Classifications and Conventions of Trailers

In class, we researched the conventions of trailers, and explored the BBFC to find out more about who they are and what they do.

BBFC: British Board of Film Classification

The BBFC is an independent, self-financing media content regulator. They operate transparent, consistent and trusted co-regulatory and self-regulatory classification, as well as labelling systems in the UK.

Their aim is to:

- Protect he public, especially children, from content which may have the possibility of raising risks
- Empower the public, especially parents, in order to make informed viewing choices
- Recognise and respect adult freedom of choice within the law
- Respond to and reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research
- Provide a cost-effective, efficient classification service within our statutory remit

- Work in partnership with the industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advise which support emerging media delivery systems


After researching this, my group and I decided that we will target the audience of 18+

Horror Movie Title Questionnaire - The Results

I had kept the survey open for a week or so, which gave people enough time to fill it out, as I was advertising it on different websites. My group and I then got together to caluclate the results from the survey.

From these results, it indicates that it was a tie between 'Domination' and 'Damnation,' as they had the most votes. We allowed them to choose more than one answer, due to the variety of titles we had. However, we also printed off the questionnaire to give to peole to fill out by hand, which 20 people filled out, leaving us with a total of 39 responses. This then balanced out the tie we had before, making 'Damnation' the most popular one, which we then finalised as our horror movie title.

Horror Movie Title - Questionnaire

We thought that the best way to decide which title to use for our film would be by getting feedback from other people to see what they think of the names, and whether they think it would be appropriate to use. Looking at the response I got back from my previous questionnaire which was about horror movies in general, my group and I decided that it would be best to create another survey for the title ideas. Once again, I used http://www.surveymonkey.com/ to create this survey. They then gave me the link for the survey, which was http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q7NSSGN.

I used social networking in order to advertise the questionnaire, so that people could fill it out in a simpler form. I did this through my twitter account, and by posting it on my BBM status.

Horror Movie Title Ideas

After creating our plot summary, my group and I then had to give a name to our horror film, which obviously had to be based on the overall narrative. Seeing as we all had different ideas, we decided to pick 10 names which we thought would be suitable, and then we would narrow it down to one last one. Also, we searched some words online to see if we could better the ones we already had. We decided to just stick to one word as the title, as we thought that this would get the message across more clearly and would be more effective, as we will also have a tag line. The 10 names are listed below:

• Domination
• Repression
• Condemnation
• Abomination
• Perdition
• Damnation
• Destruction
• Absolution
• Profanity
• Malediciton

As you can tell from the names above, most of them have religious connotations to them. We done this on purpose as the film itself is based on religion, and the outcomes if you rebel against it; hence, we decided to use this as the main topic for the names.

Plot Summary

My group and I were given the task to create the overview narrative of the horror film while our trailer will be based on. This was faily easy as we all had many thoughts and ideas about what we wanted to base our story on, and therefore, we combined our ideas together to come up with one final storyline. We had done a brainstorm of ideas beforehand, which made it easier for us as we were able link different ideas with each other. Below is the final plot summary.

Beginning

In South -East London, England, a teenage girl named Angela is mysteriously looking at a church. A flashback of her at a younger age is shown where she is constantly going to church with her mother. Suddenly, her mother disrupts the flashback and we return to the present stage and her mother asks if she is going inside the church. She then states that she will come into the church within a few moments and hence her mum goes in without her. She continues to stare at the church but suddenly sees her friends across the street and a smile is illustrated on her face. They quickly greet and Sammie states that they are going to Freddie’s house to watch a movie; she then states that she is going with them and therefore ditches the idea of going to church. She looks back at the church worryingly but soon forgets about her betrayal to her religion when she converses with her friends.

Once inside Freddie’s house they settle down and begin to watch the film. They then begin to watch a horror film and she is reminded of her betrayal to the church in which this makes her feel uneasy. Then, some religious connotations are portrayed within the film and she begins to panic as she thinks about her own deception. Her friends try to snap her out of her madness and once calm, suggest that she should go home and rest and she follows this advice.

