Bloody Mary Teaser Trailer

Mood Board

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

I have looked at how i have managed to use the forms and conventions of real horror teaser trailers by comparing shots from my own teaser trailer and a number of real horror teaser trailers. I have learnt that using a variety of shots including close-ups and different angles if low, high or canted dramatically allow an audience to identify the genre of horror and develop the high tense reactions of being scared and jumping out of someones seat.

My Horror Teaser Trailer Stills
Originally uploaded by Wayne369

Top left still- This shot of "Bloody Mary" slowly travelling down the stairs with inserting jump cuts gives an eerie feeling and sense of mystery of who the person is, through the use of a silhouette. We decided to take this shot from a low angle to make her look as a dominant force and used the light in the backgorund for her to stand out within the shot. By having her far away this allows us to barely see who it is and create more mystery. The audience will want to know where the unknown person is going and who is potentially the next victim.

Top centre still- This is a shot where someone has been hung and we see the legs swinging with a church appearing in the background . We took this shot from a low angle to make it seem as though the "monster" is looking up at the victim she has murdered and to add the church in for increased horror reinforcement. This shot has been used to create mystery to who the person killed is. The use of a church follows a well known horror location.

Top right still- I feel this shot is successful as it is attempting to show the victim to be innocent and vulnerable. We decided to take this shot from a slightly high angle to show her innocence and fear of where the "monster" is. We also chose it to be a close up because this allows the audience to relate with her struggles to escape the "monster". The low key lighting follows a generic horror convention and helps to add to her vulnerability of not knowing where the "monster" is.

Centre left still- This shot of a flashing light connotes an unstable atmosphere. We also don't know what has caused the lights to flicker on. As the shot has been taken from a canted angle it reinforces back to the beginning of the trailer in the toilets and also reinforces the unstable atmosphere. As we took it from an extreme low angle, the shot gives no indication on the location of the flashing lights or how they relate to what it means in relationship to the storyline.

Centre still- This shot in the girls toilets allows us to see what the character is seeing in the mirror and is shot from the point of view of the "monster". This is an over the shoulder shot. We decided to do this type of shot because we found that real horror teaser trailers use this shot for scenes that included mirrors and we felt it was the only way to portray the characters' reaction to having blood on her face effectively.  It also creates confusion for the audience with her having blood on her face.

Centre right still- This low angle close up shot tilts up the body of "Bloody Mary" to her face and we see her tears of blood. It shows her dominance and control in the story and sinister look suggests she is about to commit more evil. The tears of blood create a relationship as we see the girl in the toilets at the beginning of the teaser trailer with tears of blood after she chants "Bloody Mary" three times and there are tears of blood on "Bloody Mary" herself.

Bottom left still- This is a shot taken from a high angle of a victim being dragged round the corner. The use of blood allows the audience to see that the victim has been seriously hurt by the "monster". We decided not to use an extreme close up in this shot as we wanted to show that the victim was being dragged around the corner and didn't want to do a further distanced shot as it would give away too much of the location therefore compromising the element of mystery that we tried to run through the whole trailer. By darkening the shot by lowering brightness and altering the contrast this makes the shot more disturbing. We also took the shot from a side angle so the audience can't see where the victim is being taken away too.

Bottom centre still- Through this shot we are following another victim running away. By shooting at the feet this increases the hidden mystery about where the "monster" is and who the victim actually is. By having the shot as handheld this could create the impression on the audience that the "monster" is chasing the victim. We decided to shoot fairly close in so the victim couldn't be identified so we don't know who the "monster" is targeting. It also creates a sense of panic and the audience will want the victim to escape from the clutches of the "monster".

Bottom right still- This shot encapsulates the victims vulnerability and is heightened through the use of location as a confined space that is unknown. We used a low angle shot to clearly show her vulnerability and fear of the "monster". We chose to do a medium shot here so the audience can see where she is moving. We also used low key lighting to make the atmosphere and loaction feel more eerie and sinister.

  

                                                   

Real Teaser Trailer Stills
Originally uploaded by Wayne369

Top left still- I have used a very similar shot to this in my own teaser trailer taken from Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). The use of a dark and dingy stairway produces a silhouette of the "monster" and doesn't allow us to see exactly who it is. The shot has been taken from a low angle to reinforce the "monster's" dominance and control over the victim. Again, like in my teaser trailer you can not clearly see who the "monster" is and there is the hidden mystery of who it is.

Top centre still- A very similar shot i have used from Drag Me to Hell (2009), shows the victim having no knowledge on the whereabouts of the "monster". Taken from a high angle we can see the innocence in her eyes. We can clearly see their vulnerability and the dark background makes the character stand out in the shot and focus on her facial expression.

Top right still- This shot from Drag Me to Hell (2009) shows the "monster" staring at her future victim. The extreme close up on the top half of her face allows us to fully see the darkness in her eyes and that she is potentially about to cause evil acts. Also it being a low angle shot connotes her power and control over the victim.

