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

Evaluation Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our target audience is 16-25 year olds; we showed our trailer to a group of people who belong in this category in order to get feedback from them, so we would know what we could have done better.

The feedback we received was largely positive as the audience thought it was a successful trailer. Improvements that were suggested were: to make the trailer clearer as it was unfocussed at some times and to add dialogue into the trailer so that the characters’ emotions are more clearly conveyed and able to understand. We also agreed with this feedback however, we could not make the improvements as we didn’t have the equipment; we would make the trailer clearer, so it looks more professional, by using a HD/professional camera if we had the means to do this. Additionally, we didn’t have boom mics so we couldn’t add speech as it would be difficult to hear as well as drowned out by the soundtrack. Other suggestions for improvements were to add more blood and make it look more realistic; we used fake blood in our trailer, but we learned that we could have used a better quality of it or make our own to create effective looking blood. Also, a suggestion was made about the sound effects near the end of the trailer and that it was too much as it was used close together.

From the feedback we received, we learned that we could have made our trailer look more professional by using a better camera and making the blood more realistic, though the slasher sub-genre was conveyed clearly. We also learned that dialogue would have improved the trailer as we relied heavily on the soundtrack, to convey the characters feelings and the narrative.

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

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

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Final Magazine Cover

After recieving feedback on the previous drafts of my magazine cover, I kept the same close up image but changed the colours to make my magazine cover look more professional. I have kept the marketing consistent on my magazine cover by using the same font and style for the title.

Final Poster

I added a website and facebook link at the bottom of my poster as most film posters do this and so that people can go on the websites and give feedback on the trailer. I edited the image at the bottom after receiving feedback; people thought the spotlight effect was too bright and that more of the character's head should be seen.

The Last Laugh Final Trailer

 

Trailer uploaded on YouTube

 

We uploaded our trailer onto YouTube because as it is a public website, anyone can view it and this allows us to get feedback from our intended audience.

Sound

We looked at existing slasher horror trailers in order to get an idea of the kind of soundtracks used for that sub-genre. We looked at trailers such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and SAW as well as other soundtracks and decided to create our own soundtrack.We had two soundtracks and so asked our target audience and teachers which they thought worked best for our trailer. We decided that a combination of the two was a good idea and so, we added one of the soundtracks with a bit of the second one, to our trailer to reflect our narrative well.

Shooting the trailer

Magazine Cover final draft

From the feedback I recieved I decided to try out different colours for my magazine cover, but I felt that it didn't reflect the horror genre well and looked more like it was for an action film. I kept the marketing consistent by using the same font for the film title but as the colours are different, I felt that it didn't fit with the branding on my poster and in the trailer. I incorporated more characteristics of Empire magazine, such as the plain banner across the top rather than the ripped effect but, when classmates and group members, who are in my target audience, provided feedback, they thought the rip effect looked more attractive and professional.

Magazine cover third and fourth drafts

I tried out different layouts for my magazine cover so that I could choose which I though would look best and most professional. I used the same main image but cropped and resized it so that I could see what a close up of half the face wold look like, or if a close up of the whole face looked better. I realised that the half face background made the magazine look more like a music magazine than a film magazine and so, decided to go with the full face.

Magaine cover first and second drafts

For my magazine covers, I used Empire magazine as a guide because it is a popular film magazine.

Movie poster second and third drafts

As the landscape posters didn't work out, I decided to go with the portrait poster instead. I decided to base my poster on the Blair Witch Project movie poster as I liked the use of light effects in that poster and wanted to re-create them myself so that the poster had the same ambiguous effect. Whereas in the Blair Witch poster, the image of the female character shows her looking directly into the camera, I decided to use an image of one of our female characters already dead and looking away from the camera slightly to make it more intriguing for my audience.

 

I decided I didn't want the movie title to be red because, though it's connotations are fear, blood etc... I felt it was over used and that a grey colour would be more appropriate for our movie. Also, the grey colour fit better with the rest of the poster as both the images I used have muted colours rather than vibrant colours. I did this because I didn't want my poster to be too gory and have an ominous tone.

(The Blair Witch Project movie poster)

Movie poster first drafts

 

When I started making my movie poster, I decided to try out a landscape poster rather than a conventional portrait one because, I thought the image I wanted to use would look better like this and portray the effect of horror which I wanted. However, as I tried out effects on it and started adding text, I encountered problems; I found that the movie title would have to go in one of the corners as it would cover the image if I placed it in the center. I realised that I couldn't put a tagline on the poster without it looking cramped and that I didn't have anywhere to put expert witnesses as it would interfere with the image.

