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

The following video is a montage version of my fourth evaluation question. I added pictures and text to some music to help make the information relay in a more effective way.

What have you learned from your audience feedback? CREATIVE EVALUATION

The following video is the audio version of my third evaluation question. I recorded my voice and put a few images to help support what I say in the audio recording.

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

The following is a prezi presentation which helps to convey the second question of my evaluation script.

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

The following video is the animated version of my evaluation question. It uses an animation software called Source Filmmaker.

Evaluation Written Script

The task for our A2 coursework required a promotion package for a horror film. This promotion package must include a short ‘teaser’-like trailer; a magazine front cover and film poster. The task was easier than anticipated for I had experience of magazine design and research from my AS coursework. In addition to this, I had extensive knowledge of horror movies from the lore to the behind the scenes and the history of the genre of horror, it made my creation so much more clearly and easy. I also had experience within filming and editing for I made a suede trailer for my AS coursework in order to prepare for the A2 work.

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

‘Conventions’, these are the typical factors that help to create various media texts. These vary from technical, design and auditory techniques. The genre of horror and the sub genres have universal conventions and rules in order to allow the audience to feel terror and fear in horror. My survey results wanted a trailer with the hybridised genre of slasher and supernatural which provides me a wider scope on how to construct my trailer.

My horror trailer uses most of the conventions of horror films, particularly of the supernatural genre. The construction of the trailer is conventional to the genre whereas the full written narrative of the trailer differs slightly. A convention of a slasher is that a group of young adults enter a place, unaware of the dangers lurking ahead. Slasher movies like Friday the 13th (2009) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D (2013) often have groups of young adults travel to a place and come across a particular building.

These groups would have at least one BAME (Black Asian Ethnic Minority) character who unfortunately die either first or towards the end. This is done in order to appease BAME audience by having a representation of BAME on screen. COMPLEX MAGAZINE did a survey in 2013 which asked audiences about black characters in horror movies. It turns out that 10% of black characters die first and in spite of this, they have low mortality rates. Their only purpose is to be a background character to make the BAME audiences happy or a comedic influence.

The trailer we have created follows a group of mixed race group of young adults: one black man; one mixed race man and two Indian-Asian women. This was to show a greater representation of BAME and diversity for most horror trailers are dominated by white Caucasian actors i.e. Halloween (1978) and Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The black character’s fate in unknown in the trailer as he is last seen running in the trailer. This was done this way to entice audiences to be curious of the fate of the BAME character.

The narrative and trailer conflict with Carol Clover’s final girl theory. The Final Girl is a horror trope and theory that includes a girl being the final survivor of the slasher film. Our narrative has the black male, Sam remain as the ‘final girl’ as this breaks gender and ethnic stereotypes. A popular example of a male ‘final girl’ is A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1986) where Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) became a final survivor of Freddy Krueger. Sam in our trailer, being a ‘final girl’ allows for a greater representation of BAME and an introduction to new horror tropes where BAME people can be the survivors of a cataclysmic event.

Apart from this most of the trailer uses the typical conventions of a horror trailer like razor edit jump cuts, darkness and eerie sounds. We used these conventions as it provided a basic structure to our horror trailer. The razor edits helped to bring excitement to the trailer by making the ghost of the trailer appear in unexpected places. The trailer has been darkened to hide mystery and to frighten the viewer. Eerie sounds have been used to create an unsettling atmosphere so the audience are fully immersed within the media text.

My magazine front cover fully follows the conventions of a film magazine as it uses a ‘T’ layout in many magazines like Empire and Total Film. The ‘T’ Layout helped me to ensure a full focus on my film and it promotes the film even more. The design of the poster was inspired by the following: https://movietalkexpress.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/empire-suicide-squad-newsstand-cover-the-joker.jpg the layout was simple but it was an effective magazine which caught your attention and gave a lot of detail in a few words. This helped me to construct my magazine. My front cover has a barcode on the front unlike the Empire Joker one as it was to look professional. The website is mentioned underneath the masthead to really give an effective professional look to the magazine for some film magazines like Entertainment Weekly, place their website underneath the mast head to advertise their own company.

