First stage of filming

After the first time I have ventured out to film, I thought I would write a blog post on what I have learnt from the experience and what I will be doing in the future to get more filming. I will not rush the filming but I am aware that there is not much time left in order to complete the film. I have created my production credits for my film which did not take a lot amount of time to make. I understand that to create my film trailer I must have shots in my trailer which make sense to the audience but then at the same time do not make sense, this means that i must make scenes which have some continuity but then  change to another location so a small part of the film is revealed when they are watching the trailer. 

Theorists in my work.

I have researched into theorists of media. I have discovered that there are 2 theorists that are in my work. These theorists are called Tvzvetan Todorov and Claude Levi-Strauss. The reason I am looking at media theorists are because this will guide me as to what works in the real life, such as these theories have not been thought out of thin air, so these theories have been created out of high professional work and look at the rules these media texts follow, so by abiding with these theories will help my work be of high quality.

Tvzvetan Todorov

Tvzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian philosopher born on March 1st, 1939. He has developed the theory of the classic narrative structure in films which I have researched and found out that his theory will be in my thriller film so I have decided to look into and blog about. Todorovs narratives theory has been split into sections. These sections are;

• Stage 1 - Equilibrium
• Stage 2 - Disruption
• Stage 3 - Recognition of the disruption
• Stage 4 - Attempt to repair the disruption
• Stage 5 - Resolution

Equilibrium

This is the stage in the classic narrative structure at the start of the film when all is well with the verisimilitude world which the director has created. This usually shows a happy world were characters are progressing through the career ladder.

Disruption

This is the part of the film when the equilibrium at the start of the film is broken. This is the stage when a problem has occured for the main characters but this has gone un-noticed, the film uses parralell action to show the audience that a problem has happened but the main characters are usually not there to witness this problem.

Recognition of the disruption

This is the part of the film when the main characters have worked out or have recognised the problem that has occured, by the time that they have noticed the problem then it is al-ready too late to stop the problem at its small stage, so by the time the main characters have recognised the problem then the problem is near the uncontrolable stage.

Attempt to repair the disruption

This is the part of the film when the characters have worked out a soloution to the problem and they are trying all they can to repair the disruption, in the stereotype narrative structure the characters would have tried 2 or 3 soloutions before the 4th soloution has repaired the disruption.

Resolution

This is the part in the film when the characters have resolved the problem and everything in the world that the director has created has been returned back to the same state as the start of the film but usually something has changed, such as a character has died or some buildings have dissappeared.

This is Todorov's theory in the classic narrative structure, I have learnt that his theory will be used in my film. There will be a world where everything is okay, then there is a problem, then there is attempts to fix the problem and finally then the problem is resolved. This will be used in my film and I now have the confidence to use this theory in my work.


Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi-strauss's theory is that when there is a binary opposite clash, that is the point when there is a problem, such as high and low, light and dark. His theory is when these 2 opposites meet, that is the point when there is a problem and this is where the excitment is because we as the audience would like to see which one of these opposites win the clash.
The reason that this theory will be used in my film is because there will be loads of conflicts in my film, such as;

• Life and Death
• Male and Female
• Light and Dark

These are only a few conflicts that will be in my film but I have considered these my best binary oppositions that will be in my work. I believe that these opposites will create a exciting conflict in my film that will excite the audience in my film.

By studying Tvzvetan Todorov and Claude Levi-Strauss I have learnt that both of their theories are in my work. Tvzvetan Todorov's theory is giving me the structure to my film because this gives me a clear idea of how to set up my film. Claude Levi-Strauss's theory is that when binary opposites meet, that is where the conflict is at its most entertaining. So therefore both of these theories are in my work.

The final girl theory

Researching into the horror genre I have found that there is a theory called the final girl theory. This theory looks into that the horror genre is becoming a feminine genre because the last person to overthrow the killing physco is a women.

