicate balance of the film, as to not give too much away but to give enough away to attract the audience. Horror trailers use a range of styles of bringing the audience in, common ones are things such as: dating the film for a school holiday release, using a range of stars and well known directors. Some more interesting techniques are as follows: Asking questions, some trailers (and often the accompanying posters) ask many questions to the audience or during the trailer that will be answered in the film (Such as, Who's eating you? from "Jeepers Creepers" (2001)), some will threaten, offer warnings or dare the audience to watch the film, this often suggests that the subject matter is very gruesome and gory (Such as, To avoid fainting, keep repeating 'It's only a movie...It's only a movie... from "The Last House On The Left (1972)). Other things that attract people to the films are advances in techniques such as 3D, digital film quality and surround sound. We used Final Cut Pro to upload and edit the trailer, this was the central programme used in the production of our trailer.
The poster is dark and shows little of the film but uses a haunting shadow to give an idea of the film being of horror genre. The poster uses a rhetorical question to the audience, rhetorical questions always tend to be used as a hook for the film. The text makes a self referential comment because it speaks of Bloody Mary being a myth, which she is seen as in the film. The poster can be harder thing to produce than the trailer because it is a still image which has to sum up the film's genre, theme and storyline to create interest with the audience. The poster needs to be eye catching and too the point, a crowded poster full of too many characters and locations can be seen as too complicated by the audience. Sometimes a teaser trailer will be released a longtime in advance to whet the audiences appetite, this often works well with sequels (Such as the early posters for "Shrek 2" (2005)) Just featured a number two with the 'Shrek ears' on it to make the image recognisable to the public. We used Photoshop to create our posters, The programme was simple to use and we could make the products look professional due to the wide selection on tools on offer.
The magazine is also a huge part of the publicity work. It can attract audiences that may not have been to cinema recently or people that would not normally watch that genre of movie. I produced my own magazine which would be aimed at film goers with many exclusive and promotional interviews and stills from the film, hence the name - Promo. I found the magazine to be successful, I felt that it included many hooks to pull in the audience and attract many. I used the advertisement of the Oscars to bring in a wide range of people who would be interested in awards buzz.
I feel that the pair work well together, the poster is simplistic and yet sets the tone, theme, genre and atmosphere of the film nicely, the trailer then shows a basic version of the plot along with face paced action and events to attract the audience. The trailer leaves many unanswered questions (Something that was noticed in my audience feedback) which will be answered and developed in the film. Both texts build up the film and work well in promoting the film and creating a buzz about it. The magazine shows a different look to the poster and trailer to reflect that it is another view on the film and it ties in aspects of the review and synopses to create the tag line "The Mother of all blood baths" The statement is very definite and shows that the review is very positive and high recommending it as a film as it is showing it as mother of the films and the "Mother" reference is also a reference to the storyline as the mention of it being a "Bloodbath".
This is an annotated image of my film magazine.
This is an analysis of the movie poster, addressing why I decided on certain things and how they relate to the horror genre.
Publicity would be magazine as it is not run by the film or film company therefore it is an outside opinion and view on the film and with the film featuring on the front cover means it is of interest, this is uncontrolled by the film company and can be a "make or break" decider for a film. The promotional pieces are interviews and tie-in merchandising - things that the film company can control. The interviews featured in the magazine would be aspects of both promotional and publicity, the interviews themselves if they were set up by the film company would be promotional where the questions, and what is actually printed would be the magazines and therefore a form of publicity.
My media trailer states that it will be released 10/10/10, the date is memorable for the audience and also relates to some underlying story aspects of the trailer. October 2010 is set for many film releases, with two horror heavy weights (Paranormal Activity 2 and Saw VII) so 'Bloody Mary' would be released the week before attracting viewers and gaining in box office takings. This stops the film going up against too much competition in the form of horror films during its opening weekend, as this is seen as the "make or break" time for the film. The film would be seen as memorable due to its unique release date.
The trailer is vital to the project. They are single biggest marketing technique, the teaser trailers show the best parts although mostly using footage from the early parts of production, the trailer's aim is to show a very delicate balance of the film, as to not give too much away but to give enough away to attract the audience. Horror trailers use a range of styles of bringing the audience in, common ones are things such as: dating the film for a school holiday release, using a range of stars and well known directors. Some more interesting techniques are as follows: Asking questions, some trailers (and often the accompanying posters) ask many questions to the audience or during the trailer that will be answered in the film (Such as, Who's eating you? from "Jeepers Creepers" (2001)), some will threaten, offer warnings or dare the audience to watch the film, this often suggests that the subject matter is very gruesome and gory (Such as, To avoid fainting, keep repeating 'It's only a movie...It's only a movie... from "The Last House On The Left (1972)). Other things that attract people to the films are advances in techniques such as 3D, digital film quality and surround sound. We used Final Cut Pro to upload and edit the trailer, this was the central programme used in the production of our trailer.
