Anciliary Tasks

The two ancillary tasks we have chosen to produce are :

Film Poster

    

Magazine cover

Initial Plots

My first plot ideas followed a very vague and diverse direction.

After debating on how I would create the different plot ideas, it turned out that the ‘friends’ plot would be ideal to create, as I have access to all elements that would be needed .
 
The next stage will be understanding what makes horror films scary, and creating an unsettling environment. The trailer will need a tempo that builds up the story whilst maintaining the horror theme. 

Codes and Conventions of Horror

The codes and conventions that are common in horror trailers are :

·         Mysterious unfamiliar locations i.e. the locations tend to look abandoned

·         Music that sets a creepy tempo

·         Normally features a Victim, Detective and Killer

·         Props used by the Killer such as Chainsaws, baseball bats, and knives

·          Guts and Gore 

·         Starts as a happy scene and gets progressively worse / scarier.

Horror

Horror films are unsettling and are designed to:

·         Frighten the audience

·         Cause dread and alarm

·         To invoke panic through hidden fears or childhood nightmares

·         The majority of horror audience enjoy the experience of being scared

·         Relate to the victims perspective, you want them to get away...

‘The rush of adrenaline from the fear of the film creates a sense of desire to continue watching.’ A lot of horror films use mystical elements such as: Zombies, Vampires, Ghosts, Monsters and psychopathic humans. Most successful horror films adhere to these horror elements as stated above, with music creating suspense and tension.

Outline plot ideas

These are a few plot outlines that I have been considering for our horror trailer...

• Family member turns EVIL
• Stalker
• Kidnap/Missing Person
• School Trip gone wrong
• Camping Trip takes a turn for the worse...
• Haunted house

At the moment the idea that we seem to be heading towards is a situation involving friends who end up being terrorised by an evil presence, or a kidnapping idea.

Horror Trailers

Here are a selection of trailers which we viewed as initial research of the horror genre...

Fright Night Trailer

Final Destination 5 (2011) trailer


Rubber


Psycho Trailer


Dawn of the Dead


Yellow Brick Road Trailer 2011


Each of these trailers have different plots and some are even hybrids, but they all come under Horror. I found this very useful and inspired me to develop my own ideas.

Initial Ideas

For my A2 course work I am going to work in a group of two with David Baverstock, as we work off each other's strengths.

After deciding upon the brief our next step was to brain storm some ideas. We needed to develop a basic storyline to work from, to focus the start of our research. The first stage was to think about the genre. Last year we did a crime thriller and made the decision to avoid this genre again, and attempt a new direction. The genre we finally settled on was HORROR!

                                                              

The next stage: we felt it was important to research the genre of Horror, and watch as many Horror trailers as possible. This will allow us to understand the codes and conventions of the Horror genre and develop our idea/storyline.

A2 Media Advanced portfolio Course Work

Max Phipps  8428
Queensbury Sch 15205
Media Studies A2

The brief that I decided to produce was a promotion package for a new film.
The following will include a teaser tralier and two of the following three options:

•  A website homepage for a film
• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film
• A poster for the film. 

I have chosen to create a Teaser trailer, as it is similar to the brief  that I picked last year. Learning from what had gone wrong in my last project, I will feel better prepared to plan more effectively.