For my research have decided that I will evaluate key features and conventions that are shown on various film Posters so I can get a rough idea of what I have to do and what I have to compete with. It is key to compare my work with professional examples that are already out there.
Poster 1: Insidious
The poster has 2 main features on it. The boy on the right and house on the left. This tells a lot about the film as the house could be the setting on the film, and the boy being the protagonist.
The House
As a first perspective it is a traditional american house that has been represented in many films before. The key and noticeable part of the house is the door. The door doesn't blend in with the rest of the house on the poster as it is red. This produces curiosity in the viewers eyes as they want to know what is inside this red door. This is a small minor detail that works well as on a basic house like this you do not expect the door to be this intriguing.
The house is also the same colour as the sky. This provides a good house style for the poster focusing on the colours Black, White and Red. These are also the colours that are associated with death, blood and violence. As my poster is going to be along the same lines as this one I will need to focus on these three colours mainly if I want to achieve the best effect that I can.
The Boy
This is without a doubt the most iconic part of the poster. He is taking up more than half the page and has the appearance of someone that is haunted or possessed. In my opinion I think that his facial expressions represents the film. He has a bleak and emotionless expression on his face which could show that his possessed and oblivious to himself and his surroundings.
His eyes have also been edited so that they are ghostly faces. This could be that his stare is the most evil thing about him and don't want to ruin it for the audience when the view this poster. I love this effect as it shows for definite that he will be possessed in the film.
His clothing and appearance are still keeping up with the house style. he has black and a red shirt. This match is very key as it means there is no random colours that seem out of place when they are included. therefore when creating my poster I shall make sure i do this too as if i have one house style i keep to it will mean my poster will look professional comparing it to the professional one of Insidious.
A film synopsis is a general guide line to the storyline behind the film. This includes the directors name and some of the actors and actresses who are playing main parts of the film. They are not very detailed as do not give any part of the story away so that people will have to see the film to find out what happens next. Below is an example of a synopsis from 'Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones'.
The first thing on the synopsis is the age certificate for the film which is clearly marked a 15. The BBFC then offers advice to the consumer. This warning is before they hear the plot so that anyone who wishes to view the trailer is of a suitable age and to see if there is anything in the trailer they may take offense to. I knew what a synopsis included before this research however i did not know that they listed other information at the bottom of the synopsis such as the release date, the genre, the running time and the distributor.
The World War Z synopsis was a full synopsis which is in a lot more detail than the general synopsis. It has separate pages for Cast and Crew which shows the detail put in.There is a very big difference in information given about the film in the full synopsis. With this valuable information in mind I will have to decide which type of synopsis to do for my trailer. I think I will do a full synopsis as I think it will make the audience want to watch it more to see what happens and how it is filmed rather than saying a basic outline and choosing whether to see it or not depending on the music.
Sound is definitely the most important part of a horror trailer. it is the sound that causes the scare when someone is watching a film. This sound could be silent to build up or change in pitch when rising up to the climax. I have collaborated together my favorite sound effects from trailers and have analysed carefully.
Personally my favorite sound from any trailer is the shower scene form 'Psycho' directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This sound fits perfectly and its so simple. The sharp and shrilly sound of the instrument used to make this sound signifies the sharpness of the weapon used in that scene. It is the most iconic sound from a horror trailer as hasn't been used in another film due to it being so unique in pitch. It makes the audience have hairs on the back of their necks. As the sound carries on in length the pitch intensifies to reflect the 'sharpness' of the weapon being used at the time.
Another of my favorite sounds from a film is the use of something sweet and innocent and then creating a loud percussive tone to scare the audience. This has been done in the film of paranormal activity. 2 girls look into the mirror and repeat Bloody Mary three times then something supernatural. The easiness and innocence of the girls speech calms the audience down to a neutral level. Then the sound is used to create a jump with the audience putting their ease off balance and causing an uncomfortable surprise.
I think it is the repetition of low percussive sounds make the best soundtrack for films. The best examples of this is 'Jaws'. It may not be a horror film but that the sound begins to play the audience prepares themselves for what is going to happen. Depending on how well this is done it can cause trauma for people through its key effects.
Iconography of chosen genre
There are many things that are icons of horror trailers. This could be from various characters in the film to object which have significance on one way or the other. I will go through the most revealing icons from horror films which are very popular.
Characters/Monsters
Werewolves and Vampires;
From Dracula to viscous these mythical super natural fiends have become the trademark for horror films over the past century. Dracula bing one of the first Vampire films showed the world the characteristics of a vampire were and what they would do if they actually existed. This has led to films created in the present day such as 'Lesbian Vampire Killers' and 'Van Helsing'. Even though werewolves are not as popular as vampire they are still referenced in a lot of horror films to present day as people do not like to image the beast like nature that they possess., these wolves have inspired films like 'The Howling' and 'The Hair of the Beast'.
Possessed Adults or Children;
This is becoming the new icon of a horror trailer. Mainly aimed at young adults and grown ups who are thinking about having children or already have children. This films show young females and males find an object or something that possesses them in an evil way. People react to these as they think of their own families or people that they know and compare the film to their own lives which causes the reaction the director wants. Film such as 'Paranormal Activity 3' and 'The Possession' both focus their stories on young females as the stereotype for a young girl around the age of 6-8 years old is sweet, kind and innocent. Not evil, possessed and fatal. However 'Insidious' used a young male for the role and the ratings and comments form critics were outstandingly positive. For my horror trailer I am think of using a young female just because it seems to be the Favorited option when they are being possessed.
Murderers/Psychopaths;
These films generally have no super natural occurrences in them what so ever so people ask, 'Why is it a horror then?'. Through editing and other effects the director has the challenge of making the main villain as deadly as possible. In these types of films they usually packed with gore and horrid deaths. This ranges from graphic suicides to brutal body amputation. The film 'Psycho' directed by Alfred Hitchcock is the most famous horror film of all time as there was one scene in this marvellous piece of artwork. The shower scene today is still known as the most famous horror scene in the history of film. The newer film 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' put its foot down on the horror industry by coming out with the most gory film the world has ever scene. People called it 'Uncomfortable to watch'. However achieving 7.5/10 from IMDB shows that is was a complete success. I intend to put some gore in my trailer but no where near the scale that this film put into theirs.
Zombies/Living Dead;
Zombies started off being one of the scariest things to enter the horror industry. But as the years have gone on they have slowly decayed. They have started to become a mockery. Films such as 'Shaun of the Dead' they create an image which isn't scary but funny! 'World War Z' tried to save the zombie franchise. It was a good attempt as it was one of the first attempts of a zombie film where it effects increase to a world wide scale and that run faster than any human could run. The film was still very successful as people liked the difference it portrayed. it received 7.1/10 which is very good for this type of film.
Objects
Ancient Artefacts;
Nearly every film about someone who is possessed is because they have been passed down from their family or have found it. 'The Possession' it is a box a girl buys at a traditional american garage sale. This box contains a ring that the girl puts on and the the evil enters her body. Other items have also been used like this. Such as Voodoo and other jewellery.
Dolls;
The film trailer I am going to make is that the doll will be the object that possesses the child. I want to create a doll of a ancient image so I fond or buy a doll which will look the part. The doll from a real film I am going to try and relate to is Chucky. This is because it looks the part and it symbolizes the fear from an still object when it becomes animated.
Books;
A historic or non fiction book is always being shown in movies when the characters are trying to find information on the monster or evil character to see if they have a weakness and then can spend the rest of the film trying to pin point and target the weakness so that they can kill the evil. A book will appear in my trailer for that specific purpose. This always appears in trailers so people know that they could have a solution.
Weapons;
Iconic to some trailers as the evil villain sometimes is not a supernatural beast but a psychopath. This would mean having a weapon or weapons of some sort to commit evil deeds with. For example the villain in 'The Texas Chainsaw massacre' has the weapon of a chainsaw. Other weapons that have been featured are knives, guns and axes (The Shining).
To find out this I decided to give 3 people from my target audience range 1 minute to write down everything the can think of associated with horror then I will evaluate their decisions. This will help me to decide what people suspect from the horror genre in todays day an age.
I predict that monsters such as vampires, zombie sand werewolves will appear regularly with also mentions of murderers and psychopaths. I don't think many people will take notice of the sound but if they did would benefit the point of this research significantly.
The Genre for REC 2 is Horror. The plot follows a SWAT team infiltrating a house to try and find the source of the outbreak of a demonic virus. They capture all of the super natural occurrences on the helmet cameras equipped with their uniform. Therefore the film is mainly from their point of view to see what the see when trying to find what they are looking for. Director
Jaume Balagueró has produced many other horror films so he has experience in making this type of film and so he knows how it should be done, therefore I shall pay attention to the details he adds to this trailer so i could pick up some tips when crating my own.
Title
I personally think that the title for REC 2 is very well created. Normally when someone used a video camera they can see the white lines to show the area of which you are filming. Inside the box there is the word REC in block capitals. My favourite part of the title though is how they have represented to small red circle which means you are recording. It is an eye of one of the victims that has been exposed to the demonic virus in the film. The title is mostly black but to effect is so good no one notices. This effect means that they can have the most simplest of backgrounds yet still be great as the effect of the title outshines everything else.
Location
The location for REC 2 is a building which has been known as a source for the virus outbreak. the plot is them trying to find the source before the virus escapes out into the real world. A lot of horror films are based in buildings as the directors can play around with supernatural occurrences where they can try to make the scariest thing out of a scenario. Rec 2 is known for its random deaths where people are just pulled or dragged into the darkness. This effect is good as the director has used the setting and location to enhance the effect the death has.
The Length of Shots
The length of shots in REC 2 are not very long as the film contains many scenes where it has to be fast or the effect will not work up to a standard. The speed of shots suggests that the film has very graphic scenes that happen quick enough to surprise and provoke a reaction from them. If they can see it coming the it would obviously be not as scary but the speed gives them no one warning making their reaction worse. The trailer can use slow shots however to build up to one of the fast scenes which will add to the tension of the scene. I will use this tactic when crating my film trailer as the more tense the scenario, the scarier the action.
Pace
There is one thing I notice about trailers is that when they are nearing the end the trailer enters fast pace clips before slowing right down where the main action is. This fast paces imagery along with an increasing volume of sound or music to increase the effect. With REC 2 they don't go for this option because they decide to add many scenes where things are happening to show that the film is full of action. This makes the trailer more exciting and thrills the user when they are watching it.
Editing
Rec 2 has the stereotyped editing for a horror film. The static screen change is used commonly is most horror films and this one makes no exception. it works i think a lot better however in this particular trailer as because most of the clips are recorded by video camera, static would actually occur so the director has interpreted the stereotype for a meaning and exciting special effect.
The second effect that this trailer is that he camera doing the filming is in the shot but smaller in the corner of the shot is what the camera sees. This effect will not work in the trailer that I would like to do because as my film trailer is not filmed from a camera perspective, however because this film it works so well.
Finally another effect from the editing in the trailer for REC 2 is that when they are entering the building the screen flashed with black pauses This is what World War Z did but to the music. REC 2 uses this effect for effect to signal that something could go very wrong when they enter this location.
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