Horror Film

Poltergeist

Saw

The Shining

Paranormal Activity

The Conjuring

The Visit

Don't Be Scared Of The Dark

Insidious

The Blair Witch

The Ring

Ouija

Split

Saw II

Final Destination

Sinister

10 Clover Field Lane

Annabelle

Chucky

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Found Footage



Paranormal        

Gore                    ⇽

Killer                   ⇽

 Philological       ⇽

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Recipe For Paranormal


Ingredients


Flashing Quick Clips

Dark

Intense Music

Children Or Childs Voices

Jump Scare After Build Up

Scariest Moments Of The Movie

Very Extreme Close Ups

Sometimes Quiet

Varied In The Volume Of Music

Usually At Night






Method






(Throughout And In-between The Shots Cuts To Darkness)


Usually Starts With Establishing Shot

Steady Music Starting  Quietly

The Production Company

Close Ups

Music Building

Tag Line

Bash Or Clash

Silence

Showing A Tense Moment

Leaving The Audience Anxious For The Jump

Big Noise / Jump Scare

One Of The Scariest Clips Of The Trailer

Short Scenes Of The Film Flashing In between Each Other

Building More And More Tension

Usually Than Two Or More Jump Scarers

Release Date

Title And Credit Block

Loud Noise At The End

Jump Scare

Assignment 2 Cover

My Poster Ideas

Name: Slash (Nyctophobia font name on da font)


Main Image:

Possible Fonts:

Actor Names:


Tagline: "Knife Or Death"


Colour Scheme: Red, Black and White.

Horror Genre Conventions

- All include dark or black images
- Most include the colour red or white
- Some are close ups of body parts
- All don't show the face of the person
- The title is either very innocent or extremely sinister
- Some include colours like blue, green or grey in their image
- All make you ask questions about the film
- Some are serif font style

Assignment 2 Essay

Assignment 2: Essay

Draft 1

Introduction And Institution

The Poltergeist 2015 horror film rated PG 13 has shocked people in there thousands. The film has a huge cast including Jared Harris and Sam Rockwell and involves a very successful film writer, Steven Spielberg who wrote legendary films such as Indiana Jones and the BFG. The film poltergeist probably has a target audience from the age of 13 to the age of 50 and is probably targeting their film at both males and females. The BBFC have rated this film PG 13 probably due to the fact, the less age restricted the film is the wider the ranges of audience the film could be shown to. The film institution is FOX 2000 pictures that helped to make a legendary 1900s film an even better 2015 movie. The film Poltergeists has use lots of promotional including: billboards, Buses, Clothing merchandise and other items.

Poster

The poster of the 2015 Poltergeist film is obviously a horror because of the fact that the poster itself connotes to; fear, horror, ghosts and children mainly due to the fact that there there is a clown on the front. The poster is represented as a horror, which is quite easy to tell because in it follows all the genre conventions of a horror film. E.G; the darkened image on the front, the white title, how they have included red in the image with the hair and make up of the clown doll,  hat there is a clown on the front staring at the viewer which uses direct address and also the title itself. The mid-close up shot of the clown is the only image the viewer is seeing, this could be because clowns have a bad representation is the world of horror, people commanly fear clowns likely because of film IT. The layout of the poster is quite empty and filled with the black dark space; I think they’ve done this on porpoise because it is the unknown and if you cannot see what’s there for half the image that makes for a very uncomfortable and edgy start when you first look at the poster. The clown if you look closely is muddy and battered which makes the viewer want to know why and hooks the audience in as dirt and/or mud coyotes to old, used and forgotten. It also is a significant feature to the poster as a whole because it gives off an edgy and uncertain vibe throughout the whole poster. All the text is at the bottom of the page. This is because when the public look at the poster their eyes will instantly go to the middle or the top of the page, they would have to at least scan though the whole poster to get the name of the film and date. The only piece of text that is not the title or the credits is the “#WhatAreYouAfraidOf” tagline which is at the bottom of the page. This is a rememberable tagline to have, also to have it as a hashtag is a creative way to promote the film on social media. It tells us that the film and their creators are capable to keep up with the trends and will involve a whole other population. They use the red colour for the date only because it is made to stand out from the black background and draws peoples attention straight to the main buck of the writing. It is key information about the film so they have highlighted it for the viewer to read with ease.  The colour pallet follows the genre conventions of most horrors; black, white and red. They used/included red in the doll clowns hair and makeup and also at the bottom of the poster, the release date. White is used in the credit block and the title and the colour black is used to cover up half of the clown doll in the image. Picking the colours apart, red connotes to; danger, blood, fire and destruction. Black has connotations of: mystery, unknown and fear. And I think the white is used purely to stand out from the black background but also has conations of: faith, purity and light. So maybe white is used in this case to give the reader hope or a light at the end of the tunnel. There are no props other than what looks like a red rope around the clown’s neck, which may link again to death. The clown doll also looks sinisterly happy on the front, which makes the viewer uncomfortable and fearful. The expression has a negative effect on the viewer as the direct eye contact They have used a mid-close up shot on the clown’s face they also use direct address to reach out to the reader. Its eye level and has a fearful effect on the audience. The lighting is used in contrast between the dark shadow on the right hand side and the pale lifeless face on the clown. I think the audience is meant to focus on the face of the clown because that is where the contrast is between the dark background and pale face. The title of the film itself, “Poltergeist”, tells the viewer that the film is a horror about the unnatural and unknown which links back to the fear of unknown again. It is a wide stretched title that gives you the horror element and vibe.

Trailer

The trailer as a whole presents the film, as the poster would suggest. The main differences are that the clown shown on the front of the poster isn’t shown in the trailer anywhere. Also the fact that the film looks quite si-fi, which is not represented in the poster what so ever. Some similarities include the darkness which is shown to a common factor and genre convention of any horror films and also the #WhatAreYouAfraidOf which is a good way to openly invite and strengthen your audience.

The opening scene depicts a young boy lying in his bed with his eyes wide open with what the viewer is led to presume, a face full of fear. This would link to the doll seen on the poster, which connotes to children. This also seems to be set at night, which holds true to connotations of fear and the unknown. The high angle shot indicates that the boy is powerless and hopeless.

The build up consists of having the young boy look down the staircase with lights flashing on and off. The music plays a huge part as it builds until the drop. Here they have used a high angle shot and an over the shoulder shot to let us see what he is seeing and to exaggerate the horror and fear factor in the shot. Also the fact that its quite hard to make out what’s at the bottom of the stairs which adds to the mystery. It also makes the viewer ask questions about it. Another frame shows when the viewer is meant to get a thrill or a jump scare. This shot is a low angle shot and the mother behind her is out of focus, this is because the viewer needs to be asking questions all throughout the whole trailer, this is also because if the background is out of focus, then your eyes are drawn on the screaming girl and her expressions. This part, in my personal opinion, is the part that looks si-fi to me. This is the entrance to the other dimension full of ghosts and demons. Pair this with the font used to show off the hash tag ‘WhatAreYouAfridOf.’

The end frame leaves you with a doll sitting on a shelf before jumping out at the boy. I suppose it leaves you with the clown doll because that links to the poster but they are not the same clown. This would suggest there are more than one of these dolls and when you link in the title, “Poltergeist,” it really sets the mood and tone of the film. It is again an over the shoulder shot to give the perspective or view of the boy and what he is seeing, hearing and noticing. The jump scare leaves viewers wondering what’s going on and leaves them with unanswered questions which would then make them want to watch the film.

This frame again shows that si-fi font stating the date; it also shows a Hash Tag. The hashtag, which is a question, shows the viewer that they want to know some feedback on the social media. This shows that the film was made in the modern day since social media has really blown up in the 21^st century.

Conclusion

Overall the poster and trailer relate and match together some key information, e.g. the clown doll both shown on each platform. Also the general darkness of them both. And the title, which matches and gives hints to show the theme. Synergy is used in the clown because if my facts are correct then they have made an exclusive clown doll just like the one seen in the screen shot above and sold it. In conclusion, the trailer and poster marry together quite well but not as effective as I think it should.

Assignment 2 Tasks

Cross - Media Promotion

The marketing and promotion of a media text across two or more media platforms (areas of the media industry).

Skyfall

- Poster

- TV Advert

- Buses

- Trains

- Billboard

- T-Shirts

- Phone Cases

- Magazine Advert

- Trailer

- Suit Company

- Interactive Promotional Event

- Radio Adverts

- Coca-Cola

- Watches

- Interviews

- Computer Games

- Phone

Synergy

Synergy is when companys who have more that one media platforms, E.G Sony, make money by using other platforms for other promotion. Sony can use thier game department to promote their new film. For example, skyfall which was made by Sony is also made into a game by Sony.

Initial Research

Poltergeist (2015):

The Primary/Target Audience is probably 13 - 50 year old both male and female who are into getting scared out of their mind. Some of their production companies include Fox 2000 pictures and Ghost house pictures. Their distribution company is 20th Century Fox. Poltergeist is promoted by: Film posters, Trailers, Interviews with cast and producers, Shirts/Clothing Items, Billboards, On the sides of buses and they use Hashtags on Twitter to spread awareness of their film.

- The darkness of the poster in general.

- How half the face is showing so we don't know whats on the other side.

- The date is red which is linked to horror.

- The tagline, "WhatAreYouAfraidOf," tells you that the film is a horror.

- The obvious clown on the front which may frighten people straight away.



The trailer is full of jump scars and follows the classic story from the 1900s.

The trailer tells the viewer what the genre is and does that really easily and well. It also tells the viewer that the horror story is quite straight forward and gives the viewer main points in the film to give their own opinion of it.

The main character is presented as a little young girl that gets possessed and her family want her back

Assignment 1 Cover

Draft 2













Draft 1