Evaluation

Below is the prezi presentation for my evaluation on the A2 media coursework:

A2 Media Horror Coursework Evaluation on Prezi

'Hush Hush' premiere audience feedback

As mentioned during the premiere, we handed out questionnaires for audience feedback. This was done to learn about what our audience felt about our trailer, magazine and poster and it is almost like a review. Overall the results were really positive and this shows that the products succeeded in their job of relating to horror as much as possible.

Below is the results of the questionnaire, with both the recorded questions and answers:

'Hush Hush' premiere invitation

As a part of the process, we were made to invite people to the premiere of the trailer, so that we could gather some audience feedback. Below is the invitation for the premiere:

Hush Hush Trailer

The final trailer:

Filming

Through following the shot schedule we began filming. Of course through the process, we came across problems that we had to take care of and a prome example is that of when we began filming on our first day. We headed off to the house that was schduled for and filmed a descent amount of shots. Then finally when we decided to take a look at the shots on the computer, we realised they actually didn't work. So we learnt more about how we felt about the look of the trailer. This also was hit home to us when we took the shots of the scenes in which the killer confronts the final girl, however we were not happy with the lighting and so re did some of the scenes.

We attempted to follow the conventions of horror as much as we could when creating the trailer.

Below are some of the things we took into consideration:

The final girl is wearing black throughout the trailer as it connotes that she is haunted by her dark past.

Similarly the villain is always wearing black as he is the evil character, however the use of the white mask was to show some form of humanity as the killer feels his actions are just.

The setting was mainly in the dark. This was as it gives a spine chilling effect and mainly as we only wanted to show the killer in the dark, as it is the point people feel most vulnerable.

We placed an establishing shot of the university as we felt it needed to be shown so that the audience could see that we were going along with the idea that there was going to be a place that is supposed to be safe, is exposed by this evil character.

The knife is extremely important as it is a weapon used by many killers as it allows them to get up close and personal with the victims.

We also made sure the killer was completely hidden so that it gave him a mysterious presence and also a monstrous element like the famous horror villains such as Michael Myers.

Final Magzine evaluation

The picture of the final poster took inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho'. This was mainly in regard to the villain, Norman Bates:

It was important that there was as much detaile placed within the product to give it the maximum effect of looking like a real magazine. For instance when carrying out research, we noticed that 'Empire' liked to make the style of some mastheads the same like the Hellboy edition for instance, in which the masthead is lit up in fire. So with this in mind, we decided to do similar, hence the reason we placed the knife with blood dripping down on it.

With the rest of the magazine we just followed all the conventions. For instance, text placed all around the page on what will be included in the magazine. Furthermore promoting the magazine and attempting to convince people to buy it through giving free things such as posters. Furthermore we included having a banner at the bottom of actors being included. We also added simple things such as the price and the date.

Again we added the correct colour schemes that would follow the genre well such as black, red and white.

Empire Magazine 'Hush Hush' Issue

Below is the completed magazine of Empire Magazine's 'Hush Hush' edition:

Creation process of the magazine

Below is the powrpoint for the creation of the magazine front cover:

Magazine Front Cover Process

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Magazine covers

Below is a powerpoint presentation on the conventions of a magazine front cover:

Magazine front covers conventions

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Final Poster Analysis

The poster created follows many of the conventions of horror. Firstly the colour schemes can be noted. The main colours used in the poster are black, red and white. This was not only done due to the questionnaire but also because these colours are extremely effective when it comes down to the horror genre. These colours all connote things that relate to the horror genre well. For instance, black links to darkness, white links to purity and red connotes blood and death. The colours were also mixed up a little, so for example, placing blood on the mask shows how filth and death is covering up the purity left in some characters such as the final girl and even the killer through his beliefs in what he is doing is correct.

The main purposes of the poster is to sell the film and also give an in sight to the film. This is what has been the purpose of the poster that has been created. The way in which this has been done is by placing the mask that the killer wears in the poster but also putting in the blood to show that it is a slasher horror. It also gives an in sight to the film by placing a tag line questioning 'Can you keep a deadly secret?' This relates to the film well as it is about a secret that leads to major porblems. Furthermore by placing a review on the poster helps with the merchandising and selling the film, as the review is positive stating 'Simply Spinechilling'.

