2. GENRE/AUDIENCE RESEARCH We have decided to do a teaser trailer, website and a poster on a horror/thriller film. We chose to do a horror/thriller film was because we think we would enjoy making a horror/thriller film and after researching horror/thriller trailers and seeing them advertised on TV and at the cinema we were really inspired by them and got lots of ideas of what to do for our trailer. When we researched into the horror genre we found that most horror movie plots involve ‘themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness’, they also mainly feature one central villain. Old horror movies were based on classic gothic/horror books like ‘Frankenstein’ but more recent horror films are based around or are inspired by life's insecurities. After 2000 there was ‘a major return to the zombie genre in horror movies ’ and films started to feature ‘torture, suffering and violent deaths’ like in ‘Hostel’ and ‘Saw’. We also wanted to target our film to a teenage audience, 13-25, and we watched a lot of trailers, and noticed that many of them were also aimed at the same audience, so have picked up on the techniques and features we need to use to attract this age of audience. Horror/thriller films appeal mostly to this age range because they like the thrill and the scare, and teenagers tend to go in groups with their friends or as couples to share the excitement of the film. Often horror/thriller films use stereotypes like geek/bimbo/sensible for their characters, this adolescent audience can relate to the characters whether they feel similarly to them or think they are better than them/don’t like them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film
5. The teaser trailer is different from the trailer as the scenes aren’t shown in order, more about the film is revealed and it is longer.
6. We want to make a teaser trailer that uses similar techniques to this one like the quick editing/shots and suspense building music.
7. The characters are young/teenagers and most of the victims are girls, we think they decided to do this because it makes it more scary, dramatized and real.
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9. We think this technique of quick flashes of writing are common in horror trailers and is a easy way of building suspense and breaks up the different clips and scenes, we will probably do this in our trailer because it allows us to separate the important parts of the film.
10. Prom Night is about a group of friends going to their prom, the first part of the film tends to be about them getting ready ‘The preparation’, and then follows onto ‘The anticipation’ all of them at the prom having a good time and then ‘The night to die for.’ which is where certain people get murdered.
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12. WEBSITE RESEARCH This is the homepage website for ‘Prom Night’. Along the top of the page are menu bars they are things like buy, special features, clips. When you place the mouse over the ‘buy’ menu it gives you various options to buy the different versions of the DVD. All of the pages on the website seem to stick with three solid colours Red, black and white. The red and black are typical horror colours the contrast between the two makes it appear scary. The information on the website is white, makes the text clear and easy to read. Also the pictures from the film tend to fade into the black background makes it creepy. Below are different print screens from the website, I followed the link to ‘Enter the theatrical site’ and it showed moving images iconic to the film.
13. WEBSITE RESEARCH This is the website for the new final destination film as you can see, the homepage, and links to all the other pages stick to the same dark colours gives the website continuity. The website layout is based around broken glass. They make a joke at the top of the homepage ‘Rest in Pieces’ links to the glass. Also on all the websites pages is a link to a Q&A page with the director, this makes the website appealing because it is exclusive extra for the fans. There's also a link to become a fan of the film on Facebook, this will appeal to most audiences as Facebook is the most used social networking site so any age user could use this link. On there homepage there is the trailer for the film, links to Facebook, cinema times and sharing links. They also have names of the actors and companies involved with the film and at the top of the page there is the menu tab which takes you to the main menu. On the main menu there are links to photos, videos, promotions, downloads and film information. This is similar to the links we will have on our film website homepage.
14. POSTER RESEARCH The background picture of this poster makes it clear straight away that it is a horror/thriller film. Its also clear about the storyline, it makes you think something bad happens at the prom because the image is of a girl screaming still with her crown falling down. It uses tag lines to give you a clue as to what the story is. The picture has been edited to have a blue glow which makes it look ghost like and stand out more. A typical convention of horror film titles is to have red text and fits the age which this poster also uses and we will do this on our poster. This red makes it standout from the background. This poster is different to most horror posters because they’ve used the whole of the main cast in the photo. When you look closely at the picture only two of the characters are looking at the camera and the rest look dead because they are looking away and are in awkward positions. The release date is in a big font to stand out which makes it clear to the public when they can see it, this is a good promotional strategy that we will use on our poster. The text on the Tormented poster is the conventional red, this stands out from the black background. They have also used a tagline and have included a review quote, which is an extra advertising technique to target the right audience.
15. POSTER RESEARCH Again girl screaming. The posters usually have a quote from a newspaper best describing the film, with stars rating the film. The background is dark, with the shadows of figures makes it look scary, as if someone's watching/ wants to catch someone. The poster uses a dark coloured background with an isolated house in the background - no escape. Captured the women hand all burnt coming through the fire. Most of the time there is Female character in danger. The flames are used maybe to represent hell, fire has been enhanced/altered to create more of a glow deeper colour. Film credits seem to be placed at the bottom of the poster in small print. Uses a red title, colour red represents horror/gore/blood. Film credits – Actors, director, producer etc.
16. STORYLINE It’s Karlies 18th and she's having a party with all her friends from college. At the party her boyfriend and friends start to go missing. As she looks for them she gets a message telling her to go to the old farm house if she wants to see her friends again. Her friends have been kidnapped by a strange boy from her college. He is obsessed with Karlie and wants her for himself. At college he used to spy on her when she was with her friends and has planned to get rid of them and her boyfriend so she can be with him. Over the summer holidays he goes crazy and is put into hospital but escapes the week before Karlies birthday. The trailer will start with Karlie and her friends getting ready for her party. Then different shots from the party with white flashes in-between shots. Then you will start to see the kidnapper in the background of shots and people disappearing. Then there is the different shots of when Karlies friends are kidnapped in the rooms where there being kept and a brief shot of Karlies stalker telling her what's going on.
17. POSTER IDEAS For the poster we will either have a picture for the background of the main character's like the poster for ‘Tormented’, or we will follow other conventions, for example have a victim on the front of the poster. We are going to use a black background because all of the posters we have researched use a black background or other dark colours. Classic horror posters use red font for the film title this will emphasises the danger/gore. We want the poster to be different maybe use blood splatters etc. Title, release date will be a larger font as there most important.Film credits will be placed at the bottom of the page, as that’s where they are most commonly placed.
18. WEBSITE IDEAS Moving images/background from our research horror website seem to have moving images , they relate it to theme from the film like on the final destination website it uses pieces of glass some moving with links to different pages, this is a scene in the film that people will know. We have thought about this idea for our website, we could use ropes or something from the kidnapping scene, or an item that is used frequently in the film so people can identify it. Black, white, red are the three main colours we are going to use to give the website continuity, plus these are horror colours. We are also going to include Links to Facebook this would be advertising the film enabling you to become a fan targets our audience. The trailer will be on the homepage so you can watch it when you enter the site.Various links and tabs - photos, downloads, film info, behind the scenes, cast profiles/interviews.
