Final pieces: The Curse

   

Official poster

Teaser poster

DVD cover

Focus Group (9/03/12)

After the success of my initial focus group (9/01/2013), in which I asked four friends to comment on my mock up posters, I decided it would be a beneficial idea to do the same with my three piece coursework draft. I asked four people to take part in a 20 minutes session in which I would give them a few relevant topics to discuss regarding my project. The aim of this focus group is to confirm the strengths and weaknesses within my teaser poster, official poster and DVD cover and to discuss whether or not I have been successful in satisfying my target audience as well as fulfilling the codes and conventions of the horror genre. I asked them to be as critical as possible as I find constructive criticism a healthy way of improving the standard of my work. The people taking part in the focus group (Chloe 17, Craig 18, Sam 21 and Steph 24) are all young adults and, therefore, their feedback will be valuable because the target audience for my campaign is young adults.

Interviewer (Me): What are your initial reactions to the teaser poster?

Chloe: I like the colours of the poster and the way you’ve created a dirty background. The cracks look sinister and creepy. I like the ‘fish eye’ effect that you’ve created through the use of lighting and shadow.

Craig: The typography looks professional and I like how it has been placed over a bright, light colour because it makes the text more bold and eye-catching.

Sam: The box of red looks a little out of place… The colour red is blood relevant but I don’t think it matches the colour palette of the rest of the poster. Perhaps if you used more red it would look less shocking. Other than that, I like how you faded the tree branches into the background because they look like cracks and blend really well.

Steph: The first thing that I noticed about the poster was the tagline, I like it because it sounds like a gothic children’s story. Anything that involves children is automatically scary. 

Interviewer (Me): What elements of the teaser poster do you think let it down and why?

Steph: I agree with Sam in thinking the red box looks a little odd because you have used only light, sepia tones. I think if you blended the edges of the harsh colour, it would look like a more consistent component of the poster. I like the touch of blood-red so please don’t scrap the idea all together!

Craig: Although I like the originality of the typography, I think the poster, overall, could benefit if the text was larger. Due to the fact there aren’t many images, the main focus should be the title of the film and therefore I think it should be bigger and more ‘in your face’.

Sam: There isn’t too much going on in the poster, therefore there isn’t too much of an indication towards the narrative. Perhaps you could add an image or two to help bulk the poster up.

Chloe: I disagree with Sam because the idea of a teaser poster is to not give too much away, right? In my opinion, the teaser poster should have a great title and tagline and those are the most important things.

Interviewer (Me): What do you like about the teaser poster?

Craig: I think the background looks really good with all the cracks and dirty dripping marks. The way some cracks are darker than others creates a cool effect and, overall, it looks quite realistic and not overly edited.

Sam: My favourite thing about your teaser poster is the typography. I like how you’ve created a dripping effect, and linking to Craig’s point about the dripping marks in the background, everything seems to go well together. It looks well thought out.

Chloe: I like how you have incorporated an image of a tree but turned it into a subtle element. Nothing about the poster is too over powering and I like that.  I also like the tag line and I think it’s clever the way you’ve based it on a childhood fairy tale with an evil twist.

Steph: I really like the tone of the poster, overall. I like the colour palette that you’ve chosen. The dull, eerie sepia tones seem to really compliment your title, ‘The Curse’.

Interviewer (Me): What are you initial reactions to the official poster?

Chloe: The typography looks really good, a little out of focus though. I like how you’ve used cracks and blood red colours on the title. I also think it contrasts quite a bit to the previous teaser poster because it’s more darkly coloured.

Sam: The tagline, ‘The horror lies within’ is good. It’s placed in a central position which is why it was the first thing to catch my eye. The layout of the poster looks quite professional however the pictures are a little unclear.

NOTE: I had to point out that the images that I used were: an old shed and a dying tree. This is a clear indication that my photographs were not suitable enough for a distinct narrative and this will be improved for my final piece.

Craig: I first noticed the typography and I think it looks good. The colours are all very relevant to the horror genre.

Steph: I like how the background has murky dripping marks of dirt and blood- it creates a creepy atmosphere. 

Interviewer (Me): What could I do to improve this poster?

Steph: I think the poster could benefit from the addition of images. You haven’t used many and it is quite difficult to grasp the storyline from them. The official poster should be more informative than the teaser poster, and so far I think they are too similar.

Sam: Both the title and the images look a little blurry and out of focus. I think the poster could benefit from sharpening these and making them more distinct. The poster would then look clearer.

Craig: I agree with what has already been stated; more pictures and less blurriness. So far, the narrative is a bit scrambled and unclear.

