Uses and Gratification theories

How has our Planning met the needs described in the uses and gratification theories?

Social Integration and Interaction

• discussing ideas - what to put onto our storyboard
• carried out questionnaires to identify what the audience wants from our trailer
• online forums to get audience feedback on our final trailer, poster and magazine will generate a lot of conversation

Entertainment

• we have used our research into pre-existing products to design a storyboard which will conform to the psychological horror genre, to entertain an audience
• looked at common shot types used which will maximise the impact and thrill for the consumers
• carried out questionnaires to identify what the audience wants to see, which will fulfil their needs

Self Identity

• social media research gave us an insight into our audience and what 'hashtags' they were using, therefore we could identify what they wanted from our trailer
• our research into existing products has allowed us to upload key techniques onto our blog, which we have been inspired by and will use during our production; This may inspire others who look at our blog

Information

• release date
• producers
• film name
• production company name

Magazine Layout

 

From our research, we decided to conform to the generic magazine layout of pre-existing products within our genre. Magazines such as Fangoria and Scream have given us inspiration, and here is a prototype idea for our layout. Based on this layout, the components we need for our magazine front cover will be...

• Masthead
• Central close up image
• 1 sub cover story image which blends into the background
 

 

 

Task Completion Sheet

Above is a sheet which lists all the tasks that we have done to date, who has done them and when they were done. This is useful because it helps us to keep track on who has done what and also allows us to clearly recognise what else needs doing.

Storyboarding Screenshots

Equipment List

In preperation for our filming we have made an equipment list of things we will need to take with us every time that we film. This is to ensure that we are always prepared and are never in the situation where by we are unable to film becuase we have forgotten a piece of essential equipment.

Equipment List:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Lighting equipment e.g. torch, big lights to create good lighting for our film
• Storyboards
• Production log
• Phone
• SD Card
•  Props for particular scenes

Print Based Research: Posters

Initial Ideas

 

From our textual analysis into film posters and magazine we then deduced what the common features were across these mediums. We found that within the horror genre, similarities in the posters lay within the shot type used, character used, colours used, fonts used and text that was used to connote the horror genre and make it an effective and appealing poster.

Common Shot Types:

• Long Shot
• Wide Shot
• Establishing Shot

All of these shots are effective because they either clearly show the character in full view as well as showing some or all of the mise-end-scene to add to the horror genre. It is prevalent from the top three posters which exhibit the said variety of camera shots that they are all equally effective whether they are close up shots or establishing ones. The close up shot used on the Annabelle poster draws the audiences eyes straight to the terror that this doll exerts by for example, the blood that is coming from her eyes. Contrastingly though, we found The Conjuring and Insidious posters equally effective because the long/establishing shots that are used create a more dark atmosphere and show the character in complete isolation.

Common Colours:

• Red
• Black
• Grey
• White

From our textual analysis these colours were the once that were most commonly used. This is because they all connote the horror genre and are visually very eerie and spooky.

All of the common colours that we found were used from our textual analysis are the primary colours that are used in all of the horror film posters in the above mood board. Red is a colour that is often used in promotional horror mediums; especially when the sub-genre of the film is slasher because it obviously connotes blood and danger which are often themes that occur in most horror films. It also is quite a striking and alarming colour against the usual dark background which makes it even more eye catching from and audience member point of view.
The colour black connotes darkness and emptiness and is more often than not always used in either horror film posters as a colour or in the actual trailer where the darkness is represented through lighting. The colour black is effective on all of these horror posters because a common phobia people have is of the dark, so by using this colour it is trying to reinforce the scary aspect that horror films aim to achieve.
Finally, white and grey colours are used in all of the above posters because these have more of an eerie and ghostly effect. White also connotes purity which juxtaposes the themes that run through horror films, therefore adding an interesting contrast into the posters.



Character Used:

• Child Protagonist

This feature was simple to analyse because all of the horror film posters we looked at used a child as their main protagonist. This is because they are seen as weaker and more vulnerable characters who more often than not are the antagonists in the film which contrasts with the audiences perception of young children. We think the fact that children are often used in horror films and their posters adds a shock factor to them because you wouldn't expect such young persons to be associated and involved in such brutal and antagonising situations. This makes the audience empathise with the younger characters and also heighten the element of horror as audience member wouldn't want to see harm to come to these characters.