 The theory was started by a women called Carol. J Clover in a book "Men, Women and chainsaws ; Gender in the modern horror film." Clover suggests that in these films, the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experiences a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film. The theory is based on the typical thriller/horror narrative structure where a killer picks off his victims one-by-one and then the final victim kills the killer. This final killer has now been transformed into a women. I believe this has been done because with the final victim being a women then the audience would suspect that the women would be incompetent and fail with the killer, this would create suspense for the audience. The reason the final victim is a women is because they share the same characteristics ; such as the women is sexually un-available or is a virgin. She usually avoids sex and drugs which the other victims use. The final girl also has a unisex name, such as; Teddy or Sam. Occasionally the girl has had some relation with the killer, either a sister from the killer or an ex-lover. The Final girl also shows innovative, she moves the story forward by finding clues and wanting more investigation.

During the final battle between the girl and the killer, Clover suggests that the girl becomes more masculines by taking a weapon such as a knife and then confronts the killer who then she eventually wins the battle, usually she wins because she does become more masculines. 

An example of the final girl theory is in the "Hitcher". This films shows a couple who are trying to run away from a character who is trying to killer them. The male character from the couple dies from the killer which then leaves the fe-male character left. As she is being transported to jail she is confronted by the killer in the road, she then takes a shotgun and kills the killer. Another example is from the film "Alien" a female character called ripley is faced against the mother queen of the alieb race. She shaves her head to become more masculines and then wins the battle against her, this shows that she has become more male by shaving her head to become a man. This is what could possibly make her win the battle. This film was made in 1979. This shows that the final girl theory has been around for a long time and even the directors in 1979 were using the final girl theory.

If I can get a female actress for my film then I can incorporate this into my trailer by just showing glimpses of the female actress and maybe possibly the female actress grabbing a knife from a table. I may even be able to take my own twist from the theory and start having a female killer but with a male final victim for my film. This is only an idea but I would like to take my own twist on the horror genre.

From this theory I have learnt that the horror genre needs a female actress in order to fit the codes and conventions of the genre. If I do not have a female actress then I would need to take my own twist on the film and describe my own twist. I am un-decided about using a female actress for my film but as I will look more into my film then I will make my decision. In my trailer I would need to show a female actress become more masculines through the film to eventually take on the killer.

Audience Research

In order to make sure my product sells well to the public, I must research my audience to see what attracts them to films, I must to do this because I could be missing vital information which the public thinks about the "thriller" genre which I have not read about, I must research my audience and find out what they like in my thriller genre. Professional companies do this all the time so that they can aim their product at the most amount of people so therefore they can get the most money for their troubles.

Here is a photo of my main target audience

I have asked my main target audience why they would go and see a thriller film and this is what he said

"I would go to see a thriller film if the film contained action but also a mystery, I have going to see a thriller film if there is only action, yeah it looks cool but I also like to keep thinking throughout the film, the action and tensing music only adds to the excitement of the thriller. I think I would go and see a thriller if I could relate to a character"

From this person I have learnt that I must include a mystery in my film so that they have something ticking over in their mind throughout the film whilst they are watching, this gives me the option to give a twist to the story line which would allow me to break the conventions of a stereotypical thriller by having a shocking twist rather than the normal ending an audience would expect. 

This is my main target audience because of the age, this person looks to be late teens and early 20's, therefore this character looks like they have money to spend and likes going to the cinema with his friends to watch a film that they can talk about afterwards. 

Analysing a magazine front cover (Ancillary Task)

In order to successfully make a high quality magazine front cover I must analyse existing front covers to find out what they do to make them professional and use these techniques to put into my own front cover. I will study the cover of a magazine called Empire. Empire as a magazine specialises in the film industry with reviews, latest releases and all the film news.

Here is some brief information about the film magazine Empire.

The film magazine Empire first started in July 1989. Empire is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain, outselling rivals "Total film" by 2 to 1. Empire is also published in America, Turkey and Russia.  Empire reviews mainstream films but they also review artistic films, some main features Empire has in their magazine are the top 10's (for example they feature the top 10 best chase scenes or top 10 death scenes).

