Evaluation Question: 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation Question: 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The Viewing

Evaluation Question: 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Main Product

Ancillary Texts

Delirium: Key Shots

These are 5 key shots that I have found to be the most iconic in the film trailer that our group has produced. Each shot was carefully thought out in planning, allowing us to ensure that the representation, even down to the colours presented, hinted the horrific nature of the film, establishing the genre clearly and hopefully enticing the audience to watch the film, which generates profit for the filmmakers.

The first clip is the glimpse of the possession taking over the mother character. This disrupts the pace of the trailer as the tension is increased to encourage the audience to anticipate a scare, and the possession shot is specifically short to incorporate the dual personalities inside the character battling each other for control. It also creates an element of enigma as the shot is gone in the blink of an eye and leaves the audience wondering whether they just saw it. This plays of the assumption of society that ghosts and spirits are not real, and by using this sequence of shots, it urges the audience to question the possibility of spirits lingering, making the threat very real and the horror very effective.

The photo frame was selected to suggest the happy life the family presented had. The past tense is suggested through it being a photo and the suggestion that this happiness has ended is hinted through the blood smearing hand. The blood represents murder with the red symbolising the danger the family is in. The hand is purposely made to appear as disturbing as possible.

The dark bruises and cuts, with the jagged edges suggest the person is no stranger to pain. The nails in specific imply the origins of this character, as the sharp, black jagged nails are often associated with witch-like figures, portraying their cunning cruel nature. The hand shape itself is meant to resemble a female's hand, hinting more to the identity of the character.

This shot was also the inspiration for my poster image.

 

This shot represents the spirit taking control of the mother's body, as even the most basic routines of being alive, like sleeping, is disrupted by the spirit. The character even breaks the fourth wall by staring into the camera, and creating a simulation of eye contact with the audience member. However, rather than appear menacing or frightening in her expression, which the circumstances would suggest, the character appears scared herself. This portrays the last essence of the mother character breaking through sheer power of expressing the fear of the spirit. This, in turn, suggests strongly to the audience that is spirit is to be feared and to expect all manner of torment, causing the audience to perhaps feel protective for the character at risk.

The intention of this sequence of shots was to convey the impulsive and non-merciful obsession of the spirit. The non-relenting scratching of the floor where the vase smashed and the spirit was released could portray this almost insanity of the ghost and how she does not give up. The editing of the quick pace of short shorts helped convey this insanity, as the lack of order and the fast pace allowed the audience to almost be in the frenzy with her, which creates a bigger impact on her as they realize the danger of the spirit more.

The shots of the boy in the corner of the barn is placed at the end of the trailer to be the last thing the audience will view of the film in the trailer. After the gradually increase of pace and horror in the previous shots and the break of the title, we felt it would be effective to show the boy isolated to re-inforce his vulnerability in the house now. The setting was to connect to the release of the spirit, and imply the person walking towards the boy from the viewpoint of the camera could relate to the mother. To emphasize how the audience should fear for the boy, a high-angled shot was used portray her power and control over the son and how he is at the spirits mercy. The viewpoint of the mother allows the audience to experience the plot for the first time through the spirit's eyes, which emphasizes the danger the son is in and how the audience is powerless to help. All of this makes the trailer more memorable for the audience, and they may be then more inclined to go and view the film when it would of been released.

Delirium Trailer: Focus Group Feedback

This is the audience feedback our group obtained when gathering together a focus group which we asked opinions on our trailer and other promotional pieces, such as our film posters and film magazines covers.

The Viewing:

The Discussion:

We  also gave them a questionnaire to fill out which includes open and multi-choice questions. This will give us a set of qualitative and quantitative results which we can use to improve and evaluate our product.

Here is a positive example of our questionnaire responses:

The results were as follows:

Word Association of Delirium:

Evaluation Question: 1 - Film Magazine Cover

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Film Magazine Cover

Evaluation Question: 1 - Film Poster

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Film Poster

Evaluation Question: 1 - Film Trailer

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Film Trailer

(please use full screen)

Finished InDesign Film Magazine

This is my completed InDesign horror issue cover of a film magazine I have named 'FLICKS'. It is one of the three pieces I have created to promote our group's trailer 'DELIRIUM'. These three pieces would be our film trailer, my film poster and my film magazine.

The only additional editing I have made since my last draft are various tweaks to it's detail, such as ensuring the splash is clear and shortening the slashes at the bottom of the page to to make certain nothing is on the fade, which would ruin the effect and present the magazine cover as unprofessional and unrealistic.

Full Analysis:

The Masthead
For the magazine brand, I chose to use 'FLICKS' as it refers to cinemas, where films are premiered.

The Magazine's Tagline
I felt that the word 'BIGGEST' did not give the magazine's tagline the professional portrayal that would associate this magazine with success. Therefore I altered the word to 'LEADING', expressing how this magazine is ahead of any other.

The Main Image
The representation behind the mother character presented is to intrigue the audience as it is against stereotypes for a female mother-figure to be portrayed as the villain. This may help to stay in the audience's memory and therefore fulfill the purpose of the magazine cover, as a promotional device for the film to attract an audience for the film. The eyes are specifically the only aspect left blue, as a contrast to the red apparent on and around the character. This enhances the eyes and relates to an intertitle of the trailer 'The eyes are the window to the soul'. The blue can also have the connotation of ghosts and the supernatural. Both points help to convey the woman's possession by the evil spirit.