She arrives home only to find her mother extremely angry with her missing out on church. The two argue until the mother hits her and states that she should repent her sins. She runs to her room, cries and then falls asleep. Once awoken from her slumber, she realises the time, 3am however, decides her mother was right and that she should go and repent. She gets her coat and walks silently out the house, trying not to awake her mother. She walks to the church reciting versus’ from the Bible. Once in the church, she kneels by the alter and starts praying. Suddenly, the door opens but she cannot see anyone there, she then decides to hide away in fear thinking that God has arrived in the room. It turns out to be a thief trying to steal ornaments from the alter including a Bible, a cross and some money from the offering. Angela then beings to become more and more scared and then hear voices within her mind telling her to kill. The voices then begin to get louder and before she can control herself she beats him to death with a candle holder. She then stops and realises what she has done and runs to the bathroom to try and wash away the blood. She then looks in the mirror once, thinking that something is behind her. She then looks again in which her eyes go red and the scene fades to black.

A mysterious person who has witnessed the event goes to Angela’s mother and tells her about the event that happened within the church. Thinking that this person is wild, she refuses to believe the story and tells the person to get out of her house. The person tells her to beware of Angela, and then runs out of the house whilst Angela’s mum is left bewildered.

Later her mum is sitting in her chair and waiting for Angela to arrive. The doorbell rings and her mum slowly approach the door, baring in mind what the witness has said about Angela. She slowly opens the door to find Angela with her head held down and her clothes ripped. She then goes to touch Angela’s head but Angela then quickly raises her head and her mother realises that she has glowing red eyes. Her mum runs away in fear but Angela catches up with her. She then stabs Angela in the stomach but Angela laughs and then takes the knife out showing that it has had no effect. The scene then ends with Angela going towards the camera but at an audience’s point of view coming towards the camera.

Middle

The next morning, Leyla and Sammie arrive to Angela's house to pick her up for school. After ringing the doorbell and waiting for a couple of minutes they soon find that the door is open and decide to go in. They search around the house and fail to find Angela. As soon as they are about to leave, Angela jumps from nowhere and Leyla and Sammie scream. Angela laughs, greets her friends and they all go off to school.

After school, Freddie and Angela walk to Freddie's house to do their English project together. Soon after arriving at Freddie's house, Angela gets restless and tries to kiss Freddie. Freddie backs away and states that he does not want to kiss Angela and that she should leave. Angela gets angry and Freddie then states that he'll find another partner for the project. Angela then transforms from normal Angela in to evil Angela and then passes the curse onto Freddie. Angela leaves the house when she hears Freddie's parents arriving back to the house. Freddie's mum asks if he is okay and Freddie does not reply and instead passes the curse onto his parents. The scene ends with the family laughing manically.

 Clips of Angela and Freddie killing and cursing people are then shown. Even a clip of Mason is seen with Angela stating that he'll have fun before giving killing him and sending him to hell. The whole of South East London are then told about the violent attacks through different media texts.

Sammie wonders why all of this is happening and decides to do some much needed research. We see clips of her reading books, searching the internet and find out what Angela is and how the curse is spreading. Suddenly, Angela calls Sammie and states that Sammie should stop what she is doing whilst Sammie is confused and then the two argue on the phone. Sammie throws the book and holds her head with her hands.

A couple of weeks later and Leyla and Sammie are sitting in Leyla's front room pondering about all the attacks. There is a new curfew of 5pm for children and 6pm for young adults and 7pm for adults in order to ensure everyone's safety. Sammie then states that no one is safe and the two then share stories about the kind of attacks they've heard. Suddenly they hear glass shattering from the other room and scream only to find out that Leyla's mum had accidentally dropped her glass of water and then begins to cry. The two girls comfort the mother until she is calm again. They smile and then Leyla's mother then goes upstairs to rest. Leyla states that she has become this way because of all the attacks and they return back to the front room.

