Questionnaires

This illustrates that predominantly males were asked so could potentially give inaccurate results in future I would ask more females to give me a better idea of what people would want in a horror film trailer.

This graph suggests again potentially I should have asked more of a range of different ages because that would give me more of an accurate set of results. There was more 15 - 18 so this means we would not be as explicit because the age rating would be 15 so we will use blood but just not as much to be too violent.

The majority of participants said they would want to see a horror movie set in a city however we are going against this research because we did collect some results for it to be in the woods so it wouldnt be going fully against these results. The reason we have chose the woods is through research on other horror movies also because it links in well with our storyline.

Magazine Research

1. What is the title, price and frequency of the your magazine (weekly/monthly)
The title of our magazine is 'Memory' we chose this name because it connotes death in terms of remembering someone who has died so this would link to the horrror genre because from research I have noticed the title is usually related to death or in gore such as 'Gorezone', 'Virus', 'Horrorhound'. The price of our magazine would be targeted at over 15's so we would issue it for £1.50. The magazine would have to be a monthly issue as new films do not get released every day so there would not be alot to include in the magazine.

2. Where will your title be? (Font/position/size/name?)
I have noticed from research that the font of the title is usually in either a gothic style or gorry style and because we are calling the magazine 'Memory' I think it would suit to be in a gothic font, additionally all magazines I have researched in the horror genre use the colour black red and white, the red is a semiotic to illustrate blood, we may use a red text against a dark background however that may not make the title stand out.

3. What the pictures will you use? What will they suggest?
The main photo will either be a mid shot or long shot of the 3 main protaganists with the red eyes of the monster in our film behind us and with our facial expressions being afraid and shocked this will suggest the monster is after us. I also think it is important that we include a photo of a celebrity from another upcoming film that will be using the two-step flow theory of getting people attracted to the magazine. The magazine below shows a photo of Natasha Lyonne so fans of her would be instantly attracted to the magazine.

4. What information will you give about the magazine’s contents?
- How will this information be given? (gimmicks, quotes)
I would include a cliffhanger on the front cover of our film with a little caption saying something along the lines of 'Will they all survive?' this will engage readers to want to see inside but also to do that use the celebrity endorsement and write a caption saying 'find out what their favourite film is and their DIRTIEST SECRET' this will instantly engage the readers. Finally along the sides of the magazine I may include gimmicks and other films that are coming out.
6. How will you appeal to your target audience? (Gender, age, type of person)
The targetted audience for our magazine will be over 15's predominantly males but anyone who is interested in horror films this could be focused on gothic people, grungers, people who have a rock background so to target them I may write a gimmick at the top saying 'win free tickets to see slipknot live!', but it could also be targeted at couples because couples like to watch horror films together.

Key elements needed for our group film poster

Betrayed is a horror movie that includes many of the main conventions to identify it is a horror movie. Firstly the lowkey lighting indicates it will be a gloomy film and danger as the photos are in the shadows. To authenticate it is in the horror genre the faceial expression of the young innocent woman is scared and shocked, this is illustrated with her eyes widened and looking towards the othger photo of the close up of an older man but the opacity of his photo is reduced giving a view as if he isnt really there. This photo links to Claude Levi-Strauss theory of the idea of good vs evil where we see the potential villain in the film next to the protaganist this gives the audience an idea of what the film entails. In our film we have a villain as a monster so we could use this as an idea because the group of us are the innocent protagnists but there is a monster in the woods with us so for out poster we could potentially have the eyes of the monster next to us looking all scared with frightened faces.

A2 MEDIA - HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS

How did analysing the film trailer to Omen 2006 help you to think about the conventions of the horror genre?

The Omen is a classic horror movie and as it is an old movie the poster follows the conventions of a typical horror movie with different aspects of it. I believe it fits into the horror genre by primarily the semiotics used, the colour of black and red which could connote blood and evil which authenticates it is in the horror genre. Additionally the grave yard of crosses illustrates death and the lighting is red with a little pale faced boy standing which a straight face showing no emotion which makes the audience question what is he up to and what is so significant about him so they would want to watch the film in connection with that there is a slogan ‘Hes the beginning of the end’ which is an oxymoron to confuse the audience and engage them to want to see the movie. The title is in a gothic type of writing which makes it more daunting and it stands out contrasting with the red background.

Todorovs theory applies to the trailer to a certain extent as it begins with the equilibrium with a birthday party in a sunny town of a small innocent boy where everyone is happy but very soon after a woman jumps off a building resulting into hanging herself which begins to show the disequilibrium quickly and this would be to enforce it is quite scary and violent straight away to the audience and the bloodcurdling music matches the mood as the plot begins to get revealed even more if Todorovs theory fully applied to the trailer then it would typically finish on an equilibrium but this is challenged because it is left on a cliffhanger of a lady saying ‘please don’t let him kill me’ and then a very frightening scream which makes the audience wonder what has happened to her and if she is alright so this would not follow Todorovs theory completely.


How does this
fit into the horror genre?

What are the
typical conventions?
How does this attract the targeted audience?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuU7WpoPE3Y (Trailer 1)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqworUizlLk&feature=related (Trailer 2)


EXT: How does this conform to Tdorov's theory?