Finally, the poster follows the conventions of a poster slightly as my research showed a lot of uniquely designed posters. The inspiration for this poster was http://www.blackfilm.com/read/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Rings-poster-2.jpg this poster inspired me to have the main ghost in my trailer to be the anchor model of my poster since it catches your eyes. I placed the poster underneath text to sort of hide the ghost as it gives the viewer an omniscient presence. The audience know it is there but sort of can’t see it. The slogan of the film takes over the picture to confuse and frighten the audience into watching the trailer. It directly addresses the audience. The poster has information of the production company, release date and people involved at the bottom of the poster in smaller text in order to inform people of who made the trailer but to ensure more of the attention is on the name of the film, tagline and anchor model of the poster. This shows that the poster does follow the convention of a film poster.

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

The main product and the ancillary texts are effective in design and promotion. In terms of promotion, the film is promoted through the media platforms of poster and magazine. The digital and print converge to help promote the product. The teaser trailer is released on YouTube, which has over a billion users. The trailer can be accessed in about 180 countries which generates a mass audience for the trailer. YouTube helps to promote the trailer to audiences who would share it through different social media platforms. If the poster were to be distributed, it would be visible in billboards, bus billboards and tube station advertisements as it is clearly visible to the audience. These places are constantly in use and many people will notice the poster which promotes the film through visual aspects. The same goes for the magazine as it would be distributed in shops for many people still go to the shop to buy a magazine. Having our magazine published in the shops promotes the magazine company and film, presenting synergy.

The design of each product is unique yet similar. All three share a similarity in fonts, colour and design. It uses darker washed out colours to create suspense and fear. This occurs through all the products as it keeps a consistent theme of fear going on. The poster and trailer share a glitch effect to show the concept that there is something dangerous about the trailer and poster which entices the audience to watch the film. The magazine brings a light hearted tone to the film and focuses on behind the scenes of the film. The magazine is brighter and gives the audience an opportunity to get to know how the trailer is created. This would inspire people to create media like the trailer, poster and magazine.

What have you learned from your audience feedback? (AUDIO)

For the audience feedback, I sent the link of my trailer and the digital images of my poster and magazine to my friends as it fits within the age range of my target audience (15 – 18). I asked two questions:

• What was good about the trailer and how effective was it?
• What can be improved?

The responses mostly praised the trailer. The sound was most commonly mentioned and people appreciated how the music constantly played in the background was well placed. The giggle sound effects were the top favourite because it brought chills to the audience. Although there were a few comments of criticisms. For example the footage of people running was blurred and unfocused which took some of the viewers out of the experience. This shows that if I had more time, I could sharpen the quality of the running footage clear to the audience. The trailer perfectly matched the genre of a supernatural horror yet it needed some more things like someone getting killed to convey the slasher genre of the trailer. Other than this the trailer was well received and people rated it 10/10. They would definitely watch the trailer.

Many people liked the design of the poster and thought of it being dark and edgy. Some people wanted to see Mara more as her head blends into the background of the poster. The title of the film is slightly big although some people say it fills in the space. This helps me to understand that space within the design of the poster is essential as it gives more focus on the art rather than the text.
The magazine was also well received as it used the conventions of a film magazine to a full extent. It has a consistent theme of colours throughout and overall looked real and professional. The audience feedback lets me know that I have achieved to make my product more focused towards 15 -18 year olds.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? (VIDEO WITH MUSIC)

Various media technologies were used in different stages of the production:

