Brief

My name is Jack Cox and I am currently in my second year of studying A-Level Media Studies at Rooks Heath College. Our coursework this year was to create a range of media products to promote a horror film; a trailer, a poster and a feature on a magazine front cover. The first stage of our project consisted of researching our target audience and horror/slasher films as a whole. We did this through many different platforms, including online questionnaire, QuestionPro and a focus group. We distributed our online questionnaire via social media as it would reach a high number of other people on the particular media platform, ensuring that we had a high number of respondents. The questionnaire and focus group however was only a small portion of our pre-production research stage, as we had to analyse existing horror film trailers, posters and magazines. As well as this, our research included a history on the genre, which included film movements such as Film Noir and German Expressionism, as well as analysing narrative patterns that reoccur within films in the same genre. 

When our research was completed, the planning stage of our ancillary tasks took place. This included creating storyboards for our trailer, the casting of our actors, location scouting and creating a synopsis. 

When we were fully planned, we were ready to create our trailer, and go out on set to film. As well as this being a stressful period, I am pleased to say I had a lot of fun in the creation of my slasher film. Once the editing was done, and all the little bits were knitted together, we seeked feedback from our target audience.

As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed my A2 Media coursework.

Research: Analysis of Existing Horror Magazines

Research: Analysis of Existing Posters

Research: Analysis of Existing Horror Trailers

Dead Mans Shoes

The trailer for Dead Man’s Shoes begins with an in-air tracking establishing shot of the forest, or woods. This is a typical location for a film within the slasher genre. It then cuts to another establishing shot, this time featuring two men walking through a field. The two men at this point have their backs turned to the camera; therefore we cannot identify their faces. One of the men is wearing a khaki shade of green with an army kit bag – illustrating an aspect of his character that he is a veteran. The second man is scruffy looking, wearing a tracksuit – an example of binary opposites is now apparent within these two characters. This shows the original state of their equilibrium (Todorov). Although the two men are going along the same path,

Same path separated by two tracks

it is separated by two different tracks – an example of mise en scene that these two characters are completely different. The non-diegetic background music is somewhat calming, which doesn’t suggest that this film is part of the slahser or horror genre. The landscape of the field dominates the next frame, with Richard again walking infront of his brother – almost as if he leads the way. Within this shot, there is only one lonely tree, which represents that there is only one life – this is describing the narrative through mise en scene (as Richard is an imagination of his brother). In the next shot we first see the characters faces in an example of a two-shot. Again surrounded by the landscape, Richard is leading his brother. The woods are a typical location for a slasher film however in these shots they are portrayed in a different way. Usually in slashers, the woods are seen as a place you can get lost or trapped, but in this case they portray the woods in a beautiful and scenic way. This trailer does not follow the usual conventions as you are introduced to the characters before the trailer shows the film studio logos. A caption saying “a brother’s love” shows us aspects of the narrative, and also informs us that these two characters are brothers – which reinforces in the next shot which is home footage of the two brothers as babies. The next shot is a close up of Richard, and in the background is an old cracked wall. This is showing the psychological landscape of the character. This is then followed by a close up of his mentally impaired brother and therefore aspects of British social realism are now embedded within the film. British social realism uses aspects of ordinary British life in order to connect with the audience, as a British audience are likely to relate in some form of way. This is followed by the caption “a brother’s vengeance” suggesting to the audience that this film is not what the trailer originally suggests. A non-diegetic horror sound furthers this as it subverts the audience’s expectations. The next line “what did you do to him” also accompanies that. The camera shakily pans around Richard, letting the audience know that his brother is not with him. This highlights Richard’s instability. There is then a flashback in black and white ,

Flashback

which is a narrative technique to take the audience back to a previous event. This trailer therefore is in a non linear form. By juxtaposing the disturbing flashback to a shot of the gang laughing, it shows the audience that these are not nice people. Juxtaposition is when meaning is created by placing two or more shots together. We then see a man in a gas mask which is the first sign that this trailer is from the slasher genre. When the masked man attacks, the screen flashes red which symbolises the bloody murders occurring. The edits now become much faster, conveying the idea of chaos. We are then introduced to the first gang character via a close up shot. There is then a two shot of the antagonist, and the protagonist, Richard. Anthony, the mentally impaired brother, is placed between the two men in the frame as well as in the narrative, as mise en scene places him there, as he is between them also in the narrative. The screen flashes red

Flashes red

once again to a masked Richard again symbolising danger. This is followed by a big close up if the antagonist adding high intensity. The editing begins to gradually build in pace after Richard says “I’m gonna hit you all”. During the speedy edits of Richard slashing the gang members, we are shown another flashback, so the audience don’t lose sympathy with Richard – even though he is killing everyone. This refers to Roland Barthes semantic code, which describes that the audience sympathise with the main character, as we are seeing events through his point of view. Juxtaposition is then used again with a close up of Richard looking down with a voice over of him saying “God will forgive them and let them into Heaven… I can’t live with that”. This is followed by a one line review and a star rating – which is a marketing strategy. More fast paced violence follows during the trailers climax followed by two more reviews as well as the name of the film. The words ‘A film by Shane Meadows’ is then presented on screen – another marketing technique as Shane Meadows is a highly regarded director who can sell a film.

