'Jilted' (Rough Cut)

                                                   
I personally feel that from this rough cut there is still a lot to work on. The non-diagetic music in some places is in need of some tweaking as well as some of the audio containing dialogue. I really like the fight scene because I feel it adds an elemement of sudden violence so close to the start of the trailer which I feel will keep the audience on edge.

Focus Group Screening

Good Points:
- Nice montage of shots when Sam drinks the whiskey x6
- Very clear narrative x10 - the way we merge our shots together resulted in a clear understanding of the plot for the audience
- Creepy music while the inter titles were presented x5 - we were told our music choice matched the general 'weird' atmosphere for our trailer
- Good acting x6
- Varied use of cinematography x4 - good angles
- Fair use of close ups to fit the general horror convention of camera shots x5
- Pace x3 - audience members said they liked the 'fight/argument scene' as it added tension
- Good establishing shots - audience members felt we introduced each character fairly
- Mise-en-scene x4 - the tarot cards worked well
- Duration of shots x6 - we were told the length of some of our shots created a nice sense of suspense.


Improvements:
- Spelling mistakes x8 - many people picked up on our accidental spelling mistake in one of our inter titles
- Duration of inter titles x2 - this was tricky as one class mate suggested that we sped up the duration, and another said the opposite.
- Music in general needed more pace
- Audio levels on certain parts were fairly muffled x2
- Jump scare needed
- More interesting font for our inter titles x3
- Duration of some of the shots x2 - some people suggested that we needed to speed up some of the shots to create an element of panic

Marks out of 10 by 18 viewers;

8, 7, 8, 7, 7, 7, 6, 7, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 6, 8, 7, 7

Average Mark: 7

Side-by-side Film Poster Analysis

Colour - As you can see from the example of another horror films poster and my version of a similar kind of film the colours on my poster are much brighter. I feel as though this is because my aim while making the film was to sell to a more mainstream, modern audience and so I felt that brighter colours would catch a 'younger' persons eye - within our generation - better than a more 'old-fashioned' type of horror fan.  The colours on my poster also, also very similar to the example poster, add a sense of 'money' and a 'high quality feel' to it, whereas I feel as though due to the fact that the example poster is much duller it conveys the idea that its more 'inexpert' and 'unprofessional'.
Structure - The structure of our horror film posters are extremely alike. We have both placed our title - TAROT/JILTED - within the bottom third of the poster and situation our key elements of our main image - the tarot cards - in the middle third highlighting its importance and simplicity. We have also similarly placed our actor's names just slightly about the title to advertise their presence and attract audience members that are a fan of the actors/actresses previous work. The only major difference between our two pieces is that I have placed a  tag line in the top third of my film poster to add dramatic effect. The idea behind a tag line is to create an intense phrase that will strengthen the audience's memory of the product and also to slightly sum up the narrative or tone within the film itself and therefore I felt it was highly important to include one to capture and hold the audience's attention and make them want to see my film.

Side-by-side Magazine Analysis

Structure - As you can see the 'Total Film' magazine cover is structurally very similar to my 'Silver Screen' magazine cover. They are both fairly classy and convey conventions much closer to psychological horrors, compared to magazines such as 'Scream' that focus majorly on body gore and therefore take on a much more 'frantic' and packed structure. Both of these magazine covers above stick to the 'rule of thirds'. Both of the main images are situated in the middle third to emphasis its importance and highlights the main feature within the magazine itself. The top third included the title as well as a short 'tag line' for the magazine - "THE MIND-BLOWING ISSUE"/"THE WORLD'S MOST UPMARKET HORROR ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE". The top third of a magazine is usually what the consumer will see first due to how they are placed on selling stools and therefore it is very important that the viewer will see the title first to help advertise the product. The bottom third for both of the magazines is filled with further information on our main image and again highlighting what the main feature of the magazine is. 

Colour - Both magazines use dark, 'moody' colours which are conventional for horrors. Deep blues (used on 'Total Films' cover) share the same colour connotations as blacks (used in my version of a horror magazine). They both connote power and dominance as well as hinting towards a gloomy, mysterious atmosphere. They also symbolise the idea that these magazine articles are focused mainly on 'psychological horrors' - if my horror film was known for its gore content I would have used colours like red and yellows to connote blood, pus and danger/gore. I kept the colours of my horror magazine fairly simple too add to the 'classy-ness' of the cover due to the colours themselves not being too overwhelming, confident and messy.

Cover Lines - The cover lines are strategically places around the outside of the magazine on both covers. This is to not draw too much attention from the main image/main article however they need to be advertised on the cover so that the consumer knows what they are buying and can look forward to reading ahead. Most 'important words' such as producer’s names, film titles and 'juicy' topics are bigger than other 'connecting' words to create emphasis on them and capture the viewers’ attention.

Main Differences - One particular thing that I noticed differed a lot from many other horror magazines compared to mine was they tended to have some form of circular shape on it used as an exciting well to sell another of the magazines features. 

Above are two more examples of horror magazines that have used the circle shape on their front cover - the first is from Empire and the second is from Scream.

The reason in which I didn't use this idea was because I felt it added a childish, playful touch to my product and I didn't want my target audience to be younger than at least 18 and therefore I tried to keep my cover classier and simple to appeal to a mature audience. 