End

Sammie then gets a strange call from someone calling from unknown. She picks up and the person is frantically telling her to stay away from Angela as she is spreading the curse. The mysterious person is then revealed to be connected to Angela’s past. Sammie listens but then demands for evidence and the mysterious person tells her to look outside her window. Leyla hearing the conversation then looks outside the window to find the "evil Angela" grinning. Sammie drops the phone and the two decide to run upstairs into Leyla's room. Angela breaks down the door and stops Leyla from going up the stairs. Leyla is crying and shouts to Sammie to save herself. Sammie then tries to save Leyla but is flung to the dining room door. Leyla is then taken to the front room where Angela blocks the door. Leyla screams in agony whilst Angela laughs. Sammie screams and runs outside.

After giving Leyla the curse, Angela then tracks down Sammie and finds her at an abandoned house. Sammie screams and short dialogue is spoken between the two. There is then a final standoff between Angela and Sammie. Sammie then tries to run away but Angela drags her by feet to her previous position. Sammie frantically looks around to find something to kill Angela and comes across a knife. As soon as Angela tries to possess her, Sammie stabs Angela in the heart and Angela screams in agony. She says her last words then drops to the floor and returns back to the "normal" Angela. Sammie remembers that Angela had been possessed; this drives her to call an ambulance. Sammie then runs back to Leyla's house to find a "normal" Leyla. The scene is left with the two of them hugging.

The narrative ends with Angela missing and Sammie, Leyla and Freddie laying flowers for Mason.

Heavily influenced by 'Carrie'

Potential Ideas for Horror Movie

Once we were put into our groups of three, we then had to brainstorm different ideas that could be used for our horror movie, through which we could then base our trailer on. My group and I began to list possible ideas and features that could be included in our movie, so that we could then create our final narrative. It was essential to bare in mind the reasons why individuals decide to watch a horror movie, whether it be at the cinema or even at home, as these reasons will then be adapted in our trailer, conveying the key conventions of a horror movie.

Ideas

• Supernatural - human being possessed 
• A sense of possession - causes paranoia 
• Being possessed by the devil
• Link to Ed Gein 
• Suspense of characters
• Teenager - classic overprotective mother
• Open events - occurring everywhere
• Something happens when gazing upon the killer
• Non conclusive - mysterious ending
• Music - gradually build music whilst narrative continues
• Based on a real life event
• Domestic setting
• Religious connotations
• Psychopath - schizophrenic protagonist 
• Protagonist has powers - passes it onto others

My group and I combined all the results from our horror movie questionnaire's that we created, and took the overall outcome into consideration, which also helped us brainstorm more ideas, as listed above. Also, we compared results and then highlighted the main similarities we all found from our individual questionnaires and decided that these aspects will be our main focus in order to target our audience.

• Targeting at 15 - 25 year olds
• Focus more on storyline - limited use of blood and gore
• Include shocking and jumpy suspense
• Suspense music
• Fast shots and editing
• Flashbacks

We decided to focus on the 'Final Girl Theory,' as this then links to a monstrous feminine. 

Horror Movie Questionnaire - The Results

I kept the survey for my questionnaire open for roughly around two weeks, giving people enough time to fill it out, as I was regularly advertising it as mentioned in my previous post. I then closed the survey in order to analyse the overall results that were collected from those who filled it out. As well as using http://www.surveymonkey.com, I decided to transfer the data into Excel, as I could create pie charts for each question, making it easier for myself to understand the final results.

1) What gender are you? 

I chose to have this as the first question to my survey, as it starts off by giving me some information about the person who is filling it out. Furthermore, its helpful for me as I am able to see which type of gender is more likely to watch horror movies, and looking at the results, it turns out that its actually females. This then automatically links with the other results from all the other questions. 

2) How old are you?

This is also similar to the first question as it gives me an insight to how old the person is, once again linking in with the other results. Also, I thought this would be an appropriate question to include as I will then be able to decide on the age rating for my horror movie. It turns out that its usually 16 - 20 year olds who watch horror movies regularly, so therefore, this will be my target audience. However, I will also take into consideration all the other ages present as well, as I don't want to have some sort of restriction towards the viewers. 

