Tuesday 18 September 2012

Task Brief



For my A2 media task, I have been set the challenge to produce a promotional package that promotes a new film within the horror genre. This package must include a horror film trailer, a film poster and a front cover of a film magazine. I have teamed up with two of my friends in school, Sonia Sharma and Maddy Scott to complete this task. We have decided to work with each other since we all have certain skills that will make this promotional package to the best of standards.

I must create a link between all three productions that will promote a film which will give exciting frights and successful scares to its audience. Thes links will involve the main image, the font, the mode of address and the colour scheme which we will pick. All three pieces should follow the conventions of their respective forms and deliver what the target audience expects to see within that sub genre.

The challenge is to achieve this whilst also maintaining originality by coming up with own imaginative ideas. However, we will be inspired by other existing horror films and their promotional campaigns and, to this end, we will carry out extensive research into real media.


I look forward to share this project to the best of standards! 

Monday 17 September 2012

History Of Horror

This is a timeline which I have created to show the years of how horror has changed and how it has developed over many years and decades. I have listed the film names that were released in that era and how they differ between eachother.
 
 
 

Sub-Genres


In our project, we have to pick a certain sub genre that we would like to focus on within our horror productions. A horror movie seeks to create a negative and emotional reaction by playing on the audience’s most primal fears. The way in which horror movies play with our minds is by bringing to life the target audience’s worst’s hidden nightmares and nastiest fears.  But since everyone has different fears, having sub genres in horror movies allows those different fears to be provoked, whether those be related to ghosts and spirits, crazed killers or of the terrifying depths of the human psyche. With different sub-genres, different audiences can be kept interested and entertained. A sub genre is a subdivision of a biggergenre and is divided depending on the events and certain conventions that appear. 
Within the horror genre, there are four main sub genres and these are, supernatural, psychological, gothic and slasher. Each of these sub-genres have different elements within them to separate them from each other.
 
In a psychological horror movie, you will expect to see people with mental problems or just completely twisted in the brain, usually the killer would look like a normal innocent person before their monstrous and creepy side is revealed to the audience, this is generally more suitable for people that do not like horrific deaths. This sub genre manages to deliver suspense and the shock factor to the audience.



A general code and convention that appears in a psychological horror movie is having the antagonist as a young child. (The Orphan)




Slasher horror movies are full of gore and disgusting, brutal deaths. This sub genre is usually aimed at heavy hearted people that get the excitement and anxiousness out of the horror that happens. The killer is usually shown within the movie but is disguised and hidden in a mask. Knifes, chainsaws and even axes are frequently used as weapons whilst the victim will be a lone female that is destined to survive. Slashers have been around for quite a while since the 1970’s and at that period slasher movies were created for teenagers to scare them as they were rebelling against society because teenagers in the films were committing the same act of rebellion in the films and died as a punishment. There was a clear message to the teenagers in the audience that they should behave or else.

A typical convention of a weapon in a slasher movie (A knife)

 

Thirdly, supernatural horror movies are the most superstitious and mind boggling sub genre that has been made. Ghosts, spirits and demons are generally the main antagonist in horror movies. The narratives of these movies always had a past behind them which come from possessions, miracles and curses. The evil spirit is generally younger children around the age of 7 and older women who are around the age of 60. This in general makes it scarier since they are everyday characters in our daily lives, and they are also seen as innocent and vulnerable. The target audience for this sub genre varies from the young teen age to mid adult age.

Typical Conventions of a supernatural (moving objects)

 
Lastly, gothic horror movies are in the style of traditional, old fashioned but original horror. The first type of horror movie was the gothic sub genre in 1920’s and lasted around five decades!  They tend to feature monsters like Frankenstein, werewolves, vampires and monsters that were inspired by 19th century novels. The setting is usually old fashioned, misty castles and forests with a brave, knightly, manly hero that saves a damsel in distress.

A typical convention in a horror movie is to have an unusual creature(Frankenstien)

 
The subgenre that I have decided to use in our productions is the supernatural subgenre. The reason why we have decided to use this is because every other genre has had a scientific proof of them not being real. This has killed the other sub genres and  so people wouldn’t feel as scared or as terrified when watching a horror movie. Since supernatural creates a subtle and chilling type of scare, it will be the most effective sub-genre as for it reaches out to a range of audience. Since ghosts and spirits cannot be proven, many people see them as the “unknown” and tend to fear them the most. This will create more suspense, tension and it will keep the target audience on edge!



