HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF

YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY

TEXTS?
Our three products (trailer, poster and film magazine) work as an
effective media package, carrying the same reoccurring images, style
and characters throughout them to advertise our film RUSHES.

We created a unified marketing image through our work following the

codes and conventions of the horror genre, making it the most effective
film we could have created. We focused in a lot on older, classic
horrors films, and form this we knew what to change in order to make
our work a modern take on the genre. It had to be made more
contemporary in order to suit our target audience of 15-25 years old,
teens and young adults.

Our young, two female protagonists and the school setting were less
conventional to the horror genre, as they were in a location where
children are meant to be protected, leaving the effect to be greater as
they are portrayed as even more vulnerable than normal.

We also chose to adapt the horror genre, focusing in on the sub genre
found footage. Therefore we incorporated shots where it looked like
our protagonists were filming themselves on their ghost hunt, and
some shots where the camera was hand held to highlight our
documentary styled film. It focused in on the characters as a marketing
tool and differentiates itself from mainstream horror films.

COLOUR SCHEMES:
Within the narratives of the trailer and parts within our film poster, we
incorporate the theme of forestry, dark and binary shots, with a low
saturation colour scheme to conform to the typical ideas of the horror
genre the unknown, tension and suspense about what lurks in the
dark, and the idea of being able to get lost in a large space. The
darkness creates a continuous idea of vulnerability and evil being onto
our protagonists.
 In the magazine Connie
Nash playing Morgan has
lights beaming on her face
when the shot was taken
in order to create the
contrasting idea of light
vs. dark, suggesting within
our trailer there will be a
good vs. evil storyline.
However we did not want
to make it too obvious that
it has been darkened, as
we were following the
conventions of a film magazine, not the horror genre specifically.
Instead we presented it through her eye make-up being dark, and
vibrant. This is a convention to the horror genre, and is the same make
up that our grungy protagonist Morgan was wearing in the trailer,
creating a sense of continuity.

Likewise, our film posters lighting has

also been altered. The image on the left is our original, untouched shot.
The one on the right is our final poster. It has been sharpened to give it
a slight grainy look, and has been darkened using a low hue and
saturation in order to get rid of the warmth, especially from the orange
leaves. It looks more mysterious and foreboding when edited, denoting
the horror genre.

LIGHTING:
 We combined our media products through lighting, by taking our shots
and making them darker, and less saturated, in all elements of our
media package. It made our package look more dramatic and
threatening, as the images connote danger, and the shots with the
protagonists in them (the film magazine) there is a sense of
vulnerability here. Using Final Cut Express and Photoshops toolbars,
we were able to lower the saturation of our shots, putting blue
undertones into them, again highlighting the cold effect of our horror
film, a key convention to the genre.
Some of our shots, including our CCTV footage and some man-made
camera glitches we put into black and white, monochrome shots. The
connotation with camera faults links in with the idea of old, and ancient
times. The CCTV shots had a foreboding effect as it was as though the
girls were always being watched.
Our media package has a continuous horror theme running throughout
it. However, the magazine shows the actress Connie Nash playing
Morgan, therefore isnt as continuous, however this is due to most
FILMMAKER film magazines not focusing in on the characterisations of
the actors, but them as a person.

TEXT AND TYPOGRAPHY:

We managed to
incorporate a
cohesive image
across all three
products, through
text and typography. Firstly, we used a similar font to the FILMMAKER
title, ensuring that it was recognisable. Within our trailer and the film
poster, we used the same font for the title of our film RUSHES in the
 font Face Your Fears to enable continuity and a recognisable element
for our film. For the film poster we used a deep red colour for the
RUSHES text, however white on the trailer, as this is what is
conventional of trailers. We accessed our font through the website
dafont.com, which enabled up to look at many horror font styles, and
download them. It is
conventional of the
horror genre to have
bold, exaggerated fonts
in the bold colours, for
example the classic film
SCREAM titling. The
movement of titling of typography of
classic horror films are more stylised,
therefore we used more of an old
styled, comic like font in order to
appeal to our young target audience.
In our magazine we didnt need to stick as strongly to the horror theme,
therefore we channelled more of a minimalistic style, using a serif font,
which is curly, linking again to the classic horror theme of being old. It
was also conventional to modern horrors due to its simplistic, less
cartoon style. The font we used was Trajan Pro with wider tracking,
again adding a contemporary edge to it, as well as being a
conventional magazine font.

MAIN MARKETING IMAGE:

A main marketing image is used to combine
our products into a unifying film package to
promote RUSHES. They include the
prominence of key characters, especially
Connie Nash playing Morgan who is our
main image on our film magazine. The
atmosphere of vulnerability for our
protagonist is captured in each package.
Connie is used in both our Trailer and our
magazine. We chose to use her instead of
Siobhan Smith who plays Lola as the main
image, due to her being the headstrong and
vulnerable character, as her intrigue and enthusiasm for the ghost hunt
meant she was open to danger. In the magazine image, she is seen to
look drained, and have dark eye make-up, drawing attention to them.
Her pale skin contrasted to the slightly blue toned background, and the
lighting making her stand out, highlighting her significance and
vulnerability.
Our film poster however, did not include any characters. Instead we
focused in on the rural space around our school grounds, linking to the
conventional idea of isolation and not having an escape form danger.
The focus on characters rather than narrative is unconventional for a
horror film. Our image is also present within our trailer, as we have
included many exterior/outdoor shots, such as where the girls are
investigating the missing posters.

The three screen-grabs above

are from our film trailer, and are
evidence of our exterior, rural
shots. There is continuity between the film poster and the trailer here as
they are similar location, both with dark lighting that give the
impression of danger and build up a tension and suspicion that
something bad is going to happen.