Sunday, 13 March 2011

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




Screen shot comparison: End of Days (1999)

Top Image: Actor 2: Eyes of Antagonist behind a Guy. Bottom Image: End of Days (1999) trailer screen shot.

Within spiritual/religious horrors, you often see in the eyes of the spirit, and this shot from our trailer you can see an extreme long shot of a male figure, which the camera gets closer too the male before eventually going straight into his face when he turns around. End of days (1999) also shows in the eyes of the antagonist, before it too goes into the back of a man. In most cases the devil is always linked in horrors to be male, however not in all cases. To increase the viewer’s awareness that they are in the eyes of something abnormal, and the clear antagonist, we have heavily controlled the colours throughout this clip, over-laying a clear red filter, which represents danger and the devil/Lucifer.

Screen shot comparison: Scream 4 (2011)




Top Image: Close up of Image (Water Tower Building). Bottom Image: Medium Shot of telephone. Trailer screen shot (Scream, 2011)

The meaning of this photograph within the screen shot taken from our match on action sequence is meant to represent the location of the danger source, were the narrative will conclude and where the new equilibrium will commence. In the case of Wes Craven’s Scream quadrilogy, part of the antagonism lies within simple phone calls, so within the movie when you see the phone ringing, it is a clear indication that the killer is on the end of the phone, therefore defeating that person on the end of the phone will defeat the antagonist and change the equilibrium.

Screen shot comparison: Freddy vs Jason (2003)




Top Image: Antagonist seen in background. Trailer screen shot (Freddy vs Jason, 2003)

Within many horror movie's, you often see on screen the antagonist appearing in the background. Althought on screen the characters are unaware of the presence of the antagonist, we as viewers witness the antagonist doing nothing or approaching the protagonist's or soon to be victims. Also it is not uncommon that the antagonist then disappears of screen, leaving the viewers questioned and on edge to where the antagonist has gone although on screen characters are completly unaware. Soon after the disapearance, the antagonist tends to re-appear but with a scare, usually instant cuts and loud non-diagetic sound is introduced to scare the viewers.

Screen shot comparison: Paranormal Activity (2009)




Top Image: Paranormal Activity(2009) trailer screen shot.

The screen shot taken from Paranormal Activity (2009) is a clear match which has inspired our trailer to include a close up shot of the antagonist. This horror movie is also about a spiritual presence within a human; however the viewers clearly know that the spirit is within the young girl, apposed to our Film/Trailer which is supposed to lead the viewers into believing that the spirit of Lucifer could be in either of the actors.

Bottom Image: Actor 1: Close up of ‘antagonist’, screen shot taken from our Trailer

More often in horror movies we are delivered with a close up shot of the monster/devil/anti-antagonist, this shot taken from our trailer shows movement across screen of an unreadable face, edited heavily with a red filter. Commonly linked to the devil and other signs of danger is red, so forth the red links well to our anti-antagonist, Lucifer, name known for as the fallen angel, related name to Satan.

Screen shot comparison: Halloween (1978)




Top Image: Screen shot taken from trailer Halloween(1978).

You can bet that if your watching a horror, especially ones that have a religious sub genre, you see from the eyes of the spirit/devil etc. This screen shot is taken from John Carpenter's horror spectacular Halloween(1978). Here you see in the eyes of killer, Mike Myers, who is about to kill someone, if you havent watched the movie.

Bottom Image: Screen shot taken from our trailer.

This shot taken from our trailer is in the eyes of the spirit, as he is approaching a near by toilet, which we watched an on screen character go into before. The colours in this shot have been heavily controlled, a constant red filter used throughout, although suttle in parts. We used red as a filter as red is commonly associated with the devil/anti-christ etc.

Screen shot comparison: The Exorcist (1973)




Top Image: Screen shot taken from trailer The Exorcist(1973)

In horror movies you are in most cases taken to the centre of the problem, often where the problem will be resolved and the equilibrium will be restored. I have taken a screen shot from the trailer of Feature movie The Exorcist(1973). This shot shows a figure(Priest) arriving at a mysterious house, this being the place of the presence of the devil.

Bottom Image: Screen shot taken from our trailer.

In horror films, the antagonist and other characters commonly go to the centre of the danger, if it's a building or specific place etc. So in our trailer we made a match on action shot, which zooms into a picture of the danger (Water Tower Image) which then zooms out arriving infront of the plave of danger (Water Tower). We used this match on action shot as it is known for the problem to be resolved in these places and the equilibrium to be restored, well returned to its original state.

Screen shot comparison: Eden Lake (2008)




Top Image: Screen shot taken from trailer Eden Lake(2008)

In many thriller/horrors where the antagonist is pursuing the protagonist or victims, you will more likely witness a medium or long shot, showing the emmotional and physical state of the person. This shot taken from Eden Lake(2008) is a medium shot as the female is being pursued by a group of youths who are most likely going to kill her.

Bottom Image: Screen shot taken from our trailer.

This medium shot of actor, almost a portrait of the actor, shows the characters emmotioanl and physical state. Clearly trying to get away from something, we know it is the antagonist. The colours have been heavily controlled, many dark and blue colours representing the dark side which is pursuing the character.

Screen shot comparison: Alien (1979)




Top Image: Inter-title, Screen shot taken from trailer (Alien, 1979)

In near enough all trailers across all genres, there are inter-titles. Often used to explain the narrative, but not revealing too much. Also they are used to incorporate the movies tagline. In the case of feature movie Alien(1979), within the movie trailer you see the inter-title stating 'in space know one can hear you scream', one of the most recognisable taglines from movies remembered today, this is then used on movie posters and other promotional products.

Bottom Image: Inter-title, screen shot taken from our trailer.

As explained above, most trailers from all genres include inter-titles, and often taglines for the inter-titles. Therefore we including various inter-titles for our trailer, this screen shot is one of them, and this one states 'you can only defeat it', which is half of what the movie tagline is, which can be seen on the lower half of the movie magazine. The second half of the tagline comes into the trailer later on, which is often done to split the tagline.

Screen shot comparison: The Crazies (2010)




Top Image: Actor 1: Finding book, print screened imaged from Trailer.

This image represents the normality within the world of the Movie/Trailer, in particular the equilibrium of the movie is also affected away from normal life in almost every film made and therefore I have carried on this common theme in our trailer. The equilibrium is seen to be affected when actor/student, Sonny Gardiner, handles a book at random in a library causing him to see images passing through into his vision from the books spiritual presence.

Bottom Image: The Crazies(2010) trailer screen shot.

Like in the case of The Crazies (2010), two police officers are going about their daily duty to protect and serve at a local baseball game when a local man arrives at the game acting erratically to his normal status forcing the police officers to gun him down. This point of the film effectively is the start of the changed equilibrium in the small community town, which is a typical conventional change within horror movies.