Canon Motor Zoom 8 EEE (Super 8 video camera)

 

This is the Super 8 video camera that we will be using as a prop throughout our trailer as well as using some recorded footage from it. It will be what the protagonist uses when she is exploring the attic after hearing unexplainable noises when home alone. We are hoping that the footage from this particular camera will have an eery and dark affect on the trailer, increasing the feeling of horror and mystery during it.

These are examples of us taking a photo with the digital camera looking through the Super 8 video camera lense so that we could get an idea of how the footage would turn out. As you can see, the photograph is a lot darker and more blurred, but this will hopefully create the atmosphere that we are looking to invent in the attic. This being spooky, cold, undisturbed, forgotten, unwelcoming, eery etc. 

Super 8 Camera Prezi

PhotoSnack Slideshow

Poster Analysis: Insidious

Poster Progression

After looking closely at the previous poster image, we noticed a mistake in the photograph. Where we had used a torch to illuminate Elsie's face, we had shone it mainly on the left side of her face (from viewpoint of the camera and audience), whereas the moon was positioned in the top right of the image, therefore if the image was to be realistic, the light from the moon would be on the other side of Elsie's face. So we rearranged the figure of Elsie and moved the moon to the top centre of the page to make it look more realistic. We also liked the idea of using the moon as an 'O' in 'Durlock' but wanted to keep to the idea that the human eye moves from the top left to the bottom right of the page, therefore rearranging the image has made the overall effect of the poster better.

We also decided to use our preferred font of 'De Walpergen Pica' as we feel it is more effective and eye catching for the audience.

We decided to use this image as a poster as it portrays one of the main characters; Elsie. She is the 'ghost' and main 'fear' of our story. We wanted to hold back some information to our target audience as to make them want to find out more and therefore watch the trailer and film (if there was one to be created), so we kept the image very dark and out of focus so you can just see basic features of Elsie's face, similar to the Insidious poster but not giving as much information away, therefore using 'subtle horror' which is what our target audience said they preferred. 

For this poster we placed the title of the film 'Durlock' in the centre of the image as to draw the audience's eyes straight to the name. The main setting and basis of our horror trailer is set in Durlock House, we felt the name 'Durlock' was powerful enough and gave off the right connotations as a title and basis of the story. We kept to the dull colour scheme of black and white and decided against using any form of red colouring in the title, as this will connote blood, which is not a specific convention we are using in our sub-genre Paranormal/Supernatural. The photograph of Durlock House acts almost like an establishing shot, based on the ideas we have taken from The Conjuring poster, this introduces the audience directly to the setting of the horror and gives them some form of information and idea of what the film is going to be like.
We created the basics of our posters on a free editing website www.picmonkey.com and used 'Roman Antique' font in black and to stand out against the background, we also used a white shadow to highlight the text and link to the black and white theme of the house.

Poster Analysis: The Conjuring

Target Audience Research

We asked ten people (5 males and 5 females) aged from 16-18 years old to complete our questionnaire based on Horror movies, this will give us an indication on what to include in our own trailer and a general understanding of what our target audience are interested in.

Results

50% of people we asked said their favourite sub-genre of Horror movie was Paranormal/supernatural. This is our chosen sub-genre for our Horror Movie Trailer as it appears to be the most popular. 20% of our participants said they like Psychological and one person enjoys Found Footage and therefore a sense of realism. We will try to include conventions from these three sub-genres to our Paranormal/supernatural Horror trailer as they are the most popular and relevant to eachother.

We will apply the results from Question 2, 3 and 5 as these are the favoured answers from our target audience. They also link in well with eachother to create a ghost/haunting theme relevant to the sub-genre of Paranormal/Supernatural. We also now know to base our trailer in the present time but reference and possibly relate to the past.

60% of participants asked said they would prefer to see a teenager as the main protagonist, this is perhaps due to the age range of the people we asked as they will be able to relate to the main protagonist if they are of a similar age. The fact that all of the participants we asked said they prefer Horror films to be 'realistic' supports the idea that they like Horror movies to be relevant to them and believable, so they can feel directly involved and almost 'part of the movie'. Relating a storyline to real life will be closer to our target audience too, and therefore 'scarier' for the viewers.

This question gave us mixed ideas as to what to do about the casting of our main character, but as the highest percentage, 4/10 participants said 'don't mind/unsure' about the gender of the protagonist, so we have decided to choose our friend who is female to play the main role.

More male than female participants said they would prefer for the main protagonist to be female, perhaps this has relevance to Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory (1975) where the dominant point of view is masculine and the women are often displayed in order to provide voyeurism for the masculine viewers. But as the response to this question is mixed as the majority of participants 'don't mind' or are 'unsure' of what gender they would prefer to be the main protagonist, we will not be conforming to the Male Gaze theory like in many other Horror films such as 'Psycho' and 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'.

Overall, this questionnaire has helped us to make vital decisions related to our Horror Movie Trailer that will affect and appeal to our target audience.