Evaluation

Question 1; In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I have created my teaser trailer ‘The Host’ which is psychological horror (sub genre) based on the forms and conventions of existing media products. Before producing my film trailer I researched and studied a variety of trailers in different genres (Analysis of trailers) (Trailers I have looked at). I then decided to look into specific conventions of the psychological horror genre conventions and then stated the familiar conventions.  (Conventions of psychological horror film trailers) ( Conventions of the horror genre in general) I then finally decided to look at the history of film trailers to add a bit of depth to my research.



For question 2, I have provided goanimate videos to discuss the codes and conventions I have found for my ancillary products.

Codes and conventions of websites by Dan.T on GoAnimate


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Conventions of a film horror poster by Dan.T on GoAnimate

Audience Feedback 2

I again conducted another questionnaire. I asked the same equal amount of female and males (which was 3 each) and asked 6 in total. It was important to have a equal number of both of the gender as this represents that the female gender is gaining more equality in horror films as they tend to be the antagonist which over powers the male.

My target audience is 15-26 therefore so I asked people within this age bracket. There is two people that answered they're in the 30+ age bracket so it gives my media texts a wider target audience than originally expected.

After watching my film trailer, does the narrative make sense to you?

I was fairly okay with the answers I collected from this. Some of the people could not identify the narrative and found that it did not make sense at all. They could not identify the true antagonist. Some said it was conveyed very well, that it was professional and that there were some good elements of psychological horror.

80% enjoyed watching my video which was a great overall positive bearing in mind that I had no professional actors or a good budget. 20% did not enjoy due to it not reflecting the horror genre all that well, expectations were not that great and wanted more (particularly the first half of the trailer).

What would you change about my film trailer?

This question was integral to my evaluation as I could reflect on what I could have done to improve as my target audience did not enjoy some aspects. It was a mixture of positive and negatives. Some said that the dialogue and soundtrack would need to be improved. Specifically, the dialogue can't be heard in the scene where Ryan speaks directly to Danny. The soundtrack towards the end could be improved by making it more high pitched so it creates more tension. Some shots were repetitive. I understand that some shots are repetitive but I did not want to disclose much of the plot. If I revealed too much then it would spoil the film completely.

60% of the people asked said that they would go to see my film trailer. 40% said no. It's almost a 50/50 split which is quite pleasing. I can understand why 40% said no though due to the repetitive scenes, audio was not good in certain places and nonsensical plot.

90% said that they enjoyed my film poster which I was extremely pleased about. I put a lot of effort into making it. Most people praised the use of background colour, the mixture of white, grey, brown and the use of blood. My main image was also praised due to the de-saturated, sinister look. The one person who did not agree said that the main image is not that effective and the typography used could be adjusted even more to reflect the genre.

What would you change about the poster?

Only one person I asked had suggested improvements. This person said that you could perhaps use a room in the house featured in the film trailer with eerie effects added like drop shadows. Text could be adjusted by having blood dripping from the text. Most people loved the consistency though between my film trailer, poster and website. The tagline "Once you see her, you will die" is featured across all three products. In the film trailer this message is featured in the final scene where the close-up of Alx's eye is featured.

I explained to my target audience that I took influences from The Blair Witch Project and Sinister interactive websites. I made psuedo facts and created a psuedo investigation in to the disappearance of Alx, Danny and Ryan. I illustrated this by text and pictures. 90% of my target audience found that the information provided is good. But one person didn't because they found that the website isn't that interactive. I acknowledge this but it was difficult to actually develop interactive material in the time provided to make my products plus I did not have the knowledge for this.

70% said yes which means I have achieved continuity to an extent which is quite pleasing. 30% said no because the film poster's background is a little more pale as opposed to the website background used which is a bit more lighter. They said it was done well however and the blood dripping from the top is featured on the website and poster. This all coincides with the tagline "Once you see her, you will die" which is the last scene in the film trailer as stated before. 

