Analysis of finished film magazine front cover

I used the masthead 'Unscene' and spelt 'seen' as 'scene' to relate to scenes in film, so the mastead has connotations of unseen films.

I continued the conventional black, red and white theme throughout linking with all 3 of my media texts.

I used the main image of a character from a scene in the film with the tagline 'Asphyxiate official' catching the readers attention with a memorable iconic image from the film.

• The well established effect I wanted this magazine to have can be seen through the main sell line above the masthead 'Best summer preview ever!' this indicates that it is a regular magazine with different issues of previews to reach a range of target audiences for the magazine to generate more profit.

I would relate my film magazine to Empire because:

• The conventional black, red and white theme is used.
• The image is of the character from a scene in the film with the tagline 'Christopher Nolan's Inception' with Inception big and in bold to stand out from the rest of the text.
• The layout of the magazine is similar to mine. For example, both mastheads are in red placed at the top of page.

Analysis of finished film poster

• My poster mainly consists of one of the trailers main themes being Water, and the protagonist risng from the water not revealing too much identity, relating to the theme of the unknown.
• I have used the conventional black, red and white theme so the text stands out on the image.
• I have highlighted the word 'HATE' as this links in with another one of our main themes in the trailer.
• I have chosen to focus on the eyes looking directly at the audience. This makes the image seem very powerful and draws the audience in.
• I have lined the tagline in line with the protagonists eye suggesting this is what can be seen through the eyes of the protagonist.

I would relate my film poster to Scream 4 because:

• It follows conventions of the black, red and white theme which mine consists of also.
• Contains the iconic image of the protagonist straring directly at the audience drawing the audience in, just as I have done with mine.
• The tagline is also in line with the face as well as 'Scream' placed inside the open mouth relating to the scream of others.

Evaluation

Strengths and weaknesses of the finished film trailer

From our focus group I believe our group discovered that our trailer contained more strengths than weaknesses as we recieved positive feedback throughout.
Although I do believe our weaknesses were:

• The content of the film trailer - I think perhaps more content could of been included so the plot of the story would be easier to reveal.
• Effects and Transitions of the film trailer - I think better effects and transitions could of been added to make our trailer look more effective.
•  Plot and settings - our group struggled at the beginning with coming up with a good plot and setting for our trailer.

Although we were able to highlight our weaknesses after many changes and improvements, I believe we successfully produced a good, successful pyschological thriller trailer which the audience seemed to enjoy.

How our trailer compares with real media output

Our trailer follows the typical conventions of a horror/pyschological thriller genre although we challenged them slighty with the use of a female protagonist. However we used an unconventional element in our trailer with the black and white effect over the first few shots to show an action that happened in the past and differentiate this with the present. We have also used a darker setting and several possible villains to create a sense of disorientation, both of which are stereotypical to the genre we tried to portray.
Before deciding on the plot for our trailer we analysed a number of horror trailers on Youtube such as Friday the 13th, Sorority row, Scream 4 and Shrooms as they all had elements of 'psychological thrillers' which we considered using in our own as it makes the story more effective and leaves the audience on the edge of their seat.
 I think our trailer mainly compares to Sorority row and Friday the 13th as our plot consists of elements featured in these trailers. For example the setting of the lake and woods in our trailer compares to the setting of the lake and forest in Friday the 13th. It's also similar in the way iconic images have been used, for example freddy's costume in Friday the 13th contains the iconic mask, in our trailer we have used the iconic hood. Our trailer compares to Sorority row with plot focused on the themes of loss and revenge.

Consuming the film trailer

An audience would consume the film trailer we have produced through a variety of digital technologies such as:

• The Cinema
• The Internet
• Radio
• Television

The audience would be adressed over a variety of media platforms. We would do this by trying to reach as large an audience as possible. Consuming the trailer in these ways makes our target audience technophiles.
The audience would consume our film trailer by watching other films at the cinema with our trailer being shown before the film with 3 - 4 other trailers, giving the audience a glimpse of what to expect in the film. It would also be consumed through the internet on sites such as Youtube where the audience are able to control what they watch.

Codes and Conventions

The film trailer we have produced is successful in the way it follows conventions of other horror/psychological thriller genre trailers but also challenges them making our trailer individual and unique. The trailers code of enigma uses a red hering effect where the audience are left unaware of who the killer actually is.
We have used generic codes and conventions within our trailer with the use of fades to black and white and
black, red and white colour scheme continued throughout the 3 texts. The dark setting follows the repetoire of elements by Branston and Stafford, looking at stereotypical horror settings. For example the lake and woods are dark settings creating a sense of danger.
Our trailer contains 2 iconic images:
The hood - representing death.
The lake - representing danger.
The red hering effect also represents confusion.

Target Audience

We identified the target audience by using actors who were aged between 15 - 20 both male and female. However because we used a complex title for our film trailer, we have widened the audience to 15 - 24. This decision was made after finding out from a survey that 15 - 25 was the age group who's favourite genre was psychological thriller. We also found that this age group was more likely to visit the cinema as they have more holiday and like to spend leisurely days with their friends.