The pre-production consisted of technologies like web 2.0. This is the revolutionary stage of the internet where information is received, given, created and shared across different platforms. It made my research easy and simplified as I used the Google Search engine to shorten my task of searching things to do with horror. Advanced search helped to narrow my search query to specific websites for example: horror films “slasher” this narrowed the search to specifically find horror movies of the slasher genre and my work was simplified. I also used websites like YouTube and Trailer Addict to find horror trailers to draw inspiration from. Trailer Addict in particular made my work easier by providing me the official footage of trailers, teasers and TV Spots of horror films, unlike YouTube which has a variety of official/unofficial footage and fan made trailers to horror films. I used YouTube to understand horror movies and the construction and theories with the YouTube Channel Film Theory. This channel had videos on how to create intense horror movies, the golden age of slasher. Unfortunately the videos were taken down. My knowledge of horror movies gave me a basis of few genres to choose ones to create a trailer from although IMDB (INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE) helped to solidify the information I understood. To collate my findings and analysis together, blogger helped me to structure my work into paragraphs as well as chronological order to make the steps to the creation of my trailer, easier to understand. Prezi and PowerPoint were used to present some of my research in a creative way which simplifies the information. I used Polyvore, which is a fashion website to help me create the costumes and gain a true understanding to my characters and who they are. I also used Quotev; a survey story writing website to create a questionnaire to ask users about the construction of my trailer which gave me a greater basis of how to create my trailer. To collect the results for the answers to the survey, I used meta-chart.com to display my findings in colourful structured ways and this is how I used media technologies in my pre-production.

In the production of my trailer, magazine and poster I used different media technologies and devices to bring my creation to life. For the filming of my trailer we used a Nikon Coolpix camera A10 for the camera was compact and easy to upload. There was a USB cable and no SD card which made transferring the files of photos into my desktop with ease. The quality was not that great but it helped me with the horror aesthetic. I also used a Samsung S3 and Samsung S7 to take photos of behind the scenes of the film trailer, the poster and the magazine front cover. This produced a high quality and revealed everything in regards to how the production went.

Post-production is where most of the technology was used to the maximum. To edit my film trailer I used Sony Vegas Pro 14 for I am familiar with the technology and it helped edit the video clips together with ease. I brought in my HP 655 laptop which had the software and it helped with the rendering for the quality of the trailer turned from 600pi to 1080 x 1920pi. In addition to Sony Vegas, I used Ocenaudio64 which is a sound software that allows me to manipulate sound. This is what I used to enhance some of the sounds in my trailer to have better sound. The synch of the sounds were made as some of the audio had voiceovers which I cut out to make the music flow well. Web 2.0 was used to help me share my content to the wider internet. I used YouTube to upload my trailer so that it is accessible to a larger audience.

For the magazine and poster construction I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 for this was the easiest tool to use to digitally manipulate my photos to suit the plan of my poster. My skills with Photoshop exceeded vastly from my AS work to my A2 work. I used various curves and levels to change the brightness and contrast on photos to really bring out the theme of horror with darkness. I scanned my flat plans with a HP scanner and this helped to upload my work on to the computer and base my design of my magazine and poster. When doing the creative evaluation each question, had a different media technology used to bring a clearer simplified understanding to each question:

• For the first question, I used a video capture editing software called Source Filmmaker. I used this software for the first question as I wanted to create an artistic understanding visual for the question as it helps to express the points I made for my answer to the first question. I uploaded it to YouTube for easier access.
• For the second question, I used a Prezi presentation as it helped give a clear visual to the effectiveness of the ancillary and main products.
• For the third question, I recorded my answer on my phone and uploaded on to YouTube as an audio video with no images and it helps to communicate my answer if I speak and explain it.
• Finally for the last question, I created a video on Sony Vegas Pro 14 with background music over it and this was once again to convey a visual understanding of my answer of evaluation through visual text and images.

Final Magazine and Developments

The front cover on the left was the first version of my magazine front cover to promote my film, MARA. The magazine had the basic structure but was still lacking something. It was missing more information and the colour of the text was not right.

The poster on the right is the new updated version of my magazine front cover. It is much more effected as it uses a range of colours to make information stand out more. The fonts are different quirky. The colours link to the main image and show the model much more clearly. I got rid of the skyline text because it did not suit the magazine well. The space fills well and catches the audience's attention clearly. A much more effective magazine front cover.

