Evaluation of Film Trailer for "Sleep Tight"

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our trailer follows many conventions of real horror trailers. For example, the opening scene of three girls laughing walking down the street establishes the equilibrium, this is then followed by the disruption which is the nightmare experienced and the news of a death. An attempt to solve the problem is then carried out by the girl confessing her confusion to her mother and being admitted to a psychological ward. These three stages follows Toderoffs idea of the conventional narrative structure. However, as it is a trailer the restoration of the equilibrium and the new equilibrium isn't shown. The continuation of the terror and the mystery of the outcome follows the convention of the modern day horror trailer. Also, the conventional elements of genre are included in the trailer, it is very clear to see its terrifying nature. One of the most important aspects of a trailer is the code of enigma. Our trailer has this as the reasons behind the female protagonists actions aren't explained and her role as a victim or a villain isn't realised. Our trailer also has visceral, intellectual and emotional pleasures within it. This is the body of a successful and striking promotional device. The way in which our trailer challenges forms and conventions is through its protagonist and target audience. Horror films traditionally target young male audiences, however ours appeals more to thrill seeking females. The female protagonist is an unconventional "monster" as she is sympathised with and never understood. The length of our promotional device is conventional for a theatrical trailer, and we have included all the features that would be expected, (titles, end screen, warning at beginning.) We have used a non-linear sequence with fast pace editing to emphasise confusion, action and the thrilling nature of the film. During the process of analysing trailers I found there was usually a conventional narrative:

Most trailers have a three part structure. They start with a beginning that lays out the premise of the story. Then the middle, that drives the story further and usually entails a dramatic climax, and the end, which often consists of a powerful montage of emotional and powerful moments of the film, along with a strong piece of signature music.

Our trailer includes this three part narrative to the letter which shows it is a well structured media product. Another way in which we have challenged the conventions of a film trailer is through the use of black and white shots to establish a dream-like state. The way in which we could show the audience the difference between the dreams and reality was heavily debated but I think the end product was successful.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I have made sure that my three products used to promote our film are all symbiotic. Using the female protagonist as the main feature in all three products has established the identity of the product and the genre. The trailer and poster are particularly close in appearance. The poster includes one of the titles used in the trailer, also, it is in black and white which coincides with the dream state in the trailer. The setting of the forest is used in all three promotional devices. The photo used for the magazine front cover is set in the forest and the tree is visible. The background of the poster is a forest setting and of course the trailer is primarily set in the forest.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

These are the questions we asked 8 people after viewing our trailer.

Audience Response for Sleep Tight
Is the genre of the film easily identified?

Are you able to follow the narrative of the trailer?

What do you think the target audience would be for this film? (female/male/young/old)

What age classification do you think this film would be?

Does the title of the film appeal to you and relate to the films content?

Does the music compliment the narrative and genre of the film?

Do the titles help your understanding of the narrative?

Is the pace of the trailer conventional and effective?

Does the editing of the shots create fluidity?

Would you go and see this film after viewing the trailer and why?

Thank you for your time!

From their answers we were able to categorise our trailer more specifically. These were the general answers we were given from the audience:

-> All 8 members of the audience agreed that the genre of the film was easily identifiable.
-> The entire audience agreed they could understand the plot of the film from the scenes depicted in the trailer.
-> Most of the audience decided our film would be suited to targeting young females and males, but predominatley females.
-> The age classification of 15 was decided upon by the majority, however some thought it would suit an 18 certificate. I feel this is complimentary as they were obviously affected by the horror of the film.
-> Everyone thought that the title was appealing and related to the films content and genre.
-> Most people thought the music complimented the pace and genre of the film. However one person disagreed and thought the music didn't compliment the genre. I agree with this to an extent as our music wasn't want we originally wanted. When first filming and editing our footage we had our original music in mind. When we realised we had to change this the pacing and dramatic effect weren't as we had planned.
-> The majority of the audience decided they would go and see the film after viewing the trailer. However, some wouldn't due to the genre which is understandable as horror as a genre targeting a niche audience. One particular person said that they would go and watch the film as they were intrigued that the monster was a person which engaged them on a personal level.

Overall the audience feedback was successful and gave us a confident insight onto our production.


