Tuesday 28 April 2015

Evaluation Question 4 - Part 1

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How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Saturday 25 April 2015

Evaluation Question 3 - Part 1



What have you learned from your audience feedback and how did you attract/address your audience?

- Our primary audience for our horror trailer is primarily young people who enjoy horror films and going to the cinemas and watch them. Therefore this means that our trailer will use all of the key generic elements of mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and edit to encourage our audience to anticipate or predict what is going to happen from the trailer to the film, this will also mean they get more pleasure out of it. For example, the scene where we are in the bathroom, the use of the anticipation built up using the mirror and then the face popping up over my shoulder, this is a common trait and shot used in most horror films and trailers, because it is classic and everyone knows what is going to happen next, the fact that the cupboard door with the mirror on it opens - so you can no longer see anyone's reflection - and then when the cupboard door is closed, we see the characters face, with a possessed person or a demon etc. behind the character. We also expect this because of the music behind the shot too, the crescendo of scary and creepy music, the more it builds up, the more the audience expect something bad to happen, which is what we have used in various shots, as the larger use of generic elements, the more enjoyable and thrilling experience it has for the audience, as they can anticipate what is going to happen next, meaning they don't have to think to hard into the film meaning it is easy for the audience to watch.

Friday 24 April 2015

Evaluation Question 2 - Part 2

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All forms of moving image require and instigate some form of audience response therefore I decided that I would use audience responses to reveal the development of my project. I began with an audience feedback interview on my ancillary tasks, all of the audience feedback interview on my ancillary tasks, all of the audience responses I received were very beneficial and allowed me to understand what features and conventions my audience can establish from my work in comparison to the actual models I based my work upon. I also gained audience responses to compare my preliminary task and my final trailer, I was able to understand just the significant amount of development I had made from the chase sequence to our final horror trailer. With my target audience doing the audience responses it was evident that my coursework suited the age category I had decided to put my pieces in.

Thursday 23 April 2015

Evaluation Question 2 - Part 1



How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Monday 20 April 2015

Evaluation Question 1 - Part 1


In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Final Horror Trailer Questionnaire

<script>(function(t,e,c,s){var i,n,o;t.SMCX=t.SMCX||[],e.getElementById(s)||(i=e.getElementsByTagName(c),n=i[i.length-1],o=e.createElement(c),o.type="text/javascript",o.async=!0,o.id=s,o.src=["https:"===location.protocol?"https://":"http://","widget.surveymonkey.com/collect/website/js/xxrgNSPRqgbAcZt78xrGBQ2GqHbIaeMiAvq5TGf_2BisivHORTKblIcX75v6yOE4Mi.js"].join(""),n.parentNode.insertBefore(o,n))})(window,document,"script","smcx-sdk");</script><a style="font: 12px Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; text-decoration: none;" href=https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/customer-satisfaction-surveys/> Create your own user feedback survey </a>

Monday 6 April 2015

Editting

While I was near the end of editing the trailer, I sat down with Mr Wood for 1 and a half hours adding transitions between shots where appropriate to either add pace or suspense (I.e. 'fade to white' adds pace and 'fade to black' adds suspense.) this just helps us to achieve the intense fear that we want our audience to feel when they watch our trailer. This is especially evident later on in the trailer when the shots speed up to create an intense atmosphere and the use of contrasting speeds to make things unexpected for the audience. I made the shots and the transitions fit to the music near the end, as there was a pause in the music, where the transitions take place and then when there is a loud crescendo of music when the shot appears after, which frightens the audience and creates the adrenaline buzz they audience get when they don't know what to expect next. This took quite a while to get the timing perfect, but it's worth it to allow the trailer to be at the highest standard and as realistic as we can make it

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Magazine Cover Questionnaire

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Monday 23 March 2015

Props

During our trailer, we used various props to allow us to enhance the scare factor of our trailer, for example; the diary which we use has been covered in coffee and made to look old using a tea bag, and whilst we were drying it out, we bent the spine to make it look old and used. Finally we wrote messages in it such as 'I HAVE YOUR SOUL' in red ink, to use the connotations of danger and blood. In the trailer the diary is the main feature, as the title of our horror film is 'DEAR DEVIL', so the diary represents the devils way of possessing the person who reads it, which is why we focussed on it, and also used it in most of the shots. Also we use the rocking horse which we found in Laura's loft, to use the stereotype from most horror films of the children being the ones who are possessed and you always get the typical rocking horse or toy being featured within the trailer to show that. Another reason why we used it, was because of the noise it made, we found it was made most intense when the room was completely quiet and pitch black, like it is on our trailer. This way the audience is fixated on the rocking horse and the eerie noise it makes, as well as charlotte sitting on top of it with the diary in her hand.