I wanted to portray her with dirt and more bruises to show the physical impact of the possession, as well as relating to bruised shots of her in the trailer of the film.

The object of the scissors is used as a prop in the image to relate to the murder weapon hinted in the trailer. Additionally with it being used to shush the audience, gives the character an unsettling yet memorable quality.I also edited blood dripping down the scissors as I felt the danger of her character wasn't portrayed as well as I had hoped. By adding the blood, it suggests to the audience that the scissors is a murder weapon and it portrays the true extent the character will go to in order to enact her revenge.

The Sell Lines
I changed the sell lines to contain information that is current and horror themed. This information was learnt from research I undertook to know information like which horror films were coming out soon after 'OCT 2015', which is the release date of our groups's horror film trailer. This creates a sense of realism of my magazine and presents it more as a professional media product. I used the colour scheme of red black and white to emphasize certain words within my sell likes like PREMIERE is shown to do.

The Quotation
The quotation of a review was added to perhaps influence the audience's first impressions of the film before they have viewed it, and encourage them to view it.

The Splash
I also used the same font and style of title used in my poster and our group's trailer to link it to the film more effectively. The title is also the one of the largest texts on the page, alongside the masthead. This is to emphasize it's importance in the issue as the main feature.

The Splash's Tagline
I changed the text underneath the splash, still using selling language like 'EXCLUSIVE' but instead involving the actress more and detailing a little about the feature. I also included language that related to the horror genre 'hair-raising', which reinforced the horror theme of the issue.

The Footer Text
Feedback on my poster was that the bottom section under the splash 'looks bare', so I researched other issues of film magazines and adapted the style of EMPIRE.

The Colour Scheme
The colour scheme was chosen specifically to relate to genre of film the issue was focusing on (horror), with connotations such as black representing death and evil, and red portraying danger and blood.

Conventional Details

The price shown on the cover is artificially inserted above a price tag so as to present the price I felt was appropriate for a film magazine. The price I settled on was £3.90 as the I had researched different brands of magazines and brands such as EMPIRE often vary their price from £3.70 to £3.99. Therefore I chose a price relatively in the middle of those that I have seen, yet slightly toward the higher end of the scale as my cover would be a halloween issue and therefore be one of the more special issues of the year.

I included various other conventional details, one of which would be the involvement of the brand's web address 'www.flicks.com'. As a modern magazine brand, the technophilic society we live in engages with many different media forms throughout their day, and so it is realistic for my magazine to mimic the strategy of presenting different media platforms of their brands. This means that their product is more accessible to a wider audience and target the younger audiences more effectively, as they are most commonly noted as being technophiles.

InDesign Film Magazine Draft: 3

In this stage of my progress, I mainly focused on my image. I wanted to portray her with dirt and more bruises to show the physical impact of the possession, as well as relating to bruised shots of her in the trailer of the film. Therefore I darkened patches of her skin and top, and used Adobe Photoshop to show bruises on her body, altering and fading them to blend into her skin.

I also edited blood dripping down the scissors as I felt the danger of her character wasn't portrayed as well as I had hoped. By adding the blood, it suggests to the audience that the scissors is a murder weapon and it portrays the true extent the character will go to in order to enact her revenge.

InDesign Film Magazine Draft: 2

This is when I have added my main image onto my cover page. I used InDesign feathering tools to slightly fade the outline of the image so as the model blends with the cover more, but also appears slightly ghosty, relating to the possession she experiences in the plot of the film.

I felt that the word 'BIGGEST' did not give the magazine's tagline the professional portrayal that would associate this magazine with success. Therefore I altered the word to 'LEADING', expressing how this magazine is ahead of any other.

Her hair extends behind the masthead which was an intentional detail that I found evident in many issues of different brands such as EMPIRE and PREMIERE.

I also changed the slashes between the film names at the bottom of the page to red, which allowed the colour on the page to appear more evenly distributed.

In terms of the sell lines, I removed the sell line promoting Alfred Hitchcock content as it was too large and the image wouldn't of been able to have been shown well with the text making the page look cluttered. Therefore I decided to decrease the number of my sell lines and re-arrange the rest to a more spaced out layout, while still maintaining a structure. I found this to be effective in other issues of magazines.

As well as this, to give the magazine a darker ambience, I created a black background behind the grey one I had already made. I then made the grey box smaller and feathered it's edges. All this created a dark outerline that appears as if darkness is surrounding the issue, relating to the theme of horror.

InDesign Film Magazine Draft: 1

This is  my first basic draft at creating my idea of a professional horror film magazine cover on InDesign.

However, unlike my drawn draft, so details of the magazine cover have been altered as I considered some of them not to have been effective in appealing to the audience.







Some of these changes was the movement of the header line of text across the top of the page, to instead be placed underneath the masthead. This helps lengthen the page and is evident in other professional magazines, such as EMPIRE.

