I am going to be analysing the teaser trailer. This teaser trailer is approximately 52 seconds. This is perhaps over the length of time teaser trailers usually are. While the Saw trailer stands at 1minute and 25 seconds.
The trailer opens with the narration of the Jigsaw himself. At this point we cannot see this and we are great it by a blank screen with the words ‘You can’t hide’ by Jigsaw. The use of the Jigsaw narration is clever and immediately provokes fear within. The words in itself are scary as from watching previous SAW films I understand that his victims can never escape and it almost seems like he’s reminding us that there is no escape with the words ‘You can’t hide’.
The trailer then begins to display captions that do not initially make sense. The first is ‘every master craftsman’ followed by ‘all true geniuses’. We as watchers are confused and have to continue to watch to try and make sense. However, this is effective as it creates a distorted view. Horror movies have a habit of deliberately making things straight forwards. I believe this is because in the movies the victims’ lives are not straight forwards and are ‘distorted’ therefore the makers want us to experience this also.
Non-diegetic sound starts to be played, the sound is quite quiet and almost sounds like a gong instrument. This creates tension as the sound slowly starts to increase we begin to release that something is about to happen. There is then a close up of a young woman struggling to break free. The close up allows us to see and understand her non-verbal communication. She is scared, worried and desperate. The narrator, Jigsaw himself confirms her emotions by saying ‘Fear’ just as we see her.
There is then a fade to the next shot, we hear Jigsaw say the word ‘suffering’ and a close up on a middle aged man in extreme pain and anguish is displayed. We then here diegetic sound as he screams in pain. The following shot is a high angle shot of two men dangle above a pit. The high angled shot causes them to look inferior, scared and provokes empathy within us.
The majority of the 'trap' scenes all have low-key lighting. This is effective as pain and darkness link. The victims being in a place that is quite dark also adds to the pain and frustration.
The captions have no begun to make sense as they total ‘every master craftsman and all true genieuss always save their best to last’ the phrase ‘save your best till last’ is a phrase and quote that we are all familiar with and it has been used cleverly in this trailer but for horror. The captions are trying to say that this movie has the best as it’s the last. However, there is a double meaning as it could also mean the best victims are here with the most pain and suffering.This clever technique causes us to think and wonder and more, want to watch the film and find out what ‘the best’ is.
There are then establishing shots of what looks like a city with high-key lighting. For the first time in the trailer we see something bright and not negative. After watching the trailer and then viewing the teaser trailer I noticed that this shot is used in both. However, at different times. In the trailer it is the first shot and in the teaser it is towards the end. I believe this is because teaser trailers are not supposed to give a story away and are supposed to create a non-linear narrative.
Upbeat non-diegetic sound is then played as the beat and volume increases we saw Jigsaws victims trying to break free. We hear diegetic sound of their gasps of desperation and effort. As the upbeat sound plays we become exited, hoping for them to escape. The sound increases and so does tension.
There are then very quick paced and short cuts of victims and their traps but we do not see the ending of any so in order to find out we are forced to watch the film.
REBECCA Throughout this experience I have learned a number of things.
First of all it helped me a lot socially, I learned how to work within a team and not just by myself.
Working in a team meant we had to be considerate about the other members of your group. We had think about each others ideas and how we can all contribute to the products using our individual strengths rather than just bickering because we cant agree with each other. So this of course meant we had to be patient with each other and communicate constantly whether it was by phone or internet. Organisation and time management was also important. When meeting up to do work together we had to think about whether one of us had Work that day or whether they was busy for personal reasons so we would try work around that.
I also learned more about using camera's. I knew a little from my first year of media when making a music magazine but i found out when it come to making these product there was actually a lot i didn't know. I learned about the aperture and exposure and how that helps with the light, and how important light is when taking photographs.
My skills also developed in Photoshop. I had previously used Photoshop in As but i wasn't very good. fortunately a member of the group was very skilled in Photoshop and helped us all to develop our skills. I also looked at some tutorials on Youtube. I also learned how to use final cut pro, but with this I only learned the basics. I knew how to cut and erase and also how to move shots around but this was it as most of the editing was done by another member of the group. when editing the trailer i learned how to play around with sound when adding a soundtrack to the trailer. Sound i found was quite time consuming especially when trying to sync sound effects together with the trailer. For example when our victim was running we were trying to sync footsteps with it but in the end we did not follow through with it.