The poster is dark and shows little of the film but uses a haunting shadow to give an idea of the film being of horror genre. The poster uses a rhetorical question to the audience, rhetorical questions always tend to be used as a hook for the film. The text makes a self referential comment because it speaks of Bloody Mary being a myth, which she is seen as in the film. The poster can be harder thing to produce than the trailer because it is a still image which has to sum up the film's genre, theme and storyline to create interest with the audience. The poster needs to be eye catching and too the point, a crowded poster full of too many characters and locations can be seen as too complicated by the audience. Sometimes a teaser trailer will be released a longtime in advance to whet the audiences appetite, this often works well with sequels (Such as the early posters for "Shrek 2" (2005)) Just featured a number two with the 'Shrek ears' on it to make the image recognisable to the public. We used Photoshop to create our posters, The programme was simple to use and we could make the products look professional due to the wide selection on tools on offer.
The magazine is also a huge part of the publicity work. It can attract audiences that may not have been to cinema recently or people that would not normally watch that genre of movie. I produced my own magazine which would be aimed at film goers with many exclusive and promotional interviews and stills from the film, hence the name - Promo. I found the magazine to be successful, I felt that it included many hooks to pull in the audience and attract many. I used the advertisement of the Oscars to bring in a wide range of people who would be interested in awards buzz.
I feel that the pair work well together, the poster is simplistic and yet sets the tone, theme, genre and atmosphere of the film nicely, the trailer then shows a basic version of the plot along with face paced action and events to attract the audience. The trailer leaves many unanswered questions (Something that was noticed in my audience feedback) which will be answered and developed in the film. Both texts build up the film and work well in promoting the film and creating a buzz about it. The magazine shows a different look to the poster and trailer to reflect that it is another view on the film and it ties in aspects of the review and synopses to create the tag line "The Mother of all blood baths" The statement is very definite and shows that the review is very positive and high recommending it as a film as it is showing it as mother of the films and the "Mother" reference is also a reference to the storyline as the mention of it being a "Bloodbath".
This is an annotated image of my film magazine.
This is an analysis of the movie poster, addressing why I decided on certain things and how they relate to the horror genre.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenege forms and conventions of real media products?
I believe that my horror trailer has many conventions of existing horror trailers, which help build suspense, create tension and show key features of the genre.
The trailer itself features mainly the two main female characters and "Bloody Mary". Many shots feature the final girl, which is a longstanding horror character type (originating from the movie "Halloween, 1978" and the character of Laurie, played by Jamie Lee-Curtis). The male characters are barely shown, to create a relationship with the audience and final girl from as early as the trailer instead of focus on male characters. Only a male character is shown dead in the trailer to bring in more of a female audience. The film is aimed at an audience on 16-24s with a hopeful balanced mix of males and females, as recent studies have shown that more females of this age group are going to watch horror films in large social groups that it seemed sensible to aim the film at this audience as well as including features such as gore, fast jump cuts containing horror and danger to make sure that male audiences are not alienated. The characters are all of teenage ages again to appeal to the target audience. Our trailer is 1:03 minutes in length which is around average for a teaser trailer, like many current teasers, our trailers uses small, quick shots showing action and horror scenes to engage with a wide audience to bring in many viewers.
The trailer employs many horror camera techniques which I think have all been very successful. Shots such as the canted angle of the two female characters running is very horror styled due to it breaks from the average on the level shots used and creates a feeling of uneasiness and mystery. On the canted image we also used a high exposure to create a strong visual effect which makes the image visually more interesting. The clip of Bloody Mary walking down the stairs uses a lack of light as a key cinematic feature to create the haunting effect of Bloody Mary further.
My product teasers the audience by showing different parts of the narrative such as interior shots which feature at the climax of the film mixes with exterior shots at the beginning of the film. These work because they leave many un-answered questions: who is protagonist looking off screen too? Who is running and why are they running? Who is hanging from a tree? All of these un-answered questions will make the audience want to watch the film and find the answers. The fact that the story is based on folk laws and myths, it adds a sense of realism to the film and an idea of actual horror and a true story appeal to the film these would make hardcore horror fans, who enjoy the bloody murders and the on-the-edge of seat fright, interested in the film. Another technique used is quick cuts, these keep the pace of the trailer as fast as well as showing many parts of the film quickly without giving things away.
The use of un-answered questions, quick cutting and the mixes of interior and exterior shots all are conventions of teaser trailers as they show the film with a small part of narrative before showing fast shots of the other parts of the film. These all tease the audience with many hooks to come and watch the film.
These are the first five comparisons between my trailer and the already existing horror trailers.
(Stills from Bloody Mary on the left, with other trailers on the right).
CLICK ON THE STILLS TO READ THE ANALYSIS.
These are the final four comparisons between my own trailer and existing ones, along with a small summary in the grey section at the bottom. CLICK ON THE STILLS.
