6. Research – The Orphan
• Textual Analysis of Trailer
• Visual Codes
The mise-en-scene in the trailer for ‘The Orphan’ makes the trailer scarier. For
example the use of the swing swinging makes it seem creepy.
One good example of using lighting in the mise-en-scene is when Esther is stood by
the little girl’s bed at night time. Then lighting strikes making you known she is
there and connotes it being scary. The lighting is meant to be natural to fit the
setting and time of the day. Although, it could have been artificial making the effect
they wanted. Other lighting in the trailer is natural because they are denoting a
normal lifestyle at the beginning which then turns wrong. They want it to appear
realistic so natural lighting is used.
The Dress codes in the trailer play a big part in realising Esther is not normal. For
example she wears unusual clothes for a young girl. Her dress codes are old
fashioned, smart, tidy and perfect. She wears smart dresses which is not
stereotypical for a young girl. The rest of the family’s dress codes are very
stereotypical. The family wear casual clothes connoting they are normal.
7. Research – The Orphan
• Textual Analysis of Trailer
• Action Codes
• There are many action codes in this trailer to connote how scary the film
is. Nearer the end of the trailer more and more dramatic action codes are
shown. The action code of all the children running around the orphanage
connotes children and playful and happy playing. Esther is then shown sat
up stairs painting on her own which tells the audience there is something
wrong with her. The main turning point in the trailer when Esther is in a
toilet cubicle and she is kicking and banging against the sides connotes to
the audience she is mental and her family are in danger but they don’t
know it yet. The action codes of throwing the little girl off the play frame
and setting the boy’s play house on fire show weird, unusual, mean
behaviour which connotes something big and scary is going to happen.
8. Research – The Orphan
• Textual Analysis of Trailer
• Audio Codes
The audio codes used in this trailer are both non-diegetic and diegetic
sounds. The non-diegetic music starts slow and quiet in the background
over the perfect, happy beginning of the film. There is diegetic sound of
the girl screaming and kicking which shows it being scary. The squeaking
of the swings and the speech of “There’s something wrong with Esther”
connotes things going wrong it being scary. Audio codes in the trailer play
a big part with tension building and revealing things the audience want to
find more about. For example the diegetic sound when the mum is trying
to find out about Esther’s past and the man tells her over the phone. This
is crucial audio code to tell the audience there is something weird going
on!
9. Research – The Orphan
• Textual Analysis of Trailer
• Narrative Codes
• Narrative codes play a huge part in horror trailers because they need to
make the audience feel scared and want them to watch the film without
giving too much away. The trailer shows main parts and the best bits of
the whole narrative to interest the audience
• Audiences theories are used in the trailer of ‘The Orphan’. Todorov’s
theory was used in this trailer, starting with an equilibrium of the family
living all happy until a disequilibrium is introduced when the main
character, the little girl Esther, starts doing evil things. This leaves the
audience wanting to know whether this is resolved to reach a new
equilibrium.
• Many effects and editing are used in the trailer to build suspense and
make it exciting! For example fade to black is used at the beginning of the
trailer between shots to build suspense and show the location. The cuts in
the trailer are very fast to keep up with the fast pace. Slow motion is used
when Esther walks around the car to make her looks more suspicious so
the audience know she is going to do something bad.
10. Research – The Orphan
• Technical Codes
• There are many technical codes fitting the conventions of a horror. One
example is the use of On Screen Graphics (OSG) of creepy text. This
makes the audience feel how scary the film is going to be. One example
of this is “You’ll never guess her secret”. This makes the audience
curious and uses the creepy text.
• The effects in the trailer and fast cuts and many OSG’s. There are many
transition effects between shots. Including fade to black etc. This builds
suspense. One example is in the middle of the trailer each shot fades to
black to show things starting to get wrong. This builds up suspense
between the shots making the viewer feel on edge.
• There are many close up shots used to show characters emotions,
reactions and feelings. There is one when Esther has set fire to the tree
house, it uses a close up show showing the young boy’s reaction and
then a clothes up of her showing her reaction to what she has done.
11. Research – The Orphan
• Textual Analysis of DVD cover
The dress codes of this to be so perfect it seems Untrue. The
girl is wearing an DVD cover show the girl wearing ribbon in
her hair which connotes a young and innocent little girl. The
ribbon is equal and so is the girl’s hair which connotes
perfection. Everything appears old fashioned, smart dress
which connotes that she may not be like other children of
her age, connoting she is not normal.
