2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
TRAILER INFLUENCES
THE WARD
‘The Ward’ by John Carpenter is a Psychological horror movie which
is about a young girl who is in psychiatric facility claiming that a
dead girl is stalking her. We see this all throughout the film then at
the end we realise she has just many personalities and all of the
people that she is seeing is actually her. I liked the change at the
end and how it shocked the audience how no one was actually
stalking her. This gave me and Caitlin inspiration to do our trailer
and base it on a girl who thinks she is being tormented however it is
just all in her head.
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/blog-post_13.html
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-ward-2010-official-
trailer.html
For further analysis on ‘The Ward’ there are links to my Blog where
I did 2 posts analysing it, one on the poster and the other on the
trailer.
You can see the photos from the trailer of The Ward and
the photos that I have took. You can see on the left how
the girl is pale and has bags with a tint of red. This is
why in our movie trailer we tried to do something similar
so it would show how she is ill. Above you can also see a
scene from the trailer which we have also tried to do. We
done this as it is an effective scene which would make the
audience scared.
3. THE CALL
Although ‘The Call’ is not a horror but a crime/thriller genre, it still gave me ideas
for what to include in the trailer that I did. It’s about a girl who gets killed by a
man and then the same man goes after another one, the woman on the phone who
is with the police helps them and in the end one of the girls survive. However the
whole idea of a phone call was what I wanted to include in the trailer as it makes it
seem more serious and dramatic. I thought that if there was a phone call at the
start that it could introduce what has actually happened by the actress saying
“He’s here, you’re not helping me again” the again shows how its happened before
and how the film is about a stalker. We thought this was an effective way of telling
the audience it rather than it being a boring way. You can see this on the left.
Another from the trailer that I liked was how she was under the bed and you could
see the mans footsteps. I thought this was really effective as it caused tension
whilst watching the film. At this point she was on the phone so rather than
copying it we split the scenes of the actress on the phone in the hall, as she was
able to be loud and panicky showing fear, and under the bed focusing more on the
footsteps as it would create more tension than if she was on the phone. To see
further analysis of the call the link to my blog is:
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-call-trailer-2013-halle-berry-
movie.html
4. Amityville: The Awakening
Amityville is a horror/thriller about a single mother moves her three
children into the haunted house not knowing of the house's bloody
history. The house that she moves to is shown a lot in the trailer and is
the establishing shot. Most of the movie is based in the house as that is
what is haunted. In our movie trailer you can see that the house at the
bottom is where are trailer is set. It looks quiet similar to the top one
and the others as that’s where we got the idea from. We also have done
all of our shooting for the trailer in the house as it makes sense that the
stalker is tormenting her there. We thought we would create the movie
trailer in the house as its ordinary. It shows how it could happen to
anyone which makes the film seem more realistic and fearful.
FROMTHEDIRECTORSOF
‘BURIEDBELOW’
AND
‘KEEPQUIET’
The Amityville trailer throughout also uses words to make the trailer
tense as it cuts between building up to something at the end. I liked this
and I like the quotes that was used with it as you can see with the trailer
how it does look like reality when really some is a dream. Therefore we
did the same for our trailer but made the quotes appropriate for it such
as ‘When you are looking for a way out’ and ‘The paranoia will kill you’
which links also with the poster. These are effective as it makes the
audience think and breaks the scenes making it perfect for a teaser
trailer.
5. MAGAZINE INFLUENCES
EMPIRE
I firstly was influenced for my magazine from this cover. I really
liked the direct address and the way that he is looking at the
audience. This made me then want to do a close up image for
both my poster and magazine. For Empire you have to do a
certain colour scheme and cover lines etc. and I thought that if
there was a colour scheme it would be hard to make it look
effective and a horror genre at the same time. That is when I
started to look for other magazines that wouldn’t do this and
focus on the image. This is when I came across Little White Lies
magazine and thought it was better for the horror genre.
As said about the make up for the girl in the movie and how she
has dark circles and pale face, I would like to show this with the
lighting on the photo as there wouldn’t be any point of having the
photo them. Therefore this magazine gave me the inspiration to
make sure that the make up was visible and the lighting was right.