Audience theory

This theory was the first attempt at an explanation for how an audience will react to the media. It suggests that the audience will passively receive the information present in a media text, without challenging the data. This theory was developed whilst media was still quite new - radio and cinema had only been introduced less than 2 decades prior to the development of this theory. Governments were beginning to use advertising to communicate a message, and produced propaganda used in forms of media such as newspapers, cinema, radio and posters. It injects ideas in to the target audience.

The theory suggests that the experience, intelligence and opinion of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the information within the media text. It suggests that, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts, and that our behaviour and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers.

Uses and Gratifications in the Horror Genre

The Uses and Gratifications Theory is a way of explaining the ways in which audiences are motivated to consume forms of media. It states that all media is consumed to fulfil a need.

These needs include:

Surveillance
This need involves people feeling safer and more secure knowing what things are going on around them.

Horror Genre Example: If a viewer watches a film in which a killer is present in an ordinary town, then they will feel safer as they will feel that they would be able to deal with the situation better if it happened to them.

Personal IdentityThis is the need for the viewer to develop their identity through the characters in the media. This is to help them become a better person through adopting desirable characteristics.

Horror Genre Example: When a character shows bravery in dealing with a scary situation, the viewer may seek to replicate this bravery in their own life.
Personal RelationshipsTelevision and Cinema are just two of the media types that could be consumed as part of a social activity, ie. with others present whilst watching. This fills a need in that people who have watched an event together have bonded as it seems like they have been through the experience together.
Horror Genre Example: In a Horror, at least one character is conventionally killed, which would allow viewers to emotionally share the traumatic experience.
This may also relate to the use of the media as a conversation point, to further develop personal relationships.Horror Genre Example: Conversations may take place in which people debate the scariness of the horror film, thus developing the relationships with each other through conversation.
EscapismThis need is probably the most common, and involves the viewer 'escaping' from their normal life by putting themselves in the position of the characters. This helps the viewer to forget the stress, boredom, or sadness in their lives and at least momentarily be happy.Horror Genre Example: Viewers can put themselves in the position of a killer, for example. This is something that members of the audience are unlikely to experience in their normal lives.

 

 

Desensitisation

 

Suggesting that constant exposure to such accessible violence on a regular basis within the media no longer makes such a strong emotional impact upon the audience, possible causing them to also be insensitive towards violence in everyday life. According to the American Academy of Paediatrics, "Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behaviour, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed." Children become immune to the horror of violence, gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems, imitate violence they observe on TV, and identify with characters (victims or victimisers) they see on TV.

 

Horror movies are prime examples of violence in media texts since they depict gruesome death scenes. But as time went on horror films became more and more violent rather than focusing on atmosphere and tension but there days we’ve seen so much violence in horror films that it no longer shocks us. There have been many horror films that are dedicated to being as grotesque as possible like Saw. Other examples include Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13^th.

 

History of film trailers

I decided to make presentations about the history of film trailers.

 

 

 

 



 

Box plan of my website

 

Like my poster, I made a box draft of my website to detail where I would place the conventions and what conventions are on my website home page.

Website Inspiration

I mainly took inspiration from The Blair Witch Project and Sinister websites, I looked at their conventions which was mainly user interactivity. For example, looking at videos, examining images and movie soundtrack. I adhered to this as best as possible for my target audience. I will discuss similar concepts I have taken. The first is the missing poster that is used for TBWP. This was created so that it increases user interactivity as web 2.0 is mainly about that. It adds realism and gives a sense of the target audience being involved in the search.

Below, I made a Extras page just like the TBWP and Sinister websites. You can see the Missing poster. This was simply achieved by making a blank document in Photoshop, used the gradient tool to create that grainy, old grey look so that it connotates the passage of time and realism. I will want my target audience to think it's as real as possible. I also de-saturated the colour from the cast's image to connotate the enigma and make the target audience think "What has actually happened?"