Chloe: The overall tone of the poster is quite dark, and it’s an effort to distinguish the images. Have you considered using a similar colour palette to your teaser poster? I think it would look more professional, as a campaign, if the posters had colour consistency. 

Interviewer (Me): What do you think are some of my strengths of the DVD cover?

Steph: I like the sepia colours that you’ve used and how you’ve blended cracks into the edges. I think it looks good how you’ve created a darker edge- it looks quite professional.

Craig: The typography is good and you can see the link between the lettering of the DVD cover and the official poster.

Sam: The blurb is good. Brief but enough to hook the audience in- just what a blurb should be. I also like how you’ve created ‘stills’ as they are a realistic element of a DVD cover.

Chloe: I like the consistency between colours and background of the teaser poster and the DVD background. I like the ‘fish eye’ effect. I also like how you’ve created blood marks on the spine of the DVD- subtle, but effective.

Interviewer (Me): How could I improve the DVD cover? Is there anything lacking?

Chloe: Although the central image is good, I think the cover would look better if the edges of the image were blended or faded out. I think it currently looks too harsh.

Sam: The tagline is great but it needs to be bigger and perhaps more central- I nearly didn’t see it.

Steph: The blurb is a little difficult to read because it is against a dark background. I think the cover would benefit from either a lighter font, or a lighter background so the writing is more easily read.

Craig: Some of the components of the DVD cover are slightly blurry and pixalated, such as the bar code and age restriction logo’s. I think the DVD cover would look more professional if these elements were sharp and clear. I also agree with the point made about the tagline needing to be larger and more focal.

Interviewer (Me): Thanks so much for your time, everyone! I appreciate your feedback and your comments will be taken on board.

Report

The brief

 My task was to create a sophisticated and professionalized teaser poster, official poster and DVD cover for my own constructed narrative of the horror genre. I was asked by the institution Reel productions to create a Horror Campaign for a new horror film, and to conduct my own research, design and print to advertise it to a specified target audience. Through the use of my blog, I have been able to document my different areas of research and have effectively produced a visual timeline presenting my stages of trial and error, improvement and progress. By creating a production schedule I was able to set myself weekly tasks to keep on track of deadlines. I have conducted much of my own independent research to help me identify a full understanding of the generic codes and conventions of horror and have shown this through the exploration of textual analysis and photo manipulation. 

Pre-production

Pre-production research included the textual analysis of different horror campaigns. To gain a broad understanding of varying institutions, plot structure and sub-genres, I looked at One Missed Call, Silent Hill and Paranormal activity 3. I chose these specific films to collect a range of secondary data. My aim was to explore films of contrasting subgenres to help inform my pre-production by gaining the confidence to be able to distinguish the codes and conventions of horror and to analyse the semiotic meaning and values behind them. I discovered that there are particular colours, mise-en-scene, typography and action codes in which we associate with different sub-genres of horror; this is knowledge that has guided me in my own construction of posters and editing techniques. These include the colour symbolism of blood red, ghostly white and deathly black which are used to dramatically emphasise the horror genre.

I created a questionnaire (Fig 1) in which I asked 50 people to contribute their ideas to. I was able to collect a wide range of primary data through the integration of both demographic and psychographic questions. I obtained quantitive research through the use of questions requesting age and gender and this was extremely useful in determining the age specified target audience of my campaign, which resulted to be young adults. Results proved to compliment the main cinematic audience, 18-25 (Fig 2 a) I also inquired occupation and this helped determine the social scale of my audience. Qualitive research was achieved through questions such as ‘which is your preferred type of sub-genre’ and ‘what is the scariest place and setting of a horror movie’ (Fig 2 b). The questionnaire results helped inform my pre-production because they enabled me to construct my own ideas of a successful horror campaign through the reassuring knowledge that I was satisfying my chosen target audience by nourishing their expectations. I discovered that my target audience wanted to see something relevant to abandoned/isolated areas in which there is a fear of the unknown. This research has informed my pre-production through a wider knowledge and understanding of specific elements which we associate with successful horrors.

I created two mock up posters (Fig 3 a and b) for my horror campaign, which I then presented to my focus group to gain constructive criticism. I found pixilation of detail becoming an issue throughout my work and it is something that I have been aiming to improve as I developed my editing skills. I asked four people to take part in a 20-minute session, in which, I gave them a few relevant topics to discuss for my project including typography, layout, narrative and camera angles. The aim of the focus group was to receive constructive feedback about my narrative ideas, and to discuss my strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, it was crucial at this point to find out whether or not I was being successful in suiting the codes and conventions of the horror genre. I asked them to be as critical as possible; I used their feedback as a guildline to improve my work. I was told I needed to condense my narrative so it was brief yet informative. I was also told to incorporate more images, ensuring that they are relevant to my narrative, to visually help develop and add clarity to my campaign. The ideologies that came across included many of the generic codes and conventions that I had learnt from my pre-production research. These included lots of blood, heightened contrast and intimidating camera angles. This research informed my production because I gained accurate feedback from my specified audience, and therefore I knew how to succumb to their expectations of a successful horror.

