Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media texts?
After analysing teaser trailers and researched the elements that make a good teaser trailer, and what conventions audiences look for in a horror, made it much more easier in gaining a better understanding of what it expected. When researching i found that horror trailers that are in my genre start of at a slow pace and then gradually build up with speed to help increase the tension and suspense. The trailers i analysed were based in dark locations, and therefore i used this idea and shot my trailer at night and used different tones of dark lighting in order to create an atmosphere which is vital. When looking at other horror trailers I looked at the ways in which they created tension, anxiety, fear and mystery. I incorporated the idea of “Stephen King’s It” into my trailer, as I liked the idea of a clown as the face paint and costume made the villain mysterious with its hidden identity. I seen many horror films in which used this idea of the mask covering the villains face e.g. Friday the 13th, Halloween, Chainsaw massacre etc. The idea of a clown is a kind of oxymoron, as the original idea of a clown is happy, comical and brings joy whereas the clown in this case has been used to create a threatening, fearful character. The music in Stephen King’s ‘It’ is circus themed and is very lively and jolly, even though it’s being used to represent the presence of the clown, and of who is a dark and sinister character. In my trailer, I used a piece of music in the beginning called ‘Gagool’ from the royalty free site. It includes the instruments Contrabass Bassoon, oboe, violins and percussion, which creates an eerie, suspenseful, mysterious atmosphere. It also in some senses adds a mischievous tone to the trailer, as I used the music to co-alongside with the shot of the eye looking through the key hole and the woman sitting on a seat. A main theme in my trailer is the idea of being watched, as during my trailer I have the eye looking through the key hole, the clown looking through the window, the woman standing in the doorway watching the child playing on the floor. There were many films that i looked at to see how they created this idea, such as ‘Peeping Tom’, which uses many point of view shots in order to give the film an creepy and eerie atmosphere. This idea in my trailer does not reveal who the actual sinister characters are, therefore it leaves it open to suggestion, due to the way I have filmed the shots and put them together. The shots do not really tell a story, as I learned that it was important not to give away too much of the plot, so i used shots that would suggest several different themes. I originally had the boy in the trailer with no mask, but then decided to make the kid a mysterious character which supports this idea of not knowing who the villain is once again. I also looked into the idea of the film child’s play and the idea of the doll coming alive. I used this idea and had the clown in my film that appeared to look like a doll that would sit with the rest of the clown ornaments. I believed that this made my trailer more eerie, as I know from doing personal research that a lot of people feel really unnerved by clown dolls and ornaments including myself. I also looked into the film Friday the 13th and saw that the main character was wearing a mask as a way of hiding his identity. I then combined the idea of the doll and person with the mask to create my idea which would be a person who poses as a doll and uses the mask to hide his identity.
For the second part of my trailer I used a second song from the royalty free website called Tenebrous Brothers carnival, which seems to have a circus theme style to it as it’s very jolly and lively, which is created by the instruments such as the Organ, Percussion, Glock, voice, Clarinet, Strings and Tuba. I used this style of music as I believed that it worked well in ‘It’ as it creates a dark, eerie, mysterious and unnerving atmosphere. I used this music in the second part of my trailer as this is the scenes that reveal more action and violence, so in a way the music contradicts the action. This idea was inspired by the trailer ‘clockwork orange’, where the music is very lively and is of the classical style, but the action being shown is off a violent nature. Also the trailer uses many snapshots therefore it does not tell a coherent story or reveal much of the plot. I set my my trailer in the location of a house, as it proved most popular in the results of the questionnaires. I looked at trailer such as ‘Amityville’ which uses many shots of different areas of the location in order to set an creepy and eerie atmosphere, perfect for basis of what’s to be expected.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task?
