Poster and Magazine Cover Flat Plan Rationals

We have decided to make the background of the poster a greyish black colour, thus creating the feel of mystery and danger. This combined with a shadowy figure amongst the shrouded background, will add too give a small amount about the film - showing that there is a antagonist and that they are of a ghost type - but not giving too much away by not showing the age of the ghost or the intentions. It was either that we would have the ghost itself in the background, or we would have an image of the family a few years before the film is set, with part of it ripped out, as seen to the right. I prefer the first option as i believe it will create a distance between the protagonist and antagonist, with one being in focus and the other not, but my partner Shaun disagrees, we will have to decide which is better in the coming days. We are going to have the protagonist on the left hand side of page, this way the viewer attaches themselves to her, with her being on the left hand side of the image. We decided to use "Indifference" for a title, as the meaning of Indifference is uncaring, which would link with a plot point in the story, as seen in Idea Generation. Also, it links with the sell line of "Sometimes its better of not knowing". We are trying to make this poster a lot like "The Woman In Black" poster, this way we have a professional template in order to work of.

We have decided to call our magazine Animus. We had originally decided to call it Chaos, however, after realising that the name Chaos has already been taken, so we changed it to Animus. The definition for Animus, is a strong dislike, or hostile attitude, which really works for our genre, with it being a horror magazine. It is also a synonym for spirit, with our film being about hauntings. The magazine will mainly focus in the Horror, Psychological Thriller and Thriller films, and other elements of the Horror genre. We have decided to use either a blood red colour or a black colour for the masthead. We have agreed to make the background a blue or dark grey colour, again keeping to the mystery theme, but also making the mast head stand out. We will also have a silhouette of the antagonist in the background in order to create mystery and danger, with the protagonist facing the camera, and the silhoute behind her, we get an omniscience feeling, commonly seen in films, where we know the enemy is there, but the characters do not, making us feel on the edge of our seats, a magazine being able to do this will be a great advantage to us. The main selling like will either be a white or even a light grey, to make it stand out from the selling lines. However the capitals of I, P and S maybe in bold front or black colour to make them stand out. Me and Shaun, both looked at the third Animus on the list (as seen left below) and the fourth "Indifference" on the list. We were hoping to add these to the magazine and poster design in the near future.

 
 

Animatic

Storyboards

 

In this shot, we see a news reporter in front of the house where all the action takes place. It will be a medium close up, only being to see from the torso of the news reporter and some of the house behind it. He/ She will be say something along the lines of "This is the house where last nights events unfolded". It will transition into this shot from black, with the usage of a static transition, as seen at the end of the storyboards. There will be an eerie lack of non diegetic music in this point in the trailer.

 It will then cut straight to a shot of the main character's torso, holding some work. The camera will then zoom out and move backwards as she walks forwards, a uplifting music then comes into play, to give a false sense of hope and security. She bumps into someone, to which the sound of the two characters colliding will be en-heightened. A medium shot of her lying on the floor is then followed by a close up of the boys hand extending out to the girl, and her hand taking it, insinuating a romance building, again adding to the false sense of security. The final shot is of a inter title with a voice over saying what is on the screen, the music continues, at a slightly lower volume.

The shot will continue into a over the shoulder shot of the main protagonist getting her friends attention. Following is a medium close up with the main protagonist in full focus and in the centre of the frame. Next will be of her friends celebrating, one pulls out a phone, and starts to text, a voice over of the main protagonist will say "tell everyone". A inter title will then follow, with a different voice over saying the words that are on the screen. The next two shots are from a hand held camera, held by one of the party members, showing the viewer around the party.

 The first shot will be of someone asking if there are any board games for light entertainment, a close up of one of the extras, most likely a girl. The next shot is of the girl bending over to pull a board game out from the desk or other. The uplifting music then slows to a stop, replaced by a riding symbol ting. An over the shoulder shot follows, of the girl pulling out a Ouija board from the box. A straight cut to a close up from the side shot of the girl, being shocked, in the background we hear someone shout "Lets play!". The next shot will be of some of the group memebers sat on the floor, with the camera at floor level looking up, and if possible, with the camera spinning around the members. The final shot of this section will be of some one saying that it isnt working, in a close up, where the uplifting music continues.

