The Amityville Horror Poster Deconstruction

The colours of the poster are very dark and mysterious; there is a house which looks haunted highlighted with the effect that the man is shining a light on it. He appears to have a weapon in his hand or some sort of unknown object.

The title is in red, with AMITYVILLE larger than the other words. This accentuates the title all together. Using the word horror in the title makes us know the genre of the film. Underneath the red title, there is a line of white text that says “based on the true story”, making it seems more realistic and scary. On the wall on the left it says “Katch em & Kill em”; it is self written and looks really realistic. It could suggest that there are killings and gore in the film.

The Rite Trailer Deconstruction

Paranormal Activity 3 Poster Deconstruction

·         The typography of the poster is very simplistic. The top line “discover how the activity began” is in a font styled like a type writer in a contrasting white colour on black.

·         The title is in red which is a colour used alot in horror films, but as there are 3 films in the sequel the “3” is in glowing blue to accentuate the sequel number

·         The Blue ties in with the fact alot of the movie are filmed in night vision which is a blue tinge.

·         The tag line is “it runs in the family” this is joining in with the other two films as well, so viewers who have seen the past movies will understand this more and feel the need to see the film

·         It is all very simple positioning,  with the photo covering most of the black background.

·         From this poster you can clearly tell that it is a horror, possibly a physiological horror.    

•   The choice of image is good 

Insidious Poster Deconstruction

·         Movie title is vertical, makes you think and read differently. The ‘SI’ is highlighted red which is a strong colour that represents horror and blood

·         The colour scheme is really dark, for example the sky is cloudy and dark

·         It neatly incorporates ‘from the makers of’

·         A house in the background is suggesting and  could link in with the storyline

·         Figure of a child is dark and mysterious, his eyes are distorted and his whole physique is dark and not very realistic or visible

·         The target audience will be for teenagers or adults, this is definitely not for young children

·         The poster suggests that the genre is horror; it is very dark and looks like the film is going to be scary or horror orientated.

·         “it’s not the house that’s haunted” is the tag line, directly underneath the title. This is a very ominous line and it doesn’t give much away about the storyline. But it does tie in with the house in the background and also it makes the audience think could it be the child which is haunted?

·         Everything is very central, which gives the poster some structure.

The Lovely Bones Trailer Deconstruction

Sound

·         There is continuous background music with a mix of dialogue in different parts. At the beginning of the trailer the background music is quite still, high pitch, but also slow, this creates a calming tone. However the music changes when she says she was murdered to more heavy sombre type of music this is reflective of what is happening at this point in the trailer.
·         It then changes to more high pitch music when she is in her dream world with laughing in the background to convey a difference in what is reality and what is not
·         Towards the end of the trailer when they are showing the build-up of when they’re trying to find out what happened the music gets louder there’s more crashing sounds to build up the pace and excite the audiences, but also a type of hopeful music  as they get closer to finding what we suspect as the person who murdered Suzie
·         A voiceover is used from almost the beginning of the film. The use of the voiceover is effective as it is giving part of a story or some information from one of the dominant characters perspective and from this short clip in the trailer we know this person will have an important role in the film.
·         As the girl has been murdered it could also be acting as a voice from heaven as she is watching down over everything that happens to her family.

Camera angles
·         One of the first shots in the trailer is a close up of the girl holding a vogue magazine, this highlights that she is a typical young carefree girl interested in fashion etc. doing everyday things, but what happens to her in the future is extraordinary which displays the contrast 

·         The close up shot is used to show specific detail. The close up shot used here is to show the emotion in the mothers face, we can see she is crying over her daughter they have chosen a close up shot to create a reaction from the audience as we are supposed to empathise with her

·         The medium shot is used to show how two or more different characters interact with each other, here it shows the mum and the daughter joking with each other and looking relaxed, it displays a good mother and daughter relationship

·         The camera angle of her running across the field is often shown in the trailer. This is where we suspect she is killed as later they show the police looking for a body, an establishing shot is where most of the action is based around.

