Group Idea

Trailer Analysis

Shot Lists

Shot List Drafts

How has research into key media concepts and theory impacted our ideas?

Genre:

Genre conventions for horror have impacted almost every element of our film plot and trailer. Starting with the setting. We chose somewhere that is easily recognisable with the horror genre – a grave yard. It incorporates several elements of a common horror setting such as darkness and association with death. The graveyard setting also has a history that is shocking and horrible (we discover that it is the home of a mass grave of prisoners of war in the film). We also set parts of our film and trailer in a normal household, this helps with creating a false-equilibrium, that all is well, before the graveyard setting helping with the disequilibrium. 

The technical codes that we are using, such as camera shots, have been specifically chosen because they are common within the horror genre and hep with suspense. For example, several of our shots in the trailer are going to be POV shots, either subjective or objective, they both help create suspense equally as well. We are not going to use a tripod or dolly for some of our shots, and use the camera handheld instead, to allow shots to be slightly shakey and irregular to create a sense of chaos. This will dominantly be used in our trailer when we are portraying the paranormal activity that is going.

The iconography of our trailer will also adhere to some horror conventions. Lighting will often be dark, (we will be using a night mode filter to help with this), and colours like red and black will be featured heavily. The props in our film will also be common in horror, such as grave stones, crosses, and a mental asylum/hospital gown. The subgenre of our film/trailer is paranormal, which is a common theme for horror films also.

There are several themes running through our film/trailer that are common in horror, such as religion, binary oppositions such as good v’s evil, the super natural and madness. This is shown through the cross identifying the mass grave, the ghost v the main character, and the final girl going mad.

Narrative

Narrative theory has helped and impacted our ideas from planning where to film to the shot lists. Vladimir Propp and Claude Levi-Strauss has helped us pick out the film characters and who they would be representing in the film. With Propp he has 8 character roles that we could choose from and potentially have within our trailer. For our characters we have a final girl ‘Kendall’ who in the ends up surviving, however, we made it so that it’s unconventional and that she ends up being mentally scarred from what had happened throughout the film. We have only thought about having one main character which is Kendall, but for the rest of the characters they’re mainly in the background or are hardly in the film/trailer. For the villains in the film/trailer we have thought about it being a spirit from a mass grave who wants a proper burial – this is when Kendall decides to bring the body back up, but then she is accused of being a grave digger by the police. For Levi-Strauss there are binary opposites from the character types and the setting point of view – the final girl, Kendall and the spirit would obviously be Good/Evil. In the film trailer we have planned the only normal thing about it so far is the main character Kendall, everything starts to go pear shaped and strange after she has visited the grave yard the first time and then goes home to see that the news is talking about that grave yard she visited and others all around the world - Normal/Strange. When Kendall has visited the grave yard for the first time, she realises that when she’s in there it’s a mass grave, but doesn’t know what’s going to happen to her and doesn’t know what’s going to happen for it to be on the news – Known/Unknown. The mass grave and the people who are buried are from the past (WWII) and Kendall and the rest of the characters such as the police etc. are in the present – Past/Present.

Representation:

Our film/trailer has several elements that relate to the various theorists in terms of representation. 

Jeremy Tunstall stated that women are shown in one of four different ways: Domestic, Sexual, Marital and Consumer. Our final girl character is not shown as marital and sexual, due to us wanting her to fit into the ‘final girl’ character type, not the whore. Saying this, she could be seen as showing the domestic role, as the beginning shots are of her in the kitchen making coffee. She is also shown to be a consumer, as in one or two of the first few shots, she had a fresh bunch of flowers, to put on the grave. These would’ve had to have been bought that day, but we never actually see this. So it is not directly shown she is a consumer, but implied. 

It is also common for women to be shown as weak or unable to defend themselves in horror films, but our character, Kendall, is the one who decides to try and help/fix the ghost situation by digging up a grave and dealing with dead bodies. This is not a usual plot point the would be associated with a woman.

Laura Mulvey’s male gaze is something we have thought about when coming up with our shot list and discussing shot types. We have decided to not make the audience voyeurs in any way (by revealing her in a sexual way or by making her be being watched by another character while she is unaware). This was done purposefully in order to emphasise that she is the ‘final girl’ character, and is androgynous, and so should not be seen as a sexual object.