The first shot of this six, it will be of a teenager at the party shouting "SHOTS!". There will be no other mention of alcohol in the trailer, and no visual evidence of intake. It will be a medium close up, in the background we will be able to see the rest of the party. The next two shots shown above will be a continuous shot, the first will show the people walking of to the kitchen/ other room, and the camera will be placed under a table to cut a little of the frame of. This will be because when the vase falls of the table and into the view of the camera, the viewer will be more concentrated on the vase.

 

--> In the first shot, we see the main protagonist being told of by here parents, and her parents leaving her for the weekend. This shot will be an over the shoulder shot, in order to see who the parents are. The up lifting music will slowly come to a close at this point. The next shot will have faded in from black, and --> will be a extreme close up of tea being poured out. The next will be of a lower angle so that the viewer can see that when the cup falls of the work surface, nothing has pushed it. The protagonist then bends over to pick it up, the camera staying static so that she will bend over and out of the camera view. A silence will then fall, and fade to black.

 

-->

The first shot will be of her sleeping and behind her a shadow will be visible on the door, however seemingly to come from nothing. There will be a sudden load non diegetic bang at this point, followed by the sound of a riding symbol being played. The next shot will be of the foot of a door, in the dark, which will then turn to light in the next shot, and the protagonist will walk out. Next will be a camera angle from the wall of the bathroom, the protagonist will walk towards the camera seemingly not knowing what is in front of her due to tiredness. The next shot will be a straight cut to a extreme close up of her face, so that we can see the horror of what she has seen. There will be no music throughout these shots.

The first shot will be an over the shoulder shot of her looking at what has surprised her - the smashed mirror with writing upon it. The music will have a non diegetic bang as heard a little earlier. It will then fade to black. On fading from black, we will see the main protagonist on the phone to her mother to which the phone line will then be cut. The camera will be on her in a medium close up position, but will then cut to a POV shot of her looking at the phone. A diegetic bang coming from upstairs causes her head to whip u and away from the lower placed camera, which will be looking up at her. she will then run up the stairs, with the camera trained on her feet. A close up of her hand on the banister follows. The last three shots will be accompanied with fast paced dark music, to add suspense to the moment. 

The first two shots are linked. She will run through the open door, run close to the camera so she is in a close up position, and we will be able to see the door close behind her. The fast music will continue to play as she runs into the room, and through these next two shots.She will then turn to bang on the door, and starts crying, the next shot is from the side so that we can see her cry. We will also be able to hear a child's giggle in the background.

The first shot of this section will be a POV shot of whatever is haunting her, we will have the camera rush forwards to her in a jerky manner, as though the ghost is rushing to her. She will then slump to the floor after fainting, the camera being left on the floor, as though left and forgotten. It will then cut to black. Up until the cut to black, the music will be still fast paced, but as soon as she is knocked to the floor, the music will suddenly stop. Also, as the trailer goes on, the editing will be quick to show the urgency of the situation, this is when the editing pace will slow right down. The next shot will be of her struggling to her feet, this shot will last quite a few seconds. The final shot will only last a second, if that, we will see her horrified expression, and the ghostly presence behind her. A non diegetic BOOM will follow the cut to static on screen which will then fade to black. The title will then come to the surface from the blackness. As the title fades away, the last thing we here is a child's giggle once more.

  Due to my experience in story boarding and filming in general, I was appointed to do the majority of this section of the portfolio. I had help from my partner, but I was mostly concerned with this while he worked on flat plans.

Evidence of Storyboarding

Reece of Location

Props / Costumes/ Locations

Props

Due to our chosen narrative, most of the story will be set within a house setting, therefore, using my own house for production, we do not have much to collect ourselves. However, some of the objects we will be using are:
Bed and duvet
Plastic cups - to insinuate alcohol consumption, can be obtained from most super markets for a cheap price
A vase - can be obtained for a charity shop for a low price, to be dropped to add suspense to a situation.

Costumes

The majority of the characters in the production will be teenagers, we wish for the extras - everyone in the party scene - will be wearing general teenage clothes, however looking quite smart, dresses and shirts etc.

The main protagonist will probably wear dark clothing, black hoodie and black trousers, possible converse as well. I have taken inspiration from the stereotypical side, all teenagers wear hoodies and jeans, however making them both black, adds a aura of mystery, and in the right physical context, a lot of danger, being able to appear that there is something wrong about the girl. She will also wear the hoodie open, preferably with a white or light top underneath, this way we can still see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, or at least there is still hope.
The main antagonist will not be seen, therefore there is no costume to worry about.



















