EVALUATION 7 - Institution analysis

How did we create our own production titles and how did we place them conventionally in our trailer?

ROBYN PRODUCTIONS:

The inspiration of using this specific name as our institution is from our AS production. In our AS production, we created an opening two minutes to a film and titled it 'Robyn' which was the name of our main character. The effect of having this as an institution title in our trailer is that it will essentially create a brand identity for the film; the way in which this would be created is that audiences who have viewed our opening two minutes will recognise the title and if they enjoyed the opening they will be likely to watch our trailer. We created the font of 'Robyn' using an online font website to which we were able to look through which we felt was most conventional and effective of a horror. We feel like the specific use of font we have used is conventional and the sketch-like look could create a link with the child as if it was in there writing.  The basic but obscure colors of the black background and the white font contrast one another well; with black connoting evil, death and darkness in contrast to white, connoting innocence and purity; it is effective to use the contrasting colors as it firstly stands out a lot and is prominent on the screen. Additionally, we could specifically create a link with these two connotations and our two characters where they are binary opposites and create the idea of good vs evil; similar to what our title's contrasting colors suggest. To present this institution, we used the transitions that were provided on the Premiere Elements Software; and the specific transition we used was the slice tool. This transitions created a cutting effect as the title was partially thrown on to the screen; and this was significantly effective as the cutting transition creates the fear of danger of which is conventional of the horror genre.

DIM LIGHT FILMS

The initial idea of using this as an institution name was that we filmed the blowing out of a candle as one of our preliminary filming's. We felt like this would be effective to use as it creates a sense of fear and the change from light to darkness would set the audience to panic as they would be curious as to what is going to happen. We struggled to find a place for this specific filming in our overall trailer so decided to use it as part of our institutions which is where we came up with the institution name. Again, the colors that we have used are contrasting one another creating the effect of binary oppositions and for our trailer specifically, good vs evil. The title of the institution appears through flashing on to the screen in front of the filming of the candle.. The specific font we have used is basic but is prominent and the use of capitalisations makes it stand out to audiences. The letter 'H' is a different color to the rest and the reason for this is the background lighting of the candle making it more difficult to see in a white font.

The way in which we have incorporated the institutions is effective as they are both at the beginning of the trailer making audiences immediately aware of who has created what they are watching. We feel like we have placed them conventionally in our trailer where you would commonly see them at the beginning, where we have placed them. Also, they are only shown for an extremely short period of time and this is further conventional of a horror where clips and scenes are very shot as in a trailer, the aim is to incorporate as many events and stages of the film as possible; creating confusion for the audience as they would be overwhelmed with the amount of  things that are occurring and would therefore be more engaged. Overall, we feel like presentation of our institutions is effective but also the way we have done so and where we have specifically place them is conventional of a trailer.

EVALUATION 6 - Narrative

How did we establish the narrative in our trailer and what is established in the other two productions? How do they work together to sell our product?

The narrative is the way the different elements in a story are organised to make a meaningful story. Narration is how the story is told, how the information is presented to viewers, for example visual style and point of view the story is told from.  There are four different structures of narrative, of which are Linear/chronological, Non-linear, and cyclical or can have single/multiple viewpoints.  Our trailer adopts the linear/chronological structure where the events that occur are ordered and follow to create the story; however this chronological structure has been broken apart with the use of titles in order to create the trailer composition.  

In our trailer, we have specifically used an omniscient narration, where we see events from multiple viewpoints. This can add suspense and appeal to audiences as they are made aware of events/information that other characters may not be.

We further looked into Claude Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions. He studied how the world is arranged in terms of oppositional forces and values. He was also interested in the order of how things happened, but more focused on the arrangement of their oppositional themes in a media text. In our trailer ‘Dawn’, we portray the representation of binary oppositions through the two characters and their contrasting ages. The specific depiction of these two characters is the good that is shown through the young girl and the evil that we see through the elderly women. The good and evil show a clear opposition between the two characters and this would conform to theorist Claude Levi-Strauss There is also binary oppositions in their ages where they are juxtaposing one another. Both characters are at opposite ends of the spectrum; with the girl being a young child and portrayed as innocent and vulnerable, in contrast to the elderly women who is being depicted as evil and eerie.