The trailer itself features mainly the two main female characters and "Bloody Mary". Many shots feature the final girl, which is a longstanding horror character type (originating from the movie "Halloween, 1978" and the character of Laurie, played by Jamie Lee-Curtis). The male characters are barely shown, to create a relationship with the audience and final girl from as early as the trailer instead of focus on male characters. Only a male character is shown dead in the trailer to bring in more of a female audience. The film is aimed at an audience on 16-24s with a hopeful balanced mix of males and females, as recent studies have shown that more females of this age group are going to watch horror films in large social groups that it seemed sensible to aim the film at this audience as well as including features such as gore, fast jump cuts containing horror and danger to make sure that male audiences are not alienated. The characters are all of teenage ages again to appeal to the target audience. Our trailer is 1:03 minutes in length which is around average for a teaser trailer, like many current teasers, our trailers uses small, quick shots showing action and horror scenes to engage with a wide audience to bring in many viewers.
The trailer employs many horror camera techniques which I think have all been very successful. Shots such as the canted angle of the two female characters running is very horror styled due to it breaks from the average on the level shots used and creates a feeling of uneasiness and mystery. On the canted image we also used a high exposure to create a strong visual effect which makes the image visually more interesting. The clip of Bloody Mary walking down the stairs uses a lack of light as a key cinematic feature to create the haunting effect of Bloody Mary further.
My product teasers the audience by showing different parts of the narrative such as interior shots which feature at the climax of the film mixes with exterior shots at the beginning of the film. These work because they leave many un-answered questions: who is protagonist looking off screen too? Who is running and why are they running? Who is hanging from a tree? All of these un-answered questions will make the audience want to watch the film and find the answers. The fact that the story is based on folk laws and myths, it adds a sense of realism to the film and an idea of actual horror and a true story appeal to the film these would make hardcore horror fans, who enjoy the bloody murders and the on-the-edge of seat fright, interested in the film. Another technique used is quick cuts, these keep the pace of the trailer as fast as well as showing many parts of the film quickly without giving things away.
The use of un-answered questions, quick cutting and the mixes of interior and exterior shots all are conventions of teaser trailers as they show the film with a small part of narrative before showing fast shots of the other parts of the film. These all tease the audience with many hooks to come and watch the film.
These are the first five comparisons between my trailer and the already existing horror trailers.
(Stills from Bloody Mary on the left, with other trailers on the right).
CLICK ON THE STILLS TO READ THE ANALYSIS.
These are the final four comparisons between my own trailer and existing ones, along with a small summary in the grey section at the bottom. CLICK ON THE STILLS.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Audience Research Results
We surveyed 40 people, 20 males and 20 females on their views and opinion son horror films. These are the results on the questionnaires.
Question 1: Do you like horror films?
32 of the people we asked said they did enjoy horror films which means that there is a market for horror films and our trailer will be watched by a big audience. Interestingly this also showed that an equal amount of the males and females we surveyed enjoy horror films, an important thing to remember when constructing our idea.
Question 2: If Yes, how many horror films do you watch a month (Both cinema and DVD viewing included)
This showed that people watch on average 1-2 horror films, this means that our horror film has to stand out in the crowd and attract the audience.
Question 3: What is your favourite type of horror film?
Both Torture and Physchological have been voted the most popular, this creates a theme similar to the "Saw" series of films.
Question 4: What appeals you to a horror film?
These results show that an interesting storyline along with an interesting and eye catching trailer are what attract viewers to horror films.
Question 5: Which settings do you find most interesting for horror?
Our results show that Haunted Houses/Churches and The Home are the settings that are most interesting for horror.
The questionnaires have shown clear indications on what the audience find interesting in horror films and this will help us a lot in the construction of our horror trailer.
Question 1: Do you like horror films?
32 of the people we asked said they did enjoy horror films which means that there is a market for horror films and our trailer will be watched by a big audience. Interestingly this also showed that an equal amount of the males and females we surveyed enjoy horror films, an important thing to remember when constructing our idea.Question 2: If Yes, how many horror films do you watch a month (Both cinema and DVD viewing included)
This showed that people watch on average 1-2 horror films, this means that our horror film has to stand out in the crowd and attract the audience.
Question 3: What is your favourite type of horror film?
Both Torture and Physchological have been voted the most popular, this creates a theme similar to the "Saw" series of films.
Question 4: What appeals you to a horror film?
These results show that an interesting storyline along with an interesting and eye catching trailer are what attract viewers to horror films.Question 5: Which settings do you find most interesting for horror?
Our results show that Haunted Houses/Churches and The Home are the settings that are most interesting for horror.
The questionnaires have shown clear indications on what the audience find interesting in horror films and this will help us a lot in the construction of our horror trailer.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
How Women Are Represented In Horror Films?
Horror films often treat women as victims who are often stereotyped as ditzy, 
blonde, sex obsessed and popular with others. Typically these girls are just arm candy on the males of the group and often end up victim to the murderer early on in the film. Often young girls, mainly teenage are focused on by the narrative, they appeal to the male audiences due to their good looks and female audiences can relate to them. Teenage girls often display a sense of naivety, innocent and preoccupation with other things which makes them often overlook that rustling bush or that creaking floorboard...