  • Diary
  • Boxes
  • Bags
  • Picture Frame
  • Rocking Horse
  • Mobile Phone


Sunday 15 March 2015

Horror Poster Questionnaire

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Friday 13 March 2015

Creating The Dramatic Dark Make-Up On Charlotte For Our Trailer



Above, you will see Charlotte getting her make-up done before we started filming our trailer. We used black and dark brown eye shadow to enhance her jaw line, cheek bones, nose and eye sockets. The darker colours make her face look more drawn in and sick, which is the look we intended on going for when charlotte plays the role of being possessed. In other horror films and trailers, the use of darkened and enhanced facial features make the actor/actress look terrifying and gives the haunting look, which is why we decided to use this technique in our trailer. 

Monday 9 March 2015

Music Effects For Horror Trailer



For our trailer, we wanted other sound effects to go into our trailer, other than the ones we had already chosen from the 'Sinister' soundtrack. So I went onto youtube and I found the video which I transferred into an MP3 track using 'Youtube Converter' and put it into iMovie with the completed trailer and cut it down to the sound effects which we wanted to use, I think overall we used around 5 or 6 short sound effects from this video, on top of the 'Sinister' soundtracks.

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Music For The Trailer - Sinister Soundtrack by Christopher Young

After the intense research into horror films and trailers, we have decided to use 'Sinister' as our main inspiration for creating our horror trailer, so much so that we researched the soundtrack for this film, and fell in love with the idea of using some of the tracks from the sound track (created by Christopher Young), we made a list of the songs which we have narrowed it down to from the entire playlist. The songs listed below, are listed because we intend to use sections and snippings from each of them for different sections of our horror trailer.

  • Portrait of Mr Boogie
  • The Horror In The Canisters
  • Sin Sister Sweet
  • House Painting 12’
  • Pollock Type Pain









Monday 2 March 2015

Final Chosen Picture For My Magazine Cover


For my magazine cover, I have chosen to use this photo for my Film Magazine Cover because of the evil look that she has already and when I come to edit it, I plan to darken the eyes, and contour the face with the burn tool, making it look more drawn in and making Charlotte (in the picture) look ill. Also I plan to redden the eyes, to make her look even more evil and possessed.




Friday 27 February 2015

Final Chosen Horror Poster Photo

For my Horror Poster, I have chosen to use this photo as I believe it looks like Charlotte (in the image) is possessed, due to the white face with dark shadowing, meaning you can't make out any facial features. Due to this, it makes charlotte look like a supernatural force, especially with the white clothing on which has connotations of death and passing over. You can slightly see the book in her hand which is an important feature as it is the main connection to the devil and for charlotte becoming possessed in the film, which also could interest the audience as they could become curious about what the book is about which charlotte is holding. Also the fact that the film title is 'DEAR DEVIL' makes the fact that she is holding a book in her hands fitting. Finally, the fact of the darkness and shadows consuming her, could suggest she is being consumed and possessed by an evil, and the light shinning on her creates and eerie atmosphere as you can only see half of her face. 




Tuesday 24 February 2015

Picture Options For My Magazine Cover

Below are the options of photos I have to choose from before I edit it to put onto my Film Magazine Cover;  
 
 






 

 

Monday 23 February 2015

Photos For My Poster - Options

For my Horror Film Poster, I need to choose a photo which will fit the meaning of the title 'DEAR DEVIL' and will also need to show what our trailer is about as well as make the target audience curious and interested to want to see the entire film as that is the main target of a trailer.  Below are the options of photos I have to choose from;


Friday 20 February 2015

Filming - Day 1

Today Jodie, Laura and Charlotte and I filmed the some of the opening shots for our Horror Trailer. We used a varying selection of camera angles, such as panning, zooming, close ups, long shots etc. It's important to use various types of shots, as it helps to make the video more interesting for the audience, particularly trailers which are used to help sell and up and coming film, it needs to be as interesting and memorable as possible.

For the opening shots, we filmed the outside of an old house in the dark to give it an eerie and mysterious feeling. We used different techniques such as slowly zooming into one particular spot on the house, for example, we used one of the upstairs windows as though to give the effect that there is something in there of interest that the audience feel exhilarated, expecting something to be in the window or expecting something to happen. Also we did a panning shot of a dark horizon lit by lamp lights in the distance covered by fog across a dark field at night. We thought this would be effective as although we never planned to use a shot of an area like this, it brought potential when we saw it, as we thought we could use this as another shot to give an eerie feeling.

