Monday 7 April 2014

Brief

My A2 blog is about a slasher films and the creations of my own marketing campaigns which are a trailer, magazine and poster for a low budget horror film. The Slasher film is called the return. For the three task to be completed i had to go through tasks for this to happen, researching about the products, planning ideas, constructing the final plans and evaluating questions of how i put it all together. 

My research i needed to understand was that i was making a low budget independent film, and that i would not have the same funding and help as a blockbuster Hollywood film such as the Exorcist and Toy Story. My film would be like The night of the living dead but as it was a slasher film i understood they are effective with props and editing which does not cost as much, while do a slasher film the positive element was that it is a genre and this genre have an audience making it more able to be successful to a bigger audience as it would use a many to many approach. 

While conducting the research i had to consider the final ancillary task i was carrying out because the research i did have to convey what i produced in the end, it helped me in how i would put the final products together. All three of my products have to work together and have the same look and preference to advertise and promote the film, while researching it has helped me in the understanding of the products and about the audiences. In conducting my trailer i had to work in a group of four classmates, where we would all work together in planning and shooting of the trailer. With the magazine and poster it was individual work so this was independent of taking pictures of what would be on the front, editing and adding information about the film. The researching included finding qualitative data and quantitative data about our audience and understanding what/how to aim our film to this particular audience. The information was found by creating a questionnaire of www.questionpro.com this is an online survey technique, which would be used on social media websites such as FaceBook to get the large and wide response of an audience and find what their preference was about horror films as it is quickly distributed than a hand our survey. My research also included understanding the three products i was creating, i did this by analysing existing text of each product and finding codes and conventions as well as information that would help in guiding me to a the end products. 

Once i was done with researching about the creation of the three task, i had to start planning and putting the work together this involved creating film synopsis to making storyboards to relate to the creation of the trailer and show the narrative and sense of structure. As i was creating a trailer i would need actors to play roles within the trailer which lead to casting calls where the group and i had to audition a group of people who could be in the trailer and narrow it down to eight characters seven teenage friends and one slasher. We also needed to plan where to film and if these places had any risk which needed to be taken into account when getting actors to act within scenes, this planning make Reese’s of the places so we had a range of ideas and risk assessment sheets so we knew the nearest hospital to each location. The planning was an important stage in the creation of my coursework as it gave me a direction and idea of how each of the three products would turnout. 

Then I as well as the group came to making the trailer, poster and magazine, from taking shoots and filming, including taking pictures for the poster and magazine i made a final trailer, poster and magazine. This involved editing, adding sound and going out for many scenes. 


At the end of researching planning and the finishing products i have come to evaluating and understanding how each product took place into what it has become. This is done by the four questions at the end of the blog, here i have answered how i have developed and understood throughout the three task, to what i have learned about my audience who would watch my film, into the technologies and combinations that have created and make the products. These four questions are in depth answers of how i have worked with a team and alone into creating my final products.

Sunday 6 April 2014

Research: Historic Slasher Codes and Conventions/Image Boards

On This Page, I have shown different codes and conventions which are shown in horror films such as Halloween, Final Destination and Texas Chain Saw. There is also the way camera was used in German Expression and Film Noir.
Below shows each slide show and a presentation done on prezi.com 








Research: Audience Quantitative Data and Audience Profile

From creating a questionnaire on Questionpro.com, I gained results about my target demographic, this gave me information to create a PowerPoint of my audience. The PowerPoint included information about types of films they like, age ranges and codes and conventions to included. Quantitative data is statistics about the audiences including numbers and graphs. On the PowerPoint there is also secondary data about horror films which includes official statistics.  
Below the presentation on slideshare, there is my audience profile. This is a summed up version of what i found out about my audience.


Research: Analysis of Existing Horror Posters

When coming to make my own poster, i had to have research existing horror posters such as Friday the 13th so i could understand codes and conventions and how horror worked together. Below i will show three analysis of existing horror posters: 




Research: Analysis of Existing Horror Magazines

This is my analysis of existing horror magazine, where i researched different magazines such as Fangoria, which have featured horror films. I did this because i had create my own horror magazine featured of one of the magazines i have featured below, i therefore had to understand different magazine and their codes and conventions. 