As you can see Empire is a highly rated film magazine, by basing my magazine front cover on their work means that I can take their features and incorporate their properties into my magazine. This is why I will choose Empire to focus my magazine on.

Empire almost every time chooses the theme of their magazine based on the genre of the film they are showcasing. Such as the film Inception. Inception is a film about going into peoples dreams/minds and finding out there secrets about their lives through there dreams/minds. As you can see from the magazine front cover on the right. They theme the background around the film but the Empire title still stays the same red as always, this could be their trademark symbol.

Here is the magazine front cover for the film "Bourne Legacy"

The Bourne Legacy is a film exactly like taken, so therefore i can compare these films because they are both of the same genre. The taken's film poster showed Liam Neeson taking up a third of the poster with the colour scheme of Earthy grey and reds. Because the bourne legacy is on the cover of Empire I will see what the professionals have done to create the best selling film magazine in the world.


The first thing I have noticed is that the character is in the middle of the page, but is in front of the "Empire" title, this could show that fans already know the name of the magazine so they can afford to cover up the title with the character. I have also noticed that there is a colour scheme of red, black and white on the magazine.

Title - The title for the magazine front cover is Empire. This title is one word, this is easy to say and read because this is one word. The title is coloured in red with a character blocking the title up. The title is at the top of the page with a brief motto about the film that it is showcasing. I believe the reason the title is written in red is because red is a colour that will attract the eye of the viewer. There are only 5 items on the page coloured in red and the title of the magazine is the biggest. This will grab the viewers eye even though the title is partially covered up.  I also believe the reason the title is at the top of the page compared to being at the bottom or the middle this is because this will set up the viewers eye point because naturally they will look at the top of the page for a title rather then the middle.

Images - There are 2 images on the front cover of the magazine, there is a main image of the main character from the film but there is also the background image on the magazine where the character is stood. The background is choosing by the genre of the film, in this case the bourne legacy is about a super elite MI5 agent who turns rogue to find out who they are, this film contains kick ass fight scenes with explosions. The background is a street with a brick wall in the background. This relates to the genre because action/thriller films are set in the back alleys where they go under-detected when they have fight scenes.

Colour Scheme - The colour scheme for the Empires magazine is based around the colours; Red and black, the third colour is based on the genre of the film. 

Quantum of Solace - This front cover features the red and black colour scheme but the third main chosen colour is based on the genre of the film, so quantum of solace is a film with fight scenes and explosions so this would be a action/thriller but we relate the grey on the cover with the grey that is associated with James bond, the colour of his Aston martin, also the colour of metal which could relate to weapons and money. This shows that Empire select their third colour based on the film they are showcasing. 

From looking at professional magazine front covers I have learnt many things about how to make my own magazine front cover the best it can possibly be, these things are;

• By having a simple magazine front cover with only a couple of pictures on will enable me to have a simple front cover but one I can make in high quality because this will be a simple design to move about and make perfect. 
• By having the main character on the front page and in front of the magazine title will make the audience assume i have a well known film magazine where i don't need to show the film title in order for the audience to know what film title my magazine is. 
• If I arrange my magazine front cover around the genre of the film then this will show the audience what type of film I am show casing on my magazine but by having the same colour scheme on my magazine this will ensure my magazine will look professional and of a high quality. 
• I must also include add-ons on my magazine front cover that will entice the audience to buy my magazine, Empire uses a top ten section to entice their audience to buy the magazine. 
• I have also learnt that the title of the film must be on the front cover of the magazine, such as I could copy Empire magazine and have the film title in front of the main character on the cover.  

Textual Analysis for Film Poster (Ancillary Task)

In order to fully understand how to make a high quality film poster, I must first look at professional film posters and analyse them to find out why they are high quality and what makes them professional. Also I must look at the key features that are similar in all thriller film posters to make sure I include these in my poster. The film poster I will study in depth are "The Taken" 

Here is the film poster for the film "The Taken".

The film itself is about a character who's daughter is kidnapped by some characters, they want money for her return. The main character who is played by Liam Neeson hunts for his daughter and her friend who is kidnapped. This film has gun fights, bar knuckle brawling and explosions. This film is the start of the famous kick ass line "I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want, but if you don't let my daughter go, I will find you, I will kill you." From looking at the film poster I will split up the film poster into categories and describe these in depth.

Title = The film title for Taken is near the bottom of the film poster, the film poster is coloured in red, I would believe that this has been done to insure that the reader does not get confused with the other text and therefore the colour red stands out from the rest. The colour red symbolises danger and/or romance, seeing as the film is about a father who hunts for his daughter i would suggest the colour red fits into both because he is getting his daughter for love but has to kill in order to get her. Just the word "Taken" is scary enough when read. This is a very abrupt title because the word "Taken" means that someone has purposely taken something from another person.

Images = There is 1 main image on this film poster which is a picture of the main character Liam Neeson holding a pistol in his right hand. This image takes up the whole entire middle of the film poster, this would show that this character is very important to take up a third of a film poster. Behind the main character there are snippets from the film, they show action in these shots. This would show the audience that there is action in the film but also that some of the characters might be in danger in this film which would further promote the genre of the film being an action thriller.

Colour Scheme = The  colour scheme for this poster is mainly a earthy grey.white and red. The character Liam Neeson is dressed in black. The earthy grey background is a simply background, there are no colour ramps or colour change. I believe they have done this because they want the audience to focus on other items on the poster rather then the background. The red text on the poster is used for the title and the release date, I believe they have done this because this makes the title and the release date stand out from the rest of the text. By having the main character dressed in black this could show that he is dark and mysterious. Black is an authoritative colour as well, this shows that Liam Neeson is in control of the film.

From analysing the film poster I have learnt that the colour scheme of the poster is important, all the colours in the poster must flow and be subtle to each other, this will create a high quality poster rather then a basic poster with block colours. I must also use a main character on the poster who is famous and has high bank ability, therefore when my target audience glance at the poster and see a famous bankable actor on the poster this will grab their attention, then they are more likely to watch the film because of this. In relation to the colour scheme if the title is in a different colour then this will grab more attention from the audience because the title is in a different colour from the rest of the poster.

Textual Analysis for my main text (Film trailer)

In order to make my film trailer the best that it can be I must first look at professional film trailers which are similar to my trailer, therefore i can pick out bits which they do and make sure that this is included in my film trailer to make it the best that it can be. For a film trailer to analyse I have chose the film "The Hitcher". The reason I have chose this film is because this film is the same genre to my film, but also they are on the same lines as to the plot to my film.

Here is the trailer to the Hitcher, I will pick out aspects of the trailer that make it fit into the horror.

The thumbnail of the video itself is scary, a frog on a seat with blood in the background, to me this seems a horror straight away because the frog as a stuffed toy is associated with children and this also gives a sense of innocence about the frog, the blood suggests that there is danger or that something has happened with this innocence.

First shot in the trailer.

This is the first shot the viewer will see when they what this trailer about the hitcher, this first shot is of a road which appears in the middle of nowhere, there are headlights on the road as the car is travelling down the road which seems at a fast pace, the car from this shot is un-identified which would lead the audience to ask what car this is and what it is doing along which appears to be this deserted road.

This is the second shot in the trailer, the car driving along the road then fades into black, I believe that this goes to black because the colour black is menacing and is very bleak, many people are scared of black because they feel like they can not see, many monsters are associated with come out at night time, therefore the trailer for the first shot to flow into the second black shot, this gives a clear idea that the film will be dangerous and mysterious.

This is the third shot in the trailer, this shot cuts from the black screen in the previous shot, this is a shot of a car from the inside which appears to be driving down a deserted road in the rain, with the windscreen wipers wiping, from what appears there is nothing in the road whilst they are driving but the road looks mysterious with no head lights on.