Halloween

Point of view shot

The trailer begins with a point of view establishing shot of the house, a typical setting for a film of its genre. The point of view shot could represent the view of the killer within the narrative. By using a normal, suburban house this shows that the events of the narrative can happen to anybody. The voice over of the trailer is a common convention as it helps the audience to understand the narrative of the film. There is a dull, non diegetic high pitched violin sound which creates suspense, a technique used by the film Physco with high pitched violin noises every time the killer killed a victim.. This shot is followed by another point of view shot of the stabbing of a girl. The shot reinforces the voyeuristic nature of the narrative, and by placing the audience in the position of the killer, the audience feel powerless, helpless and uneasy. The dark shadows around the frame suggest that this point of view shot is looking through a mask, which is typical of the slasher genre. The stabbing of the girl is accompanied by the diegetic noises of screams from the victim as well as sounds of the knife. This shot juxtaposed with the previous shot of the house suggest that the killing took place within the house. Sticking with the point of view shots to put the audience in the place of the killer, the camera goes downstairs and out the house to which we see a car pull up outside. We then find out that the killer is the little boy – this challenges conventions of trailers as it gives away an important aspect of the narrative. Usually within trailers, only elements of the narrative are revealed, usually the beginning and the middle, however the enigma resolution is never shown (Todorov). This is because filmmakers use the trailer to attract an audience, and by not giving away the ending of the narrative, the audience will want to come and see this film for closure. This is followed by a caption of the  name of the film accompanied by the voice over saying the films name. The film is in red text on a black background, and when put together these two colours have connotations of danger. The next shot is a close up of an older man, and through the way he looks and what he is saying we know he is the benefactor of the film. A benefactor is a typical slasher film character, usually a wise old man who provides information to the characters about the killer – and usually aids the final girl in the final showdown with the killer. What he says describes more of the narrative. This man is the binary opposite of the child, as he is old and wise, whilst the child is young, and a killer. Spooky, non diegetic music enters when the benefactor says “evil” as this portrays and describes the next shot we see. A red light flashes when the man from the mental institute jumps on top of the car, as in this case the red represents danger towards the woman in the vehicle.

Red light flashes

When he grabs her face, there is a loud, sudden non diegetic sound to represent her panic and shock. The quick editing between the shots raises the tension of the trailer, adding to the effect that this is a film where the audience may feel un-easy. As a whole this is a typical opening to a trailer, however the extended point of view shot is unusual, and is not conventional.

The next shot in the trailer is a brighter shot and symbolises a happier place. There are trees all along the street which represent life and therefore the girls. The place where the three girls are is known as the state equilibrium, a place where the characters feel at home (Todorov). We can tell that the girl on the left is the films ‘final girl’, a recurring character within slasher films. This character is usually the purest of the group of friends, and is virginal. Out of the three girls, this girl is the only girl that is not wearing denim jeans, which were seen as an image of rebellious youth, instead she is in a sensible knee length skirt, showing her maturity. Secondly, this girl is the only girl not smoking and the books in her hand show that she is quite sensible. The same, non diegetic music slowly re-enters the trailer, which as well as the close up adds tension.

The name of the film again enters the screen to drill it in to the audience. In the next shot, we see a squeaky door slowly open to a bed-sheet ghost, which is typical of a kids Halloween, almost like a trick or treat scenario. Also, some could argue that the use of a ghost like figure reinforces that the killer is almost super natural. We see a girl lying down on her bed with a grave stone in the background; mise en scene is used here as this girl is moments away from her death. A pumpkin is on her bed side table, reinforcing this could be anyone’s typical Halloween due to the fact that the pumpkin is an iconic image of Halloween, and also showing the brand image of the film. In the next shot, a low light barely lights up this characters face, which looks almost gothic-horror-esque. This relates back to the 1940’s German expressionism, where they used low lights and shadows to create meaning. We then for the first time see our killer. The killer is wearing a mask, typical of horrow films as the audience’s imagination can make up what is underneath. It also adds a sense of mystery about them. When the girl gets pushed down the stairs, a point of view shot is used to make the audience connect and show sympathy with the character. These two characters are an example of binary opposites, the strong powerful man and the helpless girl.The monster is then shot from a low angle, showing his power and dominance over this helpless girl. Her shadow in the next shot is cut off by the bars of her staircase, almost as if she is trapped under his power.

Staircase shadows

Another use of shadows again has links to German expressionism, which many suggest were the early stages of the horror genre, as Hollywood film makers were influenced by this movement.  

The shots of her running juxtaposed with the killer walking down the stairs let the audience know that he is following her. As she approaches the next house, there is a shadow on the left hand side of the door which looks like a man holding a knife, which is portraying the narrative. These shots show the neighbourhood, showing that this is your typical girl, from a typical town. The trailer ends on a cliff-hanger after showing a lot of the narrative, which is a marketing technique to get an audience to go and see the film as they want to find out which happens to the girl.

