Paranormal Activity Poster Analysis

Generic Conventions and Iconography

Generic conventions are, elements which are expected to be in a specific type of genre for example a Romance would be expected to have a love story and heartbreak in it, whereas an action/adventure film would be expected to have a fight scene of some sort and there is always a hero, a villain and a love interest.

For my teaser trailer I am creating a psychological thriller, the generic conventions of a thriller would be to have a soundtrack that created suspense and tension within the film, there are different sub genres such as crime thriller, mystery thriller, psychological thriller and mystery thriller are just some of the sub genres, as I am doing the sub genre, psychological thriller the codes and conventions of this would be that the main characters, the protagonist and antagonist are involved in some sort of conflict, normally mentally and emotionally more than physically. The genre thriller is similar to horror they both use dramatic music to engage the audience, the non-diegetic soundtrack is normally one of the most important elements to thriller or horror films.
The stereotypical thriller genre uses shadows and dark rooms, and the plot usually takes place of a night. Not all thriller films stick to the conventions, Photobooth is one film that doesn't stick to codes and conventions as it is not filmed of a night and mostly takes place during the day, although the film doesn't fit this convention it does fit the convention of mystery. Quick cuts and slow panning is used to create the effect of panic, suspense and creates tension within the audience.

Popular pyschological thrillers are: 

Shutter Island 

Memento

Phonebooth



All three of the posters use the main character on the front, they are all male protaganist characters, none of them are looking towards the camera they are all looking towrads the side, I can relate this and get ideas for my teaser trailer.

Film Poster Research

Another product I have to make for my practical production is a film poster, I have done some research into film posters of the same genre that my teaser trailer will be to get ideas as to what I will want mine to look like. I chose to research and compare The Strangers and Dead Silence.

I feel as though 'The Strangers' film poster will be a good example to get ideas from as the genre and idea is slightly similar as to what my teaser trailer will be about, the title of the film is small and doesn't stand out as much as the rest of the picture does which shows that the title does not matter as much, the picture is of a young girl standing in what look like the kitchen/ living room and towards the back of the room in the poster there is another figure he is not as clearly seen, I would like to use this idea in my poster as my film idea/teaser trailer is about a unknown caller who phones up people and makes them kill others. If I decided to use this it could show that although the dictator is important he is hardly seen and you don't know where he is. I like the idea of this poster as you can see her surroundings and where she is, I like this because it gives you a clue as to where the scenario may happen without giving anything else away.

The Dead silence poster is a simplistic poster yet effective, it has a picture of a ventriloquists dummy on the front, the dummy has a finger to its lips as though to promote that you should be silent or something bad may happen, much like other horror films being silent is the key to surviving, much like The Strangers poster the name of the film is small and at the bottom perhaps because it is not as important as the picture. Unlike The Strangers poster where you can see the surroundings all you can see is a black background creating uncertainties.

Both posters are effective in how they have been produced and how they want to promote their films.

Synopsis

Our film idea is about a someone 'the dictator' who calls up various people 'the chosen ones' to play a game, the aim of the game is to kill off the other contestants until the last one standing is made to go to a one to one battle with 'the dictator' if 'the chosen one' kills 'the dictator' they will then take that place and become the new 'dictator'. 

The genre of our film will be psychological thriller.

The Shining Poster Analysis

Saw 3D Trailer Media Language Analysis

I did some research into what I want my teaser trailer to look like I watched the teaser trailer for Saw 3D, I think we should base our trailer on this as it has slow cuts and transitions between clips which engages the audience and will make them want to watch the whole film as it shows them part of the film and they have time to react to what they just saw, the soundtrack used within the teaser trailer goes well with the slow pace transitions this helps to build tension and suspense within the audience and makes them eager to see the whole film, over the soundtrack is a narration the voice speaks slowly and is quite a creepy voice. Lionsgate and twisted pictures logos are used at the beginning of the teaser trailer. During the trailer text appears in bold letters on a black background. At the end of the teaser trailer the title of the film and the release date are shown. The text through the whole teaser trailer are in the same font and bold writing.

There are roughly 30-35 clips in the teaser trailer which I think is a good amount to have in a psychological horror.

Magazine Cover Research

For part of my practical production I have to design a magazine cover, to get ideas for this I have done some research into what kind of pictures and text work well with each other, I decided to compare two Empire magazines to see how they promote different types of films of different genres.

The title of the magazine 'Empire' is bold but is slightly hidden by the main picture showing us that perhaps the name of the magazine name isn't as important as the rest of it.The name of the headlining film is 'The Avengers' which is in bold white capital letters making it stand out against the red background, I think I will use something similar to this on my magazine cover as it is eye catching, the picture also stands out and is attention grabbing which is what I want my picture to be like, to draw the audience in. The picture doesn't stand out as much as the title of the film though as the character sort of blends in with the background as his costume is red like the background.

I choose to compare Hellboy 2 with The Avengers, I found that by looking at both of them it seems that the picture is more important than the name of the magazine, although in the second example 'Hellboy 2' the title of the magazine goes with the theme of the film as it is red and on fire, the title of the actual film is small and doesn't stand out as much as it did on the first example, but much like the first one it is in bold capital letters. Similar to the first example both of the characters are looking towards the person who is about to read it, this may engage the audience and be an affective way to promote the film or sell the magazine because it is as though the characters are calling out for them to see it, I think this maybe be an effective way to promote my film.

For my magazine cover I may take ideas from both of the ones I have researched to make the best possible product. I like the bold film title on the first example and I like the idea of slightly changing the name of the magazine to match the headlining film.