Other Planning Material - Location Photos

Location has played a very important part in our horror trailer, especially as in the final trailer we have used two completely different locations; Sabrinas house and Fritton Woods.

After we had settled on our group idea we started brainstorming locations that we could use to shot our trailer in.  When we came up with the idea of a house party, we started thinking about scary things that could happen at the house party and we thought of seeing a 'dead' body floating on top of a swimming pool or a hot tub that the party was located around.  We used Sabrinas house because she had a hot tub and a large area of space for the party scene and because we were all able to get there.

Next, we started trying to find rural, isolated, woodland areas that were close to Sabrinas house.  In our group and with the help of our teacher we came up with the idea of using Winterton woods and we used Google Images and Google Maps to help us to plan our shooting there.  Unfortunately it was impractical for us to use Winterton woods as our location because of the distance and issues within people within the group, such as the cost of transport and dates and times.

As a compromise we chose to use Fritton woods, a woodland area that was much closer to both college and Sabrinas house.  This wood, in my opinion, worked out really well because the shorter distance meant that we could spend much more time filming, especially as we visited on two different ocassions with different groups of people and because Fritton has lots of unique features, such as the bridge that was used in the final horror shot of me being dragged under a bridge.

Shot List

This is our shot list that we made in our group before we went out to film the clips for our trailer.  We found once we were at our locations that we had many different ideas, so although we filmed all the shots on our shot list, we added a lot more shots in which proved to be invaluable in the production of our trailer.

Drafts of ancillary texts

These are the sketches I drew just before making my poster and magazine cover.  I have made some changes in my final products, for example on the magazine cover I have added much more writing to help sell the magazine to the audience.

Sketch of poster:

Sketch of magazine cover:

Original photos for ancillary texts

These are the original, unedited photos I used on my poster.  I used a combination of multiple screenshots of Peters 'deranged' face to create a montage on the front of my poster.  These are the five original images I used:

For the magazine cover I used a combination of screenshots from the trailer to use as stills in the film strip at the bottom and for the background behind the main image.  I took the main image separately from the trailer using fake blood and ambient lighting outside.  These are the five original images that I used to form my magazine cover:

Magazine Cover

This is my finished magazine cover:

Click the picture to open the full size JPEG image.  I have also done some Flickr analysis on my magazine cover which can be seen here.

Deranged Poster

This is my finished movie poster:

Click the picture to open the full size JPEG image.  I have also done some Flickr analysis on my magazine cover which can be seen here.

'Deranged' Teaser Trailer

This is our final trailer for 'Deranged'

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have used many different new media technologies throughout all the stages of the production of the product.

Research and Planning

The research and planning stage was the first step that had to be passed in order for us to create our final product and our ancillary texts.  We were first formed into our groups at the beginning of the research and planning stage and we had multiple tasks to undertake.  For each of these tasks we had to use different pieces of technology and software to complete them as successfully and effectively as we could.   One of the first tasks that we did was to research and analyse exiting horror trailers for many different conventions, both of the horror genre and trailer conventions.  To do this we used YouTube, a website built on the new web 2.0 technology for streaming online videos.  The next task we did involved researching and writing a traditional essay, entitled 'How horror represents gender'.  To do this I used Microsoft Word because it allowed me to format a professional looking essay that could be printed out and handed to my teacher for him to give his feedback.  Once he gave his feedback, I then used Microsoft Word again to make suitable changes and then export them to my blog.  Using the web 2.0 technology built into blogger, I was able to grab images from all over the web, for example a freeze frame image from a movie that I was talking about, to then add it inline with the text directly within the web browser.  This allowed me to create a more ascetically appealing blog, as well as offering breaks between the text.  The next task involved doing some audience research for us as a group to learn who our target audience is, what they like in horror movies and what they don't so that we could mediate the results and create a trailer that would fit to our audiences likes and dislikes.  This was a very important stage because we needed to ensure that our trailer would be successful when launched at our target market.  To conduct this research we used two pieces of software from the Microsoft Office suite; Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.  Microsoft Word was used to allow us to produce our questionnaire that could be printed out and handed to students around the college.  We then used  Microsoft Excel to visually collate the results into pie charts that helped us to see the overall consensus of our target audience.  Once we had collected these results we needed to come up with our final team idea that would be used as the plot for our trailer.  To do this we once again used Microsoft Word to type up a summary of the group idea.  Along the way we once again used YouTube so we could compare and contrast some of our ideas with trailers that had already been produced.  We then used Microsoft Word to create a 'Shot List' for us to print out and take with us filming so that we knew what shots we needed and the order to shoot them in.  Finally we used Blogger again to upload our group idea onto each of our individual blogs.  The last piece of technology that we used was Adobe Photoshop.  We used this to create our own individual mood boards based on our group idea.  Photoshop was a really great piece of software for this as it allowed me to add different effects to the images I added to my mood board, as well as allowing me to layer images to add depth to the image.  Finally we used a digital camera to take and upload pictures of our hand-drawn storyboard.

