Posters

At the top of the poster, there is a piece of information informing readers that Insidious is from the same makers of Saw and Paranormal Activity which refers to their previous hits.  This has been done to attract the fans of these previous movies as it  implies that Insidious will be enjoyed by those who enjoyed their previous films.
The title of the film, Insidious, is big, bold and clearly stands out which means that a viewer can’t miss the title and should hopefully be memorable.  The use of white font portrays an innocence which reflects the image of a young boy standing behind them, this makes the audience question where the boy’s innocence has done.
Under the title, it reads  ‘ITS NOT THE HOUSE THAT’S HAUNTED’ which leads to the audience questioning what is actually haunted.  The main image on the poster is a little boy, which with the sentence, implies that the boy is haunted which is also shown by his eyes having holes.  The emptiness in his eyes shows a sign of evil and emptiness.  By doing this, the poster has given the audience some clues to the story line which encourages people to want to watch the film and see whether their ideas were right and want to find out why/what is haunting the boy.
The little boy is dressed in his pyjamas which contrasts from the rest of the feeling of the poster as the pyjamas give off a very naive, innocent look which implies that its something inside of the boy rather than the boy himself.
The colours of the poster are all very dark with a big house featured in the background which gives off a very sinister look with the house creating an intimidated look which should put the audience on edge.  This feeling for the audience which draw them in to see challenge how scary the film itself is.

This poster is a very dark poster as it only uses black and white– mostly black.  At the top of the poster, there is a quotation saying ‘Before you die, you see’ which then follows on to saying ‘The ring’.  This would be to allow people to see that there will be death in the film but to question what ‘the ring’ could be.  The ring itself hasn’t been presented as being very clear which is to get the audience to really question and be intrigued as to what the ring could be.  Although the background is black, there as fine white lines across it which suggests that nothing is as it seems.  The white lines also seem to represent the image of a TV signal which may be a clue to what the film may involve, getting audiences to ask more questions.

At the top of the poster, there is a quotation saying ‘A chilling ghost story. Don’t watch it alone’.  The first part of the quotation would draw anyone who enjoys a film involving ghosts and being scared which is then furthered by the second part that it is suggesting not to watch the film alone, giving a very eerie feeling that a viewer would need comforting.
Below the quotation, there are reviews that have been taken out from external companies.  The bold star reviews are there to let people know that others have enjoyed the film, this  encourages people to feel they would also enjoy it.  The title of the film ‘The woman in black’ is ironically written in white which has been done to stand out against the very dark, low key background of the poster.  Daniel Radcliff (a very famous star, placed there to promote the film as it shows hes a main character) is standing clearly in the centre of the poster with bright, blue, piercing eyes.  This use of colour contrasts to the rest of the poster which implies that he is a bright character with light and a sense of good about him.  In the background of the poster, a dark shadow of a woman is standing there with a dark house as well, which with the film, would suggest that the woman is who the one in the title and that she lives in the house.  The overall feeling of the poster is spooky and that the woman in black, the man in the middle and the house are all linked in some way.  In addition to this, the quote at the bottom is ‘Fear her curse’ which suggests this is the way they are linked.

Magazine Covers

The Masthead is centred at the top of the front cover and is in red, bold writing to clearly present the brand of ‘Empire’. Above the masthead is the top line which reads ‘The dark knight’s world exclusive’ which will draw in people’s attention as they feel they will learn something new and before fans that may not have purchased the magazine. The main cover line matches the main image as they are both about the new Batman film- ‘the dark night’. This is in big, childish letters with bright colours that presents a clown (or a joker). The image on the front cover uses low key lighting with one of the main characters of the film referred to in the Top line and the main cover line. The joker is placed in the middle third and takes up a big proportion of the whole page which would grab the audience’s attention as it is very bold and recognisable. The edge of the page has been darkened which implies a sense or horror, adventure and darkness from the character, this will give the front cover appeal for audience who follow similar genres. There are other cover lines to show the audience what is featured in the magazine to allow them to make a confident purchase as well as having the usual features of magazines such as; the bar code, date and website.

The Masthead has been changed in order to fit the theme of the main cover head and the main image. This has been done by adding the effect of fire to the word ‘Empire’ and making it look as if it is being burnt like a piece of paper would. In the ‘M’ of ‘Empire’ you can find the date and price as well as having the website underneath the masthead which follows the codes and conventions of magazine covers as they are important information that customers expect to see. The background of this front cover is completely black which gives a dark aspect to the magazine cover whereas the image is bright red which stands out and remonstrates a sense of evilness. The use of the words ‘First look!’