Tuesday 8 May 2012

Final Trailer & Ancillary Tasks




While filming our horror trailer I took the role of creating the storyboard and making sure the continuity is consistent throughout and also an actress.

Thursday 26 April 2012

EVALUATION - How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

EVALUATION - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Whilst in the process of creating our media final media product we compared a variety of horror trailers which had similar conventions which featured in our trailer. We chose Insidious as our style model simply because the conventions which were featured within it of a mysterious figure were also used in ours. Insidious depicts a young boy who plays the victim similarly with ours we have our victim being played by a young girl as we wanted to convey her vulnerability.We researched two theorists Vladimir Propp & Tzervetan Todorov, and linked their ideas to our trailers. Todorov’s theory is based on the narrative structure of horror trailers. His theory consists of 5 stages (equilibrium > disruption > disequilibrium > solution > new equilibrium) With our trailer I found that it challenged Todorov theory as horror trailers would not contain a ‘solution’ or a ‘new equilibrium’ as this would then give away the plot of the film.

Our initial equilibrium is the girl has a dream which quickly turns into a nightmare. Our equilibrium quickly changes into disruption where the demon she is dreaming about turning into a horrible reality, the girl tries on numerous occasions to escape this is our disequilibrium.
Another disequilibrium which is also a typical convention of a horror trailer is the lack of lighting we had within our trailer, we did this so it would make our audience feel very unnerved and want to know what's going on. When we eventually started our editing process we incorporated the opening title from our style model Paranormal Activity which reads Paramount Pictures Production. We don’t have solution or a new equilibrium as it is very unlikely with a film trailer to have a solution as it would give away the plot of the film. With Propp’s it’s mainly his theory of characters, which he has gained from most films which are the hero but they aren’t apparent in the trailer.

As a group we decided not to have any dialogue throughout our horror trailer this is because we wanted our acting sd well as non diegetic sound we chose to give the audience a chance to form their own interpretation without any other influences. Instead of this we used snippets from a few soundtracks from Paranormal Activity and a lullaby as well as some diegetic sounds like the doors banging and screams to make our trailer seem as professional as possible by using both diegetic and non-diegetic music.Within our horror movie trailer the villain is played by a demon. We also have the helper who is the passer-by, who sees the victim in a fragile state and lastly the donor who is the helper and the princess which the girl who is the victim. We found that Todorov’s theory linked more with our trailer than Propp’s. This was because our horror trailer fits in with in the conventions which are associated with horror trailers which don’t challenge those ideas.



Our trailer also does not contain a lot of character as most conventional horror trailers as it adds a sense of hysteria and fear of the unknown which we wanted to convey.Lastly we wanted our trailer to be a stereotypical trailer which contained typical horror conventions. Strauss’ theory focus on the binary opposition which are known as opposite values which reveal certain focuses on media texts. For example good and evil or known and unknown, showing the concept of how the binary opposition works. Strauss doesn’t really focus on the order of the events which take place within it. He focuses much more on the arrangement of the themes. Compared to our trailer where it sticks to one theme which contain typical horror conventions.

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Email sent to Paramount Studios

As a group we sent an email to Paramount Studios asking for permisssion to use cwertain sections of Paranormal Activity soundtrack within our horror trailer.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Our Initial Filming Schedule.


At the beginning of our filming production, we heavily relied on our storyboard to form our trailer as we were pretty set that these shots were the only one we needed, upon reflection we found that we added more shots and extra filler shots as the filming process went on showing that although our filming process is not a direct reflection of what we have produced we have developed our narrative using a lot more camera shots as well as our mise' on scene. We annotated our storyboard with ideas we all had s when it came to filming some extra shots we knew exactly what we wanted.

Editing Process




This is an overall update of what mainly took place within our editing process.

Filming Process.

Filming Process.

Thursday, 1st March 2012 - Originally we intending to get most of the lose ends of filming finished and completed today but because of the unexpected weather condition we decided to film this morning. We filmed the remaining out door shots as well as filler shots.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Filming Process.

Thursday, 1st March 2012 - The filming went very successful as the light began to close in at the same time as we were filming which is what we intended to do, showing that we managed to keep to schedule to what we had initially planned. The lighting is a very significant part in our trailer as it helps to create a sense of eerie and fear of the unknown, hopefully in our final trailer this is conveyed.

Sunday 26 February 2012

Filming Process.



Filming Process.

Sunday, 19th February 2012


Today we plan to film a selection of the outside shots. We plan to meet at 5pm, we think this would a ideal time to film the dark shots as this is round about the time when the sun begins to set. We have considered the weather conditions which have proved to not to be an issue.



