4. Before Feedback
Before we received feedback for our trailer, we first took inspiration from other existing film trailers. Many of these
trailers were non-linear and portrayed their stories by a timeline of fear factor and instead focused on the elements of
surprise. Because of this, a lot of our trailer while in production did not follow a chronological order which often drove
the trailer’s plot into senselessness. We wanted to focus initially on classical horror, with themes of The Woman in
Black; where demons are traditionally placed in a decaying environment such as an abandoned property, and are only
summoned during generic timezones from midnight to Halloween. A lot of these ideas were again homaged from
popular culture cinema, as many of these famous titles seem to exhibit very similar techniques in terms of narrative
and screenwriting. This was something that we, prior to feedback, accepted as our form of trailer when we began to
film. We were in pursuit of standard conventions when it came to selecting how we were going to present our trailer,
though we hadn’t noticed the absence of identity until the feedback. Much of these conventions excluded challenges
towards other genres and did not stand out much.
5. After Feedback
After we received feedback for the first stages of our trailer, a lot of the changes were extremely drastic as the
storyline itself was affected. Upon approaching our target audience, they determined that our trailer instead would be
much more effective as a trailer if it focused less on classical horror and instead presented the ideas we had for the
production with urban themes. Because of these ideas and notes, we began to incorporate other concepts such as
modern environments and a chronologically ordered trailer narrative into our project. This was the beginning of
countering the cinematic ‘norms’ of our genre by running astray of expected trailer devices and instead illustrating a
refreshing take on horror through the ideas of urban explorers and where the order of events is much easier to
extinguish. What we didn’t change was exhibiting the best of our footage as most other horror trailers tend to do so,
because we did not produce a feature- length film. However, a lot of our feedback assisted us in generating a sense of
identity across the course of our products, not only for our trailer but also throughout the process of creating our
supporting products. We now believe that we illustrate a strong identity amongst the community of cinematic horror.
7. Before Feedback
I already had quite an interesting concept in mind for my film poster before I began to produce, to which I drafted up
and began to plan. Before the feedback of this task, I did not look into other film posters that went beyond what I had
already sketched up on my tablet. I reflected my film poster on my own interests rather than immediately pursuing
what my target audience would desire from a film poster, as the target audience we decided upon was relatively
similar if not the same as ourselves. I began to make the urban environment from our trailer’s feedback my point of
focus as the production for this product was initiated; My poster depended on the plot of the trailer and the essential
prop, the pentagram, and I wanted the plot of our trailer to remain ambiguous yet intriguing towards the audience. I
wished for this product to tell a story with very few words, and to leave much of the narrative to the imagination. I
believe I was so headstrong about this concept of a poster as I felt that it mirrored much of our trailer in terms of
presenting a unique identity that has not been seen often amongst film posters, as many of these media texts you will
see across the course of film are often inclusive of the antagonist or protagonist.
8. After Feedback
There was little feedback for my film poster as opposed to my other two products, so there wasn’t much else to apply
to this particular project that hadn’t been an idea already. Amongst the few notes of feedback, one regard in particular
was especially useful as I looked back on my choice of colour co-ordination. One suggestion was to alter the film’s title
to a deep red, which would then generate a sense of unity with the red gemstone embossed into the pentagram. The
other notes were to apply actress names and to ultimately sell the product with additional film awards and contact
information, hence the minor tweaks to the names applied, the website and film festival badges. For the photos
themselves, they seemed to sit well with the target audience criteria, as they believed the hazy clouds and pentagram
crossover left a slightly eerie and unsettling feeling- this was one of my aims originally. The only thing I attempted to
alter though could not achieve for this product was the toning of the clouds. From the deep grey, I wanted to shift to a
slightly reddened tint. Though doing this left the project finish feeling artificial. This was something I was unsure how to
counter, though I do believe the overall finish is quite successful.
10. Before Feedback
As I was producing my magazine cover, there was an initial concept I had in mind that wasn't complete. I had a
template to which helped sculpt my ideas, though there were many absent decisions made as to where I would take
this project in its entirety. I felt that the product had little direction to follow and it wasn't until I received audience
feedback that the product began to fall into place. The few ideas I had for this project encouraged a retro approach to
the style. For this, I looked into several different fonts and other film magazines until I found one cover in particular.
From this cover, I homaged several elements of design including a similar colour scheme and choice of font for
coverlines. The masthead font itself, 'horror.' appeared to be the only successful asset to the cover when I requested
feedback. This inspired the creative changes to the coverlines presentation and the photo itself. Before my target
audience assessed the product, the cover of choice was originally the genuine photo taken of the same model.
Except, she was in the same environment the photo had been taken. The photo did not look studio taken which I
believe was an issue I had to fix with minimal time.
11. After Feedback
The most dramatic change I made to my magazine was Photoshopping the image to present the character in a
professional setting that is appropriate for the themes of the trailer; the lowkey lighting and deep grey background
illustrate a sense of vulnerability which I believe effectively represents the storyline of this character in particular; as
she plays the protagonist whose storyline is the most affected by the circumstances of the plot. I also strayed from my
homages of design devices and chose to follow more unique traits when looking back on my original inspiration for
this cover. The colour scheme now plays an essential role in illustrating the dark themes and genres of the magazine
while the masthead is playfully retro. I felt that this font in particular can now attract the target audience as it creates a
stylish statement while exhibiting the appropriate themes. Essentially, I believe the target audience was most effective
in feeding back for this product in particular, as I now find the project outcome much more appealing, credited to the
suggestions I would seek after I requested the feedback. I allowed these notes to inspire the minimal details, including
the customized barcode, and I am overall pleased with this product.
