The Day After Tomorrow Analysis

The Day After Tomorrow (Doomsday film, similar in that sense to my own)

The trailer opens with the sound of a dog barking. Dogs barking generally means that there is something wrong, or there is something unusual that the animal doesn’t like. So, the audience interpret this a sign that something isn’t quite right.
There is a dramatic ‘boom’ sound often heard in scary or frightening trailers. The trailer then dissolves to a man looking upwards. The dog barking continues, and we then have an eyeline match to what the man is looking at: Hundreds of birds flying in unison away from the city. Such as sight is sinister and the audience knows this, yet, they do not know why and will perhaps wish to know more. The purpose of the trailer is to get the audience wanting more, so that they will see the film. The sky is also dark, storm-like and grey. We can also make out tall, city-like buildings which establishes the location of a city and perhaps to those who recognise it - New York.
The ‘boom’ is heard again providing a dramatic transition between each short sequence. The trailer now dissolves to a close-up of a man and a woman who look puzzled and dissolves back to the birds, which includes a pan of New York establishing the setting for those who weren’t sure on the location before. Eerie, sinister music begins to play to reinforce the idea that something isn’t right. The looks on the characters faces also suggests this.
The last clip of birds then turns ‘negative’ much like a sudden bolt of lightning with a fade to black. Now the scene changes to some bears in a cage and to some coyotes who howl and bark just the like the dog in the first scene, which now turns the non-diegetic sound diegetic. Again, another bolt of lightning appears to streak across the screen accompanied by the creepy angelic music. It’s known that animals always react strangely before a disaster happens, so the audience may realise that something terrible is about to occur because of the animals acting strange. Plus, the music gives this away too.
Now, bolts of lightning are seen on the screen followed by the well-known 20th Century Fox animation. Another fade to black and to a scene of an office. We cannot see anyone but we can hear them, and because the character is not visible, this makes us listen more intently to what they are saying. This is because the dialogue is important to the narrative, and provides the audience with a clue to as what the film is about. The scene ends with ‘I think it’s happening’ and the audience are left to wonder: what is happening? The creators of the trailer are giving little away to make you want to know more.
Then we see the same man from before on a plane. The lightning flashes inside the aircraft and makes it appear creepier, and the plane begins to shake. The trailer cuts to the signs of ‘please wear your seatbelts’ which is not a good thing to see on a plane, because it can be a sign of something going wrong or turbulence. Either way, it’s not a good omen and the creators are trying to get the audience to see something is wrong.
Now the editing becomes quicker, with only a few seconds of footage between each edit. However, dialogue from a man can be heard over all of these clips to provide a sense of narrative and to help the audience understand what is happening. The music becomes louder and eventually ends dramatically as seen in many trailers with a loud ‘ Mr President, if you don’t act now it’ll be too late.”
This is then followed by a man saying ‘save as many as you can’ and the audiences desire increases to find out what is going to cause this destruction and how possibly anyone can survive.
What is obvious in this trailer is that there is a lack of dialogue which has been replaced by non-diegetic music. This is so the trailer becomes more exciting and doesn’t bore the audience. Similar to The Tourist, only the important narrative information is kept in.
In all, this trailer is quite effective. It’s exciting and the audience are left constantly wondering ‘what’s going on?’, ‘will they survive?’ and this will make them want to see the film. There is a the right balance of narrative information and film information like the date of release and website, so the audience can find out more.

Film Website Analysis 1

The SAW 3D website (2010)