Production

Apple iMac with Final Cut Pro

The next stage in the project was to produce the final products; the trailer and the ancillary texts.  This stage involved using lots of different media technologies in a combination that would help us to make the most effective trailer possible.  To start we had to go out and film the footage that we would use to manipulate and create the final finished product.  We used mobile phones and the social networking website 'Facebook' to keep us as a group in contact and with the other students that we used for filming.  This allowed us to have group conversations, making it much easier to organise a time that everybody was able to make because we filmed our footage away from college and in our own time.  We shot our footage using a Sony DV camcorder that stored its footage to a Mini DV tape.  We then captured the footage to our group Apple iMac computer using a Firewire 400 cable.  We captured the footage directly into Final Cut Pro, a professional video editing piece of software produced by Apple.  Arguably, Final Cut Pro was the most important piece of software that we used because we spent the most time working with it and because it was the software that produced the final main product.  It was a very steep learning curve for myself and the two other people in my group to adjust to because none of us had ever used it, except for a trial horror trailer that we made at the end of our AS Media Studies course.  Final Cut Pro was such a steep learning curve due to the amount of features and complicated layout that such a professional piece of software brings as opposed to more consumer focussed software such as Windows Movie Maker of iMovie.  We learnt how to use a number of functions in Final Cut.  The first thing that we needed to do was to create a folder that we could use as our 'scratch disc', the place where the computer could hold all the files related to our project.  In this folder all our imported footage, edited footage, timeline and soundtrack files were stored.  We learnt the basics of how to set 'in' and 'out' points and how to add and rearrange clips on the time line.  We also learnt about how to add audio files, either dialogue, sound effects or music to the timeline and how to control the volume of the video tracks in relation to the audio tracks.  We learnt how to use the pen tool to add virtual lines on top of clips to control the visibility of a clip to allow it to fade on and off screen.  We also learnt about how to add basic text to the storyboard and the ways of positioning it on screen.  Then once we had got more used to using the software we started to use some of the more advanced features.  One of the first advanced features used is the use of layering video tracks, which allowed us to keep certain elements of  a frame on screen whilst having others fading out, different sizes, different colours etc.  This feature was really useful for creating the 'A PSG Production' intertile as it allowed us to change the appearance of the PSG logo without effecting the rest of the intertitle.  It also allowed us to have words appear in an order instead of all at once, making it easier for the audience to read the on screen information.  Another advanced feature that we used involved using a variety of different filters.  We used two kinds of filters during production, filters that added effects to the text and filters that changed the appearance of the video clips.  On the text we added numerous filters, such as a gaussian blur and an 'Earthquake' filter that made the text blurry and shake.  We adjusted the mix to customize the effects and changed other settings, such as the opacity of the effect and the timing of the effect in relation to the timing of the clip on the timeline.  The filters we added to the text were really useful and in my opinion worked really well as they allowed us to combat the issue brought up in our audience feedback that our text was too "boring" and that it wasn't "scary" enough.  We also managed to find a 'Light Tunnel' filter that we applied to the party scene text which helped to give the text more of a party feel.  For video filters, we used a combination of filters that allowed us to manipulate our clips shot in the day to make them appear that they were shot at night.  This is a huge benefit of the new media technologies for the producers because it allows night shots to be shot in day when they would have been much more challenging to take, for example ours would not have been easy to shoot at night because we were in a woods foreign to us trying to pull of challenging clips such as dragging a character underneath a bridge.   The two main filters that we have used for this were 'Brightness and Contrast' and the '3 Way Colour Mixer'.  These filters allowed us to make the image darker, whilst keeping enough light to still see the picture.  They also allowed us to add a blue wash to the image to help give the feel of nighttime.  Finally one other advanced feature that we learnt to use was the razor blade tool that allowed us to finely 'chop up' our clips.  This was useful in the scene where peter is 'deranged' because it allowed us to randomise the order that the shot was taken and to splice in different clips to create one short but very dramatic and expressive clip.  I found that as myself and my group developed more ability with Final cut, we were able to use more complicated features to help create a more effective trailer.  In my opinion, Final Cut Pro is a really good program that is capable of turning fairly amateur footage into good footage.  It comes with lots of different features and options that allow you to edit even some of the finer details of the clip and it allows for media to be combined from lots of different places, e.g. some dialogue clips that we recorded on an Apple iPhone, loops from GarageBand and music downloaded from the Internet.  However in my opinion its one shortcoming is that it is fairly basic for sound editing.

