Evaluation

I was excited to begin my media project and conduct the necessary researching and planning that would aid me whilst creating my three media texts; a film poster, magazine front cover and a film trailer. These three pieces work together to create a promotional package, advertising my new supernatural horror film; ‘The Entwined’. However, to carry out this task I had to gain a better understanding of the codes and conventions that feature within horror films. I soon released that common conventions must feature in each of my three media texts so that they appeal to my target audience and appear professional.  During my lessons I learnt about the history of horror films, this enabled me to evaluate the changes in horror since 1930 up until 2010 and also identify certain codes and conventions that have developed. I also learnt about the four sub-genres within horror; Slasher, Gothic, Supernatural and Psychological. In a joint decision my partner and I decided to create a Supernatural horror trailer as this is the sub-genre we are both interested in and felt we could enjoy working on.  

As we embarked on our project we viewed existing supernatural horror trailers that would inspire us whilst planning our own. After viewing trailers such as ‘The Woman in Black’, ‘The Uninvited’, ‘The Unborn’ etc we realised that one key feature and convention that appears in all is a dark isolated area e.g. In ‘The Unborn’ the main house is situated in a small village surrounded by woodland and abandoned by most; apart from the one family who live there. We felt that we must use an effective location to create the ideal look we are hoping for. Our narrative features a possessed female figure that is left to haunt the house she once lived in. Her possession was the result of her parents forcing her into a religious cult.  Towards the end of the narrative the girl kills her sister for not standing by her and then she is abandoned by her unforgiving parents. Eventually she herself dies and comes back as a ghostly figure, to torment those who now inhabit the house. The new inhabitants of the house are two young sisters. Moreover, my partner and I chose to film in three different locations, firstly where the main family home was situated secondly where we filmed a church and its surrounding graveyard and lastly a woodland area in a large park. Similar locations feature within ‘The Woman in Black’ which provoke a chilling atmosphere amongst the audience therefore proving they are effective. These three locations feature throughout our trailer, however during the equilibrium they are shown in daylight then during the disruption they are shown at night. This emphasised the increase of danger at the main location as the narrative developed.

Amityville Horror - Abandoned house

The Woman in Black - Abandoned house

 

The Entwined - Old house in a quiet area

In addition to this, we felt that including these common locations helped our trailer achieve a more polished look. The narrative and structure of our trailer was formulated with inspiration from both ‘The Amityville Horror’ and ‘Sinister’. In both of the films mentioned a possessed spirit manages to take hold of each young innocent girl within the narrative. Within both films a spirit destroys each girl to point where they cannot control what they are doing. This is similar to what happens in our narrative as it features a possessed young girl who was once an ordinary child however she now has no other option than to live the life of one who haunts and hurts those around her. We incorporated the reoccurring patterns that we had viewed in supernatural horror trailers such as introducing the characters at the beginning of the trailer; presenting them as happy and ticking. We shall do this with the use of long shots, slow editing and subtle sound. We noticed that in the second half of horror trailers; towards the end feature faster editing, with sharp sounds and plenty of close-up shots; we followed this pattern in our trailer and also included a sting. The ending of our trailer was based upon the ending of ‘Sinister’. We were very fond of heartbeat sound at the end of the trailer as the viewers would feel scared as the sound increased in loudness and created an unsettled atmosphere.

 

 

Within our film trailer we challenged a general convention from within horror films. My partner and I recognised that in many trailers the main characters tend to be a family of either three or four; that being the two parents and either one child or two. This is the case in horror trailers such as ‘Orphan’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Silent Hill’. However, in our narrative we decided to have two main characters, Alice and Elizabeth; the two sisters. Our reason for doing this was because we wanted our film to be slightly unconventional yet at the same time, appealing to its target audience and most of all successful. I believe that using teenage girls (sisters) within our narrative allows it to be less predictable, which is a key factor that audiences look for when watching a film. If a film is predictable when watching it, it is not stimulating; we as an audience like to be left in wonder. Our narrative has something new compared to other films on the market; this will satisfy our audiences need for pure supernatural horror. Using innocent characters will draw a positive reaction from the audience as they will sympathise with the character. We also challenged a common convention on our magazine front cover. On the front cover of film magazines the image usually shows the main character of the film that is being advertised. The image is usually always placed in the centre of the page, fulfilling most of the page. For example on one issue of ‘Empire’ the front cover displays an image of Harry Potter in the centre, similarly to a front cover of ‘Film’ that is advertising Inception and the issue of ‘Fangoria’ featuring Megan Fox. However on the other hand, our magazine features two characters on the front cover. Using both girls for the front covers main image can be said to represent the caring relationship they hold for one another which is shown within the narrative of the film. I think this was successful because after completing our post-production feedback we found that our audience thought it was an effective image, unusual, and also interesting to see. However, they thought that the background used on the front cover of our magazine could have been improved. We used a block colour and placed our image on top rather than using an actual surrounding. If we had the chance to make further improvements to our magazine front cover we would experiment further and change it to something more authentic and eye catching.

