Initially at the start of the start of the project we decided upon a horror/thriller as we found from the research done that this was the most popular genre and also most common in the current films being released. We also felt this would allow use to develop out our own skills and also be more creative with camera work and narrative. The thought of a child character being the main actor within the film then came into the trailer when we were researching horror trailers such as the ‘The Orphan’ and ‘The Children’. We looked into this as to how the child was portrayed as the villain within the film. Through this we looked to use the conventions of a number of different trailers such as the use of darkness throughout the trailer and also isolation in terms of the location we used being a forest. We found when researching that a number of physiological child thrillers had at some point a close death or incident to which led the child to be how they were. This in most of the researched films such as the ‘The Orphan’ then became a justification to the audience of why and how the child is like that not making them so much of a villain.
Before beginning our trailer we also did a mini trailer which involved a horror theme, we only had about an hour to film this but this did allow use to develop and look further into how this trailer could fit into a real media product. This included a number of shots such as a high angle shot with a girl screaming.
The start of the trailer we looked at a range of shots in terms of camera work however the narrative of the trailer did not flow which meant we needed to film a lot more. This process meant that me and Beth both looked into how other trailer plan by attracting the audience with a sensible plot but not giving the whole trailer away. This i found especially in the Let Me In trailer which showed the beginning and middle but the audience were left in suspense of the end in the film.
The trailer looks to use and develop conventions with the contrast of the beginning and the end: appearing as light and dark and also happy and sad. This immediately also looks towards narrative theory of Levis Stratus having a contrast of conventions in the trailer. Other conventions used from real life products is the fast pace shots especially in the end of the trailer in order to attract the audience. I found this was in a number of researched trailers especially with the horror genre such as The Omen and The Children. The trailer also developed the conventions of colour by portraying the use of red, black and white also found in research. The trailer also looks to make use of real life conventions of the horror genre where by the use of blood throughout the trailer, I found this in a number of researched trailers such as The Children.
The Omen when researched showed a happy family at the start and I decided to use this convention of contrast between the beginning and the end through a light and dark stage. In our trailer we also look to a happy family at the start where a title is also used in order for the audience to make sense of this. Through the research i found that a number of trailers used the production logo at the start in which we have also decided to develop this convention in out trailer.
The use of a white production logo has been used and the titles have kept with the red and black conventions used in horror films.
The use of blood was inspired by this research of the The Children film.This is the start of the trailer of a happy family
This shot was an inspiration into the dripping of blood on used against the window of our trailer.
This shot is where the narrative of a happy family came from the film The Omen
The forrest shot has a number of editing with slow motion and also shots on top of each other. One of them had a hint of red in it in order to again emphasise the death and the blood. The forest was researched in the plan where a number of conventions suggested a isolated location in to which a horror trailer was filmed. 
These two are the researched and the actual shot within the trailer used. The use of red to portray the general colour of the trailer was used from this film. The shot taken of the window was used in order to emphasise the blood and death in which the young boy was currently doing in that stage of the trailer.
From this it shows that a number of conventions have been used in the trailer in terms of horror genre in order to meet a real life media product. I feel that the conventions used a appropriate in order to show the audience it is a trailer, to keep them attracted and appeal to watch the film but also not give the full story away in which a trailer is supposed to do; give a snapshot of the actual film.
However I wanted to challenge this convention by adding a more unique twist to is which can be seen in our presentation as to how we have portrayed this. We looked to make the audience feel sympathetic to the boy at the start but then start to become threatened of the child. This challenges the real issue of whether this sort of behaviour of child is acceptable in today’s society and allows the audience to decide their own opinion on how they portray the young boy. Towards the end of the trailer the audience become surprised when the mother reappears forcing them to initially think the child is a villain but then look to watch the film in order to decide upon who the villain is. This was a convention we wanted to challenge in order to portray a good and bad side to one person but also bring out to the audience a issue which could be discussed. This convention I confidently believe for a real life media product would be the cause as to why the audience would go and watch the film after seeing this trailer in order to solve this issue of who is the villain and further into whether this behaviour is acceptable of any person regardless of the circumstances they are in.
The poster firstly uses the codes and conventions for a horror film by the use of the main character at the centre of the poster which was taken from The Orphan. The use of actors names, date of release and also the tagline was also used amoung the conventions of a poster. However we wanted to challenge these conventions in which we have formed a black and white poster which also links in with the trailer with the aspect of going from light to dark in the beginning and end of the trailer.
This is our first poster which we found lacked meeting the conventions of a horror film which meant that we decided to restart but use the same image for the poster of the main character. It also didn't have any information of the film such as when it will be released or the actors names.
This is out final which we used conventions of actors names and also the same font was used within eh trailer in order to link them. The use of red, black and white again was used in the conventions but also challenged by having the release date only in red in order to attract the audience. This challenged the real life media posters by having a simple colour poster but which is also effective in linking to the trailer and still appealing to the audience.
The magazine used conventions by including big text and a main image which would be the key focus of the magazine. Initially the image used did not portray the film and this therefore did not link to the trailer. We then changed the image to the main character and the use of conventions in terms of red, black and white text has again been used. The magazine also challenges codes and conventions of horror as the image is not at all gory but more of mystery sense to the magazine which is also linked to the blur and edit used to form a mystery in the poster also. These therefor link together.
This is the final magazine cover
In terms of linking back to research to show the conventions used in order real life media these are some of the comments i blogged when evaluating each print product and trailer.
This is for the 'The Orphan'
For the trailer we will produce I have found that the font and image of a poster and magazine needs to link with the trailer otherwise it can look like 2 completely different films. The conventions of this film such as the use of a number and faster pace of a scream can be used for our trailer in order to build tension. The use of titles in the trailer is also very important so that the audience can make sense of what’s happening in the film.
This is 'The Children'
From this research I am now completely assured that red as a font, background and colour has a lot of effect on the genre the audience perceive. I feel some of the techniques in this trailer may be a bit more than we require for ours as we are aiming for a lower certificate than an 18.
This is 'The Omen'
From this trailer I have found that the use of red is a key convention in any psychological horror film and so I suggest me and Beth use this within our trailer. The use of blood on titles or even the distribution logo informs the audience of the genre of the film immediately. I also feel that the conventions of sound need to be emphasised with the use of screams to represent danger and pain. This will definitely be used in out trailer and I also really liked the editing technique used of putting the distribution logo in the middle of the trailer rather than the beginning; it looks more unique. However I feel that there is very little connection between the trailer and poster and therefore in out trailer we need to think carefully of how the main product will link to the ancillary products and be successful in the audience knowing they link.
This is 'Jennifers Body'
No comments:
Post a Comment