'DEADLINE' - Official Trailer

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

Horror magazine

Horror Poster

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

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

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Questionaire results from Parveen Kaur

Contact sheet

In the preparation of making a horror poster and magazine cover, I had taken time out to take some pictures which I could use. I had taken over 160 images as I knew there will be images that would be useless and ones which may come in handy. I had taken shots suitable for a horror trailer or magazines such as shadow images, scream images, strangling images, and knife images. After analysing these images, I had come up with many more ideas in terms of choosing the layout of my poster or magazine to target my audience of a horror genre. 

The picture above includes the props I had used to create the horror genre i.e. the knife, and the lamp and torch to ensure that the lighting was right. The sofa was used to take pictures of a hand grabbing the sofa as it was a object that was dark and soft. 

Rough sketches for poster/magazine

Firstly, I had sketched some ideas which relate to the horror genre targeting my audiences. The first image related to my idea of a half face shot of a scream symbolising fear. I had then taken some real life pictures which I could use if i decided to stick to the idea. The second image is a side shot of the main character screaming with a slogan above setting the genre. The third image is a landscape view as during my research i had come across many posters that were landscape where a wide shot of a photo would be ideal. For example where the main scene in my practical trailer was a forest, a landscape view for a poster would be ideal, however its not always necessary and can be done successfully through portrait view. The fourth image was of a full body shot which was another idea I liked. In this sketch, i liked the idea of an upside down body shot which i believe was very different to many other posters. this creates a sense of confusion. These images below we triggers to my ideas which i had altered during my research. 

 

 

Feminist theory poster analysis

Jennifer's Body 

In this poster, it stereotypically uses a young, sexual girl wearing red color lipstick, top and heels. This symbolizes love, sex and danger. Also the film name 'Jennifer's body' sounds very sexual and is done purposely under the stereotype of the feminist perspective. A feminist would believe that the victims in the film are young attractive a sexually portrayed, however this film uses a paradigm shift to show that the woman is the killer not a man. Women are more likely to be portrayed as weak in films, however Jennifer is portrayed as extremely powerful.
The girl who is Jennifer's friend threats Jennifer telling her she will finish her and Jennifer replies "you cant even finish gym class'. This portrays women as weak and physically incapable.

Prom night analysis notes

Prom night

Layout/ order of film

Beginning- Challenges the conventional structure, starts with the disequilibrium

The male gaze, the girl’s friend has a low cut top and as she runs away her dress rips.

Characters

Blond girl with a pink jacket and a cheerleader, typical victim character. Empathise with the character because she has gone through a traumatic period and is vulnerable.  The young couple are in love, typical group of characters all young and naive.  

The villain wears a discise by cutting off his hair and wearing a hat.

Location

Where the initial horror takes place it’s in an isolated house.  To make the feeling more trapped she is hidden under a bed. When a person walks around the hotel room the lights are always off, this way the viewer can’t see what’s coming next, this builds anticipation.

One of the victims are in a basement of the hotel, the visibility is poor and makes it hard for the viewer to see what is happening, this makes the viewers imagination run wild.

Props

Blood on hands

Knife, guns

Sounds

Police sirens

Loud vibrant music at the prom reflecting the positive and uplifting atmosphere, when the camera is on the villaions face the prom music fades and its replaced with eerie string music slowly building. This is showing a shift in the atmosphere.

Creeking floor boards show she isn’t alone, building of footsteps hightens the anticipation

Editing

Slow motion of the plate smashing shows the significance of the bad, black out insertions used during the killing of the butler. This creates confusion.

Camera angles/ shots

Slow pan into the name winn who is the hero of the film (detective).during the prom scene many of the caera shots are midshots t show the scenery and the characters facial expressions. When she is alone in her room the camera pans around to follows showing she is being watched.

When the first girl is killed the camera cuts quickly making the viewer disorientated, in addition the camera is in an extreme  zoom position which means the viewer is unable to see the rest of the scene allowing their mind to guess what’s happening with builds the anticipation.

 An extreme low angle is used when the killer attacked the first girl, this shows that he has the power in the situation. When the girl (victim) is running away from the killer a hand held shake camera is used. 

Treatment for the final trailer

A new day, its 8.30am South East London. Rita's first day at her new school, Plumstead manor, just down the road from her new house. There are school children getting off the busses and walking into the school, staring at the new girl. Rita's presence defines her innocence and enthusiasm to learning.

