Evaluation 11

11. How did you construct the representation of the main characters in your trailer?

We used a lot of the trailer trying to establish Harry as a quiet boy who didn’t have many friends. We did this through scenes of him being physically and mentally bullied by his peers. We thought this would throw the audience off track of him being the murderer. Harry was clearly presented as a main character as he was in most of the scenes. The use of video diary also gave the impression that the film was about him. The mother, though only featuring in a few shots, was represented in lots through the use of the ring. Though you only saw her face a handful of times, our focus group identified her as a main character.

Evaluation 10

10. Is the audience able to identify key character roles and functions within your trailer?

Our entire audience confidently identified the main characters in the trailer as Harry and his mother. We then asked them to identify who they thought was the murder. They all said it was the mother, and though it was Harry, we were very pleased as we purposely tried to mislead the audience to create a twist. They all gave reasons why such as the presence of the ring being at the murder scenes. We considered this a great result as we worked mainly on trying to frame the mother.

Evaluation 9

9. Does the audience understand the basic plot of the film you are promoting from watching the trailer?

After asking the focus group to explain what they thought was the plot, they all pretty much got it spot on. They said the trailer revealed enough to explain the outline, but not so much as to give away essential information. This left the code of enigma which they said would make them want to consume the final film.

Evaluation 8

8. Is an audience able to recognize the genre of the film?

After showing our trailer to our focus group, we asked them to identify what they thought was the genre. Most of the group said it was a thriller or a psychological thriller which is what we wanted, with the rest of the group identifying it as a horror, which we thought was good as it did contain elements of horror within it.

Evaluation 6

6. How did you identify the target audience of your trailer?

As a group, we looked at the age ranges of other similar films and decided that our film was aimed at 15-25 year olds. We decided this because the main character is shown as around 16/17 years old, which would relate to the younger end of our age band. The older age range we thought would relate to the character of the mother, and also recognize the trailer as similar to older films they may have seen previously. We thought making the trailer an 18 would not be appropriate, as minimal death scenes and blood is shown. We thought our trailer appealed to both boys and girls, as we have a boy protagonist and a girl protagonist.

Evaluation 5

5. How have you used generic codes and conventions in your trailer?

After researching psychological thrillers and watching similar trailers, we realized that our plot had already included some conventions. These included a mental illness, misleading clues and a murder weapon. We decided to include iconic images such as a recognizable bat and a ring, in order to explain more of the story and let the audience come to their own conclusions about situations in the trailer. We included typical thriller elements such as blood, darkness and screaming to allow the audience to identify the genre of the trailer.

         

Evaluation 4

4. How successful is the film trailer that you have produced?

I feel our trailer has been quite successful, as we have made improvements right the way through production which have benefited the trailer’s final state. We have been able to recognise when something didn’t look good enough and either re-shoot it or think of a better way to portray it. Our focus group showed us that people enjoy watching it and that they would choose to see the full film if it were to be released in the cinema. The plot has been changed as we went along and I feel it is now much stronger than we thought it would be when we started production.

Evaluation 3

3. How would an audience consume your film trailer?

An audience would be able to see the trailer without looking for it, assuming they are regular consumers of commercial media. They would do this by either choosing to go to the cinema and watch the trailers or taking notice when the trailer came on TV. The audience could also go and look for the trailer, by visiting the website of the film or searching it on YouTube. Audiences could also be shown the trailer by others who have seen it and liked it, as word of mouth can sometimes be the most influential form of advertising.

Evaluation 2

2. Where would an audience consume your film trailer?

An audience would consume our trailer in different environments. These would include in a cinema before a film starts. They would also hopefully see it at home on TV during commercial time. The trailer would also be put online onto the official website and also onto YouTube for anyone who wishes to re-watch it.

Evaluation 1

Evaluation

1. How does your trailer compare with real media output?
•Conventional and unconventional aspects of your film trailer
•Compare your trailer to examples of real trailers
•Genre of your film

- To make sure we were following conventions of other psychological thrillers, we watched the trailers of films we felt were similar to our products. We found that in most trailers there was an iconic image or symbol, which helped us decide to include some in our trailer. For example, in the ‘Saw’ films, the iconic image of the puppet was a reoccurring image throughout the films. Our trailer had 2 images we felt were important, which was the bat as the murder weapon, and the ring to frame the mother. We also found psychological thrillers usually included some sort of mental illness, which we had already included in our plot.

Psychological thriller trailer 'Hide And Seek'

Script Review

Changes made to original script
After reading through the script several times as a group, we decided to make the plot slightly less complicated in able to create a trailer that would be effective and challenging without making it too confusing.

We thought a good idea would be to tell most of the narrative through video diaries made by Harry. This way, we could get his inner thoughts and feelings and see the expression on his face as we were watching it.