After the third shot, this is the next shot. This a long shot of a character on the road in the rain, this character appears to be alone on the road, in the background you can see a car driving towards the character. You can not see this character but you can see the outline of this character, this character appears to be wearing a long coat and appears to be a male. This is menacing for the audience because the previous shots before this have crated suspense for the viewer because they fear that something will happen to the characters in the car and now the fears and thoughts have been answered with this.

This shot-reverse-shot from the two shots before shows the car driving along without a figure in the road, then the camera cuts to a figure in the road with a car driving towards him, cutting back to the car you see a figure now in the road. This shows how the characters were just simply driving along then they are stunned by this figure in the road. I believe the audience would have an emotional response because they are no expecting this character in the road. They would feel for the characters in the car because they can tell from all the mise-en-scene such as the rain and shadows everywhere meaning there is danger nearby.

  This medium-close up of the character in the car stopping to pick up this figure in the road, the window suddenly smashes and hands come through the window to grab this male driver in the car. This is a very quick action for the viewer and by the past shots the viewer would suggest that the figure in the road who was standing alone is the person who is grabbing the male driver, this gets an emotional response from the viewer because they feel for the driver but also because they know this figure is no normal hitchhiker.

After the window smashes the shot then cuts to black, i believe this has been done because this then ends this sequence for the trailer and creates a short story for the audience to peace together. By fading to black this can end a sequence which means that i could use this for my trailer to create a little short story for my audience.

This is a scene, where the screen looks dis-orientated, i think that this has been put in because in the before scenes where the driver has been grabbed by a figure, this shows how the audience will be feeling, the opening scene happened so quickly and therefore they feel dis-orientated.

This is the shot straight after the one before, this shot is very unusual because the viewer is forced to watch what appears to be an interview or question from the cam-recorder because the actors face is blurred up so because of this the viewer will watch the actor from the mini-camera screen. I believe this has been done because this shows that the trailer is in control, that this film has the ability to force the viewer into what they want to do, this could frighten the audience that the film has so much power over them. Also this leads questions as to why the actors face is blurred but not the one in the screen.

After the horrifying opening scene of the film trailer, you see this clip where you see the car drivers meeting in a nice open sunny town, which appears to have people around them. This is interesting to put this scene after the one before because the one before shows that they have been split up and that she is alone speaking the camera. This would get an emotional response because the audience would feel for the characters because they have just seen that they are very close together, possibly girlfriend and boyfriend?

As you can see from this shot that the male character is obviously intrigued by the female character getting dresses in his car, this could hint towards that maybe he wants to be more then friends, this would also get an emotional response from the audience because from the scene before with the male character being grabbed from his car but also because the female character was seen being by herself on the camera which would indicate that she is now by herself without her lover boy.

This shot is after the montage of the characters meeting and preparing for the road trip that they are about to take, this shot shows the car that they are in driving off into the deserted road, this shows the starts of their journey and how it all began. By adding this shot into the trailer could suggest that the trip that they had planned had never turned into the road trip that they were expecting, therefore this shows the audience that their expectations of the road trip were different to how it turned out.

This is the first text in the trailer that the audience will read, this shows what other films the producers have funded for, these films are; The Texas chainsaw massacre and The Amityville horror. These films are both thriller films which were successful and it would be added into the trailer because this would show the audience that the producers are capable of making good films. The effects which are on the trailer make the text seem to be fidgeting whilst being un-control, therefore this would match the film because the film is about a hitcher who is out to kill these characters on a road trip, therefore by the hitcher being un-control, therefore it would make sense to add this into the text. This text is introduced at 01:03 therefore this is about halfway through the trailer which means a good basis for the story line has been created for the audience before they introduce text.

With the text jittering and being un-control live, the trailer cuts to shots such as this one, these have had effects put onto the trailer, these shots last half of a second, so they are very quick between the text. This has been done to show the viewer the scariness of the trailer, with quick cuts between the text scars the viewer because they are scared of what is next. With the effects this will also scare the viewer because this is not what we perceive as normal footage, there is a black and white effect with a character screaming at the camera.