Mise en scene

·         The girl wears very plain basic clothes and while riding a bike this shows how young she is

·         The shot of the buses arriving to school shows it was a big part of her life just like any other child

·         The scene off the dad in some sort of office/work room shows that he is up late working, due to the minimal natural lighting and lamps that are on in the room it shows he that he doesn't want to stop until he finds answers to his daughters murder, stuff everywhere also displays that he’s quickly trying to rummage through everything he perceives to maybe have a link to her death

Editing:

·         The main form of editing is linear narrative styles of storytelling in which events happen chronologically.

·         It uses jump cuts to add more pace to it jumping from one scene to the next creating more of an atmosphere

·         Sometimes uses flashbacks to the girl when she was alive

Lovely Bones Website Deconstruction

·        As you first open the website the background picture is the same scene as the film poster, the trailer then comes up and automatically starts playing, this is ideal as it’s one of the first things the audience will find out about the film

·         At the side it also has links to buy the dvd on blue ray or a normal copy the easy to use link would encourage people to buy it there and then because it is so simple

·         The picture is the young girl running across the film with the same colours to signify the same time and place

·         It has links to all the social networking sites to share the website in order to boost fan loyalty

·         The site is very easy to use with links showing you to different pages, the transitions between each page show a picture of the film or a character dissolving into the page you requested, you can see what the film is about to people who have never seen it before, information about the characters, receiving updates, downloading pictures, there’s also features which allows you to see how the script came together and a book club.

·         They have the main cast members at the top of the site so one of the first things people will see is who is acting in it as well as the director, which is very important as if it’s a well-known actor people will probably  be more willing to go and see the film

·         The same colour theme runs through the whole website to give a sense of continuity

·         It has a page where you can post a message of what would be in your ‘perfect world’ this makes it more interesting and interactive which engages the audience

The Devil Inside Trailer Deconstruction

Sound:

·         At the beginning of the trailer they use a recorded telephone conversation of an apparent real 911 call

·         The music throughout the trailer is quite quiet and doesn’t really have much of an impact on the trailer

·         They use silence in a few places to make more of an impact than using lots of loud music

·         Generally a silence is then followed by a loud sound to create a contrast

Camera angles:

·         They show a long mid shot of Rome which  connects with the religious aspect of this film

·         They use close up shots to focus on one important aspect of the film, for example the cuts on the woman’s arm and the cross on her lip are all signs of the exorcism and that the woman is mentally unstable

·         The mid shot of the men is used to show the conversation between them all

·         A long shot to show the whole room show the different aspects of everything that’s going on, shows the two people in the corner the possessed woman being flung across the room and the priest in the opposite end of the room looking into a camera

Mise en scene:

·         Near the beginning of the trailer it shows a news report n the events that happened when her mum killed 3 people, this is setting the scene for the audience

·         The girl goes to Rome, we associate the pope and a very religious society with Rome, she goes to seek help on what has happened to her mother, they show the main buildings in Rome to establish the setting

·         The mum is in a mental institute and this is shown by the room, all white walls very simple room everything is white apart from the bed and a desk, and the  mother and daughter sit very far apart as if she is scared to get any closer

·         Constantly through the trailer the idea of science vs. religion is portrayed, and in the last screenshot we see a priest talking to the girl looking confused and behind him is stuff to do with a hospital or scientific research this highlights the difference between the two as they usually do not mix.

