Prop List

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The Exorcist Ancillary Task

http://theexorcist.warnerbros.com/

Here is the link to the offical website for the film 'The Exorcist'
I was able to share this link by using the share button at the bottom of the website page, it took me to my blog in a new tab and from there I went to a new post and added the link for the film

Here is my prezi of the exorcist official website and poster analysis (this is the updated version with more analysis on the poster)

Equipment List

Codes and Conventions

·       Depth field

-          Depth of field are normally used in horror trailers as it makes it difficult to see what`s creeping up behind the leading role

·         Hand- held shots

-          Hand-held is also a technique that could be used as it gives feeling of terror and the unknown because it makes it difficult for the audience to see what is going on. Furthermore it makes them feel part of the trailer.

·         Point of view Shot

-          Point of view could be used in order to show the audience the villains or any other characters point of view

·         Extreme-close-up

-          On here the audience is able to identify the characters fear if they are not able to, it makes the scene more terrifying

·         Camera Work

-          For camera work slow paced editing is used which build tension as the audience do not know what is going to happen next. For example a someone smiling may jump out in order to scare you

-          Fast editing is also used as it create tension

·         Diegetic sound

-          For diegetic sound ambient sound is used like breathing for example which is a great way to create tension and increase the climax in a horror trailer

·         Non-diegetic

-          This technique is also used to create sounds like sound of heart beat which is what one of the main sound that is used in a horror trailer. This also makes the more intense as the heart beat is getting louder and faster.

·         Long shot

-          This shot is normally used in horror trailer as it helps to express a sense of weaknesses of the victim

·         High/Low Angle

-          This helps demonstrate status and power

·         Lighting

-          The lighting in a horror trailer creates fear as the audience is hardly able to see anything.

·         Jump cut

-          This techniques helps quickens time in a horror trailer

·         Ambient Sound

-          This is usually realism so for example twigs, whistling noises or the sound of real blowing wind. 

Film Industry Research

Focus Group analysis of results

Focus Group

Questionaire 1 & 2 Analysis

Mood Board Questionaire Results

Mood Board Questionaire

For this quesionaire we made four moodboards showing different horror themes with iconography. I posted the mood boards on facebook, and tagged 20 friends who are my target audience and asked them to like and leave a comment on the mood board they liked the most and thought would make the best horror. Their choices were schizophrenia and hallucinations, Zombies, Possesion and Exorcisms or Slasher. 

Audience Questionaire results

Here are the results for our Audience Questionaire

I only asked males to fill out the questionaire becasue our target audience is males.

The majority of the people who filled out the questionaire were aged 17-20, this allows us to make our film trailer a higher age rating

Some of the films we analysed were the most popular and all the other films mentioned I put into sub genre catagories

The most popular sub genre was psychological

This question tells us that to make the trailer scary we need to mostly include jumpy parts and suspence

Based on this we will be aiming to make our trailer an 18 age rating for its content

To best advertise out trailer we will be putting it on YouTube

For our trailer we will keep the pace slow to build up suspence

Audience Questionaire

1)    What gender are you?

a)    Male

b)    Female

2)    How old are you

a)    13-16

b)    17-20

c)    21+

3)    What are your top 3 favourite horror films

1)

2)

3)

4)    What is your favourite Sub Genre of horror

a)    Dark Comedy

b)    End of the world/Apocalypse

c)    Crime investigation

d)    Sci Fi

e)    Psychological

f)     Action

5)    For you what makes a horror film or trailer scary

a)    jumpy parts

b)    Loud stings of music or screaming

c)    gore

d)    suspense

e)    a specific fear e.g. clowns or spiders

f)     other – if chosen please specify

6)    What age rating films do you watch the most?

a)    12

b)    15

c)    18

7)    How do you find out about new films coming into cinema?

a)    YouTube

b)    Cinema websites

c)    Imdb.com

d)    Friends

e)    Other – if you chose other please specify

8)    Would you rather see fast pace shots showing the intensity of the story, or would you prefer a slow pace in a trailer to better explain the storyline, why?

a)    Fast Pace

b)    Slow pace    

Target Audience

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Oculus trailer Analysis

The music used in this trailer is a mixture of ticking noises and distorted sounding stings all these sounds are either very sharp and screechy or very low and bassy, they create an atmosphere which is cold, scary and jumpy which puts the viewer on edge. This music clearly represents the genre, horror.

The dialogue in the trailer is mostly questions or statements that raises questions; for example, the first thing said in the trailer is “hello again, you must be hungry?” this is said to a mirror that was covered up, the same person then goes on to her brother to say “I found it” “we only have a few days, to keep our promise and kill it” this gives a mysterious and spooky feel to the film because they are in danger by something not even human which raises a lot of questions for the audience.

