I feel that my final teaser trailer has worked particularly well. I really researched in to the codes and conventions of existing found footage horror genre teaser trailers. As I explained in my directors commentary, I opened the trailer with a green band in order to fit within this genre of teaser trailers, and in fact the majority of all teaser trailers. From my research I found that most of them open with the green band, perhaps not in the cinema but definitely on YouTube. This is used to warn the audience of the film rating, and what it consists of. It also warns them that even the trailer may not be suitable. I used an R rated green band at the beginning of my trailer as from my film classification research I found that this would be a suitable rating if my film were to be shown in America. I then went on to include the Lionsgate logo sequence. I included the full length clip, which I felt worked very well with the music I had used. The droning and strange echoing was in sync with each movement and it fit together very well. My use of the Lionsgate logo sequence was appealing to codes and conventions as this sort of institutional clip is often shown at the beginning of trailers and films. Lionsgate is also a respected institution that would encourage people to view the film and build excitement as soon as they see the Lionsgate logo. However, I would have made some changes to this part. I included the whole sequence, which was perhaps too long. I think I should have just included the gates opening to reveal the Lionsgate logo, rather than showing the lead up before. Although, as I mentioned before, the music works really well with the sequence and the shot of the mechanics actually appeals well to the horror genre as it is serious and perhaps viewed as sinister. For example, when I saw this sequence at the beginning of SAW, I thought it was the film started, which shows clearly how well this appeals to the codes and conventions of the horror genre. I then went on to place my audience in darkness, with a blank screen. I was inspired by this technique in the Blair Witch project teaser trailer and Cloverfield teaser trailer and I felt it was particularly effective. I thought about my audience in the cinema, and how the black screen would mean the cinema would go dark, which I felt would build tension and fear. I then had my actors and myself whispering, again taking inspiration from the Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield teaser trailers where we can hear a voice but are unsure who it is. I felt this would make them listen intently as well as build fear and tension. The idea of being in darkness and the mystery of what the sounds are, who they're coming from and why they're whispering I felt would really be frightening and also be found disturbing by the audience. I felt this part was effective and definitely was appealing to codes and conventions. However, I think I left the screen black for too long before we start to hear the whispering, so if I were to create my trailer again I would change this. From the REC teaser trailer and Paranormal Activity trailer, I really liked how the shots fuzzed in and out because of how it appealed to the codes and conventions of the found footage genre as well as creating the effect of disorientation. I took inspiration from this and also decided to use this technique. The first shot we see is "Cathy" sorting out the camera on the tripod, which fuzzes in with an effect I used on Final Cut. I felt this was a really good way to introduce a shot, and worked well in the other shots that are shown throughout the teaser trailer. It also worked well on the titles and made them more exciting as well as clearly showing the genre of the trailer. I think two titles were particularly effective, which was "At least 16,000 disappear...forever" and "RUN" the film title. The "at least 16,000..." title really built suspense, and the audience should be able to tell that the teaser trailer is about to reach it's optimum point. I liked how forever appeared separately, giving a real impact on the word. I allowed the word to stay still on the screen fro a while, and then made it fuzz with a loud interference sound to disappear completely, leaving us with a black screen where we hear the girls whispering and crying. I felt this was appealing to the codes and conventions of horror because of how it gave such an impact on the word, aiming the title seem more frightening, and making us wonder why these people disappear forever, which they are then shown in the next shot. I also felt the way the film title RUN faded in gave an impact, because the use of a fade effect was quite slow and calm, which really contrasted with the screaming, making it seems all the more disturbing. I made the word RUN fuzz slightly to keep a consistent style with the other titles. For my titles I decided to use statistics, which I think was a really good choice. I noticed that this was used in all the found footage teaser trailers, most noticeable in the REC trailer, whether it was dates or disturbing statistics like I used here. I fell this not only created the effect of realism but also appealed to the codes and conventions of found footage horror as they are suggested to be based on "true events". I felt that the use of statistics built tension as each one narrows down how many people go missing and then more disturbing statistics are shown such as how many people are dead, and then some that "disappear forever" which makes the audience wonder what happened to these people, then making them realise the footage they are seeing is people that have disappeared forever, making the film more intriguing. I feel the character representations fit well in to the codes and conventions of the horror genre, but at points I also did challenge it. Cathy is the first character that appears on screen as she sorts out the camera. This shows she is in control as she is in charge of the equipment. This challenges stereotypes of females in horror films where they are more helpless and vulnerable and often let males take control of things. I'd probably compare Cathy here to the girl in The Blair Witch Project as she is determined to get footage and is in control of the camera in the teaser trailer. The other female character, Joan, is more of a stereotypical representation of females in horror films. She seems vulnerable and worried here, standing right back. Jason is listening out for something, which suggests he is protective and cautious, appealing to the stereotypes of males in horror films. At the end of this shot, Cathy goes back for the camera and the others run away, showing she is determined to get footage and is also a brave character, again challenging female stereotypes. In the next shots Jason seems to be in control of the situation. He is ahead of both girls, leading them up the stairs. This shows he is again, protective, as well as showing his male authority in leading the girls as well as being the first to see any danger ahead. Once they have reached the top of the stairs, Cathy regains the authority she had at the beginning of the trailer. Jason has stopped and