Amended Final Poster

Dracula- Character Analysis

‘Dracula’ is a character created by author Bram Stoker in 1897. The story tells us about Count Dracula who lives in Transylvania but tries to relocate to England after he chooses his next victim (Mina, the wife of the person helping him sell his castle). When he crosses to England Van Helsing and a few people try to exterminate him. The gothic novel touches on themes such as the role of Victorian woman, immigration, death. Dracula bites his victims thus turning them into Vampires if he does not entirely drink their blood first.

 

‘Dracula’ has been adapted into many, many films- the first being ‘Nosferatu’ a 1922 silent German film. However at the time they were not allowed to use the actual name ‘Dracula;’ so changed his name to ‘Count Orlok’ and changed the title of the film. Then came the 1931 movie ‘Dracula’. This was the movie that helped mould the image of what everyone imagines Dracula to look like today, with his slicked black hair, pointed eyebrows, fangs, cloak and high collar.

 

Even nowadays he is one of the most famous horror characters, one that most people know of.

Final Horror Trailer

Our horror trailer moodboard

This mood board sums up some of the key factors we hope to include within our trailer.

Final Evaluation

Paperwork

Here is the paperwork for our production and planning...

Magazine Cover and Poster analysis'

Here are my analysis' of three movie magazine covers, and three horror movie posters.

 

Magazine Cover and Film Poster Analysis'

Class History of Horror Powerpoints

"Video Nasties"

Slasher films and the 'body horror' of the 80s

Films of the 2000s: "Gore-nography" and "torture porn"

The primal animal within

Monsters and mad scientists

Gothic horror and classic literature

Hammer Horror

Ghosts, zombies and satanism

Alien invaders and mutants

Questionnaire Results

17 people completed my questionnaire, 10 of these were girls and 7 were boys. I don’t think the difference in the amount of people from each gender will make much of a difference to the results as I tried to spread these people out over a wide age range.

Although I tried to ask a range of ages, the majority of people were in my age range of 16-20, this could be for two reasons; firstly I may have made the mistake of asking people mainly at College, where everyone will be in this age range, or this is the most popular age group when it comes to watching horror movies.

13 of the people said they were influenced by the marketing of the movie and will consider how well it has been marketed before seeing it. People also listed things which they would look for in a horror trailer to make it successful:

• Interesting and easily remembered
• Cliff-hangers (Not giving plot away)
• Genre indicators
• Anticipation
• Jumpy and suspense
• Good storyline without giving too much away

Interestingly, 14 people out of the 17 liked horror movies, 7 of these were girls, 7 boys. This left 3girls who didn’t enjoy horror movies. This could suggest that the horror genre is more for males, as it was only the females who disliked them. However, there were just as many girls liking them, but this could follow the idea that horror movies make good ‘date’ movies, where the girl goes to see it in order to be looked after by the boy.

When asked, it appears that the most popular sub-genre of horror movies is ‘Psychological’, with 9 out of 17 people choosing this. With the increase in paranormal movies recently it is no surprise that this comes second with 4 people, then slasher with 3. One person also decided to choose ‘Zombies’ as their other subgenre, as there was a period where these were very popular, and in fact still are.

When I asked them to name their favourite horror movies, the results also spread across all these subgenres:

• The Shining (psychological)
• Friday 13^th (Slasher)
• Paranormal Activity (Paranormal)
• Dawn of the dead (Zombie)
• Zombieland (Zombie)
• Jeepers creepers (slasher)
• Psycho (psychological

Putting all these results together, I have decided to come up with an idea that is easily reached by both genders at my age group of16-20 but something that will also be appropriate for older ages too. I want the trailer to be jumpy and build suspense without giving too much of the plot away. I should also try and make it psychological as this was the most popular category.

Magazine and Poster pre- planning.

Copy of my questionnaire

Questionnaire

1.      Are you male or female?

 

2.      How old are you?

 

12-15          16-20           21-30          31-40             41-50              51-60                60+

 

3.      Are you a fan of movies?

YES          NO

 

4.      How often do you go to the cinema to watch movies?

DAILY         WEEKLY      FORTNIGHTLY     MONTHLY       OTHER

Other………………………………………………………………………

 

5.      Will the marketing of the film, such as poster convince you to see a movie?

YES        NO

 

6.      Does seeing a successful trailer convince you to see a movie?

YES        NO

7.      What do you look for in a successful trailer?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

8.      Where do you prefer to watch movies?

 

A.    At the cinema                   B.  At home                         C. At a friends

 

9.      Are you a fan of Horror Movies?

YES      NO

 

10. What is your favourite Horror movie?

……………………………………………………...............................................................................................................................................................................................

 

11. What do you LIKE/ DISLIKE about horror movies?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

12. What is your favourite sub- genre of Horror movies?

 

A.    Slasher   B. Psychological    C. Paranormal      D. Other………………………

 

13. What do you expect from Horror films?

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

 

14.  Are you influenced by directors, stars and production companies?

YES       NO

Final Movie Poster

Final Film Magazine Front Cover

Here is my final magazine front cover. I took inspiration from 'Total Film' magazine, even incorporating their logo. However, i made it look my own by applying an old film texture to the writing. I also took inspiration from the way they used cover stories and how they presented them. To make it look as professional as possible, i used a barcode with the appropriate publisher on it, and also showed the date, issue number and price.
We had a group photo shoot where we took a photo of me covered in blood, and i then edited my eye to make it look bruised and white, making the image more scary. The story is about a girl with a split personality disorder who kills everybody, so we tried to show this by splitting my face- one side normal, the other bloody and dark.