All the other conventions of a poster have been placed as well such as the credits, which shows the talent behind the film. There is also the age rating which shows hoiw gory the horror is. So with ours being an 18 shows how gory and horrific the film is likely to be. Furthermore the production company's logo is also put on the poster as it is part of the credits and shows people the company that helped produce the film, which would be a huge boost especially if the film does extremely well.

Poster process

Below is a powerpoint showing the steps undertaken in the creation of the poster:

Hush hush poster steps

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The process for the poster was an interesting one. At first, as evident through the flat plans, the original picture was the final girl behind the mask with her finger on the lips. However during the creation of the poster, I had an experiment with cutting out thr features of the final girl and what was left was the mask with some of the bottom half cut. This gave a really intersting effect, and when we asked people what it looked like, a lot said that it was a girl crouching, hiding from something. So overall we decided to go with this.

The rest was very simple, the colours used as they connote horror conventions and furthermore, other simple conventions for the poster such as the age certificate, production company and the credits were all placed as planned.

'Hush Hush' Poster

Below is the completed poster for our horror film 'Hush Hush':

Flat Plan (Powerpoint)

Along with the drawn up flat plans, I created a flat plan on powerpoint that has been annotated. This flat plan will give a basic look of how the final piece will look in terms of the poster.

Hush hush presentation

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Flat plans

Below are the flat plans that I drew for the creation of the poster (one is annotated to note the conventions):

Questionnaire analysis

As I have already explained there were twenty people that took part in the questinnaire for the poster. This was done so that there was a wide spectrum of opinions.
Results analysis:

1. Gender?
Male: 50% / Female: 50%

I purposely chose to have an equal amount of male female candidates to take part so that the results would appear to be more fair.

2. Do you watch horror films?
Yes - Regular: 30% / No - Never: 10% / Sometimes: 60%

Judging from these results, most of the candidates do watch horror films sometimes, and there were a few that watched regularly. It works well that there were people in each callibre as it allows a difference of opinion for the questionnaire. For example, the regualr horror film watchers will have a very different opinion to those who never watch horror, but this would work as it could help see the broad variety of opinions in researching how to make the poster work best.

3. What is the purpose of a film poster?
To sell the film - 70% / To give an in sight to the film - 30% / Every other film has one - 0%

The answers given in this question were really interesting as the obvious contenders were the first two, hence the reason they received all the votes. Most people believed that the main purpose was to sell the film, which in fairness could be argued well, as a good poster that appears interesting could really work effectively in making people wating to view the trailer, and from there having the trailer convince them to go and see the film. It is also understandable that the second choice was picked as it does give a slight in sight to the film. For instance, when we see the poster of 'Saw', we know that the film will be gory. This question shows that there should be a massive focus on making the poster as interesting as possible so that an in sight can be given and so that it will sell.

4. What makes a good film poster?
Popular answers: Colours / Picture / Font  

This question based around the candidates to write down their opinions. The most popular answers was the ones states above (colours, picture and font). This question links in well with the previous question because the answers given are all factors in making the poster stand out and work well in order to achieve making the poster interesting enough to make people want to watch the film and give an in sight to the film.

5. What do you think are good conventions for a horror film poster?
Popular: Blood / Weapon / Villain

Again this question is similar to the previous one in the sense that it was for the candidates to write down their opinions with the most popular being blood, villain or weapon. In fact most horror posters do follow these conventions in which they have blood, weaponry or the villain, as it allows the poster to boast the genre.

6. Pick two colours that would best suit a horror film poster?
Popular: Red / Black / White

The colours picked for this question were quite likely to be picked as a lot of horror posters use these colours. The black shows off darkness, the white can show purity and the blood and red connotes death.

Questionnaire results

As stated before, I designed a questionnaire to help in the creation of the poster. I thought, I would try to make it as broad as possible and so therefore made sure that there was an equal amount of male and female participents (20 people were surveyed), and also made sure they were all over the age of 15 as a lot of horror films are around this age limit.