How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

At the beginning of the Alevel course, we learned how to compose shots and use the digital video camera, which obviously was the key piece of technology used in the process. We then transferred the shots onto Adobe Premiere Elements to edit the material. This is the most essential stage of the process, we were able to add titles, fade to blacks, dissolves, to edit the pace of a shot and to add music which effectively changed the mood of the shot. The Internet was also used for extensive research and I watched many horror trailers on YouTube to grasp an idea of pace and content of conventional horror trailers. We also used the digital camera to create an animatic, gain effective images for our poster and front covers and to capture a crime scene to use for the news broadcast within our trailer. We found 3 pieces of music on www.freeplaymusic.com and used specific parts from each piece of music to build the tension and suit the different paces, actions and expressions within the trailer.

Ancillary Task: Film Poster Final draft

PROCESS



BackgroundI have completely redrafted my original poster. Using photoshop I intesified the eerie atmosphere by adding a textural background image, and layering an added image of a figure. I chose to use this image and cut it to create a sillouette appearance. The effect a sillouette image creates is that of no identity. Which emphasises the female protagonists confusion of identity and psychological isolation in the trailer for "Sleep Tight." Here are the images I have manipulated to create the background of my poster.






Main image

I chose to use the same image as the first draft of my poster. The image is extremely effective as the character is clearly isolated. The noose appearing in the background makes the audience question whether the character is the victim or the monster, this is an excellent promotional device as the audience will want to find this out for themselves.

Text
The text included on the poster is conventional to film posters. I used titles included in our trailer as the promotional phrase for the film. The information at the bottom of the poster is not significantly effective in promoting the film but establishes that it is a promotional device and associated with the film.

The Technological Process

The editing process took place using Adobe Premiere software, which is a high quality film making software used by professionals in the industry.
Within our promotional device we used a number of different effects using the software. These included:

Continuity Editing
This is editing in a manner that shots flows smoothly without jarring compositional or spatial inconsistencies.

The Cutaway
A cutaway is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of
something else. It is usually followed by a cut back to the first shot.
Probably its most common uses in dramatic films are to adjust the pace of the main action, or to conceal the deletion of some unwanted part of the main shot.

The Dissolve
A dissolve is a gradual transition from one shot to another. Traditionally this effect was created by controlled double exposure from frame to frame to create a new piece of film with the transition from the end of one clip to the beginning of another exposed on it.

The Fade to black
This is a visual transition between shots or scenes that appears on screen as a dissolve into black followed by a brief interval with no picture. Often fades are used to indicate a change in time and place. This device was heavily used in our trailer as it had a non-linear sequence and fade to blacks are a common feature in horror trailers.

The Jump cut
A cut that creates a lack of temporal continuity
by leaving out a part of the action.



Making the DVD

For one particular shot in our trailer, we created a television broadcast which i believe showed great attention to detail. We recorded our character of the newsreader, we then took a picture of an authentic crime scene. We then transferred both mediums onto Adobe premiere. We transferred the picture onto the shot of the newsreader, we then added scrolling text and the time as would appear on a real broadcast. We transferred this shot onto a dvd and recorded it with the female protagonist and her on-screen mother watching it.


The Music

Unfortunately the process of finding a peice of music appropriate for the intensity in our trailer has been a difficult one. We managed to find a rock peice which suited our trailer perfectly,(Evanescence-Bring Me To Life), however the music was copyright. Therefore we began to search for copyright free music. To imitade the previous peice of music, we looked for a classical peice of music to begin the sequence, contrasted with a heavy rock peice to use at the watershed of the trailer.

The Genre, conventions and differences.

The Horror Genre

Andrew Tudor (1974) defines the horror film in terms of its aesthetic effect, “the style itself is capable of infecting almost any subject matter with its eerie tone, the sense of mystery, of lurkers in the shadows, and these are the constant factors”. Horror films embody rigid, simplistic conventions which deprive it of the resonances that inform and deepen. The horror movie represents a medium in which the underside of the “normal” world makes its appearance in a play of fantasy and ritual.

The Psychological Thriller

Charles Derry (1977) distinguished a new sub-generic category of modern horror film. “The horror of personality”, inaugurated by “Psycho” where the monster is now seen to be “man” himself. Our film relates to the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde scenes from the 40’s, the thriller that has contributed to the generic realisation of the popular obsession of psychological horrors. Such a source of horror requires a psychological explanation and represents a response to the escalation of violence in society. The recent resurgence of modern horror in terms of throwbacks manifested in political behaviour all point to an obsession with the horror of the split personality, and thus monstrous humans. In post-Psycho movies the monster is not a foreign phenomenon but a supposedly normal human, unconscious of their horrific menace. Therefore this is clearly the sub-genre of our film.

Shrooms

After storyboarding our trailer, we recognised its resemblance to a recent psychological thriller, “Shrooms”, which contained the idea that the female protagonist was out of control with her body and its actions, which resulted in the murder of her closest friends. The theme of Psychological isolation and betrayal are also explored in our media product and “Shrooms”. The eerie setting of a deserted dark forest is also a similar feature apparent in both films. Director of “Shrooms”, Paddy Breathnach stated, “

A friend of mine coined the phrase ‘It’s more dread than red. Originally it was a little more comedic and a bit more slasher film, but myself and the producers felt that the idea of Shrooms had the possibility for a lot of psychological uncertainty and the angst, fear and dread that comes with a psychological thriller or horror. So we went much more in that direction, we lost the more slasher side of it and pushed it into a different terrain.”

Therefore like our film trailer the movie Shrooms’ had plenty of spine-chilling moments, as expected of any horror - but these came from a well thought out storyline, rather than relying on guts and gore. The shock, confusion and controversy of our storyline means it is taken above a gory horror and leads it to a level of psychological and emotional uncertainty, resulting in a terrified audience.

The Female Protagonist

Our film challenges the conventions of the female victim, as psychological thrillers reduce the gap between woman and monster and eliminate that flash of sympathetic recognition. Our film not only reduces but completely destroys this gap as the female is the monster. In the modern psychological thriller we are asked to believe “that the woman is both victim and monster” for “she is responsible for the horror that destroys her.” This aspect is where “Sleep Tight” differs to modern psychological thrillers as our “monster” receives sympathy from the audience throughout through her youth and confusion.

Our trailer has a Code of Enigma as the reason behind the female protagonist’s evil isn’t explained; it also contains the ultimate taboo at the end as it results in suicide.
The protagonist could represent a number of current issues in society, such as:-
• Schizophrenia
• Hidden threats in society
• Threat to the patriarchal power
• Female liberation



The Repertoire of Elements

There are 8 key elements of genre. They are listed below with specific reference to the elements in our film.

1.Iconography (the noose, hanging feet, screams)
2.Style (darkness, use of black and white in dream sequences, screams)
3.Setting (forest- conventional isolation, house- normality, Psychiatric ward-contemporary)
4.Narrative
5.Characters (monster= female/victim, mother, friends, newsreader)
6.Themes (isolation, threat, nightmares, pursuit, split personality, family, violence, danger)
7.Audience Response (emotional pleasures, visceral pleasures and intellectual pleasures are explored)
8.Target Audience (teenage, male or female- counter cultural attraction)

Trailer Titles

To add to the dark, imposing eeriness of a horror trailer, we decided to write a poem to be used as titles depicting the unsettling narrative. Narration is used to briefly set up the premise of the movie and provide explanation when necessary. Since a trailer is a highly condensed format, titles are a useful tool to enhance the audience's understanding of the plot.

She knew nothing but normality
Until something destroyed her reality.

So awake into the dark she stares
Possessed and afraid of her nightmares.

The rope is tight, the knot will reap
No one knows and the worlds asleep.

GTA Productions Presents

SLEEP TIGHT.

Filming

The process of making our film trailer has enabled us to expand and improve our idea of the final product. Within the group, we have established roles throughout the course of planning and filming. My role within the group whilst filming and planning has embodied three parts; Filming scenes and deciding effective shots, acting and instructing the principle actress.
At the beginning of our filming we created a planning sheet. We stuck to this plan rigidly which enabled us to manage our time effectively.

Wednesday 3rd March
10 til 11
Film opening scene involving Beth/Abee/Georgia: establish normality
12:20 til 2:10
Plan night time shoot: Location/Costume
Thursday 4th March
2:10 til 8pm
Mr Jones as Newsreader ( then transfer onto DVD)
Libby and Mum Character
All Bed scenes
Georgia front door scene "Beth's dead!"
Monday 8th March
3.15 til dark
Front door opening
8.30 til 10.30
Georgias death scenes (forest)
Wednesday 10th March
After 6 (dark)
Beths death scenes (forest)
Thursday 11th March
7.00 til late
Libby's final scene
Psychiatric Ward scene
Wednesday 17th March
6pm til late
Libby watching TV scene
Libby and Mum character ( watershed of trailer)

Ancillary Task: Film Poster

Above is the first draft of my film poster. I created this using Photoshop and followed conventions of established film posters. However, I am debating the use of the ethereal effect I was aiming for by using the blurry effect above the photo. I will aim to progress this in my second draft. Below are examples of film posters that inspired my choice of image, text and layout. I will ofcourse make changes to my first draft to depict authentic film posters more explicitly.