Research: Analysis of Existing Horror Trailers

This is my analysis of existing horror trailers, as creating trailers i needed to analysis three different horror genre trailers and understand the codes and conventions used throughout. The idea of analysis the three trailers was in order to find out what the shape or form of a typical trailer is. The three trailer i analysed where Dead Mans Shoes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween.

Dead man’s shoes trailer analysis
Dead man’s shoes came out in 2004 and is directed by Shane Meadows.  It is a strange example of a slasher film as it is about the revenge of Richard who returns home to terrify the bullies, who bullied his brother; he one by one picks on the bullies to make them pay for what they have done.  He turns into the monster for taking revenge for his brother who killed himself.

At the start of the trailer, the production companies logo and name are shown to tell us who the film is made by and gives the audience background information, this is formulaic of trailers. The logo and name is shown as a formal aspect as it helps the audience to recognise they are consuming a trailer. The trailer then goes into the opening scene of an establishing-shot of a deserted forest, at the start of trailers they start with establishing shots, as they conventionally show the area of filming. This shot is for showing the audience the area in which the cast are going to be when they are first seen and an idea of the setting. The shot goes into a two-shot were we see two characters, brothers Richard and Anthony. We see one of the brothers with an army rucksack on his back, conveying he is on his way back from the army. The other brother wearing dark blue, casual clothes showing a binary opposite between both characters as it shows the difference of both characters. We see both the characters walking along two separate paths in the same directions, this illustrates that they are both travelling in the same direction but they both have different lives but will always be side by side. There is non-diegetic music of folk music playing in the background resembling peace and British Reunion. The music does not suggest that the trailer is from the slasher genre. The way the form of the trailer is shown is formulaic however the genre is not yet coded into it. This is the equilibrium at the start of the trailer, where it shows the beginning and the introduction of the two main characters within this trailer it is Todorov’s theory. The first scene of the trailer starts in a slow pace, as it introduces the narrative and characters within the trailer. It allows time for the audience to get used to what they see and understand the emotions.

The scene fades into a wide-shot of a landscape viewing of the whole location they are travelling in. while changing into the shot, there is a voice over of ‘people who commit crimes are evil’, this is a  small hint of violence and a sense of genre into the trailer. You see that Richard in this scene walks in front of Anthony; this represents him as the older, powerful and wiser character. In the landscape, on top of the hill there is a lonely tree, this shows Mise en scene because it represents solitude, as well as because there is two characters, one of the main characters will be lonely and loose the other. As Richard is at the front, it is a hint that he will be the saviour. In the next shot it changes into the brothers walking through a shadowy woods, where they are surrounded by trees, however again Richard is shown as walking in front of his brother, Richard is the main focus, as the camera is set to blur his brother out. This represents to the audience that Richard will be the main character in this trailer.

There is a caption which is shown of ‘A brother’s love’ this conveys aspects of the narrative so we have a clear understanding that they are brothers. It confirms their relationship of being brothers. We then go straight into a flash back footage to reinforce the caption and to show the relationship of the two brothers when they were children. This allows the audience to grow emotion and get to know the characters the film will be about. We see Richard sitting down in a broken stripped down house, gives a look into a psychological landscape of the character that he is in a cracked home and he is surrounded by a negative place. We see a close up of his face so the emotions he shares are clear, the emotions he shows are depressed and worried looked. We finally can see the brothers face, the brother is mentally impaired who has learning difficulties, this close up of the brother gives off British social realism as it in beds the struggles. This is done by it showing a story about the relationship of two ordinary boys who look like working class children, it is just about them and has no major narratives like saving the world e.g. superman Hollywood films.

When the scene changes there is caption the caption is ‘a brothers VENGEANCE’ this betrays a typical horror film speech, this introduces the first hint of horror genre within the trailer, this done by the word itself and the style and colour of the typography. Vengeance is when punishment is inflicted on those who are wrong; this shows the audience that there will be some evil within the trailer. This caption has subverted the expectations of the audience as we did not see that it is a horror film until the caption. While the scene changes the non-diegetic sound also changes into creepy, loud music which starts to create tension within the trailer and reinforces the horror genre. We go into the scene and the voice over dialogue says ‘what did you do to him’ this suggest to the audience of what Richard is thinking at that present moment it is the way the camera is working together with the audience, wondering what did happen. We see a medium close-up shot which doesn't just show Richard but shows the background so we know he is in a different place; we don’t see his brother anymore telling us he is alone. We then see a black and white flashback; this has introduced the audience to a non-linear sequence by telling them what happened before. As we know all trailers are in a non-linear format, there is flashbacks involved within this trailer. The conveyed meaning of ‘Vengeance’ is showed as it was used because we see loads of people bullying Richard’s brother so we know that they were in the wrong so they need to be punished. We see the camera work by a flash of bright light after the bullying took place this makes the viewing difficult and conveys the disturbance of the scene. The camera has also changed from a smooth viewing to a chopped up and fast shots showing the action and tension in the trailer.

