Research on Film Posters

Before starting to produce my film poster which would go alongside my trailer, I decided to research into different film posters which are current on the market. These are some of the posters for the films that I have already anaylsed. I have realised that most of the posters follow a similar layout and style. They tend to have one main image which in most posters is just one person. I have already explored and anayalsed most of these posters in detail at the begin of the course but I just wanted to have a quick reminder of what a horror film trailer tends to look like. 

Magazine Covers

Audience Profile and Research/Planning into Soundtracks

Audience Profile
From all the research I have collected and I have come to a decision on my target audience for my film trailer. I found out that the main gender who view horror films are male however only by a little difference. Therefore I will be aiming my film towards both genders but slightly more towards men. To attract the female audience I am going to use female characters that they can relate to. Males are more likely to be a fan of horror movies because men tend to be stereotypical thrill seekers. Violence is also a convention of horror movies which is often loved by males.
From my research I found out the usual age for someone watching a horror movie is between 15-24 years old. During young adulthood many people are in the key stages of developing themselves and seeking excitement. Many young adults want to experience new emotions and feelings therefore horror movies gives this thrill to a younger audience a lot easier than an older one. Also a young audience tend not to be put off a film by violence or unnatural images which may make an older viewer feel uncomfortable or negative towards a film.
In general, horror films are aimed towards the working class.This is most likely due to the level of thrill and excitement which is gained form a horror film. If a middle/upper class person watches a horror film they are usually watching a horror film which is related to another genre such as romance or history.

Research and Planning Into Soundtracks

After doing my research into popular, current trailers on the market I noticed that the soundtracks that went with the trailer played a very important role when advertising a film. The sound that I could hear made a extreme difference to the video I was seeing. After watching a few horror film trailers, I watched them again but without the sound and this then emphasised impact that a sound track could add. Especially when watching a horror movie trailer, the soundtrack could create and add a lot more tension and make a trailer a lot more scary.
I wanted to reinforce my horror theme genre by using typical scary sounds in my trailer. To begin with I tried searching into Google, 'horror sound effects.' Multiple website showed up with plenty of difference sound effects. I tried a lot of different websites and listened to a variety of sounds.

None of the sounds I found I was completely happy with apart from a heartbeat sound that I discover. I plan on having a heartbeat sound that can be heard throughout quite a lot of my trailer. I want the heartbeat to be heard but not take the attention away from what is being shown in the trailer. The heartbeat sound will create a rhythm to the trailer which will build up suspension. I think the sound will create more of a creepy atmosphere and add to my horror theme. I made sure the sound clip I was planning to use was from copy right free source before downloading it. The heartbeat sound was influenced by the pendulum sound I heard in the Insidious trailer and wanted to use the same style of building tension by having a continuous beat in the background of the trailer. 

By college, students also had the opportunity to listen to and use some pre-recorded sound effects and sound tracks. I listened to many of these and found one that fitted my trailer well. 

In my sound palette I wanted fairly sinister sounds which would represent a typical horror theme, such as dark beats and horror drones. I also want a high pitch sound that would echo which will be heard when my scary character appears on screen to show that the character isn't a nice one.

.

Wider Research

Wider Research

Insidious

I did some wider research into a few of the films I have already analysed. I went onto the Pearl and Dean website and looked into the details about Insidious. I found out that this film was slightly seen more by males than females, however was fairly equal. I wasn't shocked about the split between the genders, in fact it made me think that my trailer should be aimed slightly more at men instead of women. The most popular age range who viewed the film were 15-24 years old which I wasn't surprised about either. However only 4% of the audience were aged 35-44 years old which I found slightly odd.  Momentum Pictures were the company who distributed Insidious. They are one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and have produced other films such as The Kings Speech and P.S I love you.
Summary

• Seen more by males than females
• Most popular age- 15-24 
• Age Rating- 15

Paranormal Activity

I then looked in Paranormal Activity on the Pearl and Dean website. The split between male and female was very nearly equal with only 1% difference. Again the most popular age range was 15-24 years old with over half the audience coming from this age range. From this research I have found out that my target audience should be aimed at young adults. Paranormal Activity was distributed by Icon Films which is an American production company. Between these too films there was a clear difference in the estimated box office total. Insidious took in 3 times the amount Paranormal Activity did.
Summary

• Slightly more females -51% female and 49% male
• Most popular age range 15-24
• Age rating 15

The Hills Have Eyes

The Hills Have Eyes is age rated 18 years old which is the highest rating i have seen yet when analyzing different films. Nearly 60% of the audience came from the age range of 15-24 years old, however, this in fact would have been 18-24 because of the age certificate. The next most popular age range was 25-34 with 24%. I expected these results as horror movies tend to attract the slightly younger generation. More males saw this film than females which again doesn't surprise me as within the movie there is a bit of gore which appeals more the males than females.