Our trailer appeals to the target audience by using characters of the same age group, so the audience will be more interested in the film as they can relate to certain characters of around their own age. The target audience can relate to characters in our trailer as they are of the same age, making it more realistic to the audience as they are able to imagine themselves in the same position. The target audience is able to recognise the genre of the film trailer due to the soundtrack, non diegetic sounds such as 'Boom', dark lighting, establishing shots such as the protagonist overviewing the party and vunerable shots of the victims.

What the audience thinks

On the 1st of April we arranged a focus group to view our trailer. Due to some people unable to make it, we had a number of 4 girls and 2 boys aged between 15 - 24. From the feedback we recieved, we established that our target audience understood the basic plot of the trailer, as well as identifying key character roles and functions within the trailer. The audience was also able to identify the settings and thought that they all worked well together for the narrative of the film we are promoting. The audience was able to understand how sound creates meaning within the trailer as Keiran, a member of the focus group stated that 'the sound works well with the shots in the trailer to make it very tense for the audience to watch.' Finally every member of the focus group stated that they would want to go and see our film in the cinema and thought the way we constructed the trailer with 3 possible villians worked well and kept them guessing, which was the result we were hoping for. Overall our group was very happy with the audience feedback we recieved.

Representation of characters

Me (Sarah) - The main character seen as the vunerable yet strong character and potential villian. Wants to seek revenge physically, emotionally and intellectually over the loss of her brother.

Millie Edwards - The nice innocent friend, and the victim.

Jess Watkins - The more confident, loud friend. Seen as a much stronger female than Millie.

We asked some people outside of our group to feature in our trailer:

Will Watkins - played Eddie (Sarah's brother) seen as the innocent vicim but also a potential villian.

Paige Crawford - played the Mother of Sarah and Eddie. Seen as a strong female character, potential victim/villian.

Ryan Probert, Nia Gething, Hannah Jones, Liberty Holder and others played the victims.

The representation of our characters conformed to conventions of the psychological thriller/horror genre trailers by the use of 3 potential villians, confusing the audience of who they should really fear. 2 of our potential villians were female, challenging conventions with the villian usually viewed as a strong male character.

Key themes in our trailer

• Death - seen in shots where the boy is strangled to death and shots where the girl is being dragged to the lake shows that death is about to come. The iconic image of the hooded figure can be seen as another image of death as those close by only have a certain amount of time before the villian reaches them. Our film title also leaves a sense of death with 'Asphyxiate' leaving us with an idea of how the victims are killed, as the meaning of Asphyxiate refers to drowning, suffering and strangling. This can be identified from the beginning of the trailer with the long shot of the boy drowning.
• Past/present - seen at the beginning of the trailer in the black and white shots of the boy drowing in the lake. We have then added a fade to white transition with the title 5 years later to show the audience that we are now in the present.
• Revenge - Key theme in our trailer, as the girl (Sarah) is heartbroken and feels a sense of loss over her brothers death so seeks revenge on those who she blames for his death which can be seen as a pyschological element as she still wants to seek revenge 5 years later, she feels she needs to release her emotions and feelings by taking action in order to move on.
• Loss - Makes the girl (Sarah) seek revenge on those around her.
• Isolation - Conventional in horror trailers. Victims are left isolated and alone at the lake whilst their friends are being killed off one by one. A sense of isolation is seen in the close up of Ryan being strangled to death and trying to shout for help but is completely isolated with the villian.
• The unknown - Fear of what is at the lake and what's taking the victims.
• Family relationships - Can be seen with the loss of the girls (Sarahs) brother and the shot of Sarah and her mother showing that she does not want Sarah going to the lake alone.
• Water - Main theme in or trailer. Links to characters death and history of the lake.

Theories

Todorov - he suggested that conventional narratives are structured in 5 stages:

• 1st stage - A state of equilibrium at the outset.
• 2nd stage - A disruption of the equilbrium by some action.
• 3rd stage - A recognition that there has been some disruption.
• 4th stage - An attempt to repair the disruption.
• 5th stage - A reinstatement of the equilibrium.

In our trailer we applied Todorov's theory of narrative through to both the 2nd and 3rd stage in each storyline. The equilibrium is shown in the shots of the girls talking at school, the disruption then comes with the mystery of the hooded killer. The equilibrium is of the boy and his sister by the lake, this is then disrupted by the boy drowning, the kilings after becomes the attempt to reinstate the equilibrium as it is seen as an act of revenge.

Vladmir Propp identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions. Characters, according to Propp, have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text.

Characters that perform a function:

• The Hero - a character that seeks something.
• The Villian - who opposes or actively blocks the Hero's quest.
• The Donor - who provides an object with magical properties.
• The Dispatcher - who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message.
• The False Hero -  who disrupts the Hero's success by making false claims.
• The Helper - who aids the Hero.
• The Princess - acts as the reward for the Hero and the object of the Villian's plots.
• Her Father - who acts to reward the Hero for his effort.

Vladmir Propp's theory can be applied to our trailer with the boy being the original victim and the 3 potential villians. There is no exact hero/heroine.