 

 

 

My three media pieces form a promotional package for our new film ‘The Entwined’, I feel that they work together and show evidence of continuity. Both the magazine front cover and film poster feature the cult necklace along with moving media; the trailer. Including this prop in all three pieces of media was essential so that I could create a symbiotic link between them. This will allow our audience to place all three pieces together from visually noting that they belong together therefore realising that they are all advertising the same film.

 

I feel that our three media pieces as a whole successfully form an appealing promotional package. Our trailer provides its target audience with a great understanding of the narrative without giving too much away. When putting our footage together to create our trailer we decided to leave a certain snippets out so that the narrative was not fully revealed; if so this would spoil the film and not leave it remaining mysterious.

Within the trailer the lighting has been slightly edited; to give the footage a darker appearance in the second half and to create a number of small shadows to fulfil horror conventions.  In addition to this sound effects have been added. Non-diegetic whispers feature in the middle of the trailer when Elizabeth enters Alice’s room. A fast paced pounding heartbeat features at the end of trailer as Elizabeth runs out her house in terror. The parts of non-diegetic sound that we have used to make our trailer more jumpy and intense further satisfy our audience.  The end of the trailer features the film’s; title, URL website and film company information therefore enabling the audience to further research the film if they desire. I feel that ‘The Entwined’ successfully appeals to its target audience as it features supernatural horror elements that the TA will be longing to see. It provides them with dark isolated locations, jumpy moments, horrific imagery and effective sound.    

Moreover, I believe that the film poster is also successful in appealing to its target audience.  It instantly gives off a mysterious eerie feeling due to its use of simple bold colours, such as black, white, beige and red. The main image of a large ill looking hand clutching the cult necklace is surrounded by a darker black shadow to emphasise the genre of the film. I think our image is original and will leave the audience wanting to know about more the narrative. They may be thinking who does the hand belong to? Is the person alive or dead? When the TA look at the poster they will instantly take note of the religious imagery and realise that this poster is advertising a supernatural horror film. Furthermore, a serif font was used for the title which features a thin cross acting as a border sitting on top of the title; this effect (use of a cross) connotes features supernatural horror such as spirits, death and danger. The film’s release date features at the bottom of the film poster in the centre, coloured in red so that it stands out amongst the names. Generally the release date is positioned at the bottom right hand side of a film poster however we decided to put ours in the centre as it suited the posters appearance more effectively.

 

When planning our magazine front cover both myself and my partner wanted a colour scheme that was subtle yet at the same time eye catching. We therefore went for a pastel orange/yellow colour scheme. Our main image features both sisters; Elizabeth and Alice however taking an image that would suit our magazine front cover was not easy. In the end we used an image in which Simona appeared taller than her sister whilst looking straight on towards the audience and Alice was behind her looking sideways on. The positioning within our image reflects our narrative as Elizabeth the older sister takes care of Alice and almost has power over but through a positive motherly nature. To make our poster look authentic we decided to use a clapper board to create the top part of the T in the title. This gives our poster a very edgy look. The clapper board is essentially the magazines logo which would feature on all ‘Final Cut’ magazine front covers; we also edited the puff by peeling off the edge to give it an authentic touch. Considering the appearance of the magazine front cover, we believe it will appeal to its TA as it is eye catching, informative and something new. Also on the front cover are a number of sell-lines mentioning; Jonny Depp a popular actor, ‘The Hobbit’ a successful film etc this would encourage fans of the mentioned actor/existing films to buy a copy of the magazine and further read about ‘The Entwined’.  

Considering all the features within out three media pieces, I feel that they come together to create an appealing promotional package that would prove to be successful in today’s target market. They hold a symbiotic link between them as the cult necklace prop features in each; symbolising the films narrative and the films sub genre. Our aim is for our audience to be pleased when viewing the three media pieces as they are slightly different to those usually seen and they keep the mind wondering.