I changed the sell lines to contain information that is current and horror themed. This information was learnt from research I undertook to know information like which horror films were coming out soon after 'OCT 2015', which is the release date of our groups's horror film trailer. This creates a sense of realism of my magazine and presents it more as a professional media product. I used the colour scheme of red black and white to emphasize certain words within my sell likes like PREMIERE is shown to do.

Feedback on my poster was that the bottom section under the splash 'looks bare', so I researched other issues of film magazines and adapted the style of EMPIRE.

I also used the same font and style of title used in my poster and our group's trailer to link it to the film more effectively. The title is also the one of the largest texts on the page, alongside the masthead. This is to emphasize it's importance in the issue as the main feature.

The price shown on the cover is artificially inserted above a price tag so as to present the price I felt was appropriate for a film magazine. The price I settled on was £3.90 as the I had researched different brands of magazines and brands such as EMPIRE often vary their price from £3.70 to £3.99. Therefore I chose a price relatively in the middle of those that I have seen, yet slightly toward the higher end of the scale as my cover would be a halloween issue and therefore be one of the more special issues of the year.

I included various other conventional details, one of which would be the involvement of the brand's web address 'www.flicks.com'. As a modern magazine brand, the technophilic society we live in engages with many different media forms throughout their day, and so it is realistic for my magazine to mimic the strategy of presenting different media platforms of their brands. This means that their product is more accessible to a wider audience and target the younger audiences more effectively, as they are most commonly noted as being technophiles.

The quotation of a review was added to perhaps influence the audience's first impressions of the film before they have viewed it, and encourage them to view it.

I changed the text underneath the splash, still using selling language like 'EXCLUSIVE' but instead involving the actress more and detailing a little about the feature.

Delirium Film Magazine Image

This is my progress in obtaining a suitable image for my film magazine cover. I wanted my image to be recognisable to the audience, and because the actress wouldn't be known to audience well, I decided to have the actress in character for the shoot. This also helps portray the horror theme of the issue.

I chose to use the weapon involved in some shots during the trailer of the film. Coupled with the extra mise-en-scene of the costume and make-up, portraying the possessed red eyes and the bruises, it presents this female with connotations of evil, which is a challenge of the typical old male villain conventions. This use of a murderous weapon helps contrast with the innocent and trance-like expression of the mother character, which hints her possessed state and creates an unnerving feeling for the audience. The use of the scissors shushing the audience is an action usually associated with children, suggesting their involvement in the film. It also creates the element of fear for the audience that they need to be quiet, possibly hiding from something or the character warning them not to scream.

I wanted to create a darker background behind the image, so I used Adobe Photoshop to remove the background so I manipulate the image to my own background.

However, I did use the editing tools on the Adobe Photoshop software to darken the image to present it as linking better to the horror theme. I also used the tools to make her eyes a more piercing blue, as it is the only blue to be involved on the cover page, to draw attention to her eyes. This relates to another intertitle in our trailer 'THE EYES ARE THE WINDOW TO THE SOUL', which relates to the possession involved in the plot. As this film magazine cover is another tool used to promote the film and it's trailer and the main promoter, I have tried to link the three pieces subtly when it is appropriate.

Film Magazine Drawn Draft

This is my initial drawn drafter of my film magazine that I have created to aid the promotion of the trailer out group has created, 'DELIRIUM'.

I chose to use a character to model the main image so as to differentiate from my film poster and, as this cover would focus on other aspects of the current film industry, I wanted the image to be less suggestive and relate more to film.

The representation behind the mother character presented is to intrigue the audience as it is against stereotypes for a female mother-figure to be portrayed as the villain. This may help to stay in the audience's memory and therefore fulfill the purpose of the magazine cover, as a promotional device for the film to attract an audience for the film. The eyes are specifically the only aspect left blue, as a contrast to the red apparent on and around the character. This enhances the eyes and relates to an intertitle of the trailer 'The eyes are the window to the soul'. The blue can also have the connotation of ghosts and the supernatural. Both points help to convey the woman's possession by the evil spirit.

The object of the scissors is used as a prop in the image to relate to the murder weapon hinted in the trailer. Additionally with it being used to shush the audience, gives the character an unsettling yet memorable quality.

For the magazine brand, I chose to use 'FLICKS' as it refers to cinemas, where films are premiered. With this, I created fictional online information to present the magazine as realistic and professional, such as www.flicks.com, which is a conventional detail many magazine in general apply to keep up to date with the modern technophilic society.

This also true for the use of a barcode, price and issue date, which are all conventional details of magazines and present the cover as realistic.

The colour scheme was chosen specifically to relate to genre of film the issue was focusing on (horror), with connotations such as black representing death and evil, and red portraying danger and blood.

The film-related sell lines are kept as basic as possible, to present the cover as cluttered. Therefore, a strict grid structure is made to keep the cover looking professional, which is evident through other aspect of the cover such as a header and the splash, which is the trailer's name 'DELIRIUM', as it is one of the most crucial key pieces of information to remember.

The main inspiration for the structure of my film magazine came from the Premiere issue:

Delirium: Finished Film Trailer

This is the finished version of the horror trailer our group produced. We took many steps to ensure that it was completed to the best of our ability, which included drafting the trailer using a story board and then animatic. This helped us alter and improve our concept and vision visually.