I decided to stick with the conventional portrait movie poster instead.

Facebook and Twitter Poster/Pages

 

Facebook Page

 

Twitter Page

We created Facebook and Twitter accounts for the trailer as they are the largest social netwroking sites at the moment and so that we could get feedback from our target audience, who use these websites. We made this poster to put up on the pages as it isn't too explicit and can be viewed by the public, but kept the marketing similar.

Magazine Covers and Posters Research

Covers and posters

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Horror Trailer Second Draft (without final sound)

  

We added effects to the tone cards as the existing trailers we researched use animated tone cards; the effects allowed us to make our trailer look more professional. When we asked for feedback from teachers and classmates, they said the music we had added so far worked well with the trailer, so we decided to keep it. We used the intro song from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre trailer, for our intro because it reflects the equilibrium well; the sound effects later in the trailer are also from the same Texas Chainsaw Massacre trailer.

Horror Trailer First Draft

 

This is the first draft of our slasher horror trailer. We used Final Cut to edit the footage we had filmed and put it together; we added some effects and tone cards. We decded to get some feedback from classmates and teachers so that we could add or retract things according to the feedback.

Story Board

We created a story board to plan out each scene of our trailer; we wrote out what type of shot we were going to use and what was happening in the shot. Katy drew the illustrations in so that we knew how to frame the shot when we filmed each scene. We mostly followed our story board as we had planned it, but added a few shots during filming so we could decide on which ones we wanted to use and which were best for our trailer.

Risk Assessment

Cast List, Costume and Location

First Scene: Dance Studio

Cast List:

Katy – Kirby

Eleonita– Nina

Blerina – Tatum

Dannii – Buffy

Shaswot - Thomas

Location: 

Dance Studio

Costume: 

Dance wear

Second Scene: Kirby’s Death

Cast List:

Katy – Kirby

Location: 

Woods/Tennis Courts

Costume: 

Casual Clothing; Jeans, top and cardigan.

Third Scene: Bathroom Scene

Cast List:

Blerina – Tatum

Safina – Villain

Location: 

House (Bathroom)

Costume:

Blerina: Bikini

Safina: Mask, Black clothing

Fourth Scene: Kirby’s Death Scene

Cast List:

Katy– Kirby

Location: 

Woods/tennis courts

Costume: 

Bloody clothes

Fifth scene: Tatum’s Death

Cast list: 

Blerina – Tatum

Location: 

House (Bathroom)

Costume: 

Bikini

Sixth scene: Nina getting attacked

Cast list:

Ellie – Nina

Safina – Villain

Location: 

Safina’s house

Costumes:

Nina T-shirt and jeans

Villain: Mask and black clothing.

Seventh Scene: Woman in Black

Cast list:

Ellie – Nina

Safina – Villain

Location:

Safina’s house

Costumes:

Nina: Shirt and jeans

Villain: Mask and black clothing

Production Schedule

Changes made to idea

Our initial idea was based on the horror film ‘I spit on your grave’ where two friends, Nina and Tatum, are in a dance studio rehearsing their routine and two boys enter. They begin to misbehave with the two girls and as one of them approaches Nina to rape her, Tatum flees leaving her friend helpless. This leads Nina seeking revenge on the rapists and her friend who left her at a time of need. After discussing this idea, we concluded that the story line was complex where the victim resorts to villainous acts blurring the line between Clover’s final girl and the sadistic villain. However we chose to keep the dance studio setting for the focal scene as we thought the mirrors would create a dramatic effect.

Script and shot types

First scene

Dance studio:

Establishing shot of the building.

A group of friends are rehearsing, four decide to leave while one remains alone.

Camera Shot:

High angle shot - of group, everyone dancing in unison.

Close up shots - of each character as they turn.

                        - they leave

Medium shot- Buffy looking in mirror, masked man standing behind her

Point of view shot- No one there (false scare)

Pan shot- Lights flickering

Point of View shot- Masked villain running towards camera

Job Roles:

Camera – Safina

Buffy – Dannii

Tatum – Blerina

Kirby – Katy

Nina – Ellie

Thomas - Shaswot

Risk assessment:

Dance floor could be slippery, we will prevent this by wearing appropriate footwear. Any cast or crew suffering from photo- sensitive epilepsy should not be in the room at time of filming.

