My Evaluation

 My trailer uses as well as  challenges conventions of real horror trailers. This was done so that while the trailer is recognised as a horror film, it still differs in some way  to other conventional horrors. The firs half of my trailer is in black and white, this is to show sadness of the main characters life and how he has no life.

 The first important shot that was done was the opening shot where it sends out a message of what the main character is like. The shot starts with him walking by himself with his head down, this signals that he is a bit of a loner and uncomfortable while walking past a group of kid. Also in the same shot, it introduces and establishes the 'villains'.  You recognise the 'villains' because they suddenly attack the main character.













Another important shot is the low shot  where the bullies are kicking into main character on the floor. This shot is supposed to show the scene from the main characters view this helps make the audience feel empathy and get on the main characters side to make him the 'hero' of the film.

This next shot is quite a crucial part of the trailer as it is the part where the twist and complication occurs. This is shown by a mid shot of the main character being pushed down  from the top of the stairs.

The next two shots are also really important as its where the victim becomes the hero and his life changes. You can tell this because the first shot is still in black and white as hes down and looking unconscious. Then suddenly it changes with the lighting changing to brightness and him raising his head and opening his eyes. The brightness signifies the ghostly effect of him coming back.

The next collection of shots is to show the main character getting revenge on the bullies. These shots were right next to each other and I wanted to make these shots were quicker because it is the climax of the trailer so tension needs to be created so they were quickly edited. Also it is quite unexpected the way it jumps into the murdering, which is one crucial part of a horror trailer, unexpectedness.

This last shot of my trailer  is like the symbol of my film. When the trailer ends, this is the last image you see and this was done purposely because I want it to be the image of my film. Though I didn't use it for my poster,   I did use the image for the magazine cover, so the image gets to the audience even more. The reason I want this to be the image of my film is because it lets the audience know the main character and even has a creepy look to it despite the bright colours.

My trailer does link with my poster and magazine cover. It is important that they do so that they all look relevant to each other and  all create the same image of the film. My poster though, is darker than my magazine cover yet I still used the same colour and similar type of font. The dominant colours are red and black, the conventional colours of a horror for blood and darkness.

The research done into the magazine and poster was very useful and worthwhile because I wasn't certain of typical conventions of a poster or a magazine. I made sure I looked at posters and magazines that are  as closely related to my trailer as possible.

I decided to use an image from my actual trailer for both my magazine and poster. I did this for my magazine because I really like the image I used and  wanted it to be the face and image of my product because it shows the audience who is the main character and gets him in the spotlight and also it does have a creepy look to it to show the genre of the film despite the bright colours. The magazine cover needed to cover the essential aspects that make a magazine what it is so with large help from the magazine research I did, I added things like issue date, competitions and prizes, exclusive interviews and obviously a big image of my front cover film. The poster images were used from my trailer so that it is closely related to each other. The poster is really dark with a completely black background and red font which was a bit inspired by a bit of research I did. It was from the poster of the horror film 'Tormented' because this film is very similar to mine and it is aimed at the same audience as mine so it is very relevant to my product. However, there are parts of the poster which was from my initiative, like the clouds and blood dripping. This was done so that is shows that blood will fall and it is from the clouds, so that it will fall on everyone.

Audience research was an important part of my work, this helps for me to be aware if I am reaching goals of what a horror trailer should be like and if I am reaching my target audience. The audience is the most important factor for any film or trailer because they decide if the product is successful. So when doing my research, I grouped together a number of people that I would consider to be in my target audience. They would typically be a teenager in the range of 15- 19. This is because my whole trailer is based on teenage school kids. I got this group to watch my trailer, and give me any type of feedback they wanted. I did get a bit of criticism but that is all part of the process of developing your product so you know what needs to be improved. So I took it all on board and made changes to my products. This was  a really important step into reaching my final product.

My Magazine Cover

After the research I did, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do and what kind of lay out i needed.

