I have taken 14 different screen shots of different things throughout the final film trailer that I created. The screen shots will show different things for example props, costumes, setting, camerawork etc. Before creating the film trailer I did some research into real media films that I could relate to as they were from the same genre and also use ideas of how to set out the trailer I created. The main film I chose to look at was 'The Hitcher'. This trailer had a total of 95 cuts and about 10 different locations throughout the trailer. This was useful to know because it gave me a rough idea of how many of each I would need to include when I made my own.
The first screen shot I have taken from my finished trailer was the title 'Psychotic'. The title is a main convention in existing horror trailers. We decided to put the title at the end of the film which most trailers do, this is because the audience will watch the trailer and then find out what it's called at the end. Our title was red writing which suggests horror and it's placed on a black background which also shows it's horror, this is also a common convention across most horror trailers which is another reason why we chose to do this. I think over all this worked well because it makes the title stand out as its in red writing. I think the font that we chose to use was a good idea because its a simple font and not too dramatic, also we knew the target audience would like it as we did a font title questionnaire to find out which ones the audience would like.
The next screen shot is to show another title that we added right at the very end of the trailer even after the main title. This writing says 'Coming Soon'. We decided to add this because most trailers give a release date or say coming soon to let the audience know that it will be released in cinemas soon. This was an important convention because lots of different trailers tell their audience when the film will come out by giving them an exact date or just by saying 'Coming Soon'. The writing for this was the same as the title, red writing on a black background. We decided to use the same font because we looked at different horror trailers that already exist for example 'The Hitcher' and they do this as well.
The third screen shot is of the setting which is the forest. This is a typical convention of a horror trailer because many trailers show the main setting to let the audience know where the film is going to be set, this is normally with a mid shot or long shot, and the screen shot shows we have used a mid shot for this. Throughout the trailer we decided to show the different settings as we didn't just have one throughout the whole thing. We included quite a few scenes from the forest setting so the audience know straight away partly where its set and what's going to happen. We also chose a forest setting because its scary and horror like and a typical setting. I think this worked well as it establishes the setting for the audience so they know exactly what genre its going to be, also it grabs the audiences attention and makes them more excited and builds more tension.
The fourth screen shot is of another setting which is the main characters house. I have decided to add this screen shot as well as it shows another location in the trailer. This is a main convention because in most horror films they show quite a few different settings from throughout the film which is what we have tried to do in ours. I think this works well because we have a number of different shots throughout the trailer of each different setting which shows the audience where it is set to give them an idea of what could happen, this might make them want to watch it more. However I think if I was to do this again I would probably add a few more settings as in most of the horror trailers that I researched they had at least 10 different locations/settings.
The fifth screen shot I have chose is of the car. This screen shot shows a prop that we used in the trailer. The car was used as a prop as it shows how the group of girls got too and from each destination. This could also be classed as another setting as it was used quite a bit in the beginning of the trailer. The horror film trailer that we used as inspiration also used a car as a prop, this is another reason why we thought we would use it in ours. I think it worked well as it explains the story line from the beginning to let the audience know what could happen towards the end of the actual film also it makes the trailer seem more realistic as many horror trailers contain some sort of transport.
The sixth screen shot I have used is a worms eye view camera angle of one of the characters. This shot shows camera work as it shows that we have used a worms eye view shot. This camera angle could show that the character is quite powerful in the trailer because she is up high and could suggest she is more important than the other characters in the trailer. This might show the audience that she is the antagonist in the trailer if she is stronger. We decided to use this camera angle as we have seen it used in other horror trailers that we previously watched. I think this works well because it shows how powerful the character is so that the audience know before they watch the whole film.
The seventh screen shot I have chosen from the trailer is of an over the shoulder shot of the main character looking into the mirror. This shot was from the ending of the trailer, we decided to use an over the shoulder shot because it shows her expression in the mirror but you can still see her without looking at her face in the mirror. This was also because she was trying to wash blood off her hands and then it shows she's worried in the mirror as it wouldn't come off. I think this worked well as it was a good way to show how she was feeling and show her expressions, if I was to do this again I would of filmed from a bit further away from the mirror which might give a better effect.
The eighth screen shot was of an editing technique that we used in our trailer. The transition that we used was a fade. We faded from one clip to another clip in our film, this was because we thought it made it look better and add a better effect instead of having a straight cut. This was also used because it flicks from one scene to another, house to car. I think this worked well in the trailer because from researching different horror trailers we saw that some of them do contain different transitions and they are normally a fade effect. The pictures of this one show the fade from the house to the road sign.
The ninth screen shot I have chosen is of the green rating screen that most trailers use. This is a common convention of film trailers because lots of them use this at the beginning of the trailer. These indicate to the audience if the film is approved and for which audience. We used this as we saw lots of trailers we watched included it at the beginning so we did to. I think this works
well as its a convention of many horror trailers and it indicates straight away that its a trailer.
As well as creating a film trailer we had to create a film poster and magazine cover as part of the promotional package. Below is a picture of both the poster and magazine. I think the magazine front cover that we created shows a lot of the main conventions that most film magazines contain. The first convention it has is a big bold title that stands out to the audience. Obviously we had to have this title as its the same font and title style that the 'Total Film' magazines use but its still a convention. The next convention is the bar code, this is because every film magazine has a barcode. The main convention we have stuck to when creating our film magazine was the big main image on the whole page. We chose to use a big picture of our main character as the background. This is because it advertises the film straight away as its the main character from the film, also it stands out to the audience especially as she has blood on her arm as it will appeal to them if horror is what they are looking for. Another convention we have used is the title of the film itself, on the left hand side we have included the title of our film in the same font that we used in our trailer. This is a convention because many films include the title of the main film they are trying to advertise. We also added little cover lines on each side of the magazine front cover, this is also a convention because from researching different film magazine front covers we saw that they all have cover lines explaining briefly what's going to be inside the magazine and what it contains. Over all I am happy with the magazine front cover as I think it looks realistic. However if I was to redo this I would probably make the 'Welcome to the movies!' smaller and in a different font and I would also maybe add pictures of the other characters to the background and add a few more cover lines.
The poster that we created contains a lot of the conventions that horror film posters contain. For example we have the main image as the background which is also pretty dark which shows straight away it is either going to be a thriller or horror. The main image we used is also of the main character which is a typical convention for some horror films. The title we used wasn't really a typical convention because most horror film posters have a big bold title that would stand out straight away, we stepped away from this convention and used the same font for the title we used on the trailer and added this to the poster, the only different thing was we made the title white and not red like the trailer. It does still kind of stick to the convention of a title standing out because its on a dark background and its in white which makes it stand out, also its the biggest writing we have on the page. The next convention that we used when making the poster was the 'Coming soon' or release date. We decided to add 'Coming soon' on the bottom of our poster to let the audience know it will be in cinemas soon to get them excited and want to see it more. Another convention that we have used is a slogan, this is because many film posters have a slogan that links in with the film trailer. The slogan we used was 'The truth is hidden in the silence.' We used this slogan because we thought it worked really well as in the trailer you don't get to find out who the antagonist is. We put this at the top of the poster so that the audience would see it clearly and probably read it first to grab their attention. The last convention that we used was the billing block at the bottom of the poster. We added this to the bottom of the poster because most horror film posters that we researched had this at the bottom saying who the main characters were etc. I think over all the film poster works well and stands out to the target audience.
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