Magazine Analysis: American Horror Story - Murder House

The magazine front cover features Dylan McDermott (Left), Rubber Man (Right) and Connie Britton (Middle) on the front cover. The three people are directly addressing the audience with tall powerful stances.

They are all dressed in the colour black which has connotations of death, darkness and evil which infers to the audience that there is some evil and twisted going on. The title links as it suggests that ‘TV just got weird’. Connie Britton is stood in the middle with open hair and a black dress. She is also wearing light make up to show a clear beauty. She is holding hands with Dylan McDermott, suggesting that there is a relationship between these two people. His hand his clasping over hers which shows his protectiveness over her. The Rubber Man has his hand clasped around Connie Briton’s arm which presents a level of control. The image is a symbol of control as the two hold on tightly to Connie Britton. The image is quite convoluted which already relays the message of the show about being odd and twisted.

These anchor models helps to convey the genre of horror through its peculiar characters and message. The colour scheme is the rule of three for it uses red (From Connie Britton’s make up); Black (The clothes) and White (The shine from the Rubber Man’s suit). This front cover follows a ‘T’ Layout in order clearly show the purpose of the models. There are not that many plugs which could entail that the issue will focus purely on American Horror Story. The fonts are san serif font to make the show bold and stand out. This catches audience’s eyes and the inclusion of a button further emphasizes the exclusivity of the magazine. It is coloured a bright blue to stand out and make the cover more exciting.

Entertainment Weekly has a universal audience of the age range of 18 – 49 year olds, male and female. The magazine covers film and TV Shows. The front cover is using American Horror Story to advertise and promote the show and it includes a unique photo for audiences to truly feel it is compelled to watch the show.

Magazine Analysis: American Horror Story - Coven

The magazine front cover features Jessica Lange (Left), Angela Bassett (Right) and Kathy Bates (Bottom) on the front cover. An all-female front cover goes on to relay the message that the media it is advertising is a powerful message of female power.

Jessica Lange is dressed all in black with light make up to highlight her as a young person. She is wearing an all-black dress as if she’s a part of a funeral. To link to the title AMERICAN HORROR STORY (AHS), she could be a high authoritative figure. She is wearing black lace gloves which mean that she is stylish. Gloves also indicate she is hiding something. Black has connotations of evil and darkness which suggest that Lange has malicious intent. She has a straight face to show her seriousness. The caption at the bottom right informs the audience that she is playing a character called Fiona Goode. Fiona means fair and Goode means a good person. This is a juxtaposing factor: Her costume suggest that she is malevolent villain while her name refers to goodness.

Angela Bassett is wearing an all-red jumpsuit which match her lipstick. She has box twist hair which reach her waist showing that she is from Africa. Red has a connotation of Blood and danger which infer that she too is a dangerous character like Jessica Lange. In addition to this she too has a powerful tall stance which means that she is a powerful strong being too. Angela Bassett plays a character named Marie Laveau who is an actual historical person. She was known as the ‘Voodoo Queen’ in New Orleans. This informs the audience that history is somewhat mixing with fiction. She is holding a tray with Kathy Bates head on it. This is a horrific sight, relaying to the audience that the show is truly horrifying. Kathy Bates is placed on a tray with plums and various garnishes as if she is being served for a meal. The caption labels her as Madame LaLaurie. She too was a historical socialite figure as she was known for torturing and murdering household slaves. She too is from New Orleans and this informs the audience that the show takes place in New Orleans. This area is known for Jazz and witchcraft meaning that AHS is focusing on witchcraft in America. It links to the ‘COVEN SET’ as coven is a term to describe a witch gathering.