For more analysis look on my blog:
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/blog-post_29.html
6. LITTLE WHITE LIES
You can see that with this Little White Lies magazine you can instantly
see that it’s a horror genre from the blood down the girls face. There is
a link between the pale face and the blood to the title of the magazine
as both are the same colour contrasting together. When seeing this
magazine in made me think of what I could so similar and the
dripping down her face made me think of our actress having wet hair
and the dripping of the make up and the more of the effect on her
eyes. When you think of her having wet hair you think of how and this
may be because she was in the bath/shower etc. making us as the
audience more sorry and scared for her as we see her as more
vulnerable this way.
You can see that they have still kept to the typical magazines
that they do with a cartoon effect. I like how the
background is black and would like to do this for my image
as it would make it look more scary. I also like how there is
different colours running through the blood making it a
realistic photo but not too much. I would like to use some
sort of different colour in my magazine to show its not real
and a cartoon/drawing edition.
When trying to do different cartoon effects
on the photo it didn’t look effective, with the
make up around the eyes going. It didn’t
look as scary so I thought of using different
photos that I had taken to try and fit with
the theme of Little White Lies however also
be effective
Blog link: http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/research-into-similar-products.html
7. I decided to do the Little White Lies magazine for my trailer.
With this magazine they don’t do normal photos its always a
cartoon or drawing effect. I liked this one as it was a close up
of her face. I thought that if I did something similar to this it
would look effective as you would be able to see the pain on
her face. I really liked the text over it. I like how the letters
are close together but I also like how it takes nothing away
from the picture also. This is why for my magazine I did
something similar for my magazine as I thought if you was
able to see the face it would be effective. Because of the bags
etc.
I thought that if I was to do the image white like Little White Lies have done with the
background, it may not look like it was for a horror movie as the colour is light and
even though other details maybe black it wouldn’t be as effective. This is why on the
left you can see the two images and how I have used different effects to make sure
that they look like they fit in with the Little White Lies theme but also have a dark
colour to it making sure they you can see that they have a horror genre. Like I said
previously I wanted colour to run through the photo it means that I prefer the right
image to the left making me chose that one for my magazine instead.
LITTLE WHITE LIES
Further
analysis go to
my blog:
http://hanhoga
n.blogspot.co.u
k/2014/10/blo
g-post.html
You can see on the right how I tried to
do something like the writing on the
front like how Little White Lies did with
a sample picture. This made me know
that using a simple font would be better
than a difficult one as nothing gets taken
away from the effect of the photo. It also
made me decide that a white font would
be more effective as you can see it better
and how it matches the masthead.
8. POSTER INFLUENCES
You can see that for the same movie a magazine cover and poster is not the
same, and this applies for all types. Originally I didn’t know this so therefore I
was planning and researching similar ideas for my magazine and poster.
However when I researched the same it was not so therefore I had to change
my idea to make it more realistic and professional.
Above are the posters that I researched and had
influences on for my first poster. You can see how I tried
to make it similar with each picture.
You can see that with the Orphan
poster I tried to make it similar by
direct address with the actress. With
Paranormal Activity I thought to have
the man behind how at a higher level
to make him seem more intimidating
and her more vulnerable. Then with
The Ward poster I tried to make the
man have a faded effect as the twist
in the story is that he is not actually
real.
However I had to change these for a
different poster idea.
9. THE CONJURING
I have already annotated ‘The Conjuring’ Poster and picked
out the conventions and the effects that it has on the
audience.
With this I was influenced by how the woman isn't facing the
camera. I like how she is just facing the wall and you can’t see
her face as it creates a mystery to who she is and why is she
there. It also makes it build tension for the film release as it
has the audience asking questions.
The woman sitting there is holding something in her hand
which is obviously something to do with the doll. Therefore
when I had the idea to do have the man facing the wall it
meant that I wanted him to do something with his hands
rather than just stand there like the photo. This is when I
thought that he could either hold a photo or put one on the
wall for his profile of the girl. You can see the improvement
with all three and how what he is doing with his hands makes
a difference.
You can see that with these photos the third one would be the
best to use as its more effective than just standing there.
