Monday, 25 January 2010
Analysing Film Posters
Friday, 15 January 2010
The similarities and differences between elements of the campaign for Saw 5
Throughout the campaign the designers have used the same font and imagery, this gives their campaign a sense of synergy. The audience may or may not see the website, poster and the trailer, but if they do they will recognise the same font and imagery and relate it back to the film. This is their unique selling point. The voice over for the trailer is a recognisable voice, used through out the series of the films, this again is the unique selling point of the film. By deciding that their film was to be released at Halloween the distributors would have had to compete with other horrors as many horror films are released during this period. They therefore would need to ensure that their campaign stands out from everything else. This campaign has relied heavily on its existing audiences from the previous films. By using the same font that has been used in the other films and a similar design and music, they have directly appealed to an audience that will already recognise these devices. The clinical aspect of the images used in the posters is relevant as this film is based around a hospital and a member of staff in it. The washed out images with dull lighting and colour tones, is also used in the film, and therefore by using this in the campaign it directly links to the style of filming used.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Analysis of film poster for Saw 5
Here is one of the posters for the 'Saw 5' film that I analysed as part of my research. The film 'Saw 5' fits into the genre of horror. It is a very horrific and gruesome film that includes a lot of violence. This poster doesn't reflect this aspect of the film, although the image itself is slightly disturbing due to the simplistic and eeriness nature of the image. This is an unusual poster layout as normally film posters include a lot of images, that are really striking and eye catching due to bright colours to attracted viewers.
Although this image is again very striking it isn’t striking because its full of detail, its striking as it isn’t what the audience is expecting and therefore maybe implying that the film is different and nothing like anything they have seen before. This may also imply that it is a controversial film. By not including a wide variety of images they are emphasising the importance of the only image they have used. This shows that the image has a lot to do with the storyline and therefore they want the audience to focus on it and remember it. As it is a very simple layout it will also stand out over other film posters and therefore attract the attention of the audience.
The fact that the man is wearing a mask implies a sense of mystery to the film, which relates back to the storyline as through out the series of films, the main character wears a mask and you are never fully made aware of who he is. This image used for the poster of the 'Saw 5' film is similar to a lot of the previous films posters; the majority of these posters include a grey clinical background with a lone object. The majority of the other posters are again washed out with little colour and again connote a dead like quality, relating back to the genre of horror. By using a similar style layout and colour scheme they are ensuring that their target audience will relate the images and the layout to previous films and this will draw their target audience in.
The image is used repeatedly through out the campaign and images of a similar style are also used, by using similar or the same image through their campaign they are ensuring the audience will remember and recognise these images and when they see another element of the campaign they will relate it back to the film. The other images include the same grey background and are all washed out with little colour. The image portrays a clinical, death like quality due to the colouring of the models skin. By using minimal text they are also not giving too much of the story line away. This reinforces the deception element of the fact the model is wearing a mask, but also shows that the designers are confident enough to know that their audience will be attracted to this poster with out texts being involved.
The image is deceiving in the way that he is wearing a mask and you can only see one side of his face, but his expression and the rest of his body language don’t reinforce this idea. He isn’t attempting to psychically hide any of his features with the rest of his body. The image to reminds me of a mug shot used in police stations, the model doesn’t appear intimidating or scary as he is looking away from the camera, they have chosen to do this on purpose, as they could have got the model to look down the lens and this would have created a more impacting and scary image as the audience would feel engaged in the image, but by having him side on and looking away they are creating distance between the model and the audience which is unusual for designers to do as normally they strive for that connection. This relates back to the storyline as the main character from the film carries out violent acts, but doesn’t actually do them himself; he lays traps for people to fall into. In my research I commented on the similarities and differences between the Saw 5 webpage, posters and trailers and how each one is different.
All of these images include an elderly looking mans face. The therefore reflects that possibly this is a key feature of the film or something of importance.
This image is the same as the poster underneath, but it has zoomed in on the head. This shows the importance of it. By not including the rest of the shot it leaves the audience in confusion, as they cannot work out what the head is in or what is going on.