BERRY
After spending nearly half a year on my A2 coursework i have gained and developed many skills. In the video displayed above i list and explain 8 of them.
HOALIE
Throughout the year I feel that I have learnt many new thing and developed a wide range of new skills that will help me in the future.
Here is a list of programs and skills I have learnt while working on our A2 media project:
Final cut pro
Sound track pro
Adobe Photoshop
Editing
Web Design / HTML coding
Photography
Filming
Lighting
Make-up
Writing
Group Work/Communication
Research Skills
Organisation
I have learnt a lot editing using Final Cut Pro and Sound Track Pro, even though I did not do the editing for out trailer and only doing a bit of the sound editing, I spent time learning the program in class and at home by watching youtube videos and online tutorials which has given me greater knowledge of these two programs. Before the project started I was already very knowledgeable about Adobe Photoshop and knew how to use it, however I did learn how to use the program more efficiently and save time. I also learnt web design and HTML coding for our blogger site so that it looks more professional like a real film production site. I learnt how to change format and layout, put a slide show on the front, create drop down list and sub list and link post to the drop list.
I learned how to do horror make-up in the process as well. Although make-up was not part of my role in the group I decided to learn it with the others just in case on the day of the filming the two who are the make-up artist in the group I would be the back-up person to do it, I learn how to do scabs and bruises.
I feel that this experience has helped me a lot on my communication skills and team work. We had to listen to each others opinions and ideas and work together to develop a final idea we all liked. We didn't only work during lesson times but also out of class by messaging and also using social networking sites such as facebook. My research and organisational skills has also improved, I learnt more efficient ways of getting research information such as using social networking sites to do surveys. I also organise and prioritise the work that needs to be done before each of our meetings.
Doing this project has also improved my photography and camera skills. I learned about the setting on the SLR cameras we used such as the exposure, shutter speed, aperture and also the different types of lenses and what they do. Compared to what I knew before the project, which were the basics of a SLR camera, my knowledge of the technical and practical side of a camera has improved greatly.
I also learnt a lot about lighting , different types of lighting and the ones most suitable for filming. Such as the worst time to film is at mid-day and the best time to film is dawn or dusk.
Overall this doing this coursework project has made a great impact for me personally as I have learned and experienced a lot this year.
Empire is a British film
magazine which is published in Britain, Australia, Turkey, Russia and
Portugal.It is published monthly by
Bauer Consumer Media, whose first issue came out in July 1989. Barry McIlheney
edited the first issue which was published by Emap, until Bauer purchased Emap
Consumer Media in early 2008. Empire is the bestselling British film magazine,
continuously beating rivals such as Total film which is published in Russia,
Turkey, Australia and Portugal. The annual Empire awards are a major star-studded
event which was sponsored by Sony Ericsson, and from 2009 Jameson, the Irish
Whisky brand.
Empire is a populist film
magazine which aims to both entertain and inform their audience, which is quite
different to more ‘serious’ magazines like Sight & Sound. The readers of
the magazine are always involved with magazine competitions and they are also
given the opportunity to vote for the awards given in the issues and the annual
award ceremony.Readers are having 24/7
access the Empire magazines interactive website, where they can partake in
forum discussions which other fans. Empire’s audience are also encouraged to
voice their opinions and give feedback on the current magazine issues via their
website.
The denotation of the
magazine is of a full length picture of a man with a disfigured ‘painted on’
face, sitting down on a prison cell bench. ‘Meet the Joker’ is the title on the
left hand side of the picture. The Joker is a character in film ‘The Dark Knight’,
played by the late Health Ledger and is directed, produced and co-written by
Christopher Nolan.The superhero film
was released in 2008 based on the DC Comics character, Batman. The character on
the front page of the magazine as both of his hands rested on his knees, his
head is slightly tilted downwards with a grim smirk on his face which is
painted very messily and his hair is blond and green. He wears purple socks and
shirt with a purple waistcoat, colourful socks and clown-like shoes. The lighting
surrounding him is low key, but he visibly seen on the centre of the
frame.There is a batman symbol above
his head at the top-centre of the magazine front cover. The batman symbol acts
as a light bulb as the white light shines on the Joker. Half of his face is
slightly darker as the light reflects on him to show his painted on face and
smirk.The colour scheme of the magazine
is purple, green and white, the colours of the Jokers colourful outfit and face
paint. The barcode is positioned on the bottom left side with the sub-headings
at the bottom right side of the cover.
