In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products Th e s e t t in g: Th e op en in g s h ot of t h e t r a iler is t o id en tify t h e s et tin g b y d oin g t h is we felt t h a t th e a u d ien ce ca n u n d er s t a n d exa ct ly wh a t t yp e of p la ce it is , a s t h e u s e of s n ow a n d a h ou s e in t h e m id d le of n owh er e in d ica t es s om eth in g is goin g t o go wr on g. Als o we t h ou gh t t h e u s e of h a vin g a h ou s e t h a t look s u n or d in a r y h elp s cr ea t e t h e th em e of Hor r or a s t h e a u d ien ce ca n id en t ify th a t t h e ch a r a ct er s a r en ’t s a fe t h a t t h e p a r t icu la r loca t ion . Ligh t : In Hor r or t r a iler s / film s , t h e u s e of ligh t is u s ed is t o cr ea te s h a d ows a n d id en t ify p a r t icu la r ch a r a ct er s , we h a ve u s ed t h is in ou r t r a iler a s th e u s e of ligh t d et er m in es t h e villa in a s t h e u s e of on ly h a vin g a lit tle a m ou n t of ligh t on h im , t h er efor e in d ica t es h e is t h e b a d gu y a s h e is b a r ely vis ib le a s you ca n on ly s ee h is m a s k in m os t of t h e s h ots of h im . To rt u re / Vio le n c e : We u s ed s h ots of t or tu r e a n d violen ce in ou r t r a iler t o give t h e a u d ien ce a t a s t e of wh a t t o exp ect t h rou gh ou t t h e film , t h is is con ven t ion a l t o h or r or t r a iler s a s in a n y Hor r or t r a iler t h ey h a ve t o s h ow t or tu r e or violen ce a s it is on e of t h e k ey fea t u r es of Hor r or . Dis t ribu t io n Co m pan y : At t h e s t a r t of t h e t r a iler we h a ve s h own th e d is t r ib u t ion com p a n ies s o it look s film in d u s t r y s t a n d a r d , b y d oin g th is th e a u d ien ce th en k n ow wh a t t o exp ect ju s t fr om t h e com p a n ies wh o p r od u ced it , in ou r t r a iler we h a ve u s ed Legen d a r y Pict u res a n d Twis t ed Pictu r es . In t e rt it le s : Th e u s e of t h e in ter t itles in ou r tr a iler h elp k eep th e a u d ien ce en ga ged , s o t h er efor e t h ey k eep wa t ch in g it , a s t h e y cr ea t e a n t icip a tion t owa r d s t h e a u d ien ce. Mu s ic : Th e u s e of m u s ic t h a t is in clu d ed in ou r t r a iler is con ven tion a l of r ea l m ed ia p r od u ct s a s a t t h e s t a rt of t h e t r a iler we h a ve a ver y d eep s low s ou n d t o h elp b u ild t h e n a r r a t ive a n d s et tin g a n d t h en on ce t h is h a s h a p p en ed we t h en u s e h ea vy r ock m u s ic t o h elp cr ea te a s er ies of even t s t h a t h a p p en s in t h e t r a iler I feel t h is h elp s cr ea t e t h e in t en s it y for t h e t r a iler , t h is ch a n ge of s ou n d h a p p en s a lot in ot h er m ed ia p r od u ct s . Tit le / Re le as e dat e : A com m on con ven t ion t h a t is u s ed in a n y t r a iler is t o in clu d e t h e t itle a n d r elea s e d a t e, t h es e a r e n or m a lly p la ced a t t h e en d of t h e t r a iler s o t h is is fr es h in t h eir m in d , t h is is a ver y im p or t a n t com p on en t t o th e t r a iler . Male k ille r: Th e u s e of h a vin g a m a le k iller is con ven t ion a l t o Hor ror s a n d a ls o t h e m a le k iller is ver y s t ereotyp ica l a s t h ey in d ica t e p ower , s t r en gth a n d in t elligen ce, in m a n y Hor r or film s t h e k iller con t a in s t h es e ch a r a ct er is tics . We apo n s : Th e u s e of wea p on s th a t we u s ed in t h e t r a iler wer e a r op e a n d a k n ife (b la d e), b oth of t h es e wea p on s a r e con ven tion a l t o Hor r or a s t h e u s e of h a vin g a r op e in d ica tes t h e u s e of ch ok in g/ h a n gin g s om eon e a n d a ls o t h e b la d e is a ver y s t er eot yp ica l wea p on for a k iller in Hor r or .