Through this long shot of the scene the audience can see what has happened to the head. It automatically appears to be scary. The stillness of the shot also adds to the eerie nature, and reflects the genre of the film. All posters have used the same font type creating a sense of synergy. The use of washed out images in all of the posters again makes them link together so that the audience will recognise the link between them
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Sunday, 10 January 2010
A blog exploring the narrative conventions of our trailer
One of the main conventions we used from the horror genre is the impact of cut transitions. All of our transitions within the trailer are cuts, which are used to build up a fast pace and to also increase the tension for the viewer. Also because of the fast pace created it disorientates the viewer as the story is unfolding quickly and then stops suddenly, which encourages the viewer to watch the film afterwards. We have also Incorporated still flashing images to break up the footage, which shocks the audience and leaves a lasting impact of a gruesome image. The inconsistency of the trailer reflects the corrupted storyline of the film and makes the audience feel uneasy.
Another convention that we saw was popular whilst analysing horror trailers was the use of captions. We therefore decided that we would use these within out trailer. We have used a font that resembles scratch marks to portray a feeling of entrapment. By using captions it again disturbs the consistency of the trailer and again reflects a corrupted storyline. As our trailer is fast pace and disorientates the viewer, the captions help to explain what is going on and to refocus the audience. The captions also involve the audience and evoke a feeling of empathy with the main character by asking a rhetorical question and also using the pronoun of 'you', which helps the audience to feel attached to the film. It also is a direct approach of captivating the audience, which demands their attention.
Low key lighting reflects a dark and sinister storyline, and makes the audience feel like they don't know whats going on. If we had filmed in high key lighting our trailer wouldn't of had the same effect. This was a common feature that we saw in a lot of trailers to make the audience feel uneasy- for example in 'The Orphan' most of the footage is filmed in high key lighting, but there is a shot of the girl standing next to the parents bed, and there are flashes of light where you can see her then it goes dark again- this leaves the audience not knowing what is going on. Myself and Ferne took inspiration from this and decided to film our entire trailer in low key lighting, this is most effective when the camera pans round to see Bowe at the doorway as you cant quite make out his face. By using Low key lighting for the footage and high key lighting for the still images it makes the photos stand out from the footage and have more of an impact on the audience.
We have used a female as our victim for out trailer. We feel that by doing this we can appeal to a wider audience as females feel that they can relate to her and males want to rescue her. This relates to the collective identity theory. Females feel that they have something in common with the leading character and therefore feel more involved with the trailer. This was our intention as through our initially research we discovered that most people enjoyed trailers that they feel that they could relate too. Conventionally women are presented as victims and the audience will have a collective knowledge of this, which makes our trailer relate to macro media. We have subverted this theory at the same time by using a female as the heroine of the storyline, as it is Sophie's sister who rescues her at the end of the film. In macro media men are represented as the dominant gender, which is a convention that we have included. Our male antagonist is presented as an evil dominating character this stereotype makes the male audience feel like they should be the hero and rescue a female in distress.
We have used a slow, sinister soundtrack. This is a common convention for a horror trailer, and is what the audience will be expecting. Some trailers use slow music that builds up, usually with string instruments as they can sound very soothing but can also sound very screechy. This is representative of the duality of humanity, as horror ,more modernly, explores the dark psychological aspects of humans. We wanted our trailer to bare emotional attachment, as the music is very slow and minimal it puts the focus clearly on the image, which leaves the audience fixated. The music also has a piano in it that plays few notes repeatedly, this is disjointed as usually a piece of music would flow and notes would be played together, whereas these notes are emphasised greatly by being put on their own. This also represents the isolation of our protagonist Sophie, who is clearly distressed and left on her own. The slow pace also helps to slow down the heart rate of the audience which makes them on the edge of the seats waiting for something to happen.
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Our final trailer
1. they felt that the initial flashing images of the beaten girl were too short and could be slightly longer but we felt these shot where unnecessary and limited the effect of the flashing images later so we decided to remove these.
2. they felt that the pan in the middle of the trailer to the man in the door way was amature and suggested we either re-shot or worked with this clip. We decided to apply a ghosting effect to make it less amature and blur the jolt in the middle of it.
3. they suggested possible a change with in the music, but we had previously experimented with this and it was unsuccessful
4. they felt that the narrative wasn't clear and suggested us using establishing shots, we decided to take photographs of the house (the setting of the trailer) from what would be the perspective of Bowe the antagonist of our film, we gradually built up the pace of these shots through the beginning of the trailer to add tension. This makes the audience aware that it is set in a domestic setting, this is important as we discovered with in our research that our audience preferred a storyline set in a domestic setting. By including these establishing shots it also gives meaning to late shots as it explains that someone has entered the house and that is who is at the doorway as the last set of shots from the beginning sequel is at the entrance to the door that Bowe stands in during the panning shot.
Here is our trailer with final improvements made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7quWXbb_Cp4
Questionnaire for trailer
Here is the Questionnaire regarding the completed teaser trailer:
1. Are you?
a. Male
b. Female
2. How old are you?
a. 12-14
b. 15-17
c. 18-20
d. 21+
3. What genre do you feel that the trailer you have viewed portrays?
a. Comedy
b. Horror
c. Sci-fi
d. Rom-com
4. In what ways do you feel that this trailer portrays this genre?
5. Do you feel that this teaser trailer is an appropriate and effective length?
a. Yes
b. No
6. Do you feel that the pace of the trailer was effective?
a. Yes
b. No
7. Would you go and see this film?
a. Yes
b. No
8. Do you feel that our plot reflects a realistic storyline?
a. Yes
b. No
9. Do you feel compassion for the female in the trailer?
a. Yes
b. No
10. Did you enjoy the trailer?
a. Yes
b. No
c. There was room for improvement (if so please state below)
11. Do you feel that the trailer made sense?
a. Yes
b. No
12. Could you suggest any improvements for this trailer?
Here are our results:
These results show us who are feedback was from. From these results you can see that 46% were male and 54% were female. This shows us that we have an evenly mixed gender audience, which means we have appealed to both sexes and will recieve more realistic results as we are not disincluding a certain type from our audience.
These results show me that 46% of our audience were aged between 15-17 and 38% of our audience were aged between 18 - 20. This is our target audience and by gaining their feedback we are able to see if the trailer was effective and attracted out target audience.
These results show us that our trailer was succesful in portraying the genre our film is in as 100% of people asked said they felt hi trailer portrayed a genre horror. This is important in attracting people who are interested in horror films and ensuring that the trailer has a clear theme.
These results also help to show how effective our trailer was to our audience. This refers to the pace we have created in order to build tension. 86% of people asked thought that the pace was effective, which shows that the pace we created attracted audienced which will encourage them to watch the film.
These results show how effective the trailer was in encouraging people to watch the actual film as a form of promotion. This shows that 90% of people would go and watch the film, which shows our trailer was effective in appealing to our target audience and encouragnig them to watch the actual film.
These results show that 84% of people felt compassion for our female protagonist. This is important as we are using a heorine and in order for this to be successful we need the audience to relate to her and feel that how she acts is the right way.
These results show that 78% of our audinece felt that our trailer made sense. This is important for our audience to go and see the trailer, as they need an understanding of what the film is. Our trailer uses narrative enigma in order to commuicate our distressing storyline, this is important as in order for people to understand the message they need it to be presented in an equally distressing way, which is evident in Fisher's theory.
Friday, 8 January 2010
Editing after feedback
We then exported our trailer and imported it onto youtube so that it is an accessible format for people to watch it.
This is the URL for our trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEsCH7_z8X4
Thursday, 7 January 2010
class feedback
The class presented us with negative and positive comments about the trailer and helped us to see our trailer from another point of view. Here are the positive reflections we recieved from the class:
- Good use of colour and contrast in the flashing images
- Good length for a teaser trailer
- Engaging for the audience
- Presents a plot, but also leaves enough mystery that the audience want to see it
- Emotive as it provoked empathy, fear and sadness
- Instant awareness of the genre
- Good logo
- Music helps to create an emotive atmosphere and fits the genre
- Good and appropriate use of audio including the phone call and one section of filming with audio
Here are the constructive comments we recieved from the class:
- The phone call could have two rings instead of three as the screen is black for a long time
- The green flashes could be extended to show the audience that it is the main character
- The title could be extended slightly
This feedback will help us in our final editing and to meet our target audiences needs. It also helps us to see our trailer from a consumers point of view instead of the creators.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Editing
After myself and Amy had filmed the footage we needed for our trailer we started editing it on the software, Adobe Elements. This allowed us to cut, merge, brighten and use different effects on the filming we had done.