When we start looking at what are target audience will be we have considered the target audiences of other horror thrillers ;
The Unborn
The audience for The Unborn was ; 51% Male and 49% Female. The Age Was 15 - 24yr olds 54%, 25 - 34 yr 26% and 35 + 20 %. The social class split of the audience was AB 19% , C1 37% ,C2 15% and DE 29% (Statistics from Pearl and Dean Website)
The Eye
The Audience for The Eye was ; again 51% male and 49% female. The age was 15-24 54% , 25-34 26% and 35+ 20% , the results again the same as The Unborn. The social class split of the audience was AB 19% , C1 37% ,C2 15% and DE 29% (Statistics from Pearl and Dean Website), again exactly the same.
When studying the results for horror thrillers from the pearl and dean website many of them were the same or very similar. i also found that the genre is not receiving a main stream audience but is more a niche genre of Aspirer's and Adventurers (unless big name Hollywood stars are in the film for example part of the success of the horror Mirrors (fall 2008) i s down to the casting of Kieffer Sutherland).
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Monday, 23 February 2009
Ideas for Antagonist (masks)
Here are some images that we have based our ideas on for our characters mask. We liked the idea of a scarecrow with blood stains and stitched face - (like the one from Batman Begins in one of the pictures below) we also were inspired by medieval executioners which also incorporates some of the scarecrows style.
Another idea we have had is incorporating a military feel to our character ,so a balaclava was the obvious choice, but when comparing the two (scarecrow and balaclava)the scarecrow mask still felt right for the character and would receive the more desired fearful reaction from our target audience. we thought of ways of making the balaclava more 'scary' and mixed and matched a few ideas. Our best idea was adding a modern Hannibal Lecter style mouth restraint over the top and blacking out the eye patch's ( incorporating some of the scarecrow stitching in the process).
the images below are the inspiration for our characters mask.
Another idea we have had is incorporating a military feel to our character ,so a balaclava was the obvious choice, but when comparing the two (scarecrow and balaclava)the scarecrow mask still felt right for the character and would receive the more desired fearful reaction from our target audience. we thought of ways of making the balaclava more 'scary' and mixed and matched a few ideas. Our best idea was adding a modern Hannibal Lecter style mouth restraint over the top and blacking out the eye patch's ( incorporating some of the scarecrow stitching in the process).
the images below are the inspiration for our characters mask.
TA Q
We predicted are target audience would be mainly males aged 16 - 24 and the results show us that this is the case ; horror thrillers were very popular with males aged 16 - 24.
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The image below is of my target audience questionnaire. With this questionnaire , we (WBS media group 7) are hoping to establish our target audience and other possible audiences for our films opening sequence.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
O S essay 'IT'
The opening 1½ minutes of Stephen Kings IT (1990) are titles. The titles start with a bold black and white Stephen King that rushes towards the screen with a loud sound and the title, IT is revealed in a striking Black and Blood red font. Both the sound and visual elements create a sense of unease , the loud sound and use of blood red font are both generic traits of a horror/ thriller of 1990 but are still used effectively with modern audiences today.
After the main title of the film there are more titles of cast and crew. White font titles and a background showing black and white pictures of a group of children in the 1960’s. The use of the pictures without a explanation makes the audience ask why they are being shown them, and are they important. This is a hermeneutic code in the form of questions, these question effectively keep the audiences focus and interest as they wait for an explanation. During the opening titles there is a piano tune that is slow and connotes a sad mood.
After the titles the first shot is a low angle shot looking up at the sky as a lightning bolt and the sound of thunder flash making a jumpy mood. After this there is a few shots of clothes on the line blowing heavily in the wind making the audience feel isolated. Then a young girl rides past on her tricycle wile singing a nursery rhyme, the audience immediately feels fear for her as she is defenseless. She cycles to the front of her house were her mum tells her to hurry up it is going to storm, this puts the audience further on edge as the modern audience has become preprogrammed to match the word storm in film to a negative or scary event. As she walks towards the house a deep scary laugh fades in. The laugh happens three times and then she sees a clown with a sadistic smile. The audience again feels fear as the character of the clown is obviously not a trustworthy character and is an out of the ordinary being much like many of the ‘antagonists’ are in horror thrillers. The character itself is another hermeneutic code as the audience does not know who or what this character is. Every time the clown is seen a slow tempo carnival music is played which receives an almost skin crawling reaction from the audience. The facial expression changes and claws and fang like teeth are shown as the clown goes towards the girl (the claws and fangs are established early on in the film as this makes the audience have a large reason to fear the clown because he has tools to kill or hurt other characters, this is very common with films of this genre)
After this the mother comes out of the house and gives a prolonged and over dramatic scream , very common with horrors. Then another shot fades in of a police investigation site and a man asking the p.c. question. As the two seem familiar and the p.c. trust the man the audience immediately come to trust this character. The sergeant then interrupts the conversation and tells the man to leave the investigation to the police officers. The man questions him about the other killings. Another hermeneutic code as the audience wishes to know how these have happened. The next shot is of the man at an office desk. he is speaking to himself and wishing that it is not back again a hermeneutic code as the audience does not know what IT is.
