The document analyzes conventions used in horror film trailers, posters, and magazines. It discusses elements like camera angles, soundtracks, dialogue, character development, and narrative structure that were inspired by films like The Shining and trailers like Paranormal Activity. The document then summarizes the trailer, magazine, and poster created for the film SHATTERED, noting how they challenge conventions in some ways but conform to expectations set by other horror marketing materials.

2. SHATTERED 2014
THE OFFICIAL TRAILER

3. Moving image
My individual research into horror films contributed to the production
of the images in the trailer which used unconventional camera angles. I
viewed films such as The Shining which inspired elements of the trailer
because I found that the use of strong camera angles and positions
were very memorable and impactful. Our over the shoulder shot of
Jordan playing the character of Lucas and Tessa playing the character
of Sophie is similar to shots used in horror films yet is isn't often in
trailers. The bird’s eye view shot of Jack who plays Matt challenges the
conventions of most horror trailers and we used it guarantee that the
audience was impacted by it. The imagery places the audience in the
position of the ghost which is unusual for a trailer as it involves them
without them knowing what has happened to him. This is effective
because it makes the viewer question who’s point of view shot the
scene is shot from. The high angle shot at the end of our trailer is
conventional as it is used in many trailer products. Nonetheless in
films such as paranormal activity scenes similar to the one we have
created (of Matt being dragged downstairs by the ghost) are not used
in trailers, only events prior or leading up to are shown this implies to
the audience there is more horror to come.
Paranormal activity SHATTERED

4. Soundtrack
0 Originally we intended on using a soundtrack which featured the use of
string because this is a convention we were aware of that was prevalent
within the horror genre. Although the trailers I have watched and our
group research which we combined found that there were many trailers
challenging this convention. Trailers such as ‘Insidious 2’ composed a
much more haunting soundtrack with the use of sound effects becoming
repetitive and they changed in volume etc. as the situations changed.
Our soundtrack develops the convention of using a soundtrack with a
slow pace and moments of change in the tone by using a single
soundtrack. The piano in our soundtrack plays a repetitive sequence as
we establish the plot and backstory and as the ghost is revealed the
soundtrack the volume gets louder.

5. Dialogue
0 In horror trailers it has become cliché to present a child chanting or a
character narrating the trailer with a rhyme. In the trailer for
SHATTERED it was vital that we established the student character
personalities and to do this we used dialogue that could be spoken
through real students. The line ‘just leave it’ which is delivered in an
agitated tone it effective and uses the convention of characters in horror
who become irritated by the mentioning of horror. On the other hand
Lucas is revealing the synopsis through the medium of an ordinary
conversation. This works well as gives the suitable impression of the
film as they are typical student. Whereas in the trailer for ‘The Woman
in Black’ the dialogue spoken by a child ‘A bone trembling chill that tells
you, she’s there’ is the method used to establish the plot.

6. Character development
0 I believe with regards to character development we have challenged many
conventions. The character of Matt is portrayed as weak and vulnerable, his
interest in the what Katie is keeping secret ‘it doesn’t make any sense’, can be
interpreted by our audience as an indication of his fear. Stereotypically in horrors
the female character is portrayed as frightened and at times is perceived by
others as paranoid. For example in the trailer for ‘The conjuring’ the female
character hears something which no one else can and the character of Katie in
paranormal activity is seen as irrational for taking the events seriously because
she is the only one who truly believes something is wrong. Even so there are
ways we have used conventions from horror trailers. Sophie is later the female
character is unwilling to believe that there is no ghost or horror occurring.
Nevertheless the dialogue we used ‘I know he’s not’ portrays her as strong
because she understands the seriousness of events.

