Evolution of Horror Movie Posters

Elements of a good and effective film poster

1. Attention
One of the most important steps of making a good and effective film poster is to get the attention of passers-by and encourage them to look. By using one of the films characters or a part of the plot, you can reveal a small part of the storyline while gaining the attention of anyone that views the poster.


2. Iconography
The most effective movie posters are iconic, presenting the themes in the film without totally revealing what it is all about. They usually use imagery, a close-up of a character or a major plot point, to show off the film's plot. Along with an eye-catching design, this can be an effective way to gain attention and create interest. 


3. Interest
Many good, modern film posters use images that put the viewer in the middle of a scene from the film, creating tension and is a good incentive. This is because, in order to find out what is happening in the poster, the viewer needs to watch the film. The Inception poster is a good example of a movie poster that puts the viewer in the middle of a scene. This works best for films that cover unrealistic, fantasy-type films, especially supernatural and psychological.

4. Appeal
Posters need to draw in both fans and non-fans. Some people may have already heard of the movie and plan to watch it anyways, so the poster does not need to appeal to them as much as people who have not heard of it. For example, fans of Quentin Tarantino may have already heard of a film he is making whereas others may not have and so his name does not need to be as large. Usually famous actors names are quite large on a poster, drawing in fans of the actors.


5. Style

Posters need to be consistent with the style of the film. The movies promotional package and the style of the film need to link together. For example, Watchmen uses the recognizable comic book style and draws in fans who were fans of the book. It matches the style of the film and means that it can be used for DVD and other releases.


6. Lasting Appeal
After the film has been released in cinemas, the poster can occasionally  used as the cover for the DVD, meaning that the poster is shrunk down, losing some of the appeal that the original poster did. Therefore, the images on the poster need to be just as visible and clear when they are scaled down to DVD size.


7. Recognizability
The images, fonts and style of the poster need to be recognizable and iconic. Many films nowadays have sequels and most of these continue the same themes through all posters, making it obvious to the viewer that it is a sequel. 

Website deconstruction: Insidious

 

Poster Deconstruction: The Strangers

Evaluation of "First Cut"

Overall, we are pleased with our first cut of our trailer. 

What went well...

Originally we were pleased with the footage we filmed as it was mostly how we pictured it to be. We also like the montage of YouTube clips we have edited together as it portrays how the killer is disconnected from society. We feel the track we had created fits will with the mood of our teaser trailer.  

Even better if...

We still need to research into typography, as the font in our first cut is not finalised. We also have decided to film additional footage in order to break up the party scene and make it look more like a teaser trailer. We also want to include more gore and scary scenes in order to enhance the fear of the film. We are going to experiment with the sound to see what creates the best effect and shocks the audience.

Storyboard

Evaluation of first cut: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real products

For our trailer we looked into coulrophobia which is the fear of clowns and chose to base it on this, we therefore researched in to this and how it affects to people in order to know how to use clowns in our film to scare the audience. 

We were inspired by films which use masks to disguise the killer as we cast our killer in a clown outfit, we therefore looked at the films Halloween, The Strangers, Scream and also films with party scenes as we included a halloween party in our teaser trailer

Halloween

We thought this would be a good idea for our trailer as many people are scared of the unknown as so having a masked killer plays on the fact that they do not know who they are or whether they know them. 

The Strangers 

We liked the idea that they could get into the house uninvited and it could happen to anyone ('Why are you doing this to us?' 'Because you were home'). We liked the fact that the characters were uninvited and used this in our trailer as the clown is not invited to the party but still manages to get in.

Prom Night 

We chose to look at prom night as it includes a party scene and also a murder and killing, both of which we included in our trailer.

Project X 

Although the film is not a horror, it still gives us some knowledge on how to film party scenes, and helps us think of ways in which the party can go wrong.

We also looked into other real media texts including TV and the music industry:

Skins

This show is an influence to us as contains lots of party scenes, which gave us lots of inspiration for our trailer. It also gave us lots of inspiration on what some teenagers get up to during parties and their lives that we could use. 

Slipknot

All the members of Slipknot wear masks and jumpsuits which makes them all look uniform. However, this look can make them look scary and threatening. The bands songs have also been linked to several violent and criminal incidents, for example in 2003 a man was stabbed to death but two people. The killers claimed to listen to Slipknot before and after the murder and according to detectives sang the lyrics to 'Disasterpiece' as they committed the murder.

Trailer experimentation

In order to show the background to the killer in our trailer we have decide to include a montage of clips to explain to the audience why he is doing this. For this we took inspiration from these two music videos:

 We then selected some YouTube clips that we thought would portray that the killer as disconnected from society and edited them together, here is what we have edited so far:

Coulrophobia, cut 1

This is the first cut of our teaser trailer 'Coulrophobia'

 As a whole we are pleased with it but feel it needs more work especially towards the second half, and therefore posted it on social network sites in order to get feedback.

Film Certification

We decided to classify our film as a 15 because of our target audience being mainly 15-19 year olds, along with the content of our film.

The British Board of Film Classification have defined the rules of a 15 classification to be:

What does the 15 symbol mean?

 No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD.  15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age.

Are there any limits on what sort of theme a work can have at 15?

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Is 15 really stronger than 12A?

 Yes. 15 works are stronger than 12 or 12A rated works and could include any of the following:

• strong violence
• frequent strong language (eg 'f***').
• portrayals of sexual activity
• strong verbal references to sex
• sexual nudity
• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
• discriminatory language or behaviour
• drug taking

How much strong language is there in a 15?

There could potentially be a great deal. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language (eg f***).

Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (eg 'c***'), although continued or aggressive use will not normally be passed 15.

What about discriminatory or offensive terms?

There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, and the work could explore themes relating to this.

However, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 15?

At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, as long as there is no strong or graphic detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category and may involve some nudity and movement. Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there should be no strong detail.

There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

There can be strong references to sex and sexual behaviour, but especially strong or crude references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context.

Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same.

Can there be strong violence?

Yes, at 15 violence may be strong. It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, however, and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.

Easily accessible weapons may not be glamorised.

What about sexual violence?

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence (for example descriptions of rape or sexual assault in a courtroom scene or in victim testimony) but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

What about horror works?

Many horror films are rated 15. At 15 there can be strong threat and menace (as long as it is not sadistic or sexualised), although the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Can you see drugs in a 15 rated film or video?

At 15 drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances like aerosols or solvents is unlikely to be acceptable at 15.

What about dangerous behaviour or things teens might copy?

We consider the risk of potential harm to impressionable teenagers. For example, dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied.

Based on these guidelines we decided to rate our film with a 15 certificate because it will contain violence and gore as it is a conventional horror film. We debated whether or not it would be an 18 but felt that we would be missing out on a large chunk of a market segment if we were to do this. As the guidlines say, many horror films are rated as a 15 so therefore we felt it would be appropriate to do the same.

Skins Influence

We've decided to take influence for our film trailer from Skins as it is a British teen drama which follows the lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol during their time at sixth form. The shows name orginates from the rolling paper of joints known as "Skins".

During the Skins series', there are a lot of parties that take place in clubs and houses, this relates back to our media idea of a halloween party taking place in the cellar of a house. 

The age of these teenagers are the same as characters we will use in our film trailer. Therefore the demographic of our audience will relate to them making it more of a success.

Coulrophobia

coul·ro·pho·bi·a [kool-ruh-foh-bee-uh]   

noun. an abnormal fear of clowns. 

The term was first used in the 1990s.

Coulrophobia is said to be one of the top 10 most common phobias, and even has celebrity sufferers such as Daniel Radcliffe, Johnny Depp and P. Diddy. Johnny Depp explained his fear of clowns coming from nightmares he had as a child where he would see clowns faces and it was the painted faces and fake smiles that upset him.
 "There always seemed to be a darkness lurking just under the surface, a potential for real evil. I guess I am afraid of them because it's impossible — thanks to their painted-on smiles — to distinguish if they are happy or if they're about to bite your face off.''

Most people agree that the main reasons for coulrophobia are the make-up and exaggerated features of the clown. Painted eyes and smiles, as well as the big, red nose, which can initially be frightening to children.

A clown act usually features clowns being hurt or hurting each other. The fact that the clowns inflict pain on each other with a painted smile on their face suggests that they enjoy causing others pain and that you cannot trust the painted expressions of the clown.


Coulrophobia can develop because of the following reasons:

•  A bad experience with clowns as a child.
• Meeting TV characters in person. Children can find this frightening as the character seems huge or tall compared to what they see on the TV
• Having a parent with coulrophobia means that the child is more likely to develop it (learned behaviour)
• Associating clowns with bad things e.g. in some cultures, clown masks are used by parents to discipline their children by saying that the clowns carry off children who misbehave
• Media portrayals 

Media Portrayals

Clowns have been portrayed in various different ways in the media. The most famous clown in the media was Ronald McDonald, who was the mascot for McDonald's. Many people find Ronald McDonald to be creepy, especially small children, from the painted on face and permanently happy expressions. 


We have also found that nowadays clowns seem to be portrayed in a negative way, as many people experience some sort of coulrophobia. The videos below are an example of how clowns can be stereotyped. 

John Wayne Gacy was a rapist and a serial killer, who used to dress up as a clown. This is a real life example.

John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994)

• Born in Chicago, Illinois 
• American serial killer and rapist 
• On December 21, 1978, a police search of Gacy's house found he had sexually assaulted and killed 33 boys and young men which the majority of whom had been buried in his crawl space
• Would sometimes dress as his alter ego, Pogo the Clown and claimed that the killings were committed by an alternate personality, Jack Hanson
• Convicted of 33 murders 
• Sentenced to death
• Died by a lethal injection in 10 May 1994
• Worst serial killer in U.S. history

This case study is relevant to our trailer because of his alter-ego named Pogo the Clown. As he was the worst serial killer ever in America, this creates fear for our audience because they can relate it to this real life case study, making it a more realistic event creating a scare for the audience.

            Gacy's alter ego - Pogo the Clown >