Centre left still- This shot is like the girls toilet shot in my teaser trailer. We are able to see how she is reacting to seeing herself in the mirror and puts across a true reflection of how she is feeling. The over shoulder shot could indicate the point of view of the "monster" that we both cannot see. We as the audience most probably feel that the "monster" will come from the darkness to the right of her in the mirror.

Centre still- The light in this shot, like ours attempts to establish a feeling of an unstable atmosphere. We don't know why it has come on or who put it on. Once again it appears to imply that the audience doesn't know how it was turned on or who did. As the shot is from a low angle this may indicate that the victim/s are looking up at it trapped and no way out from the "monster".

Centre right still- This shot taken from the teaser trailer "Eye" shows the levitating legs of someone who appears to be dead, floating around. By just showing the legs, we don't know who this person is and therefore why they have been killed. We can see from the shot distance that has purposefully not been done as a close up the location of a corridor, most likely in a building. The camera shot is at level with the feet so we can see that the person is actually levitating as it wouldn't create this effect from a high angle.

Bottom left still- This shot of running legs is effective like in our shot as it creates a sense of panic towards the victim. It also feels like this is the point of view of the "monster" chasing the victim, looking down at the feet. Although this shot is more on level with the victims' legs it still creates the similar effect that is desired of suspense and panic of being caught.

Bottom centre still- Here we see the victim looking around herself as she doesn't know where the "monster" is. For the audience it creates an impression of insecurity on herself and that she could be taken away by the "monster" at any moment. By using a low angle it connotes her innocence and vulnerability and even her weakness in the situation. It creates fear on the audience as we can't see what she is looking at.

Bottom right still- The victim is crawling away in this shot and works effectively as we can't see where the "monster" may come from as it is a dark room which works well in a horror film. The camera is down at ground level with her so we can closely relate with her battle for survival to get away to safety. Also by having the camera down at her level we can see as the audience what may appear behind her and her actual location.

As a whole for my horror teaser trailer i have tried to make it as coherent and smooth flowing as possible without giving too much away about the narrative. Throughout the teaser trailer we decided upon inserting a subtle zoom on every shot to make each shot run smoothly with each other and compliment with the soundtrack and slow zooming in, inter-titles. We included fades between certain shots to definatively show passage of time which is done with real horror teaser trailers. With a mixture of shot angles and mainly close up shots this shows that the product conforms with the real products themselves. We also made sure that we used darkness as a running theme through most of the shots however, the use of exterior shots didn't use this and challenged real media products.

 

                                                    

Research for Ancillary texts- Magazine Cover

There is an interesting running theme of green on this front cover, with the characters waistcoat, texts and shapes. The use of varied fonts keeps will keep the audience engaged with it rather than if it was just one font. The text is well balanced with the image to not overpower it as this is the main selling point with a huge star. The expression of the chracters face tells us that he isn't a simple person and there's something exciting that we can find out about him.

Ancillary Texts

Original images before alteration

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

Through the process of the coursework, we had to create a horror teaser trailer as well as a supporting horror poster of our trailer and a movie magazine (the ancillary tasks). We also had to do other relevant work linked with the trailer and ancillary tasks through using Blogger. To help us achieve this we needed the availability of the ever expanding world of technology. These included Adobe Photoshop CS4, Blogger, Flickr, Youtube, Final Cut Pro, Garageband, Livetype, FreePlayMusic website, a digital camera and an uploading camera.

Below is a section on each technology that i used and there is also an image of each programme, website or technology i have spoken about in the middle of this post.

- Adobe Photoshop CS4- This programme allowed me to primarily design my ancillary products of the film poster and movie magazine. I also used it as a place to place together images to flickr so i could do my analysis on the nine images from my trailer and existing trailers.

This programme enabled me to build up layers of texts and images and make alterations to the images that i wouldn't be able to do otherwise. I could change the brightness/contrast for my images, position the text and images where i wanted for most effect, use tools such as paint to help me cut around the images so i could cut out the backgrounds that weren't wanted. By being able to overlap images this allowed me to show layers above other ones to stand out from the page and create a much more professional and clean product.
There are useful tools on this programme that helped me a lot with completing my magazine front cover to make it have a more professional feel. Probably the most useful one was using the rectangle tool and putting this into white to delete the background of the main image of "Bloody Mary" with a cross behind her. I used this for the large area of deleting and then used the paint brush tool in white also for the closer detail to give the image a smooth edge. Both of these tools are down the left hand side of the programme. Also being able to place layers on top of each other was very useful when using the rectangle tool to create a small colour background and then put text on top of it. This is done by moving layers above and below each other by dragging them and is on the right hand side under "layers".

-Blogger- This website is the main focus around the whole of the coursework and is where everything that has been completed will go for assessment. Through the Blogger i have posted all work that has been asked to be completed and is in summary the portfolio of the work. It keeps a dated record of all work that has been posted and has easily allowed me to find up any work that i have had to catch up on. It has allowed me to embed horror trailers from youtube for analysis as well as upload images from Flickr. Using this programme is very straight forward and is easy to make a new post and there are other functions that are easy to access on the toolbar that is at the top of the website, such as editing posts and customising your own blog. It is very handy that you can just insert an image by just clicking on an icon on the toolbar whilst typing on a post by taking it from saved documents and downloading the finished trailer from youtube by getting the embed code and basically copying and pasting this into the post.

-Flickr- This is a website where i have been able to upload stills from my teaser trailer and existing teaser trailers from youtube and taken stills to complete analysis. Here i looked at the similarities i found between my still images from my trailer and existing ones. Using Flickr means that when on Blogger i can click on the image that i have uploaded on Flickr to easily access the image itself. Originally i analysed my nine images within both of the two main images but had to change this as i wanted to go into a more in-depth analysis of the stills and there was a world limit for Flickr notes. 

-Youtube- This has been a very useful site, especially for section D. Research for main product, as here i have downloaded existing horror teaser trailers and uploaded them on to my blog for analysis which has helped me with how to construct my own teaser trailer and to understand and follow the conventions needed for my piece. I used Youtube to upload my final version of my horror teaser trailer so it is available to the mass market to view and comment on my work as it would be in the real world for the distribution companies of professional teaser trailers. Youtube also came in to use for taking the stills required to upload onto Flickr, so i could then complete the analysis on each of the stills.

-Final Cut Pro- The use of this programme was solely in creating our horror teaser trailers after finishing all of the shooting. This programme allowed us to upload our footage via an uploading camera and then import it onto the programme itself. Then was the task of sorting through what footage was wanted to include in the trailer. This was done by editing out what wasn't wanted by pressing the "I" key on the keyboard for where we wanted the footage to begin and the "O" key for where we wanted the footage to finish. We then dragged the footage we selected onto the timeline and then placing together the shots in order. This then simply enabled us to integrate the video with the soundtrack, audio and sound effects which were part of the timeline structure. Each of the video, soundtrack, audio and sound effects are on different layers so we were able to move them where we liked to complete the trailer. We also imported soundtracks from FreePlayMusic, used Livetype for the titles and inter-titles and garageband for added sound effects to altogether assemble a more professional looking trailer. I was able to cut the shots to the pace of the music to give more impact on the audience and follow how a professional trailer would be edited. A useful tool on Final Cut Pro which vastly improved the quality of the trailer was fade in/fade out, especially when trying to create passage of time. Also in a couple of shots i was able to use brightness and contrast tools on the toolbar at the top to make a couple of the shots darker and more sinister.

-Garageband- This was a useful programme to implement strength with working with the soundtrack. I used boom sounds in my trailer during the three shots of taps to make it feel more horrific and show the significance in relating back to the beginning of the trailer in the girls toilets. Probably the most significant use was with the hiss used at the end of the trailer for Bloody Mary, as it made a few people jump which is one of the main aims. To put this onto our the horror trailer by recording a voice on Garageband and then inserting it onto the timeline.

-Livetype- I used Livetype to create the opening titles to make the trailer, to start off seeming as a professional piece. I only used it here and not all the way through as it would look too repetitive and wouldn't be as impactful. The opening titles consisted of the effect, the text and the length of the title itself. I had to play around with this to get the correct length of the effect with the running time of the text as we wanted it fairly long so people could read it and it not just being a flash.

-FreePlayMusic- I feel this was most probably the most difficult part of putting together the teaser trailer. This is because i had to find a soundtrack that would work well with the pace of the cuts through the majority of the trailer. Also as it had to have a beat where it would hit the cuts to make the trailer successful. I used a much softer, slow paced soundtrack at the start for establishing the plot and brought in the fast paced soundtrack for the action shots.

-Equipment (digital camera and uploading camera)- This is where the world of the trailer happened, in the screen of the camera. The digital camera was used so we could shoot our trailer onto a tape and upload the footage by then using an uploading camera to import onto Final Cut Pro. We used a tripod for the majority of shots as would normally be done but a couple of shots were handheld to give a sense of instability, confusion and mystery.

I feel that the storing my research and creating my evaluation on Blogger allows me to keep all my work up to date and together and would be difficult to lose unlike an essay that i had written on paper. Using a website such as this also helps to move forward with the expanding world of technology and to move forward from using a pen and paper all the time, which can be too repititive and doesn't allow any variation. It also allows for more creativity and makes the process much easier to show for instance a teaser trailer for my research with the analysis than indivdually if i didn'y use Blogger.
Overall i feel using this website is better than other forms such as writing an essay, as an essay lacks creativity, doesn't help to move forward with technology and keep work together in one area with instant access.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Through audience feedback i have found out what my target audience of 16 to 25 year olds think of my trailer. I have aimed at both male and females to bring in a larger audience and i feel the narrative and the use of female characters have encouraged this.

I discovered that there was a contrast of opinions on the same shots, the use of music and also the setting. There were particular features of my trailer that all of the audience seemed to think were successful. To start, everyone liked the ending of my trailer as the volume of the music was kept high which added to the pace during this point and influenced on a large impact finish. Also at the end of my trailer the audience enjoyed the shot with Bloody Mary jumping forward into the camera when she hisses as it seemed to make a few people in the audience jump and quite scared. As a well known horror convention, close ups appeared to be a positive of my trailer. This was said especially with the chracter who plays Bloody Mary and the shot where she has blood coming out of her eyes as tears. A shot that everyone seemed to be fond of was the tap shots during the middle of the trailer and the way they linked back to the beginning where the two girls are in the toilets. Also because they have blood dripping from them and gave a sense of creepiness and mystery.

There was contrasting views on the next aspects of my horror trailer. The shot where we see someones legs being dragged around a corner with blood on the floor was liked by some of the audience as they thought it was an effective shot in the sense of showing them that the "monster" has killed someone and is carrying the body away so it can't be seen. Although a small proportion of the audience felt that it looked as though the feet in the drag shot were too far away from the trail of the blood and it may have not been that persons blood. The other shot that the audience didn't seem to agree on was the hanging shot where you just see, from a low angle, the bottom half of someones legs swaying with a church in the background as though they have just been hung. What some of the audience thought was interesting was the idea of mystery behind was has just happened with the victim and the church in the background that ties in with religion, which is a used horror genre in mass market production of real horror films.

Some of the audience however weren't too keen on the use of shots being in an exterior location and felt that the use of both interior and exterior locations throughout the trailer was slightly confusing and misleading. The audience also picked out the narrative structure of my trailer and thought that it established the characters as being pupils in the school toilets and that by saying "Bloody Mary" three times that it would unleash terrible and unknown consequences. From the other point of view a small amount of the audience felt that it went from normality, then suddenly came into the action of the events that unfold.

The following features weren't liked by the audience. A strong feeling was that the music that was used throughout the majority of the trailer was to action like and maybe would be used from a sci-fi type film. Continuing with music nobody thought the transition of the slow eerie music at the start to the faster paced music was that successful as it happend to quick and didn't allow a bigger enough lead in. A final point that people thought could have been improved was the shot of Bloody Mary walking through the graveyard. In the shot we see her as just walking through as if everything was normal and didn't let off any sinister or frightening expressions to make the audience scared.

From asking the class, the response was that the majority of people were sufficiently "teased". This was said to be as the trailer progressed and mainly through the middle section as there was fast cuts with the aid of the music that built up suspense within the viewers and produced uncertainty of what would happen at the end. At the very end of the trailer, with the shot of "Bloody Mary" jumping into the camera and hissing with the use of "booms" integrated into the soundtrack felt like a realistic ending to a teaser trailer according to the class. As a whole, again most of the class said they would want to go and see the movie if it was released at the cinema although the ones who didn't was because they didn't understand how the trailer went from a normal day where school chilren are in the toilets to the odd events that followed.

Overall, i feel that my horror trailer was successful with a lot of the interior shots as the use of lighting was effective for what was trying to be created. Which is to make a product that would draw in a mass audience and for the product to be realistic as if it was a normal trailer on the market. Also we seemed to manage to integrate a narrative strucure that worked well with a school being introduced at the sart of the trailer and the events unravelling from that point. Possibly the exterior shots could have worked if we shot them in the dark or later in the day so we didn't have as large a contrast between the brightness of the interior and exterior shots.

In respect of the comments i received back from the audience i feel i would definately change a few aspects of my teaser trailer. The main issue for improvement would be to make the contrast in music between the two pieces more subtle and to lead the story into the main part as a gradual transition instead of sudden. Due to audience feedback i would consider changing the main piece of soundtrack that runs through most of the teaser trailer. It would still have pace and create tension but try and find a soundtrack that was more dark and eerie. I would also probably limit the shots to interior locations even though i feel that a couple of the exterior shots worked well, such as the hanging shot. I would redo the beginning and probably film this section in a house instead and have it filmed when it is night to follow horror conventions more effectively.
In light of my audience feedback i have decided to change the end of my horror teaser trailer. Originally the order of the shots was the jump cuts of "Bloody Mary" coming down the stairs followed by the shot of "Bloody Mary" jumping into the camera and hissing as a close up and then the two inter-titles of "Bloody Mary" then finishing with "Coming To Cinemas 10/10/10". After altering this the new order is "Bloody Mary" coming down the stairs followed by the two inter-titles of "Bloody Mary" and "Coming To Cinemas 10/10/10" and then finishing with the close up shot of "Bloody Mary" jumping into the camera and hissing. I feel this has improved the end in terms of the audience, in my opinion, will feel as though the trailer has finished but it really hasn't and would make people jump a lot more than it did in the previous order. Although i said i would have liked to change the part of the teaser trailer where there is a large contrast in music between the two soundtracks and make this more subtle, i have not managed to do this because i would have wanted to re-film the very beginning of the trailer as well but this couldn't be done due to deadlines and other work that had to be completed.

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

The length of my main product (the teaser trailer) is one minute and fifteen seconds. This is therefore in keeping with the expected time of a teaser trailer which is 60-90 seconds. I feel that the three pieces work well together with the main focus of the character "Bloody Mary" throughout. If i had more time i would  like to change the transition of the two music tracks as it is maybe not subtle enough to settle the audience before the horror element of the trailer is unleashed. Also i would like to alter the beginning of the trailer to give a more clear understanding of the plot to the audience, so we can establish the characters and what may happen as the trailer unfolds. Also from audience feedback i realise that for further improvement i would have to shoot all shots for the trailer inside or make the exterior shots less contrasting and confusing for the audience.