Through ending our trailer with the girl going through a possessed episode, we are able to relate to the theory of the enigma code, proposed by Roland Barthes. The enigma code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. For audiences, they have viewed an unexplained event and this would therefore encourage them to want to watch on to find out what and how it happened. In relation to this specific event and the character, we also used Vladimir Propp’s theory to help us decide on the kind of representation to use and the role that the characters were playing in our trailer. He suggested that characters took on the role of narrative ‘spheres of action’ or functions. He came up with eight key characters types in a narrative; a few of which we have implemented into our trailer. With this specific event, we are able to relate to the false hero. The description of this is that they appear to be good but are revealed, at the narratives end, to have been bad. It is often the case that characters fulfil more than one sphere character type. In our trailer, the young girl starts out to be innocent and vulnerable when she is found in a difficult situation in her own home. Throughout this build-up to the point where she eventually sees the antagonist, she is portrayed as a scared, innocent young child; however by the end of the trailer, she is shown to be possessed and quite violent with her actions when slamming down her head on the table. Therefore conforming to the false hero where she ends to be revealed badly.

Our ancillary texts work well together to sell our products and a key feature that we thought this most applied to was the use of the slogan on our poster which was 'Your fears are what you create'. This slogan was significantly effective in selling our product as it essentially produced a brand identity; a feature which audiences remember our film but and identify/associate us with. Another way in which we though our ancillary texts contributed to the selling of our product was through using the images of our antagonist. The effect of this is that the elderly women is a key character in the trailer and therefore audiences will know/recognise her character when it comes to actually watching the film. Lastly, the appealing use of font is effective in selling our product as it is prominent on the background making it stand out to audiences and for audiences to recognise. The bold font and capitalisation of letters makes it more noticeable for audiences to remember; and therefore selling the product well if audiences will purchase it and further go to watch the film/trailer.

EVALUATION 5 - Trailer expectations

How have we made our trailer seem like a trailer? How did specific moments appeal to the target audience?

With our trailer, we used a continuous method of filming where events took place in chronological order, creating the story-like feel for audiences. This typically would not seem like a trailer as it is often that trailers are just a montage of different events (not making sense), however we managed to convert this by adding titles; by doing this we were breaking apart the continuity of the film, emphasising the trailer feel. 

Titles:

In a trailer, titles are extremely important in promoting the film but for us; particularly breaking apart the story-like feel and continuity of events. The first titles that we included were of the institutions which were only briefly revealed; in trailers the display of institutions is much shorter than those in the actual film as they focus alot more on displaying multiple events. Our next two titles are slogans for our film, which are briefly guiding audiences through the trailer. The first one is 'Sometimes our worst fears'; and the effect of this is that audiences are unaware of what is meant by that; also the use of the collective pronoun 'our' contributes to engaging audiences as they are making them feel a part of the trailer by using direct address. These title significantly broke apart the continuity of events in our trailer. Another title that we incorporated which is conventional of a trailer was the time of release stating that it was 'This Halloween'. This is important and recognisable in most trailers as it is a key piece of information that distributors want audiences to remember. Lastly, we displayed the Title of the film and the credits. In the majority of trailers, these tend to be at the end as they are again things that we want the audiences to remember. Most importantly is the name of the film which is 'Dawn'. This is the main thing that we want audiences to remember and is what audiences should know when it is released. This is conventional in most trailers and was something that we recognised when analysing other trailers prior to creating our own.

Camera:

In most trailers, the camera movement tends to be very fast-paced and this is due to the multiple events that are combined together. The reason for the fast-paced camera movement is also to engage audiences and keep them on the edge of there seats when in-taking all the events that the trailer distributes. In our trailer we have actually subverted to this when using quite slow-paced camera movement, however this was to convey our genre and create tension to which you would expect in the horror genre. In our trailer, we have used a range of different shots and angles including, mid shots revealing body language and actions, close ups, over the shoulder shots, mirror shots, POV, etc. All of these were effective in engaging audiences which is the general purpose of a trailer. We aimed to use as many different shots and angles as possible in our trailer in order to show the change of atmosphere and to create meaning. A specific moment in our trailer that we feel would be most appealing to audiences would be the change in camera movement where it became much more fast paced creating tension for the audiences and unexpected change causing them to question everything they have seen.

