Script

News report
Good morning.
Breaking news. Huge explosion at a local chemical factory earlier this morning and all what was seen was a human-like creature exit the burning factory, heading for the crown wood school, so I advise everyone around or in that area to get out as soon as possible. Don't go into dark places, stay in groups and look out for each other. This creature is believed to have set fire to the chemical factory, so is capable of murder. Keep safe. Police are on their way.

News report filming

I have watched a few news reports on youtube and have picked up a few points on how to do a news report and how to make it look as real as I possibly can. I am currently writing a script.....

Editing...

One of the things I have noticed whilst editing is the lighting of the clips. When I recorded the scene outside, as it was in the day time the scenery is too bright and doesn't really create a scary atmosphere. To resolve this problem, I took advantage of the uses of a Final cut pro by using colour correction, and made the picture as dark as I needed it to be.

Pictures of the zombie

These are some of the images I have taken of the zombie in my trailer. Doing the make up for the zombie took around 2-3 hours but however, I feel that it was worth spending this much time on it, as the end result was pretty impressive. With some of these photos I have taken, I am going to create a dvd case and a movie poster, trying to make my movie appealing to my targeted audience, making it look as frightening as I possibly can.

What I have got so far

I am currently in the process of editing my movie trailer and have a two and a half minute clip. I am hoping to extend that to up to four minutes. So far I have around nine different scenes included, what I need to do now is to put them in a order, that will fit my storyline and will make my trailer interesting and will make people want to watch the actual movie.

My first scene shows the final girl holding the camera. The effect that this has is that it almost makes it seem like she is talking to the audience. To really connect with the audience you need to get them involved, which is what I have done. In this scene the girl is shaking and looks terrified, showing the audience how scary the atmosphere is, trying to get them to understand how she is feeling and giving them a feel of what the movie is about.

The second scene that I have yet to record, is a news report, warning everyone about a explosion that has happened and the one thing that they saw was a human-like creature leaving the building, heading for the school and warning everyone around or in the school, to leave as soon as they can.

After that has been recorded, the next scene will be someone, on the floor, backing away from something in front of her, trying to murder her but has backed herself into a corner, so there is no escape. This scene cuts when she is just about to get murdered.

Problems I'm having whilst editing

Whilst editing, I have come across a few problems. One of these problems included, background noises, that are difficult to get rid of because I needed the audio for that clip. Another problem I have is that the camerawork on one of my scene is a bit shaky, making the trailer look non professional and not in great quality. Another problem I had was that, to stick to conventions of a movie trailer, I had to go in at around 40 seconds without showing the zombie, as this is what all the other horror movie trailers had done. The problem I had with that is that nearly every scene I had recorded included the zombie in it, so I had to record more footage, without the zombie in it that fitted in with the trailer.

EDITING!

Due to the fact that I have been editing for most of my lessons, I haven't been blogging much, so I though I would write a post on my progress so far. At the moment I have got the intro sorted, with added cuts to spark effect and a lot of fades to black, which looks really effective with the rest of the footage in my intro.

I got both positive and negative feedback on my intro, that I have learnt alot form. One of the negative comments, which I fully agree with was that the music I chose didn't really fit in with the genre of film I was making. The song I chose wasn't really frightening, it was more upbeat, which cut the tension out from the footage I had so far. I listened to the person who gave me that piece of feedback and now have decided to leave the sound and music until I have completed the trailer.

The positive feedback I got from the intro, was about the fast pace cuts I used, they said that it really creates a intense atmosphere and that it allows the audience to really feel for the girl talking into the camera.

I am happy with what I have so far, and I will definitely be tackling the harder task of choosing the sound and music a bit later on when I get most of my editing done. I am now going to be continuing to edit my trailer, trying to stick to as many conventions as I can, making my trailer look successful and professional.

Filming complete!

I have finally finished all my filming and managed to just about take the zombie make up off.. I am really happy with the footage I have filmed. I got about 3 hours worth that I am now looking forward to editing and getting my trailer together. As I will be uploading and editing for a lot of my lessons, I won't be blogging as much, as I will be too busy editing and getting my trailer into shape.

How well I am doing

I feel I am progressing every lesson and feel that I am working hard on this project, putting in extra hours in, getting everything I need, done. I think at the start I wasn't vey focused and not blogging very much but I have definitley come on since then and have got up to date with my blogging and have made sure that every lesson has been a productive one, either by filming, editing or by blogging.

Next steps

What I need to do in the next couple of lessons is to edit further, change around the colour, make my clips look more clear, as well as completing my other tasks of a Dvd case and poster. I also need to get one more bit of filming done, which is a news report that will tell the story of the movie.