The Woman In Black Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins with a wide shot, establishing the scene of an old nursery. The colours are dull, and dark, and made up of blues, greens and greys. The colours connote sadness and remorse, which help set the tone of the film, and also add to the gothic horror element of it. Everything is silent at this point other than the sound of howling wind, which also sets the scene of the fact it is set in the marshes. The sound of howling wind is also a typical sound you will find in horror films. Suddenly, on top of the howling wind, we hear the sound of a chime, along with a close up of an old Victorian toy monkey strumming a harp. More toys begin to make noise, and up to this point we had just been given lots of close ups of other toys such as a china doll, who’s hair is in a state and has cracks and dirt on her face. Dolls are a popular child’s toy, thus symbolising innocence. However, the fact she is broken and not well looked after makes it less innocent and scarier. The toys begin to move as they play the music and chimes as they are part of a music box. The fact the toys each have vacant expressions add to the creepiness. We see a shot of the house from outside- it looks abandoned, dark and creepy. With broken gates, ivy on the walls and smashed windows. Quick shots of the horse and cart carrying him over the marshes are squeezed in between the shots of the toys. In the foreground of one of these shots we see a grave. There is also a shot from someone’s point of view as they walk down the dark corridor. We also see a few more quick shots around the dark mansion, such as the huge lobby room which appears to be abandoned as all the furniture is covered in white sheets, the stair case and chandeliers are all black adding a sense of darkness to the room, making the house seem creepy.

We then hear an almost ghostly sounding breathe, or a very quiet scream. As we hear this we are shown an old black and white photograph of a family as they stand in front of the mansion. There is also dialogue on top of the other sounds in the trailer at this point, as a young girl begins to recite a rhyme about ‘The Woman In Black.’

“During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air. A bone- trembling chill that tells you she’s there. There are those who believe the whole town in cursed. But the house in the marsh is by far the worst. What she wants is unknown, but she always comes back. The spectre of darkness, the woman in black.”  Having a child read the rhyme makes it seem much for terrifying, as if you understand the story, it is about the children killing themselves after they are cursed by the woman in black.

We then see a shot of three little girls playing with their toys, all turning and looking into the camera as if they have seen something. The fact their toys are all in good condition contrasts with the previous shots of broken toys. The girls are all wearing pink and white dresses, and their room is filled with sunlight, making them seem very innocent.

At the line ‘A bone trembling chill…’ we see a shot of another toy as it bends backwards in time with the chimes of music. The abnormal movement of the toy shocks the audience. Straight after this is another shot of the black and white photograph we saw of the family stood in front of the house, however this time, their eyes have been scratched out and the photo has been torn.

Zooming in on the photo, it becomes an extreme close up on one of the windows in the house. We hear the line ‘…that tells you she’s there.’ Looking closely at the window we can see the faint silhouette of a woman stood at the window, the dark space of her eyes visible, making it obvious she is watching them. This cuts straight to a shot of some children watching as Arthur drives past. They look shocked and scared. We see Arthur look around as he is driving as see more children watching him as he passes the houses. There is an establishing shot of the whole country town as we hear the line ‘…there are those who believe, the whole town is cursed…’ We see a shot of a mother screaming and crying, which makes sense if we listen to what the rhyme is about.

‘But the house on the marsh is by far the worst.’ As we hear this line we see an establishing shot of the house and the surrounding marshes. From this point on the tempo on the trailer begins to get much faster, as we hear the noises the toys are making getting faster and faster too. The nature of the clips are also less innocent and become more scary. A toy turns it’s head and looks directly into the camera, this then cuts to the man being asleep, and over his shoulder we see a woman dressed in black slowly walk towards him. As this happens, we hear a loud screeching noise which is very common in horror trailers to create atmosphere.

We then see Arthur looking through the window at night. We see that it is raining, and he is lit up by a flash of lightning. We can also hear thunder- a thunderstorm is a common symbol for the horror genre. As he looks out the window he sees a child crawling out of the mud and towards the house. This makes no sense until we see the next clip which is him ripping the wallpaper off the wall and discovering writing painted on the wall written in what appears to be blood. We assume it is about the child we saw in the marsh: ‘You could have saved him.’  In the foreground of this shot, the monkey toy with maracas we saw at the start of the trailer sits there still, but as Arthur pulls the paper off the wall, it suddenly starts moving as if it’s been wound up.

‘What she wants is unknown…’ The rhyme continues as we see a shot of Arthur looking lost in the fog, which then cuts to a quick shot of him diving into the marsh and then another quick shot of him sprinting through a forest at night. ‘…But she always comes back…’  We then see another clip of the three girls we saw playing innocently previously. Except this time they are all walking towards the window in a trance, throwing down their toys and standing on them, completely forgetting how much they were enjoying delicately playing with them a moment ago. We see the girls look like they’re about to jump out the window. ‘…The spectre of darkness…’  It then cuts to a clip of Arthur as he sprints down the old dark corridor in the house, and locks himself in a room, where the muddy body of the child we saw in the marsh appears to grown from the bed. As this happens, the music suddenly cuts off and we are shown a clip of the monkey again, but this time it suddenly stops too, building suspense. We start to hear slow chimes, and between each chime, we see a quick shot; a fire, Arthur sprinting, and lots of ghostly looking children standing in the rain in the forest outside the house.

The last shot is a typical shot to scare the audience and make them want to see the film even more. Arthur looks out the window and watches as the only road to escape the house is flooded over with water, thus trapping him. As he stands watching this, along with a loud bang, a ghoulish face appears over his shoulder.