Research. When researching horror trailers, I used the internet for the majority of it. This is because I was able to look up different horror trailers, posters, magazines and the conventions they all showed. This would then help me to learn what conventions I would need to include in my product, and whether I would challenge any of these conventions. I first of all researched into the characters in horror films; I found that the protagonist killer was usually someone with a deformity, a mask, a monster or average looking person. I researched this by using ‘Google’, and looking at the images that appeared when typing in ‘killers from horror films’. Along with these I also researched into the music that was used in horror trailers, and I done this by using ‘YouTube’  . From this I learnt that the music used usually began off slow and got faster as the shots got quicker and shorter, this was to create suspense and tension. We then had to apply the conventions we had researched, in a quick plan of a trailer called ‘Bloodshed High’. We made sure that we highlighted our unique selling point, challenging teenage stereotypes. We chose what roles our main characters would play and what actors we would sue for these roles. We had to choose a soundtrack to go onto our trailer, and we chose Linkin Park because the song began off slow and begins to get really fast, due to it being of the rock genre. We chose who the director of our film would be, and made sure it was someone who was known for making films in the horror genre. Also making sure that our title would feature at the end of the trailer, since this is a main convention of all horror trailers. We were filmed in class, whilst we talked about our plan for the I researched into synopses of horror films on ‘http://www.imdb.com/’. I learnt that they all show the storyline, protagonist, and antagonist and stock characters. This led me to know that a synopsis would have to be written up for my own trailer. I also researched a number or horror film posters, figuring out the conventions they all used and what I would have to use in my own product. I looked into the settings and props that are used generally in horror films, finding that they were usually the same. The setting being in a deserted area, or small town and props being knifes or some sort of murder weapon. I then looked into magazine front covers, which promoted horror films. I focused on the images used, the fonts and subheadings. For all of this research into these different areas I used ‘Google’.  |
Over all I product turned out to be very successful in what we wanted to achieve. Although there were many difficulties along the way. This is because we did not plan our filming, lighting or characters well enough. But this helped us to get a much better and more planned trailer. When first filming our trailer we didn't consider the lighting, which was too dark meaning that the shots were not visible enough. Also we left our choosing of characters quite late, meaning that it was hard to get everyone together at the same time in the same place for enough amount of time for us to film.
Our products created a lot of synergy, we made the products consistent so that they worked together well. The products would not be successful if they did not work off of each-other, they all help to promote the product and gain a target audience.
Also when first editing the shots on iMovie, I didn't fully know how to use all applications on it; but soon learnt and felt very confident whilst using it.
Slide-share was very easy to use, since all you have to do is make a slideshow and then upload it onto slideshare,
I had difficulty using Prezi, since it was quite complicated and I did not know how to join each of the images together, like is shown in the introduction.
I also found it very easy to upload our products onto YouTube and Facebook, since I use this websites for my own personal leisure. But I found it hard to find a lot of people who were willing to comment on our products, to give us audience feedback.