Wednesday 15 February 2012

Front Cover Style Model.



For my horror magazine front cover although I chose Empire as my style model as its a very popular and successful company which specialises in the film industry. I generally chose this magazine simple because I thought it was fitting to what I wanted my final magazine cover to look like. I specifically chose this edition simply because of it's colour scheme: red, white and black. These colours commonly have connotations of death, blood and danger which is very fitting of as horror convention. As well as that the background contrasts well with the white mask making the image more central and also mysterious another feature of a horror film.

Filming Process: Horror Trailer.

Wednesday, 15th February 2012


  • As a group today we plan to film the bedroom scene focusing mainly on the beginning of our horror trailer. 
  • We aim to film using a variety of different shots, to ensure that if some shots don't look correct or suitable we will then have a wide range to choose from. 
  • We will also make sure the lighting is suitable this is important as it it will maintain the continuity with our horror trailer.

Friday 10 February 2012

Storyboard Annimatic.



This is our storyboard which we then put into a video format, we did this to show what our horror trailer will look like prior to the videoing and also gaver us an indication into what would fit in and what wouldn't be sutiable and didnt look right and we could make adjustments and improvements to it.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Title: Subliminal.

When deciding which font to use on my horror front cover and poster, I created four samples and showed them to my target audience which then given me an indication into which they found the most eye catching and suitable to the horror genre.



Possible Horror Film Titles.

When trying to think of ideas for our film names, we wanted a title which had a variety of different meaning which could be interpreted in a number of ways, adding a bit of mystery to our film trailer. We finally came up with three which we thought would be suitable as a title.
Abstract - Existing in thought or as an idea but not having concrete evidence of this existence.
Subconscious - Concerning the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware but which influences one's actions and feelings

Subliminal - Below the threshold of sensation or consciousness; perceived by or affecting someone's mind without their being aware of it.

Character Profiles.

I wanted to get an indication of what my audience liked and disliked so I have collated related information which I shall take into consideration in my final film trailer.
Name: Catherine Lamb
Age: 19
Occupation: University student studying Events Management at Northumbria University.
Earnings: Works part time at the O2 Academy - £350 a month.
Likes: Going to the cinema, shopping, listening to music and attending gigs and festivals.
Dislikes: Cooking, action films, plays and public transport!
What attracts you to see a film? I think the consistency within a film plays a big part when watching a film as well as the backing track.
What do you look for in a trailer? I like to be left wondering what’s going to happen next in the trailer. I don’t like too much being given away as this would tear me away from going to see the film.
What genre of film do you like? I open to every genre but I love a good horror once in a while, as weird as it sounds I like the thought of me being scared!

Name: Callum Forster

Age: 20

Occupation: Builder
Earnings: £650 per month
Likes: Playing video games, going out, watching football and films at home with his roommate.
Dislikes: Snakes, coffee, boring people and winter!
What attracts you to a film? I don’t really go to the cinema but I always buy DVD’s so I usually see what others think of it before I go and buy the DVD.
What do you look for most in a film? I like knowing the basic plot of the film, I hate being not in the loop that’s why I’m not keen on horror films!
What genre of film do you like? I enjoy watching a science fiction once in a while but I love a good action film! I’m still yet to see a horror film I’m a fan of.

Ancillary Task - Production Companies

Working Title is a British film production company which was founded by Tim Bevans and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. Working Title is based in London and produces films as well as television production. They have produced a variety of films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shaun Of the Dead & Hot Fuzz.

Twentieth Century Fox Film is one of the major American film studios as of 2011. Popular films produced by Fox are X-Men, The X Files & Avatar.

Paramount is American film production & distribution company located in Hollywood. It is also one of Americas oldest existing film studio. Major films produced by Paramount include Friday the 13th, Star Trek & Paranormal Activity.

Sony also known as Sony Entertainment Pictures is also a film production and distribution company. Sony has produced a wide range of films from Men In Black, Karate Kid & Jeopardy.

Columbia is an American film production and distribution company based in Hollywood. It has produced and distributed film from Spiderman, The Grudge to Spiderman and Angels & Demons.

Spyglass Entertainment is also an American production company,. Spyglass are profoundly known from films like The Sixth Sense, Abandon & The Ruins.

New Line Cinema is a American Film Studio which was founded in 1967. It later merged with the 'sister' studio in 2008. Known films which has been produced by them are Rush Hour, Knock 'Em Up & The Mask.