10. STALKER
Stalker is a programme which is about people getting stalked. It shows what they do and how they stalk them. There is a criminal team
that work with them to try and find their stalker that they want to find. This programme, even though it is not a horror movie poster
influenced my poster a lot. As the man in the plot for our trailer is stalking / tormenting the girl I thought it was good tolook in the
programme and see what the stalker does as it could give ideas.
For further analysis on the photos that influenced
me for my poster, the blog links are:
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/blog-
post_26.html
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/blog-
post_25.html
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/blog-
post_24.html
You can see that from the image of stalker how he is just
standing there, from influence from the conjuring poster
however you can see how the photo that I took the man is
doing something with his hands. You can see how some of
the things are similar as there are distant shots of her and
drawings, in my photo there is some distant shots of her
walking down the road etc. and then some other photos that
look like he has took off her social media sites… So it looks
like he has not only been stalking her in person but on social
sites too. I thought if I did my poster like this it would be
very effective as it fits in with the whole plot of the trailer.
Also it is very different to my magazine cover as the
magazine cover focuses on the girl and a close up on her
face and this is completely different.
11. GIFS
For my movie trailer I was influenced by some GIFS that I found on the internet. You can see that the left GIF
shows someone coming out of the dark unexpectedly, I thought this was effective as it would make the audience
frightened as it would be unexpected for them. It clearly shows who the stalker is and the power of him to stop
the victim getting away. On the left we tried to film something like the GIF, so when the victim looked up in the
mirror the man would be there and when she looked again he wouldn’t, showing how she’s ill and he’s not real.
From this we did something like this which is the photo at the top in the middle. The girl is looking in the mirror
and then you see the man come behind her and she looks up in shock. We used this quick with a bang sound to
make it dramatic. This is a scene that is in many horror films as it is known to build up tension and scare the
audience.
12. BBFC RATING
The BBFC ratings make sure that the right ages are watching the right
films, it protects them. I decided to rate my film at a 15 as I feel like it
was the most suitable for my genre of film. As my film genre is
Horror / Thriller I thought there would be scenes in the film that
would be scary / weird rating it at that age. I tried to show this in the
trailer by having jumpy parts, creepy music and dark lighting. Every
film trailer that I looked at and wrote about on my blog had the age
certificate of 15 also, and as I based my horror around things that I
have seen in there and got influenced by them, this shown how I
made the right choice of basing it at a 15.
On the BBFC website it shows you the content of what is allowed in a
15 movie:
-strong violence
-frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
-portrayals of sexual activity
-strong verbal references to sex
-sexual nudity
-brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
-discriminatory language or behaviour
-drug taking
Blog Link is
http://hanhogan.blogs
pot.co.uk/2014/09/res
earch-and-
planning.html
Blog Link is
http://hanhogan.blog
spot.co.uk/2014/10/b
log-post_37.html
13. 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
POSTER MAGAZINE
COVER
You can see that with my ancillary products they are completely different photos, however explained before that they have to be to fit
what the little white lies theme and be professional as most horror magazine and posters are not the same. Annapurna Pictures and
Little White Lies magazine are both independent companies that do small films. As I have done them both it connects together making it
look realistic and professional. Also Little White Lies magazine has done many covers for Annapurna movies. I have picked out some of
the similarities with both ancillary products. You can see that both of the font colours are white, this contrasts together showing a
connection, it also does with the photo as there is white on both. You can also see that the tag lines on the poster is the same font on the
Little White Lies magazine. It is both simple making the photo more effective. Also in each photo the man is doing something with his
hands, in the poster his is sticking photos up of her and the other covering her mouth showing the obsession with her and how he is
tormenting her. There is still colour running through both even though they are a dark picture. You can see that there is green and
purple with the magazine, showing how it isn’t just an effect but could be a drawing also. And with the poster you can see the red bricks
behind. The final thing which you can see the same is the darkness of the photo. There is a black background for the photo filling most of
it showing how it is a horror genre film.