This includes the soundtrack our group created to match our trailer effectively. It's beats are synchronised with the flow of shots, mainly in time with impacting shots. As the soundtrack builds, the tension the audience experiences increases, as our research proved a convention of many horror trailers. Urging the audience to feel tense contributes to the fear they should be experiencing for the child, and hopefully make a greater impact in the audience's memory, which is the aim of a promotional device like a trailer. This is because if the trailer remains in the audience's memory well, there is a good chance they may be intrigued to go and watch the film or tell other's about it.

Finished InDesign Poster

This is my completed poster for our group's Delirium film trailer. The final adjustments I made were the changes to the billing block. From observing professional posters, I realised that the billing block was far too square, which meant that it took up half the poster and took focus away from the image, leaving blank space. Therefore I re-made the billing block so it would be more rectangular, and then I could enlarge and move the other content down the page, giving the main focus to the image and the title. This was important as posters are supposed to be image led, and the text should be minimal and basic with key information.

Full Analysis:

The Tagline

For the tagline, I eventually used a font similar to the title so as to link it better to the poster. However, I made sure to keep it smaller than the title so it did not distract from key information like the title and the release date, and there could be more focus on the image. The word 'PAST' relates to the image being a photo frame and connects the poster together more seamlessly. 'HAUNT' could suggest to the audience the supernatural presence of the possession in the plot. Also, 'YOU' directs the tag line to the individual audience member, helping the audience to feel more involved in the plot, possibly even feeling at risk of the danger, creating a more longer-standing memory. As a promotional device for the film, this is ideal as it counts on making an impression on the audience so that they feel intrigued enough to go and view the film and gain profit through ticket sales for the filmmaker.

The Background

I wanted the background to look as realistic as possible to present the film as of high quality and the fear to be more effective. Therefore, I searched different backgrounds to appear underneath the main image. I finally settled on the grey wall to portray the dark and mysterious nature of the plot and the villain, which also allows me to place key information on without the difficultly patterns would cause to reading.

The Main Image

The image of the photo frame was selected to suggest the happy life the family presented had. The past tense is suggested through it being a photo and the suggestion that this happiness has ended is hinted through the blood smearing hand. The blood represents murder with the red symbolising the danger the family is in. The hand is purposely made to appear as disturbing as possible.

The dark bruises and cuts, with the jagged edges suggest the person is no stranger to pain. The nails in specific imply the origins of this character, as the sharp, black jagged nails are often associated with witch-like figures, portraying their cunning cruel nature. The hand shape itself is meant to resemble a female's hand, hinting more to the identity of the character.

When considering the position of the hand across the frame. The position of the fingers convey elements of the plot. The child is almost hidden between the index and middle figure, suggesting the figure's dominance over him, and how he is quite literally in her grasp. These fingers are the more used and so hint the figure's focus on the child. The other fingertips rest near the mother's face, implying how she is not as victim but involved. The idea behind this is that the nails are around her head, suggesting her link to the figure. Finally, the father figure is completely left. This is intentional as the character is left unaware and in the dark to the true nature and extent of the figure (the possessed mother) and even takes to videoing the disturbances to gain more knowledge. Him being left in the lighter side of the portrait against the darkness of the hand also portrays the battle between him as the saviour and the evil possessed mother over the safety of the child and themselves.

The Title

The title 'DELIRIUM' suggests the insanity of the possessed mother and her ambiguous true nature and origin which the audience will be intrigued to find out during the film. The size and position of the title is purposely done to emphasize the importance of the name of the film as key information, as it is vital to the audience finding out more about the film. The white outline of the text creates the eerie and mysterious ambience. That, with the similar faded outline of the main image

The Billing Block

By making my own billing block and adding it to the film poster, it helps to create the presentation of a professional and realistic film poster. I re-made the billing block so as to have a rectangular shape, which allowed me to create a more balanced and conventionally correct layout.

The Release Date

The release date is the second largest piece of text on the page, as it is key alongside the title as informing the audience when to go about watching the film. I made the colour a dark red to link to the blood in the picture better and to portray the dark nature of the film more effectively.

Conventional Details

The poster include three set of online information,such as a web address and two social media links. This helps the modern audience stay up to date and interested in the film by using the technophilic society we live in now to access a wider audience.

InDesign Poster Draft: 4

This draft shows the final change in my tagline. I felt that the tagline was too disconnected from the rest of the poster and so, to tie it in, I changed the font to the same as the title. However, I made sure the size was smaller than the title so as ensure the title maintained as being the most crucial information on the page to take note of.

I also darkened the colour of the release date. The original shade of red, I felt was too bright and by darkening it, the red connects to the dark red of the blood better and portrays the dark nature of the film more effectively.

InDesign Poster Draft: 3

This is my third draft of my Delirium film trailer poster.

For my tagline, I then went on to place it on the frame of the photo, so as to link to the image better. I intentionally kept the text small and black as to not distract in from the title in size, or the release date in colour, as those are more important information for the audience to remember.

When considering the release date, I not only enlarged the text, but I also changed to the font to Impact to be more noticable on the page as key information.

I added in the billing block by converting the document to a png from Adobe Photoshop. This aided me by finishing adding all the content needed to complete the poster and leaving just arranging to be done.

InDesign Poster Draft: 2

Still deciding on the placement of the tagline, I meanwhile occupied myself with the creation of more blood on the poster as the props of lip stick to create fake blood did not give the image the frightening effect I had intended.

I therefore used Adobe Photoshop to remove the background of an image of blood and then placed it against the fingers of my main image to portray the hand smearing blood across the frame.

InDesign Poster Draft: 1

This is my first draft of my film poster. However, I felt the billing block didn't have high enough quality, therefore I would have to create another method to present it on my poster in a way that you can read it's contents clearly.

As wells as this, the tagline 'FEAR HER' could be seen as too vague in the sense that audience feedback has informed me that the 'HER' in question is not 'link well enough to the main image'. This is why I decided to use another sentence that was also used in our group's 'DELIRIUM' trailer, which was 'THE PAST WILL HAUNT YOU'. The word 'PAST' relates to the image being a photo frame and connects the poster together more seamlessly. 'HAUNT' could suggest to the audience the supernatural presence of the possession in the plot. Also, 'YOU' directs the tag line to the individual audience member, helping the audience to feel more involved in the plot, possibly even feeling at risk of the danger, creating a more longer-standing memory. As a promotional device for the film, this is ideal as it counts on making an impression on the audience so that they feel intrigued enough to go and view the film and gain profit through ticket sales for the filmmaker.

Yet I failed to decide on a suitable font, size, colour and placement of this tagline, which is evident below through my progress of trials.

Delirium Poster Image

For my image, I took various angles of my idea before choosing the more face-on version, as it was clearer to see and there wasn't many problems with sorting a background to suite.

I wanted the background to look as realistic as possible to present the film as of high quality and the fear to be more effective. Therefore, I searched different backgrounds to appear underneath the main image. I finally settled on the grey wall to portray the dark and mysterious nature of the plot and the villain, which also allows me to place key information on without the difficultly patterns would cause to reading.

I then had to use Adobe Photoshop to remove the existing background of my main image and then fit it on top of the grey wall background on InDesign.

From this I used tools to shadow the outerline and corners of the poster and the feathering too to smoothen the edges of the main image. This creates a darker tone commonly used in horror posters, while the feathering of the photo frame and hand gave the image an eery ghostly feel that suggests the supernatural plot of the film.

Location Information

For the location of our horror trailer, we use one of out group member's home. The reason behind this was that it had a classic design, which connects to the back story of the plot, having the witch haunt the premises since around the 1600s. We based this witch on Anne Leech (1645), who was hanged in suspicion of being a witch and therefore put to trial, which resulted in her death. This added realism, tying this supernatural presence to real life events. This is a technique done my other films of the horror genre. For example, Paranormal Activity plays on the pretence that the story of what happens to the main characters is an actual real life occurance. The filmmakers even go as far as capturing the film throough the perspective of a hand-held camera, allowing the audience to become more involved with the belief that these horrific events were real, and creating a larger effect on them due to the application of a threat like this being a possibility in their life too. Having a large effect on the audience is key, as it adds to the memorability of the film.

It also contained a barn which helped add to the daunting and fearful atmosphere of the frightening scenes set there, known for being cold, dark and damp.

Having the house as the home of one of our group members helped a great deal with planning the neccessary shoots, as we were able to film whenever was needed within reason, avoiding the difficulties of having to gain permission off owners of land and buildings, and organising our shoots around the availiability of their schedule.

Delirium: Billing Block

This is the billing block that our group made to use in two of the three pieces in the course, which are the trailer and our own individual film posters. The billing block is used to credit those who contributed to the film in a simplistic and practical manner to present those involved and professional and portray the film as of high quality.

I attempted to mimic the structure of the layout and format of other film company billing blocks like Warner Bros. which I showed in an earlier blog post, portraying my work of creating an animatic billing block. However, I had to alter my original content as we decided to change the film production company to a more professional name that would be more realistic of a real production company.

Poster Drawn Draft: 2

(The drawn draft of my photo frame poster draft with analysis and reasoning) Include magazine images to back up.

This is my final attempt at a poster drawn draft for my group's trailer 'DELIRIUM'. I chose to navigate away from typical conventions of posters as I intended on using a character for the main image on my film magazine cover. By using an object, it differentiates my two pieces and helps me present how audiences can be attracted to a product in different ways, while also relating to what many film companies do.

The initial main image has been changed to the new image of a hand running across a picture frame on the wall of the house. This was done as I felt that the main image of the poster previously did not connect to the horror genre well enough, by which I mean it not portray the fear of the film, as there was no real sign of danger for any characters portrayed. Aswell as this it would of been extremely challenging and time consuming to create, which is something not desired when on a strict time frame for the course. It also is a shot from the actual trailer produced, linking the poster to the trailer more efficiently.

The image of the photo frame was selected to suggest the happy life the family presented had. The past tense is suggested through it being a photo and the suggestion that this happiness has ended is hinted through the blood smearing hand. The blood represents murder with the red symbolising the danger the family is in. The hand is purposely made to appear as disturbing as possible.

The dark bruises and cuts, with the jagged edges suggest the person is no stranger to pain. The nails in specific imply the origins of this character, as the sharp, black jagged nails are often associated with witch-like figures, portraying their cunning cruel nature. The hand shape itself is meant to resemble a female's hand, hinting more to the identity of the character.

When considering the position of the hand across the frame. The position of the fingers convey elements of the plot. The child is almost hidden between the index and middle figure, suggesting the figure's dominance over him, and how he is quite literally in her grasp. These fingers are the more used and so hint the figure's focus on the child. The other fingertips rest near the mother's face, implying how she is not as victim but involved. The idea behind this is that the nails are around her head, suggesting her link to the figure. Finally, the father figure is completely left. This is intentional as the character is left unaware and in the dark to the true nature and extent of the figure (the possessed mother) and even takes to videoing the disturbances to gain more knowledge. Him being left in the lighter side of the portrait against the darkness of the hand also portrays the battle between him as the saviour and the evil possessed mother over the safety of the child and themselves.

The tagline 'FEAR HER' suggests the danger the characters are in as well as connecting to the audience, almost warning them of the danger. This helps increase the fear as it associates the fictional villain as something that could hurt you in real life, and therefore is more likely to remain in the audience's memories. This is extremely valuable as a poster is a promotional device to attract the audience to watch the film in the cinemas, where the profit from ticket sales would be obtained.

The title 'DELIRIUM' suggests the insanity of the possessed mother and her ambiguous true nature and origin which the audience will be intrigued to find out during the film. The size and position of the title is purposely done to emphasize the importance of the name of the film as key information, as it is vital to the audience finding out more about the film, along with the release date of 'OCT 2015'.
Although, having said this, the poster include three set of online information,such as a web address and two social media links. This helps the modern audience stay up to date and interested in the film by using the technophilic society we live in now to access a wider audience.

There is also a billing block as this is a convention of film posters, crediting those who contributed. By making my own and adding it to the film poster, it helps to create the presentation of a professional and realistic film poster.

I was inspired by many other professional film posters, some of which were:

Animatic of Horror Trailer

This is the completed animatic of our group's horror trailer. We had initially aimed to include a soundtrack alongside, to see how it would relate to the trailer and practice how to combine the two. However, as there was little time to create the animatic, we decided that the camera shots were to be prioritised, as they would be the aspect of the animatic that would be most of use to improving our trailer in the real production.

We used the film title of delirium as it was chosen as the favourite by our audience research. As it is the audience that we are producing the trailer for, this is why we chose to go with the title that appeals to the target audience the most.

An animatic is the initial production of the trailer you desire to make, however, using pictures of your storyboards, not using film. This eliminated other aspects such as acting and allows the filmmaker to concentrate on the flow of the shots and if they work together. At this point one could introduce new, delete or modify the camera shots and their content, as well as the order. It provides the filmmaker with a rough understanding of the presentation of the the animatic, and avoids re-shooting the real trailer and avoid paying potential actors/actresses to film or re-film more shots etc. All in all, for filmmaker’s it cost and time efficient to use an animatic as an initial draft of their trailer, which is why our group has chosen to also.

Our trailer’s plot was selected through an exercise during a class. Each participant of our group created a script on our chosen genre (horror), from which we all collectively decided on the best. The criteria for the best did not just contain whether or not we thought the trailer would appeal to the audience as scary enough, but also if we could professionally create a trailer around it using the limited equipment and time period we have been given. We settled on one plot of a supernatural presence in a new and spooky house, causing possession of a loved one. From this, we could create suspense through suggestion and tension, rather than time and expense on gore, with equipment we did not have access to as media students. The location wouldn’t be too hard to obtain either, as we just needed the use of a house for a few hours. We then critiqued the plot to make it easier to film, modifying aspects such as the amount and gender of certain characters. 

We then spent a considerable amount of time creating the shots of our trailer. We considered this priority as we understood the flaw in creating an animatic at pace without proper planning of well thought out shots we were happy with as a group. We used class time and free time in school between lessons to all meet and discuss the shots of our storyboard. All having different ideas of the presentation of our trailer, we benefited greatly from suggesting aspects of shots and each other modifying their suggestion until we came across a selection of shots that we all felt would work. I offered my skill of representations to the shots also using my research of other horror trailers and picking up on techniques. An example of this is the shot of the chair’s shadow upon the door within the house as well as many high angles of the possessed, to demonstrate their power. This is also why I took the task of writing the shot descriptions for the story board, to specify what we had to take and why. As a result of this we all worked well together and ended finishing the story board quicker than expected.

In terms of the actual construction of our animatic. We first used our storyboard to create a new order of shots, basing on the time and location we would need to shoot them. For example, some shots needed to be darker than others, so we grouped those together as placed them at the end of the order. This order was placed against a time line, helping us ensure we take the lighter shots in the limited amount of bright daylight of the winter period, to symbolise the happiness and peace before the break of the equilibrium. Having all of our props, such as vases and a teddy bear, bought in preparation, we were able to take all shots during one filming day, leaving us time to have first access to the editing suite.

In total, we used around sixteen different props in the production of our animatic, which we gathered together ourselves in preparation of the shoot. We prepared this to aid us further when reflecting on our animatic, as using props would allow us to see a more realistic version of how our camera shots would look like in the real trailer production. We found that during the actual production of the camera shots, we did add in extra props, such as the wooden cross leant against the clock, which we felt enhance the darkness of the presence and how possession is sometimes associated with the devil, and the cross helped incorporate the theme of religion we felt subtly.

Our plot had the other advantage of using minimal characters, some of which were in our group. We then created a fixed date of shooting which we could all attend, and invited the additional actor along so that, with us all there, we could get shots done without losing track of which shots had been taken, continuity errors and actors/actresses being away, which is a possibility with multiple shoot dates. We chose the actors and actresses on their physical appearance and availability. We used a male to play the father, Alys to play the mother and myself to play the son, as I was the shortest and would be more effective for a realist portrayal of the shots. We had planned an actual child to play the boy, however, we decided that the originality of him doing the trailer would be key, and he may not be as willing to repeat the shots again in the final trailer, therefore we used myself.

During the shoot, we attempted to work as efficiently as possible. We also added to shots’ contents as we took them. For example, the aforementioned chair shadow on the door shot was improvised during the shoot. Some shots were extremely difficult to capture. In particular, the shot of the vase dropping to the ground was too quick to capture as a picture on the camera, so we filmed the smash as practice, to see how it would look on film and were happy with the results. Even though it didn’t feature in our animatic, we attempted it to ensure we were prepared with practice to capture it correctly for the real trailer.

During the editing process, our group first put the pictures back into the correct timeline of the trailer. We then edited their time length to allow use to gain an idea of whether the suspense is created in the correct places. A shot usually lasted around two seconds, varying on what we wanted the audience to feel. For example, as the climatic shots were shown, were made the shots quicker to create the suspense and hopefully imitating the audience’s heartbeat quickening with fear. In contrast, during the more horrific shots at the end of the trailer, we decided to slow the pace down, leaving the shot time length longer with longer fading transitions to create tension, ensuring the audience’s focus is solely on the shots as they possibly will be the most iconic and the last ones in the trailer that the audience will see. The software that we had access to also had colour adjustment and transitions available, which we took the opportunity to include once to priority of the shots had be successfully completed in the animatic. Amongst the camera shots, our inter titles were placed to help us gather an idea of the separation between the sections of shots, bring our storyboard more to life. 

The inter titles used were meant for suspense, for example ‘The past will haunt you’. We used key words such as the pronoun ‘you’ to suggest to the audience that they themselves are somehow directly involved in the events of the film, hopefully allowing the trailer to be remember, leading to possibly them viewing it, which will create profit. As the filmmaker, this is the desired effect of a the trailer, as it is free and meant to be a promotional device to entice the audience to watch the film. ‘haunt’ also implies the supernatural ghost-like nature of the antagonist. As well as this, we positioned this phrase as split into two separate inter titles. This create tension as the audience is left waiting for the end of the sentence. Also, it infers that the contents of the trailer between the inter titles somehow relate to this ‘haunt’ing it suggests. We kept the inter titles simple as possible using a black and white colour scheme with a traditional font, not to distract from the more influential content of the trailer. The font was traditional to portray the old fashioned time period that this presence originated. This is all true for the title, however, we made the text larger with a longer time length as the title is the key text on the film as it is what the audience will need to go and view the film. This is why in the real trailer we will ensure that the title is more complex in a design that differs from the other inter titles more. 

This was as the other aspects of the animatic such as shots and editing with transitions were considered more of a priority being a visual aid of the flow of our trailer. Having said this, our soundtrack was being created during the final stages of our editing, yet it’s time consuming nature made it impossible to achieve by the deadline, something we should have time to achieve completion in the final trailer. Our planning of the soundtrack is keeping it simple. We did not want lyrics or too many instruments, as it was unnecessary. the point of the soundtrack was to accompany and enhance the tension and suspense of the shots. However, we did consider the use of silence as a lesser known but equally as effective source of tension, which we could added the diegetic sound of the mother or the child’s voice rhyming a witch’s spell, hinting more information about the presence to the audience.

To aid the production of our trailer, we would use the animatic as a research tool, giving it to those of our already reached target audience, which are possibly parental females of the twenty to thirty age group, to see their opinions of the trailer and how to improve. At the moment, i would criticised our trailer as needing a more visually memorable title presentation and to ensure the soundtrack and dietetic sounds to be include in the final trailer

I would consider five iconic images from our animatic to be, the rocking chair shadow across the door, the possessed mother tied to the chair, the close up of the teddy bear’s face and the high angled shot of the boy’s face.

For our animatic we used:
Luke Williams - Father
Alys LeMoignan - Mother
Dora Jones - Son

Poster Drawn Draft: 1

These are my first two drawn drafts of my film poster.

With the second image, the title could suggest a key aspect of the film and it’s hard genre, as ‘Delirium’ is a noun that is defined as an acutely disturbed state of mind, characterised by restlessness and illusions. Synonyms of ‘Delirium’ express the nature of the villain, appearing almost ‘insane’. This all portrays  not only the conflict as a disturbance within someone, rather than a more physical one, further focusing the horror genre, but also the title’s monosyllabic structure allows the title to be more easily remembered by the audience, which is a vital role of a poster as a promotional device. The bold style of the font is also used to draw attention to the title, as it is the aspect of the poster that is most needed to be remembered as the audience will need the name to identify the film.