I particularly feel that my poster works well with my main product as i have used the image of "Bloody Mary" that we see towards the end of the trailer and therefore they nicely tie in with each other. The darkness of the image on the poster perpetuates the idea of "Bloody Mary" causing unusual things to occur without explanation, as she is a dark mysterious character. The non-expressionate face leaves the audience wanting to know what is behind it and what she will do. The tagline, "For the first time the legend comes alive" i have taken from my main product to keep continuity within the promotional package. The more the target audience read it the more likely they are to view it for themselves instead of left wondering. The font of the reviews is very similar to the inter-titles of my main product, so the audience will see that they work together. I decided to use red text as i did for the main product but i chose to change the font to flow with the tears coherently, as a theme down the poster. I also felt that it works well because it doesn't give too much information away to the audience but enough from the image for them to want to know more.

My movie magazine works on the level of holding the theme and the main image again ties in with the trailer. This is when "Bloody Mary" walks through the graveyard and the background setting of the church in the hanging of a victim shot. Using the idea from "Empire" magazine allows me to follow the correct layout to show the promotional package to its best ability. By having two crosses on the cover it continues the theme of religion through and shows an angle on another theme though the trailer. Looking at the film strip i think that having the images in this order partly summarises the trailer itself. We see an innocent potential victim, then an actual victim being killed and finally back to where everything started, the main character of "Bloody Mary". I included the obvious features which need to be included onto a front cover such as the website, barcode, coverlines, price, issue and date so it follows the conventions needed for it to work as a promotional piece. I have also taken stills from the teaser trailer as well and placed on the magazine front cover to keep the theme of continuity between the three texts.

As a distributor they would have direct control over the teaser trailer and the film poster but would not have direct control over the movie magazine front cover, meaning it is less effective for the production company in marketing their film and sending it out to the mass market.. Therefore this means that the distributor would have to aim to get this as part of the publicity element within their marketing strategy. The control of the movie magazine front cover would be in the hands of the magazine editiors and therefore this means that my movie would have to compete against other films within its genre to try and amass its largest possible target audience.

The distribution company for my media texts would be involved in above the line advertising as they will want to get the product spread out to as many and as broad an audience as possible. This would be done through the use of all types of media including, tv, radio and the internet. This is normal to be impersonal as not everyone the production company is targeting are the same person. My product would be advertised in these ways as the large majority of them would be within the fifteen to twenty-four year olds who use these forms of media communication to find out about upcoming movie releases.

I chose to have the rating at fifteen as this would allow for everybody within the target audience of fifteen to twenty-four year olds to go and view the film. As over half of cinema goers are in this category and this seemed as the most sensible choice and would not cut off any of the potential target audience. If i were to raise the certification to eighteen a lot of the target audience from high schools and students at college would be lost but on the other hand the older section who could see it may not think of it as a wimpy film and is serious within the genre. If i were to certicate it at a twelve this would mean i would straight off potentially lose a substantial amount of the cinema audience of fifteen to twenty-four because they would feel that it wouldn't satisfy their needs and would not work very well as a horror which are very rarley at this certification anyway.

For the film poster and magazine front cover the main area that needs to be focused on is giving the audience the most important factor of the film that stands out or that runs through the product. This could be a central character, the genre of the film, location or something involving the storyline. On my film poster i have used a large close up image of the central character "Bloody Mary" which is seen in the teaser trailer itself with the tears of blood running down her face. For my magazine front cover i have again chosen "Bloody Mary" as the central part but haven't taken it from the teaser trailer but as a photo as this is what would normally be done with a real image for an actual movie magazine front cover. I have tried to keep a feel of darkness and bloodiness through the two pieces to make them seem related and to compliment each other.

Storyboards

Idea for a new horror movie

In the heart of the yorkshire dales during summer half term a small group of teenagers, who are fifteen and sixteen years old decide to go camping.
The main character Lucy is the popular girl of the group and was her idea to take an adventure for a few days. Everything begins to be normal. They manage to set up their tents and collect firewood. During their first night they all have a party and drink to the early hours of the normal.
As the next day starts, strange things begin to unfold. A couple of the group, Toby and Lucy who leave the campsite for more firewood begin to hear quite frightening voices softly whispering things like "we are only just behind you" and "you will not live past the night".
The pair of them run back to the campsite to report what had happened. The rest of the group just play it off as a joke to scare them all. Toby and Lucy are in genuine fear of their lives and purposefully decide to stay up for the whole night at the campsite. Nothing seems to develop during that night, to the surprise of the fearful pair and were humiliated by the fact that they had no sleep.
Whilst the pair come to the conclusion that nothing is going wrong, they go to sleep in their tents. Meanwhile the rest of the group head awayfrom the campsite to see if they can find something interesting to do at the local tourist office.
Later that day Toby and Lucy wake up from their sleep to discover that all of their friends have left the camp. In search of their friends, they realise something seriously bad has happened. they start to find clues telling them that their friends are dead. They find pieces of their friends clothing with writing written in blood. Seeing this the pair sprint back to their campsite to collect their belongings. Unknowing to Toby and Lucy, the villain has been waiting at the camp for them. Whilst Toby is finishing to pack up his rucksack the villain comes from behind and stabs him in the back. As this happened Lucy has been busy packing up her own bag next to her tent. As the villain moves towards her, she sees a shadow on the floor of a hand with a jagged blade. Lucy nervously lowers both her hands towards a large piece of wood on the floor and swiftly turns and smacks the villain over the head. She then grabs the blade the villain had. Lucy doesn't know that she still hasn't escaped the terror that has been placed upon her. Or if she managed to kill the villain now on the floor.