This trailer as a whole is pretty formulaic, although some aspects subvert the usual form of film trailers, as it gives away a lot of the narrative, only leaving the final girl alive. Audiences however will be attracted to see this film as they will want closure on what happened to the girl at the end of the trailer. Usually the shape of a typical trailer begins with the state of equilibrium, and slowly rises in tension before reaching the climax. However, with the Halloween trailer, it begins with a shocking event, and the equilibrium is only apparent in the middle of the trailer, before reaching the climax at the end.

Scream

The trailer begins like many trailers with the certificate of age consent. This film is rated R for restricted, meaning for audiences over the age of 17. The shots in the trailer begin with a subjective shot of a telephone with a diegetic sound of the telephone ringing. The voice on the phone follows  through the screens of the studio and the distributor for the film, meaning it is subjective and worth the audience listening to. The trailer then shows an establishing shot of the house, a typical location for a film within the slasher genre. The girl on the phone is blonde, and within the slasher genre, the blonde sexually active girl is usually the one to die first. The non diegetic sound is raising tension as the phone call becomes creepier. A shot of the popcorn bag slowly rising represents the rising tension, which is the first example of mise en scene that we see.

Popcorn rising

The girl says “I’m going to watch a scary movie” which foreshadows the entire narrative of the film, as Scream is about the typical events within slasher films. When the voice on the phone says “I wanna know who I’m looking at” the camera zooms into her face to emphasise the emotion of fear that the character is feeling. By this, the audience feel empathy towards this character. The tension hits its peak as the sound of crashing accompanies the figure smashing through her window; this is followed by a quick close up of the girl screaming, with a faded image of the scream mask for the first time. Masks are typical of slasher films, as therefore the audience’s imagination portrays their own individual fears under the mask – the fear of the unknown. This shot is juxtaposed with a shot of police cars, which by adding these two shots together creates meaning in the fact that they are investigating the events that we just witnessed within the trailer. Tension begins to rise as the non diegetic music gets tenser as well as the editing of fast placed shots to portray a chaotic feel as we see more of the slasher narrative. There is another girl on the phone at this point with the same voice on the other end, suggesting to the audience that this man is out to kill again, like we saw at the beginning of the trailer. This character is brunette and in a baggy grey jumper, typical of a slasher films so-called ‘final girl’, as they are usually mature and virginal. The sound of the girl speaking back carries on into the next shot in the form of a voice over as the camera pans around the girl who seems visually trapped behind bars, representing the fact this man has the girl under his trap, another example of mise en scene. When she says “big breasted girl”, it shows a big breasted girl in the frame, suggesting that this girl is sexually active – and if following the slasher genre’s codes and conventions, the next girl to die. The next shot is a group of teenagers, again typical of slasher films, informing his friends about the conventions of slashers, which shows that this film is self aware.

Knife pointing on TV

The television in the background has a knife pointing towards this character, maybe portraying that he is also to die. As he talks through what the teenagers shouldn’t do to avoid getting killed, the camera cuts to some of the teenagers subverting his warnings to show the rebellious youthful side of them. Tension begins to slowly rise and we see a shot of a girl in white in a white room, suggesting she may be the final girl, as white represents purity. When he says “you won’t be back” there is a shot of a door closing, representing what the character is saying. After this, the climax begins and the voice over returns. The extreme close up of a girl crying and putting down the phone shows emotion, and also due to what we have already seen in the trailer, we know that the killer was the one she was on the phone too. The film revolves around the night of prom, which could be an intertextual reference to another successful film within the genre, named ‘Prom Night’. The caption “don’t answer the phone” comes up as a warning and the text gets shredded off the screen in red – which symbolises death, blood and anger. More warning captions appear, and the shots after them again represent the rebellious youth of the teenage group. The name of the film appears to put the climax to an end. The voice over throughout the trailer could be argued as the voice of reason, as it Is warning the audience about the killer, and how to avoid getting killed by him.

Research: Existing Conventions: Logo's and Typography

Research: Existing Conventions: Logos and Film Titles Typography

Before we created the film’s logo, I wanted to research titles of other successful horror films in order to find some inspiration. I wanted my audience to be able to look at the title of the film, and with along with viewing the colour scheme and the font, and automatically realise that this film comes under the horror, or more specifically the slasher genre.

I found within my research that similar colour schemes were used among the majority of films. Red black and white/grey are commonly seen within horror film titles, usually a combination of two. These dark colours represent the dark nature of the films, along with the red representing the blood of the victims and the danger that they face within the narrative.

We particularly liked this font that you can see in the two images above, used in A Nightmare On Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This font is iconic to the horror genre due to the fact that this font is widely used on gravestones, which represent death. The use of the font can also be seen as an intertextual reference. The font is also sharp and has a cold nature about it, which represents the weapon used within our film. Lastly, when creating our own logo, we added blood to add an extra slasher like feel to the title.

One element we always wanted to include was an iconic symbol that people would be iconic to our film. Horror films such as Scream have an iconic symbol of the killer which people will automatically link to the film, without seeing the films title. We were inspired by the Scream masks iconic nature, and decided that the gas mask that our killer wears could be iconic to our film. By doing this, we are creating a brand identity.  

