This is our final trailer with the pirate DVD effect;
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Haddonfield Trailer Minus Pirate DVD effect
The following is our trailer but before we had added the visual effect of the degraded quality to it and the reason why some of the focus group prefered this over the final trailer was because they said it is clearer and the would rather see this version because they'er so used to the picture being so clear that anything other than that is just not good enough. However many of our focus group did prefer the degraded version because they said that even though it isn't that clear it fits in well with the grindhouse slasher genre.
Annotations Of Final Trailer
I have analysed the final trailer in terms of the significance of the mise en scene, sound, and effects.
Audience Feedback Sheets
The following are some of the audience feedback sheets which we gave out to a group of students who had not viewed the trailer before, we took them to a screening room where we explained our main theme of the grindhouse slasher film and told them a little background information about the grindhouse genre. We played the 'AXE!' trailer followed by the comic remake of the 'Don't Go in the House' trailer, shortly followed by the non-degraded version of our trailer and then the final trailer which was made to look degraded. After they had viewed all of the above we gave them a question sheet to complete which helped us realise how we could approach the task if we were to do it again. The results showed that even though most of the participants did get a hint of the narrative they would have still made some changes to where some of the sequences in the trailer could have gone. We also found that the use of sound was said to fit in well with the grindhouse slasher genre and it made sense since the visual quality was made to go with it. However we also found that those who did not prefer the degraded version over the non-degraded version mostly gave the reason that it was due to the unclearity of the shots which were hard to focus on. Another thing that we found out from this task was that most of the participants suggested that the only thing they would have done different was that they would add more blood and gore to the trailer because ours lacked in blood splattering unlike the 'AXE!' or the 'Don't' trailers.
Evaluation
1. In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
One of my media products which is my magazine cover for the advertisement of the trailer uses forms and conventions of real media products by following similar rules in order to be successful as a genre ‘film’. By following these forms and conventions it allows my product to be part of a genre and be recognisable as one of real media products if it were real and the forms and conventions were taken from real media texts for example I used the fangoria magazine front covers in order to get a idea of how it draws its particular audience and the Halloween trailer in order to get ideas on how to follow the forms of a real horror trailer.
My magazine cover has the conventional fangoria masthead in the yellow font colour and I’ve also used similar colours throughout the page as the real covers of fangoria magazines. I have added the reviews and previews of the upcoming popular films of a particular time in a film strip which is used in almost all of the fangoria covers. This helps the magazine cover to be recognisable as part of that genre and audience.
My poster cover is dark and consists of a lot of red and white, the main image is dark and gloomy this is because it is a convention of horror or slasher film posters which helps it to stand out as belonging to a particular genre.
My poster also has a red tulip which is in full colour this makes the meaning attached to the tulip stand out and its significance within the film can be seen. This is because its a flower and red is mostly associated with love as well as danger so the meaning behind that could be said are that the film follows a love story but because the background is black and white it suggests that it is a love story with a twist to it and so the dark background and the red tulip overall suggest that it’s a horror film based on the idea of love.
The trailer follows forms and conventions instead of challenging them because we wanted the trailer to be a genre specific media product and this was because if it is conventional and follows the structure of real media products it is easier to attract your target audience because you know what they are looking for and what draws their attention to media products that they prefer.
The trailer mostly follows conventions from the ‘Halloween’ trailer which is an old classic and has very visible forms that are seen in most slasher trailers now our days, but it also follows conventions from the trailer of ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’. These two films which are both very conventional and they were popular at the time of their release but still are because both have been remade recently. In Halloween the weapon is a knife so we’ve followed that convention by making the weapon a knife as well. In our trailer we have added the green card at the very beginning followed by an in association card and at the very end we have included the end card which has the cast and crew, this is because these three cards are visible in real trailers.
The forms and conventions are also evident within the trailer because of the character choices this can be seen in the trailer as our final girl and the final girl in Halloween because character wise both are innocent yet we have twisted a convention because our killer is also ‘innocent’ and turns out to be a victim of abuse in school who kills of the people who bullied him in school one by one but the killers in real slasher films are violent psychopaths.
Another convention which our trailer follows is its pace and how it builds up and goes back down this is because in most trailers the start is slow and it builds up half way which is where the tension is built but as it goes back down there is another little sort of quick pace which increases but ends slow.
A different convention which was followed was that real trailers already have a story line and a film which has been shot and finished which is where smaller clips or shots are extracted from in order to put together a trailer but we had to create a short film which is what is known as the synopsis because it covers the main aspects of the film and we created storyboards by drawing shots which we may have wanted to use when we were to film and putting these together helped us to shoot the main clips for the trailer and cut them up during editing in order to make them shots.
We have subverted audience expectations in the formal choices we have made in times of hyper real CGI and special effects. We have tried to recreate the VHS experience of grindhouse and homemade experience of film and this just means that we have purposefully made it look bad in order to give that feel of the grindhouse genre. We have challenged conventions by revealing who the killer is at the very beginning of the trailer, but this is also a link to Alfred Hitchcock’s philosophy on suspense because this adds an extra layer of tension and is known as dramatic irony and this is because the audience know who the killer is but the characters don’t.
The forms and conventions within a genre may change over time as Frank McConnell’s theory points out this may be due to several reasons such as;
· Changes in the audiences’ knowledge of the genre
· Changes in the film industry and its effects on the texts
· Changes in society which is known as social changes (i.e. changes in norms and values)
· Changes in technology (i.e. CGI)
· Changes in dominant ideology and representations (i.e. changes in stereotypes)
The repetition of the name of the film is one of the most important conventions of grindhouse films and this can be seen in trailers such as the comical ‘Don’t’, ‘Axe’ and ‘The Funhouse’ where the name of the film is repeated several times. However in the don’t trailer it is made to look comic especially towards the end because it was in order to emphasis the convention of the repetition of the name of the film.
In terms of genre our trailer fits into the grindhouse slasher genre this is because descriptively it follows similar codes and conventions of films within the grindhouse slasher genre such as ‘AXE’, ‘Driller Killer’, ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘Halloween’ and ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’. We mainly used conventions from those film trailers (plus ‘Don’t’) because they were the 1970s films which set the forms and conventions which slashers use today.
For example the main aspect of our trailer is the sound which really enforces the idea of it being a grindhouse slasher film so we used that nostalgic effect to add to it, the retro keyboard sound and the synthetic sound where when the sound cuts off and changes it is obvious and the repetition of the name of the film.
These are what made the VHS experience because most the exploitation films weren’t necessarily too gory or exploitive but because the video quality was bad it made the film itself look bad and because we’ve added the visual effect of grindhouse films it makes our trailer authentic. This is due to the reason that we follow main convention yet it breaks some in terms of mise-en-scene i.e. our killer does not wear a mask.