Jassabelle Trailer Analysis

I personally feel that this trailer fits the horror conventions perfectly. The general pace of it both builds suspense, panics the audience and provokes a genuine sense of fear.

The very first time we see the main character - Jessabelle - we see her through an high angle shot automatically portraying her as a vulnerable character and immediately creating a sense of sympathy for her. We see her first in a wheelchair which again enhances the audience's feeling of 'pity' towards her and adds an emotional connect with the consumer and the character.

The first lot of non-diagetic music we hear seems fairly sincere however has a small element of creepiness about it. It’s slow paced and is tinted down slightly in volume when Jessabelle speaks to ensure that the audience can hear her dialogue with a sense of clarity.

We then get a sense of status when the father says to her "..it's really good to see you". He is shot from an low angle perspective giving him a sense of superiority. He also mentions her boyfriend - "..sorry about your boyfriend" - which gives the audience an idea that throughout the film the men have more dominance than the women and, Jessabelle especially, is fairly dependant on them. Here is also when we get our first element of excitement or a small 'jump scare' as we go from a slow montage of shots, finished with classical, slow parallel non-diagetic music to a a very short, snappy montage of shots when her boyfriend presumably dies in a car accident as we see a lorry smash into his side of the car after seeing a close up - a typical horror convention - of Jessabelle’s reaction on her face.

After this we see our first inter title. The outside of the inter title is much darker than the centre which is nearly fully white - this suggests that danger is closing in on the characters within the film. This particular inter title is used especially to sell the film further as it highlights other films that the producer of Jessabelle has produced. This means that those who are fans of this particular producer as more likely to watch this film due to enjoying his previous work. The back ground of the inter titles seems to be of a forest - this could symbolise the link between her character and the forest inwhich she lives near and seems to have her own grave stone in. Other inter titles in the trailer are more to help ensure that the audience is aware of the narrative and not completely lost in a state of confusion.

Again we see elements of status - the camera angle on the mother is shot from a low angle conveying the 'power within her' thus increasing the audiences sense of compassion for the main female protagonist. In fact when we very first meet Jessabelle she is ringing her father - implying that she is weak and searching for a man to save her. 

The general structure of the Jassabelle trailer fits well with the common conventions used in horror trailers. The structure of speed/duration of shots being slow/quick/slow/jump scare.

The jump scare at the end of the film is highly effective. It works so well due to collision cutting. The trailer builds suspense through slow, steady shots and then finally finishes with an unexpected montage of quickly paced 'action' shots. 

There are also elements of body horror in parts of the trailer to highlights to the audience exactly what kind of horror this film is supposed to be fitted within. Body horror links to the 'gory horror' genre and so incorporating shots of 'blood' will help sell the film to 'gory horror' fans. 

Many things such as the pacing of music and shots are used to create tension and suspense. An example of this is the diagetic sound of the tap dripping. The water hitting the sink is enhanced to create further effect. The rest of the scene is silent except for the dripping - creating an enigma. Other elements, such as the creepy whispering, are all used to add to the distubing atmosphere within the trailer. 
Some of the things I liked about the trailer are based around cinematograhpy - for example I feel as though the scene where the main female protagonist is looking upwards as there is a canted angle, tracking shot moving at a quick pace down the stairs just before she gets pushed backwards by what is seemingly 'nothing' there to push her. I feel that the effect made - that 'someone' is haunting her, invisible to our eyes and almost creeping up to her - really adds panic for the audience as we can't see whats going on and due to the main female protagonist being in a wheelchair we feel sympathy for her as we feel like she is vulnerable. Also the high angle shot makes us feel like whatever is about to attack her is far more superior than she. Another emotion this effect creates is tension - as an audience memenber we do not know what is going to happen to her once the 'creature' has reached her. 

A point that I did not like was the close up shot of the mothers face at 1:45. I felt that seeing the mothers face all wilted and old looking to such an extent added a small sense of humour to the trailer and I felt that as an audience member, my imagination of the mothers crooked face was actually better and 'scarier' than actually seeing it in an image. 

Shooting Schedule

Stereotypical Fan

Description:
Name: Phoebe Young
Occupation: University Student
Likes: Horror films, shopping, visiting the movies, eating chocolate, watching movies with her boyfriend, friends, social networking sites, procrastinating.
Dislikes: Politics, spending time outside, rom-com films, stand up comedians, writing essays, house work.
Age: 19
Race: White British
Gender: Female

Phoebe loves watching psychological thrillers but doesn't mind the slightest bit of body horror or gore. She prefers feeling panicked while watching a film and enjoys the suspense within horrors/thrillers much more than comedy film or a chick flick. Her ideal date would be sitting at home with her boyfriend, on the sofa, eating chocolate while watching a film that is really testing her adrenaline. Although she loves social networking - for example Twitter or Instagram - she isn't a fan of gaming or watching Soaps - she finds them incredibly tedious and predictable. Politics is a subject in which she will never understand and would much rather put on a DVD than sit and watch a news. Much like every other Uni student she is a 'pro' at procrastinating! Writing essays or doing her homework is the very last thing she'd like to do and tends to go out shopping with her girl friends rather than get her head down and work.