The Conventions of the Horror Genre

The genre conventions that we can use to analyse the genre of horror are setting, technical codes, iconography, the narrative structure, character types and themes. Horror films try to create fear, horror and terror within in its audience. The main themes that are included are death, supernatural elements, gore, psychological and torture porn. There is usually always a central villain or main protagonist.

Starting with the convention of setting, it tells us about the setting and location of the film and how it is used to enhance the horror genre. For horrors they are commonly set in a secluded or isolated area, where nobody will know what is happening and possibly there is a secret kept within a community, and is perfect for the "monster" to commit his or her torturous and murderous acts. This may be a woodland area or a quiet secluded town where nothing much occurs. Houses and hotels which are often used in horror will have different levels with cellars and attics. These often have some history which may be revealed and become part of the narrative. This is seen in "The Shining" where the setting is a hotel which is secluded up on a mountainside, and a past event of a man murdering his wife and children comes back to haunt the hotel and ultimately the main character "Jack". These places are usually quite normal during the day but by night terrible events happen.

On to technical codes, which cover camerawork, editing and sound, they have a major part in understanding the horror genre. In camerawork it is used in an expressive manner often showing a lot of extreme close ups and point of view shots. This is done so we can identify with the character involved for close ups and show us their state of mind at particular stages through the film. With the "monster" these are used to feel too close to the "monster" than would be preferred, so the audience feels uncomfortable with his or her presence. With the victim the extreme close up is used so we can identify with the terror they are experiencing and to keep out the sight of possible danger from the "monster". This in turn makes the audience more hesitant as they don't know where the "monster" is and when he or she might strike. Point of view shots are primarily used to see what the "monster" can see from their perspective and be in the mind of the "monster". Hand- held cameras are often used for this to put us in the "monsters" shoes on looking at the likely defenceless victim.

The use of extreme high and low angle shots gives the impression of confusion of whereabouts and location and produces obscure shadow variations if the scene is dark. This can create more fear towards the pursued victim. Also canted camerawork is sometimes put into a scene to create disorientation usually towards the victim to seem as though the "monster" has the upper hand.

In editing, the speed of the cuts is a very important factor in making a horror film work. This is needed to create suspense and fear of the upcoming action before anything has actually occurred. Also jumping from opposites in shot distance, long shot to extreme close up will disturb the audiences' train of thought and cause them to jump. Occasionally in horror films jump cuts to the past and back to the present day are used to recall on how an event came to happen in the view of the victim.

Sound is what creates a film, without it we wouldn't understand what was fully happening and lose all aspects of tension, suspense and terror. Ambient sound is the key type of sound which makes a horror film what it is. Creaking doors, footsteps and thumping heartbeats all bring a horror film together and give it finesse.

The iconography is what we expect to see in the film. For horror there are certain characteristics that would be expected from the audience. The main obvious indications of horror are the colours black and red as they suggest danger, blood, evil and violence. The lighting in horror is generally low key and comes from different, odd angles to create unknown shadows, usually from below. Props would include bladed weapons, masks, and religious symbols like crucifixes, blood and supernatural aspects such as ghosts.

There are two basic paths taken for the narrative structure of a horror film. The first is normality, enigma, path to resolution and closure. Or hero, agent of change, quest, resolution and closure. Although through Todorov's theory there may be no closure to the film and could be a false closure. This is to continue the film as a sequel or create an unknown mythic story.

The main protagonist is commonly the final girl who plays the role of the hero and the victim as she survives the ordeal of the "monster".

The sub-genre of the "slasher" follows a strict structure, in which there is a psychotic killer created from the past events who returns to a location from a previous time to take revenge on a group of teenagers. The final girl survives as she seems to be not quite as stupid as the group and is often virginal and masculine.

Binary opposition is used, such as good versus evil, known versus unknown. An example is using a setting of a horror film in a fairground but having the evil aspect of the "monster" in that setting. This idea works well as the contrast makes the concept more interesting and powerful in terms of the underlying meaning of the story and needs to be understood in more depth. This gives more variety to the common evil character in a stereotypical place of evil acts being committed.