The website can be found here: http://saw3dmovie.com/

The official site of SAW 3D is dynamic. This means that the site is more interactive than a normal ‘HTML’ site. For example, when you rollover a particular part of the site, you may cause an animation to start running or sound to begin playing. Dynamic sites are usually referred to as Flash sites because you require Adobe Flash player to run them. Websites that are Flash and dynamic generally look better, and look more expensive (mainly due to the fact that a Flash site is more expensive to create). In the SAW 3D site, if click on the spiral button in the middle it causes the rest of the website to shatter and fly towards the screen. This then reveals the trailer, which is definitely more entertaining than finding it embedded on a boring web-page. The menu does not have to take up a large amount of the homepage either because the Flash allows you to scroll along the bottom part of the website to ‘reveal’ the content. When you hover over the ‘video’ link it changes to ‘watch now’ as does the ‘photo’ section changing to ‘view gallery’. This is then providing additional information without having to display it all on the homepage – only when you require it. The users of the SAW3D site will find the interactive parts of the website fun and hopefully therefore memorable. The creators of the site want you to remember the site to then remember the film.
The website relies on iconographic SAW images like the red and white spiral usually seen on the Jigsaw Puppet’s cheeks. The whole website is based around a big, extended bear trap that looks incredibly cool but also scary. SAW is renown for it’s inventive traps of human torture, so having a trap on the website ties the website in with the film. The black and silver give the website a dark and creepy look and the little amount of red connotates danger and blood. Black and red are typically used in horror websites, so the Saw website is no exception.
A typical official website will have a single main image and the rest of the site worked around it. In the case of the SAW 3D website, the main image is of a huge bear trap. The spikes and cogs around the edge of the trap are very intimidating and frightening, so this works well with the film being a horror.
The main idea behind a film website is of course to advertise the film, just like with the film trailer. So, the website offers information such as when the film is to be released (in the case of the Saw site, the film is currently in the cinema and the website displays ‘The Final Chapter Now Playing’), or when it’s available on DVD once it has been released.
Film websites go ‘hand in hand’ with the trailer. The trailer offers only the best bits of the film, while the website can offer additional material, information and a place to actually see the trailer. The Saw website has an ‘about’ page which of course will give an in depth synopsis of the film and sometimes film websites offer additional character biography (The Spirit website did this). Saw 3D also offers a page on ‘videos’ which usually includes trailers, teaser trailers and interviews, a page on ‘photos’ which commonly include stills, film posters and photos of the filming process.
Offering bonus material is something that official websites often do. This can be anything from screensavers to desktop background. Fans particularly enjoy bonus material because they can customise things with the film they love. Plus, the desktop backgrounds often display the release date of the film which the user can then see every time they visit their desktop. On the Saw 3D website, they offer ‘downloads’ which is a similar thing; you can download bonus material.
The Saw website is linked with Facebook, a huge social networking site, to attract more people to the site. When you ‘like’ the site, your friends can see this and therefore may wish to also ‘like’ and follow the site. As you can see, this creates a chain that can attract many people. Many other websites are adopting this idea because of it’s good ability to attract people to their websites.
Overall, the SAW website is cool, modern and expensive looking. The extra material (which there is a lot of) makes the user want to see the film a lot more. What I particularly like is the comment section which allows the audience to post pre-release excitement comments. The SAW 3D website is trying to get many people involved to help spread the word about the release.

Screenplay

The script is in pdf format here:

For those who cannot view the PDF. The images are below. Each image is a page of the script. They are JPEG's and can be enlarged.

Film Poster Analysis 2 & 3

Identity Poster

The identity poster looks, on first glance, to be a poster with a main image of a hand. But it isn’t; the hand is actually had up of five silhouettes and a face. These silhouettes make up the fingers and have no distinctive features and you cannot make out their gender or age. The poster has done this because the film is about hidden identity and has provided us with no real identities. This fits in brilliantly with the tagline ‘ Identity is a secret. Identity is a mystery. Identity is a killer’ much like the silhouettes, we known nothing about them, not to mention they are distorted and ‘grainy’ to help cover their identities. The only real features we can see is the face with makes up the palm of the hand. But yet again, we cannot identify the face and we cannot even see it clearly.
When you look at the main image as a hand, it signifies the uniqueness of a human because our hands provide the finger prints that make us exclusive. While the silhouettes provide no identity, the hand symbolises individuality.
From the poster I make out that this film is a thriller and mystery film. The colours red and black do usually connotate horror, however, the picture is mysterious and a very clever image which would you usually find on mystery film posters. Plus, the tagline does contain the word mystery, which is a big giveaway. The hand is mainly black maybe because the hand appears to have dipped in ink for stamping, like you would if someone wanted to record your identity. Or alternatively, it’s black to symbolise that something is hidden, as things are hidden better in darkness. The red could connotate danger, especially because the tagline contains the word killer-which would be fitting. The hand also begins out as black, but turns to red in the right of the image. This could mean that the secret which is black slowly becomes blood red, the danger. This would fit in with the tagline too because it begins with ‘Identity is a secret’ and finishes with ‘identity is a killer’. The title of the film follows the same ‘colour gradient’ as the hand, moving from black to red to tie it in with the main image.
The tagline is very good. It uses repetition to drill in it’s message and the constant use of ‘identity’ makes it difficult to forget. Plus, it provides some of the films narrative; there is a mystery, there is a secret to be found out and there is a killer.
Like with many posters, the names of the actors and actresses are displayed. This is to attract the fans of the actors, and when a film has a big star, generally people make the assumption that the film will be better because they are present. In this film you have Jon Cusack, who is relatively famous.
The poster also has a second tagline. This one says ‘the secret lies within’ which fits in perfectly with the image of the hand as the silhouettes are hidden in the hand. Plus, the audience are then left to wonder: what is this secret? The audience often want to figure out the mystery in a mystery film too, so this enticing for them.





Harry Potter: And the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 poster.

