Film Logo Ideas.

We have entitled our film 'Silent Night'. I think this works really well as Silent Night is of course a well known Christmas song, however it can also work effectively from a horror perspective. Silent Night can give off quite a creepy, scary sort of feeling because the idea of 'silence' makes you think of mystery, not knowing whats happening and then the word 'night' makes you think of darkness and in a lot of movies, the night is always associated with fear. The words 'silent' and 'night' together therefore create the idea of being alone in the darkness, not being able to hear or see anything and this is a very scary thought and a complete opposite to the festive meaning of the words.

Tom has been working on Photoshop and has created a first draft of a possible logo for the film:

As you can see, we have the festive reference relating to the theme of our film and to the title with the use of the Christmas tree. We then have the scary, gothic font and the use of red on white to make it look as if blood is dripping from the letters. This relates to the horror genre we have chosen for the film and both this and the festive reference creates an interesting juxtaposition as these two things which are complete opposites are being put together to create something we would not usually expect.

The logo was created using a program called Photoshop which we as a group have had some experience in using in the past. We are going to also have the chance to become more familiar with it when we create a film poster and magazine cover for our trailer.

The Animatic.

You can watch the draft version of our animatic here:

This is an animatic our group has made using the images from the story board we produced. This can be see as a sort of rough, drawn draft of what our overall horror trailer should look like.

Weekly Blog Update #3.

At the start of the week had a flexible learning day in which we had Media for the whole day. During this time we decided we would get everything we had to complete done or near enough so that we could start filming after the Christmas holidays.

Sameena and I worked together on the storyboards and completed them. We then created the animatic and uploaded that to youtube and our blogs.

Tom and Dean edited the video footage for the interview we recorded and they also recorded the information from our questionnaires into graphs. The interview video can be found here and the questionnaire results and i plan to upload a video of the questionnaire and commentary anaylsis in a few days.

So, what next? We still need to complete a production plan and do some work on the production name and logo for our film. During the holidays we are also going to sort out props and do some location scouting. Once this is done, which shouldn't take up too much time, we can finally begin filming!

Audience Research - The Interview.

This is the video for the interview we held last week. We used random sampling to gather people and then asked them a series of questions that related to the horror trailer we will be producing. This type of audience research will come in quite helpful for us as it is a much more detailed way of gaining an audiences opinion.

What next?

Within the next week or so, we plan to have our questionnaires completed and the data received recorded. We also plan to have our interviews done and recorded which we will then proceed to edit and upload to our blogs. On top of this, we are hoping to continue with our storyboarding and make some good progress on it if not complete it totally.

Interview Questions.

1. Describe a typical Christmas day for you.

2. What's your favourite horror film and why?

3. What's your favourite Christmas film and why?

4. What do you expect to see in a horror film and why?

5. What do you expect to see in a Christmas film and why?

6. Do you think music is an important element to a horror film? Why?

7. Do you think music is an important element to a Christmas film? Why?

Weekly Blog Update #2.

This week, we began to storyboard our trailer. Before doing so, we looked at examples of storyboards from well known movies such as The Dark Knight. This was helpful because we knew what needed to be included and what elements needed to be discussed and thought about.

During this week, we also continued to work on our target audience research and came up with a questionnaire which i have posted onto my blog. We then used sampling to select 10 people in our sixth form year group to complete the questionnaire. We plan to spend the remainder of this week completing our questionnaires and gathering the results, which we will then put into charts using Edexcel. As well as using a questionnaire for quantitative data, we also plan to hold an interview with the people we selected from the sample so that we can also gather some qualitative date as well!

Questionnaire Questions.

What is your gender?

• Male
• Female

What kind of setting do you prefer in a horror movie?

• Woods / Forest
• Family Home or Neighborhood
• Derelict Building
• Public Place

What do you prefer in a horror movie? Male or female lead?

• Male
• Female

What would you say is the most important element of a trailer?

• Music
• Editing
• Location
• Special Effects
• Suspense
• Mystery

What sub-genre of a horror would you prefer?

• Psychological
• Thriller
• Comedy
• Paranormal
• Sci-Fi

How much violence/gore would you expect in a horror trailer?