Text Used:

• 'Once you see him, nothing can save you'
• 'Based on the true case files of The Warrens'

Often the posters would have a tag line which would be directly aimed at individual audience members through the use of personal pronouns such as 'you' which would torment them by creating that horror atmosphere before they had even watched the film. It is also used as a method to immediately get the audience interested in the film and raring to go and watch it.


Fonts:

One thing that these fonts taken from a variety of horror posters have in common is that they all coincide with the main three colours that are used on horror film posters (Red, Black and White.) They are all placed differently on the posters, for example, some names are at the bottom of the poster whilst some are at the top of the poster. Despite this though they are all still eye catching and stand out to the audiences eye. A common effect that is used in the above fonts is a scratched effect whereby it looks as though the name of the film has been scratched into something which ultimately gives it a more creepy feel to it. 'Creep', 'Captivity', and 'The Possession' execute this effect. 'Insidious' and 'The Last Exorcism' are in the colour red and especially from 'The Last Exorcism' it's impression on the audience is that this has been written using blood to portray the horror genre. The spikes that appear at the top and the bottom of the letter I in 'Insidious' could be representative of weapons or violence that is executed in the film.
From the analysis of fonts used on horror film posters we can deduce points to help us when considering the font for our poster. We would consider using an effect such as the scratched one to portray a certain element of horror that appears in our trailer, whilst colour wise, we would chose from one of the three main colours- Red, Black or White.

The Insidious 2 poster is one that intrigued us the most and the one that we found most appealing. The red colours really stood out against a predominantly black background and therefore caught your eye immediately. We liked that the child was facing away from the camera because it was as though it didn't want to be identified which adds the level of unknown to deepen the horror aspect. The fact that the child is included in a baby stroller type toy heightens it's vulnerability because it is showing that it's not able to do a simple thing such as walking yet, however it is one of the main characters that the horror lies around in this poster creating a real juxtaposition. As with all horror posters that we have analysed, the layout is very simplistic and effective, with on the essential information such as the name of the film and the release date being included. We would want to also use a similar format of a simply layout because the more detailed information can be included in the magazine cover that we will be making.

Print Based Research: Magazines

There are many horror magazines on the market nowadays however their content is quite general, and doesn't really cater for those interested in a certain genre; such as psychological horror. From the popular magazines on the market, I have researched into 3 different brands which have a moderate proportion of the magazine dedicated to psychological horror in comparison to others.

Moodboards

This mood board below is compiled of certain features that we found were prevalent in the majority of horror magazines. From our research, we found that the most important features that could make the magazine representative of the genre were...

• masthead font and 'sub cover story' writing font
• central head and shoulders shot of the main protagonist
• multiple other film names
• puff to advertise subscription
• bottom feature with film names
• colours used on the cover

Key Features

Font

• illusion of dripping to portray the effect of blood dripping off the writing, conforming within the horror genre, by which blood and gore is a sub-genre. 
• looks as though its been hand drawn, to create the theme that its rough. 
• no specific outline to the font, to make the font look jagged.
• thick font, rather than thin to contrast to sub story fonts.

When analysing the fonts of psychological horror magazines, I found that we should use a font which plays on the thought of it being hand drawn, using faded ink as it created the mysterious theme that psychological horror is based on. I also identified a thick bold font to be used for the masthead, which usually connotes the theme of blood dripping down a wall. Although our sub genre isn't blood and gore, which is associated with this font, the majority of horror film magazines use the feature, suggesting that we should use it too as it is a proven feature to make the magazine successful. 

Images

• either close up or head and shoulders shot used for the front cover image
• usually central of the page
• facial expression that summarises their role within the film
• Usually the antagonist's face

From our analysis, its prevalent that the majority of psychological horror magazines use a central close up shot of the antagonist. Within the psychological sub genre, many magazines use a shot of their antagonist looking up which features in the film, so that the audience feel the same terror the protagonist does. Most central images are also shot in low key lighting with an effect on, to make them look more scary and appealing to the audience.

Layout

• central image
• masthead fills top quarter of page
• bottom quarter advertises other films
• sub stories fill the outside of the page

Generally, the layout doesnt alter between the magazines, the only thing that varies is position of the sub cover stories. Based on the covers that we analysed, the psychological horror magazines (Scream and Fangoria) have their sub cover stories on the left of the central image and featuring films along the bottom of the cover page.

Cover Stories

• usually a number to represent how many films are featured
• names of films and actors/actresses featured
• contrasting colour to the main background

From our research, its best to keep the page as simple as possible in terms of layout, as most horror magazines only feature the names of featuring films to grab the attention of the audience. For our magazine, we agree to use a bold number featuring on the left hand side; which will show how many films are included in this weeks publication, then the a 2 rows of film names along the bottom, to ensure the cover appeals to a broad spectrum of psychological horror consumers. 