This poster is so simple but yet so effective.
The main image is of a burning castle. The many Harry Potter fans will instantly identify the castle as Hogwarts from previous films and the books. The castle is loved by fans and the characters in the film, so when we see it destroyed, we find it upsetting and a little devastating. The purpose of the image is to evoke that reaction within us so that we one, stop and look at the poster and two, wonder what on Earth has happened. The castle is also reflected in the water, which could symbolise two sides. One fainter than other could signify that one is weaker than the other.
The sky is stormy, much like in the Angels and Demons poster. Perhaps this could also signify a clash is to come just like in the other poster. It’s also dark and set in the evening which connotates evil and makes the poster that little bit scarier. Combined with the stormy clouds and dark colours, the sky appears to signify that ‘darkness’ or Evil is coming and that trouble lies ahead.
Which is fitting with the tagline: It all ends here. The tagline, as they should be, is simple, memorable yet effective because it leaves us wanting to know more. Does Harry die? Does good prevail? For those who are little confused with which book is which, this tagline also tells them that this one is the last one. It’s also in the famous Harry Potter font which ties it in perfectly and also makes the poster even more identifiable.
The title is simpler than the other posters before it, only displaying a H, P and a 7. Harry Potter is so well known that this is possible. Plus, for those who have read the books, which happens to be a large majority of the country, we can identify the film from the famous 3D lightning font. Quite often people ask me what film is which book, whether it’s the fourth or the third. This title isn’t like the others with the long name, it’s easy to understand and you can tell which book the film belongs too.
The last book is actually split into two films, so the poster has displayed this by putting ‘Part 1 2010’ and ‘Part 2 2011’ with the lightning of the ‘p’ from the HP7 splitting them. This could connotate the divide again between two sides.
At the bottom are no credits which is unconventional. The creators just wanted to solely focus on the main image to draw you in. There is however the logos of the companies faintly at the bottom and a small website.
This poster doesn’t really ‘give out’ much information. You would expect to see a more defined date, credits, perhaps actors and actresses in the film but this poster doesn’t do that. It doesn’t need to; the Harry Potter franchise is so big and popular that you don’t need to know the actors in it, especially because most already know. The purpose of the film poster is to make you aware that the films are coming out and around what time. As a fan myself, this poster doesn’t tell me much at all, but creates a hype and just seems to tell the world that Harry Potter is coming, get excited.

Shooting

Due to the fact that my make-up has not arrived, I will not be filming on Wednesday as planned. Whether the delay in the delivery of my make-up is due to the weather or not, I'm finding it annoying that I'm having to delay filming for this.

Therefore, filming will begin on Friday 3rd December.

I will be filming:

Frame 34 (on storyboards as frame 31) - A MS of a door with Zombie hands trying to break through. This will be done on one of the college doors because they have glass panels so you can see some of the zombie too.

Frame 43 (on storyboards as frame 39) - A MCU of a zombie coming through a door. The same doors will be used.

Frame 37,38,39 which will be filmed in the upstairs of either the College OAK building or ASH toilets.

Possibly Frame 52, if we can find a dark enough room.

Film Trailer Analysis 2

28 Days Later (2:05 minutes/Danny Boyle/2002)

28 Days Later is an older film than the tourist, being released in 2002. The trailer opens with a black screen and the words ‘On the first day’, and then some short quick-edited scenes, a warning sound and the words ‘EXPOSURE’. This is then followed by some more quick-edited scenes of a woman’s face then back to the black screen and the words ‘Day 3 INFECTION’. This continues and we see ‘Day 8 EPIDEMIC’ , the sound of a TV out of tune, ‘Day 15 EVACUATION’ , deep sounding emergency sirens, ‘Day 20 DEVASTATION’, the sound of smashing and cries, then lastly ‘28 days later…’
What the creator of the trailer is obviously trying to do is establish and get across to the audience what has happened, in a quick and quite scary manner. The font is often referred to as ‘destroyed’ which reflects the state of the country and humanity. The short clips from the film leave the audience wondering what on Earth has happened. This is common in trailers, as they give little away to audience so they see the film to find out more. The last words ‘28 days later…’ then establishes when the film is set and now 28 days have elapsed, the story begins.
Now we see a man after he opens the blinds. This connotates him waking up and seeing the destruction for the first time. This is the first character up close that we have seen an therefore we assume he is the protagonist. The next shots of the protagonist are wide or long shots giving him a sense of vulnerability and loneliness just like in MONSTERS with the couple. Plus, the trailer includes high angled shots which reinforces the idea of vulnerability. The protagonist is also seen along side iconographic things which represent London: red London buses, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. This helps the audience identify where he is, without the trailer needing to say so. Plus, these busy places are now deserted, and this makes the audience wonder why.
After this there are an abundance of close-ups of the protagonists and other characters, mainly to show fear, panic and confusion. The edit is jumpy, montage and appears very random, which adds to the confusion.
A common feature of trailers is to use past achievements from the director or producer to advertise the film. In this trailer, we see non-diegetic text showing the successful films that Danny Boyle has created flashing on the screen. People will recognise these films, which hopefully they will have enjoyed, and want to see this film consequently.
The next shots are slightly longer than before, perhaps now for the audience to see the gore, which is plentiful. Again, the majority of the shots have no clear narrative and the random editing makes it confusing. Now we can hear a voice-overs of several different people, one who says ‘there’s something in the blood’. These short voice-overs give some information on what has happened.
Towards the end of the trailer, a small logo can be seen gradually getting larger with random inserts of chaos in between. The music An Ascent by Brian Eno, different to the rock music earlier heard to create a sense of sadness, to actually make the audience consider the incredible human cost of the tragedy. Then, suddenly, a zombie is seen through the window in a shot and charges forward. This is unexpected and could scare the audience, which is then followed by the credits information and the trailer ends.
The whole trailer is jumpy, edgy and gory. However, this isn’t off-putting, it actually grabs the audiences attention. The red writing and black backgrounds are typical of horror films so the audience can easily identify the genre. Just like with Monsters and The Tourist, it gives just enough information about the film away, without telling the audience too much, but also making it look appealing.

