Improvements #2

Following the audience feedback we got from the screening of our film we decided to further edit the montage of YouTube clips which hints to the clowns back story as this seemed unclear and random to a few viewers. We have therefore taken out a few clips which we felt didn't portray the right meaning and added

Here is the new edited montage of clips:  

We have included these clips in our teaser trailer as we wanted to hint at the killers back story in order to give an idea of why he was killing the girls, however as it is only a teaser trailer we didn't want to give the whole story away. We encoded the clips to show destruction and violence to portray the killer as disconnected from society however the audience may decode them in a different way, agreeing with Stuart Halls reception theory, which may raise questions within the audience such as, 'why is he doing this?' however we feel this is a good aspect of the teaser trailer as it encourages the viewer to go see the film as they want to know the whole story. 

Final Girl Theory

The Final Girl Theory refers to the last girl that is alive in a typically slasher/horror film that confronts the killer. This theory has been used in many films such as:
- Halloween
- Friday the 13th
- Scream
- The Strangers
- A Nightmare on Elm Street

The term was founded by Carol J. Clover in 1992 in the book she wrote 'Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film' and suggests that the audience take the perspective of the killer at the start of the film and then towards the end they begin to move towards the 'final girl'.
The concept is usually that the characters are killed one by one with the last remaining character being the woman who either vanquishes the killer or manages to escape. According to Clover the 'final girl' shares many characteristics, a few of which is that she is 'sexually unavailable' and does not participate in the use of drugs and alcohol. 
This theory focuses on the gender representations of the characters in a typical slasher/thriller film and argues that when the girl faces the killer she becomes 'masculinized' by taking a weapon to confront the killer. Also because it is generally a male orientated genre of film, this makes it easier for the audience to identify with a female character. Clover states that in order for a film like this to be successful, it is necessary for the surviving character to be female otherwise the mostly male audience will reject it.

We felt that because our main inspirations were Halloween, Scream and The Strangers, it would make sense to portray this theory in our trailer. This, along with Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory, we decided on our main characters being female. Also we suggested there was a 'Final Girl' at the end of our trailer where she is backing away from the clown into a corner holding a bat as a weapon. 

Conventions of a Film Website

Typical Conventions of A Horror Film Website

An example we looked at was the Saw website. We found that a very typical convention of a horror film website was an intro at the beginning to show what the film is about. This is accompanied by sound which sets the mood and scene for the film and links it together. The website will also contain the key images that you are likely to see throughout the film. Saw for example uses the chainsaw image to show that this will play a particular role in the killing of characters. This allows the audience to associate certain aspects of the film with the website to help it to become more authentic. 

A film website also usually contains the main character as an iconic figure on the website. For example the Saw films have Jigsaw which is the 'bad guy' and appears throughout all of the films therefore the audience will associate this with the films as it is important to link the film with the ancillary products such as the poster and website so that it becomes a whole promotional package. 

Also they will keep the Typography the same throughout the film, poster and website which is obviously important as it helps convey the same message across to the audience. 

What's more is that the Saw website also has a 'House of Jigsaw' tab where it gives some background information about the killer in the films. This creates realism for the audience as it talks about the killer as if it were real. It also includes 'The Traps' and 'The Victims' where browsers can look through these tabs and see what traps were used on which victims in the films. This contains a concept that is related to our film and we thought we might be able to do a similar idea where we focus on the background of the clown so that viewers can really get involved with the story of our film.

Billing Block

To make a professional looking movie poster, it needs to have a billing block. All film posters have a billing block, which consists of the names and titles of important actors/actresses, crew members and other people involved in the production of the film.
It also includes logos from production companies and the film rating. 

Below are a few images of billing blocks

Twilight (2008)

The Hangover (2009)

The Dark Knight (2008)

A couple of popular fonts for billing blocks are

Bee

Univers 39 Thin Ultra Condensed

Tall Skinny Condensed

Triple Condensed Gothic








As you can see from the pictures, all the fonts are fairly similar, tall and "skinny". Unfortunately, you have to purchase the fonts and they are quite expensive so we tried to look for a font that was similar to these.

Typography #2

Following our research into fonts to use, we experimented with them in iMovie. In order to get the effect we wanted we filmed the screen using quick time moved the mouse between the words to get a flickering effect, we wanted this effect as it went well with the strobe lighting in our teaser trailer. 

