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

By comparing our marketing campaign with existing campaigns, I think that it is clear we have created an effective pubicity campaign which is accessible to a global audience which is always good.

We believe that our publicity campaign is effective as they all use the main antagonist as a selling point and that is what we want to be seen as the main selling point of our film.

We will aim to release our poster first as this will then create an audience for our campaign which will result in the audience wanting to see more of our publicity campaign. This poster will also result in our film being advertised by word iof mouth which is an extremely useful element of successful advertising campaigns. An example of a publicity campaign that has got an established audience before the release of the trailer is Batman Begins with the releasing of the bat symbol.

It is important to have construct a USP while constructing a film publicity campaign. The USP within our campaign is the fact that our main antagonist has a monkey mask. We chose to use this as we felt it would appeal to our target audience, also we wanted to vary the antagonist mask from the conventional horror mask.

I would choose to release our film publicity campaign on Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, various magazines that our target audience will read, for example Empire, NME newspapers such as the Metro, The London Paper, as an advert on various internet sites and on T.V.

After establishing a primary audience we will then release our magazine which will have exclusive articles about our film and release dates e.t.c. I believe our magazine has been effective as the front cover will be able to draw people in to read more. This is an example of synergy as we are promoting our product through a range of media platforms.

We will then release our teaser trailer which will then give the audience more of a sense as to what the film is actually about however it is still not clear. Releasing our teaser trailer will create a viral marketing campaign, as it has been posted onto Facebook and onto our blog. I believe it will be effective in doing this as it creates an enigma as to what the film is about meaning the audience will want to see the actual film when it comes out. It will also cause the audience to want to find out more about it so we will then create a website about the film.

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

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

View more presentations from aperezdavies.

Shot type conventions video

In conclusion film trailer uses many conventions that reside in the horror genre for example, use of a mask to hide the main antagonist (although we have varied the type of mask used), use of a last/ young girl as a main protagonist, the use of teen stock characters within a film that is trying to appeal to a teen target audience, our themes are also conventions of horror films (violence/death, captivity, trip gone wrong.)

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

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

Through using all of these media technologies to create our film publicity campaign, we have shown elements of convergence, which is using many different technologies at a time to create something. The use of convergence allows you to create a very effective campaign as if you only used one programme then it would certainly not be as varied, on top of this you may not be able to create many of the things for example you need to edit on iMovie, not any other programme.

Good intentions: Target Audience Profile

Good intentions: Target Audience Profile

Target Audience moodboard

Our trailer relates to our target audience as first of all it includes teen stock characters which will automatically relate to teenagers due to the fact that they are of similar age. On top of this it includes a scene of a typically teen activity, drinking alcohol which may also draw the attention of teenagers. On top of this the fact that there is quite a lot of violence in our trailer means that it will appeal to a teen audience as they will be able to watch it in the cinema. Also through using a monkey mask we felt that a teen audience would be attracted to it as it is not the norm mask that you see in films. The fact that it has a conventional location for the setting, a deserted place, means that an audience will be drawn in to watch it.

What I have learnt from audience feedback

Magazine Front Cover
From our feedback, to improve our magazine front cover we would add more factors that make the front cover look more like a magazine for example publication, pricing and have more elements of what is inside the magazine. On top of this we would try and make the main image on the magazine to stand out a little bit more.

Film Poster
From what has been said about of film poster, if we were to do it again we would slightly change the use of colour on the font of the masthead and tagline as it appears to be too bright which doesn't really link in with the feel that the poster is trying to convey. I would also try and manipulate the text for the tagline and masthead so that it stands out more from the page. We would also try and blend the main picture into the background more so that it looks more mysterious.

Film Trailer
In order to gain audience feedback I put my trailer on Facebook so that people could comment on it. The link to the Facebook page is here.