Changes to storyboard

I've decided that there are two things wrong with my planned trailer after viewing the animatic.

Firstly, it is far too long. The shots at the beginning after about a minute long, and I do not want this to be a short film and more importantly, bore my audience.
Therefore these will be shorted as much as possible, perhaps up to 25 seconds.


Secondly, the first shots are all of the same woman, doing the same thing. It is neither scary or entertaining. I have decided to insert some short shots of what she is talking about. One of these a close-up of a tied down hand trying to break free with rage. This should break the sequence up and make it scarier!

New storyboards 5-8. Every numbered storyboard after 8 will now be n+4, were n is the original number.

Animatic of Trailer

The basic run-through of the trailer. It is far too long, mainly due to the length of each shot which is quite unrealistic and will be shorter when it comes to editing. This animatic has given me the chance to see for myself just how long it really will be.

2nd Draft of Film Poster

Final finished Poster as if on a real bus stop.

This time I've added a scratched effect, and lightened the credits at the bottom because they are not meant to stand out as much as the main title, so now the title of the film should hopefully stand out more.

First draft (smaller image at bottom)

Poster Analysis 1

Angels and Demons : Poster 1

The Angels and Demons poster is very attractive, simple and gives the audience the right amount of information without overloading the poster.
This is achieved by a dominating main image of the protagonist, Robert Langdon played by Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks is a very recognisable star and the creators of the poster are hoping to attract people because he is the star of the film. They want you to notice Tom Hanks and want to see the film because you are fan of his work, no matter what the film is actually about. For those who do not know who the main star is, underneath the poster clearly states ‘Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon’. It’s rarer nowadays to see posters actually tell you who the star is playing, but don’t forget, the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons are huge bestselling books, so the poster is also hoping that you recognise the character’s name and want to see the film because of the book.
The main image usually takes up the majority of the poster, and the Angels and Demons poster is no different; The picture of Tom Hanks dominates the poster with old relic statues of an Angel and a Demon on each side. It appears that Robert Langdon is stuck in the middle of a good and bad conflict, the Angel representing Good and the Demon, Bad. Notice also that Robert Langdon has a faint angelic glow behind his head. This could possibly signify that he is a good character, or perhaps he’s the hero of the film. Or alternatively, the Angel and Demon to each side of Robert Langdon could symbolise his personal conflict between Good and Evil, like when a character has a small Angel and Devil on their shoulder as they both try to convince the character to do a particular action. It’s classic Good verses Evil.
Behind the Angel, Demon and Robert Langdon there is sky that looks much like a storm. This could mean that ‘a storm is coming’ which often means conflict is approaching. Also, there are red hot sparks across the poster. Sparks are created from the collision of metal or other materials and this could connotate the collision and clash of these two good and bad sides. The audience are left to wonder: what is this conflict? Will good triumph over evil? The only way they can find out is by seeing the film, which is exactly the poster’s purpose.
Many posters have a tagline at the top, but this poster doesn’t. Now, taglines are used to create a memorable catch phrase but the Angels and Demons poster uses the line ‘From the author of the Da Vinci Code’. The Da Vinci Code has a huge fan base and many readers so this will attract that audience.
One of the most important components of a film poster is the film’s name. The Angels and Demons poster presents the title in the lower third of the poster. It’s a white, basic serifs font with a stand-out ‘&’ in red. Red connotates danger and blood, and because it’s situated in the middle of the two words, it emphasises the conflict in the poster with the blood and danger being in the middle of the clash. The two words, ‘Angels’ and ‘Demons’ being each fighting side. However, ‘Demons’ is in bold which could signify that the stronger force are the Demons, the evil side. Is there anyway Good can prevail? The poster wants you to see the film to find out.
The release date of the film is slightly different to most posters because it doesn’t give a year or even a day but just the month ‘MAY’. This is quite powerful and demanding. This is the only text apart from the ‘&’ that is red on the whole of the poster. This could symbolise that the danger and bloodshed will happen in this month or that this month is when the danger begins.
The least attractive part of poster is grey, dull and not made to stand out. This is because it provides no real advertising material, but just information that has to included on the poster.
In all, the poster has cleverly created this conflict between Good and Evil without having to say ‘there is a conflict between Good and Evil…’. The main star has been used to draw in the audiences attention and the makers of the poster have used every possible means to make it attractive the most people. I particularly like this poster because of it’s simplicity and how powerful it appears; Robert Langdon has an expression of determination that is intriguing and I would certainly like to know who wins in the battle of Good verses Evil.

The Zombie Make-up

For my trailer I want zombies. I also want these to appear real.

Unfortunately, proper zombie prosthetics can cost in the region of £2000, which of course I do not have. Fake blood and face paint looks amateur, so I've done some research on good quality, cheap zombie make-up.

