Website research

As you can see, I have annotated the website for 'Shutter Island' using Paint. Please click to enlarge.
I quite like this web-page because it offers lots of promotions for the film. When it loads up, it is animated as the loading bar moves. On the main page as seen above, there is also animation which I find very clever. The colours are quite dark giving a sense of mystery and this gives us an insight into the film genre. A common convention for a film web-page is to have the same setting and colour scheme as the poster and opening title sequence. It is also very common for the trailer to be embedded on the front page, as will I do for mine.

It is clear that the audience for this film are teenagers; as the character's are teenagers. Stereotypical teenagers are rebellious, as we can see this here because they have been swimming with their clothes on. This might mean that they are not meant to be in the swimming pool. The slogan "Two guys. One girl. Game on." gives us an insight to the synopsis. This is also a typical teenage film storyline; where two boys fight over a girl. Unlike 'Shutter Island', the picture takes up the whole page as a background, which draws attention to the characters and their surroundings. The use of blue represents the boys, and the red may represent love. Or maybe even blood as things get dangerous towards the end. A cherry bomb is a dangerous firework which also represents the storyline and the character's personalities, as they are very outgoing and rebellious which links to an explosion of a firework.

Corpse Bride is a stop-motion-animated fantasy musical film, and we can see this animated fantasy portrayed through the website. The main purpose of this website is to promote the film on DVD so viewers go out and buy it, although, the site implies they don't even need to move from their chair as you can order the DVD through the website through the links "About the DVD", "Own it on DVD today" and "Own it on DVD". This constant repetition is drilled into the viewer's head so that they are reminded of it where ever they look. The still-motion picture of the animation makes a good background because it shows the two main characters in the foreground and other less-important characters are seen in the background, such as the skeleton dog. It is clear that the genre is a fantasy because of the swirly writing, moonlight and plants that are also curly relating to the scene and writing. The moon behind the characters is centred and bright in contrast to the dark blue atmosphere; this also gives a romantic feel to the characters because they are holding hands and dressed smartly, showing that they have just got married or are getting married. Although we can not see the tagline like other film sites present, it is shown on their poster which is more critical to this film.

Poster Research

This poster is very effective, mostly due to the dark lighting added in the editing process. The darkness contrasts with the main characters pale skin. This gives the impression that he is motionless and dead (in terms of his personality). This may clearly present that he is the villain because he has no emotion and is hiding away in a dark, old room. The colour red that is used means that danger, death and blood are near. The red that is used over the title is extremely important because it shows the smear of blood. I like this poster but I think it is too organised. The character is facing and looking directly at the camera, showing he is aware of the audience. This could be creepy because it is like he is watching you.




This poster is very different from Sweeney Todd, the poster here seems like it is more innocent. The colours are very light and neutral, contrasting with the redness of the rose. The red here doesn't connotate blood; it is represented as love and passion. Like the previous poster, it is based on one colour. However this poster dominates with the skin of a woman (supposedly). You can tell it is a woman because of the soft skin, delicate hands and rose. The peachy colour to the skin represents warmth. "Beauty" is in bold to stand out as one of the most important words in the title. The picture of the stomach, hand and rose is obviously related to beauty. It may also be sexualised as it looks like it is implying that the person is naked.




This poster is very busy and colourful to stand out from other posters. It makes it clear what genre it is (comedy) by the use of bright colours, teenage characters, font, the character's style and their facial expression. It also says it is a comedy in the quote on the top right-hand corner. I think the producers have placed it here because when people look at a poster, after they see the picture, they begin reading from the top. The font of 'Juno' is bubbly and almost like someone has drawn/shaded it in. This is a very good comic type effect. The characters we see are of course the main characters. The boy is tall, average looking, and wearing what seems as silly sport wear. By this we can see that he is the most comical character, where as the also average-looking girl has a "I'm not impressed" type facial expression. The way she is standing emphasises her pregnancy, she is facing the side so that we can see her big stomach, we can also recognise her pregnancy because she has her hands on her back to stabilise her. Her top is orange and white stripes to match the background of the poster. She is a typical teenager in terms of her attitude which is also presented through her clothing; a leather jacket, skirt, ripped jeans and trainers. Some people believe that teenagers don't care about anything, and this shows through her type of clothes and the fact she doesn't look bothered that she's pregnant at such a young age. Shown through my points, the target audience are, without a doubt, teenagers.