The visual codes show the lighting to be dark. There is a light around the outline
of the girl and it gets darker away from her this could connote that she is a dark,
creepy character. Dark and gloomy colours connote horror. The use of the direct
address of the girl looking direct at the camera. This connotes it being strange
and creepy. Another visual code is the use of the ‘Orphan’ text which is uneven,
childlike, creepy font which connotes the genre of the film
12. Research – The Orphan
• Industry Research
• Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
• Writers: David Johnson (screenplay), Alex
Mace (story)
• Stars: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard and Isabelle
Fuhrman
• Production Companies: Dark Castle Entertainment
and Appian Way Productions
• Distributed by: Warner Bros.
13. Research – The Orphan
• Ratings/Box Office Takings
Box office - The film was the #4 film at the box office
for its opening weekend, making $12.77 million in
total. The films beating ‘The Orphan’ at the box
office were G-Force, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince and The Ugly Truth respectively. The film has
grossed a total of $78,337,373.
14. Research – The Orphan
• Reviews
Critical reaction to Orphan has been mixed,
with the film earning a rating of 55% (43%
among the Top Critics)
15. Research – The Orphan
• Orphan Trailer Summary
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgxVIB2W
uHU
• Starts with an equilibrium where everything is
fine, then there is disruption which the trailer is
based around. This leaves the audience wanting
to know whether this is resolved to reach a new
equilibrium. This is conventional of Todorov's
theory. I also learnt that they use fast cuts and on
screen graphics which tell the audience part of
the narrative. The OSG used uses creepy text to
fit the genre.
19. Research – The Ring
• Textual Analysis of Trailer
• The visual code of OSG’s is again used in “The Ring” with creepy, scary text
connoting the horror of the film. Fast cuts are used to build suspense and
exciting this would make the audience want to see the film. Horror trailers
are good at this, by making them appear to be scary and showing screams
and fast pace “The Ring” makes people want to watch the film. There is
flickering like a video tape which makes it scary and puts the audience in
suspense.
• This also connotes the narrative of the film being about a video tape. It
has used very fast editing between shots using many different transitions
which connote horror.
• The diegetic sound of screams are conventional of horror films and make
the audience feel on edge and scared.
20. Research – The Ring
• Textual Analysis of DVD Cover
• The DVD cover uses visual codes to attract the audience. For example the
colours and lighting used is dark. The colours used are black and white to
connote plain, scary and gloomy. I have noticed DVD covers for horrors
tend to not be to packed and contain a lot of detail. This leaves an element
of curiosity and suspense. This makes the audiences want to watch the
film to see what it is all about. The text used is similar to the ‘The Orphan’
text which is creepy and looks like someone could have carved it. “Before
you die, you see the ring” is scary and makes specific audiences become
interested and want to see the film. The use of black and dark colours are
conventional of a horror DVD cover because they do not give much away
leaving curiosity with the audience.
21. Research – The Ring
• Industry Research
• Director: Gore Verbinski
• Writers: Ehren Kruger (screenplay), Kôji
Suzuki (novel)
• Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin
Henderson and Brian Cox
• Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
22. Research – The Ring
• Ratings/Box Office Takings
• The box office takings increased from its 1st
weekend to its 2nd. The initial success led
DreamWorks to roll the film into 700
additional theatres. The Ring made $8.3
million in its first two weeks in
Japan, compared to Ring's $6.6 million total
box-office gross. A sequel, The Ring Two, was
released in North American theatres on March
18, 2005.
23. Research – The Ring
• Reviews
• The Ring received critical acclaim from film
critics, receiving 72% favourable reviews out
of 167 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
24. Research – The Ring
• The Ring Trailer Summary
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nLt6bUV
oCQ
• Quick cuts, camera shakes, dark colours,
screams, OSG telling the basic narrative, voice
over, fast pace, keeps the audience interested
and makes them want to watch the rest of the
film, lots of editing to make it exciting, scary
and thrilling.
25. Research – The Ring
• The Ring DVD Cover Summary
• Plain, dark, doesn’t give much
away which makes the
audience intrigued, black and
white, “Before you die, you
see the ring” is scary and
makes specific audiences
become interested and want
to see the film. Plain, dark DVD
covers are conventional of
horrors because they don’t
give too much away.
28. Research – Alien (1979)
• Textual Analysis of Trailer
• The trailer uses visual codes to make it effective. For example many close
up shots are used to show the emotion of characters which show the fear
and connote how scared they are. The trailer also uses very fast cuts
between all the action happening making it have a fast pace which the
audience would find exciting, thrilling and scary.
• The audio codes in the trailer are very scary. There are futuristic non-
diegetic sounds which denote aliens connoting.
• There is futuristic “Alien” text connoting the film narrative.
29. Research – Alien (1979)
• Industry Research
• Director: Ridley Scott
• Writers: Dan O'Bannon (story), Ronald Shusett
(story), Dan O'Bannon (screenplay)
• Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt and
John Hurt
• Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
30. Research – Alien (1979)
• Ratings/Box Office Takings
• The film was a commercial success, making
$78,900,000 in the United States and
£7,886,000 in the United Kingdom during its
first run. It ultimately grossed $80,931,801 in
the United States and $24,000,000
internationally, bringing its total worldwide
gross to $104,931,801.
31. Research – Alien (1979)
• Reviews
• It received a 96% favourable review on Rotten
Tomatoes making it one of the top horrors.
33. Censorship Issues
From the BFFC -
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/12a12
• ‘12A’/’12’
• Discrimination - Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as
a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless
clearly condemned.
• Drugs - Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or
give instructional detail.
• Horror - Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided
disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.
• Imitable behaviour - Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming)
should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm
free. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
• Language - Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example,
‘fuck’) must be infrequent.
• Nudity - Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.
• Sex - Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go
beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be
acceptable.
• Theme - Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for
young teenagers.
• Violence - Moderate violence is allowed but should be in detail. There should be no emphasis
on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the
context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must
have a strong contextual justification.
34. Censorship Issues
From the BFFC -
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2
• ’15’
• Discrimination - The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.
• Drugs - Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is
unlikely to be acceptable.
• Horror - Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
• Imitable behaviour - Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not
dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
• Language - There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for
example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the
strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
• Nudity - Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints
on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
• Sex - Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to
sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context.
Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
• Theme - No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.
• Violence - Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest
gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be
acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual
violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.
38. Questionnaire
The first question in my questionnaire was to find
out about who would be my audience. The
results tell me that my audience will be 15-18
year olds aimed at female and male. Although,
this will be mainly female.
This second question tells me from the
results that I am mainly going to aiming
my horror trailer at students. This fits with
the age of the target audience being 15-
18.
39. Questionnaire
The results from this open-ended question tell me
what my target audience study. Although, this does
not link directly to a horror it does tell me the level of
education which I am aiming at. It tells me how much
the audience would be able to understand. From the
results it shows that my target audience is mainly a-
level students. Many studying Media Studies which
would show interest in the effect of the trailer.
40. Questionnaire
This question allows me to see what media is used
regularly by my target audience. It shows that my
target audience consume a large amount of varied
media because all of the media suggestions are used.
TV and online have the largest percentage of being
the most used media. This helps me in knowing
where my trailer would be shown for advertising. I
would have it play on TV and as online adverts. Film
has a very high percentage of use also which is good
due to this being the area of media which my trailer
is for.
This question tells me that my audience use media
frequently but not too much. With the highest
percentage being 0-5 this seems reasonable without
how much spare time they would have on their
hands being mainly students.
41. Questionnaire.
This question shows that comedy is most popular
with the people who answered my questionnaire.
Even though this is the case I am going to ignore
this question and still do a horror trailer because
my ideas are stronger than my ideas for other
genres. The results do show that over a quarter of
the people who answered the questionnaire do like
horrors.
Just under half of the people who answered
my questionnaire said that they like horrors.
Although more said no, I am still going to do
horror because many people still enjoy this
genre. I can still have a large target audience
with a horror trailer.
42. Questionnaire.
I am ignoring the responses saying that they do
not like horrors and just focusing on the ones
which are my target audience. Some useful
comments in this question will allow me to make
sure my trailer is effective. Useful results to me
include: “They make me think”, “the scary
outcomes”, “I love to be so scared that I
physically scream and jump out my seat”,
“Things that are unexpected and make you
jump”, “Horrors make you squeem and scared,
which is what good movies should do”, “The
suspense”, “Adrenaline” and “Tension, music and
drama”. These results allow me to make sure
that my trailer makes the audience do what
attracts them to horrors. Therefore, I need to
build suspense, make the audience think, make
things unexpected, make them scream and be
scared and use music and drama in the trailer to
give the audience tension and adrenaline.
43. Questionnaire.
This question tells me exactly what I need to include to
make my trailer effective. These results are very helpful
in knowing what my trailer has to include and how it
has to make the audience feel. From the results, I can
see that I have to build suspense and make the
audience die to want to see it to find out what is going
to happen next. The best parts of the film need to be
included in my trailer for it to be effective. This leaves
the audience hanging to want to watch the film. I also
need to include dramatic music to make it dramatic and
make it exciting.
44. Questionnaire.
These results from this question tell me that all
of my target audience go to the cinema even
though a small percentage is hardly ever. The
main majority of the people who answered the
Sometimes questionnaire go to the cinema sometimes or
fairly often. This means I need to make a very
effective trailer to make them want to go to the
cinema to see it.
45. Questionnaire.
This question allowed me to find out what the people
who answered the questionnaire thought about the
films I looked at for my Intertexts. From the results it
told me that the people who had seen some of the films
mostly thought they were good horrors. From the results
it tells me that most people found ‘The Ring’ scary and
thought it was a good film. ‘Alien’ had some mixed
reviews in my results with some results saying it wasn’t
scary. This would be mainly due to the film being old
with a young age range answering the questionnaire.
The results show that people are not so keen on using
children in the films, like ‘Orphan’ and ‘The Ring’ do.
46. Questionnaire.
This question allowed me to find out what
my audience would be interested in in a
trailer. The films that people answered as
being effective trailers allowed me to look
at them as see what my audience may
want to see in the trailer.
47. Questionnaire.
This question was about my main idea for
my coursework so by asking this question
allows me to know what people think about
the idea. Most of the answers to this
question were positive and people seemed
to like the idea. There was something
constructive criticism giving which allows
me to improve the idea especially to fit the
target audience.
48. Questionnaire.
This question tells me that my horror needs
be psychological and have unexpected
storylines.
This final question tells me what sort of characters
my audience would like to see in a horror film. The
main type of character which people like to see in
horrors is teenagers. I intend to use some
teenagers in my film. The results show that OAPs
and young children are unwanted in horror films.
50. Audience theories applied to my
text.
• Hyperdermic Syringe Model
My trailer is injecting the idea of it being scary,
thrilling, exciting.
• Uses and Gratifications Theory
My trailer would be used for information about the
characters, personal identity to see how they would
feel in the same scary situation, also maybe for social
interaction to talk about it with friends and the main
use is for entertainment to feel scared and excited
from the trailer.
51. Audience theories applied to my
text.
• ‘Two-Step Flow’ Theory
The audience will be filtered information from
the trailer because they have trust in the
producer. The producer being the opinion
leader controlling what information is filtered
to the audience. From my trailer the
information which the audience are likely to
trust is going to be
52. Audience theories applied to my
text.
• Polysemic Readings
• Preferred reading: That the trailer is scary,
psychological, interesting, exciting and makes
the audience want to watch the film.
• Oppositional reading: The trailer doesn’t
have an effect on the audience, it doesn’t
make them want to watch the film and they
think its unrealistic, fake and not scary.
54. My Target Audience Profile
• Age: 15-20
• Gender: Female and Male
• Occupation: Students mainly, part-time jobs
etc.
• Income: Low income can afford to go to the
cinema
• Demographics: E - working class – Students,
Unemployed, Casual Workers
• Psychographics: Mainstreamers, Trendies,
Groupies, Egoists, Drifters, Innovators!
57. First Ideas
• Video-based Production: A Trailer
• OR
• Print-based Production: Double page
magazine review and a DVD cover
Decided Video-based Production: A Trailer
58. First Ideas
• Genre:
• Horror-Brief ideas:
• Girl – young, creepy, twisted, does evil things,
disrupts a school
• Bride – twisted killer, murders husband on
wedding day, woman in bridal dress running
down a lane or alleyway, hair a mess, make-up
down her face.
59. First Ideas
• Horror Trailer:
• Narrative: Begin with an equilibrium of a
happy couple, Disruption bride going mad,
kills husband, runs off
• Horror DVD Cover:
• Back of bride in wedding dress running down
a lane
• Creepy Girl looking evil
• Scary Hand
62. Drafting Ideas
• Narrative/Stories
• Bride and Husband, Olivia and Callum are
preparing for their wedding. What seems
perfect at first does not become so perfect
after all. Olivia begins to become psycho and
snap at things. It all builds up to their wedding
day when the unexpected happens...
63. Organisation
• Actors
• Olivia – The Wife – Shannon Davies or
Christina Brigden
• Callum – The Husband –
• Extras – Friends etc – Etta Weaver, Yasmin
Wringer, Caitlin Ford
64. Organisation
• Locations
• My house -
• Kitchen
• Living Room
• Front of the house
• Field near my house
• Another field over looking landscape
65. Organisation
• Costumes
• Dress codes mainly normal and casual
• Bride’s Dress – Fancy dress costume to film
the climax scene in