Here is a video which I will be basing the make-up on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dW0A4rnnYk

The effect will look diseased and a little more realistic than the flat 2d effect often created with just face paint and blood. The cost is minimal at only £15, and this can be applied to several people, providing they aren't allergic to latex. There are many good tutorials out there, however some use regular glue which is quite harmful and therefore replacing the glue for liquid latex is the better option.

Good tutorial using glue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuMt-N0bnww&feature=related

Requirements: Liquid Latex. Face paint (Red, black and cream), Toilet Paper, Brushes and Eyeshadows. Mosturiser is good too for easy peel of the mask.

Conventions of Zombie and Horror Films

Horror films are supposed to make the audience experience emotions of fear, horror, panic, disgust and implore our hidden fears, all while entertaining us.
A very well known convention of horror films is that not much happens during the day, but at night, terrifying things can happen. Or sometimes it just has to be dark for the horror to commence, like in a cave (The descent/ Neil Marshall/2005) or dark room. The dark often scares us, and filmmakers have been using this to make their films more frightening since the beginning of the horror genre.
Horror films are usually set in places which connotate being isolated, like a ghost town or haunted mansion. Being set in the ’middle of nowhere’ or places that have been deserted provide a sense of being cut off from help and vulnerability. Plus, when something is empty, like a whole town for example, it is generally a good indication that something isn’t right.
Not only is it empty places that are used often, but locations with an eerie past. Haunted houses are a perfect example because usually something supernaturally evil has been left behind that will cause a disruption to the new inhabitants. It could also be an asylum, graveyard or even ship like in the film Ghost Ship (Steve Beck/2002). Anything that is dark, dingy, deserted or even just dismal, is a good location for a horror film.
Black and red are iconic and used very often in Horror Films. Red of course connotating danger and black connotating darkness and evil. More iconography includes animals such as black cats which are associated with witches and bad fortune. Bats usually connotate that a certain place hasn’t been inhabited for a long period of time and the phobia of spiders is common among the everyday public, they are often used to ‘creep’ the audience. Blood is extremely common in horror films, obviously from the amount of violence and injury, so much so, that it is unusual to not see blood or guts in a horror film. Blood is also very disgusting and ’not for the faint hearted’ which is what horror films are trying to achieve.
Hand held camerawork is used much in horror films to disorientate the audience. Take Clover field (Matt Reeves/2008), it uses hand held camerawork throughout and the whole film appears realistic but also very unsettling. The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez/1999) and [REC] (Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza/2007) have also adopted this hand held style. Perhaps not conventional yet, but the full-film-hand-held style is becoming more popular.
Conventionally, the protagonist is the victim and we usually follow this victim as he or she tries to escape from some terror. The antagonist is generally the monster or serial killer who will often have a trademark (Freddie and Jason). Other common characters include the police officer that doesn’t believe the protagonist, the stereotypical ‘skimpy’ damsel in distress that is not only stupid, but good looking and usually requires saving from some terrible curse, monster or hostage situation.
The narrative usually involves the protagonist moving to a new house, or moving to a new location that will eventually turn out to be the disruption. This could be moving to a house which is haunted or going on a trip that requires a journey through a graveyard, and the dead returning. What usually happens next is that the protagonist is chased by some monster, serial killer or psychopath or they find their companions are killed and the battle for survival commences. The outcome commonly includes the protagonist defeating the monster, escaping and maybe even resuming his or her romance with their loved one. It’s the classic good verses evil narrative, with good prevailing over evil.
However twists are common in horror films. Perhaps when, at the end of the film, you think everyone is safe it turns out to be anything but. A good example is The Cottage (Paul Andrew Williams/2008) were after a desperate struggle to escape a crazed farmer, the protagonist flees into a basement were we all assume he’ll be safe… until the room is revealed and with it more crazed monsters.
Non-diegetic sound is common in horror films to add suspense and make moments appear more sinister. Scary or creepy music is commonly added just before something terrible happens to build tension.
A common theme among horror films are to include or be based upon scary folklore or a terrifying mythical being. Take the Vampire, a fictional creature that has been used for decades in horror films and is still used often today. Due to it’s overuse, we now know plenty about the vampire, and films don’t have spend a lot of time explaining the mythology behind them.
The zombie is another well known creepy creature that has been used for time now. Often the result of the dead returning or biochemicals gone wrong, Zombies are notable for their lack of brains and their hunger to eat ours. Again, just like with the vampire, we easily recognise the zombie because of it’s constant use in television and film.
Zombie films are also known as post-apocalyptic films or doomsday films. These films involve humanity being completely wiped out or only a handful of survivors remaining. The film then usually follows these survivors as they try to escape from the zombies that now see them as consumable (Shaun of the Dead/2004/Edgar Wright). In other films, the zombies just wish to kill or infect the survivors like in 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle/2002). Zombies generally look ragged, pale and bloody. As they are the ‘resurrected dead’, they are often missing limbs and walk slowly with a limp.
In all, horror films rely heavily on monsters, creatures, stereotypes and clichés to make their films frightening, but also to make it easier for the audience to understand. Some of these conventions have been used since the dawn of the horror genre a hundred years ago: dark rooms, empty places, creepy children, sinister music and references to religion. As an audience, we’re finding that the horror genre is always in need of constant re-invention in order to keep us coming back and jumping in our seats.

Target Audience Survey

Results so far:

Firstly, do you watch Horror Films?

5/8 YES
2/8 SOMETIMES
1/8 NOT VERY OFTEN
0/8 RARELY
0/8 NEVER

Percentage 62.5% yes, 25% sometimes, 12.5% not very often.

What age are you?

0/8 Under 15
7/8 16-20
0/8 21-28
1/8 29-40
0/8 41+

Percentage 87.5% 16-20, 12.5% 29-40

Do you think Horror Films and their trailers are targeted to your age group?

8/8 YES
0/8 NO

Percentage 100% yes. Majority asked so far are 16-20, so Horror Films are targeted at 16-20.

If you answered no, can you explain why you think Horror Films are not suited to your age group?

Nobody answered no.

What do YOU think is the target age group of Horror Films?


Under 15
0
16-19
8
20-23
7
24-27
3
28-31
2
32-40
0
41-50
0
51+
0

Total 20. Percentage : 16-19 40%, 20-23, 35%, 24-27 15%, 28-31 10%

What is your gender?

2/8 Male
6/8 Female

Percentage: 25% Male, 75% Female

What gender do you think Horror Films are targeted at?

1/8 Male
2/8 Female
5/8 Both Equally

Percentage: 12.5% Male, 25% Female 62.5%

Do you think that your religion, if you have one, influences what types of films you watch?

2/8 Yes
1/8 No
5/8 I have no religion.

Percentage: 25% Yes, 12.5% No, 62.5% I have no religion.

What do you think is the correct target audience for a zombie film?


Under 15
1
16-19
8
20-23
4
24-27
1
28-31
1
32-40
0
41-50
0
51+
0

Under 15 7%, 16-19 53%, 20-23 27%, 24-27 7%, 28-31 7%.

Do you think that men prefer zombie films more than women?


7/8 Yes
0/8 No
1/8 I think it’s about even

Yes 87.5%, I think it's about even 12.5%.

Do you like zombie films?

7/8 Yes
0/8 No
1/8 I've never watched one


Yes 87.5%, I've never watched one 12.5%.

The mainstream audience is around 16-25 years old. Do you think a zombie film is suited to this age group?

8/8 Yes
0/8 No

100% Yes.

Reasons for saying yes:

It suits teenage mentality. The minimum age for seeing a horror film is usually 15 so the younger audience enjoy watching horror films more as it is seen as right of passage. View it as a novelty as you can see them at 15. Zombie films are spoofs, which are funny. If they are gory I think a younger audience prefer them than over 30’s. Because we are most likely to laugh and enjoy it. Because they’re awesome. Crossover audiences wouldn’t be as interested. Mainstream find more appealing.


Conclusions drawn from Survey:

Mainstream audience are more likely to watch Horror and Zombie movies simply because they enjoy horror more and because they are now allowed to watch them. The mainstream audience are also the age group that watches the most films, and this is reflected in the survey.

My target audience will be the mainstream.

Film 'Horror' Trailer Analysis 1

See the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_-gL3U1T5Y

MONSTERS



Monsters is a ‘doomsday’ film yet to be released in the UK. This is the second trailer, also known as the restricted trailer as it will only be shown in cinema screens where the minimum age will be fifteen. Therefore, more ‘gory’ material and horror can be shown.
The trailer opens with a dark shot establishing shot of an industrial site, cuts to another shot of this site and then to a dusk purple sky. Suddenly there is the appearance of some sort of aircraft, followed by a orange glow and the sound of a mechanical crash. This is then followed by non-diegetic text ‘It’s been six years since they arrived’. The text is a very modern, sans-serif font that is often used in sci-fi films. This text helps the audience identify the genre and also offers ’punchy’ narrative information.
Next there is a short hand held shot of a helicopter hovering over the crash site. We assume that ’they’ arrived from this crash site. Then we see a man on the back of a motorcycle, and because he is the first person the trailer has ‘focused’ on, we assume that he is the protagonist. After this we see a series of short shots based on the rescue efforts. These shots are made to look like snaps from a camera, which we see the protagonist holding later.
Now we see more non-diegetic text with the words ‘They are no longer Aliens’. The trailer now changes, the sound becoming louder and the sound of cries can be heard. The audience is shown night-vision shots of some army men panicking, and the camera shakes to add to the distressed effect. More shaky shots of army personnel are shown, and little understanding can be made; are they firing at the no-longer aliens? There is a non-diegetic ’camera malfunction’ effect and the screen goes black. This gives the impression that something is destroying the camera, and this is incredibly cool and scary.
Again we see non-diegetic text, in the same font theme as before with the words ’They’re residents’. Now we see more short shots but the non-digetic addition of a man’s voice, which we later see to be the protagonist. He’s asking about getting home, and this provides the audience with a narrative as to what our protagonist is actually doing. Especially as this is re-inforced with non-diegetic saying ‘on the journey home’. Now we see the protagonist and another woman a they journey to various places, each with something sinister happening. In one shot there is a burnt out helicopter strewn across the road. This is make the audience wonder ‘what has happened?’, because events such as helicopter crashes are a rarity but also very tragic. More shots follow of a girl with a gas mask on, which evokes the emotion of pity. Another shot shows the couple looking a large map with an area entitled ‘infection zone’. All of these things tell the audience that something sinister, evil and terrible has happened.
As the trailer continues, I noticed that most of the shots including the couple are either wide or long shots, giving them a sense of vulnerability and loneliness. They are wandering alone in the ‘infected zone’ and consequently don gas masks. The music becomes more powerful, lighter and the sound often used around discovery and awe. Then, it abruptly ends with the blowing out of the candles. This connotating that something bad has happened, that the light - the good - has gone away.
Now the music is like the snare often seen in horror film trailers as they build to a climax. We again see non-diegetic text but this time offering good quotes from critics about the film. Good quotes mean better reputation, and therefore are useful in advertising the film.
The editing now gradually speeds up and the sound jumps t every edit which gives the trailer a scary but climatic feel. Then this ends and another quote is presented on screen. Now the protagonist is seen looking at a monster, which is concealed by the darkness obviously to give little away. The darkness being conventional of this genre too.
The trailer ends by revealing the name ‘MONSTERS’ and the information on who wrote it, directed it, created the soundtrack and so forth. We expect to see these things along with a film website (which is shown last) and a release date. However this film doesn’t have one yet and displays the ‘coming soon’ text. This works just as well, because the audience may be more tempted to look at the website for future information on the release date.
The trailer is typical of horror doomsday. It shows the vulnerability of the survivors while also showing just enough so the audience can understand the narrative and basic plot. The shots are dark, and the music is sinister to give the trailer a creepy and scary feel. Overall, I think it’s sophisticated, frightening and it certainly makes me want to find out more.

Film Poster History

Movie Poster’s research

A brief history.



It is said that the first movie posters date back to 1890. However, posters didn’t become popular till the 1920’s when artists were hired to make the posters look more spectacular. Plus, actors and actresses were becoming ‘stars’ in this era, and the bigger the star, the bigger their name on the poster.
In the 1930’s during the depression in America, movie posters apparently lost some of their artistic merit because film posters had to be generate more cheaply. This continued into the war period too, but on the other hand, war films became more popular.
Back in the 1940’s, when films were shown in a cinema after each other, the day before a film was to be released in a particular city, the cinema would receive the posters. Some cinemas may have ordered more posters for a bigger display. However, fans of the collectable items wouldn’t be able to get their hands on them easily because the posters were passed onto the next cinema. This is why older posters dating back to this time are extremely collectable.
In the 50’s, the television was born. Now film posters had to be better to help fight against the new competitor. This included large colour photographs of the main stars and big ‘stock lettering’.
The sixties and seventies saw films like Star Wars, which are still collectable today. The style was painted and often showing the main characters. The Star Wars posters are a good example of this; the Empire strikes back has a collection of characters and appears hand painted.
Posters are more common today than in 1920’s and are expected to accompany a film and it’s advertising. It’s not uncommon to have several posters for the same film, like with Harry Potter, which will have an individual poster for each main character. Posters are now computerised too, and don't rely on painters.
Lately, posters seem to be going through a ‘simple’ phase were the poster has very little on it, but the bear essentials. The posters look sophisticated but clear to understand. A good example of this is the Let Me In poster which is just of a girl curled up in the middle of the poster. Of course, the idea behind this was to make the girl look innocent and vulnerable.

But what do all posters have?
A main image. This is usually the protagonist, or something that can sum the film up in one image. The Ghostbusters poster is of a cartoon ghost trapped inside of a no-entry sign. This connotates no ghosts allowed, which is theme of Ghostbusters.
The title of the film is essential. The people who look at the poster need to know what film it belongs to!
As the poster is to provide information about the film, the date of release is shown, and information on the director, writer, casting, music and the stars in the film. The distribution company and production company’s logos are also visible.
The other objective of the poster is to advertise. This can be achieved through the names of the major film stars being displayed, good quotes and ratings from critics and awards it’s won and nominated. Sometimes, the name of the director or writer who is relatively famous is also shown as a means of advertising the film.
Taglines are used to sell them film and create a memorable phrase that will sum up the film to reinforce the audiences memory it. ‘Who ya gonna call?” is a classic example of a tagline that is memorable and effective.
Posters sometimes display the certificate. This is often small and out of the way.