The next scene cuts to the people who bullied the brother but we are in the present and they are conveyed as laughing and having fun, it is juxtaposition where we see the grief of the brother and then the humour of the bullies. This is a binary opposite between the two shots the happiness of the bullies and the grief and anger of the brother. Even though they are not laughing about the flash back the way the montage editing has put together the two shots it shows that they are evil and bad because it makes them the bullies and shows what they did was heartless to bully a disabled person, this shows aspects of society and how people treat others relating to real life. We then see the first of the slasher/killer; he is wearing a mask which is a usual connotation of horror movies. When the slasher is shown we see a flash of red, this conveys death, evil and blood. The edits of the shots build up causing anxiety within the trailer it conveys the drama, whilst he’s running up the stairs shouting. The camera now becomes handheld this is causing more fear, wonder and drama. We see an over shoulder shot of the two bullies talking this is representing the dynamic of the character and the conversation they have having. We then go into a mid shot of Richard and his brother; we see Richard is jumping up and down showing his body language to be quite nervous and worried of what is going to happen next. We also see his brother here and by looking at his face and posture from the shot we can tell the character has a disability. The non-diegetic sound at this point is more jumpy and nerve-racking like more glory/death will happen, this because there is action building in the trailer. At this point it is parallel with the pace of the shots, as the sound becomes more jumpy the paces of edits become quicker making tension build. This is conventional in trailers because when the main characters come to harmful situations the shots build up pace.

We go into the next scene starts with a cut of a three shot of the main gang leader and Richard with his brother at the back of the main gang member who is a bully, we see the car the main gang leader came out of it was tacky and old looking we can see a sense of British realism and the working class side of this trailer.  In the shot we can get a sense of the relationship between the characters but in this trailer we can see the gang leader feels threatened by Richard. The big close-ups the camera changes to and the pace gets a lot quicker shows the anger represented by Richard and how much he wants to get rid of him fast. Richard say’s how he will ‘hit them all’ so we know that the slasher is now him, this is not a usual convention that the slasher is given away in the trailer but we have not seen him yet under the mask. After his line we see typically the slasher again and it is in extremely fast shots and the quick movement of the camera where we see the slasher and flashes of bright light and red connoting sins and trouble. He is carrying an axe which is a usual convention as the killer will always have a weapon in their hand, and axe is a usual one used in horror movies. This is Mise en scene as it conveys death will occur from the prop we saw. As we don't get to see the ‘person’ actually behind the mask it is more scary and frightening for the audience. We hear the diegetic loud sound screams while the attacks are happening as we don’t see the actual person whose being hurt we can still hear the pain, we are not shown what happens as it’s a trailer and not everything will be shown. The pace of the editing makes the attacks sound and look more chaotic, as it goes back in time to when the gang are forcing the brother to eat something, the shot is in black and white to represent that we have gone back in time. There is a close up of Antony, which is in a washed out blue colour we see the emphasis of his face and how he feels guilty/drown because of what’s happened. ‘God will forgive them and allow them into heaven’ this suggested that he had to do something to the boys and get revenge for his brother, as he cannot leave it in gods hands. The shots at the end of the trailer start to slow in pace, this because it is coming to end of the narrative and the trailer is ending. This conventionally follows the formulaic features of going slow at the begging building the story and characters, going onto fast shots building tension on screen and with the audience. It finishes with slowing down the pace of the shows, but leaving the audience wanting to watch the movie.