Research: Audience Profile

After collecting the quantitative and qualitative research, I created an audience profile. This outlines my target audiences interests, and gives me an idea about their lifestyles. This can be used as a reference. As you can see from it, my target audience use a lot of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, therefore advertising on a free platform as such will be crucial. However, the target audience are still very sociable, as you can see from the alcohol and the party silhouette.

Research: Stylistic Influences on the Horror Genre

Stylistic influences on the horror genre from cfcjack96

Research: Audience Quantitative Data

Primary Research from cfcjack96

Research: Qualitative Feedback

Rough Designs of Ancillary Tasks

Magazine

Poster

Planning: Shooting Script

Planning: Storyboards

The entire aim of creating rough copy storyboards was to give us a sense of direction and to guide us through the shots when we were on site filming. By using storyboards, it allowed us to keep on track and take note on what shots we have or haven't recorded. It also allowed us to remain on track with out budget, as if we continued to schedule we would not need to pay for more equipment, props that may get ruined in shots or actors. We also included annotations next to the drawings for specific information that we may find helpful on set. By having these storyboards as a hard copy, we could take them to every shot. As well as a hard copy, we stuck the storyboards together to create a video, which was a rough plan of how we wanted our trailer to look once all the filming was complete.

  

 

Planning: Script

VOICE OVER: Not everything is as it seems… Someone’s watching you.

GROUP SHOT:

Michael: You know, I think we should do something today.
Jack: Ahh, there’s nothing to do around here though
Alex: I really wanna get drunk!
Mia: I can steal some of my parent’s alcohol?
Alex: Yeah!

VIDEO IN THE WOODS:

Alex: Hi everyone, last day of term, party in the woods! Bye for now!

Planning: Synopsis

Ben is a 17 year old boy who attends a college in London. Ben is lonely, he has no friends, he lives with his widowed grandmother after his grandfather was wrongly accused of murdering Ben’s parents when he was six years old. His Grandfather is now in a mental institute for blaming six year old Ben for the murders, something that haunts his Grandmother every night.

Ben grew up with one girl in mind. Rose O’Grady, a sweet, charming girl who has never meant any harm to anybody. A popular girl, straight A grades and captain of the netball team, Rose is one of the most popular girls at the college. Ben keeps to himself, doesn’t speak to anyone, and protects his school bag with his life. Ben is obsessive over Rose; he follows her around school and even watches her on her way home.

Rose is always telling her friends how she thinks Ben is following her. She claims to have seen him outside her house at night behind the bushes, looking through the changing room door when she is getting changed for netball and always staring at her in lessons. Her friends laugh it off, calling him a freak behind his back, but Ben overhears her saying that, and he doesn’t like it one bit.

To celebrate the end of term, Rose and her friends, Hayley, Micheal, Jack and Alex decide to camp out in the woods with drugs and alcohol. They decide to meet at 7PM in the woods, and Ben overhears this.

Later on at the woods, Michael starts a camp fire and puts some loud music on for the drunken teens to enjoy. As they take pictures, dance to the music and get more intoxicated, Jack becomes anxious and claims someone is watching them. Failing to bring down the mood, the fun carries on. Michael and Hayley are getting close, and Alex tells him to meet her in the old cricket shed in five minutes.

Five minutes pass, and an excited Michael goes to look for Hayley He hears rustling in the bushes, but passes is off as wind. As he arrives at the cricket shed, he is shell shocked to see Hayley on the floor, half undressed, with her neck slit open. Before Michael can run to the group to get help, someone appears in his gasmask from behind and covers his mouth with cloth. He ties him to the nearest tree, he slowly slits the word ‘BEWARE’ down Michaels arm before disappearing into the bushes.

Unaware of what has happened, Jack and Alex go searching for the pair. On their way around the woods, they spot someone again, hooded with a gas mask across his face and begins to run towards Alex. Jack, panicking, runs after the man before tripping over only to look up and see Michael tied to a tree, with blood all over him. Jack runs back to the group and tells them what has happened. Meanwhile, Alex, running away from the man trips up and is now helpless into the actions the man is about to take. Panicking, Jack, wants to get as far away from the woods as possible, but Rose notes that some of their friends could still be alive in the woods. Rose calls the police who are quickly on their way. Jack and Rose frantically search the woods for Alex whilst Jack waits at the gate for the police to come. Whilst waiting, Ben jumps out of a tree above him, and Jack wrestles him to the ground, assuming he is the killer.

Rose is in an open space in the woods, not sure which way to go. A rock is thrown from the bushes at her, and she starts to run in the opposite direction. Ben runs after them, shouting at the top of his voice. Rose trips up, and as Ben gets closer and closer to her, Rose assumes Ben is the killer and is trying her hardest to escape. As Jack lays unconscious on the ground after Ben gets passed him, Rose grabs a bottle from which she was drinking out of earlier that night. She smashed the bottle and threatens to cut Ben. Ben attempts to calm her down, resulting in a loud scream from Rose, who is now crying with fear. The killer appears and fights past Ben and begins to strangle Rose who tries stabbing him with the broken bottle. Ben grabs her hand, stopping her. As the police appear all around the pair, they shoot a bullet that hits the killer. After thanking Ben, Rose and the Police approach the dead body, and take of the mask. The identity is revealed as a mentally ill boy who was in their school. As the police and Rose turn their back from the body, they turn around to see both the killer, and Ben disappeared from their sights.