Colours

• deep
• dark
• red
• black
• orange-yellow/fire
• contrasting
• dark background, coloured font

The majority of psychological horror magazines conform to the overall horror genre, in the sense that they use dark reds and black as the background and a contrasting brighter colour that stands out on the dark background colour. Commonly, yellow and white is used for the font colour, which is attention grabbing when the magazine is competing on a shelf alongside other magazines. From our research the background colour is usually a shade from the main image, which we are considering using for our magazine cover. Personally, we like the images used when adopting a monochrome colour scheme however believe the contrasting colours stand out more on the background. We plan to combine these techniques to re-create something similar to pre-existing covers. 

Film Name and Production Company

Film Name Process

The name of a film is extremely important because it is one of the first things that you know about the movie so it definitely has to be capturing and intriguing. We wanted our film name to reflect the themes of possession, isolation and antagonising that are apparent in our film. Therefore, to help us come up with a few possibilities for film names we used an online thesaurus to help us concoct interesting alternatives to lexemes that connote the horror genre e.g. frighten, terror, escape, isolation, abandoned. From this we deduced our findings down to 5 names that we thought were catchy and would sound appealing if they were to be the name of our horror film. 
They are: 

The Abandoned

Desolate

The Haunted

Estranged 

Torment 


We think that these names reflect the fact that there is a girl who is being antagonised by a possessed being causing her to be in complete isolation in an abandoned area. The film trailer, as well as the name has to appeal to our target audience, therefore we handed out 15 copies of a document with these film names on and asked people to give their opinion on which one they thought would be the best. the results were as follows:

The Abandoned ||

Desolate ||||

The Haunted |||

Estranged

Torment  ||||||

A Pie chart to deomnstarte our results more visually:
















     

The results showed that 'Torment' was the most popular name for our horror trailer which is also the name that we favoured the most. We think it is quite catchy and signifies one of the main themes in our trailer; the possesed girl tormenting and antagonising the girls who are visiting this house.

This is our production company logo. Based on our research, the trailer always features an edit of the production company logo, therefore we decided to create our own for our trailer.

We decided on prism, as they usually are made of shapes and are quite basic, with the focus on image, rather than name.

Cast List & Roles

Below is a list of the people who will be featured in our film trailer - their names and the roles they will be playing.


Frances Furness

• Main protagonist
• Features throughout the film 

Beth Hitchen

• Possessed girl who antagonises main character
  
• Features irregularly throughout to maintain the element of suspense

Lydia Cowell

• Extra who plays main protagonists friend
• Features at the start
• Gets 'taken' in the house by the antagonist

Recce Shots

Location/costume research

 

 For the beginning of our film trailer where the girls are seen in the car travelling to the house where the horror prevails, we decided to shoot at Astbury Mere. We chose this area because not only is it surrounded by some woodland, but there is also a big lake that can be seen in some of the shots. Although no horror prevails in said scenes, will still felt as though it was important to choose a location that looked a bit creepy and scary to indicate from the outset the genre of the film. It also contrasted nicely with the happy non-diegetic music that was over the top of theses shots.

 

 

 

 

For the last frames in our trailer we knew that we wanted to film in a woodland area because this is often a desired area used in existing media trailers and also it was one of the preferred locations chosen by our audience in the questionnaires that we conducted.

Therefore for the last shots we decided to film at Brereton Heath Park. It is a woodland area that has lots of open space giving us the opportunity to be creative with the shot types that we use as well as creating realistic footage as our actors were able to move around more freely in the space that we had.

Below are some pictures that we took before we started filming, of an area in Brereton that we thought we be perfect for filming. It was quite open, however it looked very eerie due to all of the skeletal trees that were surrounding the area; emphasising the feeling of isolation.



Costume and Make-Up

In order to make the main protagonist look convincing and fitting to the role that she was playing, it was essential that we found an effective costume for her to wear as well as experimenting with makeup.
As the girl in our film was playing the role of a young girl we wanted to make her look as realistic in relation to this role as possible. We decided to buy a nightdress for her to wear because not only does it have creepy connotations as this is often see to be worn on horror characters in horror films, but it also makes her look quite vulnerable and innocent which completely contradicts the character she actually is. We then really wanted to heighten the horror element when it came to the make-up because we wanted her face to really stand out to the audience to show the scary nature of this character. We used a base of white face paint so that she would look very pale which connotes the horror genre as it makes her look supernatural and ghostly. We then decided to put black eye make-up around her eyes to make the overall look of her face much more sinister. Also the face that you sometimes can't properly see her eyes because of the darkness of the make-up makes for an even more scary character.