Visually women are not very often in high numbers such as in Stanley Kubrick’s “The
Shining (1980)” has Wendy as the only main female character while there are three male characters:
Danny, Jack and Dick and overall there are only around five women with speaking roles in the whole film while there are around ten males with speaking roles. Although Halloween (John Carpenter 1978) features the main characters that are mostly female, they are younger and the men are in older roles. We see very few female characters over the age of 40, where the male roles are wider in age range which could be an attempt to appeal to the films 18-24 male audience that populated the horror film audience.
The women that do feature in horror films are often in one of four roles. The first is “marital or familial”. These are characters that are quite stereotypically close to their family and play a ‘good girl’ role. The next is “domestic”, often final girl’s are in this role, they often stay at home, are intelligent and opt out of sexual activities that the men and sexually permissive friends take part in. Thirdly is “consumer”, a character obsessed with shopping, vanity and materialism, another role the “final girl” doesn’t usually fit into often, not concerned with personal appearance and more interested in school work. The final role is “sexual” and this is what many of the females in horror films are, they are seen as ‘eye candy’ and often engage in sexual activities which often gets them murdered as the couple that have sex are often the least connectable to the audience.
The women are often seen through the men’s viewpoints, the “male gaze”, this makes the female characters unable to connect to the audience as they are only the object for the males to gaze upon. The “male gaze” is often a full pan up the woman’s body from her legs and upwards. This often helps us identify who the female character with a sexual role will be. The “male gaze” puts us in the mans point of view and helps us establish him as essential to the plot which often then connotates to us as an audience that there is not anything more to the woman than a sexual object.
Many if not all horror films feature a “final girl” character, one which survives the brutal attacks of the killer potentially defeating the killer herself. The final girl often has a name that unisex for example: Laurie (Halloween) and Sidney (Scream 1,2 and 3) This is an interesting role as the final girl normally outlives a majority of the characters including the males; this is suggesting that females are stronger in the horror roles despite often being presented and portrayed in the opposite way. The character of Laurie in the “Halloween” series is one of the first “final girls”, she is innocent, virginal, unisexly dressed, interested in education and unnoticed by the opposite sex. Her level headed attitudes and the fact that she doesn’t have a sexual relationship in the film seems to save her as both Lynda and Annie have lazy, workshy attitudes and both engage in sexual activities and boast about them and they end up being killed by the gruesome Michael Myers.
Wendy is the “final girl” role in “The Shining”, she progresses from a feminine character to one with more masculine qualities as she ends up fixing the boilers instead of Jack and she goes hunting around the hotel for danger instead of Jack again. Both of these characters however are pushed into these roles but as an audience we can sometimes assume who the final girl will be due to the narrative following her, a famous example of this not happening is in “Psycho” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) when Marion, who the narrative follows, is killed in the film and the true final girl is her sister Lila who is introduced from half way through.
Although in recent times the role of a final girl hasn’t always had the masculine qualities that help give her strength. Sarah Michelle Geller’s role as Karen in “The
Grudge” (Takashi Shimizu, 2004) is one that stays very feminine although she survives the film and is the final girl, she dies suddenly and early on in the sequel (The Grudge 2, Takashi Shimizu, 2006) possibly suggesting a comeuppance for not being the normal “final girl”. This idea progresses further with the 2009 film, Sorority Row (Stewart Hendler, 2009) the girls drink, have sex, gossip and swear but in the end the film
has three “final girls” and none ever really change from their cheerleader personalities.
These changes in the role and personality of a “final girl” role and the fact that the girls are becoming less like Laurie from “Halloween” but more like her friend Annie is possibly due to the increase in popularity of horror films by young female audiences. So despite many females still stereotyped as dim witted, blond and the most popular girl in high school may are ending up surviving these 21st century ghosts, monsters and physiological twists.
blonde, sex obsessed and popular with others. Typically these girls are just arm candy on the males of the group and often end up victim to the murderer early on in the film. Often young girls, mainly teenage are focused on by the narrative, they appeal to the male audiences due to their good looks and female audiences can relate to them. Teenage girls often display a sense of naivety, innocent and preoccupation with other things which makes them often overlook that rustling bush or that creaking floorboard...Visually women are not very often in high numbers such as in Stanley Kubrick’s “The
Shining (1980)” has Wendy as the only main female character while there are three male characters:
Danny, Jack and Dick and overall there are only around five women with speaking roles in the whole film while there are around ten males with speaking roles. Although Halloween (John Carpenter 1978) features the main characters that are mostly female, they are younger and the men are in older roles. We see very few female characters over the age of 40, where the male roles are wider in age range which could be an attempt to appeal to the films 18-24 male audience that populated the horror film audience.