This was my finished my product. I used a picture of my main character to establish that hes crucial in the film, and to make him the main attraction.
Also I added the main features of a magazine, with the title of the magazine in the centre and in big font.
I added other sub features like competitions to win merchandise for my film and interviews from certain big actors, including my main actor. This is to persuade people to purchase the magazine and get my product out their and in contact with my target audience.

Magazine Research

When I started to plan my magazine, i had difficulties thinking about what type of aspects go into a magazine and what expectations a magazine cover has. So I did some research into this, looking at different film magazines that gives me some indication of what things are needed in my cover.
The  poster I looked at was from the magazine ' Total Film'.

Even though the main feature of this magazine poster is Twilight and does not share the same genre of my film, it has some relevance because of the lighting and colour of the cover. Also this is a top film magazine and should be a good template to take ideas from.

The magazine cover looks at what is included  in that issue and gives tasters. Also, to attract and bring in more consumers, the magazine gives away merchandise from certain recent films which also raises awareness of the film.

Most of the sub headlines that could be seen as tasters as to what is in the magazine, is also in a attractive and stick out font. This is to ensure that the potential consumers are aware of whats included.

Film Poster

From my previous research on film and horror posters,I had a set idea on what I want my poster to look like. I already knew i wanted to have a dark themed poster as it resembles as it resembles the storyline and of course the genre. In the end, I came up with this product.

 

The colours of this poster is a bit inspired by the poster from 'Tormented'. I did like the black and red so i decided to adapted it to fit into my poster as it resemble darkness and bloodshed.

The top half of the poster sees the main character by him self, as well as showing and establishing who is the main character, it could be denotated as where the person being pushed lands up into the clouds while the blood is falling down below. It almost like the main character is dictating and controlling the blood that is falling.

Audience Feedback

I have shown my trailer to a few audiences from my class and have now got some feedback on what I could improve and do better on.

One of the main issues people found with my trailer was the lighting. The feedback I got was negative and the lighting didn't really match the genre or the story. Since most of my filming was done in school and my film is mostly set there, I thought it would be appropriate to keep natural lighting of the school to maintain realism. However, when audiences viewed the trailer they tended to disagree with my method and argued that  the lighting was too bright around the school to get that horror feel. When this was pointed out to me, I saw what they were trying to say and I ended up agreeing with them. So, changes had to be made to the lighting and I did this by darkening some scenes. I even made some scenes in black and white.
Another issue that had arisen was the length of some scenes. The majority of the audience claimed that the first scene was too prolonged and could maybe lose a bit of the audiences attention. I honestly thought that could be an issue originally before showing for feedback.  The feedback made me sure though that that scene had to be changed and edited. I have since then made it shorter but decided not to quicken it up since it is the build up to the climax of the trailer.

I am planning on showing the modified trailer to an audience for other feedback and see how views have changed towards my trailer.

Poster Research

Poster Research

Tormented Poster

 The poster for the film tormented shows darkness with the black background and red font.  The main character is stood out as he is in the middle of the poster and also he is the only one alive staring at the camera.  He is also portrayed as the sex attraction as he is without a top.  The poster insinuates that there will be a lot of death with a lot of people lying dead on top of each other.   It also has some sort of tagline saying ‘a new class of terror’.  This could be seen as a play of words, as it has two different meanings. The first is that there is a new school class that are horrible and you could look at them in terror or the other meaning is that the film has a new like level of terror.  

What Lies Beneath poster

This poster is brighter than most horror posters. The background is white and contradicts the conventional horror film poster. However the colour does in a way show elements of horror as it could signal a ghostly atmosphere, which is relevant to my trailer.  Also, there is an image of a hand hanging out a bath tub which gives it the creepy look.  It also has some sort of tag line or tag lines in this films case.  It gives some information about the film and also attracts the audience as it makes them interested and wanting to see what happens. This poster, unlike the ‘Tormented’ poster, has the main actors at the top of the poster. This is to attract the audience by letting them know the big green light actors that are in this film.