The parents will be preferably wearing, for the male, a old man V-neck jumper, grey trousers, and generally looking old, and the woman to wear a regular dress, nothing special or expensive, preferably a grey dress. This way we can make them seem very relatable with older viewers, but seen as the main target audience is for the younger audience, the viewer will not be disapointed when the parents leave, however, seen as the clothes are very common, to which most audiences will recognise as parental clothes, when the need for them returns when things for the protagonist go wrong, the viewer will be able to emphasis easily.

Locations

The main location we will be using is my own house, where the possession will take place, there will be no problem in obtaining the residence. The house is a old station house, therefore it looks old and decrepit, this way it should enhance any spooky atmosphere that we could create.
The other location is that of the college we use for the very first shot, we can use this area in order to show that the main protagonist is popular and would be missed if anything were to happen to her.

Idea Generation

Following all of the research undertaken this is our idea for a "horror" film narrative;

In the Exposition stage of the film, there will be an introduction with very little in it, it will mostly be centered around the college, the popular protagonist inviting her friends to her party. It will then cut straight to the party, where everything goes well, and everyone is having fun. From this stage, we intend to use all of the mentioned interactions and activities, but only using a few seconds for each, cutting to the Initial Complication Action.


For the second stage of the production, what happens is that someone asks for a board game, they go to find a board game, to which they pull out Ouija Board, in a drunken gamble the teenagers play with the board, to which nothing happens immediately. After a small while, a vase falls over, on its own, and someone gets the blame, the party is brought to a end. We intend to use the majority of this again, however only a few seconds of it, except for specific focus on the usage of the Board, and of the vase smashing.

In the Complications section of the film, we see the parents leaving the house, and due to a vase smashing, grounding the teenage protagonist, locking her in the house. As she closes the door behind her, it slams shut. She then proceeds to make a drink, to which the mug is ripped from her and thrown to the floor. The girl then goes to bed, to which a shadow cast by nothing passes her. She wakes to find a broken mirror with creepy writing - something along the lines of "You Are Dead" or something like that. She then goes to talk to her mother on the phone, to which the line cuts out just as shes about to reveal something important. Next, she is sat rocking on the sofa, talking to herself, being very scared in general, to which she hears footsteps upstairs, she runs up, checks the other bedroom, then back to her own,the door slams behind her, and she faints. while she is asleep, she has a flashback of her family, happy, mother, father, daughter, and son, all playing. When she wakes up, she realised that she cannot leave the room, the door is too firmly shut. She finds a hand held camera, and starts explaining what has happened. Eventually the door opens on its own accord, to show her not her hallway, but some more of her past, the fire in which her brother died in, and how her mother saved her and lied about it to the news reporters. From this section, we intend to use snapshots of each section, except the flashbacks, this way we can explain the story without revealing too much information.

In the Culmination section of the film, we see the door slam in her face, and her dead brother is behind her. They have a short conversation about how and why he is haunting her, and then she is taken, he touches her on the forehead, he then drags her through the door and into an abyss. From this scene, all we need to show is her walking into her bedroom and seeing the child, to which the trailer will then end.

The Resolution only has one scene, where a news crew are asking the parents where the child went. This will be used at the very beginning of the trailer.

Primary Audience Research

In this post i will look at severaldifferent people and ask them what they think of several different questions. I can then process and use this information in order to design my trailer to be able to suit my target audience.

The questions are as follows:

• What do you feel entices you to buy a movie magazine - the use of the magazine masthead, selling lines etc. what type of language and colours do you expect?
• What draws your attention towards a poster for a movie? What about a horror film poster do you expect to see?
• How is it you anticipate you will feel when watching the film? 
• Where do you expect the trailer to be located?
• What the audience expects of the genre (how can you ensure their answers cover narrative, character types, locations, props...?)
• What are the most memorable films in the horror genre and why?
• How do you expect to feel when viewing the film trailer and why?
• Do you expect to see the main protagonist on the poster or antagonist?
• How do you hope to feel when watching a horror trailer, and do you feel enticed by certain trailers?
• What do think about the trailer of "The Woman In Black" did you feel it was professional and would it convince you to watch the film, and why?

The results are as follows.

Me and my Partner Shaun Taylor interviewed several different people fromour age group about Movie Trailers, Magazine Covers and Movie posters. 