The main image previously conveyed a young boy stood in the foreground of an over bearing house. The house’s position over the boy represented it’s dominance, hinting how something connected to the house is the cause of the conflict and the break of the equilibrium, putting the child at risk as the victim, which is portrayed through his frightened facial expression. There is also the use of eye contact which helps connect the film to the audience, allowing them to feel more personally involved. The symbolism of the child’s pyjama colours was also significant as it combined the combination of white and blue stripes. The white symbolising the innocence of the child and his vulnerability. This then tarnished by the blue stripes which represent the paranormal disturbance and how the progression is splintering his innocent life. His age related to the parental target audience, playing on a parent’s fear for the danger of their child. The stereotype of a boy was wild and free, which is the opposite of what is portrayed on the boy’s facial expression, suggesting that the effect of the house or it’s contents is the cause.

I then decided that the child didn’t connect to the audience enough, and by conveying the main character, the poster is not only implying who the focus of the film would be but directly clarifying the target audience it aims to attract, and therefore have a higher likelihood of obtaining more popularity. Also, the character of the mother is portrayed as the villain in the trailer, and by presenting her in the poster, the negative and unnerving genre of horror is portrayed more efficiently. This is enhanced by the colour scheme of the character’s outfit. The clothing choice of a flowing top with trousers suggests her gender but also he age to strengthen the portrayal of her as a mother and infers the positive qualities that is assumed from the female stereotype, such as caring, nurturing, calm, sensible, etc. However, this is contrasted with the colour of red, which could symbolise blood, danger, evil and the devil, connecting to the genre of horror and creating an unsettling enigma for the audience of what the mother is capable of. Her position in front of the house, being in the foreground not only inferring the location of the film but the connection of whatever has caused this evil is rooted from the house. This also links to the presentation of the eyes. The dark red circling the eyes, along with the tag-line ‘The eyes are the window to the soul’  could imply the nature of the disturbance and that this horror film is specifically supernatural concerning the possession of a presence through the use of the corruption of a ‘soul’. The use of ‘eyes’ not only connects the tag-line back to the main image, but also implies with the unspecified ‘the’, and not a particular person, that this possession could happen to anyone, even the audience, leading to the audience feeling more personally involved with the events of the film and more likely to remember the film or even be encourage to go and watch the film, so as to see if there is a restoration of the equilibrium to console themselves of the fear that no one’s ’soul’, not even there’s, is safe. The use of ‘window’ could be fair to be noted as intentionally referring to the link between the antagonist and the family, as well as the windows shown on the house, also linking this connection back to the setting. This, like many other aspects of the poster, helps it all to link together, giving a well thought out impression and positive expectations of the film’s success. 

In the background of the image, the house is shown to be built with wooden-stripped windows which represent bars, such as those of a prison, suggesting that there is no escape for the characters, leading the audience to feel helpless. The emotion allow the audience to again feel personally involved, which creates a greater impact of their memory. The door of the house has an outer layer, which conveys the normality and the empty look of the house, as well as the character’s lives. This is then contrasted with the door shown within the outer layer, which represents the complexity of the plot within, after the break of the equilibrium, as a result of entering this house. The storm conveys the pathetic fallacy of the feel of the plot. How dark and mysterious, and it is this lack of clarity over the plot, and the storm over-bears that house and the mother, which creates tension and suspense for the audience.

The colour scheme of the poster includes the colours white, grey, black and red. White emphasising the title out of the black darkness of the storm, as well as representing how happiness and the innocence of this unsuspecting family is consumed by the darkness of evil presence. The grey is to merge these two colours together, it’s misty likeness presenting the enigma of the events of the house that are to follow in the plot due to the presence and what she is capable.

The format of the poster is one that is often used, shown through various posters I have researched and analysed, which are shown on previous blog posts. They all remain in the same structure, with only ever minor variations if any, such as the placement of a tag-line. This format is minimal and clear, which helps inform the audience of the key information, like the title efficiently. If crowded with content, the audience may be too overwhelmed, and a poster is supposed to be an enjoyment to quickly observe, picking up the key information about the release of a new film, and having to decipher it would not be effective in obtaining the audience’s interest.

Part of this format contains the billing block, to give credit to the film’s contributors, and the release date, to inform the audience of when to expect the film’s availability in cinemas. The release date our group chose for our film is ‘October 31’ as it is a date celebrated as halloween, which is known for focusing around the theme of horror. This is why the audience may feel more inclined to go and watch a horror movie at this time, as it is suspected horror films will be at it’s peak of interest for the year. These two aspects of the format, as well as the tag-line, allows the audience’s impression of the poster to be realistic and professional, helping with the trailer the promotion that this film is worth watching, which creates the sales from cinemas tickets, which leads to initial profit of them film is generated and this may lead to prospects of further sales later from DVDs and possible sequels.

The poster image I chose to style my poster on was Insidious: