Plan For The Film Poster

Landscape Plan

Portrait Plan

Plan For The Magazine

Magazine plan 1

Magazine plan 2

Deconstruction Of Film Posters

Portrait Posters:

Hatchet Poster 

• Review at the top of the picture
• Central image is a prop - not conventional 
• Plain back background and light reflections off of the hatchet draw the attention to it 
• Title and tag line are under the central image - more focus on the prop then the title
• Information about cast and crew etc at the bottom of the poster

Orphan poster 

• Tag line at the top of the poster
• Main image is a head shot of the main character 'Esther' - conventional 
• Plain green background and light illuminating behind Esther highlighting her and drawing attention to her
• Title and another tag line underneath the central image 
• Release date 
• Very small information at the bottom of the page 

What these posters have in common:

• One central image
• Plain Background
• Title and tagline under the central image

Landscape Posters:

Inbred Poster

• Main image is a location
• Large bold title in the top centre of the page
• Tagline is central in the bottom half of the page
• Information about cast and crew etc is underneath the tagline

Let Me In Poster

 



• Central main image
• Large bold title in the centre of not only the page but the image too
• Tagline is smaller underneath the title
• Information about cast and crew etc is under the tagline  

 What these posters have in common:

• One main image
• Large bold title in the centre of the page
• Smaller tagline underneath the title
• Information about cast and crew at the bottom of the page  

Deconstruction Of Film Magazine Front Covers

• Large bold title
• Website, issue and price underneath the title
• Information about what is featured in the magazine surrounding the title, on first half of the page
• Smaller images illustrating the information at the top of the page
• Large central image
• Information about the main image is located on the actual image
• Barcode in the bottom right
• One colour scheme: white and blue - matches the main image

• Large bold title
• Small images also featured
• Website underneath the title
• Large image, positioned more to the left of the page
• Information about the film is located on the main image
• More information about what is inside the issue is placed around the central image
• Barcode is in the bottom right

What these front covers have in common:

• Large bold title
• Website underneath the title
• Large image displaying main film  
• One colour scheme
• Small images also featured   
• Information about the film is located on the main image  
• Barcode is in the bottom right

Film Magazine Research

Film magazines tend to feature information about both new and old films. The majority of the readers tend to be male due t them being image heavy - something that has been proven to appeal more so to men as opposed to women, and film fanatics.  

• Clearly displayed large title
• Close up main image of actor/s
• Suitable colour scheme (usually dark primary colours) with similar theme to the magazine
• 3 or 4 Subtitles
• Price
• Barcode
• Actors, actresses and directors names to draw people in
• Second largest size information: the name of the film
• Additional information at the top of the page, such as free posters, competitions etc

Film Poster Research

The aim of a film poster is to advertise the film. The film posters tend to be displayed inside and outside of cinemas, at bus stops, on billboards, in magazines and newspapers, on websites, leaflets and DVD packaging. There are a variety of different sizes that the posters are printed in, which in turn varies for different countries. For the UK there is the Quad which is in landscape format and measures 30 inches by 40 inches (762x1020mm). The Double crown which is in portrait format measuring 20 inches by 30 inches (508x762mm). The One-sheet which is again portrait and but measures size 27 inches by 40 inches (686x1020mm). Finally, the Three sheet, which is also portrait format but measures size 40 inches by 81 inches (1020x2060mm).

