Evaluation Question 1

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

Horror Trailer

• To get to grips with how a horror trailer would usually look in order to make ours effective as possible, we all deconstructed several appropriate trailers from films that linked well to our concept.
• We found that a general structure for the trailers started with equilibrium to give the audience a false sense of security followed by disequilibrium at the climax. We used this convention by beginning the trailer with the victims on a usual day before they are captured, which is when the disequilibrium begins with uncomfortable and disturbing images of their torture.
• This is also when it begins to change pace from slow to fast-paced.
• Our trailer also finishes with a scare after the title & release date which is conventional for horror (see picture below)
• Slasher horrors use lots of disgusting images including blood and gore which is achieved in our trailer through use of 'Chelsea Grin’ make-up and the action of hammering a nail into a victim’s eye (see picture below)

• We developed this convention by not showing too many shots of the actual torture as it creates a big impact when the torture is suggested and the horror is left to the imagination. (see The Loved Ones Trailer) 

• We didn’t sacrifice any gore though as we used close-up shots of live maggots covering mouldy food for added disgust. 

• Not showing too much of the storyline is important to a teaser trailer as it’s simply meant to entice the audience and develop hype before the theatrical trailer is released.
• In terms of typography for the titles, we decided to subvert the stereotype of blood-red and  chose pink to relate to the antagonist’s girly personality that makes her an unexpected villain (see below)

Antagonist

• In modern horror films, the type of character who’d be stereotyped as weak or innocent has become the villain and in some cases used to create scares, for example scary children (Orphan, The Ring).

• We decided to conform to this new trend and use a teenage girl as the antagonist which is essentially subverting the typical stereotype of a killer.
• Using a young girl as this type of villain is unexpected because of the media’s representation of women as the victims.
• It’s not unusual for the female antagonist to be sexualised, however we decided to subvert this stereotype by giving our antagonist child-like qualities that develop on the typical creepy child (done through sound of jewelry box, mise en scene and her costume)

Sound

• As part of the equilibrium at the beginning of the trailer, we used a recording of a jewellery box which conforms to child-like/creepy/chilling sounds (blog-post); we then developed the convention by reversing the sound so it became very distorted to reflect the manic main character

• Throughout trailers, a ‘booming’ noise can be heard on reveals which is what we included in our soundtrack by adding a synthesized drum beat when the titles appear 

• When looking at trailers for inspiration for a soundtrack, we found that horror trailers used layered sound effects rather than a song; therefore we did the same using Logic for the manic scenes in our trailer.

Editing Equilibrium

To reflect the general form of a horror trailer, we began ours with slow-paced equilibrium. To do this, I:

• added the best clips from the footage of the victims disappearing
• trimmed the clips to a reasonable length of which we'd want them
• rearranged the clips so shots of the victims and the antagonist were intercut to create enigma and tension
• chose to reduce each victim's disappearance to 2/3 shots of which the first 2 shots were shown of each to start a story. I used fades between the shots to emphasis the slow-pace and mystery
• then when the titles create more tension and disequilibrium is beginning to be introduced I included much shorter clips of the victim's being spied on or disappearing to quicken the pace. 

Daisy Edwards

Final storyboard

Website Creation

Once we'd layed out and designing our website, we began the implementation using Wix.com, a user-friendly online platform to create websites using 'drag and drop' tools. As I had previously used this website I took the lead in creating with Amy C as design consultant.

As one of our criteria was to be user-friendly and to fill no more than one page, we knew the simpler the website, the better. We agreed to start with a completely blank document in order to make sure we stuck to this and did not over-complicate it.

We laid all the features we wanted on the webpage in the simplest form so we could envisage what the page would like. At this stage, the typography is not designed and the featured image of the antogonist has not been taken, therefore we had to leave spaces for them. The advantage to this is that we can work out exactly what sort of image we want or can have of the antagonist before we take the pictures, hopefuly resulting in an efficient and quick photoshoot.

We added text but left the formatting until the image and typography were decided so we knew what would fit in and be appropriate.

A video was embedded in preparation for our trailer being uploaded to YouTube. The social networking links and menu were added as images but were not turned into hyperlinks as of yet.

