Summer research - Film 2

CHOSEN MOVIE 2:
Film title: Insidious
American super natural horror



More examples of the 'insidious' movie posters:

 



 

MEDIA LANGUAGE: The use of one word in the title, which is shown on the posters. creates tension as it is short and snappy. This is a common convention when it comes to horror movies. The text written in smaller size letter are for advertisement as the posters shows the audience that Insidious is created by the makers of Paranormal activity, which is a previous successful horror movie. This could motivate the reader to watch Insidious because if they enjoyed watching paranormal activity, they would be keen to watch another movie as the company/ producer are known to create successful movies in the past. More media language is used on the posters such as speech of people who have already watched the movie, as it quotes on the posters  "so scary"- this would motivate the audience to watch this horror movie. The name of the company and producer is also placed at the top of one of posters, in white lettering to make it stand out on the black background.

CAMERA: The images in the posters are mainly similar in the sense that the images are medium close ups of the boy who stars in the movie.

MISE EN SCENE: The mise en scene in the following posters, show a young boy, who is starring in the movie, as being a attacked or possessed b y something supernatural, as his eyes of staring directly into the camera, and one poster shows his eyes as having lighting crackles in. The facial expressions show a sense of horror as he does not look happy.

EDITING: Editing on the following posters have been done, as writing has been inputted into in to shows who stars in the film, and promote the movie by adding quotes.

REPRESENTAION: Overall, the representation of the posters show a horrifying output as all colours used are dark and gloomy, and silver Is used to make certain thing, such as the lighting in the image, to stand out.  The house in the distance in one of the posters indicate the location of where the movie is set, and this is a typical convention of horror movie poster as the location is usually haunted or broken, which is shown in the insidious poster, as the house looks old and broken too.

 

  

 

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Insidious Movie Theatrical Trailer:


 



Director: James Wan
Release date: 1st April 2010
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Mystery
Starring: Patrick Wilson,
Distributor: Film District, Alliance films
Plot: Story of a family in search of help for their son, Dalton, who fell into a coma after a mysterious incident in the attic. Little do they know that was only their first step into the paranormal life of the supernatural. They have to rediscover the past to make their son better. Ghosts and supernatural creatures are used in insidious in order to make to scary.


MEDIA LANGUAGE: The media language used in the trailer above, are words in-between the mini clips, such as "Insidious is...", this is repeated throughout the trailer, which leaves the audience interested to continue watching the trailer to find out what the end of the incomplete short sentence is.
CAMERA: Many different scenes are used in the trailer, such as, extreme close up, close up, medium shot, long shot, and establishing shot to show the location.
Mise en scene: The mise en scene in the trailer is very basic, as it sets the location. The starting of the trailer shows what a little room boys looks like, this could indicate that the film is based on a innocent boys life and innocent location. The title sequence foreshadows the events of the film and manipulates the scenes by change of colour. Colours such as black, white and red connate, blood, murder, and fear. The low key lighting in the trailer shows the indication of a thrilling and fearful moment in the clips.
EDITING: The words used repeatedly in the trailer are edited to flash back and fourth, this creates more tension as the music also builds tension to the trailer. The transitions used in the opening are very smooth and they connect with one shot well. . The editing used in the opening to a supernatural thriller fits to the right standard, and keeps the audience excited and in tact with the action, which is also what the insidious trailer successfully did.
SOUND: The sound used in the trailer for Insidious follows the convention of any other supernatural thriller film. Non- diegetic incidental soundtrack is vital to build the suspense for the audience. The music used to very creepy and gives a sense of the viewer being uncomfortable when watching. When the main title comes up, the music gets louder which also builds suspense.


Main conventions in this movie trailer:
-When the Insidious title comes onto screen, the "I" is shaped like a devil, which foreshadows the events of the film, and can make the audience get the idea of what the films antagonist may be. Each shot in the trailer does not last more than 15 seconds, meaning the audience only get a glimpse of what's to come in the movie.
- The codes and conventions of a supernatural thriller are that its focused somewhat on the horror thriller sub- genre, but focused more on the ghosts, mysterious moving objects etc. The codes and conventions are that the audience gain a feeling of  unpredictability, which is exactly what the opening of Insidious does to the viewer, making them feel extremely uncomfortable, which is the aim of a thriller film.

As seen in the following screenshots, the audience is presented with the location of the movie, a extreme close up of eye, to create suspense, a character who is vulnerable and by seen on his facial expressions also looks disturbed.

This movie trailer would be able to help me when making my own as the editing is done very well, as the short clips build tensions and don't give away too much information about what happens in the film, leaving the viewer curious.
I chose this movie an trailer because I am looking to use supernatural features in my trailer.

Summer Research - Film 1

Main CODES & CONVENTIONS of a horror movie poster:

- Colours used- black, red, grey, brown and white
- Small titles- generally at the bottom of the poster
- release date
- low lighting to disguise characters
- Use of one image to grab the audiences attention (normally a large image) - optical           focus
- Long shot of the main location- adds suspense 


CHOSEN MOVIE 1:
Film title: The Woman In Black  

British super natural horror movie 

 

Below there are some other examples of the movie "The woman in black" posters.

CAMERA: The images used on the posters are all shown to be dark and gloomy. The shots used are usually, close ups, long shot over the shoulder and mid close up. 
A main convention of a horror movie is for the reader to be unable to view a characters face which leaves the audience weary and builds tensions. The colours used on all of the posters are dark colours such as, black, brown, grey, blue, and white.In some of the posters the character is making eye contact with the camera which could be a indication of horror

MEDIA LANGUAGE: On most film posters the media language is selectively placed in order for the images be more attractive to the audience. The name of the main character starring in the movie is usually at the top of the page and was seen in the following posters.  Some horror movie posters also show how good the film is in order to gain more audience, which also holds emphasis. Some movie posters use small sayings like in the poster above words are repeated: " She never forgives. She never forgets. She never left"- this builds tensions and attracts the reader. 

EDITING: On the movie posters for movie "the woman in black", editing has been used, as the mist around the main character (Daniel Radcliffe) signifies mysteriousness and danger, as the weather is seen to be gloomy and negative, which what conforms to the horror genre. On the background edited behind the main image sets the scene of the location of where the movie is set most of the time. The use of other images, such as the cross and the back of a body wearing all black shows mysteriousness. 

REPRESENTATION: On the horror posters, Daniel Radcliffe represents the victim of the film as he is the one who experiences the terror, which is shown as he always has a serious/ scared facial expressions, representing horror, and linking to the genre. The dark weather around the sides of the poster represent bad weather which indicates bad vibes, and negativity which is common in horror movies. 

Here is the conventions and analysis of the magazine cover and DVD cover for my chosen movie. I used paddle is create this presentation. 

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Theatrical trailer :

Director: James Watson
Release date: 10th February 2012
Genre: Horror, Drama, supernatural
Starring: Daniel Radcliff, Janet Mcteer, Ciaran Hinds
Distributors: CBS Films
Plot: A young lawyer, struggling for work after the death of his wife, is sent to a village, of a mysterious woman who used to own manor. The village residents want him to leave as they are trying to conceal a deadly secret. But he refuses, and soon discovers that the house of his client is haunted by the vengeful ghost of a woman dressed in black.

MEDIA LANGUAGE: In the woman in black trailer, the use of media language is seen through the titles and logos, which are usually the first thing seen on trailers. This shows the audience which company produced and distributed the movie. It also usually gives a age certificate, verifying what age group is able to watch the film.
CAMERA: Stereotypically, the shots used in a thriller trailer are, close ups, medium close up, establishing shots or long shots. These shots are mainly used to set the location of the film and give the audience a general idea of where the movie is based around. As in the beginning of 'The woman in black' trailer, and establishing shot is shown of a train with a backdrop showing the setting. The editing in movie trailer are usually short and snappy as the producers don't want to give away too much information, so the audience would want to watch the movie more, if they are interested and therefore it will leave the audience thinking.
MISE EN SCENE: In the mise en scene of the movie trailer above, there is close analyse of main star, Daniel Radcliffe, as the story is based around what happens to him. The movie trailer only includes certain horror scenes to create suspense and tensions for the viewer.
SOUND: Stereotypically, sound used in a horror movie trailer is slow and scary, until there is a loud noise/ bang, which could be either, diegetic or non-diegetic. in the trailer above scary and slow music is used, so this follows the code of slow music, to build tension.
EDITING: The editing of the trailer is done so that the short shots are seen, as an trailer only gives the main outline of what happens in the movie.

Main codes and conventions in this trailer:

- The start of trailer shows an establishing shot of the location- the deserted manor. This follows the codes and conventions of a horror movie as a isolated location is mainly found in horror movies because ancient homes add tension and dear to the movie.
Suspense and dark music is also heard throughout the trailer in order to add and fulfil the themes which are commonly seen in movie trailers. Moreover the audience gain a sense of the nature of the movie.
- A typical horror movie contains a vulnerable character entering an unknown location/ situation. This is clearly illustrated through the woman In black trailer

The following screenshots shows main codes and conventions of a horror movie trailers. The location- a deserted mansion, a vulnerable character looking very scared (indicating fear), ancient tools and objects (the picture), to give a sense of tension.
This has helped me gain some ideas of what type of props and techniques I would use in my trailer.