Q1. In what ways does your media production use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Teaser trailers are usually very short in length and last for about 30-60 seconds; teaser trailers are not intended to give away the plot of the upcoming film, but rather the fact that a new release is due to come out on screens in the near future. Teaser trailers do not always include actual footage from the film, but the majority does. In teaser trailers less is more as it creates hype around the film and encourages the specified fan base to go out and watch it in cinemas.
As a group, we were given the task where we had to produce a teaser trailer, a poster and the front cover of a film magazine which would feature our upcoming film; this is known as a promotional package. Our promotional package would consist of a teaser trailer which would be available to watch via the Internet e.g. YouTube and Facebook; a front cover of a movie magazine featuring the protagonist in our film and a poster that would be used as a way to further promote our film.
When we started working on our teaser trailers, we did not anticipate the complexities of it, in terms of filming. We tried to work as fast and sift as possible to minimize impediments, but this was not the case, as we later realized. We saw that our teaser trailer developed the conventions of theatrical trailers as it lasts for 1 minute and 6 seconds. Usually teaser trailers lasts for a shorter period of time, but looking at other professionally done teaser trailers we saw that we were not the only ones to have exceeded past the limit; this showed us that we were actually developing a convention instead of following it. The effects of doing this allows our audiences to have a couple of extra seconds of insight into our teaser trailer and draw them in.
Example 1 - These are screen shots showing the lengths of 'Devil's Orphan' (our teaser trailer) , 'REC' and 'Sorority Row' (professional) teaser trailer.
Example 1 - These are screen shots showing the lengths of 'Devil's Orphan' (our teaser trailer) , 'REC' and 'Sorority Row' (professional) teaser trailer.
When we were are discussing the possible plot of our film, we saw that it was somewhat impossible to come up with an original storyline which has not been yet covered. We found ourselves covering a widely explored storyline of exorcism, which has been shown to the audiences in many different ways. We decided that we would explore this side of the horror genre, whilst also trying to make it our own. The horror sub-genre of our teaser trailer, supernatural horror, is similar to films such as 'The Omen', 'The Last Exorcism' and 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' .
Example 2 - These are screen shots that reveal teaser trailers that have been made available on YouTube for audiences to view. Although all three films have different story lines, what they have in common is the fact that it covers the supernatural issue of a child/young girl being possessed by an evil spirit.
Like many horror teaser trailers, we wanted to make ours look dark, sinister and mysterious. We were able to accomplish this by taking into consideration Mise en Scene and what it would connote.
- Setting - Our teaser trailer consists of two settings; Esther's Bedroom and the basement where the exorcism is carried out. As a group we came to a consensus that Esther wouldn't have a conventional bedroom with essentials that are associated with this word. Instead we decided that the room would have candles and masonic and demonic symbols; we wanted to make the room look bare as possible to reflect the sort of character Esther is. We did this so that it could create anxiety within the audiences and to shows that she doesn't need human comforts. The bare room shows how unconnected Esther is to the society, which forebodes danger. By not setting Esther's bedroom like a typical bedroom, we saw that we were challenging a convention in the horror genre as this has not been seen before. Usually when horror films are set in a bedroom, bed, wardrobes etc are seen such as in 'The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose'.
Our second filming location was in the media studio, where we set it up to look like a dark room, a basement. This was the setting for the actual exorcism of Esther. We feel that the venue of this scene challenges the conventions of exorcisms being carried out in places such as bedrooms and barns which is identifiable in horror teaser trailers such as 'The Last Exorcism' and 'The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose'.
Example 4 - These are screen shots showing the different locations of where exorcisms have been carried out. The fact that we filmed our exorcism in a basement like setting and with no bystanders, suggests to the audience that this is between the priest and the possessed girl and that no one else should be there.
- Lighting – When considering lighting, we instantly knew that we wanted our teaser trailer to be dark so that it could set a sinister and mysterious mood and to also make it look like it’s happening during the night. This sort of lighting is associated with the horror genre and we didn’t want to break this convention and try to use bright lighting as it could run the risk of failing to be evoke fear from the audience. Similarly to ‘The Omen’ teaser trailer, our teaser trailer contains various scenes where the darkness takes over for example, when Esther is getting exorcised. In this scene only the protagonist characters are seen, which is the priest and Esther, even though they are in a blacked out room; this creates suspense and tension as the audience can not anticipate how Esther is going to react whilst she is being delivered from the evil spirits.
Even though the majority of our teaser trailer contains dark lighting, we thought that it would be a good idea if we explored other coloured lighting to make our teaser trailer different and somewhat original. The lighting in the beginning of our teaser trailer is relatively light but dim at the same time; we were able to do this by placing a green lighting filter gel in front of the lights. The fact that we used green lighting instead of colours such as red, made our teaser trailer a little less predictable and we feel that we developed a convention of lighting in the horror genre. The use of the green lighting creates dramatic irony as this colour connotes harmony and stability; this is effective as it gets the audience question whether this is true as Esther is presented to be out of touch with reality and society.
Example 6 - As you can see these are screen shots from our teaser trailer, revealing the different type of lighting that we used to create certain effects.
- Props – In our teaser we utilized a lot of props in order to covey to our audiences that this was a teaser trailer about a possessed girl who was awaiting her exorcism. When we discussed as a group the type of props that we wanted to include in our teaser trailer, we agreed that we wanted to use drawing and writings as a way to tell the audience that this girl (Esther) is not normal. This was achieved by Billy who did all the drawings and writings as he was the most artistic in the group; he did this by staining paper with soy sauce and letting is dry over a period of time before he done the animations and texts. The use of these props suggests that Esther is not an ordinary girl and needs to seek psychological help as she draws disturbing pictures, which are linked to hell. The use of this prop also allows the audience to get an insight of Esther’s character and what is going on in her head. This is very efficient as it makes the audience want to know what has caused Esther to be like this, therefore making them want to go to the cinema and pay to watch it.
Instead of using a real bible that quotes that it is one and a crucifix with a carving of Jesus, we decided to simply make our own book and our own cross. We successfully done this by wrapping a small thick book in brown paper and placing a shiny gold cross shaped paper in the middle and using wood to make the shape of a cross; by doing this we feel that we challenged a convention. In ‘The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose’ similar props to ours are used, just that it reveals a real bible and crucifix being used; we choose not to do this as we didn’t want to offend audiences of a Catholic religion and cause controversy. By using these props in our teaser trailer, it gives the audience a rough idea of the events that are to come in film as they are able to connect the dots, bible and crucifixes are connected to priests and churches.
Example 8 - The following images are screen shots from the trailer of 'The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose'. These screen shots reveal the props that they used.
For the exorcism scene, we used a rectangular shaped table so that Esther could lay down on; the actuality that we used this prop in this scene showed us that we challenged a convention, because in exorcism scenes such as in ‘The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose’ it is seen that it takes place on her bed where she is tied to. Such a prop being used in our teaser trailer, would not be anticipated by audiences therefore making them surprised when it is revealed.
Example 9 - The pictures seen on the left hand side shows the props used in the exorcism in 'Devils Orphan' which took place on a rectangular table and 'The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose' which took place on a bed.
- Costumes – When looking back at the costumes that we used in our teaser trailer, we are able to say that we followed the conventions of costumes that are usually worn in exorcism type horror films; which include the possessed girl wearing a long stained worn out gown and the priest dressed in black. Our costumes can be compared to costumes that were used in horror films such as ‘The Exorcist’, ‘The Last Exorcism’ and ‘The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose’; the fact that we didn’t decide to change the costumes shows lack of creativity and makes our teaser trailer look less original and more foreseen but the fact that we didn’t change it shows that we are trying to uphold these types of traditional costumes that have been used throughout many exorcism type horror films. The only difference in our costume is the priest costume; usually in exorcism films, the priests wear proper priest outfits with the white collar, but the priest in our teaser trailer just simply wears black shoes, black trousers, a black turtle neck jumper, a black blazer and a black hat. This makes the attires in our teaser trailer less calculable. The garments used in our teaser trailer were used to fit the theme of our film and I believe that we were successful in doing that.
- NVC (Non-Verbal Communication) – When we were filming our teaser trailer we ensured that the actors conveyed certain emotions through their body language, so that the audiences are aware of how the characters are feeling as no dialogue is used. Esther’s face is not shown throughout the teaser trailer until the very end, where she is revealed in a close up. We decided to have her face covered by her hair and keep her head down, to create apprehension and a sense of anonymity. By creating a sense of enigma, by hiding Esther’s identity evokes curiosity and engages the audiences. We felt that we developed a convention as in most exorcism horror teaser trailers the possessed girl’s identity is always shown such as in ‘The Exorcist’.
Like most priests seen in horror teaser trailers, their facial expressions always transmits seriousness, intentness and sternness; this is exactly what we wanted our priest to show through his facial expressions as it creates tension and shows the audience the priest’s determination to help the possessed child overcome her demons.
Example 12 - These screen shots show the similarity of both characters NVC.
Whilst Esther is being exorcised, her physical actions of moving her body aggressively and vigorously shows that the priest’s chants and prayers are having an effect on her demon possessed body; this is very effective as it lets the audience believe that maybe the priest is driving the evil spirits away. Esther’s aggressive and vigorous moves whilst she is being delivered are very similar to the physical actions of Emily Rose in ‘The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose’ when she is also being delivered (This is seen at 55seconds)
Looking at both images we saw that there are some similarities, although there differences. For example, both settings look distressed, but the difference is that whereas Emily's room has been made to look run down on purpose; our setting is authentically distressed, which gives it a natural look. Both settings are dissimilar as Emily's wall have writings that have been engraved, whilst the wall in our setting are covered with drawings on brown stained paper. This setting reveals Esther drawing more demonic and masonic symbols to put up on the wall, which makes the audience wonder why she is drawing such disturbing images.
At the end of the teaser trailer is when Esther’s face is revealed, which is in a close up; the NVC of the close up suggests that she is angry as her eyes are tightly clenched together, her mouth is wide open and sharp teeth are revealed. The fact that a scream is heard at the end further emphasizes the possibility that Esther is somewhat fuming; this part of the teaser trailer is very effective as it happens so fast, which would not be anticipated by the audience therefore causing them to jump of their chairs a bit and cause a bit of a panic. We did this so that it could confuse the audiences as they will wonder whether or not she has been delivered from the evil spirits or whether this exorcism has just made things worse. Esther’s facial expression is almost the same as Emily Rose’s facial expressions which is also revealed in a close up.
Example 14 - These screen shots are from 'Devil's Orphan' and 'The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose'. These screen shots show the similarity of NVC.
When looking at our magazine poster we are bale to say that we followed and made use of the conventions of horror film posters; this is clearly shown through the choice of colour, low key lighting and the pose of the male protagonist seen (medium long shot). Nevertheless, we have gone against the generic forms of horror movie posters, with the effects used to make the priest (the main image) look somewhat animated but yet real. Our reasoning’s for using and following this convention, was purely because of the fact that obscurity creates an uneasy atmosphere as the audience are unaware of what is to come and as it forebodes jeopardy and threat. Looking at other horror movie posters I would say that ours is very similar to ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’. When we were making our horror movie poster we didn’t intentionally want it to look like this one, but after we had completed the poster and did research to see whether the style of our poster has been explored we found the poster of Freddie.
Example 15 - The following images are of our horror movie poster and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' horror movie poster. Lots of similarities can be identified with close analysis
Example 15 - The following images are of our horror movie poster and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' horror movie poster. Lots of similarities can be identified with close analysis
Looking at the main images on both posters it’s evident that they are posed exactly the same; we decided to have our priest pose in a way where his identity is concealed. We did this so that it could create a sense of solicitude within the audiences. The priest’s face not being shown allures the audience to go and watch the film as his posture shows that he is a substantial and cogent character; this is further stressed with the fact that he is clenching a crucifix in his hand. Although the identification of both male protagonists are not shown, the difference is that whilst the priest is holding on tightly to a cross, Freddie has his hands crossed and his NVC shows that he is smiling. The fact that Freddie has a slight grin on his face and his hands crossed creates a different effect (this poster creates an insecure and unsettling atmosphere as the audience are able to immediately tell that he is the villain in the movie, which is also evident through the sharp nail like knife) from the one created in ‘Devil’s Orphan’ horror poster. The identity of both images are covered by a hat which adds to the mystery of the picture as the audiences are unable to see their eyes, which makes it difficult to work out their intentions and agendas.
The graphology and its positioning in our horror movie poster are identical to the one in ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’. All the texts on both posters are written in sans serif a font, which is very traditional and shows sophistication. Both of the main coverlines are written in red which is the conventional and widely used colour in horror movie posters. The colour reds on the posters connote danger but also have their different connotations as the context is different. Red being used in the main Coverline of ‘Devil’s Orphan’ is associated with the devil and also displays war, which is ironic as there are themes of good vs. evil/ priest vs. possessed girl/ heaven vs. hell and the fact that the writing is distorted reflects the instability of Esther. The anchorage used in both posters correlate with the main Coverlines and are written in white which connotes purity, goodness and perfection. Unlike the ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ poster, we didn’t put up the release date as we wanted to keep our audiences in suspense and for it to be unexpected. We followed the conventions of placing our production company logo so that audiences familiarise themselves with us and acknowledge our involvement in producing ‘Devil’s Orphan’. The majority of movie posters always contain a small print at the bottom, which reveals the people involved in the production of the movie for example, hair and makeup, costume designer etc. We followed this form by also adding the small print at the bottom of our horror poster, which acts as a credit.
Example 16 - These are screen shots revealing the similarities of our text and the way its positioned to the one in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street. The last image is the logo of our production company.
Example 17 - This is an image of our magazine front cover
As a group we decided that we would have our film featured in ‘Empire’ magazine, a magazine that is well known for talking about new releases and upcoming releases. We did this so that our film release could be promoted to the audience and interest them to watch it as its being advertised in a prestigious magazine. This tactic has been used by many other films who want recognition, therefore making us have followed a convention.
Example 18 - This image shows 'Hellboy 2' being featured in 'Empire' magazine
Our front cover magazine consists of many different colours, which all have their individual connotations; we did this with the aim of generating different emotions from the audience due to the colour usage for example the use of the colour white which connotes purity and innocence, doesn’t correlate with the main image as she looks suspicious and evil, these things are associated with the colour red instead. The fact that we included more than one colour in our magazine front cover makes it more attractive and enticing to the readers. The effects of the background and the masthead are very similar, as they look worn out and distorted which reflects the conditions of Esther’s room as well as costume and state of mind; this also helps generate the theme of horror. The masthead is placed right at the top in big red capital bold writing so that as soon as the reader picks up the magazine, they are able to conclude that this magazine is called ‘EMPIRE’ .This is a typical convention which has been explored through various movie magazines; we didn’t challenge the convention but instead stuck to a well known and traditional one.
Example 19 - This is a screen shot of our masthead that was placed at the top of our magazine and a screen shot of the 'Fangoria' masthead which is also positioned at the top of the magazine.
On the left hand side of the magazine under the masthead, the selling line is visible which is written in white capital letters; we did this so that it could give the readers an extra push to buy the magazine and read about our upcoming horror film release.The price of the magazine is identifiable on the right hand side of the magazine, we did this so that the readers are immediately aware of the price instead of having to ask around or look at the back of the magazine for it. This convention is not largely used, hence why we used it so that it can be popularized. The magazine consists of many coverlines which was done so that we could attract the readers to the contents of the magazine and therefore encouraging them to buy it. A barcode is placed on the right hand of the magazine (vertically); the positioning of the barcode is not usual as it’s positioned a couple of cm from the bottom. We feel that this is a convention that we challenged as this is not really seen in magazines and as barcodes are usually place right at the bottom of the magazine or the top. We used a barcode so that the sale of the magazine can be registered quickly during purchase.
Example 20 - Both pictures show the way in which barcodes are used and how they are positioned. The first image is of the barcode in our magazine poster and the second image is of a barcode in 'Fangoria' magazine.
The main coverline is distinguishable from the other cover lines as it’s written in a bigger front; our purpose of doing this was to display and promote the main featured article in the magazine and to also attract the audiences to our new film. All the fonts in the magazine apart from the masthead are written in sans serif font, which makes the magazine come across more classy and refined. The way in which ‘Devil’s Orphan’ is written is consistent throughout the teaser trailer, horror movie poster and the magazine front cover; this creates synergy as every time the audience see this font style and the colour, they associate it with our film. Like the main image of the priest in our movie poster, the female protagonist which was used as the main image (also medium long shot) in the magazine has the same visual effect of one that’s been animated. As a group we feel that this challenges the conventions as this is rarely seen. This effect on the main image creates a sense of unrealism. Like in the teaser trailer, Esther’s face is hidden from the audience which produces apprehension and obscurity; this was also explored in our poster as the priest face is not shown.
Example 21 - the picture are screen shots from the teaser trailer, the horror movie poster and the magazine front cover. These pictures shows how keeping the protagonist's identity hidden has been consistent.
The fact that Esther’s clothe is bloody gets the readers wanting to know what’s happened to this young girl, thus making them buy the magazine and going out to watch it. A convention was followed in terms of her stained costume, this is also seen in ‘The Last Exorcism’ where the possessed girl is also wearing a very similar outfit. On the other hand, we feel that we have also challenged a convention, and that is race. The majority of girls that are used in exorcism based horror films are usually Caucasians with long blond hair, whereas Esther is of a mixed race with long brunette hair instead. By doing this we feel that we target a wider audience, therefore making our film more commercial and recognized.
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