The caption which conveys the convention of introducing narrative come up ‘Disrupting and utterly gripping’ it attracts attention of the audience and also the four star rating at the bottom suggest it is a good movie the trades to getting a wider demographic. As it is a film that needs help with distribution they use the captions and credits to attract a bigger audience. The shots become gore and Gross with more blood and flashes of black and red showing that deaths were erupting, the music changes in the trailer from coral music to horror music this suggest the change in atmosphere. There is another caption to suggest the success of the film, engaging with the audience and finding a way to gain the attention. With the typography it has a fire type of writing suggesting the hell and the burnt story of the brother’s revenge, this creates senses of horror. We then see the name of the film with Shane Meadows as he is a popular director in Britain the British audience with want to watch his work gaining wider audiences. The end card of the trailers shows extra information such as the website and companies involved, this is formulaic at the end of trailers as it gives the audience information about the film at the end, allowing them to get the names and release dates. 




Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2013
This movie is directed by John Luessenhop, and stars ‘Trey Songz’. A young woman Heather travels to Texas to collect an inheritance, a mansion given to her by her grandma. She travels with a group of friends and little do they know that an encounter with a chainsaw-wielding killer is part of the reward that is in hiding in the basement that she and the friends discover. The film is a remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974 film which was directed by Tobe Hooper.

The trailer starts off with a green screen, showing the preview information of the restrictions and usually done for Hollywood movies. Then goes onto the film logos and production companies giving background film information, this is an expected format that is conventional in trailers as at the start logos are introduced the makers of distribution and production companies. At the start of the trailer the pace of the footage is slow as it is introducing the narrative of the story and the characters that are within the story. The first scene starts with a maroon small truck driving along a bridge; it’s an establishing shot showing a long car journey. The next shot is of this small truck again, but the back of the truck so the audience can see the view ahead, it is still in an establishing-shot showing the audience that the cast are going on a long journey and gives them an awareness of the journey and setting. In the background there is non-diegetic sound playing for mood music, it is song that is peaceful and something that would be listened to on a long journey. This represents the equilibrium, which shows the begin; it is the narrative pattern by Todorov’s it shows the personality of the characters and gains interest of the audience. The next shot goes to a two-shot of a couple in the back of the truck the boy lying down and the girl putting her t-shirt back on, this is the ‘sexually active girl’ who is blonde and is a conventional slasher film character. This two-shot is a mid-shot, just showing the upper body actions and the background of where the two people are. While shown these two characters the girl speaks about the place there going too ‘Do you know anything about this place?’ Diegetic sound from a character, from this we are being introduced to the different characters within the trailers at the beginning. It is a formulaic convention of trailers to do this within the start of the trailers as the audience get to know the characters within the story. The question asked by the girl puts the audience in suspense and curiosity feeling the same with the characters as they do not know about the place they are going too. As the audience are watching a trailer, they need to grow interest with the trailer as well as the characters this is a way they can understand the characters feelings and actions. From this we are getting a sense of the story/narrative behind where they are going and the sense of the horror genre as it is a remote house trope, which is a typical convention. The innocent, pure girl - a binary opposite from the blonde girl - is now shown in a medium close-up showing her shoulders and above her head, she responds to the questions ‘Only the address’ this shows that the characters who are a group of teenagers are irresponsible and outgoing to go to a place they do not know much about, this is the first and only hint so far of genre and that the place they are going to relates to a horror film, as teenagers are typical characters within slasher films because they are stereotyped as irresponsible so prime suspects that fit the roles being a main convention in slasher trailers. The next shot is where they're all still in the truck shown from a high angle shot, making them vulnerable while they are going into the gates of the mansion. We see the truck behind the gates showing they are going to be trapped within this house, conveying ‘similarities’ with prison cell bars this creates Mise en scene making the narrative.

