After looking through various posters, we have concluded that the majority of the posters share certain features. One being that they show where the film is set or a setting from within the film, but they all focus on the victim and/or the villain.
The Grave Encounters posters shows one of the victims sitting in a corridor of the psychiatric hospital. The camera next to him shows that he is part of a film crew, therefore showing the audience why they have gone inside the hospital. An outline of the villain can be seen in the background and the victim is looking away from it. The audience can see the villain but the victim cannot.
In the Paranormal Activity poster, it shows one of the bedrooms, where the majority of the film is set. The Paranormal Activity 3 poster uses the same principal as Grave Encounters. It shows 2 of the victims and a faint shadow/outline of the villain. Again, the victim cannot see the villain but the audience can. Our Poster will include a shot from either inside or outside the factory with the main focus being on one of the explorers/victims. They will be holding a camera to represent the cameraman to show why they have gone inside. A shot of a villain, either a shadow or a hand etc. will also be in the shot but the main aspect will be that the victim cannot see the villain.
Firstly voiceover of male protagonist speaking over production companies mentioning the area being out of price range with subliminal music playing as well underneath it.
A montage plays with the voice over of a a conversation by the couple
It’s all reasonably happy music till the estate agent mentions “A CRIME” then music changes, a drop then beeping like an alarm this links to the clock we see turning to 3.15am
A gun shot is heard, mixed with the beeping then a voiceover of a news report, all mixed together creates chaos and isn’t clear. Gun shots continue infrequently as though he is killing them then and there. Voice over changes to male to suggest it was big news, probably national.
Then you see a flash of the house, dark spooky and rainy. Music comes in to traditional choral music will long drawn out notes, linked with the rain and thunder.
Children laughing modern horror, spooky
Voiceover of main protagonist played of archive footage, piano music.
At the beginning and the end of the trailer, we hear the sound of the shutter of a camera which is used to break up the diegetic sound of the protagonist.
We hear a number of sound effects including door slams and screams to keep the audience on edge during the trailer.
A voiceover is used to tell about the story of what happened within the house. This is to inform the audience about the story but not give away too much. This voiceover does give away quite a bit of the plot though as the trailer is a theatrical trailer yet as our trailer is only a teaser trailer, not as much plot is needed to be shown.
As the motion of the trailer becomes quicker; we hear a number of clock ticks breaking up the equilibrium of the film before suddenly we hear a number of clocks ticking sounding like an alarm clock. The number of clock ticks heard at the same time could resemble a nightmare occurring and suddenly it had stopped because of the "alarm". This is very easy to create & edit on a trailer as you can use the same ticking sounds but just lay each sound on top of each other to create one big alarm ticking sound.
The trailer is constantly in disequilibrium as at one point you hear silence and then you hear sudden beats and sounds to create a cliffhanger before returning to silence again.
We then begin to hear piano music playing which sound like a bedtime nursery rhyme which shows there could be a "light at the end of the tunnel" for the protagonist yet we realise this does not happen as once again the tone of the trailer changes.
During the final scene we hear cries and screams from the protagonist before you hear an echo during the fade of the trailer. This is really effective as it can give a final lasting effective towards the audience. This effect is very easy to edit onto our trailer as there would already be an echo effect within the program we use to edit and then it can be edited to how big an echo we would like.
A big alarm goes off at the beginning of the trailer with sounds of alarms going off towards the end of the trailer. The first alarm sounds like a big panic & evacuation alarm and in the film we find out that this was a nuclear reactor. This is very relatable to our film as our plot is about an abandoned factory and can show the connotations of danger and possibly a bleak future.
We then hear a voiceover of the description of the events that had happened during the nuclear explosion. Here, a professional voiceover speaker is speaking and to make our film sound more realistic and relatable to past events, we are using a news reporter as our voiceover to explain the background of the abandoned factory.
Throughout the trailer, we hear constant diegetic sound from the speaker and the characters within the film.
Sound effects used within the film includes screams (typical convention of horror films) and also the use of the shutter of the camera. This is useful in the trailer as it shows the transition between different scenes and also a sudden sound to give the audience a little shock.
Towards the end of the trailer, we hear the beat of the music louder than before and also faster to show the change in motion of the film - this beat could possibly symbolise the tension within the group during the outing/could show how much their heartbeat is now beating from the beginning to the end.
Genre of horror/ thriller reinforced by colour scheme and scary nun.
Colour scheme of deep red, crimson, dark creates a better juxtaposition between the text and pictures with the dark background. shows evil, danger and sinister nature of the film. Traditional gothic colours; black, white, red.
Picture of nun main focus draws in viewer reflects movie genre. The eyes are glazed creating an enigma, possessed, supernatural?
Tag line "No soul is safe" like the nun who is holy isn't safe. Use of alliteration. "Soul" links to religious image of the nun.
Typography- Old fashioned gothic text, backward D- reflection and mirrors and unnatural. White text with flecks of black, infecting the goodness. Looks scratched again unnatural
http://www.shutterisland.com/#/cast-filmmakers/cast -SHUTTER ISLAND • The theme of this website helps to promote the film as it is based around a prison and is dark cold colours to help show the horror with in this thriller drama. • It is very current as displays links to like the page on face book, follow on twitter etc. it keeps up with today’s technological convergence. • On the home page it shows a picture of Leonardo Dicaprio and has his name in bold letters to promote the film as he is a very famous actor. • It also has the trailer in the top right corner that automatically plays the trailer of the film to draw the audience in and give away a bit about the plot. • There is an order now section you can click that gives you a direct link to buy the dvd’s, this is good promotion as there isn’t any hassle in buying the film and as the order now button is underneath the trailer its good promotion as when the audience are watching the trailer they can click order now as they are engrossed into it without having to take their eyes off the trailer. • Simple website easy to navigate
I chose this scene due to the fact it's from an old fashioned news clip. This is similar to what we will be doing. However it is different from our idea as they are filming a policeman at the scene whereas we want a reporter based in a studio.
The sound is of the man's voice however it sounds older and different through the microphone. This is played as a voiceover through other shots which have been jump cut into this scene to create a montage.
The montage is of photographs taken by police and of a body being removed from the house. It's interesting and clever editing. The speed of the pictures and jump cuts creates panic and gives a sense of the shock and horror people felt when hearing about the killings.
The crowding around the policemen seems to add to how big this story was, again reinforcing the panic and shock people felt.
The footage also seems more dated, not as clear as we would expect it due to it being recorded in 1974.
Scene 2.
I chose this scene as it's the last scary bit in the film and because it's a time where you get to clearly see the evil. Like in our film Amityville had a great location and here they are using it to their advantage with the staircase and the evil child.
The child is playing on the modern stereotype that children can be scary, a recent occurance. She is holding a teddy bear, a symbol of innocence but it adds to the malice as the audience know it has one eye, as is representing the danger.
There is minimal lighting in this shot as you would expect but the lighting casts a green/blue tint over the whole scene which is again common in a modern horror.
This scene is very important as it's in the staircase which first caught the attention of the Lutz family, and it's almost as though the film came full circle with the house.
The girls is wearing a night dress, the one she died in and you can also see the prominent head wound of how she died adding to the horror, she's staring directly at the camera, but almost past it through to the Lutz family or the audience.
Scene 3.
I chose this scene as it is where the evil comes from in this house, the mise en scene is good and it is similar to what we need to do.
The lighting is limited and constricted to a grey/blue scale. There are a lot of shadows which is to be expected as it is the basement and this creates the haunting atmosphere.
The genre within our trailer is horror and so hence our typography must be related to the conventions of the genre and also link in with the message of our film. Below are examples of different typographies in different horror posters.
Orphan
The title of the film "orphan" looks like it is written in chalk and written like a child. You can relate chalk to teachers asking children to write with it in class and also the writing of the title doesn't look like a convention font, it looks written. You also see the writing of "orphan" being very jagged with part of the title being in lowercase letters and the other half in capital letters - this could show how there is something mentally wrong with the child and we see this within the film.We see the colour white used within the poster, this could show the convention of purity and angelic. Normally this a convention of a child but the poster wants to confuse the audience and in the film end up showing that Esther subverts this stereotype.
The Amityville Horror
In this typography, we see the colour red used within the poster - this is a classic colour used within horror films. Although this is a simple font used and is very doable, there is a very big emphasis on the Y within the title and shows it is a big symbol. We see the end of the Y is like blood dripping down the title onto the next message of "based on the true story" which shows the clash between good and evil. This typography shows that a simple font can be used but with an emphasis on one of the little things within the title can be very effective and can be one of the first things the audience sees when looking at the poster.
The Pact
In this typography we see all the letters spread apart, this is effective as it gives more of a shadow effect. Again a simple font is used but the word "PACT" is in bold. This shows how it may link towards the message of the film and also links to the picture in the poster. When doing our typography, we should always link our font to our plot but again not give away too much. The colours used in the poster is white/beige. White is a convention colour used in horror films but beige is not normally a colour you would associate with the genre of horror - this could link in with the plot of the film.
Barricade In this poster we see here how the typography very much links towards the story of the film and only really effective in this sort of film which means its original. The font used in the poster is written onto a window and is realistic because people do that in real life. The colours used within the film shows very clinical and modern colours of the genre of horror. This poster is a really good example of how to make your typography really look original and link towards the story of the film. Yet realistically, this typography would be quite difficult to make and as it isn't a very big aspect of our poster, we're better off using a simple font but emphasising it in a way to make it still look effective.
The Thing In this poster, we see the main aspect of the poster being the typography. Here we see a simple font which takes up the majority of the poster but it is also a font we would not normally see on a horror film (more for adventure). The colour used is white but what makes this typography original is that there is a picture inside the typography. This is a excellent way to show the concept of the film and also show how it makes the poster really effective. Again, it could be doable but whether or not the poster overall could look exciting enough is another question to answer, maybe we are better off sticking to a separate typography and picture.
Tag line "There's something wrong with Esther." Draws you're eye upwards from the title. Adds enigma. White text, innocence, contrasts childlike innocence and purity when shes the antagonist. "Can you keep a secret?"- smaller text, draws you in. Deep red, not blood red, unusual but links to genre still.
"Orphan" mixture of upper and lower case like childs handwriting. Like being scratched or srcibbled. Modern horror convention of children being frightening.
Clinical colour scheme of green, blue and grey. Linking to ultra modern horror genre.
Child with direct, haunting stare. Light casts shadow on her eyes, defining the dark v light idea. Colour of her eyes are also very dark, possibly black. Stereotypical little girl, bunches, peter pan collar.
Orange, yellow, brown colour scheme. Almost like rust- unusual. Fiery colours epresenting hell and danger? Unnaturally bright, warped conception of reality.
Typography – ‘seven’ is handwritten/scribbled. Insight into the deranged mind of a psychopath? White text – considers holy or morally justified. Juxtaposition of innocence and good. Stands out from a distance on the poster.
List of the Seven Deadly Sins in the middle of the poster, main focus of the film. Crossed off, like a serial killer-target/ check list. Red line- slasher. Precise order of them like a tally chart.
Tag line "Seven deadly sins. Seven ways to die." Catchy, gives away enough of the plot. Play on words,repetition with a small change. Small font, to divert the eye.
Actors names symmetrical on either side of poster, major attraction, world famous actors. Way of promotion.
Two main protagonists, facing away, different ideas, had to join forces. Blur in the middle-join?
I chose this scene as it is the first time we get to clearly see "the house". The film is based upon a great setting which is the house. Our teaser trailer and film is based on a great setting, the factory, so we could use this scene to inspire our trailer.
This scene was shot in the evening and in poor weather giving an ominous tone to the scene. You see the whole expanse of the house, giving the feel of wonder and apprehension as you know that something scary waits inside.
A horizontal pan was used to give a smoth continous shot of the house, the only thing breaking it up was the natural trees and one shot of the female protagonists face.
The music was non-diegetic classical music to fit in with the era it was set, after world war one. The meloncholy music adds to the viewers apprehension but also adds a beauty to the scence, almost making it cinematic.
The reflection of the house on the lake adds to the forboding feeling and make s the house seem even more imposing than it already is.
The fact that there is no lights bar one sugests she is their only hope, and the fact that it is streched in the reflection makes it looked ghostly, which is relevant later on in the film.
Scene 2
I chose this scene due to the unusual birds eye shot of the characters and the fact that it uses the location to its advantage with the unique stairs.
Again this scene is also shot in the evening in poor weather condtitions, leaning towards a grey scale scene. There is no colour in mise en scene or even the setting, adding to the misery felt by the houses occupants.
The birds eye view suggests a supernatural presence, someone watching from above, giving the viewers a God like position, an giving them a distance from the characters.
The use of the stairs that split off into two suggests the different pathways the main characters can take either metaphorically or physically in the way they react to this haunting.
Scene 3
I chose this scene due to its mise en scene and the fact that this is where the horror built up most.
The lack of lighting makes the viewer focus to see more clearly and make out what is in the room; what little light there is casts shadows making it have high contrast and therefor reinforcing the scary nature of this scene.
The mise en scene is accurate in the fact that it looks like a hidden room that hasnt been used in a while, it also depicts the main focus of the scene- the dolls house which has been a consistent feature throughout the film, this is in the centre of the shot allowing the audience to almost see it first.
The music is subtle ensuring it doesnt detract from the scene but also allowing the tension to build up as the protaganist come to important realisation of the film. It is the most important scene as the audience understands the engima that has surrounded the female lead.
This is the homepage. The first thing the visitor sees and it doesn’t look like a typical movie website, with no advert for creaters, no reviews etc.
The links are placed on a old piece of paper, with old looking font and symbol highlighting history of the film and this is reinforced by the actual writing in a normal font on the right “The house in Amityville has become the stuff of legend...the basis for several bestselling books and smash-hit movies” also highlighting bullet point one.
Colour scheme of black and white, curiously no red. Subverting stereotypes. “The Amityville Horror” title font is white and blurred giving it a supernatural edge, which links to the white strike of lighting.
Only picture is of the house in grey scale, looking haunted.
Pixelation is used a lot in the film to jump cut each section within the montage but is also used so it looks more like a home style/documentary video. Towards the end of the trailer, more pixelations are used to cut up some of the scenes and create more tension.
At the end of the first scene, you hear an echo fading into the background to show it is the end of the scene.
Quite a bit of the trailer is silent as it tends to put the audience more on edge, it also gives the film more of a cliffhanger with the trailer not being very predictable.
As some of the trailer is silent, this means you tend to get more sudden sound effects within the trailer such as jumps and screams to shock the audience once in a while.
During the trailer, you hear quite a lot of conversation to continue with the "documentary style" type film.
In the last scene, as it gradually progresses, it gradually gets louder with more sounds to create more tension. You first hear whispers from the main character before starting to hear haunted sounds on top of that with that music gradually becoming louder before hearing a genetic voiceover which becomes the dominant sound to scare the audience. We finally hear a sudden bang of the door and a crash sound to end the trailer and leave it on a cliffhanger.
Grave encounters is filmed as if it is a documentary
or a TV program. It is filmed with a hand held camera and makes the audience
feel more a part of the film.
(0.00)
This opening scene is shot and edited in the style
of a documentary. Opening the film in such a way, makes it more believable to
the audience that the scene of events actually happened. Watching something
that you believe to be real is always scarier and more feared as we are always
taught that ‘movies aren’t real’ as children.
Simple shots of the people involved walking across a
location unaware of the camera, being given some ‘alone’ time is often seen in
documentaries. If our film is to be in a documentary style, we could use scenes
of us walking around the outside of the factory in our trailer. Non diagetic
music of scary sound effects plays over a diagetic narrative of the main
character describing how he has been effected by ‘past encounters with Ghosts’.
They have also added logos and symbols in the
corners of the screen of the TV channel and broadcasting logo. This makes the
film look more authentic and more like a documentary. The more genuine the film
(documentary) looks the more believable it becomes. The more believable
something becomes, the scarier it becomes.
(0.39)
This scene shows one of the ‘ghost hunters’
recording the sound in one of the rooms. One of the men ask a question and records it. When they play it
back, they hope to hear for a reply from a ‘spirit’ or ‘ghost’. As they listen,
they hear no reply but as the girl listens more carefully, we notice her begin
to rise as if something has grabbed hold of it and gently pulled it up. A
short, diagetic sound of quiet, low pitched breathing or moaning is heard as
the hair moves. This indicated that something made her hair move such as a
ghost, spirit etc. and not just say, the wind.
This scene is extremely effective and can create
some big scares. As the camera has put all the attention on the recorder we do
not expect anything else in the shot to change or anything to happen. When the
hair moves we are instantly shocked and scared. Being shot with a hand held
camera aswell makes the audience feel more a part of the film and makes them
feel as if the ‘spirit’ or ‘ghost’ is in the room with them aswell.
This
required very little editing and can be done without the use of special
effects. By tying thin wire or attaching it using hairspray etc. to the hair,
by pulling the wire can make the hair appear as if it is moving by itself. By
using something else in the shot like a
decoy to distract the audience scares us even more when we see something move
so unexpectedly.
(1.07)
This scene shows the crew walking around a dark room
with nothing but a torch for light. The night vision effect shows to us that
the room is dark and makes the girl standing in the corner easily viewable. As
the crew walk closer to the girl, they call her and ask who she is. As she
turns around, amazing special effects turn her face into a screaming zombie.
This scene is made effective by the transition
between the normal face and the zombie one. This would be hard to recreate in
our trailer, especially the change between faces. If we were to capture
something similar, we could film in a dark room, (the factory basement) with a
hand held camera and using a torch to show we are exploring and the torch could
suddenly shine on a face with makeup on very close the camera.