Sunday 16 September 2012

Target Audience Profile

 

The promotional production has a male dominant target audience with an age bracket of 15-30. Although our package is mainly aimed at men, there is a small percentage of female who would be interested. Since our target audience has a large age bracket, each individual will have a slightly different occupation. The younger individuals are intelligent students who are interested in subjects such as media, art and other creative subjects.

The subjects they study reflect their outgoing personalities and will allow them to be successful in their future professions. Our target audience is a friendly, down to earth male who loves to socialise with friends and family. When with his friends, he is very out going and his sense of humor is something that stands out to everyone he is with but when it comes to meeting new people he can show his shy side.  However, our older target audience will have a successful, fulltime profession and will have a degree qualification in a range of fields ranging from teaching to accounting. These men can range from living with their families, living on campus at university or their own studio flat. They may be in a happy long term relationship and within this relationship they enjoy spending their nights with a takeaway and a movie. Despite the fact these men enjoy a lie in, they are dedicated to sports which involve them being active, and some of these sports include football, rugby and bike riding. As a typical lad, socializing with their friends playing games like Call Of Duty Black ops and Assassins Creed on Xbox is a weekend must do activity. Our target audience is an internet savvy guy who is an active internet user, he spends most of his time online watching movies and funny clips on youtube and enjoys the general socializing on facebook and on twitter.

Our target audience enjoys nothing better than a home cooked meal after a long day. Although he is active and healthy, he enjoys an occasional takeaway which could range from Italian to Chinese to Indian. TV and film is something that appeals to our target audience, some of the programmes that he watches include "Being Human" and "Sherlock". He is an active cinema goer, and he watches movies within the genre of action, comedy and horror. Some of these movies include "The Hangover", "Rush Hour, "Transporter" and also "Grave Encounters".

Supernatural and slasher are two sub-genres that highly appeal to our target audience; the intense moments and the frightening suspense get their blood pumping and provide an extreme adrenaline rush. The fear of the unknown is the main reason why supernatural horror movies are his favourite. Although slasher appeals to our target audience, supernatural causes a tense atmosphere and suspense which intrigues him. It is the only sub-genre that keeps him on edge as the same strange occurrences could be happening in the comfort of his own home, since supernatural movies feature phenomena that has not been proven to exist.

 

Target Audience Research

To get an idea of what our target audience want and what they like to see in our promotional package we will carry out reserach which will involve us talking to them and finding out what they like to see, the things they expect and what they would change from existing horror movie promotion packages and . We will produce a pre production questionnaire,  analyse the results in order to get feedback which will influence our practical pieces. Carrying out a focus group will give us a specific idea of what our main target audience will want and so this again will influence our final promotional package pieces.

Saturday 15 September 2012

Questionnaire


For our questionnaire, we have decided to upload it online on www.freeonlinesurveys.com where it is interactive and people can visually see what they have picked, this was done because it is easier to edit questions, easy to add and also they person we asked can change their answer numerous of times. We decided to ask a range of people from different age groups, males and females who like horror movies. We want to see what grabs their attention when they watch a trailer, what they don't like and now we can avoid elements which the majority don't like. 






 

Friday 14 September 2012

Questionnaire Result Analysis

Question 1






Majority of the people that completed the questionnaire were from the age 15-19. Since it is a large majority, we have to take inconsideration of their decisions since it could be a bit different than the other group ranges. 






Question 2





The results from the questionnaire show us that it was an even cut of votes, both 10 males and 10 females took this questionnaire. 

We decided to play it safe and do an equal amount of what both male sand females like, this will give us an idea of what both like and so when our promotional package has been created, we would be able to satisfy both males and females.







Question 3



There is a lot of variation in this question which allows us to take in information of what people like to watch other that horror movies. 
"Comedy" and "Crime and Thriller" scored the highest out the rest. This could mean that we should add some elements of thriller since its the most appropriate with a horror movie. 