Her first lesson is media studies. Surrounded by a small class of careless class peers, throwing paper, making paper areoplanes, and a attention seeking girl. There is a new media teacher who started on the same day as Rita. 

He introduces himself and explains the subject outline. As a class they are asked to film a horror trailer. He shows a slasher horror trailer which the students believe is a good idea, so they urge to film something similar. 

It's a Friday night, they visit the woods to film their setting. Without parents informed, Paula's proactive self leads her deeper into the woods in urge to find signal to text her boyfriend. whilst lazy boy Zak refuses to help because he is tired and others preparing to film, there is a disturbing scream. Paula is killed and brutally stabbed.  

The students run for their life. Hearts pounding with fear. Rita is helpless, not able to drag the dead body with her. With Abdullah stressing that Rita's life is more important right now, she is distraught and scared. Zak is gone, so desperate to save his own life, a false hero. 

Rita looses Abdullah and is eventually on her own in the dark forest where no help is to be seen. Hiding with fear, sobbing with tears she is alone. She see's haunting shadows skimming past her, fearing to even blink her eyes confused about who is killer. 

The killer turns out to be the media teacher who is secretly a serial killer murdering students from different schools. However, nobody finds out until the crime scene is investigated after several bodies are found in a hidden property.   

Horror magazine photo analysis

Night shooting

After editing our horror trailer we had come to a conclusion that we did not have many scenes in the clip as it was the same throught. It was a suggestion to add darker shots such as shooting in the night time. Therefore we had taken our own time out and filmed some more shots to add in our trailer which made it seem as if there were more scenes and different times.

Preparation for filming

Actors 

A group of young adults were used to play the role of students as in a horror film convention, teenagers are seen as vulnerable and weak. The results from my target audience said that they would prefer young characters such as teenagers/adults to play the characters in a horror film.

Props 

A tripod and camera was used in terms of filming, as the trailer shows a group of students going out to film. This automatically setts the narrative.  

 Headphones and cigarette was used for the actor who was also known as the 'false hero'. He was presented stereotypically was a lazy boy who wasn't any help. This can relate to props theory as  his personality crashed with the rest of the class mates as he's not bothered and makes only little effort and avoids helping. The headphones represent his lack of concentration which builds his character, also the cigarette also represents him as a 'bad boy'. 

 

A Student ID card and a scarf. The student card and a scarf was used as a prop as a form of evidence which which creates a sense of mystery and builds tension within the audience. Its used to show that something has happened as there I evidence to support the idea of the mystery.

 

Blood. Blood was used on a white t-shirt as it would stand out. Blood is a very important aspect during the making of a horror trailer as again it automatically sets the horror genre representing fear and danger.

A mobile phone was used as a prop as this was the main reason of why the first killing had happened, (because she went to find signal). The mobile phone was used as a trigger to the scene which leaves the audience cliffhanging.  

Newspaper article

Due to my recent editing of missing people audio, I had discovered that a News paper article would be ideal to fit into our editing, making it seem more intense and in the moment. I had included pictures of the actors into the news article and also writing a bit about the scene.

Sound editing

In preparation for our trailer, I had done some research on what would be ideal in a horror trailer. I came to a conclusion that news reports of missing people would be ideal as this makes the scene more serious and real. So therefore i had researched some news reports and videos off the internet and had downloaded them into final cut pro. After playing around with a few clips, i had created and merged  my own clip using parts of real life events which could be used in our final horror trailer.

 

 

         

Research into horror film magazine posters

              

Whats in the posters? ;What makes them scary?
  - The posters i have researched all involve young women which from a feminists view gives the effect of vulnerable women who are seen as an easy target and also the main target. Also the majority of posters I have chosen involve the setting in a misty forest which is also the main setting in my a2 horror trailer piece. This gives the effect of a cold, dark setting which is an isolated place where no help is found. This therefore is automatically done through the settings in the picture.

Where will you find them?
You will find them in magazines, posters, on buses, and newspapers aimed at teenagers or young adults 15+

Many posters can be found online on may different media aspects. For example, the guardian which is a newspaper also have a website where you can find many different films and posters on. also other independent websites such as www.shocktillyoudrop.com is another film website which informs you of different horror movies there are and which ones were the best.