Summery

• More males than females viewed the film
• Mostly a younger audience 35 years and under. 

Genre Conventions and Film Classification Research

Genre Conventions

Film Classification Research

BBFC- British Board of Film Classification

When researching into film classification I learnt a lot about the organization BBFC. This is non-government organization funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films in the United Kingdom. The whole idea behind film classifications is to protect and warn viewers how old you should be to watch a certain film and what that might includes. It is especially important when protecting younger children from any unsuitable and harmful content within a film. 

The BBFC website held plenty of important information which could help me into choosing what rating my film should be.

By comparing the ratings and what the rating can include, I have come to the conclusion that my film would be a 15 rating as it includes some of the following above. 

Pie charts for Horror questions

 

I then decided to do a questionnaire focusing just on horror films. I asked the same 40 people, 11 questions based on a horror theme. 3/4 of them enjoyed watching horror films which then made me determinded to find out why and what parts they like. I found out that paranormal and ghost horrors were the most popular. This has given me the idea maybe to focus my film trailer towards these two sub-genres. However, on one of my questions about whether the villian should be shown or not, there was only a slight difference between the results. Again there was a spilt between whether a horror needs to show the villian or not throughout the movie. For example, in paranormal activity the audience never see what is messing with the couple which makes it even more scary. From my results I have decided that I mght include a love story within my horror trailer. This then might attract an audience who might not necessarily like horror films. A question that had a clear difference in the answers was about the editing of the trailer. A lot more of the audience prefered a fast pace trailer instead of a slow pace one. Therefore I will most likely make a lot of my trailer quick with lot of fast jump cuts and strobe effects. I had three locations in my mind of where i might set my trailer; within the home, woods or abandon building. The most popular location was an abandon building which I also agree with and want to film my trailer there.

Summary-

• same 40 people based on horror films
• 75% of them enjoyed horror films
• paranormal and ghost films were most popular
• fast pace trailers were more popular

Pie Charts for general questions

For my first questionnaire I decided to look at general questions about different genres. I asked a few questions about the individual themselves, such as gender and age. I made sure I asked equal number between male and females and decided that 20 of each would give me a good understanding of what the public enjoy. I also asked a range of different ages however mainly focused on 15-17 year olds as this is thr age range I am focusing my trailer towards. When asking what the most popular genre of film was, I found out that horror was in fact the most popular. This then has enocuraged me to continue with my idea of doing a horror trailer. However, the second most popular was rom-com which has given me the idea to have a love story within the horror theme. Amongst my audience I discovered that film trailers are very important when it comes to actually viewing a film.  35 people out of 40 either always or sometimes watch a trailer before the film which is the majority of the people I asked. This then reinforced to me how important a film trailer is. Again 25 out of 40 said that a trailer does encourage them to watch the film. From these results it has helped me to conform my choice of genre and has shown me how important trailers are to the promotion of a film.

Summary-

• I questioned 20 males and 20 females.
• focused on 15-17 year olds
• horror was the most popular genre
• 35/40 either always or sometimes watch a film trailer before the actual film
• 25/40 said the trailer does encourage them to watch a film

Questionnaire for Research

Analyse: student trailer

 I analysed a previous students trailer to see how they created a trailer. 

One of the first shots the audience see is this mid shot ofa old man. This shot allows the audience to establish who the main character of the film is and some details about him. In this case, he is painting with only candle light which makes the situation seem a bit creepy. The lighting is fairly red which is a bit odd ans suspious. There is non-diegetic sound of chimes which doesnt seem to fit the image. However the chimes beating creates a creepy atmosphere and implies that the man the audience can see isnt as innocent

This student has used a original symbol and made up a production company to produce their film. I think this symbol is really good as it looks like realistic company that would produce a film. In many trailers, there are points in the trailer where companies are shown and advertised therefore this is using the typical conventions of a film trailer.

At this point in the trailer a voice over begins as well as the non-degetic sound of the chimes. The first dialogue we hear is 'He was an artist.' This close up shot allows the audience to recongise that the voice over is all about the man we can see right now. The extreme close up shot of his eyes gives the emotions and expression of the man, allowing us to understand him more.

The editing at this point in the trailer makes the shot look as if it is from a cctv camera. The black and white colouring makes is seem a bit spooky however high key lighting is still being used. I think to make this shot look better, the lighting shouldnt have been so bright which would make the shop seem a lot more scary. There is orchestral music that is playing, however I dont think this music fits the scence. This is called contrapuntal sound.

Lighting plays an important in this shot. The only light used to light up this shot is the street lamp.  There is low key lighting apart from the street lamp therefore the audience are aware it is night time. The silhoutte of the women makes her seem vunerable and alone. The fact the audience cant see her face or body, only the outline of it, makes it seem spooky. 



This is a extreme close up shot of a painting that the main character has painted. The fact that the shot only shows part of the painting makes it seem a bit creepy. It makes the audience wonder what the rest of the painting looks like and why only a part of it is showing.

Strengths

• strong range of shot types
• good quality of filming
• very good use of lighting to make character seems vunerable

Weakness

• maybe the audince could have seen a few more characters that would have been featured in the film
  
  

 

Analyse: Students work poster

I anaylised a previous students work and wanted to see how they compared to popular horror film posters. I think this was a fairly good film poster and used the typical conventions of a horror film poster. I like how the poster has been laid out. The mid close-up shot works well as the audience get to see the main character and her face. Thr direct address works really well, especially with the coloured eyes.

Reflection on Poster

Layout
I like the layout of this poster and think the landscape style works well. It allows for more text to fit on the page as well as a decent size image. I plan on using landscape for my poster but will experiment with portrait as well. If I was this student designing this poster I may have used up a bit more of the blank space. There is a lot blank space either side of the picture which could have been filled with star ratings or comment from the audience.

Analyse: Orphan film poster

Orpahn is a psychological horror, in which, a couple adopt a mysterious orphan named Esther who turns out to be a pychologically distured adult women.

Reflection on Poster

 

Eye Contact

I really like the use of direct eye contact in this poster. I think it works really well in contenting the audience with the emotions of the character. It also makes the audience feel on edge as if they character is looking at them in specific. I want to use direct eye contact in my poster to make it seem as if my scary charatcer is looking directly at someone.

Analyse: The Hills Have Eyes trailer

I looked at another horror film called The Hills Have Eyes. It is about a suburban American family that are being stalked by a group of psychotic people who live in the desert, far away from civilization.

The beginning of the trailer starts with some white text against a black background. The text gives the audience some information about the story line of the film. The text is easy to read and is central on the screen. There is non-diegetic sound of a high pitch, nuclear siren noise which doesn't seem to relate to the text straight away which makes the audience question what is about to happen next.

The next few images show flickering images of abnormal/ usual looking body parts. The flickering effect makes them seem even more usual and as if they arent ment to be seen. The black and white colouring makes the images seem old and rare. There is a sound which almost sounds like a tv being tuned. These images are then followd by exploding buildings and bombs going off which matches the text at the beginning. There is a lot of bright light which at points makes it hard to see what is happening.

After the exploding building images the screen fadesa to black and the sound also fades out. The non-diegetic sound completely changes to an upbeat, country song. The whole atmosphere of the trailer completely changes, creating a happy, holiday feel. The colouring of the trailer also changes from black and white to bright colours. This change may represent how the family are going to be affected by the unknown people that the audience saw at the beginning of the trailer.

This establishing shot shows the location that the film will take place. It is the first shot we see of the location, it also makes the family look very vunerable as there is no one else around. Just before this shot there are quite a few close-up shots of the family which identifies the main characters of the film. They all look very happy and as if they are enjoying themselves, however the audience are clearly away that something is about the change that. All these shots are companied with non-diegetic happy music which implies that the happiest is all about to change. 



This close up shot is the last shot before the non-diegetic music stops. The close up shot looks as if it gets stuck on the page and flickers up and down. The last dialogue comes from the local man, 'Have a safe journey.' This is use of dramatic irony as the audience are aware that they wont be having a safe journey however the characters arent away of this.

After the screen fades to black and the music stops the atompshere of the trailer chnages again. There is diegetic sounds of the wind blowing, birds and the trucking driving along. The pace of the editng becomes faster with more shots fo the action and quicker shots that fade to black. A non-diegetic beat begins which almost sounds like a heavy heart beat which creates a spooky sense. 



At this point in the trailer there are lots of fast pace shots of the mian characters being attacked by the unknown creatures. The characters going in pain and scared which matches the sounds of them screaming. The colouring of the images changes slightly and becomes a yellow tone. These images give the audience a clue as to what happens to them but at the same time doesnt give away too much detail. the audience also hardly see the unknown creatures and only see the characters reactions which may makes the audience intrigued to find out who the 'baddies' are.

Towards the end of the trailer the title of the film is shown on screen. The text flickers and looks as if it is glowing, almost like fire. The background is dark and shows the country thay they are in. The colouring of the text makes it stand out against the dark background. There is non-diegetic sound of a girl grasping for breathe then screaming. The trailer then fades to black and the audience then see where the sound is coming from; a young girl is being touched on her face by one of the usual creatures.

This is the last image we see on trailer. It is a close up of one of the family members being touched by the scary creatures. Again the audience dont actually see the creature but only the young innocent girl. This leaves the audience wonderign what is wrong with these people. The close up shot allows the audience to see the girls expressions and to see how she is really feeling. This being the last shot we see of the characters it leaves a lasting impression as she looks so scared and worried. It makes the audience want to find out what happens.