Other - "Bollywood and Animation"
The feedback that we recieved for this question could help us determine what other sub genre we would like to feature in our movie narrative.





Question 4





The people that were asked this questionnaire picked "Orphan" as their favourite horror movie. Orphan is a psychological horror movie and so we could use some elements from the movie such as sound effects and cuts that will make our target audience like our movie trailer. Regarding the fact that Orphan was the audience most favourite movie, our movie will feature an antagonist which is thought to be phsychotic and so there is potential for our target audience to like the film we are creating since we give off slight distrurbed elements like the ones  in Orphan.







Question 5


Please State two reasons of your choice:
o     The Exorcist: It was cool when the bed started moving by itself and it was the first horror movie that I watched
o     The Sixth Sense: The twist in the narrative, e.g. that Bruce Willis’ character is dead, and the delicious scare created by the haunting.
o     What Lies Beneath: The plot is interesting and has an unexpected twist. The way the Director builds tension is excellent.
o     Dead Silence: The idea of inanimate objects being alive, the story-line and the plot twists.
o      Orphan: A lot of horror movies aren't directed as well as this one, in my opinion, and the story is good and thought provoking.
o      Orphan: The different story line; the kid is 30ish years old! The setting was good.
o     Orphan: Made me jump and was a good story line.
o     The Ring: Psychological terror rather than gore. Plays on fundamental fears, having limited time to live etc.
o     Saw: Scary and gruesome.
o      Saw: It’s gruesome and it makes me laugh.
o     Disturbia: Good story line and kept me on the edge of my seat.
o     Final Destination 5: The creative deaths and the unpredictable test.
o     Paranormal Activity: Realistic imagery and incredibly frightening.
o     Blair Witch Project: Interesting plot. The way the movie is presented, with point-of-view camera, makes it seem more realistic.
o     The Orphanage: Because it keeps you in suspense throughout, and the ending is predictable.
o      28 Days Later: I friggin’ love zombie films, it’s awesome.
o     None: I prefer comedy films; the characters annoy me when they don’t help themselves by running upstairs or locking themselves in a room.
o     None: I don’t watch horror because they are too scary.


These are the results that we received  and the majority of the people love the movies they chose because of the story line or how "on edge" it kept them. This means we should get a really good movie narrative and also add jumpy moments. 



Question 6


From these results, we can clearly see that the most influence to make someone go and watch a horror movie is the trailer. This means that our aim for our project is that we need to create a good, strong, high quality trailer which would influence the target audience to watch it. 

Other - "Friends"





Question 7



IIf anything, what makes horror movies less appealing to you?
o   Nothing.
o   If a horror has too much gore and is too silly and/or predictable, I won’t enjoy it.
o Gallons of blood and gore.
o   It’s scary.
o   The fact that characters don’t help themselves by running upstairs and locking themselves in a room.
o   Predictability
o   Poor ratings and reviews.
o   Excessive gore overtaking story-telling.
o   The constant need for scenes to be ever more gory then the last, and the fact that I watch a movie to be cheer up and possibly excited, not scared and frightened by what will be coming next, therefore making me not watch on.
o   Story lines which don’t make sense.
o   The actors.
o   A poor story line.
o   Typical horror film narrative.
o   Too much blood cliché.
o   Unrealistic such as aliens.
o   They’re scary.
o   Ones that scare me thoroughly and give me nightmares.
o   A bad story line.
o   They’re too twisted and give me nightmares.

We would have to make sure that our movie storyline isn't too predictable or unrealistic. The more subtle we do it, the frightening it will be.



Question 8
 


"Possession" got the most votes of 11 out of 20 for being the most effective. 
with "Amityville Horror" coming in at second with 5 votes, its clear to say the main image of "Possession" has grabbed the voters attention.  The reason why our target audience have chosen the "The Possession" poster is because it gives off a very haunting feeling which will be scarred in the audience's memories, this poster becomes memorable and so it is the most effective one. The font the style and the way it is presented makes the audience fear it but attracts them to look at it and keep focused. the haunting image is something we would consider trying to create into our promotion packages since it caught a lot of attention and also the layout of the poster.