• Lots
• Quite a bit
• Not important

Which of these well known horror movies have you previously watched?

• The Chainsaw Massacre
• Scream
• The Grudge
• SAW
• Halloween
• Nightmare On Elm Street
• Silence of the Lambs

What would you say is the most important element of a Christmas movie?

• Snow
• Christmas Trees and Decoration
• Santa Claus
• Presents
• Religion
• Carol Singing
• Family

Which of these well know Christmas movies have you previously watched?

• Home Alone
• Santa Claus
• The Grinch
• ELF
• A Christmas Carol
• Jack Frost
• The Polar Express

Three Trailer Act.

Act One: begins with a zoom in shot of a section of a Christmas tree, the scene then zooms out into an image of the the whole Christmas tree. The screen then fades to black..

Shot then skips to a shot of a young boy getting into bed, his mother walks into the room. He asks her for a story before he goes to bed and she grabs a book and begins to read to him.

Act Two: the young boy's older brother, Sebastian then walks into his room to tell Ethan a similar but scary. The story is going to be told together by blending the stories of both the mother and Sebastian. This would be a narrative because as the story is being told, we'll see it being shown. Whilst the story is being told, the music in the background will be 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' which works well because the story is very jolly and upbeat and it's going to be on top of scenes of fear.

Act Three: the story has now finished being told and the mother and Sebastian leave the room. Ethan then looks outside to see a dark figure with a Santa suit on dragging a sack across the floor, leaving a trail of blood. He notices Ethan looking at him, and the figure stares at the window for a while and then carries out walking, now humming a Christmas tune in a creepy way. Door handle then turns on Ethan. We'll see the word 'Santa' then turn into 'Satan'. Will flash to his brother opening the door and tells the scared Ethan to go to sleep otherwise Santa wont come for him..

Audience Research Task.

The difference between the objective of quantitative and qualitative research is that quantitative data is all about quantifying data so that it can be generalised whereas qualitative research focuses on gaining a deeper understanding and understanding the underlying reasons.

Both techniques sample in different ways. Quantitative data uses larger groups to generate more responses and qualitative research uses smaller groups and want to gain more information and detail.

Quantitative data is gathered using a questionnaire, this a structured technique. Graphs and charts would be used to analyse the data, it is a fairly mathematical process. Qualitative data is collected using indepth methods, like an interview. The data is then analysed through comparison and the indentification of key themes that are recognised in the data that has been collected.

The outcome of the results for quantitative data is generally considered conclusive because the information can easily be generalised to a population. Qualitative data however, can be open for debate because it is based on the opinions and views of people and goes into much more detail.

There are three different sampling methods:

• Systematic Random Sampling: numbers are generated and one person per random number is selected.



• Simple Random Sampling: everyone is assigned a different number, for example ranging from 1 to 100 and every Nth number is selected.



• Stratified Random Sampling: a certain group of people are selected to question, based on the actual demographic you are aiming for.

Target Audience Reaction to My Trailer.

Hypodermic Needle Effect:
The Hypodermic Needle Model theory suggests that mass media can easily influence a large group of people without any challenge and opposition from those people. This theory suggests that, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts and our behaviour and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers. Therefore, it assumes that the audience are PASSIVE.

Two Step Flow:
This theory suggests that a social class or demographic get their interpretation of the media through a representative of that class, known as an opinion leader. Therefore, the audience would be PASSIVE.

Uses & Gratifications: This theory revolves around the idea that audiences make choices about what they do when consuming texts. In 1948 Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions for individuals and society.

• Surveillance



• Correlation



• Entertainment
  



• Cultural transmission
  
  

Researshers Blulmer and Katz expanded this theory and published their own in 1974, stating that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes:

• Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine.
  



• Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg) substituting soap operas for family life



• Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts



• Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living eg) weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains.

This theory would suggest that the audience is ACTIVE.

Reception Theory:
This theory is a version of the reader response literary theory that emphasizes the reader's reception of a literary text. It is more generally called audience in the analysis of communications models. This theory would sugges that the audience is PASSIVE.

References:

• http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0767421906/student_view0/chapter12/glossary.html



• http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Levels%20of%20theories/macro/Two-Step%20Flow%20Theory.doc/

Target Audience Analysis.