Blocking- Initial ideas for storyboards

Blocking

After mind mapping our initial ideas for our storyline we developed these ideas into blocking which would give us a strong basis for creating our storyboards. Initially we noted down in stages a rough storyline that our trailer will be based upon and thought about possible camera angles/shots, duration of the shot and editing during this blocking process.
We then developed our notes into a more creative style of blocking  in which we created more detailed notes to make the storyboarding process easier. This process was extremely useful because we knew exactly what our storyline was, an idea of shot type and duration of the shot which gave us a good foundation for when it came to storyboarding.

Initial Blocking

Developed Blocking


























Inspiration behind our storyline
In our textual analysis we analysed the trailers for The Conjuring, Insidious and The Damned. In particular, we feel that The Conjuring and Insidious were particularly influential when it came to the creation of our storyline because of the action that takes place, the main themes that occur and the characters that are used. From our textual analysis and our audience research we discovered that the main protagonist is often females because they are seen as more vulnerable and weaker characters which makes them better suited to be in vulnerable positions in the horror genre. Our audience also responded that they think it is effective when children are used in horror films because the often make for effective, unsuspecting antagonising characters. Therefore we decided to use an all female cast and include a girl who is of a haunted and possessed nature and attached to the house the girls go to with the purpose of antagonising the 'intruders.'

The start of our horror trailer sees the girls travelling down country lanes. We have made sure to include a variety of shots such as establishing shots to capture the mise-en-scene of forestry and abandonment which connotes the horror genre well.

Fast pace editing is also a common feature in horror trailers because it shows a lot of action going on which builds up a lot of tension and really gets the audience engrossed in the trailer. So towards the end of our trailer as it is seemingly obvious that the horror is starting to prevail, we will include lots of fast pace cuts to hopefully create that tension. 

We found that most of the horror trailers we watched at least included one framing shot of a house which is the location where the action takes place. Therefore, we have actually decided to include a framing shot of the house towards the start of the trailer as well as in the middle. However, the second framing shot is the house in the dark to show the beginning of the key horror action.   

One obvious element in horror trailers is scenes that make the audience jump and frightened; especially of the unknown of what is coming next. The trailers we analysed all had these features and it is something we knew from the outset that we wanted to include in our trailer to make it effective and really connote the horror genre.
As our chosen sub-genre is psychological we have chosen to include different scenes where the possessed girl is creeping up on the protagonist, where she does things such as change the television channel and shout things to alarm the other characters as well as chasing the main protagonist girl in order to really antagonise her. We want the main female character to be suspicious of odd things that she finds around the house and as her suspicion grown the girl makes her presence more and more aware to the characters and this is when the horror really starts to prevail.

Overall, the combination of inspiration from existing trailers, our own original ideas and preferences from the audience have allowed us to come up with a dramatic storyline. We have taken into consideration all that we have learnt about tension building techniques by analysing the different elements of trailers, posters, magazines, locations, props etc in order to create an effective horror trailer.

Ideas Based on Research

We created a poster which illustrated certain shots we want to use based on our research, key themes we want to include and plot ideas we would like to implement. 

Mise - en - Scene
From our research we would like to use the stereotypical antagonist; a young, dead girl whom has previously lived at the house which now haunts the house and terrorises the new house owners. Children's toys such as the rocking horse specialise the horror genre into our sub genre; psychological horror, as it adds the theme that children make horror's more creepy.

Camera
Our in-depth research has showed us how camera sequences are specific to the section of trailer being covered. Near the beginning of the trailer wide, establishing shots are used to familiarise the audience with the environment, during the middle as the horror begins, medium long shots are used to make the audience identify with the protagonist however still be dubious of their surroundings, incase something is lurking. To build suspense, the end of the trailer is full of fast, close up shots. 

Editing
We want to use sharp cuts that will reflect the pace and intensity of key aspects in the trailer.

Sound
Sound is probably the most fundamental component of a horror trailer, as seen by the results of our qualitative research. It sets the mood and can highlight important parts, such as amplifying sound during symbolism. Sound effects are crucial to maintain the horror ambiance. 