Editing:

·         It uses flashbacks to the new report of when the mother killed them people when the daughter is talking to the men

·         It jumps between shots very quickly to build up the pace adds to the scariness

·         When flicking between shots of the possessed woman they have included black shots which adds to suspense, cause a shocking image can come straight after a black screen when you don’t expect it

Devil Inside Website Deconstruction

·        The website is quite simple

·        Different quotes about the film is the first thing to come up to intrigue the audience, while the rest is loading

·        Scary picture of the possessed woman that is also on the poster as soon as the website fully loads, insight into the genre straight away

·        Trailer is played before anything else, effective advertising helpful; because if the audience doesn’t know what the film is about they can see from the trailer

·        Minimalistic website, not much text, shown text is quite small and one big picture fills moat of the screen, doesn’t show any pictures are information on the cast members etc

·        Effective typography, it’s jagged and rough make it look authentic, also with the ‘d’ backwards it makes it stand more and attracts the eye  

·        They use convergence, with links to facebook, app, MySpace etc to boost fan loyalty

·        There is a link to buy it straight away on DVD/blu ray

·        Picture fills the whole screen, catches attention straight away

·        The quote “inspired by true events” is used to scare the audience more

·        The dark colours, reflects the theme of the film and genre- horror (red, black)

·        It’s easy to use because of the different links to click on, such as what the film is about to inform the audience on what the storyline will be based on

·        When you go over the button to buy the dvd it turns to red, shows continuity  of the colour scheme

Case 39 Website Deconstruction

·         The trailer starts to play as soon as the website loads so this gives people a better idea of what it will, be about if they don’t already know

·         It uses convergence and has links to twitter and other networking sites which can boost fan loyalty

·         When first going into the site the background is the picture which is also on the movie poster of the two people sitting in the corner conveys a sense of mystery and fear as we don’t know what they’re looking at or what could be coming in, this identifies the type of genre the film will be

·         It has the main cast members at the top of the site so one of the first things people will see is who is acting in it, which is very important as if it’s a well-known actor people will probably  be more willing to go and see the film

·         It has pictures of the dvd’s and how to order one straight from their site using convergence

·         The site is very easy to use with only a few different hyperlinks to choose from it takes you from link to link very easily, and it’s easy to get back to the homepage

·         It has links to what the film is about to inform people who are unsure

·         When the cursor goes over different parts it turns a different colour to red, this makes it more interesting and can make it feel more chilling

·         the  transitions between each different link  comes up with a different picture or very short clip from the film, this is very clever as it keeps the website lively, its generally a shocking image which grabs the audience’s attention instead if normally just waiting for it to load it adds something different

·         It also has link to a gallery of all different photos that were taken throughout the film

·         Also includes a link to ‘post your fears’ so if people wish to share their fears on this site they can do makes it a bit more interactive and user friendly

Case 39 Poster Deconstruction

·         The black background connotes a sense of fear of the unknown as it takes up the majority of the poster. The colour black we can associate with death or fear as we cannot see who or what is there, this can make the audience feel on edge and predicts what type of film this will be.

·         The bit of light in the bottom corner makes it look like a door is slightly open and they’re being exposed to something which they’re trying to hide from.

·         The positioning of them in the bottom corner makes it look like they’re hiding from something. As they are on the floor lower down it makes them seem inferior as opposed to if they were right in the middle of the poster or at the top of the poster, we are not immediately drawn to the characters in the corner.

·         The way Renée Zellweger is holding the little girl shows she is trying to protect her, she can be seen as a mother like figure in the film and this displays the type of relationship they have with each other

·         The look of smoke coming in from the bottom corner as it then fades into darkness gives it a mysterious look, it looks as if they are looking past that direction so something is coming from that corner

·         The tagline ‘some cases should never be opened’ adds to the mysteriousness feel, it gives us an indication that because it has been opened this is the reason from them hiding or as to why something has gone wrong.

·         The other tagline ‘they’ll never stop’ this is ambiguous it could be referring to the protagonist never stopping to find out what has happened or the antagonist never stopping to hurt something

·         The colour scheme of black and white is very simple, the two colours are used to create a contrast, and it could symbolize good or bad.

·         We usually associate white with something pure or innocent and black is associated with death and fear. Therefore we are given an indication there could be a battle between good and bad in the film, someone fighting for what they know is good or the right thing to do.

