Horror film Gif research

These are different clips from horror films that i thought portrayed different aspects and types of horror. The different clips are mainly showing the character or event that scares both the audience and the character. I had researched into these to gain information on how the scared feeling is portrayed onto the audience creating the sense of fear. This will also help me gain knowledge on the conventions that help the trailer as a whole have thus effect on the audience. For example the werewolf jumping at the camera, makes the audience feel as though they are in the film making the trailer/film have a larger impact on the viewer.

Poster research and Mock ups

 

Common links between horror posters that i had found are:

•Most of them have dark backgrounds (Dark colour scheme) showing the darkness in the film itself.

•Shows the main theme of the film, fro instance the character or main source of fright in the film

•Titles are done in the style to match the film

•All usually have a catch line

•Some have a misty effect on the image

•Mainly focusing on faces of some sort, either a full human shot or a cartoon face.

Conventions of a Film Magazine Cover

Conventions of a Film Magazine cover include:

• Bold Texts
• Colour schemes
• Masthead
• Fonts
• Barcodes
• Price
• Quotes
• Information on other articles inside the magazine itself
• Main character(s) of the film
• Film titles
  
  
  

Trailers of the same genre

Paranormal Activity 5

Incidious

Hell Rasier

Halloween

Characters

We had thought about what types of characters should be involved in the story line of the film with every aspect chosen to link to the age group we are mostly aiming towards. For instance if we were making a trailer to aim towards maturer adults we would most likely have the main character to be an adult or young adult. This would appeal more to the older age groups as it would make the film feel more mature rather than a horror film with the main character being a teenager. 

This would link to the film if the main character of the film was a teenager appealing more to that age group as that they would be at the same life stage as the viewers. 

We have also been thinking about names for characters and the different types of characters that would be in the trailer, obviously the trailer would be showing the main characters more than the others. this is done to entice people to see the film if they are a fan of the main character of the film, also using it as a selling point.

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The names that we have came up with for the main female in the film are:

• Sam - We had chosen this as a possibility as we had felt it had a sense of masculinity with it being a uni-sex name, indicating that the male characteristics of the character are shown.
• Charlotte - This was an option as we had thought it was a nice everyday name.
• Ruth - We had thought of this one as we felt it had a nice sound to it and would give the character a nice feel.
• Alice - We had chosen this as a possibility as it had a sense of innocence to it as we usually associate the name Alice with the classic FairyTale immediately making the audience think of her to be weak.
• Lori - We had chosen this as an option as we thought it was an out-of-the-ordinary name and would maybe make the audience connect with her more.
• Elena - This is an option as we felt it had a lot of character in itself not being a very well-used name.

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The names that we have came up with for the main male in the film are:

• Alex - We had chose this name as we thought that as it is a uni-sex name we could use it as a possibilty for both lead characters.
• Andrew - We had chose this name as we could shorten it in many different ways to Andy, Andre or Drew so we thought it gave us versatility.
• Josh - We thought that this was a good name for a character as there are many films with a male named Josh and it would fit with the genre. 
• Liam - This is an option as we felt it would be good to have a possible name for a younger character if we choose to have one. 
• Peter - We had chosen this as a possibilty as it had a sense of innocence to it as we usually associate the name Peter with the childhood story of Peter Pan so this would make the audience feel connected to the character.
• Karl - This is an option as we felt it was versatile with the age of the character we gave it too so we could use it for a younger child and an older man. 

Locations

My partner and I have been giving the locations of the film a lot of thought and have come up with many different areas to film in order to create the effect we are looking for. The places we had come up with are:

• House/Garage
• Woodland areas
• Woods
• Forests
• Fields
• Old buildings
• Run down area
• Out on the streets
• Public place
• High street
• School
• Work
• Park

We had chose a house/garage for an option as we felt that it had many conventions attached to it that we could explore in our trailer and it also creates a believable effect to the film as being at home in a house gives the audience and unsettled feeling with the events happening in a place that you're meant to feel comfort and security.

Another option was in an open space outside, somewhere like open fields or woodland space also creating the thriller or horror effect on the viewer with it being in a dark place usually associated with being alone and lost. 

We thought that maybe filming in an old abandoned building/area would create the sense of a paranormal aspect from the area being old and corrupt, this would also allow the audience to make the connection between the setting and storyline of the trailer enough to link the two together. Also making the effect of the setting stronger.

From using the setting of a run down area it would create the effect of being alone and being deserted helping the scared feeling get across to the audience. This would also help the suspension build in the trailer causing the climax of the story line shown, making the audience want to see the film to see what happens and why they are there. 

If we chose a scene to be set out on the streets we would probably film it at night as then the genre of the trailer would come across easier than if we had filmed it in the day time, although doing this would challenge the typical conventions of a horror film confusing the audience between the genres.   

With the trailer being filmed in a public place it would help with the impact of the events in the trailer also helping build suspense. Being in public would make the audience loose track of the real conventions of a horror films although aspects of these have been shown in previous released horror films. Choosing somewhere like a high street would allow the viewer to make the connection between the events happening and them happening in a place surrounded with people building suspense more effectively then if this was to happen on a normal road. Being filmed at a school would change the whole perception of the film with it involving teenagers bringing the sense of immaturity to the storyline. This perception of the school also slightly links to the concept of the trailer if it had involved young children in it. 

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Film Trailers

Film trailers have many conventions from cuts and transitions to character names and titles. Trailers for romantic films usually have a smaller amount of cuts to give the feel of a slow-paced relationship or love, rather than a high paced Horror Trailer to build up the tension for the main film. Trailers also use different scenes to let the audience know where the film is set. For example Sex and the City's opening shots are usually of the New York buildings and bridges to show the iconic settings of a love story. A lot of films also choose their settings depending on the type of film, such as The Hangover is set in Las Vegas typically known for drinking and women and the phrase 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' linking into to the problems they run into on their holiday.

Trailers also include key moments from the film which are sometimes not placed in order and do not give the main plot of the film away, although some trailers steer away from the traditional convention. Many of them are shown in quick cuts with the voice over describing what is happening in the scene, we may then here a short piece of dialogue from the film to show humour or seriousness. These are usually used as sound bridges to link the scenes together creating one big story rather than loads of small ones confusing the viewer. Many trailers will also use a voice-over sometimes of the main character or of a serious deep voice depending on the genre of the film. For instance in the 'In Time' trailer there is a voice over from the main character letting the viewer get a feel of what the main character is like, yet in a trailer for a film such as the purge a different voice is used in order to create a sense of mystery and unknown knowledge to the film. Voice-overs are often also used as sound bridges to connect two different scenes in the trailer or film. After carrying out research looking at different types of trailers many of them use this convention in order to hook the audience into to the film making it more likely for them to go and see the film, this hooks them in as it makes the film look more interesting showing the general storyline yet not giving all the plot away enticing the audience to view the film even more. 

The title of the film doesn't usually appear until the end of the trailer and followed by the release date sometimes with the billing block of the film. Although this is not true to all trailers released to the public, sometimes showing the title before the trailer shows any of the characters or storyline. This gives the audience a general idea of what the film is about and what to expect.  

The stars of the film and their names are usually shown in the trailer to let the audiences know who they are expecting to see and many people may just see a film for the people in it, which the institutions may use as a selling point. This can also help with merchandise as many people will buy copies of of the film or posters/magazines if they are fans of the main characters, also helping the film get better known.

The names of the director and/or producer of the film are commonly shown followed by the sentences 'From the director/makers of...' to help the audiences make connections between the films and their styles. This is also another selling point of the film as this shows the audience that if they liked their previous work they may like their new films.

The font in the trailer to a film also depends on the types of film it is. Many horror films have a dark coloured simple design for the film to go with the straight cut storyline of a horror, whereas for a rom-com film the colours will usually be white and pink or other colours we associate with love. This is done to create more feeling to the film and the audiences viewing the film. This also makes the film recognisable to many fans or people wanting to see the film, also making it another selling point by seeing the font and knowing immediately what it is trying to convey.