The ‘Joker’s’ colourful
outfits reflects the eccentricity off his personality. He is dressed as the
joker the game of cards, which connotes the constant games he plays with his
victims. His shoes are very similar to that of a clown which provokes fear, as
many people are said to have Coulrophobia, a fear of clowns. He is also quite
unusual and unique and his choice of diverse colours and clothing combinations
express his difference from the rest of society. The light only shines on half
of his face, which allows the audience to see his facial disfigurement, his
half shown face could also represent the character of ‘Two faced’ who had acid
thrown on the left side of his face. His
awfully dyed/sprayed hair also connotes his careless attitude and it shows that
he does not give much thought to what others think of him, foreshadowing his
immoral actions towards his society. He sits with his legs open, connoting
masculinity and power. His hands are firmly positioned on his knees, symbolising
the confidence over his actions. As he is seated in a prison cell, the audience
understand that he may danger to society, but the smirk on his face, again,
provokes fear among the audience as he looks quite content with his situation.
This causes the audience to become anxious as he seems to have an escape plan. The
prison bars also represent his dysfunctional upbringing and the loneliness he
felt as a young boy/man. Still trapped in his cage of lonesomeness, he decides
to rebel and gain pleasure through his sadistic, psychopathic sense of humour. His grievous smirk makes him look similar to a
trapped animal in a pen, enclosed from the world. Through this the audience
understand that his has caused him to go crazy.
The front cover’s layout
is very similar to a newspaper article. The Joker’s name is spelt with newspaper
cut-outs which allow theJoker
to look dangerous, wanted and mysterious as he is a hot topic. The sub-heading
above the Empire title reads ‘THE DARK KNIGHT WORLD EXCLUSIVE!’ supports the newspaper-story
look of the front page as he is wanted internationally. The use of hyperbolic
punctuation,’!’, amplifies the urge for an ‘exclusive’ on the Joker. The white
font also allows the text to stand out among the many colours on the front
cover. The snake-like line of purple graffiti behind the Joker resembles his cunning
smirk as the main title resembles his eyes, creating the image of a face. A
quote from the Jokers nemesis, Batman, is shown as a warning the people of Gotham
about how ‘cold-blooded’ the Joker is. His biased point of view may influence others
to believe that the Joker is truly a ‘mass-murdering clown’, not a sane human
being. The font also emphasises the Batman’s quote as it is very rigid, disordered
and chilling. The white writing also represents the Jokers ‘cold-blooded’
personality.
This is a tester teaser trailer i made outside of college with a friend. I just wanted to test out my ideas and have a go at using the camera and just gaining a little feel. I did it because i thought it would be fun and i could show the rest of my group my idea.
Althought my tester wasn't to be serious, scripted and planned i payed attention to things that i could potentially use in the real teaser trailer. In my tester teaser trailer i ensured my actress was wearing a white dress to represent her purity and cleanliness. It showed she was the victim and made her look vulnerable and innocent.
I decided to film during the night time to reflect the horror genre and because i wanted to follow the popular convention in horror films as they usually involve alot of darkness.
I also used a point of view throughout so the viewers would be watching the trailer through the eyes of the killer. This allowed them to also see the victim and her NVC.
My tester trailer began with a small amount of light as we proceeded the lighting decreased this foreshadowed her killing and represented the fact that the chase was coming to an end.
This tester teaser trailer was alot of fun and definetly gave me some ideas.
To create a teaser trailer that would be successful we needed to understand what our audience was looking for and what would appeal to them. We felt that their will came before ours because what we were willing to create may not be what they are willing to see. We decided to go on a little research spree and ask different people what they expected and what they would pay to see. Research didn’t only consist of opinions but on statistics – knowing what age and sex take interest in the Slasher genre is vital so that we wouldn’t end up aiming for the wrong audience. We decided to carry out our research in different forms to keep it different and to help us too. Interviewing the candidate via camera meant it was fun for us and fun for the interviewee.
