A2 Media Studies.

Media Studies Evaluation.

My chosen brief for my media coursework consisted of creating a promotional package for a film. This included a film trailer and thirty second teaser trailer, a poster for the film as well as a website homepage design. The research I collected as well as the planning and production process to create this work can be found on my blog (http://benblundell92.blogspot.co.uk).

Before starting the production of my promotional package, I researched the history of film trailers producing a small essay structured piece of writing which I then posted onto my blog. By researching and creating this post, I was able to discover when the first film trailer was created as well as the different techniques that have been used over different decades in order to create these trailers. In the 1950’s, film trailers generally consisted of features such as:

- Having longer and more detailed trailers

- Trailers that told the full story/revealed the entirety of the plot

- Flashed words on the screen to create effect such as ‘terrifying!’, ‘close your eyes!’ and ‘Never before seen!’

As I continued to research this, I discovered that the trailers we see in the current day completely different to the first ones that we saw in the 1950’s. In the current times trailers hold features such as containing the latest pop/rock music from popular artists, the trailers as a rule showed less of the real story but tended to be a great deal more exciting than the actual film itself and also used quicker editing and zoom effects to create the ideal tension for the audience.

In my LIIAR post I had to research the typical language, institution, ideology, audience and representation basis that all film trailers are created around. The language of a film trailer refers to the micro elements such as the cinematography, sound, editing and mise-en-scene all which hold different conventions for different genres of film. The institution of the text would be the company creating the text such as ‘Paramount Pictures’ although the institution could also consist of the director and/or producer of the film. The ideology of a film trailer is what the text is trying to communicate to its audience and often utilizes the beliefs, views or representations supported by the institution of the film – an example of this taking my own work into consideration would be the genre conventions of my film trailer which is psychological horror. The audience would be the collection of people that appear to like a specific genre of film which includes functions such as age as well as gender for example a typical stereotype would be males watching action films whereas females would watch romance films. Through creating my poll I discovered that both male and female watch horror films that range between the ages of 17-20 and are mostly students. Finally the representation of a film or film trailer would be who and what the text is trying to represent. The representation of a film is generally based on the conventions and audience of a specific film genre.

As part of my planning process, I created a poll on my blog in order to collect information about target audiences as well as collecting information about what audiences like to see in horror films due to horror being my choice of genre for my promotional package. I also asked questions based on audience consumption of films and trailers. The poll proved very helpful and influential on my work as the results given from it set a very clear route that I should head down for the creation of my promotional package. The results of my poll stood like this:

What is your gender?

Male: 22%

Female: 77%

How old are you?

10 – 13: 0%

14 – 16: 0%

17 – 20: 100%

21+: 0%

What is your occupation?

Student: 55%

Unemployed: 11%

Part time: 0%

Full time: 11%

Student & Casual work: 22%

What are your top 3 favourite film genres?

Horror: 80%

Action: 70%

Comedy: 70%

Romance: 30%

RomCom: 40%

Thriller: 30%

Musical: 10%

Adventure: 20%

Mockumentary: 10%

What elements do you like to see in a Horror film?

A film that breaks the conventions: 44%

Stereotypical: 11%

Open ended narrative: 0%

Camerawork that communicates atmosphere/tension: 44%

How many times have you visited the cinema this year?

I haven’t: 22%

Once: 0%

Twice a month: 77%

Once a week: 0%

How often do you rent out DVD’s from companies such as Lovefilm/Blockbuster?

Never: 55%

Rarely: 11%

Occasionally: 33%

Regularly: 0%

How often do you watch film trailers on the internet?

Never: 0%

Rarely: 33%

Occasionally: 33%

Regularly: 33%

These results proved very beneficial towards the planning and research for my promotional package as it provided results that were not misleading but very straight forward.

After taking into the account the results from the poll, I decided upon my genre of psychological horror. This specific branch of horror is based on the idea of psychological torment which usually results in the protagonist of the film being killed. Although I decided specifically on this branch of horror, I then created a post on the conventions of the horror genre as I would still need to bring in some stereotypical horror conventions when creating my own work. My main findings within researching this were that all horror films are generally unsettling and aim to bring forth emotions such as fear, disgust and horror specifically targeting the viewer’s worst nightmares. I also discovered that horror films often overlap other genres of film such as fantasy, sci-fi and thrillers creating a hybrid genre of film.