My next task was to create a draft of my entire three-section campaign, of which, some of the ideas were expanded from the strengths of my mock-ups. For my teaser poster (Fig 4), I created a mirroring of letters to reflect the narrative of having a split personality. This idea was drawn from my pre-production research where I learnt that the paranormal genre is extremely popular within the 18-25 cinematic audiences. The paintbrush tool was used to create splats, which are reflective of blood, horror and subtle gore.  Research showed that backgrounds of horror campaigns are dirty and very textured. For this reason, I created cracks and dirty smudges to taint the background. Using the ‘curves’ and ‘exposure’ tool, I created a fish eye effect to make the title and copy the focal point of the poster; I only used one photograph and I found this effective in ‘teasing’ the audience by not giving too much information away.

For my official poster (Fig 5), I aimed to present more of my narrative to the audience by incorporating more images. I wasn’t satisfied with my official poster as it was too dark and my focus group reiterated this through their feedback. I was unsuccessful in this task because it was a strained effort to distinguish the narrative through the chosen images of my poster. The most essential tool used was the 'free distort' tool which allowed me to manipulate the shape and create a more intimidating appearance. A strength that was repeated was the relevance of my taglines. The idea of the 'curse' is possession of the soul, and therefore 'The horror lies within' seems quite appropriate.

The DVD cover (Fig 6) achieved the most positive feedback from my focus group. The blurb consisted of a brief summary of the narrative and the use of enigma and action codes were used to hook the audience in. I made the background resembling of the teaser poster and this way my campaign looked consistent through the use of similar colour palettes of low saturation and sepia tones. I created a montage of 'stills' taken from the film and integrated positive quotations from reviews which I used to reinforce my horror genre, 'An unforgettable horror experience'. To make my DVD realistic and professional, I incorporated the DVD logo, censorship warnings and a five star rating. I conducted some research into horror reviews and added 'Scream Magazine' into my campaign. Language like 'spine-chilling' and 'terrifying' were used to emphasise the films’ success as a horror. The tagline is short and reflective of the narrative blurb, which is representative of the feeling of entrapment and solipsism. After completing my drafts of the teaser, official poster and DVD cover, I was given some skilled feedback which helped strengthen my draft ideas and improve my final piece production work. A range of positive feedback was given, such as consistency across campaigns, as well as constructive criticism, such as the blurb being too unclear to read and the images of the official poster being difficult to distinguish. 

Production

All of my practical work has been created and edited using the website Pixlr. I had very little previous experience using this site, and although I found it initially challenging, I found learning about the new techniques very enjoyable and beneficial. Through frequent photo-manipulation tasks, I have grown accustomed to using the burn, blur, and sharpen tools as well as experimenting with the saturation, contrast and opacity levels to achieve a degree of professionalism within my work. The paintbrush tool allowed me to create blood splatters and dirty backgrounds to satisfy the codes and conventions of horror. The creation of typography has been an on-going experiment throughout my campaign; it is essential for the copy to be suitable to the codes and conventions of horror and also to look professional within the structured mise-en-scene. When editing the copy on Pixlr, I often lowered the contrast and saturation to create a bleak canvas and I integrated cracks and scorch marks, using the paintbrush tool, to make the letters ancient and weathered-looking. 

My final pieces were the result of pre-production research, photo manipulation and textual analysis. The purpose of my teaser poster was to hook the audience in through the use of enigma codes; the screaming mouth is semiotic of fear and terror and is also an intertextuality to the ‘Scream’ horror campaign. Due to making my production suitable to the codes and conventions of horror, the paintbrush tool was used frequently to create blood and gore marks. Therefore, the oppositional reading could be that there is too much blood. I used a possessed female character as the focal point on my official poster because my pre-production research informed me that women symbolize vulnerability and fear. When creating my production work, I checked that the posters were fit for their purpose by placing them on a wall and asking people for their opinion on whether or not they look professional; I gained much positive feedback from this. I also placed my DVD cover amongst real DVD’s to ensure it looked realistic. Elements of realism were incorporated through the use of DVD logo’s and age restrictions- the effect of these created a professional finish on my production work. I am extremely satisfied that my production work is suitable to its purpose.