7. Narrative
0 In relation to the narrative the trailer follows and develops many
conventions. The opening of the trailer is used to establish the story and
as the trailer progresses the focus shifts from the plot to the haunting
and the characters fear. In the trailer oculus the trailer begins by
disclosing the main codes of enigma to interest the audience. Then the
pace changes and the shots become shorter and more horrific. The
intertitles contribute to developing the narrative and when along with
the soundtrack it develops suspense. The trailer become more intense
and the intertitles explain what follows. The intertitles ‘what is real’ is
followed by a scene where the two main character are looking at
themselves stood inside a house whilst they are stood looking through
the window outside. The reason we used the intertitle ‘you won’t see
her coming’ after Matt exclaims ‘Just leave it!’ because it interests the
audience as they want to keep watching to know who the intertitles
refer to. As it is conventional to use intertitles to establish the genre
‘mystery’ etc. ours confirms that the film is supernatural as it suggest
the presence of an unknown entity.

8. Transitions and more editing
0 Knowing it was conventional to use fade to black transition in horror
trailers when editing the trailer I considered featuring many fades to
black between scenes. I inserted the fade to white transition between
the modern day and the flashback scene to highlight the change in time.
We used fade to black transitions between scenes and intertitles to
improve the variability of the trailer; even so we didn’t follow the
convention entirely because we took more of an influence from the
trailer for ‘The Woman in Black’. The fast cutting technique used in films
such as ‘Shaun of the Dead’ could be regarded as the same cutting
technique used in horror trailers as several consecutive scenes of
horrific and terrifying events are edited to suggest there is no escape
from the horror because it is constant. The reason for using no
transitions between some of the horror scenes was because it connects
them all together and allows the horror to build in intensity.

9. Magazine

10. Main image
When producing the front
cover of a film magazine the
photos are taken in a different
location to where the film is
set. This is a sensible way of
producing images as the
scenery is less chaotic and it
won’t spoil the film for the
audience. In June of 2013 and
September of the same year
the issues of Empire that were
published featured comic
book hero’s of the front cover.
For the promotional image of
‘The man of steel’ the
character of superman in
placed in a scene of ruin with
the town name Smallville
clear in the background. For
my magazine I wanted a
background which also
showed something about the
story or the character. The tree
symbolises the family which
Catherine is part of and haunts
after death.
For the main image I
have portrayed myself
as the character of
Catherine. This is
conventional for most
movie magazine’s
especially Empire. I
felt that the most
effective way of
promoting a horror
wouldn’t be through
the actors who star in
it. Horror films market
to a smaller audience
than most genres and
because of this the
focus must always be
on how fearsome the
film is. By showing
the character of
Catherine on the front
cover it attracts horror
fans because the most
important element of
the film is horror not
profit.

11. Cover lines
0 Most coverlines are written in one font and the
colours change. I have developed this convention by
using the different fonts on each individual coverline.
The coverlines for FN Popcorn differ from those of
the entertainment magazine when covering the film
Scream 4. Often they use short coverlines to grab the
readers attention. I decided to extend coverlines by
specifying what the articles are written about. I
thought this would be appreciated by my target
audience more because they can find out quickly
what the magazine has which they are interested in.
This way the coverlines could be the film titles rather
than actors names or ‘2011 reviews’ etc.

12. Layout
0 The layout is comparable with other film magazines such as total film.
Some issues of popular magazines change there layout to attract new
audiences. The issue of Entertainment with the character from Sweeny
Todd which I have studied is an example of this and I thought it was
necessary to challenge some conventions of layout. Commonly a flash is
used on the magazines front cover to advertise something that is
exclusive to the brand. This year Empire has used a flash on it’s
masthead to advertise it’s 25th anniversary issues and also they have
used other flashes to show the articles they dedicate to the readers. I
intended to use a flash as it was conventional and it attracts attention as
it presents some of the magazines content as unique. The polaroid frame
combines the use of subsidiary images and a flash and makes the
magazine stand out from others such as total film and Empire.

13. Colour and style
0 I have used a conventional style and colour scheme because I think for a
horror issue red should be prominent. Although I didn’t want to detract
attention from the brand so the most obvious colour scheme is blue and
black, this dark scheme emphasizes the horror special without
preventing the audience from remembering the black logo. Traditionally
Empire uses a red bold font for the masthead as this makes it more
noticeable than the coverlines. In terms of style the magazine cover is
very much unconventional because it appears less modern than recent
magazine publications.

14. Brand and presentation
0 I chose the brand name Friday Night Popcorn for my
magazine because it can encourage people to watch more
films and become more knowledgeable on the history of
cinema. My desire was to construct a magazine that
could appeal to anyone regardless of the affection of film.
The magazine’s objective is to support the film industry
and show an understanding of the importance of all
films, mainstream, independent or other. The name of
course is too long and isn’t as memorable as Empire, in
response I have abbreviated the name to FN Popcorn. I
discovered no film magazines with the similar framed
logos. The only magazine which has this for it’s logo is Q,
a music magazine. This is challenging the convention
because it is preferred by the print industry to have a
masthead which extends across the top of the page. By
challenging this convention the magazine could attract
an audience who aren’t regular subscribers or readers of
other film magazines.

15. Poster

16. Main image
0 My poster advertising SHATTERED challenges many conventions which is
recognizable when compared with the posters shown below. Whilst in most
horror posters the character is shown in a dramatic close-up looking directly at
the camera or screaming figuratively in the face of the target audience. In my
poster I have shown the character of Katie from the side purposely not creating
the same connection between the character and the audience as is created by
most horror posters. By posing in the position the character of Katie has it could
gain sympathy from the audience because she is surrounded by horror and doing
nothing to fight it because she isn’t yet aware of it. The majority of horror posters
which I have seen show a female character as the victim of the films plot. I have
conformed to this convention but have opposed the stereotype. Female
characters on horrors are portrayed as weak and vulnerable whereas for my
main image there is there implication that Katie is in control of the ghost without
knowing and the shadow could be a reflection of what she is becoming.

17. Tagline
I would argue that the convention of the posters tag line is keep it relevant
to the plot. I have used a tagline which has a code of enigma for the
audience, involves them and is relevant to the plot. The tag line below was
used to advertise the film ‘the others’ and the use of the pronoun ‘YOU’
leads to the audience questioning who the tagline is directed towards.
‘THEY’ will inevitably persuade the target market to watch the film to find
out who ‘THEY’ are. I have done the same with my tag line using the
determiner ‘YOUR’ and the pronoun ‘HER’. It applies to the plot of
SHATTERED because Catherine history of murder could become Katie’s or
Katie could become a victim of Catherine’s terrible acts. I have used a
white font to contrast with the orange and red colours.

18. Layout
0 The layout is uses conventional presenting techniques. I have left the
space around the shadow of the knife empty in order to make it appear
more dangerous. I have positioned the title low down on the poster
whilst I originally had it at the top of the poster. I have placed it just
about the billing block because it is where the attention is drawn to due
to the image. As Katie is lower than the shadow on the poster people
will look at Katie separately and when remembering the image they
should remember the title as a part of the image. I have placed the
website address for SHATTERED beneath the billing block where it is on
most horror posters. It allows our target audience to develop their own
interest in the film. Also having the web address on the poster attracts
the target audience of 16-25 year olds because they use the internet and
technology frequently.

19. Billing Block etc.
0 For the SHATTERED poster I challenged the conventions by using social
networking site logos and changing their appearance. From my research
I hadn’t found any horror posters using social media logos. This is why
in my second draft there were no social networking logos. I was
concerned that using these logos would spoil the horror image. It can
effect the realism of the film. When considering the target audience and
the characters in the trailer I realised it would be beneficial to use these
logos because the majority of them will use a social networking account
and desire the opportunity to use their accounts to feedback on the
films and trailers they have seen. The blood on the Facebook logo and
Twitter logo involves the horror genre in the modern day which is what
we have done in our film by portraying modern day students being
haunted in a supernatural film (which would normally take place during
a time unlike the modern era).

20. Conclusion
I took influence from many trailers, magazine covers and posters and
using the plot developed the conventions within them to appeal to our
target audience. Paranormal activity is a trailer we watched as a group to
inspire our storyboard. I used representation for my poster and drafted
many different ideas before producing them on InDesign. Promotional
products of horror films have their own unique style or image nonetheless
they have followed conventions. This is what I have aimed for with the
production of the trailer, my poster and my magazine cover.