Apple iMac with GarageBand

To combat this, another piece of software that we used was GarageBand, a piece of software written by Apple under their iLife suite of applications.  This program was vital to the creation of our soundtrack for our trailer.  We used this program for manipulating all of the audio files that we needed to add into the trailer and to record our own sound effects and dialogue straight into the iMac by using the built in microphone.  We also used the program to allow us to manipulate the backing music that we downloaded from 'Freeplay Music', a copyright free music source where we downloaded the music from that plays behind the party scene and the horror scenes set in the woods.  We also made use of the various loops that come preinstalled with GarageBand to create our own sound effects and music, namely the music playing over the introductory intertitles at the beginning of the trailer along with the thunder claps.  GarageBand was a hugely important part for the production stage of the product because it ensured that we could have sound clips at the correct volume, tempo, pitch and length so that the sound files fitted in perfectly with the trailer video clips.  We exported the files from GarageBand back into Final Cut Pro as .AIFF audio files.

Apple iMac with Adobe Photoshop

One other media technology that we used during production was Adobe Photoshop, a piece of software that we each previously used individually during the Research and Planning stage to create our mood boards.  We once again used this software individually to create our ancillary texts.  I used Photoshop on two different documents, the poster and the magazine front cover.  For the poster, I used Photoshop to manipulate multiple frames of Peter's 'deranged' face close to the end of the actual trailer.  I used a combination of the magic wand, quick selection tool and the eraser to cut around Peters head to remove the background image.  I then added various lighting effects to change the brightness and contrast of the picture in certain areas.  Finally I changed the opacity of the photo to make the image slightly transparent and therefore giving it a more ghostly feel.  I did this from a number of frames to create a montage of Peters different faces that were placed all over the poster, edge to edge.  Finally I flattened all the layers of the faces in the background and desaturated them to make them black and white.  I then duplicated the central face on the poster and desaturated the layer at the back.  I used the magic wand tool to select only the blood on the face and deleted the rest of the face.  I did this so I could keep only the red colour from the blood and to leave the rest of the image greyscale to keep red as the feature colour, something that is typically done in horror movies due to its connotations of blood and pain.  I then created the billing block by using the text tool and used shapes to create the logos for the production company and studio that are beneath the billing block on the poster.  For the magazine cover, I initially used Photoshop to import a copy of an existing 'Empire' magazine front cover.  I then used the magic want tool to select the outline of the 'Empire' writing and filled the selection with the shade I wanted to.  I then moved this onto a blank layer and added the pylons background behind the text.  Next I took a photo I had taken of Peter with blood on his face post production and used photoshop to adjust the brightness, contrast, levels and to remove some of the glare on the image from the sun.  Finally I used a combination of the quick selection tool, magnetic lasso and eraser to select just Peter from the image.  I added this as a layer beneath the 'Empire' writing so that the masthead bleed over the top of the main image.  Finally I used the text tools to add the cover lines and used the shape tools to draw a film strip at the bottom of the page that I could add frames from the movie into.  I think Photoshop has many advantages in that it allows you to completely change the appearance of a picture to make it fit for purpose, for example my photo on my magazine cover was taken against a concrete background with lots of glare from the sun on Peters face.  With Photoshop I was able to remove these things from the image to improve the quality of the picture and its usefulness to allow it to not look out of place on the magazine cover.   Finally I used Blogger to once again upload and publish my final product and ancillary texts.  I uploaded to ancillary texts to both Blogger and Flickr (Flickr for analysis) and the trailer to YouTube.  I then took the HTML embed code and added that to a blog post so the trailer could be played from YouTube but without leaving Blogger.