Horror films are often based upon supernatural occurrences but can also contain features such as morbidity, serial killers, disease/virus outbreaks and surrealism. The trait of a horror film is basically to provoke a response from the film whether that is emotional, psychological or physical these responses can only be created if the conventions of horror are used systematically and effectively throughout the film.

Most horror films follow a set of conventions throughout the genre although sometimes these conventions can be broken to provide a twist in the film. The common conventions we see in horror films are:

- Dark/Shadowy lighting

- Isolated locations

- Female victims

- Disruption of normality

- Sub plot of male/female relationship

- The defeat of a monster

Some examples of horror films that I believe are effective are:

- The Strangers

- Haunting in Connecticut

- Paranormal Activity

- Insidious

- Quarantine

A main research technique I used to fully gather the conventions of psychological horror film trailers was textual analysis. In detail, I analysed the film trailers for the films ‘The Strangers’, ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ and ‘Halloween 2’. I also analysed film posters and a website homepage in order to create an idea of what I would need to include within my own work.

The main features I recognised when analysing the film trailer ‘The Strangers’ was the intense use of close up shots that were used defining specific objects and characters as well as portraying different emotions through the use of the camera, although these similar shot sizes were used in both The Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween 2, the focused use of them was not as intense as The Strangers, as they both contained a more varied approach to the different shot sizes. Both Halloween and a Nightmare on Elm Street began with a wide range of establishing shots, long shots and medium shots in order to provide the audience with a view of what lead to the events taking place within the film.

The mise-en-scene used is very effective within The Strangers film trailer as we are able to define both protagonists and their personalities through the costumes that they are wearing which is also very similar to the characters in both A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween 2. In the Strangers the lightly coloured gown we see at the beginning worn by Kirsten suggests innocence where as the more rugged shirt and jeans combination she is wearing during the action of the trailer suggests she is working hard to fight for her life. More so in A Nightmare on Elm Street than Halloween 2 are costumes used to signify each characters personality and trait, the wearing of jeans and hooded tops is very stereotypical of a teenagers every day clothing. In The Strangers we are able to see a great deal of the holiday home the couple are staying in due to the fact that this is where the film is mainly based. The log fire and open plan kitchen as well as the decor provides the audience with a very out in the countryside feel almost like a farmer’s house. This differs to the film trailer of Halloween 2 as the variation of settings shown is very revealing f the storyline.

The sound we can hear in all three trailers that I have analysed is very typical of a horror film. The non diegetic sounds of heart beats and prolonged bangs is what is used to create tension and atmosphere within the trailer. The loud bangs that we can hear constantly cut in time with the editing eventually building up to a much faster pace therefore keeping up with the speed of the action but also prompting the audience to prepare for the climax. Usually in trailers of this time, as mentioned earlier, a soundtrack from a popular song usually accompanies different film trailers, with the three trailers I have analysed, not one of them holds a song. A Nightmare on Elm Street contains its own theme song created for the film but is more like a nursery rhyme which fits in with the background of the story.

Montage editing is used in order to emphasise main characters, themes and the narrative of the film within the short trailer in The Strangers. This editing style is also used in A Nightmare on Elm Street as it is a typical style of editing to use but not so common in trailers but rather in the film itself. In Halloween 2, the use of non continuity editing continues although the transitions that are used are different in comparison to the previous trailers. Although they both used fades as well as cuts this is more at the beginning of the trailer whereas in the Halloween 2 trailer, the use of transitions swaps and changes throughout.

When analysing the ancillary texts of two posters for the film The Strangers and the film The Last House on the Left I found the conventions where very similar and the posters themselves were very similar to each other even though they contained a completely different image. Both images are naturally evolved around main events of the film or main locations. The Last House on the Left holds many different scenes and settings within the film but the main section of the horror and action is based in the house, therefore the black and white image of the house is almost expected in order to promote the film. This is very similar to The Strangers in the sense that all the main characters of the film are centred in the image backed against the brick wall of the chimney breast that we see in the house it is based in.