Question 9

Please state two reasons for your choice:
Amityville
o   The bright red writing. The creepy image of the house and the man makes you want to know more.
o   Looks dark and scary. The house looks like a face.
o   It shows a character from the film. The image effect is awesome.
o   Dark and grainy. Context and font.
o   Simplicity and the colours used.
House At The End Of The Street
o   The use of reflection plus the view through the window adding effect to the poster. Plus giving you a better understanding on what the movie is going to be about. The colour is not just a simple black, the use of black, grey, and white makes the situation in the poster stand out, and those looking for something other than a dark, scary film will go straight towards the centre one without a look at the others.
o  Simple, but it gives all the information needed. Doesn't overwhelm you.
o   Creepy.
o   Because it looks scary.
Possession
o      The image combined with the name suggests a narrative involving character possessed by the spirits/the devil; I prefer supernatural horrors and find them the scariest. The reference to it being based on a ‘true story’.
o      The subject appears isolated, adding to the fear factor. The bright light draws your attention.
o     Draws attention to one part of the poster. Simple.
o       It’s very contrast. The person isn't standing normally, like they’re distorted.
o      The character looks freaky/scary. The darkness creates scary mood.
o      Stands out more than the other two. It’s not as typical as the other two.
o     Looks appealing and seems horrific
o     Shows a solitary figure in dark which creates interest. Isn't as cliché.
o     The lighting. The person has no human elements.
o   The lighting hides any human features and the font is effective.
                                                     o   The lack of colours gives it a creepy feel and combined with the light and her 
                                   clothing make her seem ghost like. 
      Due to the feedback we recieved, we have to focus on the font and the main image of the promotional package. A typical code and convention between them would be a symbolic link and the same mode of address, this will attract the audience more and would find it more professional.


Question 10


From the table that is shown here, you can see that the most effective feature in a movie trailer is the sound track, this means we should add and focus on the soundtrack which will draw in the target audience. From these results, we would make sure that the sound track of the trailer stands out to the audience and fits well in whats going on, on scene.

Thursday 13 September 2012

Focus Group And Result Analysis

Within this focus group we asked around four questions on the movie trailer, a magazine front cover and a movie poster. This was to determine what our target audience will like to see, what can be improved and how we can put the feedback into our promotional package. We asked 2 girls and 2 boys to be in our focus group from the age 17+ since they are our target audience. We were lucky to have some students sitting at the back of the class which allowed us to see their reaction at each point of the trailer and how they reacted to a certain scary part.

           




Trailer

We showed the “The Devil Inside” trailer to our focus group because it is from the same sub-genre as what we are aiming to create our products within and so it will give us a more precise idea of what our target audience will want to see in our trailer. Regarding this point, “The Devil Inside” has the same typical supernatural narrative which we would like to create and so this makes it easier for us to see the faults and improve them to create a better trailer. “The Devil Inside” movie made a box office of $101,386,096 which shows clearly that the movie was highly successful through its utilisation of codes and conventions and methods of appealing to the target audience. Through the research we have conducted and the responses we have received, it was easy to conclude that the promotional trailer is the most important aspect of the promotional package as it resonates with the audience and forms their decision of whether the film is worth watching.

            


 The questions that we asked: 

1) What did you like about the trailer? 


  • "Nothing, it was too demonic"
  • "It was realistic which is clearly a good way of drawing us in"
2) If you could change something about it what would you change?
  • "Don't Show to much of the movie"
  • "Not Much it is a really good story line"
3) Does it make you want to watch the movie?
  • "No"
  • "Yes, its really graphical which people that enjoys them types of movies will want to watch"
  • "I do like the sub-genre so I would go watch it"
4) What was the most effective element of the trailer?
  • "The Graphics used"
  • "The based on a true story feature"

Magazine Front Cover
For our focus group we used the Total Film front cover featuring Leonardo DiCaprio from Shutter Island because it has an almost horror-like haunting effect.. The reason for this is because Total Film magazine is one of the most purchased magazines and has a readership of 471,000 people. In regards to magazines, the front cover is the most essential element as attracts the eye of the target demographic. As Total Film has a readership of 471,000, it easy to deduce that the layout they have used for their front cover is successful. We aim to take the colour scheme, fonts and the effects used as inspiration for our own product. However, before we do this, we wanted to gain a enhanced idea of what it is that attracts the audience to this magazine and what we could do to enhance it on our own product.