These anchor models helps to convey the genre of horror and history, relaying a fictionalised version to truly terrify audiences. The colour scheme is the rule of three for it uses red (From Angela Bassett’s jumpsuit); Black (Jessica Lange’s dress) and White (The background). It follows as a ‘T’ Layout in order to give enough information without taking up too much space. The magazine name and plugs use a san serif font in order to attract audiences to the front cover as well as clearly highlight the importance of the stories. There are no buttons so that the focus remains more on the front cover.

The magazine has a universal audience and it leans towards the age range of 18 – 49 year olds both male and female for various topics. The magazine covers film and TV Shows. The front cover is using American Horror Story for it has critically acclaimed actresses on the front cover which enable the audience to be inspired.

Magazine Analysis: American Horror Story - Hotel

The magazine front cover features Lady Gaga on the front cover. She is wearing and open neck robe-like dress which shows the reader a blood coated/scratched neck. The white robe-like dress symbolises purity and innocence and this parallels the blood coated neck and blood/red have connotations of death and violence. These contrasts could make the inference that looks are deceiving for what is to be innocent could possibly be a violent. The contrast suggests deception. She is wearing a black sequined glove with pointy golden nails. She has her finger tugging the bottom lip in a seductive inviting manner.

In addition, the clear make-up helps to show a semblance of innocence. The smoky eyes suggest a darkness which is faded to reveal yet conceal at the same time. The lipstick is the same shade as the blood which means that she drains blood. The lipstick is heavily coated which means she drains blood for the blood around the neck is an intertextual link to the lore of vampires and how they drain blood from their victims by attacking their neck. This could infer that Lady Gaga is a vampire or a succubus (Biblical Lilith creatures that lure men with seduction before killing them). This links to the notion of deception for the pale make-up contrasts a sinister meaning to the image.

The anchor model helps to convey the genre of the media which is horror. There are two colours used in the magazine and it helps with the circle layout. The white comes from Lady Gaga’s robe in order to stand out against the dark background. The second colour is blue because it stands out yet it does not like to the magazine. Blue is a colour that Entertainment Weekly use as a part of their official logo and so the front cover uses blue. The magazine name has a san serif font in order to provide more focus to the story. The serif font suggests a sophisticated approach to the interview. A button is placed to the left to highlight the specialty of the magazine front cover.

The magazine has a universal audience. This magazine cover leans towards the older range of 18 – 49 year olds both male and female for various topics. The film magazine covers mostly film and often to niche audiences. AHS is a cult TV show with a niche following and the magazine attracts a wider audience due to the critical acclaim the TV show has. The poster helps to convey the horror through the blood and deception.

Magazine Flat Plan

Below is a scanned picture of my magazine flat plan. The reason I created a flat plan was to help me develop ideas on how my magazine front cover should look like. This front cover was to help promote my horror trailer. I used the 'T' Layout as it was easy to put a big picture on the front cover to help promote the film effectively.

Final Poster and Film Poster Developments

The poster on the left was the first version of my film poster for my film, MARA. This poster was ineffective as it the slogan used a dark blue. It was difficult to read the slogan and there was no focus model. It did not have the cast and did not look like a professional film poster. The red of the text was too bright and it did not have the information that all typical film posters have. This is ineffective in conveying my film and it does not suit my film.

The poster on the right is the new updated version of my film poster. This is more effective as I changed my anchor model to the one holding the doll. This image was particularly striking as the doll first captures the audience attention . You then notice the hands which create a much more sinister image. The colours are much more muted and stand out much more than the brighter colours whilst still maintaining the horror vibe. The slogan is much more visible and conveys a Nightmare on Elm Street/Friday the 13th vibe which is exactly needed as the film is a slasher supernatural genre. This poster is much a much more effective marketing tool and sells the horror trailer very well.