The women that do feature in horror films are often in one of four roles. The first is “marital or familial”. These are characters that are quite stereotypically close to their family and play a ‘good girl’ role. The next is “domestic”, often final girl’s are in this role, they often stay at home, are intelligent and opt out of sexual activities that the men and sexually permissive friends take part in. Thirdly is “consumer”, a character obsessed with shopping, vanity and materialism, another role the “final girl” doesn’t usually fit into often, not concerned with personal appearance and more interested in school work. The final role is “sexual” and this is what many of the females in horror films are, they are seen as ‘eye candy’ and often engage in sexual activities which often gets them murdered as the couple that have sex are often the least connectable to the audience.
The women are often seen through the men’s viewpoints, the “male gaze”, this makes the female characters unable to connect to the audience as they are only the object for the males to gaze upon. The “male gaze” is often a full pan up the woman’s body from her legs and upwards. This often helps us identify who the female character with a sexual role will be. The “male gaze” puts us in the mans point of view and helps us establish him as essential to the plot which often then connotates to us as an audience that there is not anything more to the woman than a sexual object.
Many if not all horror films feature a “final girl” character, one which survives the brutal attacks of the killer potentially defeating the killer herself. The final girl often has a name that unisex for example: Laurie (Halloween) and Sidney (Scream 1,2 and 3) This is an interesting role as the final girl normally outlives a majority of the characters including the males; this is suggesting that females are stronger in the horror roles despite often being presented and portrayed in the opposite way. The character of Laurie in the “Halloween” series is one of the first “final girls”, she is innocent, virginal, unisexly dressed, interested in education and unnoticed by the opposite sex. Her level headed attitudes and the fact that she doesn’t have a sexual relationship in the film seems to save her as both Lynda and Annie have lazy, workshy attitudes and both engage in sexual activities and boast about them and they end up being killed by the gruesome Michael Myers.
Wendy is the “final girl” role in “The Shining”, she progresses from a feminine character to one with more masculine qualities as she ends up fixing the boilers instead of Jack and she goes hunting around the hotel for danger instead of Jack again. Both of these characters however are pushed into these roles but as an audience we can sometimes assume who the final girl will be due to the narrative following her, a famous example of this not happening is in “Psycho” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) when Marion, who the narrative follows, is killed in the film and the true final girl is her sister Lila who is introduced from half way through.Although in recent times the role of a final girl hasn’t always had the masculine qualities that help give her strength. Sarah Michelle Geller’s role as Karen in “The
Grudge” (Takashi Shimizu, 2004) is one that stays very feminine although she survives the film and is the final girl, she dies suddenly and early on in the sequel (The Grudge 2, Takashi Shimizu, 2006) possibly suggesting a comeuppance for not being the normal “final girl”. This idea progresses further with the 2009 film, Sorority Row (Stewart Hendler, 2009) the girls drink, have sex, gossip and swear but in the end the film
has three “final girls” and none ever really change from their cheerleader personalities.These changes in the role and personality of a “final girl” role and the fact that the girls are becoming less like Laurie from “Halloween” but more like her friend Annie is possibly due to the increase in popularity of horror films by young female audiences. So despite many females still stereotyped as dim witted, blond and the most popular girl in high school may are ending up surviving these 21st century ghosts, monsters and physiological twists.
Horror Trailer Idea: Lurking
In a town, people are mysteriously dying alone in cold, dank, dark places. Locals trying to figure out the mystery of what is happening as more people die by the day. Best friends Jessie and Charlotte go to investigate but Jessie is found dead when Charlotte arrives. Charlotte then feels Jessie's presence everywhere and soon finds herself lead to the same place that Jessie was found dead. The parents follow and see Charlotte's spirit ripped from her body as she becomes Jessie's death partner. The locals try and solve the mystery of the lurkers.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Distribution
Distribution Overview
Distributors prepare reports which will decide how much can be spent on the marketing of a film. Contracts are created and submitted. Many films spend around $100m of their marketing and distribution which is a gamble so they must make sure the products are aimed at the correct audience.
Market Characteristics
With roughly 10 films being released a week, the market place can be very competitive and every film must make sure it stands out. Every film has its own distribution plan, which the distributor creates creates with the producer and studios. The most important things for a distributor to decide is when and how a film is released to optimise its chances of success.
Focus On The Audience
The audience are the key feature in a film and the creators must make sure that it appeals to the target audience at all times to create a success at the Box Office. The market is extremely unpredictable and although the average age of film goers is will known(15-24) a string of successes can not be guaranteed. (For example a Rom-Com maybe extremely successful but a sequel may not be as the psycho graphic ideas of the audience can change)
The Competitive Jungle
Every new release will always have pressure from other releases
at the time so its up to the distributors and marketing teams to make sure the film is individual and stands out to the audience. Production values such as stars, directors and budgets can pull in the audiences, some critics have gone as far as saying that some stars are "guaranteed box office puller" (Julie Roberts was the GBOP of the 90's while many believe it to be Will Smith at the moment, while Zac Efron is the teenage generation's biggest pull) If a film have received award recognition then it can pull in the 
audience. Sequels, exception performances or controversial subject matter are also tools of temptation. Cinema only experiences such as 3D and promotion gifts can attract people who would of just bought the DVD. Finally a huge aspect is the certificate the film is given. The 12a certificate was invented due to the demand of "Spiderman" with teenagers. During the summer of 2009 "Bruno" was shown in both a "15" and "18" version to bring in the teenage "Borat" fans who wanted to see the big summer comedy.P.O.T.A.P covers five of the important factors for a film's distribution.