Evaluation:

For my evaluative work, the two main technologies that I have used have been Blogger and Flickr, blogging and photo sharing web 2.0 websites.  I have found Blogger to be a really good way of organising my work for a few different reasons.  One is that it is very easy to keep all work in a consistent house style because you set a style for the blog and then all posts must follow it.  Another reason is because it is very easy to keep work organised and easy to find because you assign a label to each post which therefore adds it to its own category.  I have also found Flickr to be really useful because it has a very intuitive user interface that has been incredibly useful for analysis because it allows you to simply drag boxes over elements of uploaded images to then create your own notes with analysis notes in them that pop up when you 'roll over' that section of the image.  I have also found myself using Photoshop a lot in my evaluation to edit and create images for my blog, for example the pictures of iMac's on this post where I have used Photoshop to add my own screenshots onto the computer screen and the audience feedback question where I have created speech bubbles with my audience feedback against a black background so that it blends in with the blog.  Using these methods of evaluation does bring advantages and disadvantages but in my opinion the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.  One advantage of using Blogger and Flickr for evaluation is that all of your work is in one place and can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection, for example I can edit my coursework on my mobile phone and my computer at home as opposed to being restricted to only college where I may have my notes and books etc.  Another advantage I think is the speed of accessing the work that you have completed on Blogger.  This is because everything is indexed on the blog by the labels assigned to the posts so all content regarding a certain area of the project is all available in one place.  A final advantage is the security of your blog posts.  This is because Blogger is owned by Google, a huge multinational company that will regularly backup their systems which should therefore protect your work should anything go wrong as opposed to having a paper copy of an essay that could easily get misplaced and lost.  The only disadvantage that I can think of for using Blogger is speed, namely because you have to wait to create new posts, make sure you assign the correct labels, have the correct sized images to import etc.  However, I much prefer using Blogger to writing handwritten or typed essays as I have to do in my other subjects.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

I have learnt a lot from my audience feedback.  We screened our trailer to our class using a multimedia projector with all the students sat around the large screen.  We then received feedback from each student, both positive and negative that we could use to make changes to our trailer.  Screening our trailer to our class was a really good thing to do because our class fitted the target audience that both our movie and horror movies in general appeal to.  The target audience for horror movies is teenagers, aged between 15 and 25 and predominantly male.  Our classes age range is from 17 - 19 with a higher amount of male students than female students.  

Some of the positive feedback we received as a group for our trailer is:

From the comment "The use of canted angles is really good", we learnt as a group that the target audience does appreciate the expressive angles that are commonly used in horror movies and that they worked effectively in our trailer.  The comment "I really like the lighting on the house at the beginning" was helpful as it let us know that we did a good job with levels and lighting, especially as that shot was shot in darkness and it was challenging to make sure that the house was fully visible.  The final comment, "The trailer is abstract and disturbing and I like how it is scary and jumpy" was also very good because it told us as a group that we had done well to create a horror trailer with horror conventions as an audience member did actually find it scary.  It has also backed up that fast paced, rapidly shot cuts are effective in horror movies and their trailers, a feature that is commonly found in them.

We also received negative feedback about our trailer which we then took into very careful consideration and we then changed our trailer accordingly.

Some of the negative feedback we received was:

From the comments, "The font used for the intertitles is too boring and they need to be slowed down" and "The titles need to look scarier through the use of a different font and a change in colours" we realised that this was a serious issue because similar comments were brought up multiple times by lots of the students in our class.  We took some time to analyse intertitles in some real media products, aswell as some in other students work and we agreed that they were not right and did not work with the feel of the trailer that we wanted to give.  We chose a new font as a group and we then added different effects for the party scene and the horror scenes afterwards where the equilibrium was disrupted.   I strongly agreed with the comment "The sound is disconnected in areas".  I agreed with this because some of the sound effects were either missing or out of time and one particular bit of speech "quick over there", which is now removed from the trailer, was played way too early.  Comment four, "The link between how the characters get from the house party to the forest isn't clear" taught me that the audience like to have more of a plot indication so they can think through or be shown in more detail the events that are going to unfold.  However as a group we decided we were happy without changing anything to rectify this issue because we felt that as a teaser trailer the link does not need to be established and that it should be left as a question on the audiences mind so they are more likely to want to go and watch the movie to find out what happens as well as how the link was formed.  Teaser trailers need to establish the key characters, the genre and some of the narrative enigma and must not give away the whole plot.  Comments five and six, "The scene where George is dragged under the bridge needs to be quicker to make it seem more jumpy" and "The No Service shot on the mobile phone is to quick and to difficult to read" were especially useful as it gave us an insight into how long the audience felt certain shots needed to shown on screen for.  As a group we agreed that the scene where I was dragged under the bridge was to long and we did cut it down.  We also agreed that the mobile phone shot was to quick so we almost doubled the screen time it had and added a zoom in towards to 'No Service' writing to make it easier for the audience to read it.  Finally we changed the length of some of the actions shots in relation to comment seven "The running shots are on screen for too long" which I felt made the trailer seem must quicker paced and more jumpy.  From this I have learnt that the target audience likes their horror movies to be very fast paced and to keep them 'on their toes' to help build suspense and momentum.