Insitutional Research: Films

The Conjuring

Marketing Campaign: Scheduled to be released July, 19th 2013, the first promotional image was released in November 2012. Followed by a teaser trailer in February 2013r, previously shown at New York Comic Con 2012.  Most of the marketing was heavily based on the fact that it was 'based on a true story'. During the weeks leading up to the release, TV spots, print based adverts and an official full length trailer was released, along with a 30 minute episode of The Devil's Hour; a short featurette including a psychologist whom attempted to explain the supernatural occurrences in the house. This prompted below-the-line social media, as a platform of promotion which gained a diverse audience.

It was first premiered at Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival on the 6th of June 2013, shortly followed by 2 screenings at the Los Angeles Film Festival that summer, where director James Wan did a Q+A session. The official 'red carpet' premiere was July, 15th 2013 in LA, four days prior to the cinema release date.

Budget: $20 million

Gross Revenue: $318,000,141



Insidious 1

Marketing Campaign: The first promotional clip was released September 14, 2010, 7 months in advance of the April 2011 British release date. Following the clip, production company 'IM Global' released an image and poster for the film during December 2011. Shortly after, film distributors 'FilmDistrict' released the first teaser trailer on January 22, 2011 with a full length theatrical trailer available online via YouTube and daily entertainment news site 'Blastr'. Insidious 2 was marketed quite differently than the first film, as it focussed on the films pre-existing audience. Various social media strategies were used to generate awareness, for example hashtags were used on twitter and interviews with the cast generated over 33 million likes on Facebook, attracting 'fan-domes' of the characters. The film was also marketed to be released on Friday the 13th, conforming to the horror genre stereotype that this will increase the level of fear. Various posters were also released for the sequel, however they focussed more on the image, as the brand was already known. Marketers created a hype for Insidious 3 by using 'Hashtag Insidious3' to advertise walk in roles for the film. This was done well in advance of the released date to increase following. 

Budget: $1.5 million

Gross Revenue: $97,009,150




Annabelle

Marketing Campaign: Ahead of the films release, as part of the horror prequels promotional campaign, the films marketing team took the
creepy doll from the film, to New Orleans where she would be placed in front of iconic landmarks such as the White House and Jackson Square to pose for photos with brave passers by. This was a genius marketing campaign because by placing her in front of such iconic landmarks would generate a lot of attention towards the film due to the amount of tourists that would have come across this sinister doll. Passers by were keen to know more about the doll as well as wanting to have photos with her which generated a lot of talk and hysteria about the film and the eagerly awaited release date.
Warner Bros. released the film, worldwide, on the 3rd of October 2014. It was released in over 52 foreign markets on its opening weekend meaning that it was targeted towards an extremely mass audience. There is no doubt whatsoever that the fact that this was the spinoff prequel to the extremely successful film The Conjuring, set it up really well from the onset and throughout to be just as successful. Annabelle was released in 3185 theatres in North America and the film earned $2.1 million just from the Thursday night showings. It wasn't just in America where the film gained international success, as it was also a big hit in Russia. The film was released in Russia a week prior to the films wide release and in the opening weekend it earned $2.1 million also; debuting at number three at the Russian box office.

Budget: $46.5 million

Gross Revenue: $166.6 million 9 (1 week after release date)


The Possession

Marketing Campaign: The film was released in the US on August the 31st, 2012 and it was premiered at the Film4 Fright Fest. In it's opening weekend the film was ranked number 1, taking in approximately $17.7 million as well as a return of even more of a profit across the labour day weekend. The fact that the film was premiered at the Film4 Fright Fest, a below the line marketing technique, will have generated a lot of attention for the film immediately especially as this festival was focused on horror films which would presumably lead to further success in upcoming weeks for the film. Another way in which this film was marketed was through the creation of a website solely for this film. The link below takes you directly to the website and it gives you an insight into what the film is about, the true story synopsis that the film is based upon as well as information about the cast and crew and galleries including images, videos and more importantly; the film trailer. Nowadays most people are technically savvy and rely upon the internet as their main source for information. Therefore, the creation of a website for the film was a really smart idea because you immediately know that it will attract a mass audience because of the amount of people that use the internet and would therefore come across the website through web searches or through word of mouth about the film. This medium would get people excited about the film as well as providing them with a lot of knowledge about it which often people like before going to watch a film which ultimately will result in them wanting to go and watch the film. 

 

The Possession Official Website: http://thepossessionmovie.com/index.html#/home

 

 

Budget: $14 Million

Gross Revenue: $49,122,319 Million