Bearing in mind this audience feedback, if i were to construct a horror trailer again I would definately spend a bit more time on the editing just so that it was completley perfect for example syncying what is happening on the screen with the music and sounds I would also maybe use a different type of music that is truely matches the pace of the shots. On top of this I would try and gather a wider selection of shots other than mostly chasing. Also I would extend the amount of time that the titles are on for as from some of the audience feedback they said that they didn't have enough time to read it.

Magazine front cover feedback

Film Poster Audience feedback

Final Trailer Edit

Mise en Scene research

From my experience of horror films, every horror film uses similar Mise en Scene. In horror films the lighting is generically dark and they are usually set at night, which are very important when creating atmosphere. However the main antagonist is usually in dark lighting while when the main protagonist is shown they have some sort of bright lighting on them to create a difference between the nature of the characters. Usually within horror films dark colours are used as well prominently red and black however every so often white will be used for example in 30 days of night where it is set in the snow. This is also very effective in creating atmosphere which is vital to horror movies as you don't want a happy atmosphere.

From this research we have decided that our film will be set during sunset when it is beginning to ge dark and at night as these are the best times to set a horror film in my opinion as it creates the perfect atmosphere.

In terms of shot types used, a variety of shots are used within horror film trailers as they need to set the scene. Establishing shots are used, close ups, (to help the audience feel the emotions of the charaters) long shots (to highlight the isolation of the characters especially in situations when they are trying to flee from the antagonist) however arial shots are not generally used within the horror genre as it is not effective in doing what the horror genre wants to create.

As a result of this research we have decided to use an establishing shot, close ups and long shots within our horror trailer as it is conventional within trailers and we feel that they suit with what we are aiming to achieve with our trailer.

Weapons research

Throughout horror movies props are used to provide a mood and atmosphere, aid the story, create fear towards the antagonist. The weapon for the main antagonist is usually a close quarters weapon as it gives a more fearful atmosphere as they are a lot more grusome. Here are some examples of weapons used in the horror genre:

Knives- Knives are used regularly throughout the horror genre and an example of a film that uses them is Scream. Knives are an effective weapon as they are an everyday object which can be easy to obtain which adds to the horror element as anybody could be a killer.


Axes- Axes are commonly used throughout the horror genre as well as they are a conventional symbol of violence and gore within the horror genre. They are also a very exaggerated weapon which is effective as it creates fear. An example of a film where an axe is used by the main antagonist is The Shining

Chainsaws- Another weapon used commonly in the horror genre are chainsaws. These are also effective as they are very exaggerated, they create fear within the audience and they have a very recognisable sound when in use which helps the audience as it is a conventional element of the horror genre. An example of a chainsaw used in horror is in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

From this research we have decided to use the knife a our weapon for the antagonist as we feel that it is an effective weapon due to the fact that it is an everyday object being used in a violent way.

Publicity campaign

When creating a product such as a film trailer there is a publicity campaign that goes around it to help advertise the main product. From my research I have found that there are many different types of publicity campaigns for example:
Social networking site adverts
Billboards
Magazines
Posters
Trailers
Promotional give aways

From this list we have decided to produce a magazine front cover and a film poster for our publicity campaign as they are effective.

My movie trailer

This is my groups movie trailer so far, I will need to edit it further to complete it

Stock characters research

In horror movies there are several recurring archetypal stock characters with definate characteristics that make up the cast, to help with creating characters in our film trailer i will research these characters and their characteristics.

The Wanderer

The wanderer is a character who strays away from the group to investigate something, and at sometime in his or her journey gets murdered by the antagonist or kidnapped, but mostly killed. A good example of this is Andy (Mike Vogel) in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 dir. Marcus Nispel. He goes off to look for his friend and gets taken by leatherface.

The Popular Girl

The Popular Girl is often an arrogant, pretty, popular girl that is die within the the logic of the film, she often thinks herself before others and is paid back with some negative consequences, she is often romantically linked with one of the jocks. An example of this character are the cheerleaders in jeepers creepers 2.

The Jock

The Jock is large sporty male, who is probably not very intelligent but does have power within the group, he often tries to do something heroic but endings up being killed. An example of this is the male in the picture above from jeepers creepers.

the final girl

The final girl is a horror film (particularly slasher film) trope that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in dozens of films, including Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Alien and Scream.

The Pervert

The Pervert is a character that peeps at a girl while she isn't looking and often gets killed eventually or as a result of this, and example of this is

Title ideas plan

Titles

The Forgotten Life

This is in reference to how the antagonist has been forgotten from society, and is detached in this way, the bad side of this is it doesn't reference the main protagonist.

Father Death

This tackles the idea that the antagonist, William Fyles sees his relationship with Sarah as a father daughter dynamic but it is twisted by the death filled past.

Barbed Wife

This is in reference to the antagonists shady relationship with x wife. The problem is that the story doesn't revolve around this action.

Innocence

This is referencing both the innocence of the main girl and the innocence of the killer, who believes himself to be doing a just thing by capturing the girl.

Good Intentions
This is referencing how William Fyles, the antagonist sees his actions, but in reality there are morbid and disgusting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lovely_Bones

Me and the group discussed these ideas and we eventually decided on Good Intentions this was mainly due to the fact that it is quite subdued yet behind the surface it is a very creepy state of mind for the killer to have, our inspiration for this was films like The Lovely Bones and Hard Candy

Audience Feedback

During the planning of our film trailer, we chose to use a monkey mask as the mask for the antagonist. Our current teachers thought that this may be quite a controversial choice of mask as it is not usually seen in horror trailers. As a result of this we asked for some audience feedback on the mask and here is a link to the comments we recieved.

Filming

On November the 15th we set out to do some more filming at Jack's house and at the train station. This day was quite an effective filming day however it also got dark quickly so we couldn't do any more filming on the heath because the period that we have to film in, to get the perfect lighting, is very short.

Publicity Stills

On the 14th of November we also took shots for our magazine front cover and poster which were then uploaded onto flikr

Filming

On saturday the 14th of November we set out to start the filming of our trailer at Hampstead Heath. During filming it started to get too dark so we had to use torches to create enough light so that we would be able to film. Due to lighting issues our filming was severely disrupted and we could not film a number of long shots.

Flikr

We have created a flikr account with the different images that we have taken of our actors and publicity stills

Tagline ideas

Daddy's little girl

Come out and play

We chose to use Daddy's little girl as our tagline as we felt that it linked well with the background story of the film as it sounds creepy.

Locations research and applying ideas

Locations:
The location of a horror movie is important as locations provide atmosphere which is vital for a horror movie as you would hope to achieve a spooky atmosphere. Here I will look into different types of location which are used in horror.

Deserted area:
This location is as is given in the title a location with little or no human presence. This adds to a mysteriousness atmosphere and higlights a sense that anything could happen within the area as it gives a sense of lawlessness. Deserted areas also highlight the notion that the characters within the film are helpless, if something goes wrong they only have themselves to help each other. An example of a movie which is set in a deserted area is Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Location with a dark history:
This is when a location has experienced a murder or some other type of bad event in the past, which is usually then explained in the film by a resident of the area and then has a part in the story of the film. This exaggerates the feeling that something bad is going to happen within the film. An example of this is in Friday the 13th where at the location Jason's mother was murdered years before.
Unfamiliar location:
Usually the location of a horror film will be within a location that the characters aren't familiar with as they are on a trip usually. This is used effectively as it creates a mysterious atmosphere and highlights the fact that the protanonists are helpless. An example of a film that is set in an unfamiliar location is The Desent

From this research we have decided to set our horror trailer in an unfamiliar deserted area as we believe that it is a very effective location as it creates a sense of helplessness and isolation.

Shot list slide show

Shot list

View more documents from stoliros.

Links to group members blogs Planning

As we are working in a group, the labour was split up, here are links to my group members blogs' with the work they have done.

Jack

Focus group questions

Props

Script

Choice of weapon

Script

Dan

Title Ideas

Shot List Vlog

Action Plan

Characters

Props

Film production logo creation