OUTLINE IDEAS

GENRE: HORROR 

I have chosen to research into psychological horror and a thriller as I feel these types of films have the most impact on the audience. When tension rises, so do their pulses.  

The dis-equilibrium is the event most played out which is what I will try to show. The 'Norm' will be disturbed, leading to the main conflict then to the main character restoring the peace. These types of films are mostly shown through clear binary opposite of Good and Evil. To which the good always prevails but with consequences e.g. someone dies. 



SITTING CLOWN

Jennifer is just your average teen with hopes and dreams of becoming the next Anna Wintour. She's very smart, responsible, friendly and comes from a stable home. The she babysits for Hans-Wilson's (David and Lisa) a respectable family with very demanding jobs; Lawyer and Doctor with 3 children (Micah, Elsa and Breeze.) Jennifer notices odd things happening around the house for a few weeks; things moving when no one is looking, heavy footsteps upstairs, loud bangs from the basement but lets it boil down to the fact that she hasn't gotten much sleep lately. One night sitting watching TV she feels uneasy like someone is watching her, the clown statue in the corner she hadn't noticed before. She calls the Lisa and requests to move the statue into another room, to which Mrs Hans-Wilson is alarmed and tells her they don't have clown statue and to get the kids and leave the house immediately and await their return. Puzzled and panicked, Jennifer can only find Micah and Elsa. She tells them to leave the house and wait on the driveway for their parents. Jennifer starts to check all the rooms armed with a frying pan as 'protection.' As she comes to one of the bedrooms she notices it is locked and barricaded and she can hear Breeze's muffled screams from behind the door. The parents return in a frantic state to retrieve Breeze from the room. After calling the police they are informed that the 'clown' is in fact a recently escaped mental patient. Dr Hans-Wilson becomes aware that the 'clown' is Daniel Craig who was a patient of his, Daniel believes that he wasn't actually crazy and David had given him so much medication that it changed him as a person and now he is out for revenge. 

Jennifer - final girl 
Breeze - princess
Daniel - villain 
Lisa - dispatcher 
David - False hero  

PITCH




ISLAND DEMENTI 

A presumed cursed island that has been abandoned for years is set up by united governments as a site for all 'unstable' humans, prisoners who have the sickest minds and mental patients with the blankest. Hannah Page is sane and far from a serial killer. She has been wrongly admitted to the island by director Clyde Decker - a narrow minded government hit-man. Hannah had been on his hit list for a while as she was spreading tapped government secrets on social networking sites. She wants revenge and to do that she needs to escape the island, which is far from easy. Weird stuff happens on the island including the fact that its filled with raging delinquents out to get her. She builds acquaintances with some of the islanders Rocco & Elijah in which she has to gain their trust and vice versa to get off Island Dementi.

Hannah - final girl 
Decker - villain
her life back - princess
Rocco & Elijah - helpers

PITCH
 

REPRESENTATION TASK IRON MAN

IRON MAN 3

Vladimir Propp’s theory of characters having a specific role can be applied clearly in this film. For example we can identify that Iron Man is the hero as he is shown in the establishing shot. However, we can also identify that the Mandarin is the villain as right after we are introduced to him, there are shots of destruction.

TONY STARK – Unconventional Hero
(40s, American, Male, White, High class, good)
Costume: Cool wear, t-shirt and jeans – pulls off the ‘no effort’ look well. As Tony he also wears suits that give him power as the lead character and also a typical male. As Iron man however his suits are ‘indestructible’ and again bring power however with the suits Tony practically becomes robotized which may represent his lack of emotion in previous films relating to the end of the film of him destroying the suits in order to become ‘normal.’

JARVIS – Helper

(Talking operating system created by stark that aids him constantly)

HARLEY – Helper

(10yrs old, American, white, low class, good) Costume: t-shirt, winter-coat. Naïve child however is smart in the sense of him helping Tony out. Kind of buddying in the film, Tony isn’t the type to like kids however over the course of the film they share a close bond and help each other over come fears.

MANDARIAN – False Villain

(50s, British Indian, low class, misinformed)

ALDRICH KILLIAN – Villain

(40s, American, low to high class, evil) Costume: tailored suits, slick hair, this reinforces his power and his rich business status.

HAPPY – Dispatcher

(40s, American, working high class, good) Tony’s right hand man informs Tony of Aldrich’s intentions with pepper. Body guard dresses smartly in suits.

PEPPER – Princess

(40s, American, high class, good) Business woman, she dress well and is Tony’s true love this is reiterated by him saving her and creating a serum to stop her self-destructing.

Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory:

Equilibrium: Tony dealing with the events after New York (linking previous film The Avengers) suffering from insomnia coming up with new prototypes for the Iron Man suit.

Disruption of Equilibrium: Mandarin first attacks the Chinese theatre in Los Angeles then directing attacks personal on Iron man after Tony calls Mandarin out.

Restored Equilibrium: Iron Man restores peace and continues with normal life with Pepper with the shrapnel removed from his chest.

Levi Strauss’ Binary Oppositions:

Hero vs. Villain
Good vs. Evil
Iron Man vs. Mandarin
Peace vs. War

Roland Barthes’ Enigma Codes:

Who is Iron Man after?
What is the Mandarin’s plan?
Why has he damaged the city?

McRobbie’s Gender Stereotype Theory:

Pepper (female) becomes the victim, stereotypical job as a personal assistant. Tony/Iron man the hero, rich, big house, fancy cars. 

Iron Man 3 is a certificate 12A; this means that the film may be too violent for young audience. The demographic that the film is aimed at is families, adult males and teens. Adult fans of the Marvel comics may be able to connect with their childhood. Even young comic book fans would want to see this film; this is because the story is based around the stories from the comics. Teens will also enjoy watching this film as they have been brought up on a long line of action packed superhero films.

The target audience for Iron Man 3 is males between 16 and 25. This is because males are most likely to enjoy the action scenes and the futuristic technology. Parents may also want to take their children as they are brought up on the comics or television programmes. Gwyneth Paltrow is an actor that males find attractive and sexually appealing so the male audience may be drawn to the film even more. The women in this film also have a lot of screen time; this may anchor female audiences, although the Bechdel Test is failed in this film Tony’s lack of self-competence is the main theme which is eventually overcome.  

FILM THEORISTS

FILM REVIEW - YOU'RE NEXT

I recently watched You're Next as part of research into the horror genre in order to spot key themes to further my ideas for my own horror trailer production.



THOUGHTS:

You're Next wasn't necessary a scary film however the gory killings and plot twists meant it lived up to the standard slasher horror film expectation. However I found the film quite tedious with the sheer amount of people dying and the way they did. The best part of the film in my opinion was the plot twist - how the unveiling of the characters' true intentions was so puzzling yet 'genius.'

WHAT 'HORROR' WAS IN THE FILM?

-Low key lighting
-The isolated mansion
-Handy forest nearby
-Masked killers
-Eery music
-Gory killings  

Typical characters in order to create a dysfunctional family :
-Unstable mother
-Manly father
-Jock
-Stuck up
-'Weird'
-Smart
-Protagonist (final girl)
-'Daddy's little girl' 
-Rebel
-Goth

WHAT CAN I TAKE FROM WATCHING THIS FILM?

I don't think I would like to produce a Slasher Horror trailer as I feel I wouldn't have the resources to do so ie. A ridiculous amount of ketchup to stand in as blood, also I think that me making a Slasher Horror is taking the easy route as you don't really need a genuine 'story' just a bunch of people being crossed off one by one in creative ways.

FILM TRAILER ANALYSIS

TYPICAL OF A HORROR FILM TRAILER:

 "BASED ON A TRUE STORY"
STARTS WITH MOMENTS OF EQUILIBRIUM - ESTABLISHING SHOT
DISEQUILIBRIUM  - CHANGE IN SOUNDTRACK OR SOUND DISTORTION
LOW KEY LIGHTING
"BEST BITS" FAST PASED
GOOD (INNOCENT) VS. EVIL PLOT GHOSTS/DEMONS
BLOOD
EERIE MUSIC
STORMY NIGHTS
DRAMATIC ANGLES
POINT OF VIEW SHOTS


 



THE CONJURING:

PLOT: In 1971, family man Roger Perron and his wife Carolyn move to an old farmhouse in Rhode Island with their daughters Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy and April. The family finds a hidden basement which the entrance is locked with planks. Soon they are haunted by noises and ghosts and Carolyn meets the famous paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren. They visit the house and Lorraine and Ed feel that the house is possessed by a fiend. Their further investigation shows that a witch has sacrificed her seven-day baby to Satan and has possessed other mothers that lived in the real estate to kill their children. Lorraine and Ed bring his friends Drew and Brad to help them to collect evidences to convince the Church that it is necessary an exorcism to save The Perron family from evil.


ESTABLISHMENT OF GENRE:

Warner Bros. logo - showing who the film is produced by the fact that it is surrounded by grey clouds, show it to be a horror production. 

More obvious signs to the audience that it is a horror production is the sound of children's laughter coming from an unseen source. This is a very disturbing sound to most viewers and heightens the tension of the moment.  



SHOT TYPES AND TRANSITIONS:

The shots used create suspense at a fast pace to create a chaotic, frantic atmosphere towards the end.

Shot transitions change in a projector style at the start, this pushes the audience to grasp that the film period this was set back in the 70's also to match the storyline. 

Throughout the trailer fade transitions are also used frequently like text shots often fade out to a spooky scene. 

SOUND:

The type of sound used mostly is diegetic establishing and reinforcing the horror genre:


The first sound is diegetic is the voice of Ed Warren announcing "we're going down to the cellar where the door has just opened on its own." This suggests the disequilibrium straight away with paranormal activity. 

"There's something horrible happening in my house" 
"You have a lot of spirits here." 

Towards the beginning of the trailer a non-diegetic soundtrack of a slow song using acoustic guitar plays under text shots which explain a small background story about Ed and Lorraine. The music then cuts abruptly, portraying a more serious side. 
Later on another soundtrack plays but this one is subtle and noticeably more tense. 

CHARACTER REPRESENTATION:
 
The trailer represents the characters as having clear, firm relationships with one another:

Ed and Lorraine a couple.

Whilst its the Peron family experiencing paranormal activity in their home. 





COSTUME:

Accurate portrail of 70's american wear: women in long skirts and covered, men with facial hair and quite rugged looking the spirits dressed in white cloaks. The way the house is decorated, the toys the children play with reinforces the decade also.

TIMINGS:

The trailer lasts for two minutes,and twenty-nine seconds following the average standard trailer length of two and a half/ three minutes. 





SINISTER:

True-crime writer Ellison Oswalt moves himself and his family into a house where a horrific crime took place earlier, but his family doesn't know. He is trying to find out more about the crime so he can write a new book about it to help his flailing career. He uses some "snuff" film footage he finds in the house to help in his research, but he soon finds more than he bargained for as there is a figure in each of the films (Bagoule). As a result, his family start to suffer and things take a turn for the worse. 

ESTABLISHMENT OF GENRE: 

The production house logo appears with the sound of an old camera flash creating an immediate tense atmosphere for the audience.

  








The establishment shot of the house at night showing it to be isolated and 'hiding' something, used against the panning shot of the house showing '9 months later'  showing a clear contrast between the house when the family were murdered, and when the new family move in, suggesting this family are following in their footsteps again relaying the danger to come.

The low key lighting highlights the isolation of the location, which is a very conventional area of where a horror film would take place.

The young girl is also circled in the photograph shown which implies vulnerability and innocence, typical of a horror movie victim, the red pen also connotes danger and blood.

SOUND: 

Non diagetic voice over of a radio broadcast which is discussing a family being murdered, making the genre clear and hinting of the danger to come. 

The music is very typical of  a horror trailer and has a heart beat like drumming  reflecting the state of the father which then creates suspense for the audience. 

SHOTS/ TRANSITIONS:

The dissolve transition emphasises the slow pace of the trailer which makes the family appear innocent and happy before disequilibrium comes into play. 

The high angle shot of the young girl is almost as if the Baguole is 'preying' on her, making her the main culprit, she is powerless and naive - typical horror victim. 

The trailer uses low key lighting in the attic to highlight the isolation of the prop, adding the mystery of the box and makes the audience focus on the box as it is the key point of the scene, building tension and horror. The Father is then seen burning what he has saw, the fire represents danger and death, but also the evil of Baguole. 

The shots then become very fast and close up, cutting to various other shots replacing the 'vulnerability' of the dissolve transition with a frantic speed suggesting something is going to happen. 

The low key lighting whilst the Father is watching the videos shows the mysterious nature of Baguole that he hides in the dark, creating a sense of the 'unknown' which scares and uneases the audience. 

CHARACTER REPRESENTATION:

Clear that the film follows the story of a what starts out as a typical family, moving away to a new home because of the fathers work. 

The scene of the mother and father in bed as he tells her "I got a really good feeling about this" creates a massive irony as the trailer progresses.

Its shown that the father receives some help from a police officer and also another man that tells him what the symbol means and about the lened of Bagoule. typical of a horror movie for the protagonist to receive guidance in horror films. 

FILM THEORY ANALYSIS - COMEDY

RESEARCH INTO THE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF RELATED MEDIA PRODUCTS.

MR AND MRS SMITH 

MR SMITH COSTUME dressed in black, a color which suggests evil and darkness. Yet evil has no relevance towards the film the form of darkness is witnessed, as the main plot of Mr and Mrs Smith is that they both are hired to kill each other. Furthermore, it is known that 'black tie' represents elegance and wealth. This is also supported by the plot, as in the film both Mr and Mrs Smith have class, whilst living a luxurious lifestyle. 

MRS SMITH COSTUME both male and female are wearing the color black. The darkness noted as both their aims is to kill each other. She is shown in a seductive, promiscuous  way, through the use of a long slit dress and high heels. Both characters are have a gun on their person whether it being strapped to her thigh or held by his hand - this indicates violence and action throughout the whole film, and links in well with Mr and Mrs Smith genre of an Action/Romance movie.





ACTION TRAILER -
FILM PRODUCTION LOGO
FILM TITLE
CHARACTER INTRODUCTION
MUSIC
VOICE OVER
RELEASE DATE
LENGTH - 2-3 MINUTES

Throughout the trailer fast cuts are used to emphases the pace of the film itself. Props such as guns, explosives and gadgets are used in the trailer which represents the concept of danger. 

The trailer uses a mix of  non-digetic and digetic sound, using  explosions, gun shots to again show the amount of action that goes on in the actual film resulting in a more effective movie trailer.

Use of shots from the pespective of a CCTV camera which creates a mysterious, 'hidden identity' feel of the lead male character. 

Prop use of guns and body suits shows superiority and  they have significant power over whoever is on he receiving end of the gun. 

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