Adding Background Colour

Changing Title Size

Adding Pages

Cropping & Editing Images

Daisy Edwards

Day 6 Evaluation

• Day 6's filming was for the shots of Harry and Tara before they disappear.
•  As we'd struggled to organise a time for both Harry and Tara to film in Hextable, we decided to change our location to a local woods in Bexley. This meant we could travel from school to save time.

Master shot: a long shot of Harry and Tara's characters walking along the river. 

• Because the area was muddy, Tara struggled to walk naturally. Therefore we both the action further over where the ground was more solid.
• We tried the shot several times to ensure the actors were believeable as boyfriend and girlfriend and his created the right atmosphere i.e. smiling, holding hands

Tracking shot: Harry walking and turning around to see Tara has disappeared

• We tried this various times with me and Amy Chenzo filming to ensure Harry was kept in frame and the camera turned at the right angle to be effective and believable.
• On occasions, Harry walked to quick so we changed ours and his pace as well as how many steps he walked before we recorded the shot

Long shot: from across the river as Tara stops to tie her shoelace

• We shot this last as it required us to be on the other side of the river
• We place the camera in different positions between trees so we could see branches. This hints at a POV shot from something hiding watching them
• We tried this several times to make the actors look natural and be in frame

I think this was the best filming day as we were efficient, in a good impromptu location and the shots we took were extremely effective.

Daisy Edwards 

Day 5 Evaluation

Exterior Location: Hextable

• For the fifth shooting day, we travelled to our exterior location in Hextable to shoot Frankie and Lewis' disappearances. We organised to film Harry and Tara’s sequence also, however Tara was unavailable for the time of filming last-minute.

• We started with Frankie at the bus stop. Her character would simply be waiting for a bus before it's implied that she's disappeared. We'd suggest this through use of camera angles and editing. 

• We started with a long shot of Frankie to emphasise her isolation and vulnerability showing her role as the victim. 

• Contrasting this, we tried close-ups and extreme close-ups of her face to feel intrusive and make the audience feel uncomfortable.

• We had to try various positions and exposure levels as her face appeared too bright and we couldn't see her features. We also had problems with continuity as Frankie was wearing different jewellery so we had to review our footage and just in case there were any significant issues we filmed the same shot again. 

• We wanted an eerie POV shot so Amy C tried a handheld shot to appear it's a person creeping around the bus stop. Frankie then rips her earphones out and looks round as if she hears something. 

• While this was being filmed, I filmed an establishing shot of the road. This was in order to set the scene and show some sort of normality and equilibrium.

• We moved to the lane to film Lewis as if he was walking down listening to music. 
We aimed to avoid many shots from Lewis from the front as we had to replace the hoodie he was wearing as we forgot to bring the original on the day. 

• We had a long, static shot with Lewis entering the shot and continuing to walk down the lane. 

• We tried shots through branches, equivalent to the POV looking at Frankie at the bus-stop. This was quite difficult as we couldn't go the other side of the hedge. Therefore we attempted to place the camera in amongst the twigs so they were in the front of the lens but we could still see the display to know what we were filming. 

• As this showed Lewis from afar walking down the lane again, it was not so much of a problem to film the front of his hoodie especially if it's going to be cut short in editing.

• We felt that we needed another POV shot just in case the last didn’t work. We though a handheld POV as if someone was following someone would be effective; even more so as we opted for an extreme close-up of the back of his head before he spins around toward the camera looking like he’s heard someone behind him. This close-up is extremely intrusive and therefore is uncomfortable viewing for the audience. It creates tension, reflecting the atmosphere felt by the characters. 

• We tried this a few times as it was difficult to frame Lewis’ head in such a close-up shot as well as trying to keep the same pace when following him.

• We managed to get the shots we wanted fairly quickly therefore it was a successful shooting day. 

Daisy Edwards

Day 2 Evaluation

• The second day of filming consisted of more shots for the dungeon location as well as re-filming of shots from the first shooting day.
• We focused firstly on the master shot and other shots that focus on all actors gathered around the table. We thought that this was important to get done as it involved all the actors being available. 
• We started with a static shot of Amy sitting with the characters but we thought it would look more threatening if she were standing above them, demonstrating her power. 
• We then tried a moving shot that sweeps through the food towards Amy on the table level and then tilts up to her face, which further demonstrates her power. 
• Originally we attempted to look at the victim’s faces as the camera swept past, however this movement didn’t look natural.
•  Another shot of Amy we tried was a hand-held zoom from the master shot position towards Amy’s smiling face. We thought this shot would look good at increased speed to create a crazed, psychotic effect.

• We looked to film close-ups of the victims at the table. 
• We started with a two-shot of two victims each side of the table, firstly Frankie and Lewis and then Harry and Tara for which we wanted them to look drained and scared. 
• We then tried a single close-up of Lewis waking up. This went well as the acting was adequate and the shots will be quick so the acting won’t be focused on.

• Next, we moved on to re-filming the scene where Harry gets hammered in his eye. Tara replaced me (Daisy) as the girl, as I was not happy with my acting. 
• The re-filming involved including Tara replacing me in the shots as well as adding more to create more dramatic effect and add more to the story. 
• We made Tara look like she’d been pushed into the shot by Amy, but the majority of the rest of the shots were the same.
•  We changed the way the hammer was moved as when we reversed it in editing, it didn’t look natural as it was too quick. 
• We also had an after shot of Harry’s eyes covered in fake blood dripping.

• We also filmed more shots of Frankie’s torture including:

·         Amy pulled Frankie’s head up by her hair with both of them in the shot

·         Close-ups of Amy having the motion of cutting into Frankie’s face with a sharper knife

• I thought that it would be interesting to have Frankie look as if she’s spitting at Amy in anger, for which she took a mouthful of water.
•  We re-filmed shots using the ‘Smile’ make-up, too. 
• When we filmed extreme close-ups of the make-up, the lighting didn’t look scary or manic enough so we decided to have no lighting except a white fast-paced strobe light, which had a flashing effect. 

• Overall, this filming day went very well and it was a lot more efficient than the first day. This is because we planned more thoroughly for exactly what shot we wanted and allowed for more experimentation which meant less time was wasted.

Daisy Edwards

Exterior Location - Night-Time Lighting Test

We decided only to use night-time shots for when a character leaves the pub because the amount of lighting actually allowed us to see the action but it still keeps the creepy atmosphere.

Exterior Location Scout

Hextable (Daytime)

• We were looking to base some of our exterior shots in a small village/community.

• I used to live in Hextable, which is based locally between Swanley and Dartford and thought this could be a possible location as there is very much a village feel to the area.

• During our trailer, there will be many ‘members of the community’ going missing. We were looking for places and everyday activities they’d be doing just before their abduction, for example: walking the dog, jogging, walking home from school, playing in the swing park etc.

• Hextable has country lanes, fields, small streets, a village green, a swing park, old fashioned bus-stops, a pub and a corner shop.  

• Some areas would be appropriate for our horror genre such as the country lanes full of bends and camouflaged areas. These locations may be more effective at night. We could have characters running here/walking home from the bus-stop/pub.

• There are three possible bus stops we could feature: one wooden, one stone and one plastic. We wanted to stay away from modern, inner-city bus-stops because we wanted the area to seem more remote.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  The pub is definitely a setting we could use for a night-time shot with a man to be abducted. The pub is located along the country lane surrounded by fields so would be really effective and scary/creepy to use to sustain tension and create shocks.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• There’s also an alley behind some houses where cars and white vans are parked. It looks like a slightly risky place to be hanging around, therefore it would be particularly appropriate for people to  go missing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  Locations for a child abduction could be the school or swing park. The school is at the end of the lane and is concealed by lots of trees and metal fencing which makes it seem gloomy, which an ominous tone, especially in rainy weather.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  The swing park is very small, simple and slightly old. It is situated in the middle of a large green that is abandoned this time of year.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  The park/village green is full of broken benches and has an outdated telephone box outside which are appropriate for our small village setting and horror genre.