Locations

All my filming have been taken place at school. I have filmed in many different locations around the school, including: The field, behind the stage, in a couple of class rooms, in a drama room and in a few of the corridors.

Goal by the end of the day

By the end of today, I want to get the whole of my introduction edited and completed, as I have put it all together, I now need to make it look more effective and fasten the pace a little, be adding different editing techniques and also need to decide what music to put over the clip, that fits in nicely. However, because this is a hard task that involves a bit of thought, I will most probably give myself to the end of the week to decide.

Up to date

I have now got all of my filming done and am currently putting my trailer together, using final cut pro. So far I have got all my scenes together am am editing, adding transitions, bits of text, which I have to think about very carefully. I think to do this, I am going to have to refresh my mind and watch more existing trailers, to see where they have included certain transitions and other different types of editing techniques, without it looking odd or misplaced.

I will soon be adding music and different sound effects, which can either make or break a trailer, as music is key to making a trailer, especially a horror one frightening. This is something I will need to do a lot of research around to get m final choice of music to include in the trailer.

Creating the zombie

I took a few screenshots of be getting m zombie make up on, which took us around 2-3 hours, which was all worth it for me at the end, as the effect looked great and scary. What I did was, I got the tutorial up on youtube and on another mac, I recorded the process of the make up being done, so I could post some really good photos, like the ones below.

The end result, was exactly what I wanted, I looked like a zombie just about to attack everyone I came across. I was really happy with how well this worked out for me.

Filming in process

In the past couple of weeks I have been filming scenes of my trailer all around the school, as my movie is based at a school. I have filmed scenes in the school field, in dark places, in a cupboard, etc.

I have now filmed most of the scenes I want in my trailer and am currently doing my editing, bringing my trailer together.

What I have left to film, is the final girl come face to face with the zombie, ending on a cliffhanger, and a news reporter, warning all those who are in or arond the school to evacuate the building and get as far away from the school as they can, explaining that something 'creature-like' ran into the school, from a nucleur building, that just exploded.

Existing horror trailers

In the film 'Jaws' and the movie trailer 'Alien', you don't really see much of the thing killing everyone. This really hooks the audience and just by having a glance of it at the end, creates a thrilling atmosphere, which really makes you want to watch the movie, to see more of the 'creature' killing everyone.

Background story

The background story for my trailer is going to be that there was a big explosion at a chemical factory and the only thing they saw leave the factory was a life like creature, walking on its hands and feet, heading for a school.

I am going to start the trailer as a news report, warning everyone about this ' life like creature' that is heading for the school, really capturing everyone's interest.

Progress

In the past couple of lessons, I have been test shooting a few of the scenes I want to add in my trailer. I now know what things went well and actually want in my trailer, and what went didn't work well and either decide how to improve it or just completely scrap the idea.

The video below is a test shot of a scene I want to add in. I think this worked out really well with all the transitions and sound effects used, as it made it look more like a horror film with scary effects added in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ld7PO3xHVY 

Male gaze theory

Laura Mulrey came up with a theory that the camera was seen as a man, so it was a successful movie if the women were being portrayed as sexual; wearing red and clear shots of their boobs and bum.
An example of this theory in a movie, would be in Transformers, where Megan Fox is seen quite sexual because its what the "camera" wants to see. She is dressed in a short skirt and a tight crop top, and for that whole scene its as though you are looking at her from a males perspective, zooming into the bits that boys want to see.

In the Britney Spears - Hit me baby one more time music video, she is portrayed as being vulnerable, always looking up to the camera, as though, again she is looking up to look all innocent and sweet, so the boys would fall in love with her and again she is in school uniform, which is what boys like yo see, showing the male gaze theory.

However the video Wrecking ball by Miley Cyrus goes against this theory as it shows her in power and her masculinity. Some of the shots are shot at a low angle, showing that she is in control and that she is actually the powerful one. The way she holds the sledge hammer, which is seen as quite a manly object, over her head as well as her wearing Doc Martins, shows signs of masculinity, which doesn't really attract the male interest. However there are scenes of a sexual nature, where she is at one point making out with a sledge hammer, as well as being naked on a wrecking ball, which shows slight empowerment. Although when she is laying on the ground, it is as though she has just been defeated and has nothing left to give, showing vulnerability.

The Diet coke advert shows this theory in reverse, giving the girls what they want to see, which in this case is a good looking man getting soaked and taking his top off, showing his body. At the begging of his advert the girls were empowering the man by getting him to open the can but by the end, it was actually the man empowering the girls by taking his top off and leaving them speechless.

Last girl theory

My movie trailer will contain a last girl, this is a convention if many movies. I decided to go with this convention because it gets the audience hooked into the storyline, making them want more and to know what happens, if she lives or dies.

This theory specifically refers to the last girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. Examples of movies that include this theory are: A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. All big Hollywood horror movies.

This theory was coined by Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Clover suggests that in these films, the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experiences a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.

Plot for my movie trailer

. A zombie invading a school in search for one particular girl. She does say 'why me' but we don't find out in the trailer. In the end she is the last person standing but will she defeat the zombie?

IDEAS
. Starts with balance, a normal scene shot in a classroom.
. Final girl with her friends, she is all sweet and innocent, however her friends aren't.
. Zombie spotted in the field and kills anyone it sees.

Experiments

I have brought some liquid latex and all I need to make a zombie bite and have been experimenting, trying to make it look as real as possible. The picture below is my first attempt of a zombie bite that I did on myself, however when I shoot my actual trailer, it will be done one a different character and will look a lot better.

Typical videos

A typical video to a pop song, would be happy, bright and cheery. It would typically consist of happy people doing cheery things, jumping around, skipping on the beach. For example One Direction - What makes you beautiful. They are seen as, bright, good looking guys, jumping about and running on the beach in their song, which is what you would expect in a pop music video.
Blink 182 created a parody video - All the small things 20 years before the One Direction video, and their video can be seen as a parody video of What makes you beautiful, showing a typical pop music video, however creating a parody, ehich happened to be shot at the sme beach as the One Direction video.

Nickelback - Rockstar, the decided to get the fan involved, which made a good music video because it shows the fans being involved with their hero. This is not a typical rock video, as a normal rock video would consist of them singing live, or a rather old video.

In my opinion I feel that the video sells the song more than the song itself, this is because the song All the small things, you need the video to really enjoy it

What I need to create my zombie

• PVA glue
• Tissue
• Face paint
• Latex
• Fake blood
• Wax

Institutional Mode of Representation

IMR stands for Institutional Mode of Representation, which is the dominant mode of film construction. In 1914 this was a particular style that was developed after the turn of the century and became the norm. The purpose of the IMR was to try and attempt to create a fictional world on screen that the audience would feel a part of, almost like they are taking part of the story. 

Although horror scenes isn't exactly an ideal world to want to be in, people still imagine themselves in the characters position and say what they would do differently and imagine fighting and defeating the creature/killer themselves. This is how IMR links to my genre of film.

!0 Horror movie ratings

1. The Conjuring - Rotton Tomatoes Rating: 86%, 4.5/5 stars
2. Insidious - IMDB Rating 66% 3.5/5 stars
3. Silent hill - Rotton Tomatoes Rating 29%, 1.5/5 stars
4. Creep - IMDB Rating 5.5/10, 3/5 stars
5. Paranormal Activity -6.4/10, 3 stars
6. The devil Inside IMDB Rating 4.1/10, 2 stars
7. House of wax - IMDB Rating 5.2/10, 2.5/5 stars
8. The possession - IMDB Rating 5.8/10, 3 stars
9. Mama - Rotten Tomatoes Rating 88%, 3.5/5 stars
10. Evil dead - IMDB 6.5/10, 3/5 stars

Health and safety

I have chosen three central locations to film, which are relatively easy to access. The first being a woods, as my questionnaires showed that people generally prefer horrors that contain woods and big open spaces. So my second place will be a large open field near a train track. My third my bedroom as its convient. I will now talk about the health and saftey of the locations. 

Health & Safety- Will need to carry an umbrella to cover camera in case it rains.- Need to make sure I keep all of my equipment near me so the public don't fall over it.- As its used as a walk way to get to and from school we need to not film until roughly 3:45pm to avoid the public as much as possible.- Be carful not to trip over wires or fall of step ladders if used for filming.

Digital technologies

The most important digital technology I am using is by far the iMac. Unfortunately I don't have access to one at home, however I do at school and can, if I need to work on one in my spare time. I will be using the iMac, when all my filming is finished and when I am ready to edit, putting my trailer together. The software I will be using is Final cut pro. Although I haven't really used this before, I do feel comfortable using this because I do usually get used to this sort of software after some time. Not only this but the fact that I have used iMovie before on the iMac, which is very similar to Final cut pro, makes me feel much more comfortable about usinf it for the first time, as I got the hang of iMovie quite quickly.

Google Chrome is also a big part of my research and planning stage, which I am currently on. I have access to google chrome, pretty much everywhere I am, at school, home and even on my phone. Google chrome allows me to be able to do more than one things at once, meaning that I can view existing trailers, whilst blogging up my thoughts and opinions.

Blogger is a very useful website where I can write down any posts and keep them in a relative order. I will be updating on my progress regularly, uploading my drafts and showing how the have been improved, all my thoughts of existing videos, etc. Blogger will also be the place where I write up my evaluations and conclude what I did good and what and how I can improve on.