The next scene starts with the group of friends walking into the house shown by a point of view shot, as if someone is looking at them behind the banisters in the house making the characters trapped in. This could have been the directors first introduction of the slasher/killer that he is watching the teens come into the house from the stairs. The camera changes to a mid-shot of the boyfriend from before opening the doors to a room in the house, the camera shows the excited body language of the teen to what he sees this converts the genre as it seems like the mansion they are in is lovely and showing the audience an opposite to what the house is actually like. There is continuity editing within these shots, the next shot is the introduction of the ‘black’ friends another convention of the genre, he’s have a joke about the dead grandma ‘seems like granny liked to play pool’ this gives off sense of his character to the audience showing them he is the funny jock character. The next shot is of all the characters looking around the house, all five of them there is diegetic sound of dialogue where they ponder of how the grandma got this ‘amazing’ house and the main girl the innocent one does not know. This creates enigma within the audience as they are uncertain and wondering questions about this house. The main girl is upstairs in the house in the next shot its close up of her looking into an image on the wall, supposing of the grandma see there’s a mirror reflection where the main girl is shown within the frame as well showing a relationship between them both. The lady within the picture is presented scary and unusual suggesting wonder about the house they are in. The next shot is the ‘sexually active’ girl smoking as she is represented as the bad girl of the group this is an expected stereotype of her. We see it in a mid-shot so the focus is mainly of the cigarette and the smoke coming out of her mouth. The camera fades in on this shot from the last shot of the picture on the wall of the camera the blonde girl fades onto the picture on the grandma making montage editing showing something will happen to this blonde girl. Behind the girl there is the boyfriend shown in the background imprisoned by windows he walking around a bathroom looking very confused and anxious. It then goes into a medium shot of the boyfriend, who has found a secret door you can tell this as he first puts his ear to the door then moves it to the side slowly to the side making enigma within the audience behind the door is just dark conveying the horror genre. Within this sequence there is a sense of narrative giving us a little bit more information about the key characters and it positioned them to empathise with the characters. This is done in trailers because when the characters are in harm or need help the audience feel the emotions and are more dragged into the trailer.

The next scene starts with a caption this is a convention which is used in trailers to give a sense of narrative and understand for the audience, ‘in 1974’ starting to create the narrative, ‘A legend’ with non-diegetic sound of a chainsaw, with black and white flashing images of people getting killed or harmed. The picture are in bright flashes and in black and white to show it was before and was tragic and then followed by ‘was born’ showing the chainsaw slasher was born. The captions which are used throughout this trailer are referring to the original film in 1974 by Tobe Hooper, which allows the new film to trade of the success and notoriety of the first version. This targets the olds fans so they are part of the new audience, as well as attracting a new audience with the gore of the Chainsaw. We then see a close up of an old music record player, followed by an extreme close up of someone washing their bloody dirty hands in a dirty basin. There is mainly extreme close ups of a man, known as Leatherface the ‘slasher’ this is because it is the first proper introduction of this character. A killer is convention not to show their face because it makes the audience more suspicious and more anxious for the characters. He is getting thread out a box and putting it through a needle, with this you can hear the music diegetic sound of the record player. Then to close up of the slasher putting on his mask but as it’s a trailer we never see the face of the slasher, to make it scarier and suspicious for the audience, this makes the effect of the audience of being scared when they see the character as they will never know what is under the mask. It then shows an establishing wide-shot of the chainsaw, this is a iconic sign within the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre because the audience who see the image will understand instantly when the chainsaw is shown, the emotions of the audience can be excited at this point because the chainsaw iconic image. It shows the audience this is the weapon and it conveys meaning of the name of the film. The camera goes into a medium-shot of a girls kneeling and her hands are tied up this shot conveys that she is next to be harmed by the chainsaw, this is done by the montage editing of the two shots, it’s a dark shot which gives senses of the atmosphere which is dark and scary and conveys this girls is alone.  There is a chainsaw hovering over her shoulder and you can hear diegetic sound of the girl crying, this represents her fear and the emotions of that character to the audience. The camera cuts to a close-up of the face of the girl from the front view, she has tape around her mouth showing she’s struggling, this build emotion between the audience and character as they feel the same empathy as the girl who is being harmed As the trailer is of different shots of what happens within the actual movie and is non-linear it does not show every moment of each scene. When showing the close up of the girl there is subjective sound of the girl screaming, we hear this to understand the pain that is being caused within that shot. We cut into the next shot with someone walking downstairs into a dark room like a basement, but it is very dark so you are unable to tell which one of the groups of friends is walking into this doomed looking room, creating anxiety. The scene ends with the final girl alone in a room, the camera goes from focused to focusing out the background of the place the girl is in, this is the throwing focus, where the camera throws focus between two things, it cuts into a Extreme close up highlighting her extreme emotions in her face as it turns from a medium shot to a close up.

