First Draft 'The Unexpected' Horror Trailer

Magazine front cover & Film Poster 2nd draft

My 2nd draft of my film poster was generally praised for the use of  typical horror features. The main close up image of a masked figure in a tight frame of darkness in the mise en scene brandishing a knife is an obvious generic feature of a horror slasher film, which the target audience can identify and be familiar with, encouraging them to watch said film. the slogan/tagline 'Being bullied can scar you for life' projects sinister connotations into an onlookers mind, the emphasis of the word 'scar' in red font colour supporting the genre representation of a conventional slasher film. The slogan in addition points out the unique selling point (USP) film of my film- bullying. This social realist genre aspect of bullying generates an appeal to a young target audience of teenagers 15-18 years, whom according to the Users and Gratification Audience subsection theory of personal relationships and identity, will relate strongly to the concept of a horror built around a school or experiences of bullying at their age.
However, their are many essential aspects of the film poster which this draft lacks or doesn't have. Firstly, the general font and typography of the poster(excluding the credit blocks at the bottom) have the same kind of font. Additionally, there is a lot of dead space on the page, which doesn't make the poster really appealing. Furthermore, there is no release date on the page, so any onlooker whom were interested in the poster would not have any further information than the title. slogan and credit blocks. A particular grievance was the mask on the poster. This mask is iconic for being the mask of the protagonist in the 2005 thriller film V for Vendetta, so any association for the target audience would be with this film, not anyone from my poster. I need to particularly change the mask of the poster so my target audience won't associate with another film and demote any appeal to my trailer, magazine or poster.

My magazine front cover second draft was praised by my teacher for the overlapping effect of the masthead, as well as the blur effect of the blade in the main image- which supports the generic representation of a slasher horror genre. An issue that I need to build on is my font. Similarly to my poster draft, my font type was the same all over the page, and a generic magazine covers have at least two or three font types. Similarly, the main image of the masked figure holding a knife is blurred- which has a good effect on the knife motioned like it will cut the page- however the quality of the general image is decreased.

Film Screenplay

SHOT ONE

Long shot, tracking shot. Feyi walks into the school atrium and exits to the staircase.

SHOT TWO

Mid Close up. Match cut.  Feyi enters first floor balcony, gradual zoom on his face as he catches sight of Mo, Tanvir and Maisie.

SHOT THREE

Match cut, long take. Maisie, Tanvir and Mo see Feyi; close up shot of their menacing looks at Feyi. Mohammed shouts ‘WHAT YOU LOOKING AT?’ Maisie, Tanvir and Mo laugh as Feyi walks past with his head down, walking quickly past them scared.  Tanvir laughs, says ‘look at his face’

Fade to next shot

SHOT FOUR

Tracking shot. Feyi goes to his locker, cornered by Mohammed, Maisie and Tanvir. Mohammed says ‘I asked you a QUESTION!’, pushes him against the wall. Feyi stays silent. Maisie pushes Feyi, says ‘YOU’RE ASKING FOR A BEATING!!!’  Tanvir motions to get something out of his pocket. Close up, over the shoulder shot of Feyi asking, ‘IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?’

SHOT FIVE

Over the shoulder shot.  Mo, Maisie and Tanvir surround Feyi in the corner. Sound of a crack.

Fade out

SHOT SIX

Low angle. Close up. Slow Pan of Feyi, Mo and Maisie faces looking down at Feyi’s body.

SHOT SEVEN

Low angle tracking shot of Feyi’s lifeless body being dragged away.  Close up of Tanvir saying ‘NO ONE HAS TO KNOW.. .’

SHOT EIGHT

Over the shoulder shot.  Mo, Tanvir and Maisie later walking in the atrium.

Figure resembling Feyi in his hoodie watching them on the first floor balcony.

SHOT NINE

Match cut, eye level. Maisie turns around; no one is on the balcony. Tanvir asks, ‘what’s wrong?’

Mo says, ‘you’re seeing things…Feyi’s not there’

SHOT TEN

Maisie, Tanvir and Mo walking up the stairs.  Hooded figure following them loosely. Close up over the shoulder shot of Feyi walking up the stairs slowly.

 Mo turns around; shouts ‘WHO’S THERE? WHO MESSING ABOUT?!!!’

SHOT ELEVEN

Close up shot of Maisie Screaming. Tanvir and Mo, turn around to see she’s not there.

SHOT TWELVE

Tanvir and Mo come out of the staircase; Tanvir sees Feyi standing behind him in the mirror.

SHOT THIRTEEN

Match cut.  No ones, there when Tanvir turns around.

Over the shoulder shot of Tanvir walking quickly down, Shouts ‘MO, WHERE ARE YOU?’ someone is following him. Runs off into the staircase

SHOT FOURTEEN

Maisie, Tanvir and Mo meet in the Assembly Hall. Shouting and yelling at each other ‘WHERE WERE YOU? I SAW SOMETHING! They all stop talking when they hear someone enter. 360 full pan close up in a tight frame of their faces as they huddle together in a circle out of fear

SHOT FIFTEEN

Pan, mid long shot. Maisie, Mo and Tanvir looking around, Maisie yells, Where are you?

SHOT SIXTEEN

Two Shot. Jump cut. Feyi behind Maisie touches her shoulder. Screams, Mo and Tanvir shout. Screen goes black.

SHOT SEVENTEEN

Over the shoulder shot of Hooded figure (Feyi) standing over bodies of Mo, Tanvir and Maisie. Gradual zoom in to his hood, he turns around and the screen goes black.

Photo Analysis - Magazine Front Cover

I took these photos, like the development of my Flat plan, to do a test run of what my movie poster may look like. The location, a school classroom.
This is a mid-close up shot type with natural lighting in the mise en scene. The natural lighting, coupled with the tight frame of the image makes it appealing for a horror poster as the protagonists looks isolated, and the dark focus cast from the hood jacket makes the protagonist look sinister.

In this photo, i wanted to see what the protagonist would look like from behind. Even though the fact that not seeing the protagonist face through the hood in this mid long shot can create fear from the viewers perspective, this doesn't create appeal generally as a horror poster.

This photo is much better as the natural lighting shows the outline of the protagonist's face under her hood jacket, not enough in the tight frame to stop the fear from her unidentified face, just enough to make the protagonist look illusory and menacing.
Additionally, this is space at the top for








This photo similarly has an appeal because of the head space for the title. The lighting is in much more excess then the other images. If there was a little dark focus in the mise en scene, it would make the image look more scary, appealing more to a target audience.

This final photo, although taken from a high angle to make the protagonist look more threatening, the fact that you can't see the character face at all makes the image look unattractive for a potential horror movie poster. The isolated, menacing effect of the tight frame is the only generic representation of horror in this image.










Overall, the mid close up images in a tight frame i have decided would be the most appealing to a target audience for the development of my horror movie poster. This is because the protagonist face is partially seen in good quality with the natural lighting of the picture. However, in my production stage i will be weary of the use of too much lighting in one image as a dark mise en scene is more conventional and attracts general    appeal in a horror film poster. I will use a different hood jacket costume for the protagonist as the hood jacket in these series of image was quite constricting because of the fur lined top that prevents the audience from seeing her face at all, which whilst the unknown factor of her unidentified face may generate appeal for a horror poster, this is likely to not attract the mainstreamer psychographic appeal of my target audience.

Flat Plans: Film Poster and Magazine Front Cover

                                                                1st Draft Film Poster

As a first draft of my film poster, i was impressed with my initial product. The masthead positioned at the top of my poster is eye catching in a deep crimson colour. The typography incidentally resembles the colour of blood, a tool used common generic representation of horror posters. Additionally, I used the blur tool on Photoshop to make the writing look like it was running down the canvas. This would make the iconic imagery of blood look even more present and attract the target audience to the poster.  Furthermore, the slogan "School's Out. Forever" was a clever play on the Alice Cooper 1972 hit. This slogan also pointed out the possible setting of said film, suggested further by an image of a unknown figure in a hood jacket, which encourages a sinister edge to the poster.

                                                            

                                                            1st Draft Magazine Front Cover

In the development of my first magazine front cover draft, i have realised that the main image is too similar to the my poster and would be better suited for my horror poster. When advertising horror films on a magazine front cover, there tends to be either a close up or mid close up shot of either the protagonist or antagonist or both in some instances. This generic convention of magazine front covers is more likely to attract my target audience towards my magazine front cover. Additionally, the background colour in the mise en scene of my front cover is too bright from natural lighting. and as a result will not evoke a sinister image to audiences that is associated with the generic representation of horror. The lighting also pulls focus away from the masthead positioned at the top of the page, and the subheadings on either side of the page. The subheadings looks overlapped in a scruffy fashion and this consequently demotes the illusion that this magazine front cover is anything like the generic representation of the film magazine

Although, the tight frame of the main image does, to some extent, keep up the feeling of isolation and looks a bit threatening by casting a shadow in the mise en scene.

                                                             2nd draft on Photoshop

The background colour the front cover in purple does not evoke any kind of fear or horror associated with this. The background colour in the mise en scene needs to be black or red, a colour scheme generically represented by horror. The font, particularly in the subheading, does not particularly have any difference to the masthead. I need to find two or three different fonts to use for the subheadings in order to make the page look distinct and striking to the naked eye of my target audience. The subheading on the right is in too much length  my market research into magazine covers has shown that less is more when it comes to the designs of magazine front covers.

Target Audience

The target audience of my film are predominately male, a typical generic representation of horror fans. My magazine is aimed at a niche horror fan audience, fitting the explorer psychographic as my trailer, which merges with the similar target audience of social realist genre of bullying and anti-social behaviour which i will be exploring in my horror trailer. My target audience for my trailer and poster will be specifically 16+ because the classification of my trailer will be 15. More so, the demographic group that is my primary target audience is Group E, students and /or the unemployment. I will be careful in the production stage of my magazine and my trailer especially not to portray my particular target audience group negatively in order to make the magazine more appealing to my target audience.

Additionally, unlike conventional horror films which target a particular cultural group I would aim to have a culturally diverse target audience.

         

    Classification Certification of Trailer

15 YEARS OR OLDER(preferably 16-18+) Moderate generic representation of violence and drugs of an explicit nature, not to the extent where drug use and violence is generically represented in glamour.

Horror Poster Analysis: Codes and Conventions

The Horror genre typically has:

Primary target audience – male, 16-24, This is because statistically, adolescent males happen to be the mainstreamer psychographic of audience appeal when it comes to the violence and gore explored in generic horror films in comparison to an older audience demographic or woman.

15 or 18 Certification  – debates on passive consumption as content in horror film can often have purposely explicit content which arguably is considered too controversial for anyone to watch anyway, whether it be a middle-aged couple watching various horror film in an Alfred Hitchcock movie marathon whom are in the resigned psychographic,  or a 17 year old girl watching a horror movie on television in the Group E student/unemployed demographic.

Extensive use of Narrative enigmas - Examples a conventional enigmatic feature in horror film is the antagonist is not viewed largely, and if he/she is, their face is not shown in excess or even at all. Prime examples are the antagonists Leatherface and Jason Voorhees from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Friday the 13th series.

Slow pace of Editing, builds tension. Long takes - this gradually build the climate of fear or abnormal occurances that may affect the equilibrium of the narrative diegesis. 

Split into sub genres (see below), often hybridised into fused genres like the comedy horror genre in The Scary Movie series, which is a parody(imitation of art, literature, film or other media for comical effect) in itself based on the Scream series, which is another parodical horror film uses exploits the generic storylines and archetypal characters in conventional horror films. Another example is psychological horror thrillers like the Hannibal series, or else science-fiction horror like The Thing(1982+2011) or 1998 film The Faculty(analysis viewed below)

I have decided as part of my trailer to explore aspects of crime drama with my horror trailer as I wanted to explore the theme of extreme antisocial behaviour in my trailer, outlining realistic themes that have been explored in previous year in the history of cinematic horror through films such as Carrie(1973+2013), Tormented(2009).