Levi Strauss believed that the way we understand certain words depends not so much on any meaning they themselves directly contain, but much more by our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'opposite' or, as he called it 'binary opposites'. For example, our understanding of the word "villain" depends on the difference between that word and the opposing word "hero". Within the media field, binary oppositions are used very frequently in films, especially in the horror genre. Many horror films include sets of binary oppositions in their plots. Particularly good and evil, sane and insane, rational and irrational and human and supernatural.

When looking at Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposite we can see past/present, life/death, power/weakness, suffocation/freedom and the 2 sides of split personality.

Feminist Mulvey Theory - known as the gaze.The concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. She believed that in film audiences have to 'view' characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.

 

In terms of feminism we have chosen to show our female characters as subjects rather than objects in the male glance. 2 of our villians are females, giving women the overall power.

Promotion

The trailer could be seen as the best promotional device as it gives the audience a glimpse of what is yet to come as well as a greater sense of narrative of what to expect in the film. The trailer can be consumed in a number of ways such as; the trailer can be viewed in the cinema before the screening of their chosen film which is efficient in the way it distributes to the right target audience because trailers of the same genre will appear beforehand. It could also be consumed through the internet through sites such as Youtube, where the audience are able to control what they view. The trailer can be consumed by any member of the audience through television, where the trailer may appear in adverts between programmes engaging the audience with it's good sense of narrative, leaving them with enough code of enigma.

The poster visually promotes the film, usually displayed with an iconic image, main character or well known actor/actress, capturing the audience's attention and creating a USP for the film. The film poster would be consumed on billboards, buses, telephone boxes, bus shelters, or in cinemas.

The magazine front cover captures mainly it's target audience and will capture the audience's attention with who or what is viewed on the front cover of the magazine. A good image will make the reader want to purchase the magazine and will then hopefully persuade them to watch the film by the content contained in the magazine.

From producing my 3 promotional devices, I have discovered that a good image is what most commonly captures the audiences attention, it can lead the product. For example the image on a poster is the first thing the audience will look at and this is what will draw them in. In a trailer, a good image will always stand out and give the audience something to remember. We followed these conventions in our trailer, leaving the more tense and memorable shots till the end, leaving the audience stuck with those images. As well as the image, the promotional devices need to be able to engage with the audience, involving them in the story.

Technologies

A number of technologies were used by myself and the group throughout the process of producing our promotional media portfolios. We used the following technologies:

• The internet - Used to research conventions of horror/psychological thriller trailers to give us ideas on how to construct our own trailer. We used search engines such as Google and Youtube to watch other trailers of the same specific genre. We used sites such as Freeplaymusic.com to download soundtracks and sound effects which worked well with the shots in our trailer. Lastly Blogspot was used to to record our research and planning and progression throughout the process of producing our promotional media portfolios.

• Digital Camera - Used for capturing images for our animatic which allowed us to storyboard each individual shot to get a basic outline of the trailer and make room for improvements. The camera was also used to capture images for our film posters and film magazine front covers, which we were then able to edit using softwares called Photoshop and Paintshop Pro where we were able to adjust the quality of the image and apply layering and effects.

• Video Camera - Used to go out and record shots. Using the camera with the tripod allowed us to achieve a good steady shot as well as varying our angles. 

• Adobe Premiere Elements - Used to edit our shots, cut footage, add effects and transitions as well as titles and soundtrack.

• Adobe Indesign - Used to create my film poster and magazine front cover. I found this software much quicker and easier to use due to past experience of using the software at AS Level.

Final film magazine front cover

Final film poster

Audience feedback questionnaire results

From the focus group and questionnaire the results we recieved were positive and what we had hoped for.100% of the group stated that the genre of our trailer was horror. 90% of the group stated that the target audience is aimed at both male and female which is what we set out to target. 100% of the group understood the basic plot of the trailer, ,aking our trailer successful. 80% of the group didn't know who the protagonist was, this means that more of the audience would be encouraged to go and see the film in order to find out who the protagonist is. From the 3 texts the group stated that 'they want to know what happens', 'it was a great storyline' and 'it left me shaken'. From these comments I believe that our 3 texts work well together to promote our promotional campaign. 

Audience feedback questionnaire

1. What genre do you believe the trailer is?

• Comedy
• Horror
• Psychological Thriller
• Action
• Sci- Fi

2. Which gender does the trailer target at?

• Female
• Male
• Both

3. What age group do you believe the target audience is for the trailer?

• 13-19
• 16-23
• 15-24
• 18-53

4. What 3 images stood out the most for you?

5. Can you reveal the basic plot of the story?

6. Who do you believe the protagonist is? (Killer/main character)

7. What are your emotions after watching the trailer?

8. Do you think the trailer reveals too much?

9. Would you go to see the film in the cinema?

10. Do you think the soundtrack goes well with the shots in the trailer?

Focus group explanation

We have selected 4 females and 4 males aged between 15 and 25  to attend the trailer showing as these will be our target audience.
The trailer will be viewed, following an open discussion where we will ask them to complete the given questionnaires.
This will allow us to get feedback from our target audience as well as how successful our film trailer actually is.
We will then show our own individual film posters and have an open discussion, letting the audience give open feedback on what they think about the posters and any improvements they think should be made.