There are three types of film posters: the teaser poster, character posters and the main poster. A teaser poster is an early promotional poster that only contains a basic image or design in order to not reveal too much information about the film. Occasionally a tagline may be included. Its purpose is to create awareness and enthusiasm before the films release. Character posters are issued when the film has an ensemble cast. There would be several posters each featuring a different main character individually. They usually contain the name of the actor and/or the name of the character. There is also the possibility that it may included a tagline specifically for that character. The final type is the main poster. This contains more information about the film that the other two types and features an image of the main actors, a large title, tagline, release date. Also featured (usually in the billing block at the bottom of the poster. The billing block, also known as a 'one sheet' is usually written in a highly condensed font, contains the credits for the film)  production information, actors names and the distributors etc  

Ancillary Tasks

In addition to my film trailer I also have to create two other ancillary tasks from either:

• A website homepage for the film
• A magazine front cover, featuring the film
• A poster for the film  

I have decided that out of these three options the two I will choose will be the front cover of a magazine and the poster as these are the two options I feel I can do my best at 

Movements And Shots

These are the movements and shots that I will film for my trailer:

• Long shot of three girls sitting on a bench

• Close up of Jenny’s face

• Medium shot of all three, close up of Jenny’s face when looking worried 

• Close up of Nina when she asks the question

• Establishing shot of house

• Close up of Jenny

• Close up of Alex for ghosts don’t exist comment 

• Long shot of all three on sofa

• Close up of Nina when talking, long shot when going to get up off sofa

• Close up of hands looking through her bag for the chocolate – stops suddenly when she hears a thud on the floor

• Close up of chocolate on the floor

• Close up of Nina’s confused face 

• Close up of Nina’s facial expression change then looking up to above doorway 

• Pan from over Nina’s shoulder to above the doorway

• Close up of Nina’s terrified face

• Close up of Nina’s hand on chocolate bar, close up of Nina’s face again

• Cut back to Nina’s hand that now has two feet in front of it

• Pan up to Nina’s face – about to scream

• Long shot of the two remaining girls on the sofa. Close up of each of the girls when they speak, Long shot when Jenny gets up to find Nina

• Medium shot for when Jenny walks into bedroom to find Nina

• Close up of confused face

• Zoom into note on wall

• Medium shot of Alex looking in the bathroom mirror, small hand slaps on the window, close up of hand

• Head shot of Jenny turning around to look behind her

• Close up of Alex peering around doorway

• Long shot of Jenny looking behind her whilst running up the stairs, close up when she turns around to face forward, over the shoulder shot to show she is face to face with the girl

• Extreme close up of Alex’s hand on a door handle, over the shoulder shot to see the girl is behind her, close up for when she turns around to look at the girl

• Pan starting over Jenny’s left shoulder (nothing gin front of her) when camera reaches other shoulder the girl will be there

• Medium shot of Alex trying to open the front door, Extreme close up of hand on the door handle

• Extreme close up of Jenny’s hands searching for the keys on the table, medium shot of her talking

• Medium shot of Alex talking

• Medium shot of the two in the kitchen, over the shoulder to see a young girl at the window, close up of young girls head

• Close up of note saying ‘There is no escape’

• Extreme close up of a young girls hand pulling a knife from the block

Call Sheet

Date: 30th October
Day/night: Day
Interior/exterior: Exterior
Location name: Wicksteed Park
Description: Public park
Cast: Vicky Liddington, Kimberley Mindam and Aimee Johnson

Date: 30th October
Day/night: Night
Interior/Exterior: Interior
Location name: My house
Description: Semi-detached house
Cast: Vicky Liddington, Kimberley Mindam, Aimee Johnson and Nicole Webb

Date: 13th November
Day/night: Night
Interior/exterior: Interior
Location name: My house
Description: Semi-detached house
Cast: Vicky Liddington, Kimberley Mindam and Nicole Webb

Actors, Costumes, Props and Locations

Actors:

Three of my friends and my younger sister have agreed to be in my trailer

Jenny played by Vicky Liddington aged 18
Alex played by Kimberly Mindam aged 17
Nina played by Aimee Johnson aged 17
Young girl/ghost played by Nicole Webb age 13

Costumes:

I told my friends to just wear clothes they would normally wear, as the three characters in the trailer don't belong to any particular clique so it wouldn't matter what they were wearing as such.