Our Genre
Deciding on a genre was harder than we thought it would be as we had to take in account the equipment and resources we had. The time, money and most importantly what genre would be most successful. Slasher would have been easy in some sense as costume and setting did not require plenty of work as conventions of Slasher films show. However, we had to question ourselves if things such as weapons would be accessible and safe.
Our Title/Logo
We decided we wanted the name of our Logo to be sophisticated and professional and we decided that we would leave the scariness to the film title. Prototype Production sounded professional and very media related. However ‘Klowns’ sounded spooky and provoked fear. We realised that a lot of people have a fear of Klowns and based upon our research we found that a lot of people associate Klowns with bad things. Therefore, we concluded that it would make the perfect film title.
Our Plot
We wanted our plot to be simple and to follow the usual conventions of a slasher film. Therefore, we research successful slasher films and took ideas and included them in our own film. A great example was Halloween. The killer is in search of a particular female, is always dressed quite casually with a mask and usually displayed with a weapon. We did this in our trailer where the killer was dressed casually, the victim was a female running away from the killer and our killer also had a weapon.
Q1 - Discuss the use of conventions of teaser trailers and the use of horror in your video or in general.
Below, each member of our group have answered this question starting with Berry then Jason then Rebecca and then Hoalie.
BERRY
Red = Conventions I followed Blue = Conventiosn I didnt follow I I am going to be discussing the codes and conventions of our chosen sub-genre as a whole. Our chosen sub-genre was Slasher. My group felt that this genre meant we could explore and be creative. We felt that using Slasher meant that we could include a variety of ideas
Characters
In Slasher films there are usually a group of characters that we become familiar with.The group is usually a set of 5 or more teenagers or young adults ranging from ages18-24. The group usually consists of 2 couples in a relationship. Amongst the group there is usually the ‘dumb blonde’ who is in a relationship with someone else in the group. She is usually one of the first to get killed and is very over dramatic and loud. The ‘dumb blonde’ doesn’t usually believe that there is ‘someone out there to get them’ and can often make fun of the fact that others think they are in danger, hence why she probably is one of the first to get killed.
Costumes
In Slasher films, as previously stated, there is a group of teenagers. In Slasher films the costume of the teenagers usually consists of revealing attire. The females are usually dressed in shorts, skirts and tops that display midriff.The majority of the females either have medium length or long hair hanging down. The guys usually dressed in quarter lengths and vests. The stereotypical idea that killers in current Slasher films are dressed up isn’t always true. The killer is usually dressed quite casually consisting of chunky work-like boots with baggy jeans or overalls just like a normal person for example, in Halloween. However, the killer may wear a mask to hide his identity but would still be wearing ordinary attire.
Props (Weapons)
The name of the sub-genre ‘Slasher’ immediately informs us what type of weapons could be included. Weapons are usually brutal, sharp work objects such as knives, axes, machetes, chain-saws, hammers and saws. All of which are weapons that ‘slash’ and weapons which have work use and are usually easily accessible or lying around. The weapons used provide instant kills and little pain as they are instant. However the saying ‘live by the knife, die by the knife’ does not apply to the killer as whenever struck by one of the weapons the killer always seems to survive almost indestructible. The weapon is always displayed with a close –up usually, in the killer’s hand which is masked by a glove.
Setting
As previously stated the characters consist of young people, therefore settings are likely to be teenager dominated areas such as high school, parties, camp and last but not least the woods. These are places that teenagers are familiar with places that the audience immediately link to young people. However, sometimes the teenagers can be unfamiliar with such surroundings such as the woods hence why they are unaware the place is maybe ‘known for danger’ and hence why they get lost and end up in unsafe territory. For example, Human Centipede the two young girls initially get lost in the woods and seek refuge in a nearby home which ends up being danger. The location is usually somewhere remote, making it difficult for the victims to be saved and seek help. In Slasher films killings usually take place on a symbolic date e.g. ‘Friday 13th’ or maybe an anniversary of something that happened in the past or maybe a specific time of the day e.g. ‘when the moon rises’.
Lighting
The lighting of Slasher films varies throughout. As previously stated, some beginning scenes take place in high school or in the woods during the day. Therefore, as expected lighting would be high-key and natural light. However as we get nearer to the killings the night edges closer and lighting becomes low-key. The majority of the killings take place in darkness with little light so the viewers can make out what is happening.