There is no voice over used for this trailer, by doing this and having only dialogue from the film, I feel that this gives a more realistic feel which also draws you in more because the people in the film sound like they are directly talking to you.

The expression and moment of the characters in the trailer show well that the film is a horror, because the characters look scared mostly as they are running away from something or are curled up in a ball crying as if they are hiding from someone or something. We also see the faces of people who have been possessed by the mirror or have been created by the mirror as an illusion; these people have glassy, grey looking eyes (that represent the mirror) and have a disturbing look about them.

The Lighting in this trailer is cool toned, and the props and décor is mostly natural earthy colours or white. This gives a cold and creepy atmosphere. But when it is evening time the lights flicker and the bulbs break, leaving them in darkness or with very little lighting, this represents the scary stereotype that comes with the horror genre that is everything scary come out at night.

The main prop in this trailer is the mirror and we see the mirror in plenty of pictures along with its victims, this makes it apparent that the mirror is something to be scared of. In this trailer it is made clear that you only see what the mirror wants you to see and a small example showing its power is when the woman is eating an apple puts it down next to a light bulb, we see her almost pick the apple up again, but then we hear the breaking glass and see her pulling glass out of her bleeding mouth.

The pace of the shots in the first half of the trailer are quite long and slow because at that point we are picking up some the story, learning who some characters are and are just listening and seeing information so that there is a story line for use to follow. Then in the second half of the trailer the pace picks up, the shots are fast and short which represents panic, danger and fear.

In the trailer we see a lot of point of view shots, which are often reflections in the mirror. When the girl is talking to her brother we see a lot of shot/reverse shots because it shows their expression, which in this trailer is mostly distress or crying which strongly represents the genre because they are scared.

The Shots in this trailer are mostly long shots and close ups, this allows us to see the persons full body and then their face and this tells us where they stand, whether they are a threat to the other characters or if they are one of the ‘good guys’ we gather this from their posture, from the long shot and expression, from the close up.

The depth of field in this trailer is all mostly short because that makes everything seem more up close and personal, it makes the trailer seem more scary and jumpy because whatever it is that is a threat to you or is scaring you is right in front of you and not 20 feet away.

Close ups are also used to tell us that something is important or is about to go wrong, for example when the woman put the apple down next to the light bulb in close up we automatically know that something bad is going to happen, in the close up you see her reach for the apple so you think she’s safe but then it cuts to a different shot, that’s when you hear the glass, the close up shots made you think something was going to happen before it did which puts the audience on the edge of their seat which is an important aspect of a horror.

28 Days Later Analysis

I the trailer techniques are used to reflect the genre, horror, for example if we look at the editing, there are lots of short clips one after the other, the fast pace of the short cuts adds the feeling of panic, danger and urgency. Strait away the audience knows from this that the film is going to be an intense horror film.

The transitions used in this trailer are mostly fades to cuts to black; the only other fade used is where the picture folded in to the middle of the screen. The transitions in the beginning of the trailer, before we know anything about the film, are cuts to black; this is because here the shots are very fast and short. The fade into black transitions are used when the cuts are longer, this is because it is not an intense part of the trailer.

Dialogue such as “you never go anywhere alone unless you’ve got no choice” and “only travel in day light” gives the audience little information to go on, this will make them curious and leaves them with questions. These two quotes are clear representations of the trailers genre, because horrors are supposed to be scary and typically people are more afraid on their own and especially in the dark.

To tell the audience that the film will be about humans that are turning into undead zombie like creatures, a few extracts are included in the trailer such as “Infected! Infected with what!?” and “There’s something in the blood”. The fact that it is a zombie film tells us that it is horror.

The sound effects in the trailer are important to portray the genre. Some of the sound effects included are distorted radio sounds, explosions and alarms/sirens. The distorted radio shows that they are alone and isolated because that have lack of contact. The explosions and alarms/sirens show danger and panic.

In the fast pace parts of the trailer there is fast electronic music to match the intensity. However near the end we have very slow and soft music before returning to the electronic music as the trailer ends.

The close up shots show us the expression of the characters in the trailer. We see close ups of the people panicking, hiding, looking scared and we also see some close ups of the infected people too. The close ups of the people show the audience how the characters feel and how they are put in danger and are fighting for their survival. The close up of the infected persons face shows their lack of emotion, they are not smiling or looking angry or sad, they are emotionless monsters that through their emotion do not look human any more.

Long shots are used to show the difference between the infected and non-infected characters typically by the undeads stiff movements and their messy and bloody appearance as apposed to the humans fast and smoother movements. We see with a lot of the long shots, the characters are running away from danger.

To see the effects that the outbreak has had on the world, wide shots are used showing the empty streets and all the destruction that the infection has caused. We can see from these shots that there are not many people left; we assume that they are dead. The destruction, lack of life and debris shows us that the genre is horror by portraying it in an apocalypse.

The lighting in this trailer is dark or has red filters or lights. The reason it dark in most of the trailer is because they are outside at night time or inside without any lights, the fact that it is dark and it is night time makes the scene more scary because its not so much what you can see on screen but what you can’t because it/they are concealed by the darkness. The red lighting is from explosions and the red filters add a sense of danger.

The costumes used were hospital gowns and scrubs for the male character we see, body armor, helmets, guns and for the zombie we see at the end their eyes are red. By these costumes we can see who is a threat and what measures people have resorted to in this end of the world/ apocalypse scenario to keep themselves safe and alive, hence the guns and body armor.

For the settings in the trailer we see that the streets are bare with no people in sight, paper and litter all over the floor and cars tipped over and so on. Of that part of the trailer the shots are quite long to show the amount of debris and to show how everyone has seemed to disappear this adds a mysterious and scary feel.

We see the difference from the living and the undead in the movement in this trailer; the undead have very twitchy movements. The people in this trailer are mostly running, panting or hiding and their strongest emotion shown is fear. This tells the audience through the characters actions and emotions that the film is a horror.

The Exorcist Trailer Analysis

The music used in this trailer is quite slow and weary which gives a creepy and gloomy feel, this is expressing the horror genre letting the audience know strait away that this film is a horror.

The voice over used is a male, low-pitched husky sounding voice, he speaks slowly, and in his dialogue he speaks of another world in the darkness. He also says that “no one expected it, no one believed it and no one could kill it” not saying what it is draws in the audience.

The dialogue in the trailer includes a lot of screaming and shouting this shows panic and danger, it also tells us that the characters are scared and some angry. “I’m telling you that that thing up there isn’t my daughter” said the mother in the trailer, this tells the audience that there is some un natural problem causing the daughter to be possessed. The genre is shown clearly through this dialogue in the trailer.

The setting in the trailer is set in a few scary places such as a dark attic or outside at night time. This sets the scene to be scary and creepy to fit the genre. Other settings we see in the trailer are the girls bed room, were we see furniture flying through the air and see items breaking, this shows anger and distress.

The expression of the characters in this trailer shows them looking scared or shocked or angry this represents the genre well. The characters are screaming in terror and the girl in anger because she is being possessed by the devil. Other expression in this trailer is the mother gasping in shock.

The lighting is dark and creepy in this trailer in doing so this creates the correct horror atmosphere for the genre. Outside it is night time so all the outdoors shots are dark with street lamps shows a persons silhouette. There are also some shots inside the house where it is dark and the shadows and lack of light makes the setting scarier.

The pace of the shots in the trailer are quite long, they are done this way to add stealth, the story is told by the voice over and by the characters dialogue during these long shots. There are also some shorter shots that are used for a dramatic effect; these short clips such as the end clip of the girl possessed add a sense of danger and fear.

A few of the shots used are done as a point of view from the girl possessed and we can hear her voice (which has been distorted from young girls voice to a demonic voice), this is done to not give away what she looks like when she is possessed, it adds mystery.

The first transition we see is when the light goes out in the attic while the woman is holding a candle, she gasps and the light goes out we hear the voice over say “the world of darkness”, this dramatic effect shows that the genre is horror.

There are a lot of close ups used in this trailer, this is done to show the characters expression, for example the mother runs to her daughters bed room because she is calling out for her, the mother opens the door and when she sees her daughter we see her pulling a very shocked expression. Close ups are also used to show peoples faces when they are screaming and showing distress, showing these expressions with a close up adds emphasis.

There are only a few mid shots are used in the trailer, this is when characters are having conversation and not in shots where tensions are running high. This is because there is no need for a dramatic close up shot when nothing dramatic is happening.

Zoom is used when the mother sees her daughter when she opens the door to her room in the beginning of the trailer, the zoom goes from a close up of the mothers face to a more extreme close up to make the shock seem more dramatic. 

Freytag`s Pyramid

Freytag`s Pyramid

As a group we also made some research and found out about Freytag`s pyramid.

Freytag Gustav was a Nineteenth century German novelist who thought that there was common story patterns in stories as well with novels. In order to share his ideas, he created a story plot by using a pyramid like the one shown above.

·         Exposition

-          This is setting the scene. The director would introduce the setting as well as the characters and also be providing description and background.

·         Rising Action

-          This mean that the story is getting more interesting and the action is building up and is getting more existing.

·         Climax

-          This is where the moment of the greatest tension of a story happens. This is normally the most exiting events. This is usually helped by the rising action build up.

·         Falling action

-          This is where the events are happening because of the results of the climax. It`s also a sign that the story is going to end soon.

·         Resolution

-          The resolution bit is when the characters end up solving the main problem or someone solves it for him/her.