The target audience of ‘The Entwined’ are 18-35 year olds both male and female, that may be single or in a relationship/married. They are a joyful bunch and enjoy watching horror films in the company of their friends. They prefer supernatural horror compared to other sub-genres because the notion of ‘fear of the unknown’ scares them more than a person behind a mask which is unrealistic. The target audience watch these films on average once a month and like to watch them both at home and at the cinema. I needed a selection of my TA so that I could carry out my post production feedback; I therefore selected three individuals and decided to film what was said. We chose three females between the ages of 18-21 as they were available to view and analyse our promotional package. Overall, their views were similar. When discussing elements of our poster they thought that the religious imagery was well presented as a rosary has connotation of/can be related to; supernatural happenings such as exorcisms and possession. They felt that it featured all the necessary conventions of a film poster and was indeed very appealing. However, more importantly, amongst them they agreed that the film poster would encourage them to go and view the film as it does not give too much of the narrative away.  They felt that the poster could have featured a better variety of colours that a brighter red should have been used for the rosary and blood. Furthermore, they thought the magazine was professional looking and well pieced together, however they thought the lighting used in the images could have been improved. The music used at the start of the trailer instantly signified that it is advertising a horror film; this was recognised and enjoyed by our respondents. They took pleasure from viewing the fast jumpy moments, the isolated locations and horrific imagery that featured within the flashbacks; however as a group they felt that the trailer could have been improved with the use of faster cuts. The overall opinion was that the trailer was like a short story or the introduction to a film.

From this feedback I came to the conclusion that the lighting and variety of colours could indeed have been more visually pleasing on my poster. It can appear very dark and dull so it may have benefitted from featuring one other bright colour to attract the TA’s attention. After listening to the comments about our magazine front cover I agree that the camera angle used for the image could be further improved as the positioning of the two main characters is not greatly  However, on the other hand I am pleased and satisfied with the colour scheme we used as it is original therefore interesting.

Throughout my project I used a variety of technology. When carrying out my research and planning the internet was one of my main resources along with newspapers and magazines. The internet provided me with access to websites such as ‘YouTube’, ‘IMDb’, ‘Google images’ etc. I used these websites to view and research information on existing media texts. For example I watched many trailers on YouTube so that I could analyse them appropriately. One of the websites I also used was Blogger. I began using blogger in my AS level study of media, I had a very basic understanding of how to use it. However, I feel that has changed and now my skills of using blogger have been developed. I am able to use; images for my background, a range of different fonts, coloured borders and adjust the width and template of my blog to my desire. One great thing I learnt was how to embed a YouTube video onto my blog, which would allow for instant access to a particular trailer that I analysed. ‘Slideshare.net’ was I website I had never used before but began to within this project as it allowed me to embed and showcase slideshows that I had produced, on my blog. This therefore meant that I had one of moving media already a piece of media; the blog itself therefore using interactivity.

During the construction of both my film poster and magazine front cover I had to use a camera to take shots for the main images. I therefore developed my camera skills in the respect that I learnt what style of shot and lighting was needed to enhance my image. I found that I was more confident when using a camera and that practise shots helped me to choose the picture that was suitable to go on my piece of media. My main task was to create a piece of moving media that being my supernatural horror trailer ‘The Entwined’. I previously had used a video camera in my spare time for fun; however I had never used one for a long period of time with the aim to create a particular piece of media. This was going to be something new to me. I therefore began to film some footage and realised how long it can take until you get the correct shots that you are aiming for, for each scene. Making a trailer that lasts 2.31 seconds sounds alot easier than it is. I continued to film my footage and got used to spending time perfecting the placement of props within the frame and the surroundings in which I filmed in. It seemed worth it as I wanted my trailer to portray a sense of reality within a family home.  Eventually I got to the stage where my partner and I felt we had a suitable amount of footage to put our trailer together; this proved another challenge of using Adobe Premier Pro. Neither of us had previously used this editing programme before so we watched helpful tutorials on YouTube and learnt the basics so we could begin the editing process. Together we got used to using Adobe premier pro whilst learning how to edit bits of footage; to make them shorter, to add lighting effects, to take away white noise in the background and most importantly add in the sound we wanted to use that would match our action. It was a very time consuming task and took a while until we was satisfied with our trailer. After completing the production of my promotional package, I feel that the three media pieces we created were successful and present our taste in supernatural horror well. We strongly believe that our three pieces will attract our target audience and fulfil their needs; leaving them happy and content.  

Evidence of my use of 'Fotoflexer'; used to create images with a collage look. (This image features in my analysis of the Fangoria front cover featuring Megan Fox)

 

Post production feedback