Having made the changes from the audience feedback we received from our classmates, I then asked for some more audience feedback from my friends, all of which were in the target age of 15 - 25.  They told me that:

From the comment "I like the fonts and I think the effects on the party ones look cool", I have learnt that my the intertitles now fit better to what the target audience wants and that they vastly improve the trailer.  Comment two "I think the lighting on the house at the beginning is really good" is very similar to a previous comment we had from a student in our class from our initial class screening.  It is also very similar to the comment above, "The lighting and laughter is really good".  Therefore I have also learn that the house shot is popular with the target audience.  "The music is haunting and is timed well" has told me that we have successfully corrected the errors with the soundtrack from our first draft.  Finally the comment "The combination of partying hard and murder is effective and chilling" has told me that the general narrative does appeal to my target audience and that the storyline is effective.  

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The effectiveness of my main product and ancillary texts would be measured based upon the success of the launch of 'Deranged'.  The main products and ancillary texts are all products that would be created by the film distributor.  The first role of the film distributor involves acquiring the movies they are going to release.  They do this from various sources, including; third party sales agents, parent studios, studios or production companies which the distributor has already negotiated an output deal or by acquiring a single title at any stage of production. The next role of the distributor is to plan the release.  This involves the distributor deciding when and how they are going to release the film as well as deciding factors such as who the film is targeted at, how the target audience can be convinced to buy a ticket at the box office and what other competition is around, especially that the target audience is also likely to want to see.  Next the distributor will create a marketing campaign for the movie.  The marketing campaign is used to create awareness and interest for the movie through a range of marketing strategies.  Marketing strategies can include the use of; posters, trailers, websites, screenings, set visits, merchandising, premiers and film festivals.  There are three main components to the marketing campaign.  These are; advertising, publicity and promotion.  After a movie has been marketed, the distributor must license the movies to the exhibitors so that the public can see the movies in cinemas, on DVD, Blu-Ray etc.

My main product (the trailer) and the poster are part of the advertising campaign in the marketing strategy.  There normally would be more products created and used by a distribution company for advertising, such as a website, however we would not of had time to create these for 'Deranged'.  I have however made reference to the fact that there would be other advertising material created by adding on the bottom of my poster a website address of www.derangedmovie.com which may have been chosen for the movie by the distribution company if it was actually being marketed.  For my trailer and poster to be considered to be effective they need to work well together and be coherent.  I have ensured that my trailer and poster are coherent in a number of ways.

One way in which I have done this is by keeping the same main protagonist, Peter  (the villain) as the centre of attention in the poster just as he is in the trailer as he has roughly the most screen time and a higher audience impact.  To achieve this, the only iconography I have used of characters from the movie on the poster is Peter, with no other characters visible on the poster.  I have also ensured that my poster is coherent to the movie trailer by using different frames of the movie on the poster rather than taking different pictures which would have been non-diagetic as they would not be able to be seen in the actual movie.  I think this is very effective because it ensures that there can be no confusion between the trailer and poster with any other movies that may be similar.  This is an example of one of the frames taken from the movie and where it has ended up on the poster:

Another way that I have ensured cohesion between my trailer and poster is through the use of the colour red.  I have used red as the predominant colour in the trailer through the colour of the title of the movie at the end and through the use of red blood on the characters faces throughout the trailer.  I therefore decided I needed to keep red as a very bold colour on my poster, especially as the colour red is very commonly used in horror movies because it connotes things such as blood and death to the audience.

A third way that I have kept my poster and trailer coherent and therefore effective is through the use of the movie slogan.  I chose to use "Can you really trust your friends?" as the slogan as it was my favourite intertitle that we used in the trailer and because I thought it was effective as it directly addressed and questioned the audience.

Another way that my trailer and poster back each other up is through the font of the title.  I thought it was very important to ensure the title in the trailer had the same font and colour and general appearance on the poster as opposed to using different fonts to each which could make it hard for the audience to distinguish whether the trailer and poster where both advertising the same movie.  The only change I have made to the title is that I adjusted the spacing on the poster to make it easier to read against the dark background.

One final way that I have kept the trailer and poster coherent is through the use of the distribution and production companies.  As they were very apparent in the trailer and were the first intertitles, I thought it was important to make them clear on the poster.  To do this I created logos for the companies and added them to the billing block as you find on quite a lot of real media posters.  I think it was important to do this because production companies and distribution companies can play an important role to an individual when they decide whether or not to go and see a movie, for example they may be a fan of Warner Brothers so they are likely to want to go and see the next new Warner Brothers film.

Through these similarities, I think that my combination of the trailer and poster work together well to form an effective advertising campaign because they back each other up and there is a clear link between the trailer and poster due to the similarities.

One other role that the distributor has is to generate favourable publicity for the movie.  This is because publicity is invaluable to the successful launch of a movie as the audience may find the opinions of others more important than what the distribution company itself has said about the movie.  A type of publicity that film distributors typically try to receive is by being publicised on a magazine front cover, especially of 'big name' magazines such as 'Empire', 'Total Film' and 'Sight & Sound'.  The distributor will try to get this publicity in these magazines by handing out press packs, organizing interviews with stars, producers or other people from the movie with the press, holding press screenings etc.  I have created a magazine cover for 'Empire' magazine featuring 'Deranged', however it is important to note that the distributor would not actually have any control over the magazine front cover as that would be down to the producers of the magazine themselves.  Therefore the distributors need to ensure that they give the press a good impression of the movie so they write favorably about it.

I have used Flickr to analyse my magazine front cover to show how it attracts its readership at point of sale.  Click the picture below to see my analysis on Flickr.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Frame 1 is taken from the 2005 movie 'The Amityville Horror'. Our shot of the outside of the house bares some similarities to the shot from 'The Amityville Horror', such as it has been internally framed through trees which gives us the feeling that the house is isolated and that should anything go wrong its hard for anyone inside the house to escape and hard for anybody else to gain access.  Another similarity between our shot and the shot from 'The Amityville Horror' is that both shots show just the house on its own, with no people, cars, pets or anything else around it which helps to add to the feeling of isolation and means that anybody staying in the house would be secluded from the outside world.  There are also some differences between our shots, for example ours is set at night time whereas the frame from 'The Amityville Horror is shot in full sunshine.  I think ours fits better with the horror genre because most horrors are set in the night time or in adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain and lightning, this is called the use of the 'pathetic fallacy' as a device.  Another difference is that our frame was shot in low key lighting and at a canted angle, both of which are important in the use of horrors which commonly use expressionistic camerawork.  Low key lighting and canted angles are commonly used in horror movies as a way of making the camerawork more expressive and to provoke different thoughts and connotations with the audience. Low key lighting can make us as an audience feel more paranoid because we don't know what else could be lurking in the darkness.  Canted angles are used heavily because they can tell the audience that something is not quite right and can make the audience feel disorientated or uneasy with what they are seeing.  They can sometimes also be used to represent the effects of alcohol or drugs on a person if they are shown at a canted angle.

Frame 2 is taken from the Australian horror movie 'Wolf Creek'.  It is from a very similar sequence of fast paced, rapidly cut, varying shot distance, dancing shots from a party sequence similar to the one in our trailer.  Both of these sequences, as well as many other similar sequences from similar movies are shot just before the equilibrium is disturbed and something unexpected happens and everything goes wrong.  Teenagers are commonly used as characters in horror movies because the target audience for a horror is a teenager.  As a result of this, the target audience is able to empathise with the characters because they are of the same age and may find themselves in similar situations to the target audiences lifestyle, such as a house party as shown in our trailer.  There are some differences between the frame from 'Wolf Creek' and our frame from 'Deranged'.  One difference is location, with the party sequence in 'Wolf Creek' being set inside a house and ours being set outside a house, in the back gardern.  Another difference is that the frame from 'Wolf Creek' is a two shot, with another person shown in the background behind the main person in the shot.  This is different to ours and suggests that something could already have gone wrong as our characters are already seperated and are on their own, however it would of been very hard for us to give the impression that we were in a large party because we were working in a small group.  One other difference is the use of lighting in both frames.  The frame from 'Wolf Creek' has been shot in high key lighting, whereas ours has been shot in low key, ambient lighting and has also had filters added to it to make it appear like night time. 

Frame 3 is taken from 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'.  It is an extreme close up of an eye, a shot that is commonly used in horror movies.  Shots like these are used for a number of reasons, such as; they can make the audience feel like they are invading the personal space of the onscreen character, they can be used to help show emotions such as fear or upset, they can be used as transitions between shots, e.g. fading up from black to the next shot as the onscreen character opens their eyes etc.  Both frames are similar in the fact that they been manipulated with the use of coloured filters to change the appearence and feel of the image.  Both shots are very similar, however I personally prefer the direct gaze of the frame from 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' because as a member of the audience it looks more shocking to me. 