These are our favourite fonts that we will be deciding between.. 

This is the font Extrakrebel 1987 We like this one as we feel it fits well with our film, we thought the crosses throught the o's would work particularly well with our film as this could symbolise the deth of the victims, the font overall we feel looks quite creepy and therefore fits well with our film. The only negative thing about this font is that we feel it may be difficult to read and therefore will research into this.

 We liked this font Vtks Contact as some of the letters have a blurred affect which indicates that there could be something wrong, it also fits with our trailer as due to the strobe lighting we used parts of the trailer are blurred, therefore the blurred letters will link to this, however the problem we have with this font is that it doesn't have as good as effect on iMovie as the blurred effect doesn't appear the same, which takes away from the effect the font causes.

Poster Drafts

 

These are our first drafts for our movie poster. We used the photo that is our blog background and for our website background. We think that this links them altogether and would make the audience aware that they're all from the same film. We also think that the mask would be iconic and people would hopefully associate the clown mask with our film.

The posters below are looking at the font that we may use. All the fonts below came from the site dafont.com

 

 

For this poster we used the font Extrakrebel 1987. We think that this font fits well with the theme of our film, as it looks quite creepy and we think that the crosses through the 'O''s could symbolize death and crossing the victims off as he kills them. However, an issue with this font that we have is that it is quite difficult to read. Therefore, we are going to ask people who do not know anything about our trailer what it says to see if they can read it.

For this poster we used the font Erthqake. We chose this font because we liked that it was slightly blurry, which could imply that something isn't right. However, we think that it doesn't go with the theme of our film enough and doesn't look right on the poster.

This font is called Vtks Contact. We originally liked this font as some of the letters were blurred, again implying that something is not right with the clown. The font also looks a bit like the font used in older films and war films when they look at reports. This could suggest that the clown is being looked into by the police and there is a report on him.

The last font that we liked was called Wilderness. We liked this font as we think that it fits well with the theme of our film and stands out well enough against the black background but does not take any attention away from the clown. This is important as we want the clown to be the main feature of the poster, and for people to look at the clown and immediately know that it is from our film.

Typography

We used the website www.dafont.com to choose a font to use for our trailer, poster and website. Here are the ones we have been looking at:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

We have decided that fonts 1, 2, 5 and 9 are our favourite as they fit best with the concept of our film. We will therefore experiment further with these three fonts in order to select the typography to use in our trailer, poster and website.

Website Deconstruction: Halloween II

• Title - this moves, drawing attention to itself and making sure that the audience knows what the film is called
• Facebook and Twitter links - visitors to the site can click on the links and be taken to these social networking sites where they can share it with all their friends. This is a version of free promotion
• Email sign up - visitors to the site can enter their email address and recieve information about the film. They can also receive emails from the companies that made the film
• DVD release date - tells the visitor that the film is avaliable to buy on DVD and Blu-Ray
• Other links - the other two links that they can click on take them to other parts of the website where they can do interactive things such as 'step into the deranged world of Michael Myers' or be entered into the 'Halloween II sweepstakes'
• Enter Site - this is the first part of the website which just introduces the visitor to the film but they can click to enter the main site where there will be more information about the film
• Background image - the image shows a still from the movie of Michael Myers with a knife making a stabbing motion, giving the visitor an insight into what will happen in the film

 



• Title - just like on the first part of the website, the title moves drawing attention to it and is in the same font as the rest of the website
• Links - the site has links down the side which you can click on which takes you to another part of the website where you can learn more about the film
• Trailer - once you have clicked on 'Enter the Site' on the first page, the main website becomes fullscreen and the trailer appears and automatically starts playing
• Open footer - you can open the footer at the bottom which contains more links to social networking sites, places to book tickets to see the film, a box to enter your email address to join the mailing list, the production company that made the film and the rating that the film has been given
• Background image - the image in the background is distorted and fades into the color of the background. It shows Michael Myers, the main character, which reveals part of the film.

Poster Deconstruction: Scream

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. 

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.

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.