I believe that my trailer was successful in building up suspense, as I’ve used many close up shots of scary ornaments and I’ve used shots in which I have left them silent without music for example the ticking clock that adds a kind of eeriness, right before the final scene where the curtains are torn open. I used the sound of a heartbeat to add to the suspense of approaching the closed curtains. I cut towards the end of the shot so that it goes black before the thing behind the curtains is revealed therefore leaving the audience wanting to know what it was. I also used a terrifying scream when the screen goes black, after the curtains have been pulled back, in order to highlight the idea of whatever was behind the curtain was something terrifying. I used the ‘whose this?’ shot as a transition for the change in music. I originally had this shot as a close up shot of the photograph, but then changed it to a long shot in order not to reveal who it was in the photo, therefore once again making the audience wanting to know more. During the shot of the keyhole I put a breathing noise over it, as it created a monster like impression with the heavy breathing therefore making it more sinister as well as suggesting that the person is in a small space therefore maybe hiding. It also makes the audience feel more involved as they feel as if there looking through keyhole aswell. The use of the keyhole creates the idea of suspicion and it could even mean two things: Either something is hiding from something, or someone is watching someone, therefore it being a teaser trailer you would have to watch the film to find out what is the case in this situation. I used an over the shoulder shot in scene where the clown pushes the woman through a door, as it makes the audience feel safe as there behind the clown rather than being in it’s view and trapped by it, but then also makes us feel threat and fear for the other characters. I used several point of view shots in order to add to the idea of being watching or watching something.
I believed that my magazine cover is very effective as the image of the clown is very sinister and scary looking. I used the colour tools in Photoshop in order to empathise the red on the clown image as the colour red can represent several things such as hell, blood, gore, anger which will be the themes related to my film. I also faded the colours of the clown suit as before they were really rich and bright, but then I made them more worn out and drab looking in order to create the idea of the clown being sinister and almost dead like. I used a variety of different formats and prints on the magazine, in order to distinct the certain areas of the magazine from each other e.g. parts such as ‘Free Dvd’ in a bigger font as it will be a factor that will entice a person into buying it. I used the yellow writing for the headings as its the main colour associated with clowns and is a happy colour, which obviously contradicts the idea of my trailer which is portraying scenes of horror. The title i have made an icy blue, with its name being ‘Chiller’, as obviously it’s a cold colour and people get the shivers when there scared. I have made the title font different and bigger from the rest in order for it to stand out. I have used a childish font which works well with the type of film it is, as the tag line of the film is ‘its play- time’ and clowns are associated with entertaining kids and bringing them joy, but i have put this yellow writing onto a black background. The black represents darkness and misery, therefore i have combined the two themes contradict each other one again which is obviously relevant to the theme of my film. I have also used the black background as it doesn’t distract us from the image of the clown and everything else seems to stand out more e.g. the red present on the clown. I didn't use too many different colours in the magazine front cover as i didn't want to make it fussy or over the top. In only kept with the one image as i didn’t want to distract the viewer from the main feature.