Frame 4 is from 2007 movie, 'P2'.  Both show close up shots of mobile phones showing "No Service" on the screens. This is a commonly used technique in horror movies because not only does it bring panic to the audience by making them feel like they are alone and trapped, it could also relate to other times in their lives where they have desperatly needed help and have been unable to get it because their mobile phones have been out of coverage and it also puts us in the perspective of the character.  The two frames bare the similarity that they are extreme close up's of mobile phone screens, however I think the frame from 'P2' is more effective because at a glance it is much clearer to read what is on the screen.  Another reason why I think it is more effective is due to the iconography of the low battery symbol in the upper right corner, which should also panic the audience more because they will worry that even if the character can get any signal, that the battery in the mobile phone will have died by the time they get somewhere with signal.  In order to try and combat this issue we added a zoom in during our trailer towards the "No Service" writing to help to rectify this issue.  If we were to do this shot again, I would suggest to my group that we started closer to the phone and zoomed in from their so the text was easier to read and also so the time of day was less aparent because the phone shows that the time is 14:22 in the afternoon, yet the picture has had filters added to it to make it appear like it is night time. 

Frame 5 is an action shot from 'Cabin Fever'.  Both frames have been taken from running sequences, in which the characters are alone in a heavily wooded area, but as a member of the audience we cannot see where or what they are running towards.  Shots like these are commonly used in horror movies as a narrative enigma because the audience will be questioning themselves as to where the character is running towards or away from.  Both shots have been taken with the cameraman crabbing alongside the character, with the midground in focus (where the character is) and the foreground and background out of focus.  The frames from 'Cabin Fever' and 'Deranged' do have some differences, however they are very similar.  The main similarity is that both are long shots that have been internally framed through a trees in a heavily wooded area, a typical setting for a horror movie.  The main difference is the lighting, with the first shot being taken in high key lighting and very contrasting colours between the man running and the trees, whereas the frame from 'Deranged' is in low key lighting and the girl in the shot is harder to see due to the dark colours and shadows and she blends more into the background.  The other major difference is the genders of the characters, obviously the character in 'Cabin Fever' is male and the character from 'Deranged' is female, however this is a very important difference as gender roles play a very important part in horror movies.  Our shot helps to show the audience that the girl is a 'femme fatale' because she is running away, trying to save herself (and possibly others) and is not taking the stereotypical womens role of being helpless or being one first to die, get injured etc. 

Frame 6 has been taken from Norwegian comedy horror 'Dead Snow'.  This is a typical shot found in horror movies, showing a character with a weapon before they are about to use it.  Shots like these are used because they help to give indicators to the audience as to what might happen in the plot.  The similarity between the two shots is that both characters are shown staring directly at the camera wielding a sledge hammer as a weapon, however that is where the similarities stop.  The most important difference here is that the shot from 'Dead Snow' is of a victim trying to protect himself which is commonly done in horror films, such as 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'The Shining' whereas our shot from 'Deranged' shows the villan with the weapon, which should therefore panic the audience as opposed to them becoming more hopeful about the survival of one or more of the characters.  Another difference here is the setting; the frame from 'Dead Snow' clearly shows that the character is inside, in a well lit building whereas our shot from 'Deranged' has been taken outside, using only ambient lighting and has been somewhat disguised by the trees in the background, which in my opinion makes it scarier because the villan is harder to spot and comes launching out towards the camera and therefore appears as if he is running towards the audience. 

Frame 7 has been taken from Clive Barkers 2009 movie 'Book of Blood'.  Both shots are low level, close up shots of men laying on the ground, being dragged away by something or someone in the background, whilst trying to get a grip on the ground to stop them getting dragged away.  Shots like these are commonly used in horror movies because they build tension very quickly due to them being shown at a fast pace and because they are often unclear to the audience who is taking the character and/or where they are going.  Both frames have similarities and differences.  The main similarities are that they are both shot in low key lighting, with the frame from 'Book of Blood' looking like it has been shot at nightime and the shot from 'Deranged' with filters added to it to make it appear like nightime.  The major difference however is that in 'Book of Blood' it is not apparent who or what is dragging the character away or where to, whereas in the frame from 'Deranged' you can see the villan (although only from the neck down) that is dragging me under the bridge.  The other difference is that in 'Book of Blood' the location is not very clear whereas in 'Deranged' the shot has obviously been formed outside.