Influences from films and other media

Influences from other films

Prom Night - This film is an influence on our trailer, as the film is set at a prom and involves murders. This was an influence to us as the prom would be similar to a Halloween party and we could take some inspiration from how the party scenes were shot. It is also played a part in influencing us as the murders take part at the prom which we thought would be a good idea for our trailer. [Deconstruction]

Halloween - Halloween was an influence on us as it uses a masked killer. 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.[Deconstruction 1 2]

Sorority Row - This film is an influence to us as it is set an American college, which would contain similar aged characters, and involves a murderer killing all the young characters. The killer is also cloaked so their face cannot be seen, therefore making them anonymous. [Deconstruction]

Project X - Project X was an influence to us as it focuses on a party that has become out of control. 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.

Scream - Scream is an inspiration to us as it contains a masked killer. This is an influence as we liked the idea that people do not know how the murderer is and so we think that a new element of fear of the unknown is introduced. We also liked that the killer in Scream knew the characters and so although the killer is masked there is the fear that they could be someone you know. 

The Strangers - This was an influence as it involves three masked killers. 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. [Deconstruction]





Influences from other media
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. 

The Simpsons - Lisa's First Word - in this episode Bart is scared by a homemade Krusty the Clown bed that Homer makes for him, which has a sinister looking clown painted onto the headboard. Bart imagines the clown coming to life and cannot sleep. He spends the night curled in the fetal position saying "can't sleep, clown will eat me". This has provided inspiration to us as it focuses on the fear of clowns which we wanted to incorporate into our trailer.

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.

Sorority Row - Deconstruction

As the trailer starts it shows you the symbol which is well known as representing an american college house. The high key lighting gives a happy and cheerful atmosphere for the start of the trailer.

The lighting which is again high key upholds the same happy emotions which are represented through the lighting. The camera has also focused upon teenagers partying, showing the audience that the film is based upon a party.

The lighting remains high key, and the camera establishes that they are in an office, still showing teenagers, allowing the audience to focus upon key characters as they are eventually shown to us one by one.

The key characters are shown individually to the audience to bring them to the audiences attention.

 The lighting remains high key as  the audience are shown a party, clearing showing obvious signs of equilibrium. The scene highlights stereotypical representations of teenagers.

 This is an establishing shot which allows the audience to understand the setting of the scenes which have been shown and will follow on from his. The lighting again shows a positive atmosphere.

 In this close up, the lighting is low key, focusing on the faces to show the audience clearly the emotions of the characters, changing the atmosphere and representing the interruption of equilibrium, although the characters have not yet recognised this.

 In the close up of what they are watching, we see another clear representation of teenagers through acts of a sexual nature.

In this point-of-view shot the audience is more involved into the action and is put into the place of one of the characters point of view. This allows the scene to become more personal towards the audience.

In this shot it is clear that here has been a disturbance in the equilibrium, due to the low key lighting. Also the close up of the characters face clearly shows emotions to the audience.

This establishing shot clearly contrasts with the first one you are shown at the beginning of the trailer. The low key lighting, with key lighting showing the railing of the well is an obvious hint to the audience that there is a disturbance of the story line which appeared to be happy at the beginning of the trailer.

This medium shot of the character shows her looking vulnerable, which is a stereotypical feature of victims in horror and slasher films.

The close up of the weapon, in low key lighting allows the audience to understand what the situation is, showing that the disturbance is about to take over the plot.

However, in this shot, where the characters faces have become a key factor in the shot, you can clearly see the emotions of the characters, which contrasts with the lighting of the shot which is high key which normally is accompanied by positive emotions.

Again, the shot shows the weapon used, which enables the audience to understand and remember what it was used for, as it was previously shown in a close up shot. The point-of-view shot allows the audience to be in the characters shoes, creating an emotional connection between the characters and the audience.

The low key lighting, accompanied by the typography of 'You're next' which is a stereotypical feature of horror and slasher films. Since the shot is filmed behind the character the audience is not in the characters point of view, however they are still on the same height level as the character, allowing them  to see exactly what the character is seeing

In the final shot of the characters in the trailer, the main protagonists are shown. One of the characters, whom is shown as vulnerable due to her costume, has survived which goes against the stereotypes of characters in slasher/horror films, however the other two characters are dressed appropriately.

In the final shot, the audience is shown the killer, however all you are shown is the robe which is being worn, hiding his face. This allows the audience to understand what they are intended to be afraid of, although whom it is and why is still hidden, remaining a mystery to the audience.