There is another caption starting off the next scene of ‘This January’ telling the audience when this film will come out. There is a wide shot of the inside of the house looking out through the front door looking at a police officer coming inside with his torch light flashing through the door to show he is in the dark, and investigating, creating a sense of narrative. There is then a high angle shot of a police officer who is shown to not have power, which is subverting his role playing as a binary opposite. He is carrying a gun but the main focus is on the flashlight shining showing a glance of him walking around the house. We then see a high-angle shot of the location with someone walking through an empty forest, another convention of a slasher film which is the location because many slasher films are filmed in dark forest, they are alone and the shot conveys them as defenceless as it is in the dark and high-angled showing he’s next. ‘It happened before’ we see the final girl hiding in the truck in a mid-shot, with the chainsaw killer going around the truck trying to cut through the truck. There is a focus of the flashing lights when the saw is cutting through the truck. Within the trailer at this point the shots become quicker to build the tension within it, this is a formulaic convention is trailers that the pace increases so shots are quick, making anxiety for the audience. There is a medium close-up of the two girls who are hiding under a table, the main girl is trying to keep the blonde girl quiet so who they are hiding from cannot hear them, being a close up the emotions are felt that they are scared. We go back to the chainsaw breaking through the truck window; its subjective sound of the breaking window so it sounds louder on scene then it would be making more tense shots. we cut into a point of view shot from the killer, we can see the chainsaw in focus and in front of it a out of focused shot of the two girls moving around from the chainsaw screaming. There is a long-shot of the black character running into a barn topless, as he has the nice body he is shown in the scene topless to attract attention of ladies watching the trailer. He is running away from someone but it is conveyed as the slasher. We go into a mid-shot of the girl moving around in a graveyard dragging her around trying to get far away from the killer, as she is alone in the graveyard this shows he is after her and something terrible will happen. It shows a high angle shot of her getting into one of the graves into a coffin and shutting the lid, it is shown in a high angle shot to make her look weak and helpless as this is the only place possible to hide but one of the worst places. It goes to a few seconds of a black scene making the audience suspicious and waiting for the next terrifying moment. We see the final girl moving around screaming in the coffin and a chainsaw cutting through the top of this coffin. She is lying down on a red silky material conveying the blood she will be bleeding when that chainsaw hits her.

We then go to the ending of the trailer where the name of the film is shown but through the name there is bleeding cutting through showing the group have been harmed. The showing the end card which is convention in trailers which shows the websites, logos and promotion companies which have worked on this film. This happens at the end of trailers to show it’s a trailer and to give information of release dates, name of film and synergy methods. This trailers is typical slasher trailer which I would expect, what it conveys with similarities to others makes is formulaic, it subverts the conventions with a chainsaw however it is iconic with the title of the film.




Halloween 1978 trailer

Halloween is a slasher trailer directed and produced by John carpenter. It is about a psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, who escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets.

As a convention of horror trailers, they have a tempo of how fast or slow they go through out the trailer, at the begin of trailers like this one it starts of slow introducing characters and a story line. Then tempo escalates to create atmosphere and tension, in horror trailers like this it is the killing and the fast shots. It then ends with the tempo slowing down, and ending the story making the audience want more. This trailer’s first shot starts with the logo of Halloween the orange hand with in a silhouette of a knife and a pumpkin already resembling the genre of horror embedded in the trailer, this conveys genre as there is iconic nature of the pumpkin, and the horror embedded in Halloween. Also having a knife in the pumpkin going through is a typical convention of horror films, as knifes are the typical weapon, the repeated ‘stabbing’ motion of the hand makes up the body craving of the pumpkin. It has text saying ‘the one’ ‘the only’ ‘the classic’ ‘Halloween’ suggesting what happens in the trailer is to do with Halloween, Halloween is a night where ghost and sprits are set free, a night of horror this is connotations of what happens In the trailer.

