mind maps showing key conventions that I've learnt from analysing trailers, magazines and posters

analysis of magazine covers and posters

film trailer analysis

Film trailers analysis

Scream

Mise en scene

• Dark gloomy colours used, blacks, reds etc.
• Women screaming in background showing patriarchy (male domination)
• Deep voice of the murderer gives it a scary suspicious effect.
• The effective use of the mask keeps you trying to work out who the killer is. This mask is also associated with Halloween, again implying the horror and scare of it.
• The use of words at the start of the trailer ‘one call started it all’ the writing is written in dark gloomy colours again which is associated with horror.
• Women are the victims.
• Use of the traditional horror film ‘I am standing in the closet’.
• Use of scary black writing on the wall.
• Typical honest and calm neighbourhood is the one under attack.
• Typically located in a school.
• Close up shots of facial expressions often being scared and screaming.

Audience

·         Film is rated 18, so mainly young adults ranging from 18-25. Those who like horror and get a ‘thrill’ from the scare.

·         Film isn’t too intellectual so again will appeal to most people as not a lot of thinking needs to be done.

Ideologies

• Women are the victims in this trailer which fits into mainstream society as women are known to be weaker whereas men are the protectors and likely to be stronger.
• Upper classes are the victims.

Narrative

• Deep voice over and phone calls from the ghost face killer give it a suspicious and scary tone.
• ‘I’m in the closet’ – typical connotation of horror film.

Institution

• Announced by the Weinstein company
• Written by ehren Kruger
• The institution and writer a not well known but this adds to the suspicion as you do not know what to expect.

Genre

• Horror genre
• Some may argue it has bits of comedy in it
• Therefore making it a hybrid film.
• Use of the scream mask used in Halloween illustrates this horror as this mask is used to scare people.
• The main connotation of the horror film is the suspicious killings that take place.

Representation

• Representation of men as the dominated gender with females being the victims in this film.
• The killer is male as we can tell from his deep intimidating voice, again showing power and dominance of men.
• Mainly gender representations.

Insidious

Mise en scene

• Dark gloomy colours.
• Typical every day family is affected.
• Fat paced cuts between actions to scare you.
• Horrific characters are used such as the person with the red mask on.
• Tick tock thing at the start, used as a form of hypnosis
• Scared facial expressions
• Tension running through the whole film.
• Over the shoulder camera shot used to focus on the room in which the woman is entering, suggesting to the viewer that something scary is in there and about to happen.
• Creaking floor boards, connotation of old, scary noise.
• Use of shadow is also used in horror as it hides identity, but lets the audience know that something is there.
• Constant cut to ‘insidious is’ and ‘is insidious’. This writing is in red which is the colour of blood suggesting death.
• Birds eye view of women looking up the stair case. A shout is heard as she drops the thing she was listening too, she then runs and gloomy music is used to had effect and show that something scary s about to happen.
• Door handle moving on its own implying that something undiscovered is doing it which makes the viewer get on edge.
• Flashing lights in the dark.
• Editing cuts speed up to add to the suspense and the tension and therefore adding to the fear
• Dark gloomy hall ways used in typical horror films.
• Cuts between the different victims. Showing the fear on their faces.
• Strange how an innocent young boy is the bad person in this film. Makes it scarier.

Audience

• Young adults ranging from 18-25, due to the horrific nature
• Anyone who gets a ‘rush’ from being scared and likes the adrenaline.

Ideologies

• Males again are seen as protectors as in typical horror films.
• It is the females who are often screaming.
• It can be argued that the mother is also the victim in this film as most of the scare is put on her.
• Typical normal family are involved.
• Nice big house, middle/upper class.

Narrative

• Writing on the screen ‘insidious is’ etc. written in red which is the colour of blood suggesting death.

Institution

• Written by Leigh whannell
• Distributed and produced by: FilmDistrict, Stage 6 Films, Alliance Films, IM Global

Genre

• Pure horror genre
• Typical connotations of the horror genre are used to show this such as the dark gloomy rooms etc.

Representation

·         Women again are seen as the weak and vulnerable.