 This is the final shot of the trailer, this is a black screen with the title of the film in the same text as the text before, also the same effects of dis-orientation as before, this gives a theme to the film but also the text is more towards the bottom right of the frame. This shows that the film is unusual and things are not where you expect them to be. The black around the title shows that there is mystery and darkness which the audience is scared of.

This is the final shot of the trailer showing the release date of the film, this is centralised in the frame which is where the audience will be focusing on and therefore this will get the attention of the audience and they will know when the release date of the film.





By studying a professional film trailer for the film "Hitcher" I have learnt that in order to make a high professional film trailer there are things I must include in my own film trailer, such as;

•  To build suspense I will use shots which show the main characters are entering some sort of danger, such as they are laughing and in the background there is a figure which then could fade to black with a women screaming. I must show the audience what is going to happen rather than what is happening.
• I must also show some relation between the characters, this will engage the audience to feel more for the characters because they will be shown a relationship which the audience would feel guilt if this is torn apart, I could do this by showing the characters are related or they are deeply in love. 
•  Lastly I must show the titles after something dramatic has happened, such as a women screaming or a character dyeing, this will give the audience a last little buzz before the titles appear and then the audience will want to find out what has happened, then in return they will want to watch the film.

Audience Targeting

In order to make my film I must decide which target audience I will aim my film at, this will help me see which aspects I need to involve in my trailer and ancillary tasks so that they appeal to this audience, I have narrowed down my target audience and this is what my target audience is going to be.

Things that define a target audience are;

• Age
• Gender
• Interests
• Social economic status (A - E)

Age and Gender

After discussion we have decided that our target audience is going to be males between the ages of 15-28. We have done this because we think our film would be an "15" certificate from the BBFC because all of the shooting and scenes of violence that our film will have. So anyone under 15 will not be able to view our film our buy it so we can not go any under than an 15. We have deiced our target audience will be males because men are typically the type of gender who like all the action and shooting films with loads of gore in the content, because there will be characters around 20 years old, this will give the audience a chance to relate to those characters. The reason I do not believe that the film will be an "18" is because the film will not have any sexual references or heavy swearing which would make the film an "18"

Social Economic status

Our audience will be D to C1, which means from the working class to the lower middle class. The reason I have decided for D to C1 is that the characters will be young adults and have more of a crime theme rather in the D to C1 category, this film will not show loads of money which the A to C2 category of people will have, this film would not appeal to them because of this reason.

            

Interests

The interests in our target audience will that they love going out with their friends to the cinema or going on a night out, this film will excite them so that they can talk about this film with their friends or many weeks after they have seen this film. They will also like watching a film which involves a bit of mystery so that when they are watching my film, they can decide what is going to happen next and see if they get the right answer, because my target audience is in the D to C1 category this means that they will only have a little bit of money to spend and that when they do spend their money they want to spend it on something meaningful to them, so therefore my film would appeal to them because this will enable them to talk about the film for weeks to come or even see the film twice.

From pin-pointing my target audience, I know now what I must put into my film in order to meet the requirement for my target audience, I have also learnt that there is a final girl theory which I will study when I get to the theoretical post.

History and Development of the Horror genre

In order for me to understand the Horror genre, I must look back to the roots in which the Horror genre started and this will enable to me to see what the Horrors were like back then, but also get a clue to see which aspects of these films I can use to put into my own film.

Where the Horror genre started from.

The Horror genre first started in 1890 where a director called Georges Melies made a series of short silent films, the best known of these films was a film called "Le Manoir du diable" which stands for "The Haunted Castle".




George Milies



A scene from "The Haunted Castle"


Here is a picture of George Milies (on the left) and a scene from "The Haunted Castle" (on the right). As we can see from the right that the film looks old and withered, which is no comparison from the modern day horrors.




In 1910 Edison Studios produced the first feature length film for "Frankenstein" which was thought to be lost for many years.