·         They show the names of the main actors in it to try to attract people to go and see it, for example if they see that their favourite actor is the main character they would be more inclined to go and see the film

·         The title stands out in the poster as they have increased the font size, the rest of the typography is a similar size and quite small, because it’s a simple poster the title will have to stand out more

Location Research

As our trailer is about possession and religion is a key element in that genre of film, we thought it appropriate therefore to include it in ours, and use a graveyard for some scenes in our trailer. 


A graveyard is a spooky setting to film in and looks daunting at night, so we decided we can use flashes of clips of the graveyard, and combined with sound it will give the desired scary effect.

However to be respectful, graves wont be touched by any of us or the characters, the head stones will just be shot with the camera and the main protagonist can walk down the paths like the one shown on the left. 
This pathway is effective as it is framed by trees all the way down and we can film our character walking down it.

This is another location we are planning on using for our media trailer, it is the dungeon in our school.


We thought this would be an appropriate location as the floor is dirty the walls are painted brick but the paint is peeling away on some parts so it looks more dingey and gritty. 


Our plan was to have shots of our antagonist down in the dungeon so the theme of the film suited the character and the location.

As you can see from the two pictures, the lighting is quite strong but not good enough for filming, there are lights already kept in here which would aid us in filming once we turned out the lights to film dark and jumpy shots of our characters face.

This is Danson Lake, a third location we want to use in our trailer, we want a character in our trailer to look into the lake and see a different reflection staring back at her. 



We think this location will be effective as trees border the lake and the setting is very scary at night as it is so big.






We feel that now it is coming into autumn and winter the trees are bare which sets the scene even more, and gives the correct vibes that we wanted. 

Character Analysis

 This is Rebecca Dunn, the actress we have chosen to use as the main protagonist in our media trailer. We chose her as we feel she fits the stereotype of a young innocent looking girl, her blonde hair blue eyes and soft features also add to the desired look, we also wanted an actress that wasn't a child to subvert a lot of other possession /exorcism stereotypes and we as a group feel she fits this role perfectly.














To give an idea of what we want the final look of our main character to resemble, i have edited a picture of Rebecca, and also used some dark eye make-up to add effect. The filter used on the camera gives her skin a withered and pale look which is effective as it makes her look ill and as if she is under stress. The dark around her eyes can signify evil and strain, this also adds to the over all look we were trying to achieve.
By simply adding a filter to the camera and using makeup we can create a much more realistic representation of a possessed girl and it looks much more effective. 

The Shrine Poster Deconstruction

·         By the positioning of the figure in the middle of the poster, it immediately attracts our attention to it. Behind the figure it looks like it is just in a room which hasn’t been looked after the paper peeling away from the walls and the dingy dirtiness of the walls highlights this.

·         The poster is simple with only the figure taking up the majority of the poster, this shows that the figure is the main focus of the film  

·         The plain dreary colours of the background provides a contrasts to the blood stained figure in the middle of the poster, this foreshadowing the significance of  blood and danger to come later in the film

·         The figure is wearing a mask this is generally done to hide the person identity of face, as a convention in many horror films they use a mask to cover up the identity of the antagonist  

·         The title is capitalised to make it stand out in the bottom of the poster, the typography is quite plain however it looks like parts of the words are being worn away, this adds authenticity to it. The title is in a very dark red to then fade into a more brighter red, the combination connotes images of danger and blood, as the figure has blood running down it’s body this could be made to make it look like the blood has changed the colour of the title

·         The tagline ‘ONCE YOU FIND IT, THEY WON’T LET YOU LEAVE.’  Sounds quite forceful, it’s ambiguous, could be in reference to the figure above which makes you think they don’t want to be found so when you investigate they won’t let you go. This is a common convention of horror films.

·         The word ‘they’  indicated there is more than one so more of a group or collection of them

·         The colour scheme is dingy brown and dark red,

·         They have the film website at the bottom of the poster to encourage people to also view the website