In ‘Men Women and Chainsaws’ by Carol Clover, she states that ‘masochistic identification’ is key for the horror genre, as men identify with the female character. We decided to have our main character, that gets harassed and bullied by the spirit be female, to allow this identification to happen. Although there are other elements of Clovers research that we have not embraced in our film, such as a repressed sexuality of the murderer. We don’t have a murderer character in the plot line of our film, the closest thing is the antagonist spirit, which had not been given a proper burial, causing him to cause havoc, rather than a repressed sexuality. The final girl, gender fluidity of her and her being empowered are all ideas embraced by our film/trailer. Kendall represents the final girl. We purposefully gave her an androgynous name, adding to the gender fluidity of her character, and she makes decisions, such as digging up bodies, that would usually be associated with men making. She is empowered as she takes the situation into her own hands, and doesn’t include anyone else to help her do the task. We can’t determine if Kendall is saved, or saves herself, as the paranormal activity is never resolves, as she gets caught and accused of being a grave robber before she can complete her plan to lay the spirit to rest.

Audiences and institutions:

Firstly, we thought about what age range we wanted our film to be. In order to make our target audience as wide as possible, we decided our film should be a 15. This is because research shows that the biggest horror audience is males aged 15-24, so making it an 18 age rating would cause the film to not be available to 3 years of the target audience. We made the film appropriate to this age by not including any explicit scenes of death or murder, as if these were included, it would’ve been sure to be an 18. We also decided that the language used in our film should be relatively mild, and not included any ‘F’ or ‘C’ bombs, to allow us to be appropriate to a 15-year-old audience.

The release date of our film was also crucial when thinking about audiences and institutions. We identified that the most popular time of year for horror films to be successful is around Halloween. This was proven by the success of other horror films on and around Halloween, so we made the release date the 31^st of October. Not only does this help with the scariness and appeal of the film, it is long enough before Christmas that people aren’t tight up from buying presents yet, and therefore can still afford to go to the cinema.

The Woman in Black

Why do you think the primary and secondary audience is for the Woman in Black?

The main and primary audience for the film 'The Woman in Black' is for both males and females over the age of 12 but below early 20's. The audience has to be 12 or over because of the age rating of the film being a 12A which may mean that the distributers were wanting and hoping for  the audience to be intentionally young..The primary audience can also be those who are intrigued in jumpy horror movies. The secondary audience would be the middles class over 25's - purely because of the story coming out through a book before the film which would indicate a more mature and middle class and the older generation audience. The story also turned into a play coming into theatres which would again attract a more mature, middle class and older audience. Having the film as a rating of a 12A, the young audience will have parents going to the cinemas to watch it with them which would make them intrigued and interested in the film too.

How was The Woman in Black marketed?

Firstly, a test trailer is ran and shown to the audience to get their reaction and for their advice on what they thought on the narrative and the outcome was. Having feedback given to the test trailer is good for the future use of the trailer for improvements and to make the final trailer a lot better. When the test trailer is shown, the next step is to produce and release the main campaigns which include the trailers and the posters. Another way of The Woman in Black is marketed is getting through to the younger audience whom are mostly in the world of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc. Putting adverts onto this media platform gives the company a wider branch of the target audience and it makes the film and adverts more approachable. Getting the older audience's to notice the advertisements and the main campaigns is putting them in print based platforms such as newspapers, magazines and also radio adverts through the car, phone and the TV. Having so many different advertisements on many different platforms is meant to potentially give the audience the main buzz and excitement towards the release of the film. They also advertised the film into 64 different countries which opens their target audience a lot - it makes the film more noticeable and more approachable for the audience. One of the main reasons to why the it was all advertised the way it was, was because of Daniel Radcliff - Daniel is famous and is well known for being in the Harry Potter films and he plays a complete different character/role in The Woman in Black - this may be one of the reasons to why the audience was excited, so they can see Daniel play someone different.

Do you think the marketing materials for the film were appropriate? Why?

I think the marketing materials for the film were very much appropriate because if they hadn't met their targets it wouldn't be as successful as it is now. The reason to why the marketing materials were appropriate was because they gathered a huge recollection of the younger audience (primary audience). As social media, phones and the internet are taking over the younger audiences social life, they are always on their phones or on some sort of social media app. Having putting the advertisements on a different media platform, they managed to bring in the target audience's attention towards the film. They also managed to get the secondary target audience's attention through not so much the internet platform but through radio, interviews, newspapers, magazines, TV ads. Having a huge advertisements and a large campaign brought the film and the marketing to a massive success.

What kind of release did the film have?

The film was released in the US and Canada on the 3rd of February 2012 and was released in the UK on the 10th of February 2012. In the United States it was shown to the audience on over 2,855 screens and during the opening week it had made over $20,874,072 which is £16,668,472.29. In the UK it had shown on over 412 screens and had made £3,153,020 during the first week of screening. Overall the film had made over $127,730,736 worldwide and was shown over 2850 theatres through 46 different countries.

