Production schedule

Date	Action	Done
Week 1	Given Brief – brainstorm ideas, begin research into horror films, analyse two horror films, produce a front cover.
Week 2	Secondary research
Week 3	Case study on an existing horror film
Week 4	Write a comparative analysis of two horror films, annotate two existing posters.
Week 5	Analyse a trailer, teaser trailer and existing film magazine
Week 6	Form groups and have first group meeting, brainstorm our ideas, and decide group roles.
Week 7	Produce production schedule, group project proposal and research and questionnaire.
Week 8	Summarise audience research findings and discuss locations for film trailer.
Week 9	Produce a draft of storyboard and organise the props actors and equipment.
Week 10	Produce a detailed draft of film poster and magazine film covers. Refine and finalise the story.
Week 11	Begin video shooting, review footage and the photo shoot for poster and magazine cover.
Week 12	Second video shoot
Week 13	Third video shoot, start the editing
Week 14	Edit video and final film posters
Week 15	Edit video and final magazine cover draft.
Week 16	Refine the video editing
Week 17	Begin our evaluation
Week 18	Evaluation
Week 19	Evaluation
Week 20	Complete the evaluation

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire

How old are you?

12-15      16-19      20-23     23+

Gender

Male      Female

What is your favourite Genre?

Romance     Drama     Horror        Comedy        Action

What is your favourite Horror genre?

Supernatural      Gory      Thriller      True     Sci-fi

Where do you watch films and How often do you watch films?

At home     Cinema     Both      Daily     Weekly     Monthly     Rarely

What was the last film you saw and where did you see it advertised?

__________________________________________ 

Poster     Trailer     Television     Magazine     Other

Do you then go out and buy it on DVD?

Yes      No

What is your favourite horror film?

___________________________________________

Did it scare you? If so, why? If not, why?

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

What makes a horror film good?

Acting      Costumes       Props      Special Effects

Film Analysis

Film title	I Spit On Your Grave
Main characters	Sarah Butler – Jennifer Jeff Branson – Jonny Andrew Howard- Storch Daniel Franzese -Stanley
Costumes/Dress codes	The men characters are all dressed in old dirty clothing as they are out camping in the woods.  The one woman character in the film is dressed covered up, and not in any way suggestive or provocative.
Setting/Decor	The film is set in the woods and a cabin reinforcing the horror genre. Which the gang of men and woman are out on a trip, separately. The setting of the film gives you an idea that something it definitely going to happen.
Music
Villains	The villains in the film would be seen as the men as they rape the woman collectively. All of them against one woman. However, once watching it you may decide the woman is the villain as she comes back for revenge killing and torturing the men.
Typical codes and conventions	The typical codes and conventions of the film is the setting as it’s in the woods a typical horror setting. Also the woman being the victim is a typical horror convention. However this is challenged when the woman comes back for revenge on the men and they become the victims. A typical horror convention is the use of weapons and tools to kill and injure them. The fact that the woman is in the woods alone is another typical horror feature as there is no way a woman would be in the woods alone, indicating to the audience that something is going to happen to her. The film hasn't got well known celbrities in it, showing it is a low budget film, like many horror movies.

Teaser Trailer Analysis: The strangers

Teaser trailers are usually released months in advance to the actual film trailer. It gives the audience an idea of what's to come. It is a shorter version of the created film trailer and is usually leaked on the internet, but can be seen in cinemas before a feature film. Usually shown for a minute or 30 seconds, jsut to excite and entice the audience for what's to come.