3) How often do you watch a horror movie?

Again, I inserted this question as it allows me to find out more about my target audience. Horror movies are being released frequently nowadays, meaning that theres a variety of different horror movies to watch in the cinema, as well as on DVD. Therefore, the answers to this question allows me to understand if people frequently watch horror movies, or whether they watch one once in a while, and by looking at the results, it appears that its somewhat in between, as majority of the people tend to watch it every two months. 

4) How do horror movies make you feel?

Different horror movies have different aims when it comes to giving the audience a sense of emotion. Some want to terrify the audience, whereas others may have different agendas. However, it is possible that a person encounters numerous feelings when watching a horror movie. With this question, I allowed my target audience to answer more than one emotion, due to the fact that there could simply be more than one, as well as having the chance to write down their own answers, which gives me a larger range of answers, so that I know what I would want my audience to feel when watching my trailer. By looking at the results, it seems to be that people get some sort of excitement while watching a horror movie. Furthermore, 4 people wrote down their own answers, which mainly consisted of 'amused,' meaning that they find a sense of humour within the movie. 

5) Who do you like to watch a horror movie with?

Some people have different preferences when it comes to who to watch a horror film with, which is something that I personally find interesting, as it immediately gives an idea of what the person is like. For example, if they are able to watch an entire horror movie by themselves, then its most likely that they aren't the type to get afraid. Therefore, I simply chose this question to once again, find out more about my target audience. However, a large number of people said they they like to watch a horror movie with their friends, possibly a group of friends, which then makes it more exciting and scary for all of them. Therefore, I will ensure that my trailer appeals to groups of friends, making sure that its something that they would want to watch together.

6) What kinds of settings frighten you the most in a horror movie?

This question was included to help me with ideas of locations to use in my actual trailer. I listed down the settings which you will usually find in a horror movie, such as a domestic setting, to see whether this appeals to my target audience, and if they get frightened by it. By looking at the results, it seems as if they do get scared when a domestic setting is included in a horror movie; therefore I will take this into account by showing this location within my trailer.

7) Does a horror movie appeal to you more when it's based on a real life event?

There are some horror movies that are based on a real life event, which frightens individuals more, as it personally does for me. This is why I decided to include this question to see whether this type of movie would appeal to my target audience more, or whether it doesn't really have an overall affect on them, which was the case for majority of the people who took part in the survey. When it comes to creating my trailer, I will discuss this aspect with the rest of my group and see whether we should base our trailer on a real life event or not. 

8) Do gruesome aspects within a horror movie frighten you? (E.g. blood, gore, weapons etc)

Not everyone gets frightened by blood and gore etc within horror movies, which is what this question proves. Therefore, I will keep these aspects limited in my trailer, due to the fact that it doesn't appeal to everyone. 

9) What do you expect to see in a horror movie trailer?

When it comes to watching a horror movie trailer, people have various ideas on what they want to see in the trailer, which is why I thought it was necessary to have this question on the survey. With this question, I didn't write down any specific options for the audience to choose fro, but instead, I allowed them to write down any feedback they wanted to give in relation to this specific question. I narrowed down the most common answers and included this in the pie chart above. All of the answers that were given are typical features which are present in a horror movie, which is something I will take into account when it comes to creating my trailer.

10) When watching a horror movie trailer, do you prefer to discover the whole storyline?

People do not always want to find out the whole storyline when watching a trailer, which is why I thought it would be important to ask this question, as I wouldn't want to give away too much information, as it then wouldn't exactly appeal to my target audience. Consequently, it turns out that most people do not like to know the complete storyline; therefore, I will make sure not to reveal too much within the trailer, but instead, have a sufficient amount which will make them want to watch it.

I will take all the answers that I received very seriously when it comes to the final creation of my horror movie trailer, as the feedback given is vital for me to follow in order for the trailer to be successful, and for it to have the conventions of a horror movie.