14. REPRESENTATION
S
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/research-into-similar-products_17.html
For the male I think I have represented him as the typical threatening type. The way he comes over the girl a
lot making her seem small shows how he is intimidating. His tall figure and large boots has the
representation of fearful and scary, making the audience feel more sympathy and scared for the girl. The way
he appears is always above her and when you see his foot steps going to the bed it makes her seem more
vulnerable as she is asleep. A stalker is not someone who is known to be ‘normal’ therefore I feel that I have
represented through mise-en-scene as well due to his clothing, hair and make-up looking quite tired. You can
also see how there is really no colour to him and how he is just in black. This makes him seem more fearful.
The camera angles for each show how the man is in charge and how the woman is the typical type, not
standing up for herself and trying to get away. This was shown through low angle shots and panning.
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/re
search-into-similar-products_17.html
You can see that the representation of the girl is typical.
She is vulnerable and looks like the mans possession the
way he always grabs onto her in these three pictures
suggesting that she cannot get away. Her face in the photo
above looks afraid as like she can’t do anything as he’s the
man and the higher power. The hands over the mouth
suggest how she’s frightened also. How she can never get
away. Her eyes half closed can also tell how she’s fed up,
too frightened to go to sleep so she hasn’t been, this is
shown by the half closed eyes and the bags underneath
them. This is shown through mise-en-scene as her make
up is there to show she is tired and worn out. The way she
wears a dressing gown at the start also shows how she is
vulnerable.
15. For each of the products that I have done I have felt like I have done something well for
each of them;
-I think I showed good representations with the man and girl, by having her always below
him and him always above putting his hands on her allowing to show that he is in control.
With Mise-En-Scene I shown the representations through her in a dressing gown seeming
vulnerable and him suiting the typical not ‘normal’ guy.
-I think that with my poster you can tell that it fits with the plot of the story and the
trailer. The film title ‘Tormented’ shows how she is being tormented by someone. You can
see he is stalking her and when typically someone stalks another they invade there life etc.
and I feel like this is shown in my poster. I think that between the trailer and the poster,
you can tell they are the same as many of the tag lines and production block is shown.
-I am happy with the magazine cover. I think that it is a very effective cover with the photo
as you the drawing effect on it with the colouring is very effective. It brings out the bags in
her eyes and the pain on her face. It also contrasts with the poster with the font colouring
of both.
-Overall I feel like I have done a excellent job with both my ancillary tasks and my main
product. I feel like they all link together and even though the poster and magazine cover
are not the same you can still see why they are different. Doing all the things I have done
such as making the two ancillary products different, creating a real looking production
block, using plain fonts for most of my products, making up names of some characters,
filming and editing. That all together I think that I have done a good job and each of the
products suit the horror genre.
TRAILER
HOW I FEEL
POSTER
MAGAZINE COVER
OVERALL
16. 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
SURVEY MONKEY
Survey Monkey is an online questionnaire which applies to anyone who researches it so anyone could answer it. Its specific and
can be applied to your target audience making it better as you know the people that are answering the questions count.
The link address for the survey is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HMMQXVQ
Responses that where most effective on my trailer were:
- I found out that most people are more likely to go to a horror film if it is based on
events as it makes the film seem more scary. My response to this was that I looked into
films that have been based on true events and the story behind it. The example of this I
used was Annabelle.
- I also gave the option of what genre of horror interested them the most to go and watch,
most people than answered said Psychological. This is probably because they are the
most creepy without all the gore and from trailers and past experience of watching them,
they are also the ones with the most twists. The response to this was making the genre
Psychological and having a twist at the end.
-There was a question saying would you rather see a normal trailer or a teaser trailer.
There was responses that said teaser trailer. I think this was because there is more
mystery as you don’t know fully what was happening. Because of this we decided to
make a teaser trailer and make sure that it doesn’t give too much away. We did this with
splitting the scenes with quotes so there wasn’t loads of filming.
-Where do you think the best setting for a horror trailer is? For this many people
answered in a house. This is the most typical and realistic setting. For the Psychological
horror this would be the best place as if I was to do a Slasher horror it would be best to
do this in a warehouse etc. Therefore we responded to this and filmed our trailer in a big
house.
-One of the questions was telling the audience the plot and asking their opinion on it and
if there is anything they would change. Everyone’s response was that it was a good plot
so therefore we didn’t change it.
http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.
uk/2014/10/research-into-
similar-products_17.html
Blog link is http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/research-into-similar-products_17.html
-I asked on survey monkey what are
the scariest parts in the trailer, they
said that from watching other
trailers they think that the end is
always the scariest. And how there
is fast pace editing of scary clips.
Others said that it is from the music
and the build up to things. This is
why did scenes including the man
appearing 3 times and then at the
start the music building up.
17. TRAILER
FEEDBACK
When I shown the first draft of the trailer to people there was improvements to make which we did in the end. When
filming the footsteps under the bed there was an improvement to make them louder, therefore we went on toFreesound
and got a sound effect for them making them sound more louder as this would add an effect and make the man be more
intimidating. Another thing was that at the end when there is a scream of the girl that was said that it should be taken out
as it doesn’t really fit with everything, it also is just a bit typical and in a random place. Therefore with this feedback we
decided that we was going to take the scream out instead. Therefore on the final version of the trailer there is no scream
now. Another thing that we did was improve the lighting on one scene so that you can see Sam more, we did this by also
slowing down the frame so that it doesn’t go too quickly. Also there was improvements such as a twitter andFacebook
link added to it and also a production block. This makes it look more professional and realistic.
Blog link for the draft is: http://hanhogan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/blog-post_28.html#comment-form
18. MAGAZINE FEEDBACK
For my magazine cover feedback I posted photos on a social media site, twitter. I asked which photo would be
better to use for the Little White Lies magazine as they never just have a normal photo. When going into detail
about why it was because of the colours used and that it is not just a dark photo. With the colours it looks like
its an actual drawing. Someone replied saying the first one is best so I responded to this feedback and made
the first photo be the cover photo. I also asked in class 5 people which would be better for the cover, should it
just be ‘Tormented’ or should it be ‘The Tormented Issue’. As people said that looking through some of the
recent covers of the Little White Lies magazine that just ‘Tormented’ would be the best option to use as it is
more realistic to use and professional. This is why on my cover it just says Tormented.
19. POSTER FEEDBACK
For my poster feedback I posted photos on a social media site, twitter to show which one was better. I also
asked 5 people in the class to see which layout was better and where I should place everything as I originally
had the ‘Tormented’ at the bottom of the poster. You can see that with the response I got on twitter I acted
upon it and used the third photo as I thought it would be better as you can see a bit of colour in the
background. When I asked people in my media class also of what layout should I use they all said the layout
that is used and not that the ‘Tormented’ should be at the bottom or in the middle. Also how the names of the
actors in the film should be at the top and not the bottom. They found this out because in most horror posters
none of the names are at the bottom.
20. 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
BLOGGER
For me to keep track of all the research and planning I was doing for my media product, I
used blogger. It allowed me to upload pictures of things similar to my product and write
my ideas on there. I was able to use things on there also such as YouTube where I could
upload the videos and write about them. Each post you do is in date order so it shows my
progress throughout the year, it shows that I have good time keep and I keep track of what
I've done. Keeping it on blogger and not on paper allows no work to get lost or damaged. It
also allows me to save it as a draft and then go back and finish it properly at a later date. I
like how you can access the internet for different sites on blogger. The main ones that I
used were Youtube, Freesound and BeFunky. These all allowed me to do different things
that would help me with my final product. These sites allowed me to research into similar
products and get ideas from them. BeFunky allowed me to make different effects on the
photos. And free sound allowed me to edit in sounds on my trailer.
You can see that I can post the photos of the left, you can
post the pictures of the setting to show organisation.
Show pictures of the draft photos and how they improve,
and show you got there with the organisation again. You
can also show the characters and the make up etc. Why
you did it and how. For each blog I have commented on
every post.
I used Youtube to research horror
trailers and also make up
tutorials. This showed me what to
expect in a horror teaser trailer,
some of the ideas which I could do
similar and inspiration for a story
line for my trailer. This helped me
a lot as I could see the different
camera angles, conventions of a
trailer to know what is best to
include in mine and why I should
do it. How it would make the
audience feel.
21. For my fonts I used Dafont. This was
effective for me as I got to use some
different fonts which would suit the
horror genre. I also got to use some of
the typical fonts that you would see.
This helped my poster and magazine
cover look real and professional. For
this all you had to do was download
the font to the computer making it
easy to use also.
PHOTO EDITORS
For my magazine, I had to find new ways to edit my photos as to fit
the Little White Lies magazine my image would have to look like a
drawing / painting. You can see that websites like BeFunky and
Fotor allowed me to do things like this and to get the effect that I was
looking for with there several options of effects. On these websites
there were also different tools include brightness, shading etc. I
experimented with these and on the photo you can see I used it
under her eyes to show how bad the bags are. Before finding these I
also did simple editing, this was on PagePlus and there ‘Photo Lab’
option allowing different effects on there. You can see how with the
top image how the brightness is turned down to make sure that it is
more scary and more effective suiting the genre of the film making
sure that each ancillary product fits with the trailer.
SOUNDS
With the trailer sounds were added in for more effect, this was
because there was a sound going all throughout and we
wanted to make the sound more visible for the audience. This
shows the skill of using movie plus and how we can get the
correct sound with the correct scene with the correct timing.
FONTS
22. TRAILER During the filming of the trailer I used the Fujifilm FinePix camera. I used
this so that none of the shots were blurry and that they looked like a good
quality shot. It was also easy to use and if a shot or scene didn’t go to plan
it was easy to retake it over and over again until it was perfect. After
filming all things I then used MoviePlus to actually make the trailer. This
allowed me to edit, cut, change, add sounds and lighting. This helped me
if my filming was bright or too long. As the scenes were different as I had
to film at different times and put them together I had to use tools and
effects such as ‘multi-trim’ and ‘fade in and fade out’ to make sure that it
didn’t look unprofessional and all the shots joined together looked
effective.
MAGAZINE AND POSTER
When I was creating my ancillary products I used the same
camera I used to film with to take my photos with. I thought
that this would be better than using a phone camera as it is a
really good camera so therefore I would have better and
high quality photos. Then after taking the photos that are
needed I used PagePlus which let me use different tools
such as ‘Cut Studio’ and ‘Photo Lab’ to adjust anything on
the photos and add effects. It meant that I could get various
different fonts which I felt best.
23. TWITTER
When I had a decision to do things such as; the
film name, the best photo, the best effect or the
best layout I would use twitter to get feedback of
which one is better and which one would suit my
target audience more. This helped me as it shown
what would be best for me to use for my target
audience and not just think about my own opinion
but others also. For every feedback I would
respond to it and then make a decision including
there’s. Looking back at all the feedback that I did
get from twitter I can see that I have decided to do
what they say on really every single one. With the
effects I picked the one that they thought best, also
when the audience said for me to call it
Tormented. I did this for every decision that I
thought was needed to be made as it would make
my product more better and appeal to my audience
more.
24. EVALUATION
For my evaluation I used PowerPoint, I used PowerPoint as it is a reliable
source and will keep all my work safe. I am able to use moving images, sound
effects, GIFS, pictures and links to my blog where I have done further analysis
of the images. This allowed me to include things that I have researched and
that influenced me on my trailer, magazine and poster choice. It’s easy to use
and you can see clearly what order to go in with the slides. I have used
PowerPoint before I am able to use it well and insert the right things.
25. IMPROVEMENT FROM AS TO A2
The
My main product at AS is completely different to my
main product in A2 as it is a moving image. You can see
that my photography has improved as I used a phone to
take my photos for AS and for A2 I used a proper
camera. You can see that I followed all the conventions
on both however with my research for AS being
magazines such as Billboard, it doesn’t really match my
magazine. However when researching my magazine
cover for this year I did use Little White Lies and stuck to
the conventions. For my poster I had never did one so I
therefore had to look at more stuff. I had to research
more stuff because of the three different products as in
A2 I only had to do a magazine and a double page spread
cover, so doing a trailer and a poster I had to learn all of
the new convention. I feel like my work this year is much
better than my work last year as I feel like everything
goes together and look professional.