P - Poster The poster is very important to the film as it gives a general feel of the film and shows many of the production values and the date the film will be released.
O- Online Many films these days use the Internet to advertise it. Many advertise on social networking and entertainment websites.
T - Trailers The trailer is most important tool of advertising as it is shown on TV, Radio and the cinema and gives the audience a real feel of the film and how it will be. The teaser can excite and interest fans while the film is still is production or during the films post production. The full trailer can leave many hooks to urge the fan to watch.
A - Advertising Advertising for the film such as affiliating with a TV Show or promotional reference of food/drinks (i.e popcorn boxes, drinks cups and sweets)
P - Publicity Editorial coverage of film such as reviews, discussions and interviews with the cast all help keeps the film in the public eye and can help be the final decider in whet er the film is watched or not.
Friday, 13 November 2009
Annotated "[REC]" Still
This image is very simply done but works very effectively. the canted angle is a technique I would like to use in my own horror trailer.
Annotated "Nightmare On Elm Street" Still
This still from "Nightmare on Elm Street"'s trailer conveys weakness and vulnerability in a simplistic way. The fact that the women doesn't realise what is happening makes the image much more chilling.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Annotated Movie Still From "Saw IV"
This is my annotation of the a still from the Saw IV trailer, I found the misc-en-scene interesting and it creates a very gory disturbing image despite no-one being attacked or tortured on screen. The man featured is just standing.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Teaser Trailers
[REC] trailer
At first this film looks like a documentary as the actors portray the firefighters in a very naturalistic way. But we soon realise via the tone and type of music features that it is a horror film. The movie title is shown in the last few seconds of the trailer. No production values are named in the trailer, this helps give it the naturalistic and hand made feel that it is trying to convey. The trailer builds suspense with the running totals on victims and "other" as well as the shots of the firemen climbing the stairs tenses the viewer as they assume something will appear soon. The music is very eery and loud, this makes the audience jump, there is also noise of a video camera, the crackling of it along with the blurring picture when the girl appears is loud and creates panic.
There is no dialogue in the trailer, only the scream from the girl at the end. This makes the audience focus more on the music in the trailer and shocks the audience more when the scream is heard.
Saw 6 Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK8eFme6qzY
The trailer starts with a dark screen and leads the viewer through the dungeons,the dungeon is dark, dank and dirty looking, we can soon tell it is a horror film as we see the clips of previous films. The name is shown at the end of the trailer, against a black screen to have all of the audience's attention. There are not any production values shown in the film although the fact that it is a sequel is referenced during. The use off the many televisions in the trailer showing a clip, teases the audience but isn't clear to see which makes the audience want to come and watch it.
There is no voice over during the trailer, this is probably because the audience can work out what the genre,content,context and general story-line from the fact that there are 5 previous films. Overall I think this a very successful tease trailer as the fact that the trailer doesn't show off much of the film and instead self references the previous films creates interest and helps urge the viewer to go and watch the film as the trailer asks questions and presents statements that will be understood and answered upon viewing of the film.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
This is the longest of the teaser trailers that I am studying and is unconventional of a normal teaser trailer. Many teasers show little or no actual footage from the film (for instance the saw trailer is set in a dungeon, filmed purposefully for a teaser trailer) and the trailer itself is longer than the usual teaser trailer ([REC] is 1.19min and Saw IV is 52 seconds, compared to Elm Street's 2.08min) This could mean there was a lot of post production work involved in the film such as special effects and sound, which took a lot of time to involved or simply that the film had a desired release date.
The trailer itself doesn't actually appear to be horror from the beginning, it looks more of an action/adventure film, this may have been done to attract viewers who wouldn't necessarily watch a horror film. Many of the sounds are either shocking (the thudding of the production values on screen, screams, slashes) or eerie. (such as the children singing) Many sounds are overlapping which, along with the quickly shown images, creates disorientation and confusion for the audience. We are shown the director of the film early in the trailer but the rest of the production values are not shown until the ending shots of the trailer.
There is no voiceover but instead there is text on screen, all are written in blood and therefore contribute to the horror genre of the film. The genre itself is established by the use of blood, victims, (we see many women screaming, running, crying and being attacked) pain and attack (we see the villain slashing people, pipes and walls as well as people being attacked.)
At first this film looks like a documentary as the actors portray the firefighters in a very naturalistic way. But we soon realise via the tone and type of music features that it is a horror film. The movie title is shown in the last few seconds of the trailer. No production values are named in the trailer, this helps give it the naturalistic and hand made feel that it is trying to convey. The trailer builds suspense with the running totals on victims and "other" as well as the shots of the firemen climbing the stairs tenses the viewer as they assume something will appear soon. The music is very eery and loud, this makes the audience jump, there is also noise of a video camera, the crackling of it along with the blurring picture when the girl appears is loud and creates panic.