Second scene

On the way home:

Chase sequence

Camera shot:

Hand held camera- Kirby running

Break in 180 degree angle- running

Close up shots- Frightened face

Fast/quick cuts- Dead body

Job Roles:

Camera – Safina

Kirby – Katy

Lighting/Make-up  – Asha

Directors – Ellie

Risk assessment:

Ensure appropriate footwear is worn due to the steepness of the hill. Be aware of the public and dogs.

Third scene

LIVE broadcast:

News report

Camera shot:

Close up shot- of TV

Job Roles:

Camera – Safina

Risk assessment:

0

Fourth scene

Phone call:

Nina picks up the phone, camera cuts to phone ringing in Tatum’s house. Voiceover of villain speaking.

Camera Shot:

Point of view shot of Nina picking up the phone.

Close up shot of Nina on the phone.

Pan shot of phone ringing in Tatum’s house and same broadcast on TV.

Job Roles:

Camera – Safina

Nina – Ellie

Risk assessment:

0

Fifth scene

Bath time:

Voiceover of villain answering the call as the villain walks in the bathroom. Tatum has her eyes closed and is having a bath, she lifts her head from the water and looks up to see (a blurred silhouette of) the villain.

Camera shot:

Point of view when the bathroom door opens (voiceover starts)

Cut to close up of her head rising from the water

Job Roles:

Camera – Safina/Ellie

Photos – Asha

Make-up – Asha

Tatum – Blerina

Villain - Safina

Risk assessment:

The actor needs to be willing to be underwater and trust the villain actor. Also, must be aware of the fact that there will be water so the crew must take care of the equipment and themselves.

Sixth scene

Nina falls to the ground in the bathroom where Tatum was killed.

Camera shot:

Long shot of Nina falling to the ground

Close up of Nina’s face

Risk assessment:

The actor playing Nina should be careful not to hurt herself when she falls to the ground.

Seventh scene

Climax:

Kirby on the ground in a pool of blood. Tatum drowning. Nina hugging Thomas. Final shot of Nina in the window and villain standing next to her. (The woman in black)

Camera shots:

High angle shot and quick cuts- of Kirby on the floor lying in blood and Tatum dead in the bathtub. (Texas Chainsaw Massacre camera shot music)

Treatment Analysis

Conventions:

• Teenagers are popular in horror films as they serve to make the film realistic and engaging for the horror audiences who are predominately young people. The immaturity and extremity of emotions portrayed are convincing thus providing platforms for postmodern films such as ‘Attack the Block’ to be made. Plot lines have always focused on young people with famous slasher films such as Scream, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween being prime examples. Taking this into consideration, our group decided to revolve our trailer around five teenagers: Nina, Tatum, Buffy Kirby and Thomas.

• Screaming is an expression of shock and fear hence we have incorporated this into our trailer. Screaming is a depiction of the horror that the character is experiencing and this is dispersed through to the audience who are shown a vulnerable and helpless victim.

• Knives are a good horror weapon as they allow intimate contact and cause a slow and painful death. The majority of our respondents thought that knives were most effective horror weapons consequently our group decided to use them in our trailer. According to Freud’s sadism theory, the knife serves as a misogynistic tool when being used against women and this fits our trailer which has mainly female characters.

• Blood is a vital in slasher films to illustrate the extent of the villain’s ruthless quest to inflict pain onto his/her weak victims. By depicting bloodshed and gore, the slasher film subgenre achieves its purpose of representing a dramatic and extreme bloodbath playing on the fears of audiences.

• Masked figure conform to the Structuralist prop paradigms and not knowing the identity of the person behind the mask unsettles the audience. The mask allows the audience to undertake a journey to find out who is behind the mask and this adds mystery conforms to Barthes pleasure of text theory. Our group decided to use the mask paradigm due to its popularity after films like Scream, Friday the 13^th and Halloween.

• Chase scenes add a thrill and excitement which heightens the experience of a watching a horror film. Used in probably all horror films, they serve to build up tension and bring the masochistic viewers to the edge of their seats not knowing whether the victim, usually Clover’s ‘Final Girl’, will triumph or concede defeat to the villain, usually the sadistic voyeur. Our reason for including a chase sequence was to highlight the power difference between the villain and the victim- who despite running as fast as she can, will ultimately be caught by the villain.

• Bathroom scenes or scenes where the victim physically lays exposed to the sadistic voyeurs is something which our group found effective after seeing the classic bathroom scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’. The idea of subverting an everyday activity of a tranquil and peaceful bath into a horrific and fatal experience highlights the merciless nature of our victim accurately thus we decided to include this in our trailer.