This teaser trailer lasts for 1 minute 15 seconds, which is longer than usual, however it excites and interests the audience of what's to come. The trailer starts off with a slideshow of pictures of different houses, looking like a home video leading us to think that maybe the characters are looking for a new house to live in, reinforcing the idea of them being family and the attacks being random. Underneath the pictures there are captions saying 'Some people people choose a house for the neighbourhood, the schools... Others a completely different reason' which leads the audience to think that the house these people move into, maybe has a story behind it, is haunted and just isnt a good house to move into.  This trailer includes 20 shots, at a number of different angles, for example the first shot is a wide shot and sets the scene as it is of a house, which the whole film is based around. The next three shots establish the characters and their relationship to one another. We are only introduced to the villains through a door, which is a wide shot, which quickly cuts to a medium close up of the woman and then a long shot of the man. The camera shots at the start of the trailer aren't fully steady, which makes it look as though the villains are watching their victims before they attack. Throughout 'The Strangers' trailer there is narration from the characters and the villain which helps sell the film without revealing too much content. The first narration we hear is between the couple, showing how loving and affectionate their relationship is. The first narration of the Villain is ‘You will die’ coming across as immediately scary and giving us an insight as to what is going to happen throughout the film. Throughout the trailer there’s a lot of screaming reinforcing the genre of the film, and the typical horror convention of the woman being the victim. The pace of the film changes from the beginning from being slow and happy to quick and snappy. The pace changes 51 seconds into the trailer, and it is an obvious change due to the sudden camera cuts and picture snaps and the up pace music. The film is divided into noticable sections, for example the shots at the beginning set the story, going at a slow happy pace, like a family slideshow. Changing suddenly to a quick action based pace, cutting quickly from scene to scene, like a picture slideshow again, showing the actual story and what happens, to the end where it is a low wide shot of the woman crawling along the floor, showing the end of the film as the woman being the one to have suffered. The mis-en-scene of the film is very dark low minimal lighting, as we see at the start of the trailer he is lighting candles. This reinforces the genre, as scary events usually happen at night, in the dark where your vision is restricted. The costumes of the characters at the start are very smart, as if they've got in from going out, showing how normal they are, doing everyday things. This reinforces the horror genre as the attacks are on a random couple. However a clip in the trailer, shows the word KILLER written in lipstick on the mirror of their bathroom, giving us a different idea that maybe the attacks aren't so random. The villains faces are hidden under masks making it a lot more scary as you can't see them, making them more dominant. Just as a clip in the trailer shows as the victims are sitting down and looking up at the villains showing how in control they are and using the fear factor to their advantage. The background setting of the film is their house, making it a lot more scarier as the villians are intruding in on their private life, being very uninvited. The props used in the trailer reinforce the film title 'The Strangers' as they have masks on, meaning we can't see their faces to identify who they are, and if the characters know them. Five clips in the trailer show weapons that would be used for protection, reinforcing a typical horror feature of fighting back to the villain, however it challenges the horror conventions as the woman also fights back. Throughout the whole trailer the sound for changing to each clip is like the pictures changing in an old projector, with a fast paced soundtrack over the top stopping at the same time as the clips stop moving, making you focus on the clip, making the audience enticed into what's happening. The way in which the film film is set in someones home and livelyhood, makes it seem much more real and as if it could be a true story.

The film is an obvious Horror/Thriller as the events shown are scary, jumpy, leave you on the edge of your seat. It has typical horror conventions as the victims want it to stop as soon as it finishes, the woman is a victim, and the man is trying to protect the woman. However, they are also challenged as the woman is also fighting back. Most horror films do not show the villains to reinforce the fear of the audience and characters, however this trailer shows the villains, not very often, however its even scarier to see exactly what it is attacking you. Sounds and shadows are used to create suspense for the characters and the audience, a typical convention of a horror film.

The Ring trailer analysis

The purpose of the trailer is to advertise the horror film, 'The Ring' and entice people to come and see it in cinema when released. It normally includes what is considered the best bits of the film, selling the film to the audience. It usually last only 1 or 2 minutes, but that is long enough to make you want to know what happens, making you go and see the film. It can be seen as a marketing device for cinemas as the films poster will be printed in magazines, leaflets and advertised on your television screens at home as well as before other films in the cinema. It usually includes the film production company, in this case it is 'Dreamworks' who produce all different genres of film.