I want the costume my sister has to wear to look quite smart, plain and innocent - to contrast her characters personality, and so she will be dressed in a black pleated skirt, white t-shirt, black cardigan, black tights and black shoes. Her make-up will consist of dark grey eyeshadow applied around her eyes to make her appear deceased

Props:

The only props that will be involved are a bar of chocolate and some notes that appear to have been written by a child

Filming locations:

Day scenes: Wicksteed park
Night scenes: My house

I wanted to have the scenes in the day in a different location to the majority of the trailer so that there was a change of scenery. The main location is my house, as a convention of horror films is that they are set in a house I decided I would stick to this convention

Risk Assessment

Location 1: Wicksteed Park 

Risks: 

• Although it is a quiet part of the park there are still some cars - we will have to pay attention and be aware of any vehicles around us 
• We will be near the fields there, there may be some farming machinery - again, we will have to pay attention and be aware of what is going on around us
• Although the particular area for filming is usually quiet there may be some people, we have to be careful not to disturb them - we will have to keep the noise to as quiet as we possibly can   
• As it is autumn there will be leaves on the ground, we have to be careful of slipping over - we will have to make sure we walk around the place and act sensibly  
• We will be filming on grass and may not be able so see what is on the floor so we have to be careful of tripping over anything that has been abandoned - same as before we will have to make sure we walk with caution  
• They will be sitting on a pile of big rocks, which although are stable there is a chance they could move - they will have to be careful not too move them too much
• Issues with the weather, there may be rain that could make the ground slippery, and because of the time of year it may be cold - I will schedule filming for a day that the weather looks good for, if there is rain we will either delay filming for when it stops, if not we will reschedule for another day, as for the cold I will make sure my talent are wearing warm suitable clothing and aim to get the filming done promptly to prevent us from being out in the cold for too long  

Location 2: My House 

Risks: 

• Breaking, Slipping or tripping over objects in the house - I will ensure that I remove any objects that my household doesn't want breaking, I will clear any spillage's up and I will remove any potential tripping hazards 
• We will have to be careful not to disturb the neighbours - I will ensure that the noise is kept as low as possible  

Recce

Recce Definition: A military term that has been adopted by the Media industry. It is a pre-filming/shooting visit to a location to assess its suitability

I knew that I wanted the day scenes to be filmed at Wicksteed park and it had to be somewhere that had room for three people to be seated, so I took a trip there and found that any benches etc where in too much of a central location in the park and would have been too busy and loud to film in - plus we would have been in the way of the public. After walking around for a while I found this pile of rocks that were big enough the seat all three and were located in a quiet section of the park - so I have decided to film my day scenes here

The rest of the filming locations are all in my house - this is the sofa that some of the conversations between the characters will happen on

There will be some scenes filmed on the stairs

Some scenes will take place in the kitchen

The bathroom will be the location for the scene involving the ghosts hand slamming on the window

This is the bedroom in which the scene where Nina goes missing will take place

Script

This is only the first draft - the script may change in the final product

Characters:

• Jenny
• Alex
• Nina

Ext. Park - Day

Jenny

My parents are going away this weekend, do you want to come over and stay at mine?

(Both Alex and Nina are nodding and agreeing - Jenny looks don to the ground with a worried expression on her face)

Nina

Are you OK?

Jenny

Yeah, it's just... other than it will be fun to have you two over, the other reason is... I just don't want to be alone in my house 

Alex

(mockingly) Why don't you want to be alone in your own house!?

Jenny

At night... it just... develops this... atmosphere, and I feel like I'm not alone - like I'm being watched 

Alex

(laughs) Don't be ridiculous Jenny! - If your trying to say that your house is haunted (sighs) it cant be! Ghosts don't exist 

Int. Living room - Night 

Nina

That reminds me! I brought a bar of chocolate with me for us to share (goes to get up off of the sofa) I'll just go and get it from my bag

Int. Living room - Night

Alex

How long does it take to get a bar of chocolate for god's sake!

Jenny 

(laughs) You know what Nina's like - she's never in a hurry to do anything (looks at Alex's irritable expression and rolls her eyes and sighs) I'll go and get her 

Int. Bedroom - Night

Jenny

Nina...Nina...(walks into bedroom) what is taking - (looks up to see Nina is nowhere to be seen)

Int. Hall - Night

Jenny is in the living room, Alex is in the hall

Alex

(struggling to open the front door) The damn thing's locked! Where did you put the keys!

Jenny

(frustrated) I swear I left them on the table! (mutters) Where the hell are they?!

Alex is now at the doorway in the living room

Alex

We haven't got time for that! Come on lets try the other door!  

Storyboard

Focus Group

1. What gender are you?
2. How old are you?
3. Do you like watching film trailers? (if yes why, if no why not)
4. What attracts you to a film trailer?
5. Where do you mostly watch trailers? (on TV, online, cinema etc)
6. How much does a trailer influence you on wanting to watch the film?
7. What would you expect to see/hear in a trailer?
8. What do you think makes a good trailer?
9. Can you remember any particular trailers you have liked and why?
10. Does it matter whether there are critics reviews and star ratings in the trailer? (do they influence you more or are they irrelevant to you?)

1. Female (x3)
2. 17, 18, 17
3. Yes, yes, sometimes
4. Voice over, the clips they choose
5. Cinema, love film instant, if there is one I want to watch I will look it up on YouTube
6. A lot (x3)
7. Voiceover, title, release date, clips from the film
8. Voiceover, a montage
9. Twilight, The Great Gatsby, Madagascar 3
10. No (x3) - I will watch the film regardless of what critics have said about it

Representations

The representations that will be featured in my trailer are:

• Three teenage girls
• One 12 year old girl

The three teenage girls will be about 16/17 and will belong to no particular social group, they will just be three 'regular' teenage girls. However, their personality's will all be different. The friend who disappears will be quite naive and innocent, the one who makes the 'ghosts don't exsit' comment will be quite confident and headstrong, the final girl will be quite nervous about being in the house but will put up a front as so she doesn't show it in front of the confident girl - so she does not get made fun of by

The 12 year old girl will appear sweet and innocent terms of her outfit and hairstyle - but however, she will be the exact opposite and will haunt and terrorise the other girls

Moodboard

Digital Technology

The majority of my work, blogging and editing, will be done on an Apple Mac - but however some of the work that can be done online, i.e. the research and blogging, may be done at home using a Packard Bell EasyNote TE and a HP Pavilion a671uk

I will be using Blogger to blog my research and plans for my trailer

To actually do the research and planning I will use youtube (to watch other trailers and analyse, deconstruct and get inspiration from) and google (as my search engine)

And safari as my browser when on a Mac and Internet Explorer when I'm on one of the computers

Finally, I will be editing my trailer using the software - Final Cut Pro - which will mean better quality of editing compared to my preliminary music video

I will be using my own camcorder, which is a Sony handycam HDR-CX190E





Apple Mac

Packard Bell EasyNote TE 



HP Pavilion a671uk

Safari

Internet Explorer

 

Final Cut Pro

 

 

Sony handycam HDR-CX190E

 

Ideology

What is ideology?

Ideology is the beliefs and ideas people have about a subject - in this case the ideology is psychological horror and trailers for that genre

Why is ideology important?

It is because of ideology that audiences understand what to expect in the film they are about to watch purely by the use of font types, transitions, sound and the pace of the film.

Why might it not be a good idea to go against ideology?

An audience will have certain expectations of a genre. If the film they were watching was to go against that genre and its ideology then the audience would get confused and would have been mislead. For example, if somebody was to sit down and watch a very sad and emotional film that had fast paced editing they would be confused - and also it just wouldn't work and would not fit the genre well at all.  

Ideology of psychological horror

The ideology of this genre is to create tension and to keep the audience guessing and on the edge of their seat. Psychological horror requires the audience to pay more attention and follow the story, it is a relatively intelligent genre that relies on playing on the audiences fears in order to create a story, instead of just grossing the audience out with blood and gore. Alfred Hitchcock once said  'There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it', I think that this is key for this genre as it sums up what it is all about, it relies on slowly building tension and also then the audiences anticipation.  

Ideology of psychological trailers

The ideology of trailers for psychological horror is that they are must slower paced most of the way through, they tend to be quite slow and explain the story for three quarters of the trailer and them at the end have a must faster section - which is usually a montage of clips. This structure helps to explain the story and get the audience thinking and involved even when just watching the trailer. The audience would also be expecting and anticipating the faster paced montage section - which will scare them further. As for they types of shots used there tends to be a lot of close ups and reaction shots of characters faces - to show their fear.

In my trailer...

I have decided to follow the ideology of psychological horror in order to not mislead my audience. I hope to create a trailer that starts off slow paced and then cuts to a sudden fast paced montage of clips. I also hope to play on the audiences anticipation by building tension throughout the trailer.

Audience Pleasures

These are the two theories that apply to my trailer: 

The Hypodermic Needle Effect

This theory states that the media acts as a syringe that injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience - who have little choice but to be influenced.

The theory originated out of what is referred to as 'The Frankfurt School', who were a group of German Marxists in the 30's who witnessed first hand how Hitler used propaganda to influence a nation.

It popular when considering violence in films. Films such as 'The Exorcist' (1973) and 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971) have been banned in the past - partly due to the belief that the audience may go on to copy the crimes witnessed in the films.

Many people view the hypodermic needle effect as simplistic as it fails to take into account people's individuality. The theory is not generally used in terms of film anymore but it is still occasionally used in reference to why society has become increasingly violent - with the blame being placed on video game violence.

The Cultivation/Culmination Theory

According to this theory any one media text does not have too much effect - it would take years and years of watching more violence that will make you less sensitive to it. This process is called desensitisation.

Many people have the belief that the media affects our behaviour and that advertisers justify their fees by working on this assumption, but it can be very difficult to prove how much effect (if any) a text might have on an audience. Researchers have spent a lot of time and effort in trying to prove the validity of this theory - with no success. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that there is no truth in it.

Uses and gratifications

This is arguably the most important of the theories in terms of audience pleasure. This theory suggests that we all have different uses for the media and we make choices over what we want to watch. For example, when we come across a media text we are expecting to get some sort of gratification from it. As well as this is also says that the individual is in control and selects a media text based on their needs and satisfying them.

Researchers have found four types of gratification:

Information: we want to find out about society and the world in order to satisfy our curiosity. We can fulfil this by watching programs like the news and documentaries

Personal identity: we may watch TV to find models of our behaviour. So, we tend to identify with characters as they help us to decide what we feel about ourselves. We can do this by watching soaps and dramas

Integration and social interaction: we use the media to help us find out more about other people and their circumstances. Watching TV helps us to empathise and sympathise with the lives of others. We may even end up thinking of some of the characters as friends. As well as this, TV can help us get along with the real people around us better as we are able to talk with them about the media

Entertainment: we simply use the media as a source of enjoyment, relaxation or just to pass the time

Of these uses and gratifications I think entertainment will apply to my trailer - as according to my questionnaire my target audience watch them for enjoyment, with some saying they like to be scared by them and also like getting an adrenaline rush from them

However, as important as this theory is there have been some criticisms made. Firstly, it completely ignores the fact that we don't always have a choice in what we receive from the media. I.e. family may end up listening to the same music as us sometimes. And, we don't have a choice in the advertising we see on billboards etc however objectionable we may find them. Secondly, the advertisements we see may be sexist. This is something we obviously cannot change the advert to want we would like to see. This problem also affects out encounters with the media - we generally have to choose what we want to consume from what is available. This undermines use and gratifications as it would meant that we may not all have the same potential to use and enjoy the media products we want.

Target Audience

In order to be certain of my target audience I conducted a questionnaire which I asked people to fill out over facebook and also by asking people around me.

The questions:

1. What is your gender?
2. What is your age?
3. Are you in education?
4. Do you have a job? (If yes is it part or full time?)
5. What do you do in your spare time?
6. What hobbies/interests do you have?
7. Do you like watching psychological horror films?
8. Why do you/do you not like this genre?
9. Would you say this is a popular genre? Do you know a lot of people who watch psychological horrors?
10. Which socio-economic group do you fall into? 

The results: 

Person	Gender	Age	In education?	Job? (Part/Full time)	Spare time	Hobbies/interests	Like psychological horror?	Why like/dislike the genre?	Is it a popular genre?	Socio economic group
1	Female	17	Yes	Yes, Full time	Reading, listening to music, horse riding	Horse riding, reading (horror etc), walking and music	Yes	Because it gives you an adrenaline rush	I know a lot of people who watch it but in general I don’t think its a very popular genre	E
2	Female	24	No	Yes, full time	Reading, listening to music, socializing	Horror films, karaoke, watching crime dramas	Yes	I love horror because I like the blood and gore, plus I like twists at the end	People normally Watch ‘normal’ horrors so no it’s not a general genre people go for	D
3	Female	17	Yes	Yes, part time	Reading, cooking, socialising, drawing, watching TV and films	Running, reading and cooking	Yes	Horror films can be very intriguing	Yes	E
4	Female	18	Yes	No	Horse riding, shopping and tennis	Horse riding, shopping and tennis	No	Never watched them	Not really	E
5	Female	18	Yes	No	Internet, social networking, cinema, TV and baking	Baking, horse riding and animal care	Yes but I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch them, only if they were on TV – I wouldn’t go out and buy them or watch them at the cinema	Clever writing, good storylines – most of the time	Quite popular, but most people watch them to be scared, not for the storyline. A few of my friends enjoy them	E
6	Female	17	Yes	Yes, part time	Reading, watching films and writing	Walking reading and writing	Yes	I love the plots and the imagery and the dark side of films	Yes and yes	E
7	Female	12	Yes	No	Interent, chatting to freinds on BBM and watching TV	Football, diving, fashion and acting	Yes	They are mysterious	Yeah and I think so	E
8	Male	47	No	Yes, full time	Watch TV, cooking, gardening, car maintenance and DIY	Football, gardening and motor sport	No	They don’t interest me	No	C2
9	Female	44	No	Yes, part time	TV and shopping	Baking and shopping	They’re ok	I have to be in the mood to watch them	No – they only appeal to a certain audience	D
10	Female	17	Yes	No	Internet, TV and eating	Eating and shopping	Yes	They are full of tension and keep you guessing	Yes and no	E
11	Female	35	No	No	Painting, meeting up with friends, taking my daughter to tot group and kids play, cinema and shopping	Painting, meeting up with friends, taking my daughter to tot group and kids play, cinema and shopping	Yeah – I like all films apart from gory horrors	They aren’t to scary or gory to watch	Yeah and a lot of my friends like them	E
12	Female	19	No	No	Spending time with friends and family, taking my daughter to tot group and kids play, cinema and shopping	Cinema and shopping	Yes	I like getting scared by them	Yes a lot of my friends and family like them	E

Judging by the most common answers, based on this questionnaire, my target audience are:

• Female

• 17-18

• In education

• Not in employment

• Most common activity during spare time is watching TV, followed by socialising, reading and shopping

• Most people liked psychological horror

• Reasons why they were liked were varied but included they are intriging, mysterious and they keep you guessing

• Only just over half said they thought it was a popular genre - a very close number said they didnt think it was, so it may be a difficult question

• Most of the people were from soci-economic group E