Age re s t ric t io n : I ga ve m y Hor r or t r a iler a n 1 8 cer t ifica te a s I felt t h a t it con t a in s t oo m u ch violen ce, gore a n d b a d la n gu a ge. I felt t h a t it wou ld n ot qu a lify a s a 1 5 cer t ifica te b eca u s e th e u s e of gor e a n d violen ce, a n d felt t h a t t h is wou ld b e too m u ch for 1 5 yea r old s t o cop e wit h a s it ca n r ea lly a ffect you n ger p eop le b eca u s e of t h e con ten t in t h e t r a iler / film . S pe c ial e ffe c t s : We d id n ’t m a n a ge t o u s e lot s of s p ecia l effect s a lth ou gh we d id m a n a ge t o in clu d e a few, s om e exa m p les a r e wh er e on e of t h e ch a r a ct er s is get tin g ga gged a n d s om e oth er effect s t h a t a r e u s ed a lot a r e t h e ‘fa d e t o b la ck ’ a n d a ls o t h e b lu r r ed effect . I felt t h a t t h es e s ou n d effect s im p r oved t h e t r a iler b u t if we in clu d ed s om e m or e m a yb e we cou ld of im p r oved it even m or e. Fin al Girl: On e of t h e m a in con ven tion s of Hor r or m ovies is th e fin a l gir l t h eory. Th e u s e of h a vin g t h e m a le k iller t a r getin g a victim wh ich in th is ca s e is a gir l ch a llen ges t h e con ven tion s of Hor r or . We wa n t ed to in clu d e th e fin a l gir l in ou r t r a iler t o h elp m a k e it m or e n oticea b le for b ein g a Hor r or a n d a ls o m or e in ter es tin g a s t h is h elp s cr ea t e a n t icip a t ion a n d in ten s ity. Narrat ive e le m e n t s : In m y t r a iler I h a ve ch os en to on ly s h ow a few p a r t s of t h e p lot a s I d on ’t wa n t to give t oo m u ch a wa y to t h e a u d ien ce a s t h e wh ole p oin t of t h e t r a iler is to s ell en ou gh of t h e film s o t h a t th ey a r e in t er es t ed in wa t ch in g it . I felt t h a t m y t r a iler h a d a good n a r r a t ive t o it a s I on ly in clu d ed t h e s h ots t h a t I t h ou gh t wou ld b es t ‘t ea s e’ t h e a u d ien ce t o wa tch t h e a ct u a l film , a s a ft er a ll it is a t ea s er t r a iler , I felt t h is wa s im p lied well wit h th e u s e of n a r r a t ive. Th e wh ole p oin t of a wh ich will t h er efor e r es u lt in to t h em n ot wa tch in g th e film wh en its r elea s ed a s t h ey k n ow wh a t is goin g t o h a p p en . In t h e t r a iler I d id n ’t r evea l wh o t h e k iller a ct u a lly wa s a s t h ey a r e n or m a lly r evea led a t t h e en d in g of a h or r or film a ll I d on e wa s m a k e s u r e t h e a u d ien ce cou ld id en tify wh o t h e k iller a ct u a lly wa s , t h is is con ven t ion a l t o a ll h or r or film s / t r a iler s .
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts
The film distributor is key to advertising the product as they need to show everything about the film to everyone. They use magazines and posters to help promote the film this is one of the most effective ways of promoting/distributing, I applied this to my work by producing a poster and magazine cover for my trailer. Other ways of promoting a product are TV ads, Cinema advertising and web ads help promote to your target audience. Marketing is a key factor for promoting the film as it all comes down to the demographics and size of your target audience. You need to show your audience everything that they expect to be in a Horror, if not you will lose people for your target audience and nobody will have any interest in watching it. When promoting a new film, it is important that it has an identity to the audience this is achieved by advertising and also including an interesting narrative that works well with all types of Horror. The teaser poster is important as this is what will be placed around shops and cinemas to help the people that watch movies, know about your movie the main thing about the poster to help convince people to watch it is a good main image, from this they can almost identify it is going to be a big hit horror film. The trailer has an important identity to the film as this is what kick-starts your film in becoming popular as people intend to watch these before watching the actual film, the trailer needs to include all aspects of Horror without giving too much of the narrative away. I went with the certificate 18, I felt this was appropriate as the trailer includes blood/gore and bad language, I felt that if it was a 15 certificate this may get bad reviews as it contains too much content to be a 15, so that is why I went for a 18 rating. The trailer and poster have a good relationship to one another, as the poster help represents the whole trailer. The main image that I have used for my poster is an image of the killer, I researched other horror posters and they always seemed to have the killer as their main image so I decided to continue with that idea and apply it to my own poster. The use of the text “2� and the text in the trailer, help create the theme of horror and also indicate the tension and wilderness because of the distortion on the text. I have chosen to use dark colours for my poster as this makes the poster more
effective and scarier which helps relate it to the Horror theme and I have also used dark colours in the Horror trailer, with the colour black in the background of the text and adjusting the brightness of some of the shots, I felt that this keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. Being on the cover of a Magazine shows that you are the star of the magazine and the main headline/ talking point that features in the magazine, being on the cover of a magazine is key point in the promoting of a new film. The magazine cover relates to my poster as it contains the main image of the killer as this is the main selling point, and also the final shot in my trailer is of the killer so these all relate well to each other.