The poster i have kept simple with the clown being the main focus. I have once again kept the background dark, in order to maintain this focus, but you can also work out that the clown is standing in the middle of a street suggesting that there are many people who may be at risk. I faded the image of the street in the background in order to give the poster a unique appeal and makes the clown stand out. I put a glint in the eye of the clown, in order to make it more creepy looking and once again i highlighted the red. I used the colour yellow again as an on going theme that is present in both trailer, poster and magazine. The tag line ‘its play-time’ suggests that the trailer will be compact will action as ‘play-time’ is word suggested with fun and in some senses chaos. I have made the clown in the poster to look as if its directly staring at the audience, suggesting that the clown is a threat to all. I created reviews that would reflect the themes that my film would portray e.g sick, twisted and spine chilling. I think that these words are effective in creating an image of shocking horror in which i learned from the BBFC site is what attracts a horror audiences. I used the idea of the sun newspaper and changed its name to the moon with the the following review ‘scariest film of the decade’. I strongly believe that this would entice an audience as every will be intrigued to no more and obviously with a review like that it would spread word of mouth. I didn’t use a lot of writing in my poster as when i was researching i found out that audiences would much rather be presented with images and visual effects rather than information such as institutional references. I included the most relevant information in my poster, therefore i cut everything down to words as they have a much more powerful impact on the audience.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
When other people viewed my trailer, i got much positive feedback. The believed that it had great potential for a horror film and found the clown very frightening and realistic as it could pass for a doll, and they also liked the fact that the house was made to look creepy and eerie through the use of scary clown ornaments. They also said that it left them wanting to see more and wanting to know more about what it was about. They also used words like eerie, creepy and suspenseful to describe my trailer, which were obviously themes i was hoping to highlight. It also made people laugh, with the clown pushing the woman through the door and moments when the clown was hooting the party horn. I did combine the use of horror and comedy together, as a few people did comment on the fact that they felt the trailer had a bit of a ‘Clockwork Orange feel to it. The further explained this was due to the bizarreness of it along with the lively music whilst portraying scenes of violence. People were also fascinated by the shot of the key hole and thought this was a good idea, and were asking how i created that shot. I created this by cutting out the shape of a keyhole on a piece of solid cardboard. The last scene proved a favourite as they liked the use of the music cutting of at the end and then the camera switching to a shot of an old fashioned clock and the noise of it ticking complimented the next scene, as it built up suspense and made the scream sound more louder and shocking, as it went from silence to a scream that people describes as going straight through you. I didn’t receive much negative feedback which i was really pleased with, but it there were some aspects they might change it would be to maybe have more camera angles presents with a few more scenes of action, that would be shown in the the form of snap shots. I also agreed with this comment.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
I have used many different forms of technologies in the process of my work. I’v used the internet for researching information about production audiences on the BBFC website during planning stages. I found this very useful as it i gave me a better understanding of what production company would produce my film and what conventions are used in order to attract a horror audience. I also used youtube to watch other existing horror trailers and then uploaded my own trailer onto it as a way of transferring my work onto my blog. The fact that blogger could have direct links to you tube was very useful as it had simple transaction to move the information to one format to another. I used a blog as a way of presenting my work but found many difficulties in arranging the order in which my work will be presented, as I've never used a blog before. When it came to creating a poster and a magazine front cover, i used photoshop as a way of distorting images and photos. This was very useful in allowing me to make small changes such as adding different tones of colour and altering shapes that can effect the way in which the poster or magazine looks e.g. dark and sinister through use of horror theme colours that have either been exaggerated or heighten to create different moods. When it came to creating the title of the film on the trailer and the production company, i used ‘Motion’ and ‘LiveType’, which allowed me to change the font of my writing and add effect to it in order to contribute to the theme of the trailer for example i used a yellow child like writing for the title of my trailer, which represents the happy clown theme and then i changed the first letter of each word red in order to reflect the horror theme of blood and gore. It also allowed me to use the shaky affect, which i could use to compliment themes in my trailer for example at the end of my trailer i have‘ Coming Soon‘ that it presented on my screen in red and shakes to match the sound of a cackle. When using final cut pro I’ve learned how to cut images in a way that does not give too much of the plot away and leaves the viewer to wanting to see more. I uploaded my footage from a cannon tape camera that i used to film footage and create the existence of a variety of different camera shots and angles. All in all i believe that my trailer, poster and magazine front cover compliment each other well and meets the audiences expectations of the original horror conventions that are necessary in order to shock and scare.
What would i change?
If i was too do the project again i would make sure that i would leave myself more time on each section of the planning, in order to prevent the situation where half of my work deleted, including my trailer, leaving me with a vast amount of problems at the last minute. I have gained many skills from carrying out this project, such as use of photoshop tools to alter and enhance areas of my images that i was using for my poster and magazine front cover. I have also gained a much more in-depth knowledge of horror trailers an how they are used to entice their audiences. I also now have a much better understanding of how to use final cut pro, which will be useful for future activities.