Planning: Location Reece

Planning: Casting Calls

Planning: Call Sheets

A call sheet is a term used to describe a hard copy given to the cast and crew of the film production. It is created by the assistant director(s) and is created in order to inform the cast and crew where and when they need to report to. It also contains contact information and health and safety in case anything unexpected may occur. 

Planning: Risk Assessment

Final Poster

Final Magazine

Final Trailer

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

The majority of films will fall into a certain genre. A genre is described as a style or category of art, music or literature – and in this case, film. Independent, low budget films can benefit from making a genre film, as there will already be a pre-set audience for them. With choosing horror films, the percentage gross box office for independent films under this genre has risen from 0.7% to 20.2% from 2012 to 2013, so there is clearly a demand for this genre of film. Over periods of time, producers of films have recombined codes and conventions of genre films to create a number of sub-genres. Within the horror genre, there are many sub-genres, including; super natural such as Paranormal Activity and Insidious, sci-fi horror such as Alien and The Mist, comedy horror, such as Scary Movie and Shaun of the Dead, and slasher films, such as Prom Night and Friday The 13^th. The motivation behind creating a sub-genre is to create and challenge the traditional conventions in order to provide entertainment for an audience, refreshing the traditional old recycled storylines and introducing new twists. However, many of these codes and conventions have stayed in place to allow the audience to familiarise with the film and recognise the genres. We created three ancillary tasks, a trailer, a magazine and a poster, for a low budget, independent slasher film. We conformed to the codes and conventions and didn’t challenge them.

Within slasher films, a basic narrative structure is apparent within each film. Vladamir Propp, recognised whilst studying Russian fairytales a series of recurring functions/narrative strands. He suggested that all fairytales shared similar character types and story elements. These devices and character types can be seen in many of today’s film narratives, especially in popular blockbuster films as well as horror films. The same goes for characters. Most slasher films have a similar set of chatacters that are apparent in each film.

Our Final Girl

Haloween's Final Girl

Our final girl is Rose, and we portrayed her as a typical, conventional final girl. A final girl is usually an innocent, virginal girl who the audience empathise with, as the majority of the film is shot through her point of view, and she ends up being the hero of the film. The term ‘final girl’ comes originally from a film theorist named Carol Clover in her book, ‘Men, Women and Chainsaw’s’, which spoke about gender representations within horror. She went on to discuss how the final girl represents social outcasts. She also spoke about how the final girl has a sense of appeal about her, and claims that the final girl is the character that drives the narrative forward, and towards the end of the film appears masculine due to confronting the monster with a weapon. Within our trailer, we see our final girl as being quiet and quite observant; we can see this through the extreme close-ups that have been used of her eyes looking around the forest, along with the diegetic sound of her scared breath. There are also shots of Rose on her own, which suggests that she is quite quiet and shy. She is usually wearing plain clothes such as jumpers and cardigans throughout the trailer opposed to the other two girls. We wanted a conventional way of representing our final girl as it fits into the genre’s typical storyline.

We attempted to use other conventions of typical slasher films within our other characters. We have a group of teenage friends, which includes a sexually active girl who we see get killed. This is usually a character that is a binary opposite to the final girl. She is represented sexually, wearing tight clothing, and on two occasions within the trailer she is shot through the male gaze. The male gaze theory is  a concept of gaze that deals with how the people within a particular media product are presented to the audience. The whole idea behind Laura Mulvey’s theory is that

women are shot through a white middle classed man’s viewing, and will be sexualised in many ways, through the characters personality to camera angle. We did this by filming her lying down from a high angle, as well as filming her being dragged along the floor by the masculine killer.

We decided to have a conventional killer too. Killers within slasher films often have a mask on or have their face hidden. Within film, the face of evil isn’t usually a face at all, it’s hidden under a mask. The majority of popular villains and killers within the horror genre all have masks on, for example, Leatherface, the crazed butcher in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Michael Myers from Halloween wears a pallid mask, and lastly Jigsaw from the torture film, Saw, wears a grotesque clown like mask. Masks are also apparent on evil characters in other genres as well as horror; it can also appear in other genres such as Sci-Fi, including Darth Vader in the Star Wars films. Through wearing a mask it subliminally makes the villains scarier. But why are masks so much scarier than the killers face? Some say it is to do with the psychology and the fear of anonymous death. For many people, the thought of being murdered by an unidentifiable stranger for no reason is much more terrifying than being killed by someone you do know. Our brains are specialised with recognising faces, and a person’s face gives us a wealth of information. Therefore with the face being masked, our wildest imaginations can create the face of our nightmares underneath the mask.

Our narrative goes in line with Todorov’s narrative theory, due to the fact that our trailer has a beginning, middle and end. Todorov produced a theory in 1969 which he believed applied to any film, that they all follow the same narrative pattern.  There are five stages the narrative will progress through; A state of equilibrium, a disruption of such equilibrium by a certain event, a recognition that the disruption has occurred, an attempt to repair the disorder, and lastly a return or restoration of a new equilibrium. Within our trailer however, it was vital we only showed parts of the beginning and middle, and that we do not show the enigma resolution. The whole motive behind a film trailer is to create tension and to leave the viewers in suspense, so within our trailer we included elements of our narrative without spoiling the enigma.