There is no dialogue in the trailer, only the scream from the girl at the end. This makes the audience focus more on the music in the trailer and shocks the audience more when the scream is heard.
Saw 6 Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK8eFme6qzY
The trailer starts with a dark screen and leads the viewer through the dungeons,the dungeon is dark, dank and dirty looking, we can soon tell it is a horror film as we see the clips of previous films. The name is shown at the end of the trailer, against a black screen to have all of the audience's attention. There are not any production values shown in the film although the fact that it is a sequel is referenced during. The use off the many televisions in the trailer showing a clip, teases the audience but isn't clear to see which makes the audience want to come and watch it.
There is no voice over during the trailer, this is probably because the audience can work out what the genre,content,context and general story-line from the fact that there are 5 previous films. Overall I think this a very successful tease trailer as the fact that the trailer doesn't show off much of the film and instead self references the previous films creates interest and helps urge the viewer to go and watch the film as the trailer asks questions and presents statements that will be understood and answered upon viewing of the film.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
This is the longest of the teaser trailers that I am studying and is unconventional of a normal teaser trailer. Many teasers show little or no actual footage from the film (for instance the saw trailer is set in a dungeon, filmed purposefully for a teaser trailer) and the trailer itself is longer than the usual teaser trailer ([REC] is 1.19min and Saw IV is 52 seconds, compared to Elm Street's 2.08min) This could mean there was a lot of post production work involved in the film such as special effects and sound, which took a lot of time to involved or simply that the film had a desired release date.
The trailer itself doesn't actually appear to be horror from the beginning, it looks more of an action/adventure film, this may have been done to attract viewers who wouldn't necessarily watch a horror film. Many of the sounds are either shocking (the thudding of the production values on screen, screams, slashes) or eerie. (such as the children singing) Many sounds are overlapping which, along with the quickly shown images, creates disorientation and confusion for the audience. We are shown the director of the film early in the trailer but the rest of the production values are not shown until the ending shots of the trailer.
There is no voiceover but instead there is text on screen, all are written in blood and therefore contribute to the horror genre of the film. The genre itself is established by the use of blood, victims, (we see many women screaming, running, crying and being attacked) pain and attack (we see the villain slashing people, pipes and walls as well as people being attacked.)
Monday, 12 October 2009
Propp and "The Shining"
The 1980 film "The Shining" is one that fits many of the character and narrative functions of Vladimir Propp, the Russian theorist that presented the idea that many narratives feature the same or similar character roles and these are combined with reoccurring narrative functions.
Villain Jack - Jack is seen as the villain as he attempts to kill his family and successfully kills the hotels cook. He doesn't however begin as the villain and begins as a hero role but during the film this breaks down into a false hero and finally a villain
Donor & Helper - Dick Hallorann - Dick is the hotel's cook and despite being murdered in the film he is two of the important character types. He is the donor because he gives Danny knowledge of the "shining" ability and how to control it. He is also the helper role as he goes to save Wendy and Danny after Danny's shining alerts Dick's attention to the fact that there is trouble. He is also the helper in the fact he provides the snow cat that Wendy and Danny use to escape with at the end of the film.
Dispatcher - Mr Ullman - Mr Ullman, the hotel manager is the dispatcher in the film as he sets Jack's task and therefore dispatchers Jack on his mission.
Hero/ Victim - Danny & Wendy Danny and Wendy both posses the roles of Heroes and Victims in the film. Danny is seen as the Hero as he lures Jack into the maze and thinks of the retracing steps plan to fool Jack which ultimately causes Jack's death, he is also obviously the victim as Jack tries to kill him. Wendy is again, both Victim and Hero. She is a Hero as she knocks out Jack and locks him in the storage to provide safety for her and her son and then helps Danny escape from the bathroom window when Jack is trying to break into them. She again is the victim because Jack tries to kill her, and in fact could be see as more of a Victim that Danny as she has many moments in the film (The hitting Jack and stairs scene and the "Here's Johnny!" scene) where she is attacked and is the focused victim of Jack.
False Hero - Jack - Jack is the false hero as we believe that he is the Hero in the early film as the narrative features him heavily, but during the film he becomes more twisted and disturbing until the final scenes in the film when he becomes the Villain
Preparation
A member of family leaves home - Jack goes for the interview.
A prohibition or rule is set apon the hero - Danny is told not to enter room "237"
Complication
A member of the family lacks or desires something - Jack seems to have no ambitions and needs ideas for his writing
Transference
The Hero is attacked and therefore gains a helper or donor Danny gets attacked in room 237 and the Cook's shining tells him Danny needs help.
The Hero reacts to the actions of the future donor Danny begins seeing more visions, more horrific ones as Dick seems to get closer to the hotel
Hero uses magical agent Wendy uses the radio to stay in touch with the local authorities, when it is cut off they know something bad has happened
Struggle
The Hero and villain are joined in direct combat Wendy and Jack have the stuggle of the bat and fight
The Villain is defeated Jack freezes to death
Return
The hero returns Danny and Wendy are re-united
The Hero arrives home We assume Wendy and Danny head home.
