Ancillary Task Deconstructions 2

 

Layout:

This double page spread has quite a professional look. The large masthead lets us know that this double page spread is a review and also follows the colour scheme of white, red, black and beige. A pull quote from the review is in capitols and in black to catch eyes of the reader and also gives a glance into the review. There's a box in the lower left corner the gives the audience details on the move such as the actors in it, certificate, release date and so on and so forth.

 

Image:

There's only one main image in this double page spread and it is of the two main hollywood actors in the movie that play the largest parts. This shows the reader who is in the movie before they even read the review so they can make a snap decision if they want to read it or not by who they see in the picture. The image mixes well with the colour scheme as it has beige sort of tint.

 

Language:

The article goes into great detail while still withholding facts as to not spoil the movie for the reader. It makes comments on the acting and how well this movie was filmed. This will appeal to readers who want to know as much detail about the aspects of the film while still keeping important plot lines under wrap.

 

Layout:

This double page spread has a large masthead on the left hand side of the page in capitols letting the reader know straight away what this article is for. the use of the movie title in the masthead is quick and to the point. The subheader underneath the masthead tells us the location of the movie so the reader is able to get an idea on what the movie could look like in this setting. A pull quote is placed in a box on the lower right hand of the first page, this provides a partern between the next column and also allows the reader a glimpse at the interview itself. A bubble has been used on the main image to give a special little tid-bit about the movie. The colour scheme of red, white and blue are used throughout the double page spread.

Image:

The article uses a large main image showing the film in production. It shows the main actor and director in the image which allows the reader to know who is in the movie and who helped bring it to life. A lot of movies are judged on who directs them and who acts in them so this is a good way to show the reader. A smaller image has been used between the columns from the movie itself, this allows the reader a quick look into the movie, to see what may be a small clue as to what may happen in it.

Language:

The use of capitols in the masthead bring the reader in and catches their eye.

 

Layout:

The layour of this double page spread is far different from the two above. Instead of a simple two column article with small columns under a large image this double page spread has gone for a three column article and boarded the article with a variety of different images. The use of red, black, white and blue is followed throughout the double paged spread and the masthead seems a little lost in the noisy page layout. A pull quote is used that's put in a bright red bubble to catch the readers eye and pull them in with this little sliver of the article.

Image:

Several images are used on this page to creat and L boarder around the article itself. The images show the main lead characters and a few behind the scenes photographs. The use of movie images allows the reader a look into the movie and how well it has been produces. The little view in on the cinematography is to get the reader excited about this movie. The behind the scenes images also allow the reader a look into the production of the movie, a further insight.

Language:

The article both promotes the movie and an opening of a view into the movie by seeing the props. This increases the publicity of the movie and also allows the reader to find out new and interesting facts about the movie.

Institution Research

Institutions	Details	Productions
Blumhouse Productions	Blumhouse is an American movie company that has released quite a few wellknown horror movies. Earning from $15,000 to $97 million from films with budgets of $1.5 million.	Paranormal Activity 1-5 Sinister Dark Skies The Purge 1-2 Insidious 1-2 Oculus 13 Sins
Twisted Pictures	Twisted Pictures is an independent American production company that mainly produces horror movies. The independent film company uses budgets from $1,200,000 to $20,000,000 as their company has grown. They’re biggest gross (Worldwide) was $164,874,275 on the Saw franchise.	Saw 1-6 Dead Silence Repo! The Genetic Opra The Tortured Texas Chainsaw 3D Mother’s Day
Dimension Films	Dimension Films is a major American film production and was formerly owned by The Walt Disney Studios and is now owned by The Weinstein Company.	Scream 1-4 Piranha 3D Dark Skies The Amityville Horror The Crow

Pitch and Write-Up of Audience Feedback

On the 9th of October we presented our pitch to the class. Our pitch was of our initial idea which is going to be a horror movie trailer about a killer clown. We made feedback sheets for our audience to give us any comments or improvements. A large majority of the feedback was positive and we received one  comment asking us to possibly add pop music. However we do not believe this will fit out trailer so we shall not be using it.

Audience Research

Audience Research

Using SurveyMonkey we created a survey to distribute out to our target audience of 15+. This survey was created to allow others to provide suggestions or improvements for our trailer as they are pure intended audience so their opinions will play a large part in our creation.

Do you like horror movies?

Our first question asked if our audience enjoys horror movies. This gives us an idea whether our audience actually enjoys the genre we wish to explore. 70% of the audience members who fill out our survey do watch horror movies and 10% watch them sometimes. That's a striking 80% of our audience who do watch movies from this genre telling us that they will enjoy our trailer.