On to character types in the horror genre. There are only a few main types that feature in horror. The main protagonist, who is often a hero and victim. This is the character who is focused upon through the film and who we identify with. The final girl, who is often shown as displaying both sex characteristics and virginal. Also the "monster", who has a secret or turned psychopathic through past event in his or her life. The police and authorities, they are often ineffective in the narrative and shown to be quite stupid and have no clear idea about what is going on in the narrative.

Audience Research

This graph shows the number of males and females surveyed and if they replied yes or no to liking horror movies.

This graph clearly shows that people in the majority watch horror movies 1-2 times a month.

This pie chart shows that, what appeals to the audience most is the storyline, closely followed by trailers/posters.

This pie chart shows that the people surveyed overall preferred the sub genres within horror of torture and Psychologial.

This pie chart shows the the most popular setting for a horror movie voted by people is Haunted houses, closely followed by Woods/parks and the home.

Function of a Distribution company

All films have their individual distribution plan. The distributors in accordance with the producers and/or studio decide on when and how they will release the film thereby increasing it's chances to work by attaining the largest audience possible and hopefully make a profit.


Planning a release: Even before thinking about sending out a movie to the mass market, the distributors need to think how they are going to do this. Through their market knowledge, commercial experience, statistical research and professional judgement this goes a long way to making a film release as successful as possible and gain the best suited audience.  

Focus on the audience: For the distribution company they want to acquire as large and diversified audience as possible, including niche groups and not forgetting the core target audience of 15-24 year olds. They need to fully understand the target audience in a variety of areas:
- Age group
- Gender
- Lifestyles
- Social networks used
- Media consumption patterns
These all allow the distributor to decide when and how the film will reach its audience.
The audience can vary greatly from families with young children, teenage males and females and older adults. There can be a combination of any of these if the film includes interests for all age groups. Not all films can target all age groups, for instance a horror would be targeted primarily at the 15-24 age group and not at families with young children. The distributor's challenge is to attract as wide an audience as possible and to "break out" and "cross over" with the different target audience groups.

The competitive jungle: There are other factors that need to be taken into account apart from the target audience and commercial risk. The distributors need to consider their competitors and the affect they will have on releasing their own film.
Issues for consideration for the distributors on other competing film releases:
- Is the film a mass market blockbuster, an event film or a specialised film for a particular audience?
- Is there a star actor/actress in the cast. If so did they create a positive or negative impact among the public and critics?
-  Is the film made by made by a "name" director or producer e.g. Steven Spielberg?
- Can any of the cast members be available for a premiere?
- Is the film being released in a holiday period, which season and what holiday periods have been successful previously?
- Does the film have hopes of recieving award nominations such as Golden Globe and The Academy Award?
- Will the film lead the media reviews of that weeks new releases?
- Is there already a positive feel for the film, due to stars in the cast, follow on from the book or a controversial issue?
- Is it a sequel or franchise entry?
- Has the film already started its viewing abroad, especially in the US with its huge target audience. If there is positive reviews here then it will help the success in the UK before it gets there.
- Wgat certification does the film have? This will affect the potential target audience.

Satisfying anticipated demand: A film is commonly released either as saturated or staggered and this is done in either way chosen to attain the largest audience possible. For a saturated release, the film is released everywhere, usually in over 1,000 cinemas with 2 or more screens per theatre. This strategy is usually taken out by "tentpole" titles such as large-scale sequels or star-led holiday releases. This enables the distributors to recieve mass audiences who are eager to see the film at the earliest possible opportunity.

Digital Regeneration: In this day and age the majority of films are released digitally or on 35mm celluloid prints. A digital release is in the form of a disk which has encrypted codes for security which are released to the cinema and then fed into a server and from here is projected onto the screen through a state-of-the-art projector. The advantages of the digital disk is that it is firstly 10 times less the cost of the 35mm prints. Also the disks can be copied to a high quality without the sound or picture being damaged.

Budgeting the release: There are many costs involved to work out an accurate budget . The distributors will stick to a strict budget as to make sure that they will cover the costs from releasing the film and other such spin-offs such as merchandise will help towards the most important stage of breaking-even. Although they can't hold back on certain cost otherwise the film will not be able to be marketed very well and win the needed target audience.
The distributors in the UK have to pay all of the release costs including marketing and the multiple number of prints which are duplicated (either 35mm or digital). The budget also contains the launch and sustaining of the film post-release.
A distribution budget can be categorised into different cost areas to make it easier for the distributor to see where there money is going. These include the following:
- 35mm prints
- Digital prints
- Media Costs, e.g. all advertising including tv, radio, press, online, outdoor and in brochures.
- Promotions
- Publicity, e.g. press screenings, premieres, festival screenings and journalists' travel/cuttings.
- Campaign production, e.g. poster printing, film poster designs, Tv spots production, Film trailer production, and Official UK film website content.
- Other costs including courier, copying and research screening.

Vladimir Propp Narrative in The Shining

Villain- Jack Torrance
Hero- Wendy
Doner- Chef Hallorann
Helper- Charles Grady
Dispatcher Mr.Ullman (to an extent as he gave Jack the position at the hotel)
False Hero- Jack Torrance
Princess-Danny
Princess's Father- Wendy

Vladimir Propps Narrative Structure- The Shining

Preparation- Jack leaves for his job interview to take the role of caretaker at the hotel.