You can establish the story due to the layout style, which is jumping from scene to scene, from start to finish establishing how this effects the characters lives. It begins with a video tape being watched, which then causes you to be haunted for seven days, which you then die. We hear in the trailer at the beginning the young girl saying "Have you heard of this video tape? It starts with somebody screaming, and then when you finished watching it, your phone rings. What they say is, you die in seven days". This gives you a clue as to what is going to happen in the film and that perhaps the main characters will try to stop this curse. The characters are established by who has the most time on the camera during the trailers. It is clear the young boy and the journalist, who is investigating this tape after the death of four teenagers including her neice, are the two main characters. The main woman in the film is a journalist and the young girl who tells her about dying in seven days, has a weird, deathlike looks about her as it is. The main character, who is in the tape and who causes people to die we finally see at the end of the film. The young boy is who we have to concentrate on the most as he becomes almost possessed by this curse, telling the journalist things the person on the tape has come to him and said. It isn't clear why this happens but a voice over says 'everyone will suffer'. Throughout the trailer the only dialouge we have is the characters lines from the film, but they are all disjointed, making you want to know why they have said that and what did someone say back to them? You can tell from listening to their voices they are becoming more and more scared about this, wanting us to go and see the film as we want to know why they are so scared. Using the characters actual lines from the film helps build up suspense. Action clips gradually build up becoming more intense twoards the end of the trailer, doing this gives us an insight to how the film will actually progress. However these actions scenes signify a change in the horror genre as the woman is the victim, but she's also being the hero at the same time. At the start of the film the music is very slow and sounds very haunted house style, it picks up pace throughout the trailer, again, giving an insight to the film and how it will progress. It cuts from scene to scene very quickly, giving the audience as much insight to the story they would need to want to go and see the film, and it fits in as much as they can in the short time given. The visual of this film is very dark, but this fits in well with the story, and its theme. We can tell it is done by a proffessional camera and industry because of the production company 'Dreamworks'. The genre is signified to the audience as it starts off explaining what the story will be, and the creepy music being played throughout. The scenes shown to us in the trailer also signify the genre as they all talk about dying and death of others inflicted by this video tape. The main graphic is at the end of the film where we see the film title, 'The Ring' which is also has the image which all the people who the tape see, making us feel as though we are watching this video tape aswell. The trailer appeals to any horror fanatics as you are kept on the edge of your seat throughout the trailer, wanting to know what happens to the people who have watched it and how it's stopped, or if it even is stopped. The pace of the trailer would entice people to come and watch it, as it would give an idea as to how the film progresses and no body likes a slow starting film. The film would also appeal to audiences as because of the way the characters talk about this video tape and what happens, it feels as thought it could be true. This film challenges typical horror movie conventions as the villain is not present throughout the film, unlike most horror films where we see the murderer. However the fast pace of the trailer clips is typical of a horror film as it has to fit in as much as possible to entice the audience to come and watch their film.

Horror poster analysis

Name & genre of film	Friday the 13TH. Horror.
Key image (camera shot/angle – purpose); expressions, posture/body language. How do they reinforce the genre?	The key image is a low angle shot looking up at the character. The purpose of this would be to show how dominant he is, as he is the murderer and his victims are obviously scared of him. This reinforces the film genre as it is a horror film and he looks scary and makes you feel scared from looking at him.
Lighting & how it influences the meaning of the text & genre.	the lighting is very low key as it reinforces the genre as it creates a scary atmosphere for the audience, and with the murderer standing out in very high-key lighting reinforces his dominance again.
costumes/dress codes; icons/props, make-up – how do the challenge or reinforce the generic conventions.	the costume of this character is a dark cloak, making him look dangerous. He also has a mask on reinforcing that he is the murderer and he doesn’t want people to see his face. The mask also makes him seems scarier than actually being able to see his face. In his hand he has a machete which is an extremely dangerous weapon, reinforcing the genre of this film.
Background, colour( connotations) & layout & how they influence meaning.	The background of this poster is a woods, and is very dark and gloomy reinforcing the genre as woods are usually associated with danger at night. Reinforcing the terrifying atmosphere for the audience.
Copy (text) – Size, font style, colour & content (title/tagline/credits/ratings etc.)	`Friday the 13th’ is written in big red writing, making it look like blood. It is also the biggest writing on the front cover making it stand out. Above the title it says ‘from the producers of chainsaw massacre’ which is a well known gruesome horror film. This would give us an idea s to what the film may be like, reinforcing the films genre. It also says at the top  of the poster ‘welcome to crystal lake’ again giving us a clue to what and where the film will be revolved around. The text of the credits etc. is all in a ghostly looking font, reinforcing the horror genre.
Target audience	The target audience of the film would be people who enjoy horror films and want to be scared at the cinema or at home. It ranges from ages 15-18 as it would be too scary for anybody under those ages to view it.
Representation of Characters – Age, race gender, Culture, sexuality etc. Do they challenge or reinforce the genre conventions.	As the main character of this appears to be a man, this would reinforce the typical horror steretype of the women being the victims.
Institutional	Details of the producers and directors are found underneath the film title. It was directed by Marcus Nisbel, it is rated an  18. Details of the producers and directors are found underneath the film title. It was directed by Marcus Nisbel, it is rated an 18.
Enigma/Narrative image (How does the poster create a ‘story’ & entice its intended audience to go see the film?) What questions does the poster ‘ask’ of the audience?	The narrative created by this poster is that this man on the front cover enjoys killing people who visit ‘crystal lake’. All the events that take place in this film happen on Friday 13th, and the number 13 is known to be unlucky. It entices the audience as although this character is on the front the do not actually know what he does. By just showing you the main character of the film and making it look gruesome and ghostly, it will entice the audience and make them want to see the film.