For my extras page, I also considered conventions which were used in the features page on the Sinister website. Such as the "Sinister News", I took inspiration from this and made the option for the target audience to contract the website (which is another convention) it also allows interactivity. So I keep a consistent house style of allowing the target audience to take part in something as opposed to just viewing text and images. I use the same organisational layout on the Sinister website so that the interactive extras are easily accessible and I use plain white text which allows easy navigation.

Follow up from this, the Sinister website contains the trailer on a separate page. Most websites I have looked at usually house the trailer on a separate or home page. 

Below, I contain a 30 second trailer which I created in post-production. I adhered to the conventions of using the main trailer on the home page and a 30 second trailer on a separate page. The target audience can also examine footage that was uncovered from the police's investigation after discovering the little girl's (elizabeth) body. This idea was taken from TBWP's website as they have pieces of evidence they can examine to perhaps uncover anything.

It's also conventional to create a synopsis page. Bellow I have taken inspiration from this and made a basic one, like Sinister.

Finally, I created a gallery. Instead of cluttering the page up with images, Wix allowed the option to present them in a slideshow. I believe this is more interactive as you're obviously clicking the arrows to access certain images. Sinister does this too.

Codes and conventions of websites

Codes and conventions of websites by Dan.T on GoAnimate

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Final trailer

Update; there is no longer the issue of screen resolution and the footage is not stretched. This is my definite final film trailer.

7th draft of my film trailer (disaster)

I have encountered a problem when placing my candidate details, the footage is stretched so I'll have to sort that out as soon as possible 

Drafts of my website

Finished website

http://s0012365.wix.com/host-film

My website can be visted via the URL provided.

Psuedo missing poster for website

I decided to create a missing poster as stated in my research and planning that I would. I took inspiration from The Blair Witch Project for this which is shown below.

I felt it was important to create this for the target audience interactivity with the website. The proliferation of web 2.0 using flash animations on film websites is growing substantially. I was unable to do this on Wix as it wasn't integrated with Flash. This poster grabs the target audience attention, however and gets them to look at the Youtube clips I put on my website for the purpose of interactivity.

Resolving any copyright issues with soundtrack

There are certain issues such as copyright which need to be discussed as well to maintain that no work is taken down when it is marked. In the screenshot above, I give disclaimer credit so that the music will not be taken down from Youtube as it is not mine.

Development of soundtrack cover

There is not that much to note. I used a dark colour scheme as opposed to the poster to give a fresh look so that it doesn't fail to grab target audience attention. I still use the conventional colour schemes used for my psychological horror genre which is white although you can't see it that much. 

Soundtrack for my film trailer

I decided to make a soundtrack cover art for my music which is featured in my trailer. I made this soundtrack even though it's a film trailer, I thought of it as a whole film if it was to be properly produced.

My inspiration came from this soundtrack cover;



It is something to be featured on my website as plenty of images are needed on a conventional website to attract the target audience demographic.

Here is my soundtrack cover. It has mainly adhered to The Hobbit's cover conventions. Such as stating who the soundtrack is produced by. By using a well known composer this will attract the target audience as well as the "special edition" text.

Box plan and mock up of my film poster

After looking at the conventional features of a film poster, I then planned a rough box layout of where I would place my conventions so that they effectively attract the target audience.

I then constructed a mock-up of my film poster. I tried using images which reinforced the conventional tagline "Once you see her, nothing will save you". I used a doll's mask to connotate this. The mise-en-scene of the mask contains lipstick which reinforces that it is a girl. I then found a image of a box which is the main prop in my film trailer plot. I then realised these images did not reflect the psychological horror genre and did not signify the antagonist's child like behaviour.

My film poster available in a application and outside world

I photo shopped the final draft of my horror poster on to a advertisement in my local area to test what it would conventionally look like. 

I went a bit further and tested the look of my horror poster on a android movie poster application to see how it would look on there.

6th draft of my trailer

Fifth draft of my trailer

Audience Feedback

I decided to create a questionnaire and posted the results + analysis.

I decided to give the questionnaire to a equal amount of males and females to give us a fair view of each gender's opinions on horror movies.