 

Reflection on Trailer

 

Text

I like how the text of the title of the film flickers and glows when on screen. It stands out and almost represents fire. This title as inspired me to try and do something interesting with my film title which would create a spooky effect. The title is a really important part of a trailer as it is the name of the film that will stick in your head after watching the trailer. Therefore, I want to present my title in an interesting way.

 

 



Analyse: The Vow film poster

I wanted to look at a different genre of film to compared the conventions of a film poster to the genre I want to do. I decided to look at a romantic chick film, 'The Vow'. I noticed that the lighting of the poster used a lot more high key lighting rather than the low key lighting of the horror posters.

 

Reflection of Poster

 

What I don't like

I don't particularly like this poster and think it is slightly too simple. The poster doesn't give hardly anything away about what the film includes nor does is give any audience feedback. I wanted to look at another genre of posters however there isn't much I like from this poster that I want to include in my own. The layout is simple and no eye contact is used to engage the audience. I really like it when the character looks directly at the audience and this isn't used in this trailer. This however may be because the genre of the film is a love story. The eye contact is instead between the couple rather than the audience.

 

 

Analyse: Paranormal Activity trailer and poster

Another trailer I looked at was Paranormal Activity (2007). It is an American supernatural horror film. It is about  a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home.

At the beginning of this trailer there is this warning message. This is similar to other trailers I have anaylised and have realised that on many horror trailers this message is displayed. Again it is on a green background with white text making it easy to read. There is also no sound allowing the readers attention to be completely focused to the message.

At the very beginning of the trailer there are shots of people going to view the film Paranormal Activity for the very first time. There are establishing shots used to tell the audience where and when the screening was held. There is also white text which gives the audience extra information about wehat is happening. The non-diegetic sound is the sound of the echoing of a drum. Each time the drum is hit the shot jumps to a different edit and is played while the rest of the drum echos. This creates a slow editing pace for the beginning of the trailer. Even though the pace is slow, it still creates tension and makes the audience wonder what is happening. The lighting is fairly bright and high key allowing you to see the audience clearly. This leaves the dark mysterious lighting for the rest of the trailer.

As the lights go down, like they would in a actual cinema, the lighting clearly changes my high key to low key. There appears to be a night vision lighting so that the audience can still be seen. An over the shoulder shot is used to allow us to view the trailer and the audiences reactions. The trailer jumo cuts to mid shots of the audience watching the film so that we are able to see there expressions. This is a unique way to advertise the film and allows the audience to want to experiance what the views already have.

From this point on the trailer stays fairly low key lighting making some of it hard to view. However this just adds to the sinister effect, making it more scary to watch as some of what you can see is unknown. As soon as the trailer begins there is a deep, lingering non-diegetic sound which continues throughout most of the trailer. This helps to highlight the tension the audience are feeling even more. At the beginning of the trailer the audience soon learn that the film is caputred using home footage with hand-held cameras. This lets the audience know that is meant to appear to be amatuer film instead of a high budget one. The mise-en-scene of the camera and and camera equipmetnt shows this.







Close-ups shots of the audience are used in the middle of the trailer to clearly show the audiences reactions as the action starts to happen. The shots convey the emotions of the people really well especially through the night vision light which helps to make it seem more creepy. The non-diegetic sound continues but makes less noticable under the screams of the audience. There are points in the film that make the audience jump, close up shots are used to capture there reactions.



Captions start appear on the screen in between quick pace shots of the couple traumatised by what is happening. The text gives quotes of what people thought which help advertise the film and make the audience want to see it more. The editing still applies with the rest of the dark lighting using a black background.

Towards the end of the trailer images appear which show the bad things that are happening to the couple, such un-explainable brusing on her back. The women in frequently wearing dark clothing which implies that she is the victim. Close-up shots are used to display her injuries and how bad things have got. Diegetic dialogue back up the point "its not the house, its me."

The pace starts to become quicker as the cuts become more jumpy and flickering. At this point the audience arent in the scence anymore and instead the film takes up most of the screen. In between all this fast shots are images of words which put together say "experiance it yourself". The drum sound speeds up as the pace of the trailer becomes quicker. 

The pace of the trailer increases even more at the end with plently of quick jump shots between the audience looking scared and the film. The title of the film is displayed however it flickers and shakes to give a creepy effect. 





Here is the poster I anaylsed for paranormal activity. 

 

Reflection on Trailer and Poster

 

Pace of trailer

This trailer starts of with a slow pace at the beginning which represents the normal everyday and then increases to a fast pace when everything starts to go wrong. The cuts become more jumpy and I think this effect works really well. As the pace increases the atmosphere becomes more tense and the audience can tell that things aren't going to go well. I want to use this change of pace in my trailer to make it more interesting. As the action increases, I will increase the speed of editing.