This would also help the audience achieve a sense of trust with Harry and possibly put him out of the picture when it came to 'who was the murderer?' as we wanted to frame his mother.

We decided to get rid of the father character, because as we started to film, it would have been obvious 'who done it' as to whether or not there were two people at the scene (the parents) or one (Harry).

We elimitated the aspect of 'Grant' as the spirit of Harry's past life, as we thought this would be too difficult to try and portray through a trailer with the limited resources we had.

Focus Group Questionnaire

“Two Faced” Trailer Questionnaire

1. What genre do think this film is?

Horror

Thriller

Comedy

Psychological

Other__________________________________

2. What age range do you think the trailer is aimed at?

10-15

15-25

25-40

3. Name any 3 shots from the trailer that stick out to you

   ________________________

       _________________________

       _________________________

4. Based on the trailer, would you want to go and see the film?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

5. Who do you think is committing the murders?

The Mother

A Supernatural Being

Harry

A character not shown in the trailer

6. Do you feel the music matches the mood of the trailer?

Yes

No

Don’t know

7. Could you briefly outline the plot of this film?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_______________________________________

THANK YOU!

"Saw" Film Poster Analysis

This poster is from the film 'Saw'

Most commonly known for its connotations with torture and pain, I think this poster fits in well.

The simple image creates a huge, cringing impact on the viewer. This makes them maybe feel some pain just looking at it (I definately can feel a toothache coming on...)

The image is a good representation of the film, as the same experiences are shared throughout all seven grousome editions. Any first time viewer with expectations from this poster would not have any disappointment.

Aside from the teeth, there is a very subtle reference to an actual saw at the top of the poster. This is to reiterate the name of the film, which has been made to look like part of the main image.

The same font for the film title is used in every film, so any returning Saw viewers would see this as an iconic image of the film.

The colour scheme is also very important to the poster. This is because every Saw film poster is essentially the same, with a different image to accompany it. Here are some examples

"Orphan" Film Poster Analysis

This film poster is for the film 'Orphan'

First glances at this poster made me feel quite uneasy, which I suppose was the desired effect.

They have broken the stereotype of not seeing the face of the 'bad guy' (or girl) on the poster. Somehow, I think this has worked out very well.

A common image used to creep people out is the Little Girl.

This little girl has a piercing stare which looks straight at you. I think this is why I felt uneasy at first.

We assume this girl is the main character, and probably the villan within the plot. The name 'Orphan' fits well with this main image, as the girl appears to be alone. Another common 'little girl' feature is the use of 'old fashioned' appearance. For example, a frock with collars and ribbons around her pigtails. This image is used alot to give the idea of strange goings on. This trait was most commonly shown in the original 'Nightmare on Elm Street' films, where young girls dressed similarly to this one would play hopscotch just before Freddy appeared.

The font of the title also works well, as they have purposely made it look like the handwriting of a small child.

There are an unusual 2 taglines on this poster.

'THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH ESTHER'

and

'CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?'

This creates a code of enigma for the film, 'what IS wrong with Esther?'

The billing block is also kept to a minimum as not to distract you from the eyes of the girl.

"Identity" Film Poster Analysis

This poster is from the film 'Identity'

It is a very minimalistic poster, which has a very clever main image.

At first glance, the main image looks like just a handprint, but if you look more closely there are clues to the film within it.

The fingers of the print are actually the shapes of the characters within the film. After seeing the film, I then made the connection of why each person is a 'finger'.

The plot of the film includes five people stranded at a motel in a storm. As each person gets killed in turn, they realise they all have things in common, such as hometowns, birthdays, reasons for being on the road, and many other traits. I thought this might be the reason for them all being slightly linked in the poster. However, I then got to the end of the film and found they were all just a figment of someone's mind. Someone who suffered from schizophrenia. This then explained why the handprint was so pivital, as all of the characters were actually the same person.

I thought this image was very clever but very simple.

The colour scheme is kept to a minimum, possibly to make the viewer focus on the main image

I really like this poster and may take some features from it to expand my own subsidary task

"The Collector" Film Poster Analysis

This poster is from the film 'The Collector'

I think the darkness of the poster sets a mysterious atmosphere, as there is limited view of our surroundings. The setting of the house makes the viewer more worried as it is a relatable atmosphere.

The fact we cannot see the persons' face is a common Psychological Thriller trait, as it leaves a sense of mystery and fear as to who the assuming murderer is.

I like the use of bold red text for the film title, as it stands out very clearly from the background which is prodominantly black and grey

The film poster also includes 'FROM THE WRITERS OF SAW IV, I & VI'.

This would set a standard of what is expected from the film from audiences of the other films the writer has been involved with.

They also include a rating at the top of the poster, trying to show critics have watched the film and rated it four stars out of five. The rating is also from 'Empire' magazine, which is a magazine aimed at the same target audience of the film.

Overall, I think this is a very effective film poster!