Here is a picture of the "Frankenstein" in Ediston Studios 1910 production. The CGI compared to today do is nothing like what it was back then.  As you can see from the bottom right picture, the more "stereotypical" frankenstein has been re-modelled with much more colour and electrobes coming from the neck. If this modern day Frankenstein was swapped with the 1910 Frankenstein then i believe the audience of that time would be much more scared then the original. This is because the audience of 1910 would not be expecting the technology or the look of the modern day Frankenstein.

In 1923 the first production of the monster Quasimodo appeared in the film "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". A British researcher found that there was a hunchback stone carver in Notre-Dame at the time the film was made, there has been presumptions that this is where the director has got his influence from. At this stage of the Horror genre being transformed and progressed, i have realised that the "bad guys" of the Horrors are monsters, there are no serial killers or physco's at this stage of the genre, this tells me that more people were afraid of fictional creatures then the real life human serial killers that are out there. 

With the modern day horror, a final girl theory has come into play. The final girl theory consists that in the modern day horror, the last victim from a physco killer is a women, this is unusual for a masculine genre. The horror genre is now a female genre because of this theory. The reason the final girl theory has come around is because females can show abject terror in the film, this shows more fear then the male actors and therefore the final victim tends to be a female. Therefore with the female always surviving the masacer the female audience tends to sway towards horros because they know that a women will survive in the end.

A quick example of the final girl theory is from the film



As you can see from this trailer that the film the Hitcher is a thriller about a person who is stalking a couple driving across the country, in the end the girl kills the stalker with a shotgun, the male character is killed from the stalker, this is proof that more and more horror/thriller films are having the female character survive at the end. This shows the development of the genre because the horror films in the 20th centuary were films about characters who nowadays are not as scary as they were back then, with the development of technology and understanding this has meant that characters have become more menacing and scarier to the audience.

From looking at the first version of horrors films in the 20th century i have found out that they were scary to the audience at the time that they were made, this has ment that when technology and the development of understanding the genre has ment that todays horrors are far more scarier then the ones made in the 20th century. The horror criminals have developed from being monsters and outcasts of society have transformed into the characters that we do not assciate with being outcasts, therefore we find this more scarier because these physco killers can be everybody around us, i believe this is what is scary about modern day horrors.

Debating on making a film magazine front cover

The last ancillary task for the film trailer brief is to create a film magazine front cover for my film, the front cover will have to consist of my film with some deals that I could say go with the magazine, such as ;

· A free film poster

· A chance to win free film tickets

· Blogs about the film

· Film critiques reports

Positives of a film magazine front cover

· I can show off my technical ability by making an amazing front cover by combining pictures in front and behind of writing on the cover,. this will help me make a kick ass film front cover for my film.

· The magazine cover will also be able to test the benefit of the cover by asking members of the public if they would see my film from just looking at the cover.

· The front cover will let me show off my main characters in my film and let the target audience know who the main characters are but also give a little detail about the character in their clothing.

Here are some examples of real life film magazine front covers which I can take inspiration off of;

 

Here are 2 front covers for the films Iron Man (on the left) and The Dark Knight (on the right). Just by looking at these covers I can see that the whole page has a theme with the film, such as Iron man, the "Empire" is coloured with the same blue as in Iron man’s chest, this shows how the film is in connection with the magazine. By looking at both of the covers i can see that the character is in the centre of the magazine and also covering up the title of the magazine. This will be a great starting point for if I come to make my own front cover.

Negatives of a film magazine front cover

·         The negatives could be that by making a front cover it may be hard to get the technical ability in order to make a successful front cover.

·         Another negative could be that by making a magazine front cover, the whole concept of making a front cover i would have to come up with everything, from making the magazine title to making up all the offers that come with the magazine, such as give-aways from the newspaper.

From quickly researching the pros and cons of making a magazine front cover I have come to the conclusion that I will make a magazine front cover because I feel I can make an amazing front cover with my technical ability and also that I will be able to express my film on the front cover how I want to.