The majority of those that filled out the questionnaire were between the ages 15 and 19. Since it is a large majority, we have taken their preferences into consideration as they would be slightly different to the other age ranges.

There is a lot of different answers to this question and this allows us to see the other styles of movies that people like other than horrors. This information is useful because it shows what elements I could add to my trailer to make it more enjoyable for our target audience.

A large percentage of the people that were asked this question chose "Sinister" as their favourite horror movie. "Sinister" is a psychological horror movie and so I could use some elements from the movie such as sound effects and cuts that will make our target audience enjoy the film trailer more.

From these results, it clearly indicates the most influential element that makes someone want to watch a horror movie is the trailer. This means that my aim for our project is to create a good, strong, high quality trailer to the best of my ability and the other two ancillary texts to support it.

I also asked if anything, what makes a horror movie less appealing to you?

The following answers are;

Gallons of blood and gore

Excessive gore overtaking story-telling

Story-lines that don’t make sense

A poor storyline

Poor ratings and reviews

From the results of this question, I will adhere to the answer such as "Story-lines that don’t make sense" and "poor styline", and adjust the narrative to appease those answers. The aim is obviously  to attract the target audience, so to create a narrative that doesn't take into account these factors would be destined to fail.

Hostel and The Possession were chosen equally with 4 votes each. From this joint vote, I can use conventions from both posters to attract the target audience.

From the results shown, you can see that the people thought the most effective feature in a movie trailer is the sound track. This shows me that I should add and focus on the soundtrack as the important element of my trailer as it will draw in the target audience.

Out takes of my trailer

As much as filming can be quite stressful due to time management, I thought I would post my out takes from when I filmed in November. To show how my old clips that were not effective, how I got to my final product but more importantly how I had fun filming and the funny mistakes that my actors made.

Initial ideas; brainstorm of film titles

To begin these brainstorms, I first looked over various existing film titles such as The Possession, Silent Hill, The Crazies and observed the conventions that they contain. The titles can be split into two halves; one word titles and two or more word titles, each excluding “the”. The titles with 2 or more words tend to be limited to four words, and in some cases five as with “Last House on the Left” and those with one word have a single striking adjective that resonates with the target audience. The aim is to have a title that the audience will remember It was evident that I needed two words to fully connotate and signify the genre and the narrative. Overall, I found that “The Host” had a much scarier connotation, as “Demon Within” or "Darkness Within" was too generic.“The Host” also has the connotations with possession, and therefore fits in with my narrative much more effectively.

Fourth draft of my trailer

Third draft of my trailer

Second draft of my trailer

The building blocks towards making my trailer

Here is the first 30 seconds of what I had edited within a week. It's not very good, but you can see the development of my trailer and how I made it in bits. I intend to use this as a mini trailer for my website so I'm making use of this.

Production Plan and Time management

This was posted late due to me being busy with editing the actual trailer.

Filming day 1 12th February; started filming at 12pm finished at 5pm

Medium shot of Alx opening the box
Over the shoulder shot of Alx opening the box
Alx's voiceover recorded
Close-ups of the pencil, writing paper and bracelet
Over the shouldershot of Alx opening the paper to reveal the creepy message
The medium close-up of Alx picking up the phone worringly
Alx holding a knife with the tip on her finger it shows a close up of the knife
Medium close-up of Alx of her scribbling on the paper
Two-shot of Alx and Danny sat at the table in medium close-up
Two-shot of Alx going to supposedly stab Danny's hand
Medium close-up Alx is sat on the bed scribbling
Medium close-up of Danny asking if Alx is ok
Medium close-up of Alx stating "For whom the bell tolls"
Medium close-up of Danny accompanied by the voice over of Alx "It tolls for thee"
Medium close-up of Alx scribbling on the paper
Low angle shot of Alx holding the knife
Extreme close-up of Danny on the floor
Extreme close-up of Alx's eye

Filming day 2 February 17; 1pm - 1:30pm

I recorded the voice over of Danny explaining what the box is as Ryan was unable to attend. I have improvised due to lack of time and not being able to book out a camera again.