Editing:

Typical editing, expectations of a trailer involve a lot of fast-paced editing and jump cuts from different clips. In our trailer, we initially began using quite slow-paced editing where each clip slowly faded in and out creating quite a suspicious atmosphere; along with the slow, eerie music. When changing through the different clips we used the fade effect creating a connection rather than it being a solid cut. This is important in trailers as there tends to be alot of jump cuts between the different clips and it is most effective when this is done smoothly using the fade transition or any other. The fade effect after each clip is effective as it essentially closes the specific scene creating suspense as audiences will begin to question what is going to happen next. We used the dip to black transition between the first half of our trailer which is quite slow-paced and eerie - to the end of our trailer which is much more fast-fast paced and intense. This was effective as it was closing the scene making audience think that its the end when the sudden fade was the cause of another event to start which would exhilarate audiences. This is conventional of a trailer as we typically expect a complete change of scene and events to which we don't find much out about.


Overall we have made our own trailer seem like a trailer through the constant use of title's and the complete change of scene and events from the beginning to the end. The use of titles significantly breaks apart the story-like feel and the continuity making it feel more like a trailer. Also, the titles are effective in advertising the film which is what you often expect in a trailer.

EVALUATION 4 - Film Poster and Magazine

How alike film posters and magazines are our ancillary texts? 

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Poster:

When constructing our film poster, we wanted to make it look as realistic and alike a film poster as possible; and to do this, we analysed a few film posters - identifying the key features  that are most appealing and effective to audiences. The key focus that we found in most posters and is the one thing that should be most appealing is the image. We found that in the majority of the posters that there was only one image and this tended to be of the main character. The effect of having only one image is that audiences will have one focus and will be more engaged with it rather than having multiple small images. The use of a close-up shot is prominent and the direct-eye contact in the image is significant in captivating the eyes of the audiences. The effect of using one of the main characters in our trailer - and is the case in many other films - is that when it comes to watching the film, audiences will remember the characters and will have some recollection or recognition of who they actually are.

The title is one of the main things that you expect to see on a film poster as it is something that is promoting our trailer - and therefore, the title is the key thing that we are going to want audiences to remember when it is released. When analysing other texts, we recognised and followed the presentation of the title being prominent to audiences. Our poster clearly presents the title of our film, with it being in a bold-like font, with the capitalisation of letters. Also the white font on a black/white background able's it to stand out much more with the contrasting colours. In relation to titles, we decided that it would be most effective to include a slogan/phrase on our poster. This was something that we did not see a lot of when analysing other ancillary texts however we thought that this would be something that would make our own original but that would also create a brand identity for our film - as other than the title, this slogan/phrase would be something that audiences would remember our film by. The slogan we have used is 'your fears are what you create' which is a phrase that also appears in our trailer and would therefore be something that audiences will remember and associate our film with.

The final expectations of a poster that we followed were the release date and the credits. With a poster, you don't tend to want to see the further information of the film - and for this reason, these are in a smaller font. A poster is something that you would typically display or keep as a memorabilia of some sort - and therefore, you wouldn't realistically want to see all the credits and the release data. However, this is important information for the distributor's as it is information that you want audiences to be aware of.  Overall we thought that the way in which we presented our poster, with using an eye-catching image and a prominent title and slogan, allowed us to engage audiences and we thought it was very alike other film posters as we aimed to follow their ways of presenting - whereby we analysed many posters prior to creating our own.


Magazine:

Alike with our poster - prior to actually creating it, we analysed many other film magazines to get a basic idea of what the key features were and how we should incorporate them into our own. We found that the most prominent feature on the majority of magazine texts was the company name. The reason for this is that they are the ones that are publishing our trailer - and depending on the popularity of the magazine company, they are essentially the cause for engaging audiences. This would be because there are often audiences that make regular purchases of specific magazines - and therefore if our film is being promoted on there, the company will be wanting to take credit for that promotion. We followed this by presenting our company name 'Illumination' in a big, bold font - prominent to audiences.

Another key focus that we found in most magazine covers was the use of imagery. We found that in the majority of magazine covers that there was only one (often two) image(s). The reason for this is, similar to posters, that there is only one focus of which audiences will be engaged by and will most likely recognise. Again, alike film posters, this image tends to be of the main character of the film - allowing audiences to recognise the character and warm to them when it comes to actually watching the film. On our magazine cover, we do have one primal image which is of one of the key characters in our trailer. And this was prominent and eye-catching to audiences as it was a partial close-up of the woman's face. We did, however, include other images - of which included a film-strip of shots of our protagonist, which were effective as they were not shots that actually appeared in our trailer. We also included an image of a location of which we did not use in our trailer, however it was being presented as an exclusive that features inside the magazine. This is effective as it is essentially a unique selling point for the magazine as audiences may be more engaged in knowing that they are getting extra information or extra inserts of which they may not have expected to begin with.

It is important in film that there are unique selling points - and in the majority of films this can be the main actor who may have starred in many successful films. Alternatively, it could be the director of a film who has produced many popular films. In a magazine, however, the unique selling points may vary and we aimed for these to be the exclusives which audiences receive inside the magazine such as free posters and special interviews. This would be seen as unique selling points as audiences would feel more obliged to purchase it if they knew that they were getting more than what they may have hoped for - therefore getting 'more for your money'. We have also displayed the price of the magazine, however it is much smaller than other information. Similar to the majority of magazines, the price is not something that you want to be immediately noticed which is why it tends to be in a much smaller font to everything else.


Overall, we feel like both ancillary texts are very similar to other film posters and magazine covers. The way in which we were able to achieve this was by analysing both sets of text, prior to actually creating our own. This allowed us to identify the key features of both which we were able to incorporate into our own creations - resulting in a successful promotion.

EVALUATION 3 - Titles

Use of titles: How have we used titles and how did they advertise our film it the trailer?

The first title that is displayed in our trailer is the approval for the appropriate audiences. This is important to have at the start of the trailer and is seen and the beginning of most to ensure that audiences know what to expect and know whether it is appropriate; and by stating that it has been approved by 'the motion picture association of America', audiences are most likely to be sure that it is suitable to watch as they are a well known association considering that they have approved many other films/trailers.

The next two titles in our trailer are our production credits. These are generally displayed in film to make audiences aware of who the film was made by and who contributed to the production. We created both production credits ourselves which we took time in producing as we wanted them to seem as realistic and look as realistic and advanced as possible. Our first production credit was titled 'Robyn Productions' and this name was taken from our opening two minutes to a film that we completed last year at AS. The effectiveness of this is that for those that have viewed our opening two minutes and were made aware of the title, they will be more likely to remember it for being an appealing film; and therefore may be more obliged to watch our trailer. The second production credit was titled 'Dim light films' which again was another credit name that we came up with and feel is most effective with the way that it is displayed. We personally filmed the blowing out of the candle ourselves as we felt like it was an original, effective way to present a title with relevance in the name of it and the candle itself.

The next use of titles in our trailer are slogans which are partially involved in creating a story for the audiences to follow. The first one is 'Sometimes our worst fears'. This title is effective in engaging audiences; firstly through the collective pronoun use of  'our', making them feel part of the journey of the film. This is compelling in advertising our trailer as it is a phrase that audiences could be set to remember; and it creates quite a suspicious atmosphere as it is not yet clear of what we mean by saying that... suggesting that there is something bad set to happen. The following title is another slogan which again constructs the story-like feel, guiding the audiences through the trailer. As just suggested, this is effective in advertising our trailer as this specific title is one that we have used across the board of our overall production. The specific title of  ' Are the fears that we create' is one that we have also used in our poster; this is significant as it is a slogan that essentially creates and contributes to the brand identity of our overall production and could be a way of audiences perceiving us and recognising our trailer. In terms of the way we have displayed the title, the white and red text follows the kind of theme that we began using... having horror connotations of blood and death but also innocence and purity. The use of language again, using the collective pronoun 'we', personally engages audiences making them feel a part of the trailer as if it's a personal experience.

Our next title was our time of release stating 'This Halloween'. This is an important title to include in a trailer as it is the main thing that you want audiences to remember and for them to come and watch it. This title is effective in advertising our trailer as it is stating when the whole film is going to be shown and therefore will be significant in engaging audiences and ensuring that they know when it is so that they can watch it. The font that we have used to display this title stands out where we have used all capitals and the use of white text on a black background is much more prominent. In relation to the editing and transitions on this title, we have used the flash transition which clearly just flashes the title onto the screen; generally making it stand out and be noticed by audiences much more.