Not only did we do filming, we recorded ourselves saying dates from a dairy and then what will happen on that date, and then finally we all built up by saying them altogether. We did this, as the main theme of our horror trailer is a possessed diary, hence the reason why we each said a date. We had to carefully chose the dates, as although we are only creating a trailer, our trailer is based on a film, so we chose to use four dates which spread across 4 months, but we made sure the dates stayed within the barrier of the season we are in now, as because of the weather being cold and wintery, it wouldn't make sense if the film advertised that it was across along time, when the shots contradicted that. Finally we recorded Jodie's little sister screaming, as at one point in the trailer, we want the screen to go black, and then all of a sudden that scream come in, to give the audience a fright, thus reaching our targets of not only advertising a horror film, but to make the audience want to go and see  it.

Tuesday 17 February 2015

My Chosen Font


I have chose this font for my Horror Film Poster and Magazine Cover Title 'DEAR DEVIL' because the way the font has a melted look about it, i feel like it has connotation of dripping blood, which has connotations of death and horror, which is exactly what i want and need for my title to portray. I intend to edit it using a red colour overlay and embossing effect to make it look like pure thick 3D blood, with a black shadow effect to make the red stand out a lot more.

Friday 13 February 2015

Possible Locations

The shots you see below, are from Laura's house. During the time of our filming, her parents were undergoing a loft conversion, making the loft a perfect location for our horror trailer. We also found props we could use in the loft such as the rocking horse. We intend on using the rocking horse in our trailer, so while we are completing our final edition of our script and storyboards, we are going to integrate it into our trailer. As well as considering what would the most effective shots and events be for the space we have got to use.







Tuesday 10 February 2015

Costumes

For our trailer, we decided that we will each wear normal everyday clothing for being in the trailer, to give it a more natural and realistic feel, also because Laura's loft was getting done out, upstairs was dusty from bricks etc. so we didn't want to wear clothes which could get ruined. Due to charlotte being the main actress and being the one who features in the entire horror trailer, she has to put on a long white dance costume which gave her the 'death/passed on' look, which is what we need her to look like for when she becomes possessed. For her make-up we will darken her face to make it look more drawn in and scary like most possessed people's faces are in horror films and to make it more terrifying for the audience if their face pops up on screen at any point.


Thursday 5 February 2015

Characters & Roles

For our trailer, we decided on making it fixated around one person only, this way it makes it easier while filming to direct it and you don't have as many mistakes made when your only filming one person. Although myself, Jodie and Laura do feature in the trailer for a couple of seconds each, the main actor in the trailer is Charlotte. She plays the role of one of the girls who moved into the house with her friends, until she goes up stairs and find the 'DEVILS DIARY' which possess her and turns her into the monster you see her become near the end of the trailer as well as being the one who created the script and sorry boards for our trailer. I am the editor of the group, meaning that once we had completed all of the filming, I took all of the shots etc. collected the music we had decided to use, and put everything together using my research into horror trailers as inspiration.  Jodie and Laura shared equal duties of filming our horror trailer, this is because their were points where Jodie (being smaller than Laura) could get into the smaller spaces to film charlotte other than Laura, meaning it was important due to our surroundings we had, that we had more than one person to share the filming with.

Tuesday 3 February 2015

Target Audience

Our target audience is primarily people who enjoy watching horror films, which mean now-a-days the age range could vary dramatically, because of the access of illegally downloaded films and illegal streaming, people of all ages, particularly people of the younger generations who are known for being more technologically advanced can get to them when according to the official age ratings of films state that depending on the content of the film, you can not be any younger than 18 to watch a horrifically terrifying film which has obscene and explicit content which may disturb younger viewers. So if we did follow the official age ratings guidelines, our target audience would be people aged 18 and over who enjoyed horror films, obviously because some people either do not enjoy them or do not find them interesting.

Friday 23 January 2015

Font Options

For my Horror Film Poster and Magazine Cover, I need to choose which font I want to use for my main title 'DEAR DEVIL'. So far, I have found these 5 fonts which I need to choose between; 




Friday 16 January 2015

Our Roles In The Group

Before we started to create our horror trailer, we needed to establish what everyones roles would be so that we could all take and equal part in creating our horror trailer.

Ashley: Editor
Charlotte: Script & Storyboard Writer
Jodie: Camera-woman
Laura: Camera-woman/Director

We have all chosen to take the roles at the parts of which we are best at, this is so that when it comes to actually creating our trailer, it will be at the best standard possible, by using everyones strengths. 

Thursday 8 January 2015

Horror Trailer Questionnaire

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