Designs

The main concept of my film trailer is that a person is stalking our main character. And because my trailer is a horror/thriller the design of our antagonist has to be scary and provocative in order to capture the imaginations of our target audience. So I decided to look at some previous horror movies in order to get some ideas, and ultimately to look at what makes these villains so appealing and distinct.

Halloween

One of the most iconic movie villains of all time is Mike Myers who was the surreal killer in the movie Halloween(1978). What probably makes his mask so iconic is its simplicity. It covers his who face and the only color on it is white. And that's what makes it so scary. I think if the mask had been overly complicated it wouldn't of taken some of the ambiguity away from the character. Another thing to add is that the mask does not necessarily fit his head properly. Its as if the mask is trying to peel away from his skin. This possible alludes to the fractured mental stability of the character. Finally the beauty of this mask is that its simple to produce, and so therefore if I were to use the concept in my film trailer it shouldn't be to difficult to replicate some of the elements of the mask.


Friday the 13th

Another classic horror villain is Jason from the Friday the 13th film franchise. Although Jason is wearing a hockey mask, the concept is similar to that of Halloween. The predominant color is white, and some bits in red. And it has several holes ripped into the mask. What is clear to identify here is that the simpler the mask the more scary and striking the villain is. Its not like the film makers are trying to go over the top to frighten the audience, its as if to say the lack of decoration makes the audience more interested in what exactly the motives of the killer is. The lack of effort from the villain to look intimidating implies that something has happened to them in there lives to make them so dispondent, consequently the audience when watching the trailer will be eager to see what has led to the formation of the murderer.

Saw

The last film I looked at to investigate the designs of the villain is the first  saw film. I did this because saw is very modern and so it would be interesting to see whether in contemporary films, film makers feel the need to change the design ethos in order to appeal to cinema goers of today. The Mask is once again similar to the previous masks I have already analysed. The use of white as the main color. And red on the side to symbolize blood etc. However the addition of a wig makes the villain seem even more disturbing, and probably is the main reason that the character of jigsaw has become a part of pop culture, just like other notable horror villains,  Freddy Kruger, Jason, Mike Myers etc.

Coursework research: similar insitutions

 In this blog I have looked at been given the task to look at similar insitutions to see whether they use the same conventions. So for this blog I decided to look at the music industry and percifically horror/thriller music videos.

This is a video from Rihanna called disturbia. The themes and connatattions of the video are based on the horror/thriller genre. I have chosen this video percifically because of the composistion of the shots and camera angles as well as the fact that the use of editing is extremely intriguing.

The first thing to notice in the vidoe is the cinematography and in particular the lighting and colour palette. The director of the music video has used dark blue's and greys to add the the sinister atmosphere, and this slowly builds tension. This is something that I too hope to implement in my work. Then the director has used editing through the use of excessive cuts and jump shots. The effect of this is that it gives the illusion that something supernaturnal or transcedental is on the agenda. And it elludes to the fact that the characters are not safe. Another thing that interested me was the use of non digectic sound. The music slowly builds in the beggining, with a piano and other instruments used sparingly to add to the suspense. Me and my partner Jack were intitially playing with the idea of using slow music in the beggining of the trailer and the effective way that it is used in this video confirms my beleive we should try and use it.

Here is a screen caption from the video. The director has used lens flares and alos some lighting tricks to distort the images.

The lighting is also powerfully used. The director has some how been able to accentuate the colour of yellow all around the room. This helps to make the characters stand out and makes the imagery much more profound. Thie importance of this is that these images stay firmly in the viewers head long after seeing the video. This links in with my movie trailer because we want some of the imagery to be earry and powerful to the point where if we were to release the fictional movie the images that are in the trailer will have been running minds for a prolonged period of time , that it got to the point that they were desperate to see the actual movie.