We end our trailer with two final titles; one of which is the actual title of our film, being Dawn - and the other is the production credits which are stating who took part and contributed to the production process. The title of our trailer, 'Dawn', was displayed at the end of our trailer as it is the main thing that we want audiences to remember. The way in which this advertises our trailer, is that it will be one of the last things that audiences see on the screen and realistically should be something that they would remember. The final titles in our trailer are our production credits, which are generally crediting those who contributed to the production process and making them known to audiences. This is important as audiences don't tend to recognise or appreciate the work that people do behind the scenes and therefore, by stating there names in our trailer - they will be recognised. The way in which we have displayed these titles are effective and the dark, dull colors and faded edges partially convey the genre and have the associations and connotations that we would expect of a horror.

EVALUATION 2 - Sound

How does our trailer use sound to convey the genre, in comparison to other trailers?

The choice of music, sound and dialogue that is presented in film will always affect the viewers perception of the particular film and it is important that the sound has relevance or is in-sync with actions that are being made or the event that is occurring. The sound in film primarily dictates the viewer opinion on the film, how they feel considering the emotions that the the music or the sound effect impact in them. In our trailer, we have conveyed the genre using alot of eerie non-diegetic sound effects. This is something that is prevalent in most trailers and is effective through engaging audiences. The kind of sound effects that we have incorporated are the creaking of doors, screams, etc. Alongside this, we also used a soundtrack, which fits well with our trailer and is conventional of the horror genre.

At the beginning of our trailer, we have incorporated sound in-sync with the appearance of our title. The title effect that we used had a slice effect making it quite eerie, and conveying the horror genre. Alongside this title, we included a cutting/fuzzy sound effect which was significantly in time with the appearance of our title. It is not often that there is sound or much  sound when displaying titles however we feel like this was effective as it is a sound that will engage audiences; essentially making them remember what it was. The first shot in our film is of the young girl and at this point, we immediately incorporated some non-diegetic dialogue saying "the lights went out, I'm scared". This immediately sets the scene as the way in which this dialogue was said sounded quite worrying and as if the young girl was fearing something. Through using this minimal piece of sound, we are allowing audiences to understand what is partially happening and the situation that they should expect to occur; primarily with it being a horror and that there is something to fear.

The soundtrack in the background of our trailer is effective in creating quite a tense, suspicious atmosphere with it being quite slow paced and with the eerie voice that appears in it saying "dream" multiple times. This specific sound is effective as it not only creating a tense, suspicious atmosphere; but also with having relevance to the current situation with the girl being filmed in bed at night; and this allows audiences to make assumptions and understand the situation a bit more. Once the young girl steps our of bed, we incorporated a monotone sound-track which gradually builds up to the climax of which is ended with a scream. This is effective in engaging the audience as the increasing tempo adds more suspense and adds to the fear that the audiences may have already had; and this is significant as this is what horrors intend to do.

Throughout our trailer, we used a few sound effects when presenting our titles; for example when the title saying "this Halloween" appears, we incorporated a loud thud. This is an effective area in film to use sound and significantly to use an effect like a thud as it kind-of jumps out at the audience and they are essentially more likely to remember it. In comparison with its faint, silent appearance without sound which they would be made less aware of; the sound partially emphasises it.

Further through our trailer where the young girl is writing "help me" on the paper, we have used a non-diegetic sound effect of a scribbling sound which is significantly in-sync with her actions. The effect of adding this sound is that we were able to make it much more prominent and also use the time lapse tool to speed it up like we done with the clip itself with her actions. This sound effect is quite jaw-dropping and eerie; and the effect of the fast-paced movement and sound is that it adds tension and essentially engages audiences much more as they expect it to reach a climax of which something bad may happen.

At the end of our trailer when presenting the title credits, we included another soundtrack which we thought conveyed the genre well with the eerie-feel that it created. The soundtrack was of young children singing a nursery rhyme which is a creepy sound to hear in a horror; and is also effective as we are able to relate it to the protagonist in our trailer who is a young girl and who would be associated with doing and singing nursery rhymes.

