Evaluation question three- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

What was the intended outcome of the production?

The intended outcome of our production is to engage with our target audience and make them want to come and view our film at the cinema. The purpose of a trailer is to advertise the film and to establish part of the narrative and genre. It is supposed to create enigmas and by doing this makes the audience want to come watch the film to answer the questions created in the trailer. Conventionally for horror/thriller films these enigmas usually are something like: ‘who will survive?’ or ‘who is the killer?’ We wanted our trailer to have an impact and engage the audience’s attention, by using action sequences like the attempt escape in the car scene and the death of certain characters; showing disruptions to the equilibrium through violence.

How effectively were storyboards and ancillary task plans followed?

Storyboard

Our storyboard was a rough guideline to follow whilst filming our trailer, but when it came to filming we decided to change shots and the order we felt was most effective. The story board was as good foundation to start with and helped put our shots in order as well as staying organised, making sure we had filmed every shot we needed. Our storyboard helped us determine where to have different size shots too such as the close up of Rizwana’s eyes and to have a match on action edit in the action sequence.

Poster

The purpose of the poster is to attract the audience and make them want to see the film, if they see the poster they will see it's well advertised and worth going to watch at the cinema, therefore marketing the film. Also to go with our trailer we have made a website which, like the poster, creates a visual identity. We have used the same fonts and style so the audience will recognize the film.
As a group we looked at previous posters for films of our genre and took ideas from them. Rizwana then used these ideas in creating our poster on the program Fireworks; she used stills from the trailer and dark gothic colours to establish the thriller/horror genre of our production. She stuck to key conventions of other posters as she put production company logos at the bottom of the poster. Rizwana also put all institutional information under the title which is also a common feature of posters. The purpose of the poster is to attract the audience and make them aware of the film and the release date.

Website

The website is vital for films today and creates a wider audience, people who may not have seen the poster are more likely to see an advert for our film/website and then they can read about it. As the internet and social networking sites are increasingly popular creating a website enables us to promote our film to an even wider audience, possibly around the world, which is knows as viral marketing as a person may send a link the to the website to their friends who then pass this on further creating exponential growth in successful sites.
Before attempting to make the website, as a group we looked at websites for other thrillers and horrors, such as “Sinister” we looked at conventions they had used on their websites and decided to take key bits and adapt them to ours.  They used colours, animations and pictures all to establish the genre, for example Sinister used a montage of quick, flashing, graphic stills from the film. They had also used, sharp and blurry fonts which all connote horror and fear as well as the blurry font connoting mystery. While making the website we decided to use colours of black, white and red. These colours are commonly used in the horror/thriller genre. The red connotes blood and danger where the black and white connote the binary oppositions good versus evil.

Sinister website

Our Website

Like the poster the website creates a visual identity through the use of the same fonts and style so the audience will recognise the film. The website is vital for films today and creates a wider audience, people who may not have seen the poster are more likely to see an advert for our film/website and then they can read about it. As the internet and social networking sites are ever so popular creating a website enables us to promote our film to an even wider audience which is known as viral marketing as a person may send the website to their friends and so on.

How were these outcomes achieved in terms of matching mise-en-scene, including page layout and camera shot choices? What stylistic techniques were used to support your trailer?

As our genre is thriller/horror mise-en-scene is important in making it look effective and to create a successful trailer (appeal to the audience). The audience will be expecting common conventions due to previous films they have seen before these things include weapons, violence, blood, frightened facial expressions, isolated locations, dark costume for the antagonist, tension and suspense. We tried to include all of the above in our trailer to establish the horror/ thriller genre.

We used a variety of shots to create different tensions and atmospheres. We used close ups of facial expressions to show fear and worry of our faces which create tension with the audience and is a common convention of previous films of the same genre.

Creating suspense and tension is a key element in a successful horror/thriller; we have done this in various ways.  Near the beginning of our production we see a baseball bat swinging towards the camera it is filmed as a point of view shot, this immediately establishes the genre and that it will include violence. There is also close ups of the killer cutting out pictures which establishes his persona to audience as being psychotic and help the audience understand he has specific victims in mind. Also in our trailer there is a close up of the victims face being grabbed showing violence and creating fear with the audience, which is common of the genre.

Example: In the film ‘Tamara’ which has a similar revenge story to ours, she uses a knife to cut off one of her victim’s nose, ears and eyes. We incorporated this into our trailer and used a knife as a weapon for revenge. On the other hand in ‘Tamara’ there is the use of supernatural which is more common of horror films, in our trailer we tried to make it look realistic so used real weapons and made the killer completely human, which we also did for practicality as we are students making a trailer.

To suit our genre of horror/thriller we used a typical stylistic technique seen in many other films of this genre. We used fast paced music which helps build tension and suspense and creates a tense of fear with the audience. Music is key in establishing genre and creating the right mood/atmosphere of the film. Our music helps establish what is happening in the trailer, for example there is a chase scene which is common in thrillers, and music is needed to create tension and concern for the character and immediately signifies to the audience what is happening; creating the enigma ‘will she escape?’

Example: We used music similar to the music used over the close up of hands and photographs in the opening of "se7en", over our own close ups of hands and photographs creating a similar eerie effect. However with ours we also partially used it to break up the shots used in action sequences and partially to establish the characters and narrative.

In our trailer we also used another common stylistic feature of horror/thrillers, is the use of chiaroscuro lighting, which low key high contrast and produces dark shadows creating a negative atmosphere, representing evil overtaking good.  The lighting and colours are dark matching the dark, ominous content of the trailer.

Stylistically, we used chiaroscuro lighting (low key high contrast). This lighting creates dark shadows connoting a negative content of the film as well as being pathetic fallacy. Also these shadows are especially effective when they are darker on the villain, having connotations of evil, death and mystery. This lighting is commonly used in thriller and horror films, to create a tense atmosphere. We used this in our trailer as it adds drama and suspense, as connotations of darkness are negative. By using this lighting it suggests to the audience that the content is not to going to be cheery and happy and prepares them for the dark, sinister content.

In our production we have also used jump cuts, these create an uneasy effect and are typically used in trailers to create a fast pace. Jumps cuts create a feeling of dislocation and a sense of shock. We used this when the killer is following one of the victims on a car park, we used the jump cuts to show him getting closer which creates suspense and fear with the audience. As well as this we also used jump cuts when the killer is dragging the knife across the wall, creating an ominous effect and raises the audience’s anticipation.

Also in our production we have used fast paced music, we have inserted it in places where the tension levels need to rise. The music coincides with the scenes of action and helps highlight the danger and violence. By using effective music it also helps establish the genre as people associate dramatic fast paced music with horror/thriller films as it signifies to the audience that something bad is going to happen. The pace and volume of the music increases towards the end in order to leave the audience with the most dramatic part of the trailer- increasing the appeal. At the beginning of our trailer we decided to use a voice over, which states 'a mental patient has escaped a high secure facility' which immediately signifies danger to the audience. It is a news report which is made clear as it is placed over a newspaper. The fact that it is a newspaper creates a sense of urgency. By using this voice over it helps unravel the narrative straight away and the audience can easy follow the idea of what the films about. The voice over is also a common convention of thriller/horror trailers as they create drama and add narrative exposition, whilst creating enigmas.