Poster Analysis: An American Werewolf in London

The title of the film suggests that the werewolf is an American and they have come to terrorise London. America is well known for their horror movie ventures and this could be stating that the horror genre has arrived in London. The poster has the Shaftesbury Memorial in the frame of the poster. The werewolf is emerging from fountain near the bottom of the poster. The bottom left of the poster has bright lights with well-known companies like Philips and FujiFilm. An underground logo is also highlighted in the bottom corner which confirms that the film is set in London as it links to the title. The Shaftesbury Memorial and the lights are placed in Piccadilly Circus and further strengthens the specific place where the film will be set in. London is the capital city of England which is full of people. Having a werewolf loose in London gives the werewolf more opportunities and thus the film will contain a lot of death. 

There is a moon directly in the centre of the poster which has a clear cloud slightly covering it. The moon being directly above the werewolf symbolises that the moon has a link to the werewolf. The fact the werewolf is emerging under the moon could inform the audience that the moon triggers the transformation as werewolves are humans that turn into an animal. The moon further suggests that the film is in the night time. The connotation of the moon suggests that it brings terror. The rain has connotations of sadness. In the poster, the rain links to the setting as well as showing that there may be pain within the film.

The poster uses black, red, green, and white. The white symbolises light and there is little white which could infer that the film is dark and evil which is why the black dominates the poster mostly. There is a slight glimpse of red which is similar to the colour blood. The red reflects on the male winged statuette which suggests that the film is quite bloody. There will be a lot of death as the ‘Angel’ figure symbolises innocence and so the film has a lot of victims. The green reflects off the werewolf and this has connotations of disease and sickness. The green could imply that the werewolf is diseased and that the werewolf disease has been spread to him. The wolf coming from America further supports that the wolf is lethal and is spreading the lupine disease from American to England.

The narrative of the poster is that there is an American werewolf that is on the rampage in the city of London. It is carrying diseases and is thirsty for blood. A werewolf is used in the poster which uses the antagonist as audiences recognise werewolves being an intertextual reference, the facial expression is quite angry and it shows that the werewolf is hungry for blood. The font is serif which shows the film is serious and scary. The white helps audience to see the title for it is the most important text. The other text is dark green and it is slightly unimportant compared to the film.

The position of the camera is a low angle and it shows that the werewolf has more dominance over the audience and it makes the audience more fearful. The poster is simple yet is connotes a deep message that the film is horror. The poster conveys that it is a horror genre due to the dark colours and the werewolf on the screen. The target audience for this poster would be horror fanatics and adults 18+. The reason for this is because werewolves are a classic horror monster that many people identify. Adults would remember this because this is an old film and the design is simple.

Poster Analysis: American Horror Story: Cult

The poster features a woman with pale blue skin. Her eyes are yellow, in a honeycomb-like pattern. A bee is sat on her nose and she has red glossy shiny lipstick on. Her hair is dark blue and her forehead is being pulled by another person’s hands. The woman has bumps and holes across both cheeks and sides of the face.

The bumps on the face are in an unusual pattern, which is the trigger for an unofficial disorder called Trypophobia. This is the fear of irregular patterns/clusters of holes and bumps. People are repelled and disgusted by this fear which infers that the series will focus on phobias and fear meaning that it is ready to mentally and emotionally traumatise their audience in order to get across the genre of horror.

The eyes are a golden colour in the shape of honeycombs/hive. A worker bee is sat on her nose and these bees are known for collecting nectar/pollen. These bees work to death and have no other purpose than to serve the queen. The eyes represent the honeycombs, which is linked to the notion of the hive mind. Hive minds is a sci-fi/nature trope which refers to a collective conscience/intelligence. In nature bees are united by a single collective intelligence. This hive mind involves indoctrination of people and it links to the title: ‘CULT’. Cults are a small group of radicals that intend to change the world through radical measures. The link of bees, hive minds and the title all infer that the series will focus on the terror of cults and control: the way the indoctrinated people become cult members to work for a charismatic leader which, will ultimately lead them to their death. Just like a worker bee.