Dead Man's Shoes Killer

Within our trailer, it was vital that we used each four of the technical codes (sound, camera, editing and mise en scene), and that we used them formally to convey a sense of genre, narrative and the setting up of the central enigma.In order to create meaning within some shots, the camera angles we used were a vital part. The first shot we decided to use was a shot of our killer. We used this as it immediately grabs our audiences attentions and shows the genre, and therefore the narrative. By using this shot, we showed the disruption of the equilibrium (Todorov) immediately, which isn’t common within horror trailers, usually the disruption will take place shortly before the climax. The use of a gas mask was an intertextual reference to two other films within the genre. Intertextual referencing to other films bring pleasure to an audience, as they can act as an ego boost to those who recognise the reference. Firstly, the miner from My Bloody Valentine (1981). We were heavily influenced by this cult classic film, as it was released in the peak era of Slasher films, therefore our opinion leaders were sure to appreciate this. Opinion leaders is a term given to those who get information from a media source and then pass the information on, along with their own personal interpretation to others, from the Katz and Lazarsfeld Two Step Flow model. These opinion leaders pay close attention to the mass media and it’s message, and are influential to the people who listen to them. Due to the ‘influentials’ looking up to the opinion leaders. Secondly, the use of the gas mask on a killer was also used in Dead Man’s Shoes (2004). We decided that this particular gas mask was the one we would use, a Soviet Russian GP5 gas mask. We were also heavily influenced by this particular film, as it was too an independent British slasher film. Despite the film being shot on a low budget, it was critically successful, and is highly regarded as one of the best British films ever made, coming 27^th in Empire magazines 100 greatest British films ever. The flashing strobe light was used with influences from 1950’s film noir. Film Noir is a cinematic term referring to 1950’s stylish Hollywood crime dramas. Film noir was shot using low key lighting schemes and dramatic shadow patterning known as chiaroscuro. It is widely suggested that a lot of camera shots within modern day horror movies are influenced by film noir. We also had use of disturbing non-diegetic sound, which signalled that the equilibrium was disturbed. 

After this shot, we see a dark establishing shot of our setting, the woods. This shot was influenced by German expressionism with the abstract shapes of the branches and the shadows. German expressionism refers to a number of creative movements beginning in Germany which were apparent within German films following the First World War. With the hard economic times faced in Germany after the war, filmmakers found it difficult to create movies that could compare to the extravagant features coming from Hollywood. Therefore, German filmmakers of the German Universum Film AG Studio created their own unique style by using symbolism and mise en scene to add meaning and deeper moods into films. Expressionism films used set designs with wildly non-realistic, geometrically absurd shapes and shadows to create meaning. In order to escape the increasing Nazi presence within Germany, many German directors moved overseas to America, and influenced many American films with their unique ways. This influence is still evident in many horror films today, as well as our own, as it helps to create disturbing psychological landscapes. We also included the diegetic sound of a crow, as the bird is a representative image of death.

The next shot is a CCTV shot of the three girls in the group of friends walking down the school corridor. We can see that our final girl, Rose, is carrying a collection of books, which is describing her character, and representing her as your typical final girl. This is also relevant to the caption that appears just before this shot, ‘someone’s watching you’. Within the CCTV shot there is a little stutter where we see a shot of the killer. We used this to show that he is the one watching the girls. This comes before a shot of Rose taking books out of her school locker, creating the character even further. This particular shot reinforces the voyeuristic nature of the narrative; the audience is being positioned through the camera to watch these characters, which echoes the killers’ motives.

Dead Man's Shoes

Masked

The shot of the knife on the floor has a red filter on it. We decided to use this as red represents blood and death, and we wanted to again grab the audience and direct them to the genre of the film. This technique is also used in Shane Meadows Dead Man’s Shoes, another British independent slasher film where the killer is in a soviet gas mask. A non-diegetic sound accompanies this shot, which adds tension and raises awareness to the shot. The shot of our killer surrounded by pictures of Rose was used to portray that Rose is on his mind. He shows this further by touching a picture of her. It also shows his mental state is all over the place with the pictures being all around his head.

After this we introduce the conventional group of friends that are found in the majority of horror films. Through these shots and the dialogue that the characters use, we are creating the narrative. We also used mise en scene within these shots. Four of the characters within the group are sitting on red sofa’s, red being symbolic of death, whilst they talk about stealing their parents alcohol and getting drunk in the woods. These four characters end up being killed by the killer, whilst our final girl, Rose, is sitting on a blue sofa, blue being symbolic of innocence and a sense of peace – Rose is the only one in the group not to talk in this conversation. This brings in the idea of what the real message behind slasher films is. Is it just a bit of fun and entertainment for our cinema screens? Or is it more in depth than that? Some people argue that slasher films have a very conservative narrative in the aspect that the message behind it is that teenagers will get punished (in the form of being brutally killed with a dangerous instrument) for misbehaving or being sexually promiscuous. Our narrative goes along with this idea; the innocent virginal final girl is the only one within the group of friends who survives. This is a functional analysis of the genre, and it reinforces the dominant ideology and the hegemonic values.

Once we get into the woods, there is an example of a match cut. This is a cut in editing between two different objects in which an object in the two shots graphically match, often establishing a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots. In this case, we have a shot of a hand pulling a sharp knife out of a tree, and a bottle being pulled out of a bag. Juxtaposed together, these two shots create meaning as the bottle is being pulled out, the teenagers are then being hunted down by the killer with the knife. This is followed by a high-angle shot of two of the teenagers drinking. By being shot via a high shot, this shows that the two are vulnerable, and they both end up being shown dead or injured within the trailer. There is also an example of non-diegetic subjective sound, as we hear a crash when the knife is shown, which is subjective of the danger that is about to be faced.

We included a shot of the group, with the camera panning around at them via a close-up, which gets faster and faster. This is symbolising the alcohol getting into their system and the manic nature of the narrative. This is followed by a quick cut to one of the character tied up against a tree with stabbing wounds, reinforcing the narrative and genre of the film. From here the climax begins, and we see another flashing red shot of one of the teens dead. The flash is the same flash we used on the knife, so by visually connecting the two shots, we are showing that the knife was what killed her, and therefore conveying an aspect of the narrative.

We used three point of view shots from the killers perspective within the trailer. The first being when he is spying on the group of friends whilst they are drinking, the second being when he is looking down as his bloody knife in his hand, and the last being when Alex is trying to crawl away from him on the floor. These point of view shots are related to Roland Barthes semantic code. The semantic code refers to characters and characterisation and what actions within the story are explained by the characters view point. The majority of our film is shot through the life of our final girl, however we found it important to implement shots from the killers point of view, especially the shot with the girl panicking away from the killer on the floor. This puts the audience in an uncomfortable position as they feel responsible as well as helpless whilst Alex is being killed. In changing the semantic code at these points, we are making the audience complicit in the action taking place on the screen. The audience are positioned to take pleasure in voyeuristically witnessing the events, which is disturbing for the viewers.The shot with Alex helplessly crawling away from the killer on the floor is shot through the male gaze. The male gaze theory is a theory produced by Laura Mulvey, and in a nutshell, she believed that the audience were viewing the film from a heterosexual males point of view, and that the male gaze leads to hegemonic ideologies within our society. This shot is shot from a high angle, pointing out Alex’s lack of power in comparison to the male killer.

Throughout the trailer is a soundtrack. The soundtrack rises in tension throughout the trailer before hitting the climax, which we can tell due to the non-diegetic sound of the snare. At the end of the climax within the trailer during the shot of the killer with the flashing strobe effect, there is an intertextual reference regarding the sound. We used sounds composed by Joseph Bishara which were used in the Insidious films. We thought that these sounds would be effective as the chords played are not neat, and are therefore unpleasant on the ears of the viewers. This in turn, creates an unpleasant feeling through sound along with what they are viewing on the screen.

In conclusion, our trailer and our film in general is a very conventional slasher film. By making a conventional film, we are able to receive interest from a pre-set audience.

As for my magazine, I decided to use Little White Lies. Little White Lies is a bimonthly British independent film magazine that features writing, illustration and photography related to cinema. As a whole, Little White Lies is a very unconventional illustration. Little White Lies often features independent, low budget films, so I thought that this would be good for my film. Rather than the usual A4 sized magazine that we are used to seeing, Little White Lies is a square shape. Even the design of the front page is very unconventional. The magazine features a painted close up of a main character within the featured film, and the title. The masthead itself breaks typical codes and conventions by being placed in the centre of the page, rather than the top left hand side. The reasoning behind the editors breaking so many codes and conventions could be because you get the sense of quality when you look at this magazine, and the targeted niche audience can appreciate the lack of mainstream ideas within the illustration. The use of breaking many conventions mirrors the audience of the magazine, niche and unique. I decided to use Little White Lies as the readers of the magazine enjoy independent films, and if my film is wrote about positively, it can create a buzz among the niche audience. Little White Lies never features the actual logo of a film, so instead I just wrote ‘Masked’ in a usual font. I decided to use capital letters intentionally, as it as seen as powerful, much like the killer – as well as the higher demographic of Little White Lies’ readers being male.

For the image I used on the cover, I decided to use the gas mask of the killer, rather than the main character, Rose. I decided on this because the gas mask is unique to my film, and is seen as a brand image and identity for the film as it is an iconic image. In order to create the painted like effect, I tweaked my image by using Adobe Photoshop. I added a glow around the image to create a sense of super natural, and it will also grab people’s attention as it makes the image stand out.

The poster I used to advertise my film is quite conventional, and it contains a main image which is representative of both my film and the genre. My colour scheme was black and white; I used these to create a dark feeling about the poster, and therefore the film itself, and also that black and white are the most commonly used colours within the genre, along with red. The two colours are also binary opposites, and represent the good vs evil apparent within my film. The mask itself is used again to further endorse the brand identity of the mask. I chose to edit the original photogrpah of the mask, as I didn't want they eyes to be visible, however, you can still see that the killer is looking directly at the consumer. The white glow of the gas mask was used to represent the un-humanistic supernaturalistic element about the character. Unlike many other film posters, I broke usual codes and conventions, and aimed to keep my poster as simplistic as possible. I did this because I felt it created a feeling of uncertainty about the film, which mirrors the uncertainty of the narrative, i.e. who the killer is. I featured a tag line underneath the film's title, which is "Not everything is as it seems". We decided to use this tag line as it plays with the narrative of the film, which is that everyone assumes Ben is the killer, however that is not the case. The caption will stimulate the audiences curiosity as it doesn't give away the enigma.

I decided to include the institutional film companies logo’s on the poster, which is conventional of a film poster – and I also included the BBFC age rating. The principle cast and crew also feature on this poster – this is because with a quick glance, people can instantly recognise this as a film poster. Without the principle cast and crew being featured, it could be anything, from a book to a advert. 

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

During the process of the task, I made three products in order to advertise my independent slasher film; a trailer, a poster and a main feature in a magazine. Each of the products aim to advertise and promote each other in a collaboration type way. However, the ancillary tasks, the magazine and poster, are created in order to aid my main product, the trailer, get a wider recognition. In order for my audience to identify the three as promoting the same product, a brand identity had to be apparent in each.

The title’s typography and colour is apparent in two of the ancillary tasks. It has been left out of the magazine cover, as it isn’t a feature of Little White Lies to have the films logo, instead, it takes a simplistic approach to suit a niche audience. However, it is apparent on the film poster and at the closure of the climax within the trailer. Within the logo for the film, the text’s font we used can be associated with the horror genre. The font has serif’s, which is a feature of carving words in stone; our experiences in today’s age of carving words in stone are apparent with grave stones which symbolise death. Therefore, the font is associated with a horror genre. Instead of using the letter ‘A’, we instead used the shape of the gas mask, which is of a similar shape. The mask therefore has merged a brand identity based around the mask. Each letter in the actual logo has blood dripping from it, apart from the mask. The word ‘MASKED’ has six letters, and there are six main characters within the narrative. The ‘A’ is the killer, and the other five targets represent the five victims within the killer’s eye.

The black, red and grey colour schemes are also another feature which is apparent throughout the three ancillary tasks. The black and grey have been influenced by both German Expressionism in film and Film Noir, which some can argue was the pivotal point for the horror genre today. The black represents the dark nature of the genre along with death, whilst the grey represents the good vs. evil, as grey is a mixture of white (which represents the purity of the final girl) and black. The red is within the colour scheme as it represents blood – it is also a convention of a slasher film.

My magazine

Throughout each of the three ancillary tasks, it was vital that I had a constant mode of address and brand identity. As I spoke about before, a consistent typography was needed, and the poster had to match the trailer tonally. Throughout each task, it was important that I conveyed similar elements of the narrative in the trailer and the poster. Within genre films, an advantage is that when looking at the poster of the film, an audience can instantly relate it to a genre – and with slasher for example, everyone knows the basic narrative structure. Therefore, the narrative can be told through recognising that my film falls into the slasher genre. The magazine on the other hand has its own brand identity. As the producer of the film, I would have no say over how my film is featured and presented within the magazine, the editor of the magazine I used; Little White Lies would present it in the way they want. By having a feature in a magazine, it is an example of synergy; both my film and the magazine itself will be benefitting from having the film featured.

As a marketing campaign for the film, our ancillary tasks were three examples of old media texts. In order for our film to reach our desired target audience, a multi-platform approach with new media was essential. As this is a low budget independent film, it doesn’t have the benefits of horizontal and vertical integration. Vertical integration is the process in which several stages within the production and distribution of a product are controlled by a single company in order to increase that company’s power within the market place. Horizontal integration however, is a strategy to increase market share by taking over a similar company, for example Youtube being taken over by Google. It was crucial that we took a many to many approach to the marketing of our film. Word of mouth would have to play a key part to getting our film the publicity it required. The target audience for our film is a niche audience, so just a trailer, magazine and poster wouldn’t cut it. It is also important that we target specific locations when advertising our trailer, for example before another independent film within a cinema or before another film within the same genre, as it is likely the people who would therefore see the trailer would be within the same target audience bracket as ours. By using a 360 degree marketing approach, we could interact directly with our target audience. Forums dedicated to the horror genre would be crucial to advertise on, as the people who use these websites are usually the opinion leaders (two step flow). If we were to grasp the attention of these opinion leaders, they could therefore create a buzz about our film, and it could have the possibility of breaking into the mainstream. Facebook and Twitter pages are also essential, as it is a free form of advertising on a platform that the majority of people use. On these pages we could interact with potential audience members and fans, and also encourage exchange. A successful website has proven to be the turning point in horror films marketing in the past, for example The Blair Witch Project, as it disguised itself as pure fact rather than fiction. The hope of marketing on new media platforms is that we’ll have some form of viral success, which in turn will then result in people going to watch our film.

In conclusion, I think that the combination of my three ancillary task products, with a brand identity evident throughout was successfully done.