Storyboard 41-49

Storyboards 21-40

Storyboards 1-20

A history of Film Trailers

It is believed that the first film trailer to be shown was in November 1913 in America, but other sources show that the first ever trailer was released in 1912 at Rye Beach, New York. This ‘trailer’ showed the protagonist being thrown into the lion’s den and the words “Does she escape the lion's pit? See next week's thrilling chapter!" were shown after. The film being promoted in 1913 was The Pleasure Seekers and was created as a ‘short promotional film’ by Nils Granlund, who was working for a theatre chain at the time. The first trailer in 1912 appears to advertise a serial, which would mean that it is not in fact a film trailer, but just a trailer and the first ever film trailer was indeed shown in America in 1913.
Theatre companies and film production companies saw the value of trailers and in 1916 Paramount became the first studio to release them. In 1919, Paramount set up a company devoted to producing trailers for their upcoming films. Other film studios didn’t follow suit immediately, and this resulted in other companies not controlled by film production companies to set up their own businesses. They could not obtain early footage of the film but made attractive slides to advertise the film instead.
As studios began to buy theatre chains and released more blockbuster films, three men from New York created the National Screen Service which would create trailers for the major studios. This worked for both sides; The studios didn’t have the time or staff to create trailers. The studios then granted early access to their films so the trailers could contain real film footage.
For decades the National Screen Service was the major company in distributing film trailers. A typical 1950’s trailer would have the best key scenes, a booming loud voice over the top and large non-diegetic text to accompany it. Unlike with trailers around in the 1920’s, these trailers would have some form of narrative.
In 1962, Andrew Kuehn a former member of NSS left and began working for MGM. He say’s that in the 1950’s and 1960’s people were just ‘bragging’ about the big stars and using ‘phoney--baloney adjectives’ to get the audiences attention. Kuehn also began to experiment and this quote perfectly describes his distaste and thoughts on how trailers needed to be changed: "One of the things I definitely stopped doing was using the first names of stars. Under National Screen Service in Hollywood, they would say, 'Well, Rock and Doris are back together again, and guess who's along for the ride? Tony!' My theory was, if you were dealing with a really big star, you didn't have to bill them until the very end. What I did was try to get the audience used to the star as the character, started telling the story of the film and didn't mention the star's name until the cast runout at the very end."
Kuehn was not the only one who wanted change. Other studios detached from the NSS to look for independent trailer makers in order to obtain something more sophisticated and less generic.
In the sixties, the New Hollywood wave brought in trailers that contained montage or quick-editing. Stanley Kubrick was apparently a trend setter when he released trailers for 2001: A Space Odyessy and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
The trailer displaying quick editing, montage and non-diegetic large text. (The trailer can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gXY3kuDvSU)
Alfred Hitchcock started a different approach; creating material that wasn’t in the film specifically for the trailer. An example of this could be Rope were the couple are seen together before the film is set, enjoying time together. This sometimes still happens today, a more recent example being Terminator: Judgement Day.
The National Screen Service fizzled out with ‘their retired not being replaced’ and being ‘reduced to just a distributor’. In 1969 Kuehn set up his own business called Kaleidoscope films with a man named Don Davis. Unlike with the production of trailers in the past, Kaleidoscope would hire everyone needed to create the trailer, rather than the studio hiring them.
In the 70’s studios backed the idea of television trailers after the success with Billy Jack and Jaws. Jaws took in almost 70 million dollars and from that point on, studios were more willing to part with a lot of money for television advertising when they realised the impact that television trailers had on the blockbuster films.
Music then became an important factor in film trailers. With the first ever music video (Video Killed the Radio Star) being released and the creation of MTV, music and television began to have a bigger impact on audiences.
The traditional, old trailer was abandoned to make way for trailers that left an impact. Those that left an impact would make a viewer wish to see the film much more. Amusingly, everyone’s idea of a trailer with high impact was to have blaring loud music. The music became so loud that the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) put a limit on the volume.
As better software developed it no longer mattered much about the style of trailer just the trailer that would reach the most people and bring the most people in. The internet has opened new doors and now there are multiple trailers for one film like television trailers and teaser trailers. However some things haven’t changed: Trailers still rely on the big star or big stars to attract audiences and music still plays a huge impact in setting the mood or adding to the excitement in an action film trailer.

Stages of creation (Film Poster)

From top to bottom: The finished version, first photo manipulation of hand, the second version with the majority of the blue now removed, and the final hand version cleaned up.

I decided on a saturated colour scheme similar to The Last Exorcism poster (see last picture). The red I didn't want to stand out too brightly, but add a sense of gore to poster.
The tagline I wanted small too, which seems to be the 'latest' fashion in movie posters.

The font used on the bottom is named SteelTongs and can be found here:
http://www.dafont.com/font.php?file=steeltongs&page=1&nb_ppp_old=10&text=abc&nb_ppp=10&psize=m&classt=alpha
The font for 'the end' is called Living Hell and can be found here:
http://www.dafont.com/living-hell.font?text=THE+END&psize=l

Pictures taken for Film Poster 2

After attempting to manipulate these photos without success, I gave up on the idea of the hands coming through the door. When cut out and placed onto the final poster, it lacked in 'scariness' and sophistication.

Pictures taken for Film Poster 1

Mostly look all similar, but after much deliberate, I chose the last one because it doesn't have so many creases in the paper. Therefore making it easier for me to manipulate.

Draft of Film Posters

I have chosen to use the 2nd idea mainly because the first idea's images were quite poor. Plus, I think the simplicity of the second is more fitting with today's posters.

ICT draft of chosen idea. I think the black and red main text will look modern with the red bringing in the sense of blood.