• Darkness is imperative in horror films to create fear of the unknown and startle the audiences when the unexpected happens. Accordingly, all of our scenes are set in darkness to highlight the metaphorical darkness the characters have been plunged into.

• “Names are boundary markers of individual identity” as critic Parker has said emphasizing the significance of the names of characters. As a result of this, our group decided to name our characters based on the denotation of the specific names. 
• We looked at Propp’s character types and used them to create the characters in our trailer.

• We chose the name Nina for our final girl and though Clover’s ‘Final Girl’ theory argued that asexual names were used due to the masculine personality trait adopted by the girl in her final confrontation with the villain, we decided to keep Nina as we still wanted her to seem more vulnerable.
• The name Tatum was chosen to represent a promiscuous girl who is always prevalent in horror films. This character always dies due to her engagement in sexual activities as Clover suggests which is why our group decided to show her death in the bath scene where she lays physically exposed.
• Kirby  is short for Kimberly and the nick name reduces her significance highlighting that she is one of the less important characters who dies early on in the trailer.
• Buffy’s name suggests the stereotypical blonde girl who is first to confront the villain. Conforming to the typical representation of blondes in horror films, due to her own mistake, she decides to remain in the dance studio alone and creates the perfect scenario for the villain to enter and commit his first killing.
• The boyfriend character is seen in most horror films either protecting the final girl and dying nobly during the course; or assisting the villain in his quest to avenge the final girl. Thomas is a popular everyday name and is relatable to audiences.

Extra Treatment Information

Propp’s Character types:

• Long sleeves- Geek: Kirby (Scream)
• Short Sleeves- Sporty: Buffy (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
• Straps/Belly Top- Promiscuous: Tatum (Scream)
• Baggy top- Virgin: Nina (Black Swan)

Shots:

• Scream 4- Masked figure running towards camera, fade to black
• Friday the 13^th-Flickering lights when masked villain is revealed
• Shower scene- break 180 degree rule
• Kirby, stairs, villain looking down at her
• Close up of Nina crying on the floor

Treatment

Darkness falls on a dance studio. Five friends, dancers: Buffy, Kirby, Tatum, Nina and her boyfriend Thomas, come to the end of their rehearsal and prepare to leave. One of them decides to stay behind to perfect her pirouettes. As the friends leave, and the door begins to close, Buffy will soon realize that she’s not alone. Whilst practicing her routine, she looks into the mirror and screams as she thinks she has seen someone. In a state of frenzy, she turns around to find no one behind her. Paranoid and frightened, she believes the hallucination was due to lack of sleep and stress. She is unsettled therefore decides to leave. She picks up her belongings and makes her way to the exit when the lights go out. Overpowered by darkness, she calls out to see who’s there. The lights begin to flicker and she sees a masked figure running towards her.

Oblivious to the brutal murder of her friend, Kirby is on her way home and takes her usual route through the park. Engrossed in reading, she is unaware of the presence of the masked villain coming towards her. She bumps into him and briefly apologizes but dismisses it and continues reading. Recalling the brief encounter, she stops to think about the strange appearance of the person. She turns around to reassure herself that she was worrying over nothing and finds the masked person standing facing her ready to attack with a deadly knife. In a state of fear, she screams and begins to run. Unable to hear his footsteps behind her, she turns around hoping that she has lost him and falls in the process. Vulnerable and frightened, she looks up and sees him standing over her.

The next day, Nina is flicking through the channels when she comes across the breaking news of the death of her friends. The reporter emphasizes the similarity of the previous years events on the same date where the victim was from the same college. Whilst watching the LIVE broadcast, she notices a masked figure lingering in the far distance. She pauses the screen and edges closer to examine further. Certain that the masked person is truly there, she gasps and has a flashback of her involvement in last years accidental killing. Fearing Tatum’s safety, she calls to inform her, Tatum doesn’t pick up as she’s having a bath, so she leaves a panicked voicemail ordering her to keep safe. The masked villain answers the call and say’s “It’s all your fault” and then hangs up. Upstairs, an oblivious Tatum is having a bath, unaware that the masked villain has entered her bathroom. The cheerful song juxtaposes the brutal intentions of the villain.  While laying there with her eyes closed, the villain is shown entering the bathroom.  Whilst washing her hair, she dips her head under the water and then rubs her eyes to clear her vision. At opening her eyes, she sees the masked villain standing over her; who blocks her scream by drowning her.

