In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
After doing some thorough research in to the field of music videos, I decided to change my project to creating a horror movie trailer. This, for me, was a choice I made in order to challenge myself and to create something different.
Trailer
Use-
Plot- I also researched the types of horror movies I could have made. Charles Derry believes there are only three categories and out of these 3, my trailer relates more to Human Monsters but upon further research, I realised it related more to a slasher movie. I made this clear in my trailer by showing a screen shot of a dripping knife. This has connotations of blood and gore and death and I felt this would be good in providing authenticity in my piece.
Camera-I began by researching horror movie trailers and found that there was a general pattern in the sense that the beginning of the story is told in the first minute and then the trailer will dissolve in to a montage of footage. I used the ending of my trailer to show the montage editing that is typical of all horror trailers.
Lighting- I found that most horror trailers feature elements of both darkness and lightness. The light is often found at the beginning of a trailer whereas the darker elements seem to occur towards the end of the trailer. I chose to emulate this as I felt it was important to create the right kind of balance. I found it a little tricky to film in the dark without proper lighting as this often leaves the subject on in the dark.
Sound- For sound, I chose not to use a boom pole as I felt this would be difficult to hold whilst filming. I found that the camera picked up enough audio for what I wanted anyway. As for a soundtrack, I used a song which is typical in horror movies. It creates and sustain suspense and left me feeling creeped out and so I put it in my trailer.
Editing- A typical edit of horror movies is to use montage editing. This is when shots are put next to each other in quick succession often featuring fade to blacks. These are effective in delivering scary moments and often leave the plot a bit ambiguous. This will then encourage the audience to watch the film.
Location- I researched the conventions of horror movies and found that they are designed to install fear and panic, capture the audience and have a major plot twist or scary ending. I incorporated this in to my trailer by playing on the fears that everyone has. I set it in a school as everyone goes through school and so my trailer is subtly saying that it could happen to anyone. I chose to do this as I had easy access to the location and the actors are of school age.
Actors/ Characters – I chose to stick the conventions of horror movie actors and use people that are unknown. They do this as they are cheap to hire and more money needs to be spent on effects and location to provide a realistic story. My researched led me to find four main types of character which are the hero, the best friend, the crush and the killer. Most of these can be found in all horror movies and in general, the subplots explored in horror movies are related to sex, friendship, money and revenge which I tried to show in my piece.
Develop-
Plot- After researching a lot of movies, I found that many of them centre of high school children. Many of them also focus on the past. Ultimately, I felt that the combination of the two provided a unique and attention grabbing story line which the market had a gap for. I did this by combining the present day lives of teenagers and their childhood and how an accident in the past left them all feeling damaged and how the secrets are coming back to haunt them. It is a typical plot but is set in a different setting.
Camera- I chose not to use a tripod and rather use my hands alone. This way I can gain the angles I wanted as I felt that I would be limited with a tripod. I also experimented with the different styles of shooting including changing the iris exposure on the camera. I also shot several different examples of one shot in order to have a range of material.
Lighting- I chose to do most of my shooting in the daytime as I felt this would look more realistic as the setting is within a school. It was also convenient to shoot during these times as I had access to the location.
Sound- I chose not to use audition for sound effects but rather film them using a camera and then separate the audio from the footage. I also used a voice over which was supposed to sound like it came from another clip.
Location- I developed my location by using a school instead of a haunted house, a cabin in the woods or an abandoned fair ground. I felt there was a gap in the market for a school based horror movie and felt this would relate to my target audience.
Editing- I tended to use jump cuts which are typical of movies in general but I also chose to place a series of quickly edited shots at the beginning with the nursery rhyme “ring around the roses”. I extracted the audio from one of my clips and then placed it on top of the action for the first couple of shots. I felt this was key in getting the audiences attention.
Challenge-
Plot- My plot follows the general rule of horror movies in the fact that the action happens in the first minute. I challenged myself to write an interesting and unique story. The most challenging part of the process was trying to create a new story. Whereas many people emulated certain famous movies and added their own twists, I used elements from all kinds of films (hide and seek, sorority row, detention) and created a simplistic plot. I found it challenging trying to make a trailer when the whole story hasn’t been filmed.
Camera- I felt that I didn’t challenge my camera skills. I would say I had developed more though. I now know how to create a better exposure and change the lightness of the camera.
Lighting- instead of shooting primarily in the dark, I shot mainly in the light as I felt it would be scarier. The thought that it could happen to you anytime, any day and anyplace is very scary.
Sound- I stuck to the general conventions when it comes to music, if I had done more research than I could possibly have challenged some conventions.
Location- I challenged some conventions and choose not to represent any figures of power, that are typical in horror movies. Often funny horror movies feature people in power being killed in funny ways.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
"I'm impressed. The only problem is that some of the sound and volume aren't the same. One moment, its really loud, and then in other moments, it's quite quiet." Lynne Lorraine-Francis"I like the balance of male and female characters. Some movies only have girls or boys but this trailer could indicate things like sex, relationships and other little subplots." Chris Pope
"I really liked the use of the grainy effect to show the action in the past. The edits are effective as you have used fade to blacks which are typical of horror movies. The voice over is little confusing but I understood it after watching again . If it had been filmed with a tripod or higher quality camera, I would have thought it was real. " Louise Storer
"It scared me, the music helped. I like the fact that you used the same people. I got a clear indication of location and characters. I would say just possibly vary your shots a little, they seem a little repetitive at times." Poppy Dodgson
"My only issue is that the titles don't run at the same speed. Some are too quick and others are too slow. Apart from that, I wanted to see the movie for real!" Carly Marsh
Good- I have learned from various aspects of my audience feedback that parts of my trailer are typical of horror trailers whereas other parts didn't make as much sense as others. The parts which people enjoyed included the introduction of music, something I chose to do to create ambience. The use of non-diegetic music is typical of Horror Trailers and I chose this music as it was supenseful and related well to my storyline.
I have also learned that my audience identified well with chacters. After showing this to my friends, I felt they would recognise their classmates when really they are meant to be characters but they did in fact, see them as opposing characters. I did this by choosing people who wouldn't be associated in the same social groups and so created a new social group. Cultivation theory says that if I kept on repeating this social group, then my audience would believe it.
I chose to use female characters due to male gaze theory. I used girls in skirts, tight tops and with long hair to address the attention of the men. In most horror trailers, young girls are shown as scared, innocent and vulnerable whereas men are seen as dominant and scary and generally end up being the murderer.My audience told me that they saw that I used girls in tense moments which really added to the effectiveness of the trailer.
Bad-
My audience told me they got confused between the use of voice overs and diegetic sound. I chose to use a voice over as it often adds action and information at the same time which relates to the Elaboration Likelihood model. This model says that audiences will use the central route, where they are concentrating fully or the peripheral route which is when they are distracted. My trailer uses the voice over to grab the attention of the peripheral route people and uses the images to illustrate the point for the people who are watching intently. If I were to do redo the trailer, I would make the voice over a lot clearer. I would start a series of montage edits with a scene from which the voice over is coming from, then insert a series of montage edits and then return to the original clip. This way, the audience would follow the non-linear progression of the trailer with ease.
There is little indication to any subplots. One of my audience feedbacks said that I used different characters well, and the mere exposure effect says that the audience will get to like them more, the more we see them and so I chose to only use a few shots of each characters to show that this is a horror movie. My plan was to try and show that any of the people in the trailer could be the killer and so the only character I show a lot is my main character. My audience will begin to like him and as he is the hero, this will help the audience to form their own suspicions.