1) Does the main image appeal to you? 

  • "Yes its really mysterious"
  • "Since the main image is a well known actor it is more appealing"
2) Do you expect to see more sell lines on it?
  • "I like it how it is"
  • "No, because you can see more of the picture which is more eye catching"
  • "No it doesn't give away too much"
3) Do you want to read it?
  • "Yes"
  • "Too much text will put me off so I like would want to read it"

4) What is the most eye catching thing about it ?
  • "Where it says Shutter Eye because it stands out"
5) If you could change something about it what would you change?
  • "Add something in the bottom corner, it is a bit empty"


Movie Poster


We decide to use the film poster from the “Possession” to receive feedback on as we perceive it as one of the most successful horror posters created this year. As one of the latest supernatural horror films that has been such a success at the box office, the poster has been placed over websites, billboards and in shopping centres where people will see it daily meaning that it has to be really eye-catching to attract an audience which the creators of Possession have done in an effective but simple way. The main image of this poster influenced us to use it for inspiration as we intend to use horrific imagery on our poster to attract our audience and by using this feedback, we can determine what it is that has made this poster so successful and what faults there are, if any, so that we can learn from this product and take inspiration for our own work. 


1) What is the most effective element on this poster?
  • "The main image, its just so unusual" 
  • "The main image, it makes you wonder what you will actually do if it happened to you"
2) Is their a link between the main images and the elements on this poster?
  • "Obviously the girl is possessed by something which links with the name"
3) Do you find the " based on a real story" a effective element?
  • "It is more chilling "
  • "It is more scary "
  • "Even though it looks unrealistic it makes you think oh it could actually be true"
4) Do you like the font used?
  • "Yes the whole scratched out look adds a link to the name and shows us there is a distribution."
5) If you can change something, what would you change?
  • "Not much to change, its a real good poster"
  • "Make the slogan stand out more"
6) Does it make you want to watch the movie?
  • "Yes, if you are into them types of movies it will be really appealing"
Overall, our feedback has shown us that from existing movie trailers, we should not show too much of the movie footage, because this will give away too much of the plot. The fact that the trailer said it was based on a true story allowed the movie to seem more realistic, which is something that we are considering adding into our trailer for effectiveness. From the magazine front cover feedback, we are most likely going to make our front cover image heavy, because the less text was more appealing to our male participants, which shows men respond better to visuals. We have come to the realisation that the majority of magazine front covers use the same main image as that which is featured on the poster. We will use this technique to create a symbiotic link between the products and follow the codes and conventions of a promotional packageBold colours will also be used on our front cover, because they seem to catch the most attention when it comes to buying the magazine. The film poster feedback was the most helpful, because the audience feels that a graphic and unusual image is very eye catching, which is something we plan to do for our poster, something very grotesque. The font on the poster is appealing, which is something that we are going to take into consideration when choosing our font for our poster, and once again, based on a true story will most likely be included on our poster.

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Codes and Conventions of Horror



Location
 
In a horror genre, isolated areas and dark areas are usually the main location and setting. Since Supernatural is the most selling sub-genre at this particular time and the majority of horrors are supernatural, the common location tends to be in haunted house. These homes are usually isolated and in the outer suburbs surrounded by a lot of greenery and lakes. They are usually all cracked up and the paint is peeling off, this is to create a more haunting feeling. Usually the narrative of this location is that they are just moving into the home or even visiting it for a short while. The reasons why horror movies are general set in isolated and big houses is because it symbolises "no escape". Since they are isolated it presents a trapped feeling and so it creates more fear and tension since the victim wouldn't know where to go. Having a big house emphasises fear because it means that there are a lot of areas, rooms and space which will create a feeling that anything can pop out from any corner. An example of this is like from the movie the stranger, the house is so big that she doesn't know where to go and the antagonist is just standing behind her in the dark shadow without her realising.


 
Forests are a common location for slasher movies. Since forests are so big and it’s hard to find any resources, it is the perfect area for a gruesome killing. Gothic, olden day’s horror movies would usually be located in castles, towers and dark locations.