The first scene begins with a wide establishing shot, showing a house from a handheld camera point of view getting closer and closer to this suburban house, isolated house, on a quite dark night. The location is busy through the day but quite at night making it lonelier and creepier. While the house is shown there is non-diegetic sound of high squeaky noise of sound effects to make the scene more dramatic. There is a voice over of non-diegetic sound which tells the audience that’s its ‘Halloween night’ it also says the location and time of the year which in America is Halloween a well celebrated event of horror it suggest that immoral behaviour will take place on this days.  Having the camera hand held it makes the scene build more tension as it is trembled, shakier and the movement is quicker, usually at the start of the trailer there should not be tension built but the trailer starts in a linear format. We then go into a point of view shot, in view of the killer; we can see he is wearing a mask as the view of what is happening is restricted, the audience can only see a knife going up and down. A knife is a convention which is displayed in most slasher films as the weapon to kill. There is sound of a girl screaming and getting hurt so we can tell that the killer is hurting her, this is diegetic sound as its voice of characters. We then go outside the house from a reveal shot of the little boy still behind the mask and the father reveals the killer by taking off the mask as it is his son Michael at this point we are back to the point of view of the audience he is in a clown outfit and it is a mid shot of his body, clown outfits usually scare people. We see a the knife in the little boys hand showing us that he was the killer and this was what he used to kill the girl, who know is his sister.

As we go into the next scene we are shown the a caption of the film first ‘Halloween’, the title is relevant to the time of year in the film and also the colour theme of the title represents Halloween because it is in orange this is Mise en scene also when watching other trailers like this having captions through-out the trailer is conventional as it pursues the storylineline of this trailer, helping the audience understand. The scenes starts off as a close-up with a man who looks very important from the way he is represented and the way he is speaking he speaks as a upper class, older gentleman, he is the doctor of the killer and suggests that Michael is ‘evil’ suggesting that he is not finished with what he has done. We then go to a nurse in the car who has a good representation whereas the binary opposite of Michael who we have been shown as evil who attacks the nurse in the car. He breaks the glass of the car window but we hear exaggerated subjective sound as it needs to show his evil and how powerful he is when hurting people. We then cut into a shot of three girls walking down the road, but the camera wipes onto them as soon as the doctor says ‘I think he'd come back’, this can convey that his next targets are the three girls we see, the meaning is created by two shots placed together this is juxtaposition. The opening shot introduce the main characters through-out the trailer, the reason why the shot these characters first is to convey a sense of narrative. This is conventional within trailers as the audience are positioned within the trailer and are able to understand who the characters are. This relates to Todorov’s theory as it is the equilibrium, where characters are shown in their everyday life. When we are shown the three girls, two girls are represented as usual teens smoking and joking about while the other girl Laurie is shown as innocent with her school books showing them represented as experienced, this conveys that Laurie is the least likely to be harmed as she is innocent and in the film industry the virginal girl survives conveying genre. The camera cuts into close-ups of the three girls, the camera changes from a two-shot and then a close-up of Laurie by herself showing the emotions and conversation between the three. There is juxtaposition created between two shots by the montage editing, this is because the shot isolates Laurie from her friends, a shot of them two and a shot of her, this creates a sense of difference between the three girls, Laurie is not like them, this helps to represent her and conveys aspects of the narrative. We see the shock and worry in their faces which are done by a close up so we can see the emotions built. But we do not see what they see as it is a hanger so the audience are attracted to watch the movie so it starts to build the tension of the trailer.

There is a caption of the title to the changing of the scene and also relating to the story as it is Halloween in the movie. We are in point of view of someone else who is lying down on a bed and we see the door open slowly, while the door is opening we hear the sound that the door is old as it creeks loud making it creepy, the creaky door is a typical convention of horror films.  We see a person dressed up as a ghost, this is intertextuality as in the horror movie ghost the killer is a ghost. In this trailer John Carpenter is playing with theses clichés, the predictable formats of horror trailers and adding them in to convey the sense of genre. We see one of the teenage girls in the bed she is represented as promiscuous and as the ‘sexually active’ girl, the one who is not decent, and a convention of horror movies is that they get hurt/die which is shown in this trailer. We then cut into the next scene of seeing a door and a hand going straight through it this is showing someone trying to get through to the person on the other side, the way the hand comes through shows the aggression of the person and how strong they are. Then to a mid shot of Laurie shocked off what she has seen, the way her hands are by her mouth and the gasp she makes, conveys what is there is not pleasant. We see a girl on the bed who looks half naked and a grave tomb on top of her head. This is Mise en scene as the prop on top of her shows she is dead or going to die. We see on the side of the bed the Halloween pumpkin this represents the name of the film and also reminding us it is Halloween in the movie, the face that has been cut out on the pumpkin is terrifying. The background non-diegetic sound of a high pitched ding is representing that death has just occurred and horror conventions. We then see a guy looking in a fridge the lights in his face then when he shuts the fridge it is dark and a dull blue, this represents what is going to happen to him as it represent loss of life colours. The sound of when someone is being killed is back, the high pitched noise of non-dietetic sound. At this point of the trailer the pace of the editing has increased as this is where the tension and scary atmosphere is built, people are being killed and the main actress is running and scared of the killer, this is done in fast shots, a fast sequences as the audience feel the tension of the character.  

The camera changes into the next scene where we see a mid-shot of Laurie, this shot is showing her body language, the way she is clung up against the door shows that she is scared, we slightly see Michael the killer fade in from behind her, he wears a mask so we just see the white mask coming in and the suspense of the killer is kept hidden. We then see Laurie falling down the stairs we see the shadow of the banisters over her, this shows that she is trapped behind the stairs and cannot escape from the killer conveying Mise en scene the creating of a story. We see this as high angle shot of Laurie this puts her in a lower position to the killer, it represents that he is stronger when he is shown at a low angle than her and she has less power. We then go to a low angle of the killer this is showing the audience he has strength over Laurie and that he is after her. We can hear the sound of Dietetic piano in the background it is the low keys playing; this is the music is put it to conveys evil and suspense to the audience. We see her running buts is at a wide shot so the audience can see the location she is in and can see how she is being followed by the killer. The voice over then says ‘Halloween the night he came back’ this suggest to the audience after all they have seen the killer is back from the start of the trailer the little boy and he is after Laurie. The camera is still hand held because the tension is building as she is getting followed. Showing that he is getting closer and closer after her, we see an over the shoulder shot of the little girl, to see what she is doing we see she is very interested in what she is doing and cannot hear the door in the background making more anxiety for the audience as they have built feelings for Laurie and want her to be safe. We see a long shot of Laurie trying to get into the house this shows the loneliness and isolation of her as she has no one around her to help and she cannot get into the house while the audience can see the killer in the background. At the end of the trailer the pace of the tempo has decreased as it is coming to the end of the narrative, this is because it is the end of the dramatic shots throughout the trailer and it shows it is coming to an end. 

We see the title of the film again as a caption in the film this shows the audience the movie they should watch after seeing the trailer, they are aware of the name as they see it three times through-out the trailer. We see the credits at the end and who the movie is made by, giving the audience back ground information this is done on the end card a traditional convention of trailers as it conveys it’s a trailer the audience are watching. We also see the restriction shot again showing viewers who can watch the film. Within this trailer there are logos, captions and an end card. This is a sense of information to the audience and convention that needs to be followed when making trailers.



Research: Existing Conventions - Logos and Films Typography

This research page is about existing conventions of film typography's such as Friday the 13th and Existing logos such as film four, for my trailer the return. From analysing and researching different typography's and logos i found design and elements of what i liked about them and what i could do to my own titles and logo designs. When researching the typography's of the films, i realised they all followed certain slasher conventions throughout the designs, this was having embedded the colours black, red or white, using a combination of two colour scheme or conventional the three colour scheme to convey, darkness, blood and innocence's. I also found with typography's the style of writing choose for the fonts had to convey horror to the audience, it would be blood, caps lock, cracked and dripping blood. I compared and contrasted Friday the 13th, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Insidious and Psycho. With all the existing titles expect Halloween the used black, red or white, however Halloween used orange as it was conventional to that particular film as orange represents Halloween. 


From researching and finding these existing titles, i needed to design a title for my trailer, poster and magazine. I designed my title for the three task on www.Dafont.com, this is a website that supplies loads of different fonts, from here you can select one, add the title you wish (The Return) and then it processes the title. From here i had to save the title and then edit it with my group on photoshop according to how it would fit with conventions of horror films. Below i will show the different ideas we came up with and they one at the bottom is the final chosen one. 



Here i will show the research of different production and distribution companies, the reason  why i had to research these was due to designing our own for our trailer. They are logos, meaning it will be a picture with words or symbols. These below gave our groups ideas of what the different companies used their titles, and changed them into logos and designs. They are simply and effective. 



The two production and distribution companies we designed where Grizzly bear and Splice Films. I will show you below the designs: