CLOSED BLOG NOTIFICATION

CENTRE NAME: NORBURY MANOR BEC
CENTRE NUMBER: 14343
CANDIDATE NAME: SHARNA HYLTON
CANDIDATE NUMBER: 9254
UNIT: G324

. EVALUATION QUESTION 4

. EVALUATION QUESTION 3

. EVALUATION QUESTION 2

. EVALUATION QUESTION 1

, QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS (4)

ANALYSIS

Film trailer questions

1. How old are you? 17

2. Do you normally watch films from the horror genre? NO

3. What elements did you notice in our trailer that you have seen in others? 
BLOOD
SCARY MUSIC

4. What was the most memorable moment in the trailer in your opinion? THE PRAYER SCENE

5. Did you feel the trailer was scary? NO, IT NEEDED MORE JUMPY PARTS

6. Did you enjoy the trailer? YES, IT WAS STRAIGHT FORWARD

7. What do you think the story was actually about? PICKING UP A CURSED OBJECT - LEADING TO THE GIRL BEING CURSED

8. How would you change this trailer? MORE TRANSITIONING CLIPS AND JUMPY PARTS, DARK SETTING

9. Overall what do you rate our trailer? 3/5

Poster Questions

10. Do you think the poster is realistic? YES

11. What do you like most about it? THE CHAIN ITSELF LINKS TO THE MASTHEAD

Magazine Questions

1. Does the trailer link to the magazine and poster? YES

2. What is effective about the horror magazine? CENTRAL IMAGE 

3. What stands out on our magazine the most? CENTRAL IMAGE

4. Do you think that it looks similar to real media texts? YES

, QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS (3)

ANALYSIS

Film trailer questions

1. How old are you? 17

2. Do you normally watch films from the horror genre? YES

3. What elements did you notice in our trailer that you have seen in others? 
BLOOD

WEAPONS
RELIGIOUS OBJECTS
SCARY MUSIC

4. What was the most memorable moment in the trailer in your opinion? WHEN THE VILLAIN WAS CHOKING HER VICTIM

5. Did you feel the trailer was scary? YES, BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE VILLAIN APPEARED (CREEPILY)

6. Did you enjoy the trailer? YES, BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT A VILLAIN BEING AWOKEN FROM THE DEAD

7. What do you think the story was actually about? A NECKLACE AWAKENED A GIRL FROM THE DEAD

8. How would you change this trailer? HAVE MORE DIALOGUE

9. Overall what do you rate our trailer? 4/5

Poster Questions

10. Do you think the poster is realistic? YES

11. What do you like most about it? THE TITLE OF THE FONT, THE IMAGE WAS EFFECTIVE

Magazine Questions

1. Does the trailer link to the magazine and poster? YES

2. What is effective about the horror magazine? CENTRAL IMAGE

3. What stands out on our magazine the most? THE VILLAIN

4. Do you think that it looks similar to real media texts? YES

, QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS (2)

ANALYSIS

Film trailer questions

1. How old are you? 18

2. Do you normally watch films from the horror genre? NO

3. What elements did you notice in our trailer that you have seen in others?
SCARY MUSIC

4. What was the most memorable moment in the trailer in your opinion? WHEN THE MAIN CHARACTER PICKED UP THE NECKLACE

5. Did you feel the trailer was scary? NO

6. Did you enjoy the trailer? IT DIDN’T MAKE ME JUMP OUT OF MY SEAT

7. What do you think the story was actually about? YES, IT KEPT ME INTERESTED

8. How would you change this trailer? A GIRL WHO TRESPASSED, AND THEN WAS HAUNTED

9. Overall what do you rate our trailer? 3/5

Poster Questions

10. Do you think the poster is realistic? YES

11. What do you like most about it? VILLAIN’S EYES ‘SCARY EFFECT’

Magazine Questions

1. Does the trailer link to the magazine and poster? YES

2. What is effective about the horror magazine? CENTRAL IMAGE

3. What stands out on our magazine the most? THE CHAIN

4. Do you think that it looks similar to real media texts? YES

, QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS (1)

ANALYSIS

Film trailer questions

1. How old are you? 18

2. Do you normally watch films from the horror genre? YES

3. What elements did you notice in our trailer that you have seen in others?

 BLOOD

                                                                                                                                                WEAPONS

                                                                                                                                                DARK LIGHTING

                                                                                                                                                RELIGIOUS OBJECTS

                                                                                                                                                MASKED VILLAINS

                                                                                                                                                SPOOKY SETTINGS

                                                                                                                                                SCARY MUSIC

4. What was the most memorable moment in the trailer in your opinion? THE PRAYER

5. Did you feel the trailer was scary? NO, THE MUSIC WASN’T LOUD ENOUGH FOR IT TO BE SCARY

6. Did you enjoy the trailer? YES, THERE WAS AN ELEMENT OF SUSPENSE

7. What do you think the story was actually about? A NECKLACE THAT BROUGHT SOME EVIL

8. How would you change this trailer? MAKE THE MUSIC LOUDER

9. Overall what do you rate our trailer? 4/5

Poster Questions

10. Do you think the poster is realistic? YES

11. What do you like most about it? THE PICTURES USE OF BLOOD

Magazine Questions

1. Does the trailer link to the magazine and poster? YES

2. What is effective about the horror magazine? THE CENTRAL IMAGE

3. What stands out on our magazine the most? THE COLOUR SCHEME

4. Do you think that it looks similar to real media texts? YES

. THE CHAIN OFFICIAL PREMIERE

As a group we had to complete the task of presenting to an audience of our peers our completed Horror trailer. We spoke briefly about our target audience, and this justified why we were so selective on how the ages of those we invited to the showing.We let the audience know the sub-genre was supernatural horror, but that we had also incorporated slasher elements as well. A lot of the audience members seemed unsure of what it was we were saying because of their lack of experience with media language.  used iconography such as blood, candles, a knife and a graveyard which is also typical aspects used in horror films. I then went on to talk about horror films that have inspired our creative decisions.

(left is an example of the invitations we created for the audience)

I created a set of 15 detailed questionnaire's so that we could collect the views of the audience.

. FINAL EDIT OF TRAILER

. FILM MAGAZINE

. FILM POSTER

. OMINOUS MUSIC

. EDITING ON ADOBE PREMIERE

. TIMELINE OF OUR TRAILER

Here is a rough cut of our trailer with limited editing.

. OFFICIAL FILM POSTER IMAGE

When deciding on what the image should be for the film poster, I did find it relatively difficult because of the amount of pictures that were taken. Due to the fact there was a variety of images available, I finally picked ‘IMG_0632’. This image is of a character in our narrative called Lilith, and in this image she is holding up an antique necklace in front of her face. The necklace creates a sort of shadow on Lilith’ face which could be interpreted as horns, this was one of the reasons that I wanted to include the image on the final film poster because of the harrowing unnatural element of the image. Horns are normally related closely to wild animals or the devil, this would then encourage the viewer to connote, and Lilith was an evil character, with beast like qualities. The use of the necklace was also important in allowing the audience to identify what the narrative would be about, and the relationship between the character of Lilith and the necklace would mean the events of the narrative are not only centred around the necklace but also that Lilith’s existence is also centred around it also. The image uses a mid shot of the character of Lilith, this allows us to see the necessary iconography to interpret that the film will include elements of the sub-genre, Slasher. The inclusion of her face, allows us to observe the bruises on her face created by costume make up and the blood splatter on her shirt allow us to interpret she is in fact a corpse. This image was appropriate for the film poster because it does not conceal the appearance of the films subject because of the use of the camera shot and angle. Blood was an important element to be included because it is identified as iconography of the horror genre, and we wanted the audience to interpret that the film was a film from the horror genre, but also to ensure that the film rating was appropriate for the film as a 15 rating does focus on a good amount of blood and gore. The use of blood and gore allows the audience to also interpret that there will be elements of the film that will cause some discomfort because of the negative events that will take place. Dawn's eyes are piercing, and encourage the audience to pay attention. I asked members of my group, my peers and also my teacher if they thought this image would be appropriate for the poster, and all agreed that the use of strong eye contact from the character Lilith was appropriate.

The shadow from the necklace over Lilith’s eye/forehead was an element that I originally intended on getting rid of. When speaking to my peers however they recommended that I keep the shadow, and create a sort of cross like image over the eye. Therefore I samples colour from the false bruise underneath Lilith's eye right eye and created an upside down cross that would add to the iconography of the main image. I did this using the lasso tool on Photoshop, which was extremely helpful as if I had used the rectangular tool and created a cross, it would have become the main focus of the image. I tried to create crosses, using the colours red and black which have been identified as conventions of the horror genre but my peers argued that it gave the poster an animated element, and because I didn't want my poster to look unprofessional I decided to stick with the lasso sampled cross that I created. Along with the simple lasso tool I had to learn to rotate the shape, using short cuts on the keyboard which allowed me to execute the cross perfectly. The use of inverted cross has strong religious links as it shares close correlation with Peter (one of the 12 disciples, who it is believed that Peter requested this form of crucifixion as he felt he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that Jesus died. However in recent years the inverted cross has been used as an anti-Christian symbol. The anti-Christian ideals link well with the horror genre as usually religion is only shown when in connection with the devil or possessions. This still relates to the theme of religion in the genre but also the iconography used to ensure the poster represents the genre correctly, this particular symbol has been used in ‘The Omen’, The Devil Inside and Annabelle.

Creating the cross did take a while as I had to sample the colour of the shadow when creating an extension of that shape to extend the cross’ length. When placing the cross on the face it was hard to alter the brightness and exposure so that it wouldn’t be too overbearing.  Along with the black background placed behind her, it appears that she is fading in from the darkness. emphasising her dark and evil character.

. POSTER INSPIRATION

                                       

. FLAT PLAN COMPARED WITH OFFICIAL POSTER

As you can see above there is a collage of the flat plan beside the official poster. I have made several changes to the flat plan, when creating the poster as I realised a lot of the aspects didn't look as good as they did on the flat plan and with the  help of audience research I asked my peers what they preferred during the creative process. The positioning of the films title was something that did not change as it is meant to be in line with the main image so that the audience could view the correlation between the image and title. The title is the biggest text on the poster because it allows the audience to identify the films title.With the title being in an unconventional position, the audience may have viewed my poster as unprofessional. Instead of putting the films title at the bottom of the poster, I chose to move the date of the films release there because it would provide a level of symmetry, with this, it would encourage the audience to pay attention to the important information.

As you can see the colour scheme; red, black and white is applied here also. With the most important text in red becoming the focus. The tagline ‘EVIL NEVER DIES’, is written in whit text which contrast with the red title and the black background. The position of the tag line has moved, this was because there was a large space that was extremely empty and I found that the tag line looked better in this area.

I used the same type of text on both the magazine and poster, and therefore I though it would be helpful to include it when designing the posters' website, tagline and title.

The film rating was moved from the right bottom corner to the left bottom corner and then I placed the company logos along the base of the poster. All of the company logos being blocked together made the poster look more professional because this is a convention of horror posters.it definitely looks better to have all of the graphics in one space because of the ability as an audience to then focus on these last as this is a form of additional information and not the main focus. The layout of the poster is extremely simplistic, a lot like the flat plan which is something I wanted to maintain.

The credits have remained in the initial position, this is a convention of the genre and therefore something I was not willing to change. If the credits were found anywhere else they would have looked a if they were inappropriately placed and may have taken away from the elements of the poster that should have been the main focus.

As you can see the main image of the character Lilith has remained the main focus of both the flat plan and the official poster. As you can see the villain is holding the chain in both , this is because the chain is the driving force for the events in our trailer. With this being the main focus it would have been foolish not to include it on the official poster.  The chain is an acting symbol of evil and therefore important in identifying the genre of the film and therefore can be identified using Barthes enigma code; the semantic code and symbolic codes as the chain symbolises death and foreshadows the dark and evil events that are to take place.

. FILM POSTER FLAT PLAN

This is the flat plan produce for the film poster. I aim to take a good amount of inspiration from this when creating the official poster. As you can see there are conventional elements of the poster also included on the flat plan.

The title is centred at the very top of the page, and the text I intend to use will be a blood red colour. Blood is a conventional type of iconography, and so I want my audience to interpret from my trailer that this is not only a horror but that there will also be blood included, as the colour red connotes danger and automatically alerts the audience to be aware. The use of the colour red on the title encourages the audience to realise that the information in this colour is something to remember as it is very important, and this will be a trend throughout the poster. All of the important information will be in blood red writing. The date is also in blood red writing because it’s an extremely important piece of information, however it is also in red because of the idea of a ‘bloody valentine’, as the date the film is going to be released will be February14th 2015’. I would prefer if the date was underneath the image, so that our audience doesn't have to take in too much information at once, and that they have the opportunity to also take in the images and the rest of the text.

The colour red also contrasts the colour black well, and therefore I intend on including a black background for this poster. Black is an important colour for the poster as it relates closely to the Gothic imagery and the connotation of evil through the trailer.

The central image on the poster is of Dawn, who plays the character of Lilith in our trailer. After taking test shots of both myself and Dawn as a group we decided it would be best to include dawn because we wanted to stick to the conventions of horror posters. A convention that I was able to identify is that there is normally some mis-en-scene included on the poster, and there is normally a shot of either the villain or the final girl in distress. Because I wanted both mise-en-scene and to include a frightening expression that would encourage a feeling of fear in the audience we decide to choose this image of Lilith.

We chose to go with the image with the chain as it links closely with the trailer’s title, and is the driving force of the events in our trailer. I wanted to ensure there was a visible connection between the character of Lilith and the necklace. As without the necklace, Lilith wouldn't appear and therefore the trailer would have no conventional elements.

The villain has been drawn identically to what the image we will put on our actual poster will look like. The image of the villain includes appropriate mise-en-scene, for example, the cuts and bruises on her face and body along with the blood splatter on her shirt.

As you can see from the flat plan, the costumes used for the villain is very accurate because the image was taken first, which would make it easier to plan for the official poster.

The tagline ‘Evil never dies’ is also included on the flat plan, as from this the audience can denote that this particular character is evil.

The credits will be on the bottom of the poster, because this is a conventional element that posters are known to have. Having the credits at the bottom of the poster so as not to distract from the main image. The credits will list what roles we’ve played in the production of the trailer.

The 15 rating was crucial to include on the flat plan because, it s something used by the BBFC to show the age range that the trailer was suitable for. The target audience for our research was 15+ year olds, so we decided to apply the 15 certificate on the poster.