The functional role of our trailer is that in today’s society we don’t have these grindhouse slashers and instead we have modern takes of the genre for example films such as ‘Saw’ and ‘Human Centipede’. The people who will recognise our film as belonging to the grindhouse slasher genre will be the audience who are old enough to remember the era of video nasties that were old enough to have watched most of these films and are familiar with the genre. However we have purposefully rated our film as a ‘15’ is because we want to introduce the young generation to the grindhouse genre because most of the films today are remakes of actual grindhouse slashers from the video nasties era (i.e. ‘I Spit On Your Grave’). Our film belongs to the 1970s horror film categories but we don’t that we want it be seen as a modern take on the grindhouse slasher genre and the reason for this is that successful film makers have trailers or even films such as ‘Death Proof’ or ‘Planet Terror’ and also the ‘Don’t’ trailer was only a trailer which shows that there is a market for grindhouse slasher films in contemporary society.
In terms of narratives our trailer belongs within the grindhouse genre because it follows a similar narrative as other grindhouse slashers because most of the time these films are based on revenge, love, or a psychologically disturbed individual. Yet our synopsis fits into two of these narrative structures of horror films and those are revenge and love because he takes revenge on the bullies but also he is in love with one of the characters.
Audiences may read our trailer in several ways, one of which is that it is a conventional formulaic grindhouse slasher film which where need breaks some of the conventions for the sake of adding extra layers of meaning or a formulaic film which is a modern remake of the genre because the reasons why it breaks some conventions is that the social questions change over time so values change from one generation to the next. Some audiences may read it as being an inappropriate for certain ages, over even social occurrences.
My three products have a brand identity and this is the use of red in the three products, the visual degrading effect i.e. the trailer overall has a degraded effect same as my magazine image and the background image for my poster. The types of images which are evident in all three products because in the trailer most of the shots take place in the woods and the main image which is on the background of my poster is the woods which builds a link between the two and so it is recognisable as belonging to one product.
The sound in the trailer which includes the voiceover help to give a sense of the narrative but not too much to spoil the tension. This means that the voiceover revels some dramatic issues which arise within the synopsis but the sound and the visual shots bring the meanings together because the voiceover is placed within the trailer where the shots somehow are related to the voiceover. For example when the voiceover says ‘He fancied her’ there is a shot of the geek waiting for the final girl to come so that he can give her the tulip, because we see him waiting with the tulip in his hand we know that he is going to give someone the tulip because he has feelings for her. These two different aspects of the form a trailer work together because we have grown up seeing similar shots with similar voiceovers we know what the meanings are.
However when you add captions which have the some of the voiceover written on it helps to clear up the meaning attached to that message and the audience know that the next shot will clarify what the caption and voiceover mean.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Whilst constructing my coursework, I realised that I would need to have certain themes which would need to be present in the main task and the ancillary tasks and one of these themes was the title which we decided would need to be in the same font and same colour because it is what will make the film recognisable and different from other slasher films. It is clear that because we were working on a genre film that we would need to follow most of the conventions. These conventions help to make the grindhouse slasher film stand out for its audience and from other films, for slasher films the main conventions are the blood and the gore which need to be obvious within all three tasks.
My poster and my fangoria magazine cover show clearly the blood associated by the film and that is the red font the gore is evident in the magazine colour which is one of the biggest signs of slasher films this immediately draws the attention of your audience to the title of the film and so making them want to find out more about the film.
However the end card of our trailer has a white background which is a main convention of the film ‘SAW’ this is because there have been sequels to the film and so it is the brand identity of the film. This means that the film is recognisable even just from the colours of the poster which set it apart from other films.
The reason as to why we chose a white background for our end card is because it is a pure colour and by having the fonts and an image of a red tulip it gives it something disturbing and the red tulip is a theme within our synopsis because it is a sign of love and the final girl receives a red tulip from our killer. This can mean that it is convention within our ‘film’ which gives it an image of its own that sets it apart from other films within the slasher genre.
The three tasks are interlinked and this can be seen through the use of colours, fonts and how the images have been edited in order to look similar to each other. This means that the advantage is that the film is recognisable as belonging to the grindhouse sub-genre and that the three tasks are introducing one product.
The brand identity of my main task and my ancillary task is the use of similar colours this is because in the poster the name of the film is in red, while the captions on the trailer are also red and in the magazine the font and the name of the film are the same as the trailer. Even though this is a minor similarity the audience subconsciously know this and when the see the three media texts they understand that they’re from one product. The poster has an image of a red tulip this is significant because in the trailer the final girl is given a red tulip by the killer and by placing this on the poster the audience know that the tulip is important to the meanings attached in the narrative. The background image for the poster is in black in white and this is because I noticed that one of the ‘AXE’ posters was in black and white which fitted in with the genre of grindhouse slashers very well and so I followed that convention also because I have the name of the film in red and I thought that it suited the genre better.
The mode of address for my main task and my ancillary tasks refers to the way in which my products speak to their audiences. The dominant mode of address for my products is young teens that are into pure slasher films but may be too young to recognise that it’s based on the grindhouse genre and this means that my products can show them the roots of horror and where the modern slashers take their ideas from and the patterns which they use. However it can also be for an older generation who were old enough to have watched grindhouse slasher films when they were teens and who know what the genre is about so bringing back their memories of their childhood VHS experiences of watching films.
The three products will be recognisable by the audience because of the similarities between them and the similarities to the grindhouse slasher genre. Even if the three products don’t look exactly the same and the similarities aren’t as clear as one would think the whole idea is that as long as they fit into the conventional forms of the genre they can be recognisable and it can bring the audience to a point where they feel that they need to interact with that piece of text in order to understand why it’s similarities aren’t so visible meaning that they will probably research the film and it’s background information.
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
One of my media products which is my magazine cover for the advertisement of the trailer uses forms and conventions of real media products by following similar rules in order to be successful as a genre ‘film’. By following these forms and conventions it allows my product to be part of a genre and be recognisable as one of real media products if it were real and the forms and conventions were taken from real media texts for example I used the fangoria magazine front covers in order to get a idea of how it draws its particular audience and the Halloween trailer in order to get ideas on how to follow the forms of a real horror trailer.
My magazine cover has the conventional fangoria masthead in the yellow font colour and I’ve also used similar colours throughout the page as the real covers of fangoria magazines. I have added the reviews and previews of the upcoming popular films of a particular time in a film strip which is used in almost all of the fangoria covers. This helps the magazine cover to be recognisable as part of that genre and audience.
My poster cover is dark and consists of a lot of red and white, the main image is dark and gloomy this is because it is a convention of horror or slasher film posters which helps it to stand out as belonging to a particular genre.