The codes and effects used in this opening sequence although not very effective today as the special effect and style are not as intense and gory as are used today , but at the time when it was released it would have been very successful in delivering the correct mood for a horror thriller.
After the main title of the film there are more titles of cast and crew. White font titles and a background showing black and white pictures of a group of children in the 1960’s. The use of the pictures without a explanation makes the audience ask why they are being shown them, and are they important. This is a hermeneutic code in the form of questions, these question effectively keep the audiences focus and interest as they wait for an explanation. During the opening titles there is a piano tune that is slow and connotes a sad mood.
After the titles the first shot is a low angle shot looking up at the sky as a lightning bolt and the sound of thunder flash making a jumpy mood. After this there is a few shots of clothes on the line blowing heavily in the wind making the audience feel isolated. Then a young girl rides past on her tricycle wile singing a nursery rhyme, the audience immediately feels fear for her as she is defenseless. She cycles to the front of her house were her mum tells her to hurry up it is going to storm, this puts the audience further on edge as the modern audience has become preprogrammed to match the word storm in film to a negative or scary event. As she walks towards the house a deep scary laugh fades in. The laugh happens three times and then she sees a clown with a sadistic smile. The audience again feels fear as the character of the clown is obviously not a trustworthy character and is an out of the ordinary being much like many of the ‘antagonists’ are in horror thrillers. The character itself is another hermeneutic code as the audience does not know who or what this character is. Every time the clown is seen a slow tempo carnival music is played which receives an almost skin crawling reaction from the audience. The facial expression changes and claws and fang like teeth are shown as the clown goes towards the girl (the claws and fangs are established early on in the film as this makes the audience have a large reason to fear the clown because he has tools to kill or hurt other characters, this is very common with films of this genre)
After this the mother comes out of the house and gives a prolonged and over dramatic scream , very common with horrors. Then another shot fades in of a police investigation site and a man asking the p.c. question. As the two seem familiar and the p.c. trust the man the audience immediately come to trust this character. The sergeant then interrupts the conversation and tells the man to leave the investigation to the police officers. The man questions him about the other killings. Another hermeneutic code as the audience wishes to know how these have happened. The next shot is of the man at an office desk. he is speaking to himself and wishing that it is not back again a hermeneutic code as the audience does not know what IT is.
The codes and effects used in this opening sequence although not very effective today as the special effect and style are not as intense and gory as are used today , but at the time when it was released it would have been very successful in delivering the correct mood for a horror thriller.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Preliminary Task
Finished the editing of preliminary task.
Our group found it hard a t first to use Apples Editing software Final Cut express.
Our group found it hard a t first to use Apples Editing software Final Cut express.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Opening sequence essay
The opening sequence (first 2- 3 min) of The Strangers ( a successful horror released in summer 2008 )starts with the indents of rouge pictures and intrepid pictures . Both of these indents have loud unexpected noises and a Gothic logo trying to put the audience immediately on edge. There is then text on a black background being narrated by a non dietetic voice describing that what we are about to see is inspired by real events increasing the feel of realism so the audience can become more attached and there for feel the emotion more dramatically .
It then goes on giving facts about violent crime in
There is then a conversation between a police officer and a scared child on a phone. The child is short of breath and crying he tells the P.C. he is in danger, this brings a feeling of anticipation to the audience. The child then goes on to say that he does not know where he is reinforcing the feeling of isolation. There is an unsettling piano note in the background making the audience worried that a jump is coming, horror audiences are usually preconditioned to expect a jump after a subtle unsettling piece background music. The child then explains in a very scared manor that there is blood every where in the house. This further connotes the feeling of fear and worry.
Throughout the dialog between the P.C. and the child there images of the house with smashed windows , blood on the walls , a knife with blood on it and a shotgun this also further emphasizes the sense of fear and anticipation the audience feels because they know want to know why the weapons have been used and whose blood that is. The title then fades in and out from black , the name typical of a horror as it is a normal word (strangers ) but with ‘The’ in front makes it slightly scary and make the audience want to know who ‘the strangers’ are.
In conclusion the opening sequence of the strangers is constructed to put the audience emotionally on edge and to make them feel anticipation towards finding out what happened to put the house in that condition. It is contemporary opening to a horror and does not go out side boundaries or experiment with new concepts but is still very effective in receiving the right reaction from the audience
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