Cathy encourages him to go, showing again her bravery. At this point she is the "turning point" character, I have explained this in my character development http://amcdermott-a2portfolio.blogspot.com/2011/06/character-development.html. She has to make a decision, and because it is a horror film it is the wrong choice, as shown in the next shot. This is appealing to the horror genre as the characters always seem to make the wrong decision, which is in order to create entertainment for the audience. I feel that I made particularly good use of sound effects in my teaser trailer. I didn't want to have music in my teaser trailer, but from my draft version I found this didn't create the effect I wanted. I noticed that found footage teaser trailers didn't use music, but instead used a quiet droning or rumbling sound which set an ominous mood without being too obvious. I think this worked really well in my teaser trailer as it kept the effect of realism as well as building tension and setting a chilling mood. I decided to put my shots in to night vision because this was used a lot in the Paranormal Activity trailer, The Tunnel trailer, The Blair Witch trailer # 2 and at the end of the REC/Quarantine film, although this is not used in the teaser trailer. I felt it made the film look sinister and also created the effect of darkness. I didn't want to use a light like used in some of the other teaser trailers such as REC and The Blair Witch Project #1, because I felt the use of night vision would mean they're not wanting to draw attention to themselves suggesting there is something there that they don't want to find them and that they are in complete darkness. The font I used for my titles was very simplistic because I noticed this sort of font was used in the teaser trailers for the found footage style genre, perhaps to create the effect of a low budget film as well as looking serious. I think it worked well in my teaser trailer and was also appealing to the genre because of how plain it looked, but not boring because of the fuzzing effect I used. I feel that maybe I could have used the same font on my poster, or the same font in my teaser trailer that I used on my poster to keep a consistent style, but I don't feel that this was too much of a problem. I chose the location for my teaser trailer because I felt it was appealing to codes and conventions of horror in the way it looked run down, dark and sinister, which is often the kind of building used in horror films. It looked industrial and scary, which really worked because of the way it didn't suggest home or a comforting place. I'm glad I chose this location for my teaser trailer as it allowed me to achieve what I wanted to achieve and creating a really good mood and setting for my filming.
In my opinion I think my poster is really appealing to the codes and conventions of real media products. After thoroughly researching in to posters from a wide range of genres as well as genre specific found footage horror posters, I really understood the codes and conventions and how to incorporate as well as challenge them when designing my poster. Firstly, the image I used I feel was clearly appealing to the horror genre. I used the same location for I used for my filming, keeping a consistent style and plot line. I felt that this location worked really well because of how it looked run down and scary, which was appealing to the codes and conventions of horror. I found a shadowy area to take the image, and had the hand reaching around the corner in a strange way. The shadows casted a strange light across the hand, making it look monster like and inhuman, therefore again appealing to the horror genre. In my final poster I added some lines like you would see on an a TV screen with interference, keeping a consistent style from my teaser trailer. I wanted to create the effect that this was a screen shot from the film and that it was filmed from a low budget camera as well as suggest disorientation and realism. I noticed most of the image used on found footage horror posters had this effect, and they were usually a screen shot from the film. I felt this worked very well and was appealing to the codes and conventions of the found footage horror genre. I also made sure the colours were very muted in the image to fit in well with the horror genre, for example brighter colours would suggest a comedy. I feel this worked very well and gave the image a more sinister feel. I took a inspiration from the REC/Quarantine and The Blair Witch Project posters. As you can see from the image below they have similarities in the image, layout and colours.
(please click to enlarge)
I thought the layout of these three posters worked really well so I took inspiration from it. The main part of the image is centred in each poster, which I have done in mine. The film title is also placed at the bottom with institutional references and perhaps the website, which I have also done here. I think my layout is most similar to The Blair Witch Project poster in the way I have a paragraph of text at the top aligned to the centre, the main part of the image and then the film name and institutional references and website right at the bottom. I feel that my layout has worked well and fits well with the image I have used. The colour scheme is also similar to these posters. I have used flashes of red where I want words to stand out which has been used most obviously on The Blair Witch Project poster and Quarantine poster. The Blair Witch symbol as been coloured in red as well as the website, and on the Quarantine poster the REC symbol is in red and so is the website. I have also used this colour scheme of white text with flashes of red in my poster by highlighting words in my tag lines that I feel have an impact such as "dead" and the website. I like the subtle effect of this as it makes things stand out without giving too much colour. The colour red is appealing to the codes and conventions of horror because it is a colour often used for this genre. It symbolises blood and suggests danger, which fits in well with all horror films as well as it working well for my film. I am also appealing to the codes and conventions of film posters because I have included institutional logos, credits and copyrighting and an age rating. I rated my film a 15 on this poster, which is the equivalent to the American R rating used on my teaser trailer. I feel this rating would be appropriate for my film as it allows my target audience to watch it and stops children viewing it because if it were to be a film, it wouldn't be suitable. I also included the logos for Lionsgate and Bad Robot, which were my chosen distribution companies for film as I explained in my film institution research http://amcdermott-a2portfolio.blogspot.com/2011/06/institutional-context-research-into.html. I would also make a few changes to improve my poster if I were to create it again. I think that the website address needs to be smaller as it is quite large and doesn't look as if it fits correctly. I would also improve the camera distortion effect to make it more obvious as it may not perhaps be as noticeable as I'd like it to be.