How much did The Woman in Black cost to make? And what was the industry impact of The Woman in Black?

Their budget was estimated at $17.000.000 but in total, it cost them $15,000,000 to make the film. The film also became the highest-grossing British horror film in 20 years and in the UK film charts it was up in the top 3 for over 3 weeks. After being in the top 3 films for 3 weeks in the charts earned them £14,598,813. The biggest industry impact was for Hammer - it became the biggest US opening for a Hammer film in all of Hammer history.

Why do you think the film was so successful?

I think the film was so successful because of who they chose to be one of the main characters which is Daniel Radcliff playing Arthur Kipps. Having such a huge success in the Harry Potter films, that is who he is known as, and because he is playing such a different role in this film the audience wanted to see how different and how well he plays a different character to Harry Potter. Another reason is because of the advertisement and the build up to the release of the film. Having so many different types of adverts on many different media platforms in over 46 different countries really brought the primary and secondary target audience's attention to the film.

Production Diary

FDA UK Distribution Guide and Film Distribution Questions

Individual Trailer Idea

Synopsis:

A group of teenage boys and girls go off into a forest to find an abandoned and potentially haunted mansion. They decide to stay there for a few nights but things gradually get worse for the group. Within the house there is paranormal activity happening whether it's just a ghost or its a poltergeist. One by one the poltergeist/ghost is killing off the group, first off the girl that is mostly sexual and is after one of the boys in the group, then the middle and normal guys and lastly the most innocent and 'virgin' girl is the 'final girl', however she is not killed - she stays alive but hurt. 

The film starts out with them at school/college in the UK, they then decide to make a road trip to no destination in particular, but to just go exploring and to find what ever to rest for the night. They have a big family car as there is a big group of people going - as they get closer to the house more and more things keep going wrong - things missing, the car doesn't start, burst tyres etc. Throughout the film there is a discrete shadow and figure of the poltergeist/ghost but you never see it grab anyone from the group. 

The film ends by everyone but the 'final girl' dying and leaving her no way of getting her home because of what happened to the car on the way to the house. The film ends with her in shock not knowing what to do and how to get home (her phone has no signal when being in the middle of a forest). 


Setting:

Abandoned Mansion/House in a Forest
School/College
Car
Filmed throughout the day, night, in the car, school/college, mansion

Characters:
3 boys and 3 girls...1 or 2 of them being in a relationship.
School/College students
Parents?
Poltergeist/Ghost

Men, Women and Chainsaws Reading

What does Clover mean by 'female victim-hero'?
Clover connects a Stephen King film 'Carrie' to the female victim hero. What happens in the film makes Carrie FVH from the school she attended and that all of the students are bullying her because of the way she was dressed and that she got her first period in the changing room shower.


Why does Clover say that males relate to the females in horror films, in particular, the 'final girl'?
Clover goes over about how Steven King stated that Carrie is like a boy and was made fun of by someone pulling his trousers down and making his glasses dirty.


Why does Clover suggest that horror research is problematic?
Clover states that the horror audience can range in a variety of different ways. She concludes this in research that she carried out near a local blockbuster store which is where she had tracked what gender was buying a film called M5.

Who does Clover suggest makes-up the typical horror audience?
Clover suggests that the typical horror audience both watch horror movies on their own and within groups such as family and/or friends. Most of the audience watch the movies with a mixed number of people both female and male. However Clover has suggested that the larger population and majority of people who watch horror movies are male. When watching a horror movie with friends they tend to make it more scary by screaming or trying to make one another jump which makes it enjoyable and fun for them to watch.

Was there parity between horror audiences in regards to those who watched horror films at the cinema and those who watched them at home through rentals?
Clover identified the fact that the males, both young and middle aged liked to watch horror films more that females - both young and middle aged. When the young/middle ages males watch a horror film with a young/middle aged female it is mainly for dates at the cinema or at home, which then gives him the chance to show his strength and bravery to comfort the female from the film. The reason to why the male would have to comfort the female is because they are stereotypically known for getting frightened at a horror film. For rentals, clover identified and made it clear that there was the same amount of people having rentals as well as going to the movies. The people with rentals would not watch the films alone, they would watch them in friendship groups or a couple for potentially a date.

What are the two ways identified by Clover in which audiences identify with characters?
Clover has suggested that the way audiences are identified with characters are through two different ways; primary and secondary identification. The meaning of primary identification is through the world of the camera and Secondary is meant by the characters choice. Clover suggests that through the male gaze by Mulvey, the camera angles and movement is representing the eyes of the male looking at the female through a sexualised way. As an example to the male gaze theory it has been presented in the film 'The Cabin in the Woods'