 

Debating whether to make a film poster for an ancillary task

Another project to make for the ancillary task is to make a film poster along with the film trailer. A film poster is important to support the film trailer before the film itself is released. They are designed to grab the audience and indulge them to watch the film, they promote the film and the audience are able to gain a lot from a film poster about the film, what the film is about, the characters used and any stars that are in the film. I will sum up the positives and negatives of making a film poster to understand if I should make one.

Positives of making a film poster

· The film poster is a task which can have a massive impact for the audience, maybe a simple poster is more effective than a busy poster (this is dependent on what genre you choose).

· With the film poster I could go with something really complicated or something really simple, this could be a positive because the poster can only be a picture of a few characters or a scene, this can give the audience an idea of what the film is about and the characters within the film.

· A film poster will be easy to find out if it is successful because i could ask members of the public if they think that they would go see my film just by showing them the poster, therefore I will be able to get decent results off of this.

Here are 2 film posters. The one on the left is a film poster for "James Bond golden eye" and the one on the right is for "They Grey". The Grey film poster is much more simpler then the James Bond poster this is because the film The Grey is about a skilled huntsman who takes a group of plane crash survivors through the artic whilst a pack of wolves are trying to kill them, this genre is a thriller so therefore the poster would not need to be complicated because the film contains excitement and not gun chases and explosions. The James bond film is about a 007 Agent whose mission is to stop Russian nuclear missiles from launching into space. This film contains explosions and gun fights so therefore the poster will be exciting and show a lot in just one poster, so I can either choose one of these routes to make. 

Negatives of making a film poster

· A film poster is very hard to get right, if everything on the poster is not smooth then the posters use will not work 100%. The poster is a first taster for the film, so this means if the poster looks rubbish then the audience's perception of the film will be rubbish.

· A persons training in Photoshop and photo editing software has to be high in order to merge the photos and scenes from the film together in order to make the poster of a high quality.

· The college i am studying at does not have a capabilities or the technology for still images which means the image quality for a film poster will not be at the best it can be because then the film poster will not look amazing and therefore the film will suffer because of this.

Overall I have debated up the pros and cons of making a film poster and I have come to the conclusion that I will make a film poster because I can easily measure the results of my film poster and if it is successful but the cons would be that I would need to improve my skills at Photoshop in order to make a very high quality film poster.

Debating on whether to make a website for the ancillary task

I will look at making a website for the ancillary task, this means that I will look at the positives and negatives of the website and decide whether I will use the website as part of the 2 choices I have.

Positives and Negatives of making a website for the homepage.

Positives

· If I create a website for the homepage then this means I will be able to interact with the website and show how I have created the website, this means more blogs to create and show the understanding of the colours use and describe why i have used the colours.

· By creating a website means that I can also preview my trailer onto my website which most websites which are dedicated to films do, i believe this is done because this promotes the film and this will also show the audience that this website is the place to go if you would like all the information about the film.

Here are some examples of a website which uses a trailer to promote the film on the website;



Here is a print screen of the Avatar website where on the home screen you are shown the film trailer straight away; I believe this i done to "force" show you the trailer so that you watch the trailer before clicking away because the trailer has started already. The link for this website is; http://www.avatar-movie.co.uk/

Negatives

· The negatives are that the knowledge on how to create a website would be a challenge in itself, this means that it would be very hard to create a website that looks appealing with all the relevant information on it that I website, such as avatar might have, I think that if I can’t make a website such as good as avatar then I won’t be able to access the high grades.

· Secondly I would need to make the website last because if I would like to embed the trailer onto the website then this would be impossible if I don’t have the trailer to embed.

· If i was to create the website and something drastic was to happen whilst filming which meant ideas that i put onto the website where not relevant to the film trailer then the whole time writing the website would be useless.

After looking at using a website as part of the ancillary task I have come to the conclusion that by using a website would not be suitable to me, this is because the software needed to make a decent website are not available to me and the knowledge on how to make one is also not available to me. Therefore it seems impossible to make a website.