Below are the recorded results:

1. Gender?

Male: 50% / Female: 50%

2. Do you watch horror films?

Yes - Regular: 30% / No - Never: 10% / Sometimes: 60%

3. What is the purpose of a film poster?

To sell the film - 70% / To give an in sight to the film - 30% / Every other film has one - 0%

4. What makes a good film poster?

Popular answers: Colours / Picture / Font

5. What do you think are good conventions for a horror film poster?

Popular: Blood / Weapon / Villain

6. Pick two colours that would best suit a horror film poster?

Popular: Red / Black / White

Questionnaire for the horror poster

Before the completion of the horror poster, I cooked up a quick survey questionnaire for people to take in order to gain  a spectrum of opinions to help create the end product. Below is the questions that were included:

1. Gender?
2. Do you watch horror films?
3. What is the purpose of a film poster?
4. What makes a good film poster?
5. What do you think are good conventions for a horror film poster?
6. Pick two colours that would best suit a horror film poster?

Movie posters

The movie poster is extremely important when it comes to merchandising and promoting a movie. Within the process a poster is to be created for the film that we have made.

Before the creation of the poster, research was undertaken for the basic convention of a horror movie poster.

Below are some of the conventions listed:

. Horrific picture that relates to the themes of the film in order to give an in sight to an audience.

. The title is an obvious convention as it is the name of the film, and the name is also a great link to the film as it shows of the personality of it. For instance, 'Scream' shows off a thriller with the fact that there will be a lot of screaming. Another example is 'Saw', which could show off the slasher elements to the film through the gory name.

. A date is also another convention. It's purpose is obvious as the poster is an attempt to sell the film, so when it grabs people's attention they'll know when it is released, if they're interested.

. The colour schemes are also extremely important as colours can connote messages. For example, the colours black and red can be associated with death and blood.

Examples of different horror posters:

Our story with Todorov's narritive theory

The story for the horror trailer links with Todorov's six part structure thoery.

The theory is broken up into the following parts:

Eqilibrium
Disruption
Complications
Crisis
Climax
Resolution

Below is the links to our story and the narritive theory:

Equilibrium - Final girl's first day at the university.

Disruption - In the past she has commited a crime of murder that haunts her.

Complications - The person that was murdered was a close person to another person who is close by.

Crisis - An anonymous figure is after her, dressed completely hidden through his mask.

Climax - The killer is discovered by the final girl and he is killed by her, by being stabbed in the chest.

Resolution - She lies down beside a dead body and eventually sits in a cell, but is safe from the danger of the killer.

Use of lighting when shooting the actual trailer

With lighting being one of the most important factors of filming, keeping to grips with using ot correctly was essential. We attempted to use both natural and artificial lighting.

NATUARAL LIGHTING:
The use of natural lighting was used with the establishing shot in which we picked the time of day which actually had a descent amount of light, however also contained a slightly gloomy look too, so that it would set off this energy and feeling for the genre,

ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING:
There was a prodominent use of artificial lighting to help catch out the correct look for each scene. In fact the first secenes of the trailer with the dead girls which contained the flash light look, was an interesting use of artificial light. This was because we actually didn't use a flash light but the actual LED light, but covered some of the edges to give it the effect.
In the scenes in which the killer is constantly after the final girl, the use of LED light was extremely important as it was the only source of light used, so the positioning and power was done to give maximum effect. For example, the scene in which the killer grabs the final girl and points the knife to her face, the lights position was to the side and so it also allowed the knife to glint when it was moving. Another reason the LED lighting was used without any other light, it still allowed the scene to look clear but also allowed it to look dark which related to the theme of horror extremely well, as the setting was relevant.

Locations

There were many different locations used in shooting the trailer. In actual fact the locations changed. At first we were to shoot some of the trailer at Leanne (one of the student's in the group) house, however we decided to re do the shooting within the premises of the college. This was because space was limited and there was more of a variety of rooms within the college. Furthermore, the whole look of the college allowed us to portray a similar university setup, with corridors and learning facilities.

List of locations in the college used for the trailer:

Establishing shot of the college gives the audience an idea of the location of where the film is set.

College halls - We shot some scenes within the college hallways, however ended up scrapping the scenes die to there not being enough darkness.

College Kitchen - Took shots of the killer picking up the knife.

Classrooms - Shots were actually taken within class rooms with both the killer and the final girl.

Media Studio - The shots of the two girls dead were shot in this studio, and some shots of the killer were also shot here.