Comparative research and textual analysis: Insidious

Insidious is a 2011 American independent supernatural horror film written by Leigh Whannell and directed by James Wan. The storyline: A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Furthur. At the end of the film, the evil spirits eventually make it into the real world and to cause pain to others. Like my media product, their is an evil spirit lurking after victims in our world.

Here is the trailer for Insidious:

This film, in my opinion, has great cinematography. Even from the opening credits, the makers create an intense, haunting tension by editing the lighting to make it darker and more creepy, and zooming in slowly makes the audience anxious. It does not rely on blood and gore to scare the audience. The tension is much deeper, and heavily relies on sound. It uses quiet, sneaky sounds to bring you in, and makes you jump when non-diegetic loud music is played, and this is when you know something will happen. It intensifies every situation and is what separates its self from other realistic horror movies like Paranormal Activity.

The mise-en-scene is typical for a horror film. The regular family live in a nice middle-class house in a quiet neighbourhood. The hospital equipment in the boy's room gives the feeling of something dangerous and unstable. It also may indicate pain and death. Beds usually symbolise resting and comfort but it is uncomfortable knowing that a possessed boy is always in this bed.

There is an eye-line medium close-up of the father which is a very powerful shot as it shows the his distressed facial expression. This is quite unconventional because men are usually seen as strong.

There is a montage of shots when the child is in hospital. It begins with a close up of the distressed couple and then changes to an over-the-shoulder long shot of the child in the hospital bed. A hospital has connotations of death, pain and illness so seeing the couples gaze at their injured child can actually cause other people to emphasise with them as a parental instinct. There is an eye-line pan when the mother is investigating the rooms as she senses a presence, the camera angle is from her perspective and the pan represents her head movement as she gazes at one room and then to another. This creates suspense as the audience can only see what the character is seeing so it puts you in her perspective that creates a creepy tension.

There are many fast cuts (editing) later on in the trailer for suspense. There is a quick close-up of a demon which makes the audience jump, especially because the red of the demon's face stands out. It leaves the viewer with a mental image of the demon actually looks like and this can vary on each viewers perception which then influences social interaction.

In terms of 'Maslows Hierarchy of Needs', this film trailer includes few of the key themes promoted by the theory. The theme of safety isn't offered, but slightly juxtaposed, it may be taken away by the intelligent storyline of which provokes the emotion of fear and adrenaline with the twisted plot. The theme of affiliation is offered as the viewer feels like they aren't the only individual that is feeling this emotion, its reassuring to know that everyone is witnessing the same thing. Lastly the sense of esteem, this may just be from the feeling of knowing "its just a film" and that you can return to safety and reality after.

The words "Insidious is" cross fades and changes place for example, "Insidious is...Is Insidious". This is a powerful technique as not only is the film title ambiguous they have adapted the definition of Insidious to link to the definition of the film. Insidious means something that proceeds in a gradual, subtle way, causing harmful affects.

The website http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/insidious/ says that Insidious got an average audience rating of 3.5 out of 5. A critic from the Daily Telegraph said "Plays out in such a high, trilling key of baroque anxiety it's both jumpy and ludicrous."

On http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591095/ratings, 38,729 IMDb users have given a weighted average vote of 6.8 / 10. This shows that a lot of people have seen the film, which means it probably has a good trailer. This film has attracted more males than females. We can see this because 30,288 males have voted, and given an average of 6.8. 6,936 females have voted and given an average of 6.9. Stereotypically, Women get more scared than men, and this contributes and backs-up these statements. In the age categories, the ages that have voted the most are between 18 and 29 (even though it is rated a 15).

Interviews

As well as a questionnaire, I have interviewed some of the public that fit in to my audience age range. I asked them several questions, such as: 1. What would you expect in a horror trailer?  2. Do you enjoy horror films or do you prefer a different genre?  3. What's the scariest film you've seen?  I have taken their answers into consideration, and I have now looked at what films they have mentioned, and taken into account the conventions of a horror trailer. 

Below is a sample of the feedback.

 

Ideas for mise-en-scene, props, costume and cast

Ideas for mise-en-scene, props, costume and cast on Prezi

Conventions of a horror

Trailer
Characters:

The characters included in the trailer are the most significant and represent the stereotypical struggle of good against evil. The murderer is portrayed as the evil killer whereas the victims are normal/innocent people who are good. Conventionally, a woman is the victim as they are stereotyped as the weaker sex, but in my horror trailer, the main character/victim is male. Stereotypically, men don't scare as easy as women so i challenged these conventions by having a man who can get scared.
Mise-en-scene and props:
Mise-en-scene is French for "placing on stage"; it is what is included in the scene visually. Mise-en-scene has to fit in with the genre. For example, cartoon bunnies usually aren't in horror genres. However, some makers risk this and make it scary. Such as, clowns are inverted from happiness to scariness. Also, in the film 'Insidious' there is 'happy' music played when there is a spirit, there are melodic undertones to make it seem creepy. Blood is commonly used in horror films to display the violent and/or gory element to the film. Dark and isolated locations are also common, and irregular, dull lighting defines the use of shadows and gives a mysterious tone.
Narrative:
Narrative is essential in any film. Film makers and producers worry and are criticised for having the same storyline and plot over and over again. Script writers are increasingly finding it difficult to come up with a new, exciting and unique story. Most horrors involve a killing or torture from the villain, and a victim (usually a damsel in distress). However, these roles are opposed in my film because I want certain aspects to challenge conventions.
Sound:
Diegetic sounds are used to present realism, which makes tensions rise. For example, in paranormal Activity, doors bang and people scream. There is hardly, if any, diegetic music/sound in this film. This makes it very authentic and gives the impression that the story is true.

 

Poster:

Conventionally, many horror film posters have a dark background to represent unhappiness and evil. Red writing is sometimes used to stand out and to represent danger and blood. They also use the main characters or even one person in the poster.

The idea for my poster will be the title of the film at the top in symbolic and interesting font. Underneath, will be the main character looking horrified in the foreground to the left, in the right background will be a dark figure. This challenges conventions because normally, victims are small in size to represent their vulnerability. I used the villain as the smaller character so you don’t see their face so it’s mysterious. The poster will be horizontal like most posters.

Webpage:
The webpage of a horror film follow the colour schemes etc as the poster. It is a vertical and interactive option for the viewer, and lets them see a further insight into the film. Like the poster, a dark background is crucial to determine the mood of the page.It uses the same picture as the poster, with the same fonts as the title. It includes extra information such as reviews, release dates, filming facts and behind-the-scene pictures.
Here is a recent example of a film website in the horror genre:
http://discoverthecabininthewoods.com/

This video is proof of my research. I found this very helpful as he talks about the most obvious and used conventions of a horror genre. A typical convention is the use of a weapon that the villain/antagonist uses. I may want to avoid this convention so that the villain seems more mentally powerful.

Questionnaire

In order to define my target audience, I have made an online questionnaire using Google Documents. To help me with quatitive and qualitive data, I used this website http://www.asiamarketresearch.com/columns/market5.htm. My questionnaire successfully contains qualitative data (open questions) and quantitative (closed questions).
I may also post the questionnaire on a social networking site such as Facebook so it gathers more views and data.
Please complete my questionnaire!