Another very important digital technology I am currently using is YouTube. YouTube has allowed me to do some effective research, as there are all sorts of videos on the website, including old, new, low budget and high budget movie trailers, that I have access to and can do a textual analysis on, all to help me with the making of my trailer. The videos I looked up and did research on using YouTube allowed me to take inspiration from existing trailers, giving me ideas on mine.

The digital technology I will be using most, at first will probably be the schools video camera. I am lucky that I didn't need the camcorder anywhere else other than school, as m trailer is going to be bases in a school. This meant that not having access to one at home wasn't a problem. The thing I like most about the camcorder is that it is simple to use and it takes good and effective recordings and photos.

I am lucky enough to have my own camera, which played to my advantage hugely, as I know how that particular camera worked and how to take good and effective photos, which gives me more of a chance of my ancillary tasks to look more professional.

Final cut pro is the technology that I am going to be spending most of my time on, as this is the software I will be using to create a professional looking movie trailer. This is what we edited our short one minute film on, so I sort of already know how to use it, which will benefit me when I come to editing the footage I have captured for my horror trailer.

Inspirational trailers

Here a a few trailers that I have taken inspiration from to get a firm idea of what I want to include in mine. Although none of them are to do with zombies, I can still take inspiration from these and be able to identify important codes and conventions I need to stick to, to create a successful trailer.

Friday the 13th - This trailer is definitely a inspiration to making my horror trailer, as it includes many conventions needed to create a successful trailer and it represents a horror trailer perfectly. When you think of a typical horror movie, all the aspects of this trailer comes into mind. For example, the location in this trailer is dark, set in an house in the middle of a forest, where there are no other houses near, it contains a screaming girl, someone backing away from the killer on their hands and knees and lots more. The thing I liked most and, as a member of that target audience, enjoyed most was the fast pace cuts. These proved to be very effective and hooked me in right from the start as I didn't know what to expect. I really liked how the first time we saw the killer, it was about half way through the trailer and only in little flashes. This is something I may add in to m trailer, as it really does prove to be effective. I also liked how in this trailer, there was a murder shown. This just tells the audience that there is much more of this to come in the actual movie, drawing them in even more, as this is what the want to see in a horror movie.

Whilst creating my trailer, I will definitely take inspiration from this trailer, using some of the camera shots and angles they used, as it worked really well and effectively and gave off a frightening vibe from the very start, which is exactly what I aim to do.

The ring - This trailer, from the very beginning creates that frightening vibe and immediately got me wanting more and really did draw me in. This was because, at the start of the trailer, there is a woman talking, telling us all what the movie is about, making us want to know what happens to the people who watch the tape, whether they do die or not and if the final girl can do anything to stop this from happening. This is the exact same effect I want in my trailer, I want my target audience to think a little, about if anyone will survive and who will defeat this creature and put an end to all of the deaths.

This trailer, again is set in a dim and sort of dusty location, which is something I'm definitely going to think about doing myself, as it seems all the successful horror trailers I have looked at has this factor in. Another thing I really liked about this trailer is that it shows the best bits of the film in flashes, the ones that contain the killer creature, but still manages to not give much away, which I really liked because that tells you that there is a lot more to come and to look forward to.

The devil inside - This trailer, again is one that is inspirational for the creation of mine. Again, from the very start there is a frightening vibe to it. Firstly it tells us that it was based on a true story then tells you that the call shown in the beginning of the clip was actually made in real life and because it's someone possessed, calling the police telling them the murdered three people, really frightens the audience, which is exactly what the want and what they look for in a film. The trailer then shows us the final girl, who is the daughter of the woman who made the call and, like it says in the beginning of the trailer, killed three people in the middle of an exorcist, which tells us that something is going to happen to her, especially as it shows that she is going to visit her mother.

In this film trailer a lot of the action is shown, however you could not predict what happens in the end of the movie, which is really effective, because they are showing the best bits, to invite the target audience in, however there is still a lot to come, as you couldn't tell what happens in the end of the actual movie by watching the trailer.

Evil dead - I especially liked and will take inspiration from this trailer. This is because, not only does it serve its purpose in frightening in the audience but the camera work in the trailer is really effective, creating that scary vibe. The best camera angle included in this trailer, to me was the low angle shot. This is because it created a really intimidating look that is important in the horror genre. Another thing I really like about this trailer is the soundtrack and effects. I think that the girl screaming in a really high pitched voice is most effective in the trailer, as I have noticed that that is a typical conventions in the horror genre and its a great way to engage the audience, as the may feel the need to scream with the girl because they're actually frightened.

This trailer includes many tropes of the horror genre, such as, a forbidden book, dark locations, abandoned house, forest, a car that doesn't work, etc. There are definitely certain aspect of this trailer I am going to carry through in the creation of my horror trailer. Some of these include, a creature with realistic make up to look frightening, dark locations, scary sound effects, close ups, low camera angles, girl screaming, someone whispering and a final girl.

This trailer, to me is probably the one that I will take most inspiration from, as this is very similar to the trailer I want to create and is by far the best one I have come across. As a big fan of the horror genre I feel that, this trailer has everything I want and would expect included, so I will mast likely base my trailer around the making of Evil dead, however will add a complete different story line, as I want to add a zombie in mine and base it around a school.

Overall, I can definitely say that I have learnt a lot and got a lot of inspiration just by looking and analysing existing trailers, which has helped me so much, as I have now gathered many ideas on what to include in the trailer I will be making.

Conventions of horror trailer

All horror trailers follow a set of conventions to make the trailer look successful. Conventions of horror hasn't really changed mych as usually by sticking to conventions are more appealing on the eye for the audience to watch. Here is a list of typical conventions of a horror trailer:

• Shows the 'best bits' of the film to attract viewers
• Deserted houses
• Unreadable book
• Death and blood
• Gore
• Titles at the end
• Dark locations
• Killer
• Masks
• Dark scary atmosphere - dark clouds
• Dramatic camera angles
• Actions is interupted with credits on screen
• Music indicated a frightful moment coming up
• Icolated location - not many people around
• Battle of good vs evil
• commanly used dialogue - 'who are you' 'what do you want'
• Disruption of normality

These two horror trailers show most of these conventions being used, resulting in successful trailers.

Tropes of horror genre

Horror is a very popular genre, they have certain tropes and memes that usually appear somewhere within the creation. This is because usually people are then able to associate their genre with those tropes.

Tropes of the horror genre include:

• Abandoned area - school, house, forest, etc.
• Ghost town
• Haunted castle
• Always nighttime
• Ankle drag
• Bat scare
• Bloody bath
• Body horror
• Cat scare
• Creepy child
• Dark world
• Evil hand
• Eyeless face
• Final girl
• Ghost story
• I can see you
• Jump scare
• Long neck
• Man-eating plant
• Mummy
• No face under mask
• Who you gonna call?
• Zombie apocalypse

Tropes meaning

Tropes: are reoccurring elements that continue to grow, from the repetition of someones original idea. A trope is a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression. Generally Tropes are building blocks of texts, meaning they are closely related to memes. For example, someone starts of a new trend in the music industry and word gets around, which then develops this small idea into a trope due to the copying of the initial idea.

Textual analysis

I am going to be analysing a horror movie trailer. I will be looking at many things such as:

• Camerawork
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scene

The film trailer I will be analysing and looking for the conventions is Evil dead. This movie is about a man who reads from an forbidden book, written 'Leave this book alone' but he opens and reads it, unlocking a demon from the past, out to get the man who read from the book, as well as everyone around him.

Camerawork
There is a vast variety of camera shots used in the trailer of Evil dead. Some of these include close ups - showing the emotions and intensity of characters, over-shoulder shot - showing the face of the character clearly, the reaction and expression all caught, wide shot - showing the whole scene, including some of the setting making the shot more effective, ect. Panning was used in this trailer, which created a spooky effect, gettin the audience hooked on what the camera was panning up onto, in this case is introduced the scene, showing the abandoned house and the setting arond it. This showed the audience where this film was located and by panning behind sticks, while introducing the scene, which made it look as though the camera was sneakily taking a look at the house, allowing the audience to think there is something to be scared of.
An over-shoulder shot was also used when the woman was speaking to the man in an intense way, creating tension, not only for those in the scene but the audience too, as you can see the woman's body language, as well as her expression. When she says 'You have to get me out of here' you can really see the horror on her face

MES
In terms of the mise en scene, this covers many aspects that a conventional horror film will include such as the props, costume, location, people etc. This movie is set at a typical location that a horror movie would be in, in a abandoned house, right in the middle of the woods. For example, the movies Mama, Friday the 13th, House of wax, etc. The setting is dark, damp and dull and the house is small, messy and cramped, making it look effective as a horror, opening all possible outcomes. The forbodden book is wrapped up in black plastic wrapped around with barbwire, creating a scary effect and showing the audience that it should not be opened and if it is, something bad will happen. Also, by the book flicking pages on its own, shows us that by opening the book, he has set something off that they should be scared of. I have noticed that there seems to be a truck outside the house in nearly every current horror film trailer I have watched, which seems to be a typical convention of a horror trailer. Right at the end of this trailer, you see the demon coming out of a hatch in the ground, covered in chains, showing that by opening the book, they have unlocked and loosened the chains, dragging them to their own funerals.The windows, beds and doors slam to provoke fear and a "jumpy" and "creepy" scene to the audience. The use of childrens toys is a  representation of childhood, there are such things such as toys, dolls and a rocking horse. These things can be modified to the advantage of a horror genre. Toys can show an evil presence by getting them to move without anyone touching them. A rocking horse is used in many films as it is an object that many can relate to in their own childhood, this is commonly used to show a ghostly presence as it rocks back and forth.

Editing

There were many editing techniques used in this movie trailer to create a scary effect. For example the black flashes, used to close the scene and open up a new one that may be even more terrifying than the one before, creates a jumpy effect and allows the audience to wonder what happens next and really gets them hooked to the terrifying storyline. Fast forward mode was also used in this trailer. I have noticed that this is used in many movie trailers I have seen. The one used in this movie trailer is the camera moving fast in the woods. This is a good effect as it is almost as if the audience are there and they are the ones running, making the video effective and more 'real'.

Sound

The sound effects on this trailer creates a very intense atmosphere, as there are many loud crashes and bangs, making the audience watching the trailer frightened, however still managing to draw them into the film. I feel that the soundtrack of this trailer is perfect in the way that the music really does fit and compliment the trailer and works really well with the sound effects.

Survey I carried out

Free Online Surveys - Click link to see questionnaire.

I gave this to around 20 people and in the end found out that most of my audience:

• Are 15-17
• Male
• Mostly look for bllod and gore in the horror genre
• Are influenced by movie posters
• Thisnk that the more gore involved, the more appealing it is to them
• Prefere a plain one imaged photo in the middle of a poster
• Thinks that make up is most effective in a horror trailer

Target audience research

To get an idea of what my target audience want and what they like to see in a horror trailer I will carry out reserach which will involve me talking to them and finding out what they like to see, the things they expect and what they would change from existing horror movie promotion packages and . I will also produce a pre production questionnaire, analyse the results in order to get feedback which will influence my practical pieces. Carrying out a focus group will give me a specific idea of what my main target audience will want and so this again will influence my final promotional package pieces.

Uses and gratification theory

The 'Uses and Gratification' theory deals with the effect of people on the media. The theory describes mass communication, as it provides an approach that is audience-centered. It deals with how and why people adopt specific media to satisfy their needs.

Most of the theories on media explained about the effects media had on people. It is the theory which explains of how people use media for their need and gratification. In other words we can say this theory states what people do with media rather than what media does to people. Also this theory is contradictory to the magic bullet theory which states the audience is passive. According to uses and gratification theory, it is not so people make use of the media for their specific needs. This theory can be said to have a user/audience-centered approach .Even for communication (say inter-personal) people refer to the media for the topic they discuss with themselves. They gain more knowledge and that is knowledge is got by using media for reference. There are several needs and gratification for people they are categorized into five categories.

• Cognitive needs
• Affective needs
• Personal Integrative needs
• Social Integrative needs
• Tension free needs

Cognitive needs:

People use media for acquiring knowledge, information etc., Among the audience some of them have intellectual needs to acquire knowledge this is not common to all only certain people have their need, each person have a different need for e.g. quiz programs on TV, in order to acquire knowledge and information you will watch news to satisfy the need, search engines in the internet, they make use of these to gain more knowledge. Particularly for the internet search engine they can browse for any topic under the run with no time restriction.

Affective needs:

It includes all kinds of emotions, pleasure and other moods of the people. People use media like television to satisfy their emotional needs.The best example is people watch serials and if there is any emotional or sad scene means people used to cry.

Personal Integrative needs:

This is the self-esteem need. People use media to reassure their status, gain credibility and stabilize. so people watch TV and assure themselves that they have a status in society for e.g. people get to improve their status by watching media advertisements like jewelry ad , furniture’s ad and buy products, so the people change their life style and media helps them to do so.

Social Integrative needs:

It encompasses the need to socialize with family, friends and relations in the society. For social interaction now a days people do not seems to have social gathering in weekend, instead they do such social interaction using media like the social networking sites like my space, facebook, orkut etc to satisfy their need.

Another example is you may not watch the particular serial regularly but because your friend watching, you also start watching so that you have common topics for discussion.

Tension free needs:

People sometimes use the media as a means of escapism and to relieve from tension, eg, people tend to relax watching TV, listening to radio and for satisfying their need for entertainment there by relaxing from all the tension, people watch films, films on TV etc.

People normally mostly 

 watch reality shows because:

• It is more realistic
• More interesting
• In a way you can participate
• For entertainment
• New concepts

Relating back to my trailer, I think that most of these gratifications will link with what I am aiming to achieve. I believe that  my target audience will feel a sense of gratification when they see the one of my characters alive and fighting, being brave, strong and safe.