My poster also has a red tulip which is in full colour this makes the meaning attached to the tulip stand out and its significance within the film can be seen. This is because its a flower and red is mostly associated with love as well as danger so the meaning behind that could be said are that the film follows a love story but because the background is black and white it suggests that it is a love story with a twist to it and so the dark background and the red tulip overall suggest that it’s a horror film based on the idea of love.
The trailer follows forms and conventions instead of challenging them because we wanted the trailer to be a genre specific media product and this was because if it is conventional and follows the structure of real media products it is easier to attract your target audience because you know what they are looking for and what draws their attention to media products that they prefer.
The trailer mostly follows conventions from the ‘Halloween’ trailer which is an old classic and has very visible forms that are seen in most slasher trailers now our days, but it also follows conventions from the trailer of ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’. These two films which are both very conventional and they were popular at the time of their release but still are because both have been remade recently. In Halloween the weapon is a knife so we’ve followed that convention by making the weapon a knife as well. In our trailer we have added the green card at the very beginning followed by an in association card and at the very end we have included the end card which has the cast and crew, this is because these three cards are visible in real trailers.
The forms and conventions are also evident within the trailer because of the character choices this can be seen in the trailer as our final girl and the final girl in Halloween because character wise both are innocent yet we have twisted a convention because our killer is also ‘innocent’ and turns out to be a victim of abuse in school who kills of the people who bullied him in school one by one but the killers in real slasher films are violent psychopaths.
Another convention which our trailer follows is its pace and how it builds up and goes back down this is because in most trailers the start is slow and it builds up half way which is where the tension is built but as it goes back down there is another little sort of quick pace which increases but ends slow.
A different convention which was followed was that real trailers already have a story line and a film which has been shot and finished which is where smaller clips or shots are extracted from in order to put together a trailer but we had to create a short film which is what is known as the synopsis because it covers the main aspects of the film and we created storyboards by drawing shots which we may have wanted to use when we were to film and putting these together helped us to shoot the main clips for the trailer and cut them up during editing in order to make them shots.
We have subverted audience expectations in the formal choices we have made in times of hyper real CGI and special effects. We have tried to recreate the VHS experience of grindhouse and homemade experience of film and this just means that we have purposefully made it look bad in order to give that feel of the grindhouse genre. We have challenged conventions by revealing who the killer is at the very beginning of the trailer, but this is also a link to Alfred Hitchcock’s philosophy on suspense because this adds an extra layer of tension and is known as dramatic irony and this is because the audience know who the killer is but the characters don’t.
The forms and conventions within a genre may change over time as Frank McConnell’s theory points out this may be due to several reasons such as;
· Changes in the audiences’ knowledge of the genre
· Changes in the film industry and its effects on the texts
· Changes in society which is known as social changes (i.e. changes in norms and values)
· Changes in technology (i.e. CGI)
· Changes in dominant ideology and representations (i.e. changes in stereotypes)
The repetition of the name of the film is one of the most important conventions of grindhouse films and this can be seen in trailers such as the comical ‘Don’t’, ‘Axe’ and ‘The Funhouse’ where the name of the film is repeated several times. However in the don’t trailer it is made to look comic especially towards the end because it was in order to emphasis the convention of the repetition of the name of the film.
In terms of genre our trailer fits into the grindhouse slasher genre this is because descriptively it follows similar codes and conventions of films within the grindhouse slasher genre such as ‘AXE’, ‘Driller Killer’, ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘Halloween’ and ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’. We mainly used conventions from those film trailers (plus ‘Don’t’) because they were the 1970s films which set the forms and conventions which slashers use today.
For example the main aspect of our trailer is the sound which really enforces the idea of it being a grindhouse slasher film so we used that nostalgic effect to add to it, the retro keyboard sound and the synthetic sound where when the sound cuts off and changes it is obvious and the repetition of the name of the film.
These are what made the VHS experience because most the exploitation films weren’t necessarily too gory or exploitive but because the video quality was bad it made the film itself look bad and because we’ve added the visual effect of grindhouse films it makes our trailer authentic. This is due to the reason that we follow main convention yet it breaks some in terms of mise-en-scene i.e. our killer does not wear a mask.
The functional role of our trailer is that in today’s society we don’t have these grindhouse slashers and instead we have modern takes of the genre for example films such as ‘Saw’ and ‘Human Centipede’. The people who will recognise our film as belonging to the grindhouse slasher genre will be the audience who are old enough to remember the era of video nasties that were old enough to have watched most of these films and are familiar with the genre. However we have purposefully rated our film as a ‘15’ is because we want to introduce the young generation to the grindhouse genre because most of the films today are remakes of actual grindhouse slashers from the video nasties era (i.e. ‘I Spit On Your Grave’). Our film belongs to the 1970s horror film categories but we don’t that we want it be seen as a modern take on the grindhouse slasher genre and the reason for this is that successful film makers have trailers or even films such as ‘Death Proof’ or ‘Planet Terror’ and also the ‘Don’t’ trailer was only a trailer which shows that there is a market for grindhouse slasher films in contemporary society.
In terms of narratives our trailer belongs within the grindhouse genre because it follows a similar narrative as other grindhouse slashers because most of the time these films are based on revenge, love, or a psychologically disturbed individual. Yet our synopsis fits into two of these narrative structures of horror films and those are revenge and love because he takes revenge on the bullies but also he is in love with one of the characters.
Audiences may read our trailer in several ways, one of which is that it is a conventional formulaic grindhouse slasher film which where need breaks some of the conventions for the sake of adding extra layers of meaning or a formulaic film which is a modern remake of the genre because the reasons why it breaks some conventions is that the social questions change over time so values change from one generation to the next. Some audiences may read it as being an inappropriate for certain ages, over even social occurrences.
My three products have a brand identity and this is the use of red in the three products, the visual degrading effect i.e. the trailer overall has a degraded effect same as my magazine image and the background image for my poster. The types of images which are evident in all three products because in the trailer most of the shots take place in the woods and the main image which is on the background of my poster is the woods which builds a link between the two and so it is recognisable as belonging to one product.
The sound in the trailer which includes the voiceover help to give a sense of the narrative but not too much to spoil the tension. This means that the voiceover revels some dramatic issues which arise within the synopsis but the sound and the visual shots bring the meanings together because the voiceover is placed within the trailer where the shots somehow are related to the voiceover. For example when the voiceover says ‘He fancied her’ there is a shot of the geek waiting for the final girl to come so that he can give her the tulip, because we see him waiting with the tulip in his hand we know that he is going to give someone the tulip because he has feelings for her. These two different aspects of the form a trailer work together because we have grown up seeing similar shots with similar voiceovers we know what the meanings are.
However when you add captions which have the some of the voiceover written on it helps to clear up the meaning attached to that message and the audience know that the next shot will clarify what the caption and voiceover mean.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Whilst constructing my coursework, I realised that I would need to have certain themes which would need to be present in the main task and the ancillary tasks and one of these themes was the title which we decided would need to be in the same font and same colour because it is what will make the film recognisable and different from other slasher films. It is clear that because we were working on a genre film that we would need to follow most of the conventions. These conventions help to make the grindhouse slasher film stand out for its audience and from other films, for slasher films the main conventions are the blood and the gore which need to be obvious within all three tasks.
My poster and my fangoria magazine cover show clearly the blood associated by the film and that is the red font the gore is evident in the magazine colour which is one of the biggest signs of slasher films this immediately draws the attention of your audience to the title of the film and so making them want to find out more about the film.
However the end card of our trailer has a white background which is a main convention of the film ‘SAW’ this is because there have been sequels to the film and so it is the brand identity of the film. This means that the film is recognisable even just from the colours of the poster which set it apart from other films.
The reason as to why we chose a white background for our end card is because it is a pure colour and by having the fonts and an image of a red tulip it gives it something disturbing and the red tulip is a theme within our synopsis because it is a sign of love and the final girl receives a red tulip from our killer. This can mean that it is convention within our ‘film’ which gives it an image of its own that sets it apart from other films within the slasher genre.
The three tasks are interlinked and this can be seen through the use of colours, fonts and how the images have been edited in order to look similar to each other. This means that the advantage is that the film is recognisable as belonging to the grindhouse sub-genre and that the three tasks are introducing one product.
The brand identity of my main task and my ancillary task is the use of similar colours this is because in the poster the name of the film is in red, while the captions on the trailer are also red and in the magazine the font and the name of the film are the same as the trailer. Even though this is a minor similarity the audience subconsciously know this and when the see the three media texts they understand that they’re from one product. The poster has an image of a red tulip this is significant because in the trailer the final girl is given a red tulip by the killer and by placing this on the poster the audience know that the tulip is important to the meanings attached in the narrative. The background image for the poster is in black in white and this is because I noticed that one of the ‘AXE’ posters was in black and white which fitted in with the genre of grindhouse slashers very well and so I followed that convention also because I have the name of the film in red and I thought that it suited the genre better.
The mode of address for my main task and my ancillary tasks refers to the way in which my products speak to their audiences. The dominant mode of address for my products is young teens that are into pure slasher films but may be too young to recognise that it’s based on the grindhouse genre and this means that my products can show them the roots of horror and where the modern slashers take their ideas from and the patterns which they use. However it can also be for an older generation who were old enough to have watched grindhouse slasher films when they were teens and who know what the genre is about so bringing back their memories of their childhood VHS experiences of watching films.
The three products will be recognisable by the audience because of the similarities between them and the similarities to the grindhouse slasher genre. Even if the three products don’t look exactly the same and the similarities aren’t as clear as one would think the whole idea is that as long as they fit into the conventional forms of the genre they can be recognisable and it can bring the audience to a point where they feel that they need to interact with that piece of text in order to understand why it’s similarities aren’t so visible meaning that they will probably research the film and it’s background information.
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
I carried out quantitative research at the beginning where I asked my demographic what sort of horror films they preferred, what they expected to see in a horror film and how they consume these media products. This helped me to find out how I could create a conventional trailer which would be recognisable as a grindhouse slasher film and how to bring the different products in order to promote the product as a whole.
The second quantitative research that I conducted was on the two different poster templates that I had created and from that I learnt how I could improve these posters in order to make a final one. I improved the cover that the majority had chosen and I made changes to it.
The final audience feed back was qualitative research, in this we had to create questionnaires and we invited a group of people to a screening room where we showed them the AXE and Don’t Trailer and then we showed them our non-degraded version of the trailer and then our final one and at the end we gave them the questionnaires. From the questionnaires we found that most of them did follow the narrative and understood the storyline.
They also thought that our trailer suits the grindhouse genre because we followed many similar conventions.
The use of the sound was thought that it did fit in well with the trailer and that it suited the genre. Some said that the effects helped them to understand the movie otherwise they said that it wouldn’t have been very conventional of grindhouse films and that it was creepy and the way the sound cuts off fits into the other trailers.
They also felt that the degraded version was more appropriate to the genre and it went well with the sound to create the overall meanings. Those who preferred the non-degraded version said that it was clearer and they could watch it without trying too hard to figure out what was going on.
For the last question there were mixed reactions and some of these were changes to the plot or last few shots, adding more gory/blood and some said no they wouldn’t change anything.
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Like last years coursework we used ‘blogger’ to post our work on one medium to keep everything organised. For the quantitative audience research I used questionpro to construct and carry out my research on my target demographic. I used the website ‘scribd’ to post this research onto an online medium so that it was available for viewing instantly when you type in the URL or if you type in the key terms in a search engine. I also used ‘Slideshare’ which is for making online presentations to import some of my work on and add a link to that presentation on my blog.
In AS we only edited still images for example by airbrushing the images for our magazines, but this year in A2 we edited moving images to create messages by using the ‘Serif Movie Plus X3’ software in order to create a clear cut trailer which was edited in order to give the look of belonging to the grindhouse genre. We done this by changing the contrasts, changing the pace of each shot to create the montage sequence and more importantly we worked with someone who knew how to construct the sound effects which we wanted using the appropriate software’s and from our guidance and opinions he constructed the sound for the trailer.
In the editing process we had to take a careful look at how each shot filmed had created meanings and we started by cutting up each shot in to appropriate lengths and then placing them in various positions to see how each shot would fit in with the others in one sequence.
Once each shot was selected on the basis of how meaningful it would be in the synopsis and within the grindhouse slasher genre we started to place these shots into sequences whereby we considered how we could improve each sequence based on how meaningful they were. From that we placed all the sequences together and moved around some of the shots and added the captions this meant that we were able to get a sense of the pace of the trailer. We then degraded the visual shots so that the whole trailer could look like the VHS films and so that it looked like the quality was bad.
Finally once that was done we decided to take a look at some of the sounds from the grindhouse slasher genre such as ‘AXE’ and ‘DON’T’, this allowed us to get an idea of how we wanted our music to sound like. After explaining the whole grindhouse slasher sound to the person who was going to help us with making the sound happen by creating what we wanted, we were able to change any particular aspects of it when we wanted to.
The images from the poster and the magazine were edited using ‘Photoshop’ and ‘Serif PhotoPlus X4 but these were also used for the construction of the end card and the green card.
I have also used PowerPoint, publisher, word and excel to construct, research, plan and evaluate my work.
The camera used for taking the images for my poster and magazine cover was a Cannon EOS 450D and for filming the trailer we used Sony DCRVX2100 MiniDV Camcorder. By using different technologies it helps you to take advantage of what you have and it allows you to be creative and make your work as advanced as possible. You can also build up on your editing skills if you use different editing software’s and because I’ve used ‘Photoshop’ last year I was able to expand on my image editing skills and use the software effectively.
However this year I also used ‘Serif PhotoPlus X4’ to edit images this allowed me to see how I could improve my images by using the best aspects from both software’s to create my final images.
Overall, the work which I carried out last year by using different software’s allowed me to be more confident in taking risks and using a variety of media technologies in order to create meaningful messages and following forms and conventions. The following are the two cameras used in the filming and taking the images for my poster and magazine cover.
The second quantitative research that I conducted was on the two different poster templates that I had created and from that I learnt how I could improve these posters in order to make a final one. I improved the cover that the majority had chosen and I made changes to it.
The final audience feed back was qualitative research, in this we had to create questionnaires and we invited a group of people to a screening room where we showed them the AXE and Don’t Trailer and then we showed them our non-degraded version of the trailer and then our final one and at the end we gave them the questionnaires. From the questionnaires we found that most of them did follow the narrative and understood the storyline.
They also thought that our trailer suits the grindhouse genre because we followed many similar conventions.
The use of the sound was thought that it did fit in well with the trailer and that it suited the genre. Some said that the effects helped them to understand the movie otherwise they said that it wouldn’t have been very conventional of grindhouse films and that it was creepy and the way the sound cuts off fits into the other trailers.
They also felt that the degraded version was more appropriate to the genre and it went well with the sound to create the overall meanings. Those who preferred the non-degraded version said that it was clearer and they could watch it without trying too hard to figure out what was going on.
For the last question there were mixed reactions and some of these were changes to the plot or last few shots, adding more gory/blood and some said no they wouldn’t change anything.
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Like last years coursework we used ‘blogger’ to post our work on one medium to keep everything organised. For the quantitative audience research I used questionpro to construct and carry out my research on my target demographic. I used the website ‘scribd’ to post this research onto an online medium so that it was available for viewing instantly when you type in the URL or if you type in the key terms in a search engine. I also used ‘Slideshare’ which is for making online presentations to import some of my work on and add a link to that presentation on my blog.
In AS we only edited still images for example by airbrushing the images for our magazines, but this year in A2 we edited moving images to create messages by using the ‘Serif Movie Plus X3’ software in order to create a clear cut trailer which was edited in order to give the look of belonging to the grindhouse genre. We done this by changing the contrasts, changing the pace of each shot to create the montage sequence and more importantly we worked with someone who knew how to construct the sound effects which we wanted using the appropriate software’s and from our guidance and opinions he constructed the sound for the trailer.
In the editing process we had to take a careful look at how each shot filmed had created meanings and we started by cutting up each shot in to appropriate lengths and then placing them in various positions to see how each shot would fit in with the others in one sequence.
Once each shot was selected on the basis of how meaningful it would be in the synopsis and within the grindhouse slasher genre we started to place these shots into sequences whereby we considered how we could improve each sequence based on how meaningful they were. From that we placed all the sequences together and moved around some of the shots and added the captions this meant that we were able to get a sense of the pace of the trailer. We then degraded the visual shots so that the whole trailer could look like the VHS films and so that it looked like the quality was bad.
Finally once that was done we decided to take a look at some of the sounds from the grindhouse slasher genre such as ‘AXE’ and ‘DON’T’, this allowed us to get an idea of how we wanted our music to sound like. After explaining the whole grindhouse slasher sound to the person who was going to help us with making the sound happen by creating what we wanted, we were able to change any particular aspects of it when we wanted to.
The images from the poster and the magazine were edited using ‘Photoshop’ and ‘Serif PhotoPlus X4 but these were also used for the construction of the end card and the green card.
I have also used PowerPoint, publisher, word and excel to construct, research, plan and evaluate my work.
The camera used for taking the images for my poster and magazine cover was a Cannon EOS 450D and for filming the trailer we used Sony DCRVX2100 MiniDV Camcorder. By using different technologies it helps you to take advantage of what you have and it allows you to be creative and make your work as advanced as possible. You can also build up on your editing skills if you use different editing software’s and because I’ve used ‘Photoshop’ last year I was able to expand on my image editing skills and use the software effectively.
However this year I also used ‘Serif PhotoPlus X4’ to edit images this allowed me to see how I could improve my images by using the best aspects from both software’s to create my final images.
Overall, the work which I carried out last year by using different software’s allowed me to be more confident in taking risks and using a variety of media technologies in order to create meaningful messages and following forms and conventions. The following are the two cameras used in the filming and taking the images for my poster and magazine cover.
Narrative And Genre
I have analysed the trailer and the synopsis in terms of narrative theories and in terms of genre, this was so that the links between the challenging of codes and conventions and following of codes and conventions is clear and so that the reasons are outlined making it easier to analyse the whole product as one unit.
I have placed the powerpoints for the narrative theories and the genre on 'Slideshare' and 'PowerShare' so that they can be easiely accessed.
http://www.slideshare.net/mediastudies1/narrative-theories-7967721
http://www.powershow.com/view/2b9edb-NTk4Y/Genre_Theories_flash_ppt_presentation
I have placed the powerpoints for the narrative theories and the genre on 'Slideshare' and 'PowerShare' so that they can be easiely accessed.
http://www.slideshare.net/mediastudies1/narrative-theories-7967721
http://www.powershow.com/view/2b9edb-NTk4Y/Genre_Theories_flash_ppt_presentation
Final Magazine Cover
The following is my magazine cover; I have chosen to use the fangoria magazine because it is a magazine for pure horror fans that love the gore and blood in slasher films. The magazine has a video nasties look to it because of the colours such as the yellow and orange; this is because the exploitation films that were banned during the 70s mostly had yellow DVD covers which made it an icon for the genre. The reason as to why I chose to follow this magazine was because our film's genre is the grindhouse slasher genre which is basically another way of saying video nasties in most cases, the magazine works well in terms of marketing because its audience is our prime target because they will recognise the magazine and so will buy it and the magazine has a special feature on our film making it much more successful because your marketing effectively.
Quantitative Audience Research Poster
I used the following questions to find out what my demographic thought about grindhouse slasher film posters. From this I found out how I could improve my posters for the final one.
1. Which poster do you prefer and give a reason why?
2. Do you dislike anything about the posters you have mentioned above and why?
3. Why do you dislike the other poster?
4. How would you improve your preferred poster?
From this research I found out that my demographic liked the first poster but they suggested that instead of the blood splash I needed something dark so I improved it by adding an image of the woods which I had taken and I made it black and white during the editing and some mentioned that I needed to change the title overall the comments from this research were generally positive although only a few liked the second poster. The reason as to why I've kept the tulip is because almost everyone said that it look good and once they had asked for the reason as to the significance of the tulip and I had explained the meaning attached to it in our narrative.
1)
2)
Final Poster
1. Which poster do you prefer and give a reason why?
2. Do you dislike anything about the posters you have mentioned above and why?
3. Why do you dislike the other poster?
4. How would you improve your preferred poster?
From this research I found out that my demographic liked the first poster but they suggested that instead of the blood splash I needed something dark so I improved it by adding an image of the woods which I had taken and I made it black and white during the editing and some mentioned that I needed to change the title overall the comments from this research were generally positive although only a few liked the second poster. The reason as to why I've kept the tulip is because almost everyone said that it look good and once they had asked for the reason as to the significance of the tulip and I had explained the meaning attached to it in our narrative.
1)
2)
Final Poster
Grindhouse Background Information
I have also researched upon the grindhouse genre and some of the very early examples of films within the grindhouse genre.This task helped me realise how the films within the genre have changed over time and so helping in making sensible decisions for example in terms of shot styles, locations and editing.
Grindhouse is the American term for theatres which that played all of the exploitation genres. Our trailer fits into the grindhouse genre because of the effects and sounds that we have used in order to follow a conventional grindhouse film but with a British setting.
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez followed this theme and took on a project to create two films which would fit into the grindhouse genre and would be shown back to back in the cinema as well as including fictional trailers in between.
However the films were released separately in extended versions because outside the U.S. and Canada there wasn’t the tradition of double features so it was deemed to lengthy for a single film yet the single extended versions were seen by some as an attempt to make profits by selling two the film as singles even though they were sold together in the U.S.
Although the films were separated and the ‘big project’ was not as successful as it was thought to be the separated films were successful because there were modern remakes.
The grindhouse sub-genre is part of the exploitation genre which includes early examples such as the following;
Ingagi is a 1931 exploitation film , it stated itself to be a documentary by Sir Hubert Winstead of London on an expedition to Africa, and it involves a tribe of gorilla worshiping women who have been discovered by the explorer. It was produced by Congo Pictures and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Even though it was marketed as an attempt to make it seem as if it were a real ethnographic film, the film was fabricated which lead to Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association to draw back any involvement with the film. The film trades heavily on the suggestion of sex between a woman and a gorilla.
Freaks is an1932 American Pre-code (Hollywood era between introduction of sound and enforcement of the Hays Code censorship guidelines,) 1934 horror film about sideshow performers, it was directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers.
The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story “Spurs". Browning took the one of the biggest and first steps in Hollywood history by casting real people with deformities as the sideshow "freaks," rather than using costumes and makeup. Browning was a member of a travelling circus when he was younger and a lot of the film was taken from his personal experiences. In the film, the physically deformed "freaks" are naturally trusting and honourable people but the real monsters are two of the "normal" members of the circus who make plans to murder one of the performers to take over his large inheritance.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a 1974 American independent horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote the film with Kim Henkel. The film follows a group of friends who become victims to a family of cannibals when on their way to visit an old homestead.
Even though it was marketed as a true story to attract more audiences its plot is totally fictional. Only the character of Leatherface and minor plot details were inspired by the actions of the real-life killer Ed Gein. Hooper produced the film for less than $300,000 using a cast of relatively unknown actors drawn mainly from central Texas where the film was shot. The limited budget meant that Hooper had to film seven days a week for long hours so he could finish as quickly as possible and decrease rental costs on the equipment which he was using.
As a result of the film's violent content, Hooper found it difficult to find a distributor.
However, Louis Perano of Bryanston Pictures purchased the distribution rights. Hooper limited the quantity of onscreen gore in the hopes to receive a “PG rating”, but the Motion Picture Association of America rated it "R" and the film faced similar difficulties internationally. During its October 1974 release the film was banned outright in several countries and a number of theaters later stopped showing the film in response to viewers’ complaints due to its violence.
The film was a commercial success, grossing over $30 million at the United States box office and at that time becoming the highest-grossing independent film ever. It has since gained a reputation as one of the most influential horror films in the history of cinema. It is credited with creating several conventions common in the slasher genre, including the use of power tools as murder weapons and the characterization of the killer as a large and faceless figure.
The popularity of the film led to a franchise which continued the story of Leatherface and his family through sequels, comic books, video games and a remake.
There has been a new wave of the content and themes of grindhouse which includes the recently very popular films such as SAW and the Human Centipede. The two films have had critical receptions but nevertheless they have been successful in following horror conventions.
Grindhouse enthusiasts may argue that such modern remakes of the horror theme look too real and this means that you aren’t able to enjoy the purposefully bad quality films which are key to separating grindhouse from other horror sub-genres.
The reason as to why grindhouse films were bad quality and had a really bad soundtrack was mainly due to the VSH video players of the time and this meant that when films were recorded the cassettes were too worn out because you had to record over other materials which ruined the quality of the film.
However some argue that this lead to films being made purposefully bad such as the big grindhouse project by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez in order to bring back the grindhouse genre.
Grindhouse is the American term for theatres which that played all of the exploitation genres. Our trailer fits into the grindhouse genre because of the effects and sounds that we have used in order to follow a conventional grindhouse film but with a British setting.
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez followed this theme and took on a project to create two films which would fit into the grindhouse genre and would be shown back to back in the cinema as well as including fictional trailers in between.
However the films were released separately in extended versions because outside the U.S. and Canada there wasn’t the tradition of double features so it was deemed to lengthy for a single film yet the single extended versions were seen by some as an attempt to make profits by selling two the film as singles even though they were sold together in the U.S.
Although the films were separated and the ‘big project’ was not as successful as it was thought to be the separated films were successful because there were modern remakes.
The grindhouse sub-genre is part of the exploitation genre which includes early examples such as the following;
Ingagi is a 1931 exploitation film , it stated itself to be a documentary by Sir Hubert Winstead of London on an expedition to Africa, and it involves a tribe of gorilla worshiping women who have been discovered by the explorer. It was produced by Congo Pictures and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Even though it was marketed as an attempt to make it seem as if it were a real ethnographic film, the film was fabricated which lead to Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association to draw back any involvement with the film. The film trades heavily on the suggestion of sex between a woman and a gorilla.
Freaks is an1932 American Pre-code (Hollywood era between introduction of sound and enforcement of the Hays Code censorship guidelines,) 1934 horror film about sideshow performers, it was directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers.
The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story “Spurs". Browning took the one of the biggest and first steps in Hollywood history by casting real people with deformities as the sideshow "freaks," rather than using costumes and makeup. Browning was a member of a travelling circus when he was younger and a lot of the film was taken from his personal experiences. In the film, the physically deformed "freaks" are naturally trusting and honourable people but the real monsters are two of the "normal" members of the circus who make plans to murder one of the performers to take over his large inheritance.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a 1974 American independent horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote the film with Kim Henkel. The film follows a group of friends who become victims to a family of cannibals when on their way to visit an old homestead.
Even though it was marketed as a true story to attract more audiences its plot is totally fictional. Only the character of Leatherface and minor plot details were inspired by the actions of the real-life killer Ed Gein. Hooper produced the film for less than $300,000 using a cast of relatively unknown actors drawn mainly from central Texas where the film was shot. The limited budget meant that Hooper had to film seven days a week for long hours so he could finish as quickly as possible and decrease rental costs on the equipment which he was using.
As a result of the film's violent content, Hooper found it difficult to find a distributor.
However, Louis Perano of Bryanston Pictures purchased the distribution rights. Hooper limited the quantity of onscreen gore in the hopes to receive a “PG rating”, but the Motion Picture Association of America rated it "R" and the film faced similar difficulties internationally. During its October 1974 release the film was banned outright in several countries and a number of theaters later stopped showing the film in response to viewers’ complaints due to its violence.
The film was a commercial success, grossing over $30 million at the United States box office and at that time becoming the highest-grossing independent film ever. It has since gained a reputation as one of the most influential horror films in the history of cinema. It is credited with creating several conventions common in the slasher genre, including the use of power tools as murder weapons and the characterization of the killer as a large and faceless figure.
The popularity of the film led to a franchise which continued the story of Leatherface and his family through sequels, comic books, video games and a remake.
There has been a new wave of the content and themes of grindhouse which includes the recently very popular films such as SAW and the Human Centipede. The two films have had critical receptions but nevertheless they have been successful in following horror conventions.
Grindhouse enthusiasts may argue that such modern remakes of the horror theme look too real and this means that you aren’t able to enjoy the purposefully bad quality films which are key to separating grindhouse from other horror sub-genres.
The reason as to why grindhouse films were bad quality and had a really bad soundtrack was mainly due to the VSH video players of the time and this meant that when films were recorded the cassettes were too worn out because you had to record over other materials which ruined the quality of the film.
However some argue that this lead to films being made purposefully bad such as the big grindhouse project by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez in order to bring back the grindhouse genre.
Conventions within Horror Films
As well as analysing posters, magazine covers, trailers and an overall analysis of grindhouse slasher films I have also analysed the conventions within the horror genre as a whole. I have made a powerpoint to illustrate the genreal themes and forms within the horror genre and I have placed the powerpoint the powerpoint sharing site 'slideboom' which allows everyone to post powerpoints electronically worldwide.
Please follow the link to view the powerpoint.
http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/357599/Conventions-Of-Slasher-Films
Please follow the link to view the powerpoint.
http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/357599/Conventions-Of-Slasher-Films
Filmed Storyboard
The above video is of the storyboard which I used in order to get a sense of how the music and the different camera shots used will work together to create a sense of the trailer itself. This allows an insight into how we might want to change the pace of the editing or maybe use different camera shots and so by carrying out this task it helps to figure out what decisions we may want to finalise on before starting filming the actual trailer.
Call Sheets
We came up with the idea of having call sheets and we were going to give those out to all the cast and crew and this helped everyone involved know exactly what time they would need to be at the shoots, what would take place in each shot, who would be in each shot, where the locations were, where the closest emergency options were and everyone’s mobile numbers. This helped us be more organised and keep on track of the project.
Storyboard
Before filming we decided that it would be best if we created a storyboard on which we draw the shots and on the side we explained how the camera would be held what type of shot it would be and this helped us get organised and have an idea of how we could bring the whole task together.
Snyopsis
Location; the house & park
Exterior; Suburban area
• A guy is picked on at school & he goes missing for sometime (commits suicide)
• There is a house party someone’s 17th birthday
• The girl that bullied him the most gets killed first; this happens when she is having sex in the car, there is a whistle (a nursery rhyme) outside the car. Her boyfriend comes out of the car but nobodies there so he walks around, the girl gets out of the car as well, she turns around and she is stabbed by a guy in a mask.
• There is a pause (the girl doesn’t turn up at school for a while; nobody takes a notice because she’s done this sort of thing before.
• The killer pretends to be dead, lying in a hall way covered all in blood. There is no whistling at this point and there is no mask.
• A couple and the main girl are walking home through the woods/park at this point the main girls mum comes to pick her up. The couple are playing chase there is the whistling and one of the couple finds the body of the other one.
• A girl gets into a taxi; the taxi driver is a rapist, the whistling starts, the driver rapes and kills the girl so the killer is not satisfied because it wasn’t him who killed her so he kills the driver.
• The main girl is panicking, she tells everyone that something is happening but no one listens.
• The main girl is sitting in the park and the park career comes up to her telling her to go home and be carful because he saw something suspicious, she asks questions, he tells her he saw blood by the exit
• The killer is waiting by the gates, the whistling starts, the benefactor (park career) pushes the girl and she runs home while the old man (benefactor) gets killed.
• The girl gets home, shouts for her mum and no answer so she goes up to her room and she as she gets there she hears the front door slam and she hides in the closet. He’s coming upstairs while whistling.
Exterior; Suburban area
• A guy is picked on at school & he goes missing for sometime (commits suicide)
• There is a house party someone’s 17th birthday
• The girl that bullied him the most gets killed first; this happens when she is having sex in the car, there is a whistle (a nursery rhyme) outside the car. Her boyfriend comes out of the car but nobodies there so he walks around, the girl gets out of the car as well, she turns around and she is stabbed by a guy in a mask.
• There is a pause (the girl doesn’t turn up at school for a while; nobody takes a notice because she’s done this sort of thing before.
• The killer pretends to be dead, lying in a hall way covered all in blood. There is no whistling at this point and there is no mask.
• A couple and the main girl are walking home through the woods/park at this point the main girls mum comes to pick her up. The couple are playing chase there is the whistling and one of the couple finds the body of the other one.
• A girl gets into a taxi; the taxi driver is a rapist, the whistling starts, the driver rapes and kills the girl so the killer is not satisfied because it wasn’t him who killed her so he kills the driver.
• The main girl is panicking, she tells everyone that something is happening but no one listens.
• The main girl is sitting in the park and the park career comes up to her telling her to go home and be carful because he saw something suspicious, she asks questions, he tells her he saw blood by the exit
• The killer is waiting by the gates, the whistling starts, the benefactor (park career) pushes the girl and she runs home while the old man (benefactor) gets killed.
• The girl gets home, shouts for her mum and no answer so she goes up to her room and she as she gets there she hears the front door slam and she hides in the closet. He’s coming upstairs while whistling.