But the most important thing I can take from this process is the use of camera angles. Here's 2 captions showcasing  both a low angle and a high angle. The low angle has been used to show the emotional fragility of the character and this has been juxtaposed with a  high angle that's highlights her loneliness and venerability. And because the protagonist in my film trailer is going to be character who is very emotionally unstable, the use of these shots will appropriately convey this wide range of emotions without the need for any dialogue.

Audience research- Title of the movie

In this blog I did some more  audience research. I wanted to involve some of my friends in the production process.  This is a image of my partner Jack's facebook page where 2 people from out media class commented on which one of the five movie titles that we have been thinking to use for the film trailer.

The Creep
Stalker
Right behind you
im watching you
no where to hide
Out of the suggested movie titles the creep was the one which most people liked. Rimante said that she liked the title creep because it did't give to much away but at the same time gives the viewer an insight into want to expect when the movie will contain.

Vincent agreed with Rimante in that naming the movie creep was a good idea. But he suggested that we remove the word "the" so that it adds to the ambiguity of the title.

I think Vincent's suggestion of calling the film simply "creep" is an excellent idea. So when I meet up with my partner Jack I will discuss the idea and see weather he wants to adopt it as our title. So what i've learnt from this type of research is that by asking my friends who also fall in my target demographic on what they think of our ideas, I can ultilise some of there ideas and potentially it could improve my final product.

Coursework planning and research: Target audience and collective identity

For this blog post I'm going to investigate both the uses and gratifications theory and also collective identity. This is a topic

Collective identity
In modern cinema movies directors always have to consider "The burden of representation". The burden of representation  describes the way that the history of social realist British film can weigh on the shoulders of film makers. So in essence what this means is that film makers are obligated to represent people in a certain way to reflect society as a whole. Here is an example:

Take "Bend it like Beckham". The director completely turns the burden of representation upside down. This is because the characters are from an Asian background. The film makers could of easily of stereotyped them by portraying  them as ultra traditionalist and strict. But instead it uses comedy to make fun of the culture and believes  but at the same time embracing what makes them the way they are.
Here's another example:

Kidulhood film makers such as Noel clark tried to depict teenagers and youth culture in general in the most realistic way possible. In order to highlight the massive problems that this particular social group are having to face. For instance gun crime,  drugs etc.
He does this by stereotyping the teenagers in the way that they talk, and act. For instance they talk in slang. This helps to establish what kind of people they are, and also helps to alienate them from the rest of society.

How does the burden of representation relate to my film trailer?
Well typically in horror films and of course trailers the burden of representation doesn't really apply. But in terms of using conventions like stereotypes and archetypes horror trailers almost universally implement them. For instance there's always there a girl who in distress, or the cocky guy who doesn't believe that there is a murderer on the loose for instance.

Coursework planning and research: Locations

Possible locations

There are a couple of locations that me and my partner Jack are thinking about using before wririntg the script.

Hampstead Heath is an almost perfect place to use for the trailer. It contains narrow pathways which are surrounded with trees to give the feeling of being trapped. This links well with some of the ideas that me and Jack want to include in the script. Additionally there's oppotunities to make te mise en scene even more creepy when we get into the editing room like turning the images black and white to add to the atmosphere. Lastly hapstead heath offers a great oppotunity to use a vast array of shots because of the hills slopes etc.

Bishop douglass schoool- Another location under consideration is my school bishop douglass. This is a good location because there's lots of oppotunities for exterior shots etc. and because it my school we will have more oppotunities to get the idea we have into reality.

Victoria park- The park provides probably the best opportunity for shooting . Because its very near my school. And also it's near an alleyway which will also be used for filming a couple of scenes.

One of the locations we haven't spoken about is a house.  Which will probably be the location where most of the footage takes place. Because we are still in the process of planning and research, the locations which I've outlined are not final and are subject to change. When we get further towards finally shooting the film  trailer I will post pictures of all the final locations.

Coursework planning and research:Target audience

Target audience

For planning and research I have tried to look at what kind of ideas and concepts I need to implenet in order to attract people to watch my film.