What age would you usually rate a slasher horror?

Our next question asks what the audience would age a slasher movie. Since our target audience is 15+ we were rather happy with the large majority (60%) agreeing with our initial idea for the age.

What would you like to see in a horror movie?

We then asked what our audience expects to see in a horror movie. A large amount of the votes were given to scares, good acting and a good plot. 

What time length would you have a trailer video?

We also asked our audience how long they think our trailer should be. We previously discussed our trailer being roughly between 2:31-3:00 and our audience agreed. Most horror trailers follow the same time restraints as this. Any longer and our trailer will give too much away and any shorter won't allow us to pull our audience in.

Moving Image Planning

What emotional impact do you want your filming do have upon the reader? How?

The main purpose for our trailer is to make people scared and want to see the rest of the film. We will do this by leaving cliff-hangers and implied death to engage the reader and also not give a full explanation of the story behind the clown. That way the audience will not understand the whole story and will have to see it to find out the details.

What personnel do you need? Who are you going to film?

Three male actors (two aged 16-18 and one aged 30-50 years)

One female actress (aged 16-18)

One dog
Assistant camera help (2)
Story board artist
Script writer
Directors

Editors

Sound operator

Light operator

Runners

Producer

Makeup

SFX technician

Boom operator

 What props will you need?

 Clown costume + mask, fake blood, fake weapon (axe), casual costumes, a suit, basic household objects, cameras (CCTV), handheld (video camera), a large stick, podium, a lamp and a helium balloon.

How are you going to emphasise colour?

We will have an underlying theme of red in our trailer: the balloon, clown costume, character costumes, dog collar and the font will all be red or have accents of red to contrast the dark colours that will be in the scenes. We will also use a circus type theme so colours like gold will also feature.

What lighting will you need? Any other equipment?

For some scenes we will be using natural light to give a natural feel to the house scenes however we will be using night vision and some subtle usages of artificial lighting for when it gets too dark to film and we aren’t using the camera view to film the scenes.

 Where will you shoot? Will you need a backdrop?

We will have 3 filming locations: a friend’s house, a woodland area and outside of a building that will be implied to be a police station.

Make-up? Costume?

We will be using natural makeup and costume for our protagonists, some white and yellow costume makeup for the clown to go under the mask and clown costume we will be using, a suit for our police officer and a red collar for the dog.

Codes & Conventions

The genre we have chosen for our trailer is horror. To make sure we follow the conventions we are going to use a main killer (our clown) a female stereotype for our protagonist, copious amounts of fake blood to add some realism to our short preview and a mixture of both found and normal film.
In our trailer we are going to use quick cuts for a short section in which our protagonist will be fighting the clown, it will last a short six seconds adding suspense which is very popular among other trailers. We will also include rather ominous music to set the tone which will increase into more of a terrifying tune as the trailer progresses. This will excite our audience and follow the conventions of horror movie trailers.
Props we would like to use/include in our trailer are:

• Clown Mask
• Fake Blood
• Murder Weapon
• Red Balloons
• & a Digital Camera

By using all of these key elements our audience should have a clear view of what genre our trailer will be.

Camera Shots

Ancillary Task Deconstructions

Paranormal Activity

The main image of the poster is that of the couple pictured on the bed looking frightened. The image looks as if it is taken from the night vision camera footage that is used throughout the movie. There's a show on the door that the couple are looking at that has no visual cause so it allows the audience to figure out that the shadow is created by something that isn't human. This allows an insight into what the movie is about.

The idea of having the couple in bed is to show the audience that even in the safety of your own home, your own room you are not safe from whatever is haunting these people. This raises fear and intrigue as the audience wants to know what the movie has in store for them but also raises the fear factor as they will no longer feel safe in their own home.

The title of the film is in a font in which is similar to that used on a video camera that shows the date and time. This links in with found footage from the video camera and also having it in bright red is also eye catching and shows the dangers within the movie. 

The black borders used on the top and bottom of the poster lets the audience know that this is mainly set at night and also the black allows the audience to know what darkness is in the movie, awaiting the audience to watch it.

There's two tag lines, one being a question pulls the audience in as the wish to find out an answer. It also tells the audience not to see it alone which is almost a challenge in some ways.

The Purge

The main image is of the films antagonist in his mask to add an eeriness to the image as it removes all human features form his face replacing it with a fake emotionless mask with a large grin. His head is tilted down slightly allowing his eyes to become slightly hooded by the mask. The eyes are the window to the soul and blocking them also dehumanizes the man making him far more terrifying and intrigues the audience because they want to know who is behind it. This is a different approach to the Paranormal Activity poster because it does not show the protagonists. 