The use of sound in horror tends to be eerie, monotone, both slow and fast paced and often quite lengthened in the sense that they drag through to add suspense. As previously said, it is important that the sound is in-sync or has some relevance to the situation or the character and there actions: for example in our trailer, where we have used the scribbling sound effect and also the nursery rhyme soundtrack, both of which have relevance to the young girl. The reason for this being so important is so that audiences can understand what is going on and be more engaged by the often unexpected but realistic situations. The most common sounds that tend to be used in most horror films/trailers are the eerie sounds of creaking doors, winds, screams, breathing, etc.

EVALUATION 1 - Representation

Have we subverted or conformed to stereotypes of your genre? Compare our own characters to those of other trailers. Write an analysis of the representation in our trailer.

In film it is important that you follow the typical expectations and stereotypes of the genre; the reason for this is to engage audiences and to attract those that are interested in the chosen genre. However, it can also be effective to subvert these stereotypes to make the film/trailer stand out and be original to the rest of the typical trailers. Subverting the typical expectations can also be effective in engaging audiences much more and generally surprising them and thrilling them with unexpected events/characters.

In our trailer, we have conformed to the majority of stereotypes of the horror genre. Beginning with the location, we have used a house location; typically, audiences are immediately aware that the house is supposedly haunted through its appearance however, there has not been much in our trailer to suggest that there is anything wrong with the house. Although, from seeing the house location - audiences will straight away make the assumption that it is haunted and will be suspicious of the events that may occur.

We have incorporated the character of an innocent and vulnerable young girl who is found to be in a daunting situation in a supposedly haunted house. This is stereotypical as the audience would not necessarily expect the young girl to be there alone making the situation more intense; but essentially puts themselves into her shoes of thinking what they would do. Throughout, this would add tension as the audience would know to expect that something bad will happen and knowing its a horror... its inevitable.

Also, the way we have represented the young character as an individual starts out by conforming to what we typically expect; however by the end of our trailer, this representation is completely reinforced where we see her actions become quite aggressive and she experiences an event of being possessed. This would typically not be expected of a child or in fact a young girl; therefore subverting the stereotypical representations.  Theorist Tessa Perkins evaluated the idea of ‘Rethinking Stereotypes’ – this involved the idea that stereotypes are not always true and how they are not rigid and can change. She also proposed that people often believe some parts of a stereotype but not always all of it – and these are active participants of media. Our subversion of the typical representations would conform to Tessa Perkins’ theory where we have not portrayed our characters how audiences would generally expect and are therefore proving that stereotypes are not always true.


The second character in our trailer is an elderly women which in horror, tend to be represented as evil and quite creepy. The way we have represented this portrayal is through her presence and also the clothing she is wearing. Firstly the netted head scarf round her is partly covering her face and not revealing her whole identity which is quite creepy in the sense that we can't see who she is, also the all black clothing that she is wearing has quite negative connotations such as, evil, power and death. This creates a negative representation of her character which in our horror trailer, we wanted.
The stereotype of elderly people being quite authoritative and wise with there actions is essentially adhered to in this situation.... mainly because of her presence and the way she is appearing in the situation. The idea of the eerie presence of the old women is effective in creating a negative representation against her which we aimed to have and this makes the audience feel more tense as stereo-typically in these situations, something bad happens.

The location/setting of our trailer is in a house and we chose this as we felt like with the characters and story line we had, this was most appropriate and realistic. Also the situation that occurs in our trailer is at night (when the young girl is sleeping) and it would therefore create a more intense atmosphere. However, we have not chosen to create that tense, eerie atmosphere of a haunted/abandoned house... stereotypical of a horror. The reason for not creating this atmosphere as we want it to be more realistic and for the audience to be able to picture the situation. As a typical expectation, people feel safe in their own home; however the representations of the characters we are portraying and the situation that arises subverts to this expectations and as a result adds to the scare of our trailer.

Claude Steele’s theory of Stereotype threat suggested that if a perceived stereotype is popularised then members of the stereotyped social group become increasingly at risk of living up to the characteristics of the stereotype – the stereotype has become normalised. We are able to link this to our trailer as audiences may feel like it is normal to be similar to the characters that are represented in our trailers; and as a result may follow in their footsteps and this could be a general threat to the society and media industries.