Recognition
Villain is punished We see Jack has painfully frozen to death.
Villain Jack - Jack is seen as the villain as he attempts to kill his family and successfully kills the hotels cook. He doesn't however begin as the villain and begins as a hero role but during the film this breaks down into a false hero and finally a villain
Donor & Helper - Dick Hallorann - Dick is the hotel's cook and despite being murdered in the film he is two of the important character types. He is the donor because he gives Danny knowledge of the "shining" ability and how to control it. He is also the helper role as he goes to save Wendy and Danny after Danny's shining alerts Dick's attention to the fact that there is trouble. He is also the helper in the fact he provides the snow cat that Wendy and Danny use to escape with at the end of the film.
Dispatcher - Mr Ullman - Mr Ullman, the hotel manager is the dispatcher in the film as he sets Jack's task and therefore dispatchers Jack on his mission.
Hero/ Victim - Danny & Wendy Danny and Wendy both posses the roles of Heroes and Victims in the film. Danny is seen as the Hero as he lures Jack into the maze and thinks of the retracing steps plan to fool Jack which ultimately causes Jack's death, he is also obviously the victim as Jack tries to kill him. Wendy is again, both Victim and Hero. She is a Hero as she knocks out Jack and locks him in the storage to provide safety for her and her son and then helps Danny escape from the bathroom window when Jack is trying to break into them. She again is the victim because Jack tries to kill her, and in fact could be see as more of a Victim that Danny as she has many moments in the film (The hitting Jack and stairs scene and the "Here's Johnny!" scene) where she is attacked and is the focused victim of Jack.
False Hero - Jack - Jack is the false hero as we believe that he is the Hero in the early film as the narrative features him heavily, but during the film he becomes more twisted and disturbing until the final scenes in the film when he becomes the Villain
Preparation
A member of family leaves home - Jack goes for the interview.
A prohibition or rule is set apon the hero - Danny is told not to enter room "237"
Complication
A member of the family lacks or desires something - Jack seems to have no ambitions and needs ideas for his writing
Transference
The Hero is attacked and therefore gains a helper or donor Danny gets attacked in room 237 and the Cook's shining tells him Danny needs help.
The Hero reacts to the actions of the future donor Danny begins seeing more visions, more horrific ones as Dick seems to get closer to the hotel
Hero uses magical agent Wendy uses the radio to stay in touch with the local authorities, when it is cut off they know something bad has happened
Struggle
The Hero and villain are joined in direct combat Wendy and Jack have the stuggle of the bat and fight
The Villain is defeated Jack freezes to death
Return
The hero returns Danny and Wendy are re-united
The Hero arrives home We assume Wendy and Danny head home.
Recognition
Villain is punished We see Jack has painfully frozen to death.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Repressed
The Return Of The Repressed is when a repressed memory returns to the persons head. The actions are often illogical and irrational.
This relates to the horror genre because many killers/villians often have the repressed memorys return which causes the deaths or actions taken by the killer.
This relates to the horror genre because many killers/villians often have the repressed memorys return which causes the deaths or actions taken by the killer.
Thursday, 17 September 2009
The Eye was released in 2002, in Hong Kong and Singapore, it was then released and translated in the UK later in the year. The film was re-made in Hollywood in 2008 with Jessica Alba in the lead role.
I choose this because it creates tension using the out of focus shots, the music and the jump cuts. The music is fast paced and loud so theres a lot to take in. The film itself looks to be a physcological thriller, this idea is suggested by the woman, as she is in normal settings but seems to be haunted still. The woman doesn't speak in the trailer which therefore makes you focus on her facial reactions, this is a probable relation to title of "the eye"
Key Conventions Of Movie Trailers found in the trailer for "The Eye" (2002)
The genre of the film is made very obvious from the beginning, the camera work is fast, disorientating, slightly out of focus and at times harshly bright. These all create a feeling of distortion and confusion to the audience as they cannot tell who or what is on screen. The music keeps connoates the genre aswell, the music is very sinister, loud and eery, you know this isn't going to be a Rom-Com or Musical. The music goes high pitched, almost like a screech in points of the trailer with the most tension. There is a piercing scream from a woman which is the first and only peice of diegetic dialogue we hear and the main female character doesn't speak in the rest of the trailer. It gives her a sense of helplessness but also makes the auidence focus on the voice over and writing on screen.
We only see the directors names on screen, so we assume there are no famous actors in the film which gives it a more realistic feel.
The trailer picks out the horror parts mostly, showing deformed characters and blurred ones who we assume to be monsters. The screams, running scenes by the lead actress and the scenes in the hospital are ones that look gruesome and will interest the audience most. The voiceover is deep and speaks that the film has swept Asia, almost setting a challenge to the audience but also makes the film out to be a haunting virus which will engulf the audience.
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