(Forest Location - Firday 13th)            (Isolated Home- Amityville Horror)


Characters

In every horror movie there is an antagonist, a protagonist, a donor/helper and innocent victims. Depending on the subgenre in which the movie is trying to promote there will be a range of characters. The characters that generally appear are a Final girl who is generally the antagonist and she tends to live and fights of the protagonist. She is generally really wise and resourceful and has masculine features. We tend to have more female protagonists in horror. This is because the audience are more likely to accept a female who is terrified and screaming as she battles against the antagonist, rather than a male.
  There will be the "dumb", hopeless girl that will either be the first victim or die a careless death due to her faults. When it comes to possession the main characters are either older women or young children. This is a good way to freak out the audience since they wouldn’t expect little innocent children to be demonic and possessed by an evil spirit so they wouldn’t think of them to be murderous. Having an old woman being possessed is really freaky since we don’t know what they can do as for they have been around for many years and by having old, wrinkly features just adds more of a horrific image. Killers are usually in slasher and psychological are usually really tall with unattractive facial features which tends to scare the audience and makes them think that they are "abnormal". Their face is usually hidden with a mask to hide their identity; this would make us feel like there is a mystery to solve. Within movies you will expect to see a donor or a helper like a priest, doctor or an exorcist, this is so the audience feel like there is going to be a solution to the problem that they are facing and so it gives the audience the peace of mind that everything will be okay since they are either scientifically clever or religiously faithful. 



(Killer From Scream)                 (Protagonist and Antagonist
                                                                                            from the devil inside)


Costume

The main victims tend to wear revealing clothing like short skirts and vest tops which suggests promiscuity; in horrors the sexual transgressors die, so when the audience see a scantily clad woman showing off her cleavage it sets her up as a victim in their minds and builds up their expectations. They wear this type of clothing to show that they are too careless and un-classy which is why they are the main target for the killer. Across the movies they tend to wear really dark colours to reflect the horror theme. The antagonist wears either dark clothing, a lot of layers, dark leather look or cloaks. This is to hide their identity and the idea of what they could be, or they tend to wear a white long gown to contrast with their demonic side and show the other characters that they are innocent. The white gown can also represent a ghostly look and feeling which makes it clear to the audience that they are the antagonist.  The dark costume is a way to show a dark soul and a sinister agenda. Since the protagonist tends to be females they usually wear sophisticated clothing, a bit baggy but have a feminine fit, this is to show the audience that she is fearless and powerful yet she has the masculine power. Their clothes quite often end up being ripped as a sign of distortion and terror.



(White Gown - Grave Encounters)


Sound


The sounds you will expect to hear in horror movies are so big and extravagant that will get you off your seat. At times of tension you would hear sounds that are eerie, footsteps, heartbeats and bangs. Generally, diegetic sounds are emphasised to make the certain scene more effective by adding tension to that certain scene. An example of this, is a like water droplets sound being enhanced since it can reflect a heartbeat and so that can relate to the audiences mood as for they would be on edge when watching that certain scene. This is all added so that people feel like they are part of the movie and also it causes tension which just emphasises on the horror theme. If the movie involves a child, contrapuntal music like nursery rhymes. This generally sends the chills down the audience’s backs since it’s something they grew up with and it could be them. Contrapuntal sounds are also unnatural which can create a creepy, shivers feeling. Stabs are added to add more of a horrific feeling, they enhance the scared feeling. The audience enjoy these since it gets their blood pumping.






Weapons


To create a horrific and graphical deaths, weapons like knifes, axes and chainsaws are all used to create this effect. These weapons tend to appear in mostly slashers or even psychological. Not every sub-genre of horror involves deadly weapons, usually if there is any available resources like a plank, or a pole, these can be used as a weapon. Weapons are mostly used in slashers due to the fact they create the most dramatic and graphical deaths which is something the target audience want to see. The reason why knives are the most common weapon opposed to guns or poison is because it provides more gore and a slow gruesome death. When using a knife it creates more of a dramatic scene as for we see the blood on the knife, the stabbing motion can reflect the sound which creates a high tensional moment. Guns involve a fast death and less blood which goes against the typical codes and conventions of a slow painful death.