Age: Our media product is going to be targeting the age group of 15 to 25 years old. We've decided to target this age group because it is the typical age group that most horror movies appeal to and will also make it easier to film our trailer because the age we have decided on means we don't have to use things like excessive scenes of gore or violence in our production.

Ethnicity: Our trailer includes a mainly Caucasian cast but we think it will appeal to many ethnic groups because the film itself would be classed as mainstream and would therefore appeal to the masses. Also, if we compare the casts to well known films in our chosen genre such as Scream or SAW, we can see that generally the cast are Caucasian and the films themselves were extremely successful.

Socio-Economic Groupings: The class profile of our characters is generally C2DE because most of the people being portrayed are students and so are not employed and will therefore be classed as E. The class profile of our audience would again be C2DE, this is because the characters in our trailer would portray our Target audience and so that would be one of the reasons they'd want to go and watch the film.

Nationality/Region: The whole cast of our film would be from the UK and to be precise, Birmingham. This is where the trailer will be shot. I think the trailer will appeal to a wide UK audience and that is what we would be aiming for. I think the reason that our production will appeal to a whole UK audience is because though the trailer will be set in Birmingham, it isnt actually a film about Birmingham.

To do list:

• Sort out cast


• Think about possible shots and angles we want to use


• Discuss costume choices


• Think about lighting


• Complete storyboard


• Think about location


• Decorations and props

Weekly Blog Update #1.

During this weeks media lesson, the main focus was on the codes and conventions of film trailers. We did work with Mrs Collister and anaylsed the trailer of the British film 'Control'. This task was useful to us because it allowed us to study the different aspects of a trailer and what makes them effective for an audience. Aswell as this, we also looked at the trailer for 'Cemetery Junction' learnt how a trailer can be subverted so it can still have the same effect but can achieve this in a completely different way.

Later on in the week, we continued to work on our film treatment with Mr Morris. As a group, we finally managed to complete it. We also answered questions for the treatment to make sure we have included and covered everything that is necessary in it. We are now ready for the storyboarding process and once that is complete we can then start our filming!

Treatment Questions.

1. What is the main theme or idea?
The main theme is centered around the traditional story of Christmas which is twisted in our film. It is going to take the well known character of Santa Claus and subvert him into an evil, sadistic killer.

2. Have you created a distinctive main character who is a rounded, believable character?

We have the created the character of a little boy who is going to be the main protagonist of the trailer. The boy's name will be Ethan. Throughout the trailer, he will be the subject of the killers attention and will be trying to escape from him.

3. What is his or her goal?

The goal of our main character Ethan is to survive.

4. Who is stopping him or her achieving this goal (the adversary or villain)?

The killer who will be dressed up and representing Santa.

5. What is at stake and why?

The lives of the boy and the people that live in his community. This is because the killer used to live in the boys neighbourhood and therefore returns to get revenge for what happened to him many years before.

6. Where does the film take place?

The film will take place in the house and around the neighbourhood of our films main protagonist.

7. Have you created other interesting characters?

We have created other family members for the protagonist of the film, his older brother and also his mother. The older brother will be called Sebastian and his mothers name will be Julie.

Trailer Treatment: Silent Night.

Act 1.
A young boy is tucked up in bed on Christmas Eve and his mother is sat beside him. She has just finished telling him a Christmas tale. After the mother has wished the boy goodnight and left, his older brother sneaks into his room. He tells him the 'real' Christmas story that happened years before: a young boy with mental problems was taken away from his parents near Christmas time and was sent to a mental home. During this time he went crazy and escaped, killing those who got in his way. One Christmas he came back and killed his family in the very house the boy lives in.

Act 2.
After hearing the story his older brother told him, the young boy is scared and begins to hear and see strange things around his neighbourhood. He has yet to see this mysterious killer but feels as if he is being watched by him. Strange things continue to happen until someone is killed and the boy realizes this story is actually real and that the killer is coming for him. People start to dissappear and the older brother Sebastian, with his friends hear a woman scream so they go to investigate. They split up and not before long, 2 friends in the group are killed. The killer attacks Sebastian who is left injured and as the killer goes to make the fatal blow, a passer by sees the events and goes to hunt them.


Act 3.
More people are being killed. Several people are murdered and the boy starts realizing that the killer is getting closer. The boy gets trapped in his house and after running around trying to hide, the killer has cornered the boy and is about to kill him when he is suddenly saved by his brother when he stabs him with a kitchen knife, seemingly killing. The boy and older brother leave the house and police have arrived outside. The film ends with a shot of the killers body and a close up of his hand which begins to twitch.

Moodboard.

This is the moodboard i created with my group. It portrays the key concepts we decided to use for out trailer and also the different elements that we wanted to include in it. The 5 concepts we wanted to include in our trailer were: fear, a 'twisted' genre, scary music, the theme of Christmas and also fantasy.

I think we have portrayed fear well with a use of image that represent fear, for instance we have the noticebale image of a child who looks scared and seems to be hiding behind something. We also have images of strange creatures and monsters aswell as inconic horror movie killers. These are all associated with the genre of horror and therefore create the idea of fear.

I think the idea we had a of twisting the genre also comes across well in the moodboard. That's because we have images in it which usually you would not think would go together. For example, we have an image of Santa Claus yet his facial expression is quite evil and menacing. This is twisiting the idea because Santa is not usually associated with being evil but rather being good.

The theme of Christmas is developed well in the mood board by the Christmas related images used. For instance the name of the film itself is 'Silent Night' which is of course a famous Christmas song and this is decorated with Christmas lights on the mood board. There are also other references with holly and Christmas trees scattered around the paper.

The concept of fantasy was shown well in the mood board with the references to other films. In particular these are 'Donnie Darko' and 'Pans Labyrinth'. We decided to use pictures of the famous and iconic characters and used the strange creatures featured in both movies; the rabbit from Donnie Darko and the 2 monster-like creatures from Pans Labyrinth.

(click to enlarge)

Overall, I think we have made an interesting and effective mood board and i think we successfully but across our concepts about the trailer as a whole.

MEDIA LANGUAGE PRESENTATION.

Genre Codes and Conventions Research - Mirrors.

After watching the trailer for this movie, I notice the use of some common codes and conventions. Once again, the film revolves around a family, a normal one whose lives are suddenly disrupted, the equilibrium shifted. The protagonist in the film is male which is usually quite common in a horror movie as females are usually victims or are depicted as needing saving in movies of this genre.

However, what's interesting about this film in particular is that though the antagonists in the film is some sort of paranormal being, it inhabits the mirrors and so makes it appear as if the victims are actually themselves as it appears to be them causing the pain upon themselves. This is a very different convention than what is usually used in horror films because usually the antagonist is easily recognizable from the protagonists and victims.

Also, in most horror films, the antagonist is either human or depicted in a human like form, in this film however the antagonist is simply an everyday object. This proves a lot scarier for an audience because a mirror is an object that most of the population owns and so in it adds a lot of realism to the this film.

2008 - Mirrors (Alexandre Aja)

Genre Codes and Conventions Research - The Haunting in Connecticut.

The Haunting in Connecticut is a 2009 American Psychological horror film. It is based on a purportedly true story alleged to have occurred to Karen Parker and her family.

Once again, a lot of common codes and convention of a horror film are used in this trailer. For starters, the trailer begins with a birds eye view of a neighbourhood that appears very pleasent and somewhere families would live. The equilbrium is shifted which happens in many movies of this horror and the trailer starts off very peaceful and gradually the tension is built to the point that it becomes obvious that the house they have moved into is haunted. This is done with the use of music and the pace of the scenes flowing quicker and faster in pace. Also, flash transitions are used aswell to build up tension and create the feeling of fear.

As with Paranormal Activity, the setting for the movie is the house, a place we would associate with safety and comfort. This idea is twisted in the movie when it becomes clear the house is haunted and strange and frightening things are going on inside it.

As the credits come onto the screen of the trailer, we see the words 'based on a true story' this for an audience would create a bigger feeling of fear because the fact that i says it is based on a true story makes it seem even more realistic for the people watching.
The writing used for the wording is basic and simple, white on black. However the denotative meaning for this could mean such things like for instance the black background symbolizing darkness which we associate with fear and danger. Also, such simple writing gives nothing away creating a feeling of mystery for the audience.

2009 - The Haunting In Connecticut (Peter Cornwell)

Genre Codes and Conventions Research - Paranormal Activity.

A 2007 American supernatural horror film. The film centers on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. It is presented in the style of "found footage," from a camera set up by the couple in an attempt to photograph what is haunting them.

In this film, a lot of common horror codes and conventions are used. For instance, during the day, nothing out of the ordinary occurs, however during the night strange things start to happen. In horror movies, the dark is always associated with danger and so Paranormal Activity have gone along with this common convention. Another code and convention in a horror film is the disruption of normality and this is definitely portrayed in this movie. We can easily recognize that the family in the movie are living a normal life and through out the movie become disrupted from the supernatural presence that is in their home.

Codes and conventions in the movie however are always twisted and they don't always follow the route of a normal horror movie. One of the main ways in which the movie does this is by actually having the supposed victim of the movie in the end become the antagonist. This is is very unlike what usually happens in a horror film as their is generally an easily recognizable 'hero'. Another way in which the conventions of this genre are twisted are in the fact that in this movie, though the main atagonist is a supernatural force, it inhabits the bodies of the female characters causing them to kill. This is not what is expected of horror because usually it is the females who are seen as the victims.

The layout of the film itself is also quite unusual, the film itself is set out as if from the protagonists poitn of view or control because it is them who are actually recording the footage. This in a way creates the idea that it is them in control because it is from their perspective however through out the movie it becomes clear that this is not the case with strange things happening to them in their own home. This creates an uneasy feeling because usually the home is considered the safest place to be yet in this fim, this is where the danger is.

2007 - Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli)

Plot Ideas!

During lesson today, we gathered as a group and discussed plot and genre ideas for our horror movie trailer.

We firstly came up with a name and eventually came to the decision that we would call our film 'Silent Night'. This of course refers to the well known Christmas song and also adds a bit of mystery to the actual plot of the film so it leaves the audience guessing as to what type of film it is.

We then began discussing the groups narrative. We have decided to set out the trailer in the form of a story being told to a young child on Christmas eve. We wanted this story to be a scary one being told by an older sibling to a younger one. This is going to be the basis for our killers back story, explaining to the audience what happened and why. In the storyline, the younger sibling is then going to become increasingly scared by this story and begin to believe it is and real and start to see strange things going on around him. The main focus of the story is on this crazed killer who comes out of hiding every Christmas to kill children and is doing so in our trailer, so we will be depicting him killing or hunting down children and will show the young sibling trying to escape.

When thinking about the feel of the film, we decided we wanted it to be quite dark and so took inspiration from director Guillermo del Toro and his film 'Pan's Labyrinth' trailer (which you can watch here). We want to focus however more on the suspense and building of tension rather than the excessive use of gore for our trailer.

First Update: Groups and Chosen Task.

During today's media lesson we were given an overview of what we were expected to do for our practical work.

We were given 5 different options of different types of media product we could create, these were; a film teaser trailer, a short film, a documentary, a soap opera and a children's TV show.

After a short discussion we organized ourselves into groups and together we decided that it would be best for us to do a teaser film trailer because we have had a lot of experience in that area and would therefore be able to do well.

The people in my group are;

• Myself.
• Dean Harding.
• Sameena Miah.
• Thomas Youster.

Once we had decided on the type of product we wanted to make, we had another short discussion as a group and made the decision that we would like to produce a teaser trailer for a horror film.

One of the main reasons we all want to do horror is because it's a genre in which the codes and conventions are easily recognized but can also be subverted to create an original and imaginative media production.

One of the things that was suggested during our discussion was also what direction we wanted to take the trailer, we decided that it would be quite creative to use the upcoming holiday as a basis for our plot. As we were aware that the production would need to be completed by January, we thought it would be a creative idea to base the film trailer around Christmas and therefore produce a Christmas horror film. We think this idea is very original though we have taken influence and inspiration from a film entitled 'Black Christmas' which we can use for research and planning later on.

The trailer for Black Christmas is below: