Friday 13th Website

http://www.fridaythe13thmovie.com/index2.html#/epk/film/

On this website there is a clear unique selling point as you can see the advertisement for the DVD is the main point on this website homepage. The homepage also has a scroll bar with information about the DVD showing all of its extra features to entice the audience into taking a further interest into the film. The menu bar is shown on a drop down image of a rotten piece of wood when the mouse hovers over it. This is effective as it makes the viwer feel they are interactive to what they are doing.
The homepage clearly has the 'Friday the 13th' heading to state the title acting as a branded logo.
Another feature on this website is when you move the mouse to any direction on the screen the background image slightly moves in the same direction.

As you can see from the picture above the headings advertising the DVD is shown on every page of the website. The movie title is also shown in the same way by being placed on every page of the website.
I took this screenshot showing the transition from page to page as you can see, shows blood fill the page until blank before opening the next page. This inspiring as you feel like even between pages you are interested to continue looking at the screen as if the creator never wants your eyes to leave.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Teaser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REy7i-odnv4

The teaser trailer starts off with a black screen with the viewing age 'no one under 17 permitted to view' suggesting the film is very graphic, but also stating its target audience 17+.
The non diagetic sound of the narrator then interrupts the silence to describe the re appearance of the killer. After that an ere sound is played through out the trailer that helps to create that uncomforting atmosphere.
The shot then shows a close up of something but it is too close to work out what the camera is focusing on but it is clear what ever it is its metallic. The lighting is very dim and works well with the little light there is on these shiny metal objects creating a very cold and heartless feel for the audience watching.
It then shows a cogg with very pointed teeth that look almost like sharp teeth. This makes the audience feel intimidated and guessing it is off of the chainsaw.
The shot then changes and it shows oil being dripped onto a greasy piece of machinery which can only be assumed is the chainsaw once again.
The next shot then confirms to the viewer the shots are of a chainsaw as you can see the links and teeth of the chain on the saw in the dimly lit light that is provided.
The ere droning sound soon becomes more apparent and the narrator then quotes 'Now after more than a decade, he comes out of hiding.'
You then hear the sound of a door being slammed open onto something with a female screaming and the distinguished noise of a chainsaw revving. On screen you see the killer burst out of a door scaring a female whilst holding the chainsaw above his head.
The killer in this shot is wearing a mucky apron with what looks like a mixture of grease, oil and dries blood on it. this shows the audience how scummy and dirty this killer is creating this tramp look.
Throughout the shots it looks like the film is shot in an underground area, similar to a mine layout with support beams around the walls and ceiling. The next shot you see is with the killer standing on a moving car leaning across to try and cut the victims. The editing used in this shot is shown where there are sparks flying up from the chainsaw and where the actor playing the killer was able to lean across stably.
The shot following is the killer cutting through the roof of the victims car while the canvas of the roof rips open revealing the killers daunting mask. The diagetic sound of a scream followed by the firing noise of the credits ends the trailer as a whole leaving the viewer reminiscent of that last sound heard.
The typeface of 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2' is in a very slashed and rugged font still implying these slasher conventions.
This is where the narrator picks up stating the title and the well known director 'Tobe Hooper'
     

Costume Ideas

Magazine cover analysis

On this magazine cover the picture of batman is the main focus. The main light focus is on the panels of his costume as it is what creates his character. The fact that batman is looking straight out at the viewer shows the intention that in the film batman is out to ‘get you’.

The colour scheme on this cover is all black representing him as a villain creating a contrast between him and the villains, especially as his costume is completely black with a gold belt.

The typeface of sub-heading ‘rough justice’ is in a bold dominating font showing the impression he has on the society and crime in Gotham.

The fact that there is a little amount of information on the cover about the contents creates the seriousness the batman has and compared to a cover of the joker on the ‘EMPIRE’ cover shows just how big of a contrast they have.

The cover clearly shows how iconic the image of batman is as it clearly doesn’t need anything but sub-headings and an image to create his mood and intentions.

Magazine cover analysis

On this magazine cover the joker is placed in the centre of the cover. He is placed in the centre of the cover because he is the focus of the magazine. ‘EMPIRE’ the title of the magazine is placed behind the jokers head as it is an iconic feature to the magazine.

            The typeface of sub-heading ‘the joker’ is reminiscent of newspaper cuttings a feature normally associated with ransom notes; this gives a dangerous appearance to his name therefore creating the impression of a dangerous character. This typeface also has a childish, unorganized appearance, showing a lack of seriousness to his character.

The overall colour scheme of the cover is black, green and purple. The background is black which implies darkness to his character and the overall text, and the joker himself is associated with the colours green and purple which are parts of his franchise since early marvel text, these colours also feature throughout the text and are used to highlight different areas of the magazine.

The jokes evil status is increased through his facial expression and positioning. By looking directly at the camera – and therefore the reader- creates a discomfort for the viewer, therefore once again increasing and reinforcing is ‘bad’ status.

The batman logo is located at the top of the page above the jokers head as it is now a trademark of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. This also shows irony from the film where it is batman who still ends up on top of Gotham.

Questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE
1) Are you male or female

2) How old are you?

3) Do you think age is an important factor in horror films? E.g if the victim is young would it make you feel more sympathetic towards them?

4) What locations do you associate with horror films?

5) Does a sense of isolation help create the element of fear?

6) Which settings would you associate with the feeling of isolation?

7) In slasher films a convention is mask or hidden identity, what type of mask would help create a sense of horror? Gas mask , hockey mask , bandana  etc.

8) What elements do you think make a slasher film?

9)  What are your favourite horror films?

10) How many horror films have you seen in the last month?

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Film Poster

The main colours used in this film poster are white, black and red.
the white shows the innocence of the characters, assuming these are the victims of the killer. The black signifies the darkness of the killer and the villainous side he has. the red in the title shows the aggression of the killer in the film. It may show how brutal the murders are by such a deadly weapon. The only real symbol of the film i can see is the killer. He has a chainsaw which is labeled in the title showing the audience a graphic view of how dangerous and intimidating he is. The background of the poster only includes what looks like an entrance of some sort with the killer standing as if he is leaning into something, maybe into when he is killing someone. There is also a female behind him who looks as if she is in pain with blood down her suggesting she has been a target of the killer. In this film poster the figures are shown illustratively. The messages in this film poster are shown visually through the big bold text asking the question 'Who will survive and what will be left of them?' I think in this poster the intended audience are 18+ as it does not hold back at the image of its violence by having a chainsaw and implying the killer will attack innocent people. I think the most persuasive device used in this poster is the title 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' as it is quoting it as a real story, and also the question asking 'who will survive?' it gets the audience thinking who or what is it that will be fighting for its life. The genre conventions refer to a horror genre through its persuasive context and colouring of the film title. The information in this poster is very important because it sets the tone for the movie. The quote suggesting it is a real story and the question on survival takes the mood from the poster to a realistic level of pure evil committed. I think this poster is effective because it isnt filled with information but it is enough to get the audience interested. It has the iconic killer holding a chainsaw as if he is just about to attack someone and with the female behind him looking as if shes in pain it puls the whole of the posters feel together.

   

Total FIlm Magazine 'Max Payne' Cover

The magazine cover has a big bold title at the top stating its brand so you can instantly be drawn in. it also has the name of the movie that the front cover image is from (Max Payne). It also has little sub headings around the side of the film title to attract the audience into taking more of an interest into the magazine. ‘inside! Stoner carnage dazed &confused Simon peg Gi Joe’.

The key features in this magazine cover are Mark Wahlberg (Max Payne) as he is standing with 2 guns pointing out past where the audience would be looking. This draws the viewer further in to the picture. Another key feature is the movie title ’Max Payne’ it is in a shattered font and is placed at the bottom of the screen to anchor the whole cover.

This cover could inspire our magazine poster by the use of the text anchoring down the whole poster and the use of the viewpoint in the centre of the main figure giving a feel you’re in between each gun. Also the background is dark taking the main focus straight to the figure in the centre of the poster cover.

Terminator Magazine Cover

The total magazine cover for terminator salvation follows the classic conventions for gothic horror by using red white and black as the main colours. The terminators eyes are bright red which focuses the reader’s eyes to attract the target audience.  They also lay in the top third of the page which is a convention used as a presentational device to attract readers. There is high profile lighting on the face of the terminator, this highlights the definition and makes the face appear sinister. In the lower left hand corner is red lighting this follows the colour scheme set for the magazine colour and also attracts the audience’s eye towards the word TERMINATOR which links the illustration to the text.                                                          

Narrative Theories

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in 5 stages to the theory:

State of equilibrium

Disruption of equilibrium

Recognition of the distribution

An attempt to repair the distribution

A reinstated of the equilibrium 

Vladimir Propp

He suggested that characters took on the role of narrative “spheres of action” or functions

1.       The HERO, usually male, is the agent who restores the narrative equilibrium often by embarking upon a quest (or search) saves the princess and wines her hand. Propp distinguishes between the victim hero, who is the centre of the villain’s attention, and the seeker hero who aids others who are the villain’s victims. The hero is invariably the texts protagonist or central character.

2.       The VILLAIN who creates narrative distribution
      In our trailer the villian is the character who creates narrative distribution due to his Psychotic state of mind, but his identity remians hidden due to the fact that he wears a gas mask.

3.   The DONOR gives the hero something; it may be an object information or advice which helps the resolution of the narrative.

4.       The HELPER aids the hero in the task of restoring the equilibrium

5.       The Princess (the victim) is usually the character most threatened by the villain and has to be saved, at the climax, by the hero, The Fathers (who is in the fairy tales was often king) role is given to the princess away to the hero at the resolution of the narrative. He may also be dispatched as the hero.

6.       The DISPATCHER sends the hero on his or her task

7.       The FALSE HERO appears to be good but at the end of the narrative appears to be bad.

Topics which affect the media produced

The media today is affected by many external factors which the public can relate to and come across everyday; therefore the public would become a target audience for that form of media. Many of these factors are usually kept within national boundaries unless the target audience of the media piece is international. We decided to research trends that affected the public so our media product could relate to a lot more people ultimately targeting a wider audience.  
Current trends which affect the media we see today are:

Natural disasters ( Floods , droughts)

Mass killings (Raul Moat) (Michael Ryan)

Youth Culture ( Drink , Drugs, Violence)

Warfare ( the war in Afghanistan )
  
With warfare being on the news on almost every channel its hard not to come across, which would make it a topic that everyone has some knowledge about. We decided to use this subject for our media project as its a wide area to cover giving us room to experiment with a variety of ideas.

With different events occurring, effecting the public we can expect to see these changes reflected in the media we see today.

My Bloody Valentine Poster Deconstruction

The miners mask is a convention of a slasher film; it helps keep the villains identity hidden and create mystery. It also becomes a symbol for the villain and anything related to it becomes almost a warning that the villain is linked to it.

The pickaxe takes up the whole length of the poster and creates a very aggressive tone for the poster helping it attract its target audience.

The dark lighting helps add horror to the overall effect of the poster. Also the setting is in a mine which helps set the location for the film.

The use of the colours; red, white and black follow the gothic genre very closely and tells the audience straight away what genre of movie the film is.  The red could also be interpreted as love “valentine”.

Teaser and thearetical trailers

Teaser

A teaser trailer, or teaser is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming movie.

Teasers, unlike typical theatrical trailers, are usually very short in length (between 30–60 seconds) and usually contain little if any actual footage from the film. Sometimes it is merely a truncated version of a theatrical trailer. They are usually released long in advance of the film they advertise.

Theatrical

Theatrical trailers use a series of selected shots from the film that’s advertised. These shots are usually some of the most exiting or funny parts of the film that are shown but without producing spoilers. For this purpose the scenes are not necessarily in the same order as they are in the film. A theatrical trailer has to advertise the movie in less than 2 and a half minutes which is the maximum amount aloud.

Apocolypto Teaser Trailer

·        1 minute 2 seconds

·        No dialogue

·        Text introducing the director (Mel Gibson) as award winning

·        Fast shots not showing a lot of narrative

·        Questions: ‘How far would you go’ ‘To save your family?’

·        More text ‘the chase’ ‘begins’. Being dramatic with the sound of drums to build up the excitement. Music also gets faster.

·        Not much story shown because of close up shots just show expressions.

·        Not much text just a review and a question and date.

·        Starts with a loud sound with the sun setting and then thunder.

·        Ends with someone getting chased with the drums getting faster and faster.

·        Intention was to leave audience feeling that the story is a mystery.

Apocolypto Theatrical Trailer

·        2 minutes 27 seconds

·        Introduces producer

·        Has a voice in another language with dramatic sound

·        Editing is a lot slower to reveal more narrative

·        Pauses of black screen in between each shot

·        Starts with little girl and a voice-over then ends with the cinema release date after the title and directors name is shown.

·        The intention is to show some insight into the narrative and sell the movie to an audience.

The theatrical trailer shows a lot more narrative than the teaser hoping that it will further more sell the product.

We experimented with lighting for this shot to try and create an eiree effect also red white and black are classic gothic horror colours so we took this into consideration when experimenting with lighting.

The idea of a mask came from the connotations of a slasher. We knew that in the film 'Friday The 13th' the killer wore a mask, just like in 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. We also knew that to make the teaser trailer appealing to our target audience related to slasher genre we would have to have a suitable mask to fit out theme.The idea of a gas mask came about when we looked into war materials and equipment, we both agreed that a gas mask will look very daunting and would be perfect for out teaser trailer. These pictures were taken as an experiment to see how we could play around with light reflecting of the gas mask and whether we could create a light that we felt would be suitable for out teaser trailer. The end result shown is picture we felt was very effective as the red (a connotation of danger) dominates the picture like a filter. 

Gas Mask Pictures

Warefare Video Links

World war 2 clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkJVqJDQ7FQ

Okinawa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3Lbv0K8gCs

Rare world war 2 Footage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk3DTCOtV9w

Air raid siren

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erMO3m0oLvs

British ambushed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtrJc_B5t08

Sniper shot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdhcrIeeeDA&feature=related

 These are some videos fromyoutube we could use as our warfare footage in out teaser trailer.

Conventions of a slasher

1.A past event is shown for the audience to know what has gone on.

2.The killers aggression and force is triggered.

3.The killer identifies the unjustified group.

4.The young group don't listen to advice given from an older member of the community.

5.The killer follows members of that group.

6. A member of a force hunts down the killer.

7.The killer then takes lives from the young group members.

8.The hero sees the extent of the murders

9.The hero sees the killer.

10.The hero battles with the killer.

11.Th hero kills the killer.

12. the hero survives nut is not free.

Other strong conventions of a slasher are a masked killer, 

a skin piercing weapon,

 lots of blood,

gore, 

more than one protagonist,

a group of young vulnerable characters,

and an opening of equilibrium

Weapon Ideas

I think a meat cleaver would be good to use because it may be an easy object to reflect light off to create glints of light. it is also a weapon that easily pierces the skin and can could a big amount of damage to a human body.

A pickaxe would be a good weapon to chose because of the damage it could do but i think it would need to be thought out more to how we could show the damage effectively in our teaser trailer.


An axe would be a perfect weapon to use because its fairly big so would be a very Intimidating weapon.

We could also use chain as it is a very cold object and has a very mechanical sound to it. i think if we test around with the sound of the chain we can make a really dramatic effect with it.

Costume ideas

    Here are a few of our costume ideas for the ex - soldier to wear when he is shown in the trailer.


This jacket could be good for the scene where the killer is chopping up pieces of meat in the trailer.





This camo jacket and trousers would be really effective for a soldier who is set in England because with the dark colours of mud and trees it would disguise our killer well.

Chainsaw massacre insperation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZiFHU0Yokk

The opening to chainsaw massacre has inspired our narrative for our teaser trailer greatly by the use of sound and dark screens. The lighting in the way the camera flashes with a very unusual sound creating an uncomforting mood and atmosphere.

Genre research (SHANK poster deconstruction)

The main colours in this poser are red, black, white and dark grey. these colours are also very similar to a gothic theme suggesting this film could be very dark and twisted or extreme.
The logo is well placed within the title in this poster being a figure who is holding a knife, which is very relavent to the film.
The main figures are the 6 characters it focuses on in the actual movie meaning these are the protagonist  characters.
the poster also has ghost shots of the opposing gang in the film across the top of the poster.
in the background of the poster behind the 6 characters running there is a great number of members from others gangs that look they are either chasing or giving support to the 6 characters. The main figures are represented photographically in this poster. this gives more of an impact because its like taking a snapshot of reality.
The messages are shown visually in this poster as the only text is actors, the title and the small print at the bottom of the poster. the target audience in this poster would be teenagers and people that are interested or associated with gang culture. mainly teenagers because they are seen to be the people most related to gangs in this day and age. The way the characters are running creates intrigue and there facial expressions leaves you feeling fear and a bit of aggression with the way there eyes are very focused on a few of the characters. Genre implications imply a British gangster film. The title of the movie 'SHANK' which is a slang word for stabbed implies that in film someone will get stabbed. The information on the poster can show the extreme cases when gangs take over in 2015 by the amount of people there are and how grim the colours are like a grimey grey giving it a very dirty look. The poster is effective because it creates an intrigue but also shows the setting i.e. London and a good feel to the type of movie.