In the making of my trailer I will make sure that I consider and recognise the codes and conventions to catch my target audience's attention. I will also make sure that I get audience feedback through the process of my work, so that I can give my target audience a product that the would like and get a sense of gratification over.

Progress..

I have now discovered and concluded the main conventions of a horror trailer, and am now gathering up ideas of what my story line is going to be about. I ave now decided on the genre and theme I would like for my task. I will have to do some more research around this particular genre and try to find certain songs and sound effects that will give my trailer the effect I want.

Research methods

There are four types of research methods:

• Qualitative
• Quantitative
• Primary
• Secondary

Qualitative research - It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfill a given quota.

Quantitative research - This can be used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results from a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research. Quantitative data collection methods are much more structured than Qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data collection methods include various forms of surveys –online surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors,online polls, and systematic observations.

Primary research - This is Experiments, investigations, or tests carried out to acquire data first-hand, rather than being gathered from published sources. There are variety of type of research I could use such as Interviews, Questionnaires, Observations, Surveys, Sampling and Focus Groups. The main advantage with primary data is that the individual can choose which method would suit their requirements the best. On the other hand, it is most suitable for an area of small collection of data. 

Secondary research - By far secondary research is the most widely used method for collecting data. This process involves collecting data from either the originator or a distributor of primary research. In other words, you are accessing information already gathered. Some secondary methods include: the Internet, the library, newspapers, magazines, data collection organisations etc. Secondary research is the most common way of collecting data as somebody else has already obtained the information for you. The main thing about this method, is that it is relatively low costing compared to primary research and there is no need to create new information as it is easy to find and get hold of.

For my research, I think the best type of research method out of the four is secondary research. This is because the internet is a huge part of my planning and research and is something I need to create a successful trailer. Not only this but as I have a deadline to meet, the other methods such as primary, will be more time consuming. 

Ideas for the main storyline

• The main plot I would like my movie trailer to be about, is a zombie invading a school looking for one Particular person but killing everyone who passes by. Because it is only a trailer, I don't want a continuous story, I want there to be a lot of good transitions, that will get the audience more hooked on what is going to happen, and don't want to give the ending away but maybe at the end, show a scene when the zombie finally finds that one person he has been searching for, leaving my trailer on that big cliff hanger.
• I am thinking that maybe a narrator wound make my video look all the more better, but I don't want a normal, human voice, I want a sort of unnatural and quite scary voice, to give my trailer that edge and make sound more like a horror trailer.

Horror movie trailer ideas

I have had a few ideas for what storyline I would like, the idea I like best is a zombie invasion at school. The videos on this post inspired me to do this storyline. I want to make the zombie look as effective and as 'real' as I possibly can, to make my trailer look the best I could make it.

I plan to go through this tutorial, getting someone to do this to my face, making me look like a frightening zombie. If this turns out successfully, I feel that my trailer will be much more scary and professional, which is the look I am going for.

High vs low budget films

Low budget - Accordind to denofgeek.com 'Pi' is the lowest budget film. This film had a budget of only $60,000 and was made in 1998.

'Darren Aronofsky was surely always destined to be a successful director. Arriving on the scene at the end of the 90s, his calling card was Pi, which is quite simply one of the most unique, stunning and confident pieces of film making ever made. Produced for a pittance, Pi decides to play by its own rules, with a story involving a maths genius who cracks a code which may be the key to the stock market as well as the secret name of God.

'Taking the viewer right into obsessive madness of the main character, as well as providing a head scratching and thrilling chase narrative. The themes which would dominate Aronofsky’s later work are all present here, as well as his much admired talent for both script and direction. Some believe that this is in fact his best work to date, and a part of me is inclined to agree with them.


Although this film doesn't have the highest budget, it is still classed as a good seller and even though they didn't have much money for equipment, they still managed to create a good film and trailer.

High budget film - 

Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

Estimated Budget: $300 million

Value For Money: Disney certainly saw a great return on their outlay, with the third Pirates film scooping more than $960 million across the globe. On-screen however, it was a turgid snoozefest. Not that that stopped people going back for round four…

If It Had Been Low-Budget: They might have been forced to whittle the story down a little. No bad thing…

This proves that you don't necessarily need a large budget to create a good film, as if the highest budget film 'pirates of the Caribbean ' didn't have a large budget it will have still been a good film. The fact that people still watch 'Pi' the lowest budget film, tells us that money isn't always key, a good story line is however.

Subgenre

I now have to decide which genre I will be using to create my film trailer. My favourite genre and the one that I feel I will have most fun creating was a horror genre. Having become so involved in the world of horror, I immediately knew that I wanted to use this as inspiration. By doing this, this task is something that I can truly be passionate about. However, the challenging part was deciding on a subgenre. I have evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of the four sub genres in order to help me make a worthy and wise decision.