The target audience I hope to attract is the under 25 age demographic. Im doing this because I think that the under 25 age group are the main consumers of the  horror and thriller genre.  A primary example of this is the 2008 disater/horror film cloverdield. For this film the film distributor paramount used convergence through the use of viral marketing to gain publicity and anticipation.  The significance of this is that cloverfield was made for only 25 million dollars. This meant that it could not marketise in convetional ways eg posters, adverts because it couldn't afford it. And so it targeted the under 25 age group with advertising on facebook, creating fictional websites etc, and as a consequence the film was a hugh success. It made 170 million at the box office.

How do I attract the under 25 age group?

Well the first thing I should do is add convetions that will appeal to them in the trailer. What me and my partner could do is inlcude things like quotes from famous from fictional websites, newspapers and even from ordinary member's of the public.

This is from the first paranormal activity trailer from 2009. Here is a quote from a person who has already seen the movie.  This quote helps to excite the audience because it will show them the movie is of actual quality.

Timing
The release of the film is also an important factor. At the end of the trailer me and my partner Jack will reveal the release of the movie. We proposed that the fictional movie will be released in halloween. And possible christmas. The advantage of this is that usually horror trailers are released during halloween because halloween and horror are synonomous with each other and this means people during Halloween are eager to watch horror movies. This is further vindicated by the fact that the 3rd paranormal activity movie made 54 million in its opening weekend at the box office. Which is unprecendented for a horror movie.

Film poster
 Also in my ancilary task I will be making a film poster. What I could potentially do to gain anticipation and attract the under 25 age group is possible post my poster onto facebook. And hoepfully get some feedback from my friends. This would be essentially replicated the way film companies advertise there trailers on almost all forms of social media.

Setting
By using locations and settings that the under 25 age demographic will recongnise will help to familiarise the audience. For instace using schools and possible parks will show the target audience that the horror trailer will relate to them.

Take this scene from the trailer of the first paranormal activity. The location is in a house with ordinary people. This attracts its intedned target audience because it implies that the horrors that are filled within the movie could happen to any of them. And so there eager to see how the characters deal with there predicament.

Official Coursework analysis

Investigations into similar products- integration/use of idea to be explicit

Paranormal Activity

For my first proper piece of analysis where I have to investigate a product that is simliar to the work I hope to produce. Me and my partner are hoping to create a a film trailer. The genre we would like to do is a horror/ thriller, which would make my film a hybrid genre because it contains elements of different genres.

The reason I chose to analyse the paranormal activity trailer because ita a movie which uses similar techniques that we hope to replicate and add are own twist to it. For example the film primarily uses a hand held camera.

The first convention used in the trailer, which is also used in every film trailer is when the background is green and the film has a rating to show whether the film is suitable for a particular auidence. So if it's green is genreally suitable for a certain age group maybe under.

The trailer then uses "white noise" which is this blurrng effect or signal and then it imediately cuts to a shot of a hand held camera. This choice of editing style was used in trailers for both paranormal activity 1 and 2. So it helps the viewer establish what franchise the trailer is based upon. Then the director has used a series a very very quick cuts. This has been used to distort the viewer, becuase the viewer can see  shots of the film but they disappear quickly in order to tease the viewers and leave them wanting more.

Another convention used in trailers of almost all genres is the use of a superimpose. In case the superimpose says "this october". This is used firstly to create awareness of when the film is going to be released, and secondly to build anticipation. The next superimpose's "discover" and then "the secret". This is very important because the paranormal activity already has a fan base and a niche auidence and be claiming they will finally find out a secrets the were left unanswered in the previous installments, and so the aintcipation builds further. And then the quick cuts resume until the trailer reaches the last 30 seconds. The trailer slows down dramtically to showcase a scene without editing techniques. We see 2 girls standing infront of a mirror, and then suddenly the lights switch off. I remains dark for 20 more seconds. And then it gets lighter and finally reveals a small glismpe of the villian. The finish of the trailer once again uses superimpose to reveal the name of the movie.