The title of the film is in all capitals and not very large. The main focus is meant to go to the main image, however the title is not unnoticeable as it falls over part of the mask so once the audience's eyes fall the mask they will then go to the title.

There's minimum background in this photo, only showing a sliver. This lets the audience know that there's a bigger picture that is only revealed if they see the movie.

Unlike the previous poster this one advertises the release date and the company involved in making the movie. This will be incorporated into our own poster.

The Conjuring

Out of all three posters this one has inspired our poster the most.

The main image is that of the main protagonist and antagonist. However the protagonist remains faceless as they are looking at the doll/antagonist while they are looking at the camera as if to stare at the audience. In our poster however we will only be using the antagonist like The Purge poster.

The title is at the bottom rather large and a bright white to catch the eye of the audience. The tag line is then placed under it which tells us it is based on the files of a real life couple known as the Warrens. This intrigues the audience as they know it is based roughly on a true story which also increases the fear factor. 

Like the previous poster this one also advertises the company that helped make it and a few other companies that helped in the process.

Deconstructions - Main Task 3

(Trailer)

This trailer is different compared to the other two as the trailer actually includes reactions of the audience throughout the trailer. However we will not be using this in our own trailer.

It starts out already allowing us to know that the reason they are filming is because the woman believes there's something in the house. This sets up suspicion early, intrigue and attention is caught wondering what possibly could this thing in their house be. The use of found footage from the cameras around them will be used in our own trailer.

The domestic couple seem to be all jokes and happy at first, a common convention within horror movie trailers. Soon the rhythm of happy domestic is turned into a terrifying haunting. Fast cuts are used, with slight white noise as if a tape is reaching it's end or has been damaged. These fast cuts also cut in the audiences reactions which allows some of the scares to remain hidden from the trailer audience so that they become even more curious.

Deconstructions - Main Task 2

(Trailer)

The Conjuring follows the genre conventions we are going to use in our trailer. It helped inspire and create ideas for our own trailer.
The trailer starts off by showing a typical nuclear family just moving into their new home. Warm colours are used for the characters clothing showing their warm family vibe. This contrasts with the house around them which holds rather bland colours and some fading/cracks in the walls. This is almost foreshadowing, how the typical safe family has now entered a haunted home that is bleak and as faded as a ghost. A game of hide and seek is also used to show the family happy and having fun however this suddenly changes around 30 seconds into the trailer. The calm family appearance puts the audience in a lull of safety before the real danger begins.
Fade to black cuts are used between the different scenes in the trailer, a few in which have words across the screen to add suspense with little bits of information at a time. Some of the fade to black cuts look as if we are looking through a set of eyes and are blinking. This adds suspense as between each blink/cut there's time for something to happen or move, or get closer.
The Mise-en-scene used within the trailer effectively puts across the time in which this movie is set, the 70's.

Deconstructions - Main Task 1

(Trailer)

The Purge trailer provided inspiration for our own trailer as it holds similar genre conventions we wish to use also.

The trailer begins with footage of peaceful existence of families within this tale. They shows a family taking a walk during the sunset, another happily eating around a table and a pleasant neighborhood/gates community the movie will be set in.
This provides a false sense of safety for the audience, a calm before the storm. We wish to use this in our trailer also and the change the trailer suddenly takes in the middle.
As the trailer reaches it's midpoint, the current blissful music follows on into flashing of brutal CCTV footage of the actions that take place during the purge. The non-diegetic mood music is suddenly incorporated with diegetic noise from the footage, gunshots and bats connecting with others. They non-diegetic music that provided a peaceful calm to the audience is now replaced with more sinister music providing a pedestal to this horror trailer.
The trailer jumps to CCTV footage then back inside this large luxurious house with the stories main family. This builds up tension as it shows what is going on outside this home and foreshadows how it will soon come indoors.
Between each cut there's a face to black, this happens every few seconds and provides almost a heartbeat sort of pulse to the trailer. During some of these fades to black there's messages that show slight snippets of what the movie is about. Providing the audience member with information and makes them excited.
The Mise-en-scene used within the trailer is very effective as it projects a modern day presents setting.

Initial Ideas

Chosen Brief

I have chosen to do the promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the film;

• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;

• a poster for the film.

 

 My group and I have chosen to do the two of the options that are in bold for our Movie Trailer. We have decided to do these two potions as they feel the most relevant to the trailer we have in mind.

We decided as a group that we would much prefer to do the Killer Clown idea because of our feedback and because we all had much more idea's for this idea.