The hands pulling the eyes is an intertextual reference to the 1962 novel/1971 film A Clockwork Orange. A Clockwork Orange follows Alex, submitted to a behaviour modification technique to condition him to be repulsed by violence. The hands pulling the eyes references the scene where Alex is forced to watch disturbing images and it once again reminds the audience that control over people is a major theme. The direct address to the audience, sends the message that the series will force you to watch on. However, it also could refer to the idea that the poster is seeing you with wide eyes. The poster is attempting to persuade you to watch the series. This will intrigue and disturb audiences which is what the series is about.

The two shades of blue contrast for dark blue has connotations of depression and loneliness whilst the pale blue is a reference to alien. The shades of blue refers to the factors of cult members for they are usually marginalised people that feel alienated from society and this means that the series is a form of comfort for those who feel marginalised from society. Katz and Blumer would regard this as ‘personal identity’, for the reason people turn to media is to discover personal identity. The bright glossy red has connotations to blood and anger which means that the series will involve intense gore but also present the anger of those that feel marginalised from society. The gold is a reference to honey and wealth which is an irony for marginalised people do not usually have enough money for society. The gold links to the colour of honeycomb hives. All the colours form an impression of a clown which is a popular phobia. This further supports the view that the series will focus on fears.

The clown make up could also be a reference to the 2016 clown reference where numerous of people dressed up as clowns to terrorise people. The clown phenomenon helps to make the inference that the series will involve people dressing up as clowns to terrorise people in order to cause people to fear. It uses a close up to ensure the full focus of the poster and directly addresses the audience.

The narrative for this poster is that a cult is rising which will use the element of fear and phobia to scare marginalised people to seek comfort from the cult. The cult will force the indoctrinated to work for the leader until they die. The main theme is fear and control.

Poster Analysis: American Horror Story: Coven

The poster has three women in the shot. All have deep purple coloured lipstick which matches the text and logo font. There are two white women on the sides of the poster. The main focus of the poster is a black woman. The three women have a snake that is weaving through their mouths. The snake is white and the weaving has created the shape of a cross. The two white women dominate over the black woman, despite the black woman being the main focus of the poster, which implies that there is an element of discrimination or oppression. Having three women on the front poster implies that the cast is heavily female dominated. This is further supported by the cast names as all the names are mostly female except for ‘Evan Peters’. The snake is a reference to the bible story of Eve: A snake-like serpent tempts Eve to eat forbidden fruit which causes the fall of humanity and so the theme of manipulation and temptation are strong story elements. The snake creating a cross further supports the theme that the series does contain religious themes.

The colour scheme is slightly saturated which implies that the series has a serious message to its audience which is not for the light hearted which is why the snake is weaving through the mouths. However the snake has the most focus, this could mean that there is control and oppression on women. Burgundy is a prominent colour in the poster. Burgundy has connotations of royalty and hierarchy. In reference to the poster, the poster alludes to themes of hierarchy and royalty meaning that it is a battle for power.

‘Coven’ is a word which describes a group/meeting of witches. The use of the word ‘Coven’ means that the series involves witches which helps to form the overall narrative. ‘American Horror Story’ is a series that uses horror stories of America to create a story. The poster uses san-serif font in order to simplify the poster as it provides more focus to the image than it does to the text. The camera is positioned at a medium close up with no visual on the eyes and hair. The visual is from the nose down which could infer that there is a fear of the unknown. The eyes aren’t addressing the audience which further implies that the content is too shocking to see.

The narrative of the story could possibly be that there is a witch coven that is possibly being oppressed or oppresses other people. The witches are fighting for power as referred to the colour and there are themes of discrimination. There is temptation and control which is known by the snake.T

Poster Flat Plan

Below is a scanned picture of my poster flat plan. The reason I created a flat plan was to help me develop ideas on how my film poster should reflect my horror trailer. I uses horror films as inspiration for the construction of my horror poster and I went with number for because it was effective in relaying my film.

Final Trailer

This is the final trailer of our production. We made changes and this is the final finished product.

Logging Sheet

This is a logging sheet which recorded what we shot.

Sound in our Horror Trailer

Production Stills

The images below are the photos we took when constructing the horror trailer of our production.