Essay on - 'Discuss the need of media regulation'

TIme allowed - 1hr
Time spent on 50 mark question - 30 mins
One side of argument completed.

In todays media lesson, we had planned and written an essay on.. 'Discuss the need of media regulation'.
I enjoyed this essay as it allowed me to express my thoughts and opinions to regulation. I stated that its not only film regulation but takes place over other media institutions such as newspapers. I had also talked about different media regulating companies such as the BBFC and the BCC and a bit about them.

We had then peer marked our exam question using a grading criteria. We had then explained what went well and what would have been better. Knowing that we had half an hour to do a 50 mark question, limited my knowledge in the question of arguing against regulation. during the second part of my essay I would have spoken about pluralists; selective filtering theory and the gratification theory and explain the exemptions of media regulation. Content, distribution and ownership.

What went well- Good use of examples of cases and theories. Opinions were expressed clearly.

Even better if- Speak more about past and future and also either side of argument.

The film editing was done through 'Final cut pro' where we had shortened the clip. This made us realise the limit we have with time and this also taught us how to add tone cards with audio and helped our editing skills by learning how to use the programme.

Mini-trailer condensed

Our trailer within the trailer is now condensed and is a reasonable length in time. This taught me that during film editing, many clips have to be shortened to create an appropriate short trailer,

Mini-trailer for Horror film trailer

After putting the clips together, we compromised to produce a final mini-trailer which we will use to start our official horror trailer with . We have used mise en abyme to reflect the post modernist theory as their theory is to play with the audiences expectations. Our official trailer will start off with a shortened version of this trailer shown above. This will therefore confuse the audience into expecting the unexpected.

Script of horror trailer

Script

Horror Trailer

Roles:

New girl

Student #1: helper

Student #2: false hero/ Jock lazy guy

Student #3: promiscuous/ flirtatious girl

Scene one:

School:

•          Mid shot of the students getting of the bus.

•          Mid shot of the students entering the building.

•          Establishing shot of learner building.

•          Tone Card, "New School".

•          Shot of the girl 'new girl' entering the building walking past people/ students playing ping pong and the ball bounces off, obstructing her way and drawing attention to her arrival. 

•   Tone Card, "New Girl"

•   Close up shot of the new girl holding her books, showing her intelligence. 

Scene two:

Classroom: Dialogue 

•   Mid shot of the 'new girl' walking into class.

•   Point of view shot of the students used to look at the 'new teacher' as he enters the room.

•   Voice over "Hello I am Mr... Your new media teacher, This term we have to create a horror trailer and i have the perfect example from last year"  

•   Meanwhile the camera is focusing on a point of view shot establishing and giving the audience and insight to the characters personalities. 

Student #1 - Helper/Donor Sitting quietly in a corner preparing for lesson, Looking like an outcast.

Student #2 - False hero, Scrunching up paper and throwing it in a bin as the third student is trying to get his attention. 

Student #3 - Promiscuous girl that dies first, Wearing revealing clothing sitting on the desk trying to flirt with the second student.Or a student ask to see an example. 

•   Clips of a previous 'trailer' are shown, students straight away like this idea.

•   Tone Card, "Same Story"


Scene three:

Woods: Dialogue 

•   After the Tone Card "Same Story" The setting of the woods is introduced.

•   Long shot of media media students walking into the woods holding their props e.g. cameras, tripods etc. 

•   Comments from characters introducing their personalities 

•   Student #3 "I have no service in this stupid place"

•   As they are setting up - Student #3 "Im going to get service, this is boring" she then goes to find service alone.

•   Jump cuts of her walking.

•   High angle shot used to show the rest of the group when they hear a scream (setting up but they freeze as they hear her scream). 

•   Jump cut is then used to show the cause (the girl bleeding, on the floor) of the scream, The promiscuous girl has been killed , close ups of the blood on the camera and all around her. 

•   Student #2: False hero is shown "We need to get out of here"

•   New girl "We cannot leave her"

•   A montage of shots as they hear footsteps, They all panic.

•   Sequential shots of handheld camera, showing the students running.

•   Handheld camera from behind a tree, suggest someone is watching camera: New girl stops "We have to go back for her" Student #1: helper "We need to leave, its not safe"

Camera then turns off and the screen goes blank, leading to the title page.