Update; I decided not to use Danny's voice over as I felt that it gave too much of the narrative away and would therefore spoil the story for the target audience.

Time management;

Both filming days were a success as I thought it would take a lot more time in filming day 1 due to moving the LED lighting systems around the house for the individual shots. I am on time with my overall project as I have filmed everything I needed during February half term. I have completed my film poster, it is subject to a little bit of change but nothing major. I spent two days after half term after college on the first week back which consisted of a hour one day and a hour and a half. This consisted of organising, naming clips and a fair bit of editing. As a result I managed to produce a 30 second draft. After spending another week of editing after college hours I managed to get 1 minute and 30 seconds edited. I am contemplating on using this draft as a sneak peak mini trailer for my website.

Update; By the 7th of March I produced a second draft. So it took me 18 days editing as we came back on the 18th of February after half term. I did not immediately upload the drafts on my blog as I just wanted to continuously produce drafts of my trailer so I had a lot of footage on my blog. By the 14th, I uploaded my second draft and uploaded a third and fourth draft on the 15th of March (they were uploaded at the same time because I forgot to upload due to working on ancillary texts.)  I was concious that the deadline for my main products was the 22th of March. 

Hand drawn drafts of ancillary texts (initial ideas)

I decided to make a film soundtrack cover as well for my project. I know this isn't a part of my ancillary texts, but I thought I would do that little bit more. Most films offer a soundtrack for the audience to download. I would offer this as more of a incentive to go see the film and visit my website. I offer this as my target audience may really enjoy this sound track and will want to download it. If they really enjoy it, they will recommend it to their friends which increases the growth of my film via web 2.0.

Before starting designing my poster, I did a hand drawn sketch of how I initially wanted my poster to look like. Which was Alx in the centre and then edited to a effect where she looks really demonic. So the genre is clear to the target audience.  It's not a really good drawing and it doesn't give exact director and production details. But it gave me a idea of where to place these when designing it in Photoshop. 

Interviews with my cast about how they feel being in the film

I decided to film these interviews as a fun element to my project. It's also audience feedback in essence.

Final film poster

Here is the final draft of my horror poster. In my hand sketched initial ideas, I decided to use Alx edited to a effect where it reflects the horror genre. I then re-thought about my inital ideas and used a doll's house. I wanted to use a image that wouldn't over power the blood effect and cover most of the wall paper. The doll house is relevant as it's a key item in the trailer as well as the box. I thought about using a image of the box, but I wanted to use a fairly bigger image. The doll house is connected to the narrative as the girl used to play with it a lot. Here I added the 15 age certificate symbol and imported the house into the poster de-saturated with a drop shadow effect. I decided to use a teddy bear with a knife as props like these denotate the genre greatly. Children's toys like this are used in the Silent Hill film and game franchise. Silent Hill is one of my inspirations for the project. The teddy bear's head is also slanted in a demented like way. This kind of effect is inspired by The Exorcist and is completely juxtaposed to the objective of a teddy bear which is to be cute. I also de-saturated it as was too bright and took too much attention away from the main image. To keep a consistent main house style like in my AS coursework, I feature my psuedo production company logo on my poster too. This will be in my film trailer and website too. So that the audience can recognise it in all products. 

Images for poster and explanation why I have chosen the particular item

This is the main image I will be using (above) I couldn't really decide what to use for my film poster. The inspiration came from my niece owning this doll's house. Girls particularly at the age of 5 up until 12 stereotypically play with this kind of thing. The dead girl who is the antagonist is age 10. I therefore though it was appropriate to use this. This kind of item is conventionally found in Horror films featuring children as it adds denotes more of a psychological feeling which reinforces the genre I am communicating to my target audience. The only problem is that this doll's house is pink which doesn't reflect the genre. So in editing, I will de-saturate the colour so that it matches the colours of my poster.

I took some test photographs at first and they weren't successful, the lighting wasn't particularly good and the doll's house looks out of place, like it's on a slant.