Frame 8 has been taken from the 1990 horror 'Night of the Living Dead'.  Both frames are birdseye, midshots of individuals laying on the floor in pain covered in blood.  Shots like these are typically used in horror movies because they make the audience member feel helpless because they are distanced from the character, however they are scary, deep and thoughtprovoking  frames because the audience can see fully the extent of the pain that the onscreen character is in because they are directly above them.  The shots also connote death because the character is low down on the ground, as far down as they can go and because they are distanced from everyone else but desperatly needing help but are clearly not going to get it so the audience thinks that this is the end for the character.  The similarities between the two frames are that both characters are the expressions and movements of the characters who are clearly screaming out in pain, reaching out for help, the shot distances and that they are both shot in low key lighting.  The difference here between the two shots is that the one from 'Night of the Living Dead' has been shot inside with the character staring at the camera and appearing to be reaching out the audience in need of help, with our shot from 'Deranged' being more distanced with the audience being spectators watching him get worse and it is also at a canted angle with the camera not directly above the character, showing that something has gone seriously wrong.

Frame 9 has been taken from 'Eden Lake'.  They are similar shots to the ones in frame's 8 in the respect that they show the characters in pain and covered in blood, however this time the characters seem much stronger because they are able to stand up and because they have a mennacing look in their eyes.  Shots like these are commonly used in horror movies because they either add more panic to the audience if the shot is of the villan, like the one from 'Deranged' or they give the audience more faith that something will take a turn for the better because they see that the character is becoming strong again and may be able to fight back, such as in 'Eden Lake'.  These shots bare some similarities in that they have both been shot in a woodland area, in low key lighting, with both characters covered in blood.  They are also both close up images, showing both men from the shoulders up.  However the shot from our horror trailer is different because the character is not the one that is endangered but is instead the one causing the danger.

Our trailer also meets some of the conventions of teaser trailers and horror movies.  It is considered a teaser trailer because it does not give away the full plot and because it lasts for less than 1 minute 30 seconds, unlike full theatrical trailers which can sometimes take twice this amount of time.  It also clearly gives the name of the movie, something which is obviously very important for marketing the movie because the audience will not be able to go out and watch it if they don't know what it is called.  However our teaser trailer does not give away the production values of the movie such as named directors, movie stars etc. which is common in many teaser trailers because they help to attract audience attention who may like films by a certain star and therefore will decide that they will watch the movie being advertised to them, possibly even if the plot or genre doesn't appeal to them.  The music is used to help guide us through the narrative and the intertitles because of the changing soundtracks, volume and tempo which help to make them fit with the action, this is called pleonastic music.  As a horror movie it fits the typical horror conventions of; small, isolated locations such as the woods and private houses, expressive camerawork with an emphasis on canted angles and extreme close ups, low key lighting and weaponary such as the use of sledge hammer and because there is a final girl character, however from our trailer is it unclear whether or not she survives at the end, although this should not be revealed anyway in a teaser trailer.

Empire Magazine

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Empire Magazine
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Total Film Magazine

Total Film Magazine
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Sight & Sound Magazine

Sight & Sound Magazine
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Storyboard

This is our group storyboard for our trailer:

28 Days Later poster

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28 Days Later poster
Originally uploaded by georgewiley

Eden Lake poster

Eden Lake poster
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Click the picture to see my Flickr analysis of 'Eden Lake'

Mirrors Poster

Mirrors Poster
Originally uploaded by georgewiley

Click the picture to see my Flickr analysis of 'Mirrors'

The Role Of The Distributor

Distribution is highly competitive in the world of a movie as it not only launches, but sustains films in the market place. The role of the distributor is to work out target audiences and then deliver the movies to the largest demographic possible. This is a very large job that is rivaled by the mass of other entertainment outlets available such as online movie downloads, 3D televisions and high definition available to the masses. Distributors need to be able to unleash the full potential of a film, whether it is a movie appealing to a niche audience or a sequel where various story lines need to be continued.  Distributors work with a very wide range of people including; producers, exhibitors, advertising agencies etc. to make this happen.  They must source the films they want to release, whether they come from a studio, a production company or a third party and then protect them using copyright laws.  Distribution plans are drawn up to aid the distributor throughout the film in accordance to producers or studios to ensure that the distribution of the film is successful.  Competition needs to be carefully considered and many questions are asked by the distributor, for example, is the film for a holiday period or specific season? Questions like these are asked to ensure that the marketing of the film achieves the highest success possible.  Marketing plans are different in that they determine how they are going to target the audience.  This will include where they advertise, how they advertise etc. such as whether they will use posters, trailers, online advertising, mobile advertising etc. to advertise the movie.  The marketing plan will vary dependent on the type of movie, for example a romantic movie might be better marketed using posters where as an action movie could be better marketed using online and mobile advertising.  Promotional activities are part of the marketing plan.  These once again depend on the type of film and the target audience but could see things such as 'tie-in's' to promote the film in places such as McDonalds on fast food packaging.