Nina arrives at Tatum’s house to see that the front door is open. She rushes yelling Tatum’s name through the house, finally finding Tatum’s body in the bathroom. Crying and terrified, she collapses onto the ground and begins wailing in utter disbelief. She calls Thomas and explains what she has seen and he replies he will be there shortly; suddenly she hears the front door slam shut. Is Nina destined to have the same fate as her friends?

Plot ideas for horror film trailer

1.     Four girls, in a dance studio practising a dance, a boy emerges wearing a ‘V for Vendetta’ mask, then starts attacking/killing each of the girls one by one. One dies in the studio, one on the way home, one in the shower. One final girl, going to be shown running away from the villain.

2.     A group of teens maybe 4 or 5, go out to the woods, have a couple of drinks, maybe do drugs, one of them have a psychological breakdown, and “turns” evil. He then starts killing them off one by one. Final girl.

3.     A boy in school gets severely bullied, to a point where he can’t take it anymore; he then gets revenge on all the bullies.

As a group we had a discussion, and came to a conclusion that plot 1 will be our final plot, due to the fact that it hasn’t been done yet. Also we feel that out of the 3 plots, this one would work better, and might be a more interesting option.

Questionnaire Analysis

Questionnaire

 

We created a questionnaire to hand out so we could do some research into our target audience and what they think makes a good horror trailer. We used the answers from this questionnaire to help us make decisions on what to include in our trailer.

Pitch and Analysis

Preliminary Task: Bussing Sequence

Bussing Sequence Evaluation

For our preliminary task we shot a bussing sequence in which the victim gets a false shock before the real scare. The victim (Ellie) is alone in a school and goes to play an old piano. She sees the curtain move and the piano lid shuts closed as she begins to walk away. The villain (myself) appears from behind a curtain and goes to attack the victim. We encountered a range of problems due to the circumstances we were filming in, but we managed to overcome them and learn from them.

The main problem that we faced was due to the mise-en-scene and continuity. We had a problem with Ellie’s costume as we had to film over two days, so the clothes are different in the first and second parts of the sequence. Another problem we faced was that we used the piano music as non-diegetic sound as well as diegetic so it was jerky when we edited it. A way in which we could fix this is to record the piano music as a track and then add it in during the editing process so it is smooth. Also, as we weren’t alone in the school, there is some unwanted sound of doors and speech, in the beginning of the sequence thus defeating the notion that it is an isolated setting. Another problem was that we were shooting in the daytime and so we couldn’t really control the lighting, however, we tried to make it darker by pulling the blinds down over the windows and turning lights off.

The continuity editing of a long shot followed by a close up of Ellie peeking around the door was done well however, we needed more close ups in order for the audience to be able to sympathise and identify with the victim. We started our sequence with a long shot of Ellie in the corridor; when we received feedback we learned that it would have been better if we had an establishing shot at the beginning and a shot of Ellie walking up the stairs to establish the setting.

The editing process after we shot our bussing sequence went well because we followed conventions of horror films and added eerie non diegetic sound in the background, to make it scarier. We also cut some clips so that the cuts were quicker and built tension like in most horror films. The diegetic sound of the piano fit in well with the horror genre as the song Ellie played sounds eerie.

However, after receiving feedback, we learnt that less of the diegetic sound would allow for more non diegetic sound to be used, such as ghostly noises. Another suggestion was that Ellie could have played some eerie notes on the piano when she strokes it to create a more sinister atmosphere. Also, the high angle shot from behind me makes people think there s someone behind me thus the effect is not the same. Feedback suggested a shot reverse-shot of Ellie’s reaction my appearance, would have been better. Also, the point of view shot of me walking towards could have been done better and from a higher angle, thus making me look superior and allowing the audience to identify with the victim better. Additionally, in this part of the sequence, after watching it over and with feedback, we realised that there was too much distance between myself and Ellie, so it doesn’t make sense that to be a point of view shot. Also, that Ellie’s fall was not very convincing so we could either eliminate it from our real trailer, or somehow make it more realistic. Feedback also said that the fades in the sequence did not convey time passing properly (when Ellie strokes the piano, then is playing it). Additionally, though the fade at the end of the sequence was too quick, the link to Psycho was good. Another suggestion from feedback was that a false shock would have built up the real scare, thus creating a better effect for the audience.

From this experience I learnt that continuity is extremely important in order for something to make sense and so, in our actual trailer we should be prepared for any problems we could face involving costume and other mise-en-scene. Also, by experimenting with types of shots, I have learnt which shots work best for the horror genre and to create the correct atmosphere for the audience and that with more time, planning and preparation we could improve a lot more.