Storyline/Plot
The killer is almost always a normal human being who has been through some difficulty in the past such as abuse, unfairness and prejudice or maybe witnessed something bad. This causes them to withdraw themselves from society and go to somewhere isolated such as the woods. When people trespass this causes the killer to go on a killing spree and kill the trespassers one by one. On other occasions, the killer has a grudge from the past and is seeking revenge so will therefore search for a particular person to kill them and whilst searching for this person the killer will kill the people he finds on his journey. The killer appears immortal as he always survives when attacked. Sometimes, the killer is amongst the teenagers but the others are unaware and oblivious to the fact that the person they are looking for is within. The teenagers sometimes guess that the killer is amongst them but always accuse the wrong person and find this out when it is too late. The killer’s identity is usually revealed in the last scenes e.g. Scream
Music/Sound Effects Music is not a popular convention when it comes to this genre, I believe this is because Slasher is made to appear real and adding music may make ti appear surreal. When sound is heard in Slasher films it is usually diegetic and part of the film itself for example loud club music may be played by the teenagers in the woods to show that they are having a good time and they are happy before trouble starts.However, non-diegetic sound is sometimes used in Slasher films to help us recognise things. For example, in Halloween there is a specific sound that is repeatedly played whenever the killer is coming. The audience become familiar with this and understand that whenever we hear this sound – trouble is on its way.
Editing The editing in Slasher films usually consists of quick, short cuts whenever the victim is running and distorted angles whenever someone is being murdered to represent uncomfort and pain.
JASON
At the start of the year we looked at the basis of horror and the different sub genres i.e. Paranormal, vampire/werewolf, j-horror, splatter, slasher. The one we decided to choose was slasher which has its own set of conventions. Things like woods, dark alleys, small towns for the settings. We have certain characters such as the slutty girl who dies, the final innocent girl who lives and a man as the killer who usually has a troubled childhood problem to explain his madness. There are the killer has a signature weapon and identity for example Jason from ‘Friday the 13th has a machete and a hockey mask
and Leather face had a chainsaw and a disfigured mask. With all this I managed to come up with how to make this clear in our trailer that it a slasher using these conventions.
I had to rely on the more visual aspects because it’s not really suiting to reveal the plot in a teaser trailer. So I have a wood which I picked because I feel it has quite a spooky feel to it and you always get the feel of being alone and lost. A lot of teen horrors are conventionally set in a woods where teenagers go to camp out or party and the killers interrupt them, there are also a lot of famous chase scenes in woods because in a such a intriguing area as a wood you can hide and be completely exposed at the same time with this and the interesting sounds of twigs and certain animal noises it gives for a very exciting, tense and mysterious setting. Some famous scenes such as the chase in ‘last house on the left’ where the victim runs away from the rapist murderers until she finds the water to swim away in,
also the ‘Blair witch project’ a very genre breaking film was completely set in a wood and worked extremely well, to create that effect that they wasn’t alone but they couldn’t escape.
As for comparing with the Slasher sub-genre that we have chosen a lot of chases such as many of the ‘Friday the 13th’ films where Jason would chase teenagers to their brutal deaths through it
and ‘Wrong turn’ which is mainly set in a wood/forest where a bunch of disfigured cannibals are trying to kill and eat the people who have accidently ended up in the forest.
Another common convection that I have is the teenage female victim. I had chosen Anna and was happy with how she fit the mark. In a common Slasher film the victims are usually teenagers, pretty, and depending on how naughty, innocent they are depends on how they live.
But for a teaser it isn’t really necessary to go into the latter. Bit appearance and age wise Anna fit the role. A lot of different horrors use a kill to draw in an audience, many films start with an opening scene being a killing so the audience can have something exciting to entice them into sticking through the build to the later killings and it is usually this sort of character one that I have used. Then finally the most important thing to have a in a slasher is your killer and our killer is equipped with a hammer and a persona of a clown. So it is pretty clear that is a slasher to the audience watching.