Qualitative Trailer Research
I have analysed trailers in order to help me get ideas on what sort of conventions grindhouse slasher films follow.
Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed by John Carpenter. This film is considered culturally and historically significant because it was produced on a budget of $320,000 but it grossed $47.3 million at the box office in the US and $60 million worldwide so it became one of the most profitable independent films. It is also significant because some argue that it was first in a long line of slasher films which were inspired by Alferd Hitchcock’s Pyscho (1960) and because several if not many conventions originated from the film .
In the planning of our trailer we tried to follow similar conventions because the film basically set the outline for slasher films and one of these conventions was the idea that the killer watches his victims and this is shown in one of our shots where the final girl turns and the killer is behind her and we don’t see him until she has turned and walked off.
In the trailer for Halloween the music changes just like in ours the pace of the music changes in different shots, a lot of point of view shots mainly from the killers point of view and we have based our trailer mostly on the killer stalking his victims where ever they are especially the final girl.
The name of the film is repeated several times which we tried to do as well and there is an end card which has the name of the film on and the production company similar to ours.
The whole sequence of the trailer is the same as in how the pace is slow at the beginning but towards the middle it builds up and there is a little bit of action and the pace goes back down again. As the action builds in the shot the music builds up as well changing into a different sound theme or stopping. As he kills someone the sound changes and is more alarming in a way to emphasis the shock of the action for the audience. There is also a voiceover which is similar to our trailer as in its also deep in pitch.
This is the trailer for the film Halloween;
Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed by John Carpenter. This film is considered culturally and historically significant because it was produced on a budget of $320,000 but it grossed $47.3 million at the box office in the US and $60 million worldwide so it became one of the most profitable independent films. It is also significant because some argue that it was first in a long line of slasher films which were inspired by Alferd Hitchcock’s Pyscho (1960) and because several if not many conventions originated from the film .
In the planning of our trailer we tried to follow similar conventions because the film basically set the outline for slasher films and one of these conventions was the idea that the killer watches his victims and this is shown in one of our shots where the final girl turns and the killer is behind her and we don’t see him until she has turned and walked off.
In the trailer for Halloween the music changes just like in ours the pace of the music changes in different shots, a lot of point of view shots mainly from the killers point of view and we have based our trailer mostly on the killer stalking his victims where ever they are especially the final girl.
The name of the film is repeated several times which we tried to do as well and there is an end card which has the name of the film on and the production company similar to ours.
The whole sequence of the trailer is the same as in how the pace is slow at the beginning but towards the middle it builds up and there is a little bit of action and the pace goes back down again. As the action builds in the shot the music builds up as well changing into a different sound theme or stopping. As he kills someone the sound changes and is more alarming in a way to emphasis the shock of the action for the audience. There is also a voiceover which is similar to our trailer as in its also deep in pitch.
This is the trailer for the film Halloween;
Qualitative Trailer Research
Nightmare on elm street is another classic slasher film which was popular at the time and still is it is a 1984 American slasher film and was directed by Wes Craven . The trailer for the film begins with the green card followed by the supporting card which we found was evident in many of the developing slasher films of the time so we tried to include those cards as well by creating our own green card and an in association card for our trailer. The change in sound is clear in this trailer as it changes when someone is being killed, the pace of the sound changes dramatically from one sort to another and the cuts to the sound are also clear which is evident in our trailer. We found that with slasher films from the time the integration of the sound and images create the meanings attached to the shots. The pace in sound is important in horror films as in its trailers there is an informal structure to the build up and slowing down of the trailer, the sound builds up with the action in the shots and mid way through the trailer both increase in time and go back down yet sometimes there will be a smaller sort of jump right towards the end but all end slow.
This is a the trailer for Nightmare on Elm Street;
This is a the trailer for Nightmare on Elm Street;
Qualitative Trailer Research
Queen of the damned is a 2002 film it is a vampire film based on the novel by Anne Rice. Even though this film is not from the grindhouse genre or the slasher genre but it’s still from the horror genre as a whole so it is useful in explaining how trailers for horror films as a whole and this helps us in seeing how we could use the genre as a whole to create our trailer.
The trailer starts with the green card and the supporting cards, it goes on to revealing the ‘final girl’ which tells the viewer that the person is important within the film we followed this theme by showing the killer first this adds an extra layer of suspense as Alferd Hitchcock’s philosophy suggests that by doing this your creating dramatic irony because the audience know who the killer is but the characters don’t. The voiceover explains some of the narrative and this helps the viewer follow the narrative and we followed this convention because it helps the audience figure out some of the narrative.
The trailer follows the same convention as others within the horror genre as a whole in that it has a structure to how the pace of the trailer builds and it includes a caption towards the end. The trailer starts off slow towards the end however it builds up in the pace of the sound and the action there is some killings being shown but it’s just general and doesn’t involve gore. The end card comes on quick around the same speed as the flashes in the beginning. The sound varies throughout the trailer as the actions/shots change the music changes as well.
This is the trailer of Queen of the Damned:
The trailer starts with the green card and the supporting cards, it goes on to revealing the ‘final girl’ which tells the viewer that the person is important within the film we followed this theme by showing the killer first this adds an extra layer of suspense as Alferd Hitchcock’s philosophy suggests that by doing this your creating dramatic irony because the audience know who the killer is but the characters don’t. The voiceover explains some of the narrative and this helps the viewer follow the narrative and we followed this convention because it helps the audience figure out some of the narrative.
The trailer follows the same convention as others within the horror genre as a whole in that it has a structure to how the pace of the trailer builds and it includes a caption towards the end. The trailer starts off slow towards the end however it builds up in the pace of the sound and the action there is some killings being shown but it’s just general and doesn’t involve gore. The end card comes on quick around the same speed as the flashes in the beginning. The sound varies throughout the trailer as the actions/shots change the music changes as well.
This is the trailer of Queen of the Damned:
Overall Annotations Of Grindhouse Films
The following poster is of the trailer ‘Don’t Go In The House’ is a low budget grindhouse slasher film which gained a title of the video nasties and still remains banned in some countries. When it was released in Britain in 1980 it was cut by almost three minutes but the uncut version was released on video by the Arcade label in 1982. The poster shows what the film is about from the main image the title again is in red because it is one of the main conventions of horror films and the connotations of red are danger, blood and gore. In the trailer the sound is similar to our trailer because it repeats the name several times but in the version which was purposefully made to look comic the name of the film is repeated too much making it comic. This version of the trailer for the film shows that it’s a modern remake of the grindhouse genre and this is evidence that there have been attempts to make grindhouse. It also shows that there is a market for it and it shows that successful film makers have done the same as us.
Below is the remake.
Below is the remake.
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