The texts we can see on the film posters is purposely fitted with the film. The Strangers title is centred just below the protagonist’ head and contains a glow around what appears to be the rigid style font. The poster contains the actor real names for the protagonist as well as the film’s catch line at the top of the poster as well as the legal information that can be seen towards the bottom. The text layout on The Last House on the Left poster is more dominant than the image of the house itself. Apart from the word house which is in a blood red colour accompanied by a blood splatter, the rest of the text is in white keeping in style with black and white image. The size of the film title differs greatly compared to The Strangers film poster, the dominance it has on the page is very overwhelming meaning that the main image as well as the catch line and legal information for the text is squashed down to the bottom.

Taking my own film trailer into consideration, there are many ways in which it follows the typical conventions of a psychological horror film trailer like in the ones textually analysed for my research purposes. The opening of my film trailer consists of still images introducing the house in which it was set as well as the surrounding areas which can be seen in the trailer. The use of text in my trailer is very conventional of horror films as it provides some extra/background information on the characters and the reasons for the events that take place. The cinematography I have used throughout the trailer consists of long shots, mid shots, close up shots, tracking shots and also over the shoulder shots. These different types of camera shots are also conventional of a horror film trailer as they tend to focus upon the characters and the action that is taking place.

Editing was also used in a way that is very conventional of horror films. I used montage editing in order to create a sense of a story line behind the film which I believe worked effectively. The transitions I used between shots consisted of fades and cuts, the fades built up to the min section of the action within the trailer and when it reached this point, the use of quick, clean cuts became apparent, the length of the shots getting shorter with quicker cuts in order to create tension and represent the characters within the trailer like most horror film trailer do.

Because my film trailer is set in a domestic home setting, this feature relates well to each of the film trailers I have analysed as we see a home setting within each. The decision to do this was to follow the typical conventions of a horror film trailer allowing it to be a great deal more believable. Within the mise-en-scene we are able to see the costumes of the characters which represent them both in a way in which we would expect the typical female victim and the overpowering murderer whose identity is hidden behind a mask, much like the characters in the film The Strangers. Having the female victim (Faye) perceived as being helpless and vulnerable allows the audience to make an emotional connection with the character and feel sorry for her in comparison to feeling fearful towards the antagonist of the trailer.

The majority of the sound in my film trailer is non diegetic; the soundtrack in the background is the song ‘Mad World – Gary Jules’ which plays through the entirety of the trailer. By doing this, my trailer abides by the typical conventions of film trailers, I decided upon using this track mainly due to the chords in the background as the song used for my trailer doesn’t have any lyrics with it. The bangs that we hear during the trailer are also non diegetic sound but have been placed within the diegesis in order to create the deception that the sound is coming from the scene. Although my film trailer consists mainly of non diegetic sound, there is some diegetic sound that can be heard during dialogue, knocking on doors, the scraping of the knife on the kitchen work top and the screams of the victim which is a frequent occurrence.

The ancillary texts I created (both the film poster and the website homepage) consisted of mainly dark red and black colours. The poster created for my film trailer was set out in landscape which is not conventional of a typical film poster. The image was set against a brick background with the antagonist covering the left hand side of the page, with an image of the victim smaller and crouching away from the antagonist on the right hand side although this doesn’t consume much space. My poster contains the name of the film in bold white letters with a red glow around the edges emphasising the name of the film which is one of many techniques used to draw attention to film posters. It also contains the names of the actors in the film trailer, the tag line, the website address as well as a quote from ‘The Times’ newspaper and star rating. Features such as these are very common of film posters and also contain the production logo which in the case of my poster is Warner Brothers as well as an 18 rated certificate logo.

The website homepage I created continues the colours of the poster but holds a different image of both characters of the film stood back to back which is placed on the left hand side of the page. On the right hands side of the page, similar to the poster, we are able to see the title of the film continuing the theme of the white writing with the red glow. As well as this we are able to see the film trailer as well as an ‘enter site’ button to provide the idea that there is more information about the film inside. On this homepage we can also see the logos of social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook in the bottom left hand corner. This is a typical convention when looking at film websites as it is a promotional technique that allows the audience to share the website on these social networks.