Another thing I looked at was the conventions of a teaser trailer itself, I know that it should be much shorter than a trailer as it used to tease the audience so it should be around 30 seconds to 1 minute. It will be made a long time before the actual film, usually before it’s even fully filmed. It is separately made footage to give the audience a little taster of what’s to come. Another reason why they are made is to see how people respond to them and so they know if it is the right decision to go ahead with the project. Our trailer is 50 seconds which is perfect time for a teaser trailer. I also made sure that the trailer didn’t give much away, it was all based around one place and you never really see the killer, but you know that he is a clown, because of the clothes, the laugh and the title. So people will want to know what he looks like. Teaser trailers are to tease and I feel that’s exactly what I’ve done.
REBECCA
Q1: In What Ways Does Your Media Production Use, Develop or Challenge Forms & Conventions of Real Media Products?
Before beginning our A2 course work we were asked to research into horror films,trailers, magazine front cover and posters. Doing this allowed us to get an in depth knowledge of the different conventions in each genre of horror. We had decided a sgroup to do a slasher for our A2 horror teaser trailer so this meant we had to focus on the conventions typical of slasher films.
When making our horror posters we decided on doing two of them on portrait and one landscape. This was a little bit of a risk as we had to make sure we organised our time well and finish everything on time, but we felt that this would benift us and it also followed the ocnventions of most films. We found by the films we researched that they usually had more than one poster especialy if they were high budgeted films and we wanted to make ours look professional.
On both of our posters our 'Klown' is the main image'. The make up its self was inspired by the Joker from Batman, but the effect on this poster, with half of his face faded into the background, was a mixture of inspirations.
Our main inspiration was the poster of Hostel. This too had half of the mans face darkened but not to the same extent to ours. We saw the Hostel poster and liked the dark mysterious effect it delivers and decide we want that we wanted a similar style. With horror posters I found that mainly the killer (antagonist) was on the poster, however, on occasions i also found victims who are in pain on the poster too. This i feel is following conventions as our killer is the main image surrounded by darkness. What may have challenged the conventions is the fact our killers full face is on show and is also smiling. It is rare for the killer on the poster to be smiling. This suggest very much that he is twisted and enjoys doing what he does. As i researched more into it i found that with slashers it was mainly the killer that was on the poster, for example Nightmare on elm street and Friday the 13th. As we have a killer as our main image we are again following conventions.
Also similarly to many posters we have made a big gold title with credits directly below it which is at the bottom of the page. This i found was very common and was a convention we have followed. There are a few posters however that have the title and credits at the side or diagonally like the SAW poster for example and this tends to show unbalance. Our group though decided to follow the convention as when we experimented with where to put it the, the middle bottom was the best .
A convention we followed intentionally was the fact that we decided to not add a month of when the film was coming out. As this was a teaser poster we knew we shouldn't give away too much detail. Some tease posters even went as far as to leave out the credits and almost all of the had a season or year of when the film would be released.
We also followed conventions in terms of color. Red, black and white are used throughout our posters and this again is a common convention in horror posters. Black would connote darkness, while red connotes black and the white would possible represent the normal life the victims once lived. They also contrast well with each other.
Another example of how we followed conventions is our tagline. 'Funny... right?' This again was common in most of the posters i had researched. e.g. Final destination- rest in pieces Woman in black- fear her curse Nightmare on elm street- welcome to your new nightmare.
These are just examples of different tag lines used on posters but as you can see each tag line links into the film into some way. Final destination consists of brutal and gruesome deaths and the line rest in pieces is a play on this and the saying rest in peace. This is the same as any other tag line, it will always have a meaning behind it. With our tag line we tried to put a humor element into it as clowns are a form of entertainment.
HOALIE
Q1) Film Magazine
Using the standard conventions of a music magazine front cover I have based and incorporated my magazine around it and created my own music magazine front cover.
At the beginning of this project I analysed a horror magazine front cover called ‘Gorezone Magazine’. I analysed the magazine to see what makes this specific magazine stand out amongst the others that have a similar genre and a similar target audience. This has helped me on what conventions I should use to develop my music magazine.
A common convention I have used is to put a bold masthead on the cover. Like every other masthead on magazines, I have used a large, bold masthead that goes across the top covering almost a quarter on the front page. This convention is used to brand the magazine so that it will be known. I have used the colour white for the masthead with a red stroke and outer glow so that it stands out from the background.
An example of mastheads are from the magazines Empire, Total Film, Jade screen, Studio and Premiere. These music magazines have their masthead going across their magazine.
Looking at the mastheads of existing magazines, I can see that the font used are solid with the use of a solid colour as well.
I have developed my magazine masthead further by using a font that isn't solid, as you can see I used a font that has gaps and has a graffiti spray effect. I have also carefully picked this font due to the fact that it suits the genre of the magazine and it will also attract a younger audience.
Here are 6 front covers of different music magazines. All of them have one main image of a film character, they all use close up or medium shot.
Analysing various music magazines I have noticed that a majority of them do not use plain background. I have challenged the convention by using a background that is plain and solid colour. I have used a black background to keep with the mystery of the horror genre.
I have used a main central image for the front cover which is the main focus, this is usually an image of a film character that is the main feature of the issue. It is a close-up shot, with the right side of his face shadowed black to create a sense of mystery.
As I saw on various other Film magazines, cover lines do not interfere with the main model on the front cover, so I placed the cover lines so that they do not cover up the models face and still can he clearly seen.
One main convention used in magazines are cover-lines. This helps attract the readers attention to carry on with wanting to read the magazine. They are usually distributed around the cover with covering the main image.
Music magazines usually stick to one or two colours for their font, I have used this convention by choosing to use three colours which is red, white and grey. I have chosen these colours because it stands out the most from the background which means that it will catch the readers attention very easily.
Looking at other music magazines I can see that they have kept most of their cover-lines on one side of the magazine, which is usually the left side. This has been done so that while the magazine is still on the shelf they can be seen and read by people browsing and catches their attention. I have decided to use this convention so that my magazine can catch the reader to pick it up and buy the magazine.
I have placed the date, issue number and website on the left side of the masthead, although not all magazines place it there, I did this because I think the information is important and should be place somewhere on the cover that can be seen clearly.
I have placed the price next to the barcode at the bottom left corner of the magazine, I have done this so that it is easier for people to take note of the price when paying for the magazine.
To promote our film we will need to focus on Cross Media Promotion where we will use different ways of advertising. We start with our posters which is always a main way of promoting a film.
We have two posters both with the face of a clown the title and tag line. There are only slight changes with the picture. The fonts are kept the same to keep continuity and synergy in our product so that when people see the picture of a clown or see the distinctive red and white 'k' or maybe the tag line 'funny.....right' people will see this and know it is all to do with the new film 'Klowns' it helps with our CMP and give a theme to our film which is a good way to get it popular.
There are different ways to then promote our film using advertising or technology. Here I have put the poster on a billboard to show how it would look. This would be a good way to get people aware of the film.
We would get with big magazines and get front page coverage to promote the film which is another way to promote our film.
We will use the internet to do this is also. Make a website, themes, adverts, promos, app's; for smartphone, tablets and chrome, Xbox and PS3 themes and much more.
After our film comes out in cinema and then is ready to release for people to watch at home. We would release on BlurayDisc and DVD as shown here.
BERRY
What things did we do that created synergy.
The continuous use of the colours black, white and red is an example of how we used synergy to make our magazine front cover and poster cohesively relate to each other. The audience will then be able to identify and relate our products to each other, increasing the awareness 'KLOWNS'. The colours used in the poster and magazine cover each represent important features in our teaser trailer. The red represents the blood of the victim on the hammer towards the end of the trailer. The t-shirt the actress wore was a crisp white which ties in with the bold white colour of the headline on the poster. The black used on the poster and magazine from cover reflected the 'eerie' ambience of the teaser trailer.
We ensured that we used the same actor who featured as the klown on our poster and magazine cover. The consistent use of the same actor allows our product to be easily recognised. His eye-catching makeup and snarling expression is also kept the same in order to keep the cohesive look.
Displaying a weapon in our logo and our teaser trailer was essential so our theme of horror would be recognised at all times through all of our products. Though we did not use the same weapons in our trailer and films logo, our audience are able to identify the use of weapons used in both of our products and relate them to one another. The synergy between the use of the weapons amplifies the fear and gore we want all of our products to bring.
The actors face on both the magazine cover and the poster is only a partly shown whist the rest of his face blends in with the dark background. This reflects the mystery which we created in the teaser trailer as his face was not shown at all. The products all work together to build a picture of how the klown may look. They consistently each show a part of the klown without giving away his full identity. Our aimed has been achieved through our the synergy of our three products.
Althought the magazine's background is dark, half of the klowns face is bright, which reflects the brightness of the trailer.
REBECCA Promoting our media products were quite simple as we did it all our self through websites such as Facebook and you tube but actually creating a buzz for it was much more challenging. I do feel however that our media products (movie trailer, poster and magazine front cover) works very well together as a promotional package as we managed to maintain brand continuity throughout.
Personally i used Facebook and Twitter to make people aware of our video ensuring as much people as possible watch it. Many people are now using smart phones so it is very likely that people were viewing our media products on the go on the smaller screens of their phones. This I feel is beneficial to us as people can access it anywhere and are more likely to view them. I do not believe that viewing our products on smart phones will be a problem and i have an iPhone and was able to easily view them and zoom into places without any pix-elation.
Easy to view our products on the go through Facebook or Youtube! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Our branding i feel also helped and we kept the same sort of theme throughout our products. For example we continuously used the colors black, white and red. Even the killer follows this color scheme with his make up. The 'K' in klowns is also iconic and something that can be used as branding for our film. The style of our title is also easily recognizable and easy to associate with our film. we had used a ransom type style Font.
HOALIE
Brand Identity
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. So for us we had to create a very unique and distinctive Film title/Killer character for our film so that it is easily recognisable by the audience and is referred back to our film.
Here is our title/logo that we have created to be distinctive for our horror film, This is a Brand identity we have given the film so that if it was seen on the public streets it would be recognised to be our film.
Public advertising is a great opportunity for brand awareness. Buses are a great way of advertising as its very common on the streets of London, pedestrians, people in cars and also people on the bus will see these advertisement. So by putting it on the side of London buses, The film will be known by the public, Those who are not interested will also know about the film which makes this a form of 'push' advertisement.
Another great way of getting the film recognised is by advertising it on the side of a bus stop shelter. It will be seen by pedestrians and people waiting for the bus. This will be seen by our main target audience, which are students of about 18-24 working class people, They are less likely to own a car so will more likely to take buses, and waiting at the bus stop they will see this and will become interested and may want to watch the film. This will make them very aware of the film title which is our brand we want to get known, this can lead to a word of mouth promotion as this generation uses social networking sites the most.
Building and Subway billboards are also a way of getting the film brand known. They will be seen by people waiting for the tube or by passing cars/cars stuck in traffic. Because these billboard are large in size they could be seen from a far distance.
So by combining our posters and using a range of advertising methods we could get a great deal of Brand Identity and be known for the type of font used
The trailer then begins to display captions that do not initially make sense. The first is ‘every master craftsman’ followed by ‘all true geniuses’. We as watchers are confused and have to continue to watch to try and make sense. However, this is effective as it creates a distorted view. Horror movies have a habit of deliberately making things straight forwards. I believe this is because in the movies the victims’ lives are not straight forwards and are ‘distorted’ therefore the makers want us to experience this also. 
There is then a fade to the next shot, we hear Jigsaw say the word ‘suffering’ and a close up on a middle aged man in extreme pain and anguish is displayed. We then here diegetic sound as he screams in pain. The following shot is a high angle shot of two men dangle above a pit. The high angled shot causes them to look inferior, scared and provokes empathy within us. 
The captions have no begun to make sense as they total ‘every master craftsman and all true genieuss always save their best to last’ the phrase ‘save your best till last’ is a phrase and quote that we are all familiar with and it has been used cleverly in this trailer but for horror. The captions are trying to say that this movie has the best as it’s the last. However, there is a double meaning as it could also mean the best victims are here with the most pain and suffering. This clever technique causes us to think and wonder and more, want to watch the film and find out what ‘the best’ is. 
There are then establishing shots of what looks like a city with high-key lighting. For the first time in the trailer we see something bright and not negative. After watching the trailer and then viewing the teaser trailer I noticed that this shot is used in both. However, at different times. In the trailer it is the first shot and in the teaser it is towards the end. I believe this is because teaser trailers are not supposed to give a story away and are supposed to create a non-linear narrative. 
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