• We found that the older horror movies came out as the most memorable as a comparison to the newer films. 
• Many people found that an attractive magazine is one that has a vibrant colour scheme, and has an impacting Masthead.
• The people interview thought that a typical horror film should be located in an isolated and eerie location as it carries the forms and conventions of the Horror Genre.
• To create a successful trailer I need to aim to thrill the audience whilst keeping them enticed by the trailer.
• In terms of the poster I need to look at putting the protagonist on the main image.

Font Research

We used the website Dafont, in order to get our fonts. We used Requiem which looks spooky and dangerous.

Secondary Audience Research

The audience of my trailer and my magazine will be slightly different because the film will attract both film fans, and film fanatics, the film fanatics who are interested in filmography, and all ideas surrounding it, and the fans who just want to see a good film, the trailer will attract both, whereas the magazine will only attract the film fanatics. My magazine target audience will be similar to that of Rue Morge, because this magazine focuses mainly on horror films, and as my film will be a pyschological thriller/ horror, these fans may be interested in how it was made.

The film Paranormal Activity 4 is similar to my intended narrative because as it focuses around ghost and paranormal (as explained in the title), originally me and my partner had decided to do a film/ trailer roughly about a split personality murderer, however after close analysis we have decided to do a a film/ trailer more focused on the paranormal, mainly focusing on possessing from the underworld.
The target audience of this film is mainly from the age of 18 to 40, this way it can get a range of adolescences and adults in order to gain more profit.

The film The Devil Inside is similar to my intended narrative and themes as it focuses on the devil and quite a large amount on religion. We will be able to use this in order to gain a better understanding of how to film dealings with religion, as there will be certain areas to avoid, and others we must exploit.  The target audience of this film focus mainly in the 15-24 category, with dealings of 24-44, most of which are male, as stereotypically males prefer horror films, however, a large percentage of women went to see this film, showing that both genders can be interested in this genre.

The magazine Empire is helpful for our research. I plan on creating my magazine so that it is similar to that of the layout to this magazine. This magazine distrobutes to mostly 15-24 aged people, however, it does have people who read it from the age of 25 - 64. This way it can have a large target audience in order to gain more money for what it makes. The majority of readers are male, wheras we plan to create ours to be for both genders, Empire is possibly more focused on male readers due to its language in its articles, something that we will correct in our magazine. Our magazine will be a mix of this Empire magazine and the magazine Rue Morgue.

We have not been able to acquire the necessary information from Rue Morgue, but the general idea was to create a horror magazine, with a primarily male target audience, with the the readers being between 15 and 40. This way we can have explicit information that only the brightest horror film fans will be able to comprehend.

Researching Sound Mixes

The Last Exorcism 0:00 - 0:16



Sound Graph
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The types of different sounds and sound effects are very different.

Half way through the section i have noted down that there is a "Bang!", and then another shortly after, there is another. This usage can create a very short burst of fear in a view, being able to tell the viewer what the film is going to be about, generally bursts of fear. There is also a "low drum beat" towards the end of the section, this way it could be related to a rising heart beat, which makes the viewers heart beat increase, as show in scientific tests - if a viewer hears a heart beat rising, they will unconditionally rise their on heart beats.

Looking at this particular trailer, i have been able to make the analyses that a sudden burst of sound can be very effective in scaring a viewer, and that drum beats can be useful to make the viewer more intrigued.

Paranormal Activity 0:00 - 0:33


Sound Graph

In this trailer, it is easily noticeable that this footage has very little non diegetic sound. Using this technique can be very intriguing, as a black screen, between shots, with no sound whatsoever, can be quite dramatic, in some other trailers we expect there to be something jumping out of the darkness after a pause in music, however, in this bit, there is not, that way we are excited about nothing, this way when the real jump comes later on, we arnt expecting it, this way we are more frightened.

From this trailer i have realised that the usage of no sound whatsoever, is almost effective as a great deal of sound, as long as it is followed with a lot of sound, but not when it is expected to be so.


Identity 0:00 - 0:24


Sound Graph

 In this trailer, the usage of natural sounds is used to create genuine fear. The rain is used in order to make it sound normal to begin with, the hand appearing out of nothingness and then feeling the rain hit his hand, it almost seems poetic, then as lightning strikes, it cuts the shot. This way it can make the cut seem more rough and dangerous, in a sense that whatever comes next is dangerous, but as the cut is so quick, we are unable to do anything about it, again creating fear.

From this trailer, i have learned that load and quick sounds associated with a cross cut, can be very dramatic and make a simple change of camera shot seem more than it really is.