I used this Total film magazine cover to help me produce one of my own for my trailer. This was a really helpful cover to help me plan my own. I constructed my magazine cover by sketching out where I wanted to place my text images and features. Once I had my plan I then used this to help me with my creation of my magazine cover. I followed my plan, however during certain parts of the creation I felt that I could improve it and make it better in other ways so I then added different parts, however the whole point of me just producing a plan was to give me a general idea of the layout.
I used this Horror film poster to help with the design of my own for my Horror trailer. This poster was really good help for my poster as it gave me lots of ideas and how it could help in relation to help me apply the theme of Horror. I started off by creating a rough sketch for the layout of my poster. Once I had planned a rough idea of what I was going to do for my poster I began to create it. In the creation of my poster I made some changes from my original planned sketch/idea as I knew that I could improve it.
What have you learned from your audience feedback? When producing an ad campaign for a film it is important that you receive audience feedback, so therefore you know what your audience think is missing and what they already like about your campaign. The use of having the audience feedback can help improve the publicity for the particular campaign as they can provide you with things they want to see, so they will then ask for changes that should be made and things that should be included to help make the audience satisfied and become a successful hit in the industry. We gathered the feedback from the class by creating a rough edit of our teaser trailers and then watching them back in class. Each group’s trailer would be watched and we were given an allocated time to fill in questions about eachothers trailers what was good and what could be changed/improved about the trailer to make it much better than before. The good thing about getting feedback from the class was that they are all the typical age group to watch horror movies (18+) so therefore it was perfect to be getting advice back from them. I great thing about the feedback we received was that we know it was all positive and helpful because everyone knew what to expect in a teaser trailer for anew upcoming Horror movie. The feedback that I received was positive and very helpful. Here is a brief summary of the feedback that i was given back from my audience. The audience said that they liked the rapid montage of shots that helps create the mood of the trailer and said it could be improved by including loud sound effects to make you tense/jump. Also they said the quick cuts were good and could be improved with loud music. Other features that were good from the feedback were the short shots at the end and the things that need to be changed were the titles. People also said that they enjoyed the tension at the end and that the writing helps create the story. Also the feedback implied that, we done well in not giving too much of the plot away, good tension, short titles (good length) and a good use in showing the speed of events. Some other feedback that I received was a good quick pace to create tension, the music getting louder. From other feedback that we got people said that it had good fluidity, good use of montage (builds tension), and good use of jump shots and fast paced edits as this helped the trailer throughout. I looked at the feedback we received from our target audience, by looking through everyone’s comments and I took note of what they all said and took into consideration what I could do to improve our teaser trailer. I looked at the positives and re-watched those parts and realised why they thought this was good. However I then looked at the things that could be improved and changes to our trailer and wrote a list down, and then started working on changing parts to the trailer to make the audience satisfied with a good quality teaser trailer.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The web 2.0 technologies are a big advantage to no budget/low budget film makers as they can be provided with good quality software which can almost make a trailer look professional and industry standard, the software that is used for most media trailer work is adobe premiere pro. A thanks to the cheap/free software and campaign that is available now-a-days, equipment that can be used, interactive sites such as blogger and YouTube, we can now make, distribute, research and promote our own media texts. I have used each of these techniques to help promote my Horror trailer, poster and magazine cover. I have used blogger to show all of the work I have created, in connection with blogger I have used issuu to help make my blog more interesting as it makes in more interactive. I have also used Adobe premiere pro which was used to create my whole teaser trailer and Adobe photoshop which I used to create my magazine cover and teaser poster, these programs were used to help my work look good quality and professional. YouTube is a great way to promote a new horror trailer, it is very easy to find a video as you just have to search it by the name of the video, this is successful as people can also leave comments and they are able to view it whenever as many times as possible, when you see a video getting views you know people like it, and it is a good sign in promoting /advertising. The use of technology that has been available to me has helped me produce good work to the best of my ability as the programs that I have used contain everything possible that I need to show my creativity. My creativity is shown in the designs that I created in Adobe Photoshop of my teaser poster and magazine cover. My skills have been shown throughout these programs with the work that I have produced, and also the knowledge of the programs have helped me a lot as I knew how to work the program so therefore I knew what I needed to do and where to go on the programs.