After researching the genre of psychological horror, I created a storyboard in order to provide a detailed shot by shot plan of what I intended my film trailer to look like. After producing this, I used Windows Movie Maker to create an anamatic which was a picture taken of each shot I wanted to use and cutting them together along with the soundtrack I decided to use. By doing this, I was able to gather a vague idea of what my film trailer would look like if everything went to plan.

After researching my chosen genre, I created a post based on the audience that I would be targeting so I would be able to create my film trailer with this in mind. From the information I gathered from my poll, I discovered that the age range of horror films and the audience would be 17 – 20 year olds, but because I asked people to answer the poll through the social networking site Facebook, I came to realise that the reason for this would be due to the fact this is the age range of people that I have on Facebook. For my audience post on my blog I researched a general audience for horror films and took this into account as this would be the conventional audience for a horror film. By targeting this age range audience as well as targeting both males and females, this would attract a mainstream audience for my film trailer.

After creating my storyboard, animatic as well as researching into the audience I wrote the synopsis for my film trailer.

‘After finishing college with a high pass grade, the life of the young student Alice Court appeared to be back on track after a cancerous tumour killed her father. Her life was looking positive, her life was looking easy but before she had chance to celebrate this, her life was about to come to an end. News stories had plagued the TV and newspapers for months about a masked murderer randomly choosing and killing its victims. The mask of an elderly woman was feared amongst communities everywhere but nobody expected anything to happen to them... until now’.

By writing a synopsis, this provides the audience with a general idea of what the film is going to be about and accompanies the trailer to reflect this. This also allowed me to remind myself about the film trailer and how I wanted it represented to the audience, this proved helpful as when I was filming my trailer, I was able to look back on my synopsis and decide whether what I was filming was following this story line.

My film trailer was filmed on a handheld Canon digital camera. In preparation for filming I organised the location of my film trailer which did not prove difficult as it was in my home and looked like a basic domestic setting which was the setting I wanted for my trailer. The organisation of props was particularly straight forward also due to having basic house hold items around my own home to use such as the knife used by the antagonist and the dressing gown worn by the victim. Also, when organising actors and costumes, I was able to find two willing friends that were happy to be in the film trailer and was able to tell them what to wear with ease and what they had to do for the film trailer. My initial plans for the trailer (seen on my storyboard and animatic) were followed reasonably well, although naturally some changes to shots had to be made as the recording equipment was only very basic.

When beginning the editing process, I uploaded my footage onto the college editing suite and created my own project on Adobe Premier Pro. Editing my trailer allowed me to use a variety of tools and techniques on the editing programme, basic tools such as the trim tool and the hand drag tool were most commonly used. The more technical and complicated tools such as transition edits and applying the black and white function to particular points of my film trailer was also used during the editing process. The sound affects you can hear on the trailer were all taken from the website ‘freesound.com’ which was mainly the loud bangs you can hear. The soundtrack however was downloaded and transferred onto the editing suite after using it to create my animatic.

When creating my ancillary texts, I took the images on my 16MP Fuji Film digital camera and then transferred them onto Photoshop CS5. When using this programme I used features such as image levels, the text feature and also created different layers in order to apply different effects to particular parts of the images I used for both the poster and the website homepage.

Throughout the process of this project I also used a variety of other programmes as well as websites to help contribute towards the final outcome. I used YouTube in order to present both my film trailer and animatic on the internet therefore being able to embed them onto my blog, I also used the social networking site Facebook to ask people to answer the poll on my blog in order to gather audience feedback. The main use was of the website blogger.com on which all my work is presented, by using this website I was able to present my work in an organised and presentable way that is easy to access and read.

Overall I believe that the final product of my promotional package for a psychological horror film trailer and ancillary texts has been a success. The stylistics used across the three products are all effective and provide a sense of horror and fear which was my initial intention for the audience when creating this work. I have researched the conventions of the media texts and applied this research and knowledge that I have gained to the final outcome that I have created, this shows that I had a great understanding of the research I conducted and was able to freely and comfortably apply this to my work. I also believe that the audience I had in mind have been targeted well therefore my trailer abiding my other horror film trailers that we can see today. If I was to change anything about my film trailer I would more than likely represent the story more through the trailer and show more of a background to the story as I feel that the trailer focuses too much upon the main action of what would be the film.

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