Psychological Horror
These types of films feature a disturbed individual whose mental problems unnerve and frighten audiences. The ‘psycho’ will appear like a ‘normal’ human-being, before revealing their monstrous and sadistic nature. There is less need for masses of death, violence and gore as they scare audiences by reminding them of reality. Psychological horrors give the impression that we may be living amongst danger.

Psychological horrors are movies that rely more on messing with your mind than on gore and violence. I think they are more scary because they often deal with things that could actually happen, or they tap into basic human fears. I think a good example if the movie Identity. This is a movie that definitely messes with your mind.

If I decided to use this genre, it would be easier to film as it involves less violence and gore. This could possibly mean that my film trailer would have more chance of appearing professional. Conventionally, there is a clever and complex storyline attached to psychological horrors and it would be intriguing to construct a plot so in-depth and intricate. However, it would be challenging in the sense of producing an authentic storyline for this genre.
Slasher Horror

These types of films include a masked psychopathic killer, who kills a series of victims in a gruesome and gore filled fashion. The weapons commonly used in Slasher films include knives, chainsaws and axes (used in 'Nightmare in Elm street' 'Texas chainsaw'). Usually a lone female will survive; she is known as the ‘Final Girl’. As I take this genre into consideration, I find the idea of blood, guts and gore appealing. The advantages include the convention of the killer being masked, with their identity hidden in some way, which I believe adds to the scare factor as we all fear the unknown. From my knowledge of Slasher Horrors, I have learned that the kills (death scenes) are quite graphic, which could be difficult to re-enact as limited resources could result in amateurism.
Supernatural Horror
The inclusion of ghosts and spirits and extra ordinary phenomena e.g. miracles, curses or strange ‘goings on’. Film examples of this are 'The devil inside', 'Paranormal activity' etc. I believe the most frightening of genres is supernatural horror because it is the one source of evil that one cannot fight or escape. It would be a challenge to make supernatural-being look believable on camera, without the effect looking cheap. Although, I do feel that producing a storyline for such a genre would be such a thrilling and exciting experience as everyone loves a good ghost story! I could truly channel my creativity into this genre as it is the one that fascinates me the most.
Gothic Horror
Gothic Horrors 
These films are traditional in style, harking back to original horror stories, like Frankenstein. Uses of wild landscapes, fog, shrouded towns, woodland, castles, old mansions, graveyards. Uses of ghostly apparitions, phantoms, monstrous demons are common. Often a handsome hero will enter the dark world to save the day. Women are represented as damsels in distress. Of all the horror genres listed, Gothic Horrors are my favourite. This is because I’m an old fashion girl who adores any film set in another era, that’s dark, tragic and compelling. I admire the traditional aspects of gothic horror and would like to combine certain aspects with another subgenre. I would not choose to use this subgenre alone because certain elements wouldn’t be possible to film, for example, old mansions or castles.
To conclude I have decided to use the genre of Psychological Horror. I like the uses of conventions such as masked killers, the use of weapons, forests, foggy locations, creepy and frightening music. I feel I can create a trailer so frightening, so mesmerizing, so chilling.

The devil inside trailer

Although this wasn't neccesarily the sub genre of horror I was going to be making, I sat down a focus group and showed this trailer to them, gathering thoughts and opinions.

I showed the “The Devil Inside” trailer to my focus group because it could give me an idea of what they like to see and a more precise idea of what my target audience will want to see in our trailer. Regarding this point. “The Devil Inside” movie made a box office of $101,386,096 which shows clearly that the movie was highly successful through its utilisation of codes and conventions and methods of appealing to the target audience. Through the research we have conducted and the responses we have received, it was easy to conclude that the promotional trailer is the most important aspect of the promotional package as it resonates with the audience and forms their decision of whether the film is worth watching.

 

Overall, my feedback from my focus group has shown me that from existing movie trailers, they should not show too much of the movie footage, because this will give away too much of the plot. The fact that the trailer said it was based on a true story allowed the movie to seem more realistic, which is something that I am also considering adding into my trailer for effectiveness. From the magazine front cover feedback, I am most likely going to make my front cover image really simple, just like the ones I showed the group, who really liked it. They did comment saying that less text was more appealing, which shows that my target audiense respond better to visuals. Bold colours will also be used on my movie poster, because they seem to catch the most attentionwhen looking at them. The film poster feedback was the most helpful, because the audience feels that a graphic and unusual image is very eye catching, which is something I plan to do for my poster. The font on the poster is appealing, which is something that I am going to take into consideration when choosing my font for my poster, and once again, based on a true story will most likely be included on our poster.