·         And in this film it seems as if it is the mother who has become the sort of victim.

·         Typical middle/upper class family who come under attack believing that they are an ‘innocent’ perfect family.

Trick ‘r treat

Mise en scene

• Trailer starts off with typical women on her own in forest when she turns and screams.
• Dark mysterious music is then used. Immediately you can tell it is a horror film
• Evil carved pumpkins associated with Halloween and scary times.
• Fast paced cuts to different characters. Most wearing a mask or Halloween costume. Again associated with scary horror films.
• Lonely house with forest nearby, perfect horror location
• Set on Halloween, perfect time for horror film. All the scary masks come out so all identity is hidden.
• Group of friends in forest. All foggy. Close ups used to show scare on there face as they hear whispers.
• Trailer picks up pace as more action is thrown in. dark fast paced music is added to this to create tension.
• Lots of cuts are used again showing different horrific scenes in the film.
• It ends with a worm’s eye view of a man swinging down at you with an axe. May make you jump as it seems like it is aiming at you.
• Old man is used as a victim because old people are known to be weak and vulnerable.

Audience

• Young adults ranging from 18-25 like most horror films.
• This is more sophisticated so may appeal to the more intellectual person.
• Or maybe not as it is set in Halloween which everyone is associated with.
• The horrific nature and killings is why this film is aimed at young adults of 18 and above.

Ideologies

• Father teaching son about Halloween, illustrating the father figure

Narrative

• Some narrative at the start which differs from typical horror films. It seems to be quite cheery but then suddenly stops and changes as the trailer starts to become more up beat and scary.

Institution

• Filmed in Vancouver, British Colombia
• Directed my Michael Dougherty
• Released by Warner bros and legendary pictures
• Warner bros is a top production company which implies that it will be a good films as it was made by the best

Genre

• Typical horror film
• Set in the time of Halloween which suggests it is horror as this is a time for scary things to happen.

Representation

• Representation of age a the old man becomes a victim due to his weakness and vulnerability
• Representation of Halloween as masks, costumes and typical pumpkins are used to imply this.
• Women again are victim in the forest.

my timeline

why people enjoy horror films.

There are two theories to explain why people like horror movies. The first is that the person is not actually afraid, but excited by the movie. The second explanation is that they are willing to endure the terror in order to get an adrenaline rush from the thrill. In other words, it is argued that horror movie viewers are happy to be unhappy. This approach to emotion reveals that people experience both negative and positive emotions simultaneously, people may actually enjoy being scared, not just relief when the threat is removed.

my groups idea in detail

The idea my group and I have come up with is a trailer of a film called ‘Death Town’. Death Town is a horror film about a boy who has become brainwashed by the violent video game ‘Death Town’ that has been taken off shelves by retailers due to it’s horrific nature. He is bullied and beaten up at school for being a video game nerd and spending his whole life playing games. When he goes home and plays the game, he becomes in a trance and starts to re-enact the game in real-life by killing his enemies. His enemies are slowly disappearing and nobody can work out why or how. During the course of the film it is slowly discovered by the audience that he is the murderer and that the video game is brainwashing him. The boy does not know he is doing it due to being in a trance when he’s killing them and he doesn’t know what is happening to everyone. Towards the end of the film, they discover that he is killing everyone and they take him away to a mental institution and into confinement. The film ends with him escaping leaving the door open to a sequel's).

Linking to Todorovs theory, the beginning is the calm setting of the story of a teenager who likes playing video games. Then as the film goes on, the agent of disruption (the teenager) causes unsettlement and disquiet through the death of his enemies and the mystery behind what is happening. There is a renewed state of relief when the teenager is stopped and the chaos has ended. The genre of our film is a horror and is easily identifiable by our audience initially due to the title ‘Death Town’ which suggests straight away that it involves killing and murder. There is suspense and the horror is not identified straight away in the film, it is built up throughout the film. It will be jumpy and feature horrific scenes, indicating the genre of horror. The target audience for ‘Death Town’ is young people aged from 18-35, and the film will be aged 18+ due to the horrific scenes throughout. The purpose of the film is to scare, and make the audience jump. It will get their adrenaline rushing and have them wondering what is going to happen next, a sense of suspense and excitement despite the horrific nature.

Our Ideal star for our film would be Joshua Pascoe (Ben Mitchell in EastEnders). He is a bit nerdy looking but also looks evil and dangerous. He fit the character description very well. He also has an existing fan base from his role on EastEnders. His mum would be played by Belinda Stewart Wilson (Will’s Mum in The Inbetweeners) and would also be well known by viewers. One of the bullies would be played by Henry Lloyd-Hughes (Donovan in The Inbetweeners) as he is aggressive looking and threatening and also has a previous fan base. The film would be set in an English Suburb just outside of London and the school will be a typical secondary school. And the main character will be a socially awkward teenager who dresses normally and the people that are killed will the ‘the cool kids’ who bully him and they will dress very extravagantly, and like typical teenagers, much cooler looking than the main character. They will obviously wear school uniform when at school.

Props will include a games console for the game to be played on (and the game itself) and weapons that the boy will use to kill his victims. The release date would be around November time when the weather becomes colder and people spend more of there time indoors (ie: The Cinema). Releasing it then will attract more people going to the cinema. The distribution company we think suited the film best is Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). They will benefit by being able to place their products such as Sony PlayStation 3, Sony Televisions or Sony Ericsson phones in the film and also create a game for the PS3 that will help promote the film. The soundtrack will also feature artists coming from that are signed to the label (Sony Music Entertainment), such as Avril Lavinge, Foo Fighters and Kings of Leon to help promote the film and/or the music released by Sony artists.

‘Death Town’ will be marketed as a horror film, with the slogan of ‘Computer games have never been so interactive’. There will be posters on bus stops, sides of buses and in magazines. There would be billboards advertising the film and a trailer for the film shown in television and in the cinema before other film.. A video game version of the film would be released and a soundtrack album would be released containing songs that feature in the film.

Start of A2

This year, we will be focusing on marketing our very film own film concept in groups. We will produce a short trailer for the film, along with two of either a poster or magazine cover promoting the film or a website home page.

My group will be focusing on marketing a Horror Film, going by the name of ‘Death Town’, which focuses on a violent video game that brainwashes a teenage boy who goes on to brutally kill his enemies as if he were playing the video game in real-life.

FINAL POST - ROSS FERMOR

NAME: ROSS FERMOR

CANDIDATE NUMBER: 7102

CENTRE NUMBER: 17131

SCHOOL: JOHN F KENNEDY

CHOSEN BRIEF: PRINT - FRONT COVER, CONTENTS, DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD OF MUSIC MAGAZINE

Evaluation Activity 7

Evaluation Activity 6

Evaluation Activity 5

Evaluation Activity 4

Evaluation Activity 3

Evaluation Activity 2

Evaluation Activity 1

MAIN TASK - MUSIC MAGAZINE - front cover, contents page & double page spread.

work in progress - feedback of rough drafts of final magazine product.

Action I will be taking after feedback:

•I may swap the images around on my front cover and contents page.

•Need to improve contents, more detail, fill the gaps.

•Needs to majorly improve double page spread. Needs finishing. Not enough information, too plain.

photo shoot graph done to help with the ideas and planning for the photo's i was going to take. Also the main photo's i took for my music magazine.

These are the photo's i took for my music magazine:

This photo was used for my double page spread and was taking in the photo studio in my school.

This photo was used for my contents page and was also taken in the photo studio at my school.

This photo was used for my double page spread and was again, taken in the photo studio at my school.

this photo was used for my front cover, this was taken in the photo

studio at my school.

desing ideas - drawings i have made to help witht he desing of my magazine

digital collage, content ideas and mission statement - gathering ideas together for final product.

Mission Statement

My magazine is going be targeted at teenagers between 13-18 year olds. The genre I have chosen is R&B/Rap, this is because it is my favourite genre so I can relate to the magazine and know what the target audience will want. This is an opportunity for me to make a fun and exciting magazine for the target audience and others to try and get more people interested in the chosen genre. It is too show up to date stories and news articles on new artists and current happenings in the R&B/Rap industry.