Complication- The phone line is cut off to the hotel. This makes it impossible for Wendy to contact the police from outside the hotel. A snow storm stops Wendy and Danny being able to escape from Jack.

Transference- Jack turns psychotic and decides he wants to kill his family.

Struggle- Wendy hits Jack with a baseball bat on the stairs above where Jack has written hundreds of pages saying, " All work and no play makes Jack dull".

Return- Jack manages to escape from the storage room with the assistance of Charles Grady ( the helper)

Recognition- Jack freezes to death after trying to chase and kill Danny out in the maze. Wendy and Danny escape.

From watching this film i feel that it does in parts follow Vladimir Propps ideas of the narrative with the character roles and the structure. The categories listed above of Preparation, Complication, Transference, Struggle, Return and Recognition are not always particuarly clear and could be argued that they have not been shown in the correct order. I would say that the basic structure is apparent but Vladimir Propps narrative has not always been used.

Alien 3

I have selected this teaser trailer of Alien 3 as it breaks the conventions of a normal teaser trailer. There are no particular horror aspects involved in the whole trailer. In all it doesn't follow any normality except for the fact that it includes the credits, including the name of the film and the main actresses name at the end of the trailer. This probably wouldn't be able to be done with the first in the sequel as it wouldn't make the viewer want to come and see the film. There are no teasing aspects for the audience to think i want to go and see that or any footage from the film to give the viewer an idea of what they will see.

The Grudge 3

I feel this is probably the best teaser trailer i found in terms of it fulfilling the conventions which are essential in making this type of teaser trailer work. As this film is a part of a sequel, it already has a loyal target audience. Therefore it should make it easier to sell to the audience without trying to demonstrate more than the producing company feel they need to.
Right at the beginning through the use of intertitles we are told the name of the film and then a few seconds later the name and the leading role played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. These are also used towards the end of te trailer where a sentence is broken down to keep suspense within the audience. The name of the film is shown at the start and end of the film to reinforce to the audience to the name so the won't forget. This trailer portrays a couple of the production values, including special effects and a well known actress. A special effect is seen whilst the woman is having a shower and a disturbing white boney hand worms its way out of the back of her head.

The Amityville Horror

This horror film does follow many of the conventions of a horror movie. The genre of the film is easily identified through a large house, ridden with horrific past events that are kept within its walls. The image of the house at night with lightning slashing through the sky gives the impression of the house being a very frightening place to enter. The house is shown to have many levels, possibly with a cellar and an attic. The cellar is where the monster may stay to strike his victims and the cellar is where the secrets from the past are kept. The music in this trailer follows what would be expected of a horror. The music of the trailer doesn't begin until the new family moves into the house where the family was killed. The music is a very high pitched screachy sound that becomes more high pitched as the trailer comes to its close. Towards the end of the trailer the sounds of people singing in a choir develop in the background, seeming to make the situation the family are in to be more sinister. There is use of dialogue to tell the audience the background to the film. This is done as a news report by journalists, newsreaders and the ploice, where we find detailed information about what happened in the house. The name of the movie is only shown once right at the very end in large capital writing.

The Exorcist

Trailer of The Shining

I chose this trailer because i like the aspect of the main character played by Jack Nicholson and the way his madness plays a key role in the film. There are elements of humour added to the horror film which improve his character.
The use of low key lighting in the setting of a hotel emphasises the genre of the film as a horror. Multiple number of levels within a building gives more exploration of ideas, as you don't know what could be happening above and below where the character at the time is. I thought the idea of a past event coming back to haunt another person was very interesting, and the way his psychotic mind becomes unleashed through his temper and things he sees works well, up to trying to kill his own family.



This trailer for The Shining demonstrates some of the key conventions of a horror trailer. The most apparent convention is the music as it is eary and builds up suspense. Whilst the trailer builds up towards the main action there are low pitch instruments used but as we get closer the music speeds up and becomes more high pitched. Looking at lighting, this trailer doesn't follow the convention of having low key lighting and having the light come from different angles and positions. The name of the movie isn't mentioned until the end of the trailer, most likely so we pay all our attention on the text and not on the visual aspect. The character of Jack portrays pyschotic characteristics as the film unfolds. These are apparent through his evil smile and possessiveness over his family. Also he doesn't seem to care at all about his appearance from the moment his state of mind changes and is self indulged in his own thoughts of what he is going to do.

Return of the repressed

Return of the repressed is a term used to describe the unconscious thoughts and feelings, which are trying to be let out to the world from someone’s mind. These are often seen in people with a neurotic disorder. These thoughts could possibly have come from a previous experience or from a past life before they were born and lived as another being. They come back to haunt the person though their mind. Horror as a genre is related to this concept i feel as this idea is commonly used as a main theme during a horror film. Looking at audiences i feel that it allows them to experience a unique idea to the horror genre unlike a usual concept where there is one villain killing people.