I feel that my magazine cover fits quite well in to the codes and conventions of film review magazines. I wanted to create a horror themed special issue because of the main article being on my horror film. Firstly I will comment on my image used. From my research I noticed a few image used looked as if the character in is was reaching out, drawing the audience towards the magazine as well as making them feel a part of the image. Some magazine that did this were Empire and Film review:
As you can see it looks as if these images are coming out towards you. I felt this really worked well in these magazine so I used this idea for mine with the hand reaching out, grabbing the audience's attention, making the magazine cover more striking and making the audience feel part of the image. I also took inspiration for my image from the Quarantine poster but interpreted it in my own way:
I chose to take an image like this because I felt it would work really well for the reaching out idea and fit in really well with the plot for my film. The ending of the film is the three teenagers getting attracted by their lost, and now changed, friend. I took the image in the corridor I filmed the last shot of my teaser trailer. I noticed that on film magazine covers, the images were of characters in the film in their costumes in a posed photograph. My film develops the codes and conventions of film review magazines in the way I have linked it clearly to my film rather than just a photograph of the actors/actress. However, I am challenging the codes and conventions in the way it could be a screen shot from the film. I wanted to do this because my film is supposed to be "found footage" and therefore by having a posed image it would ruin the effect of realism. Therefore I decided to create an interesting and suitable image for the front of my magazine, without ruining my effect of realism in my other products. I could have improved this image by perhaps including some camera distortion lines like on my poster to make it look even more like a screen shot from the film, but I still feel that this image works well. I am appealing to the horror genre in this photograph by the actual subject of the image itself as well as the blood covered hands. This image is gruesome and is supposed to make the film look exciting, which is intended by every image on film review magazines, therefore I am developing codes and conventions because of this. I think I could have improved this image by having my model take up more of the photograph meaning there isn't so much blank space as this would probably have improved the look of the cover. My masthead is challenging codes and conventions in the way it doesn't take up a large amount of space. I noticed this was used for the Sight and Sound cover, but I didn't feel it worked because of how it had been placed in a yellow box. However I though it was a good idea to challenge film review mastheads in this way and that it would also work better for my masthead rather than stretching the three letters out. I feel that it has worked quite well, but I think it definitely could have been larger or take up more space, so this is an improvement I would make if I were to create this cover again. I used a font that was simplistic and that I felt was similar to the type faces used on film review magazine that I liked from my research. For example, I really like the Empire type face:
They are similar in the way they are both sans serif and have an interesting twist. I really liked the Empire type face because of how it looked like classic cinema fonts, and I feel my chosen type face mirrors this therefore clearly appealing to the codes and conventions of film magazines. However, mine is quite a bit thinner, which is challenging codes and conventions of film review magazines as they usually used a very bold type face. I used a slightly different type face for "light, camera, action" to create an interesting variation which I feel worked quite well. I feel that my masthead also challenges the codes and conventions of film magazine mastheads and in fact a lot of magazine mastheads in the way I have used some smaller text underneath the main masthead. This is usually used when promoting the magazine, or explaining was it it, but I have used it to explain what LCA stands for. However, I did see one masthead which resembles it which was Sight and Sound:
This masthead has more of a promotional reason for the smaller text tag line. I feel that that my use of a masthead tag line has worked well because I didn't want to write out the whole name for the magazine as it would be too long , so this actually worked really well. I feel the name of my magazine is obviously appealing and developing the codes and conventions of film review magazines because it obviously relates to films. The name is what most people would relate to films "lights, camera, action" so I feel that this works really well as the name for my magazine. I feel that I used a colour scheme that appeals to the horror genre as well as the codes and conventions of film magazines and it also fits well with my image. I noticed from my film magazine research, the colours of the cover line and sell lines fit in with the colours for the image, for example in there two covers:
I used the colour scheme of red, grey and white which I felt worked. These were the main colours in the image used, the grey floor and the red blood which meant the image worked well with the colour of the text. I used flashes of red where I wanted words to stand out, just like I wanted the blood on the hand to stand out against the other muted colours of the image. I also used this technique on my poster. This is appealing to the codes and conventions of horror because I have used dark colours with the flashes of red which symbolises blood, danger and so on. It also appeals to the codes and conventions of film magazine and most magazines, where a bolder colours is used on the words in the sell lines and cover lines that are wanted to stand out. For example, if we look at the Premiere cover, the colour scheme consists of greys and blues, blue being used for the words that are wanted to be more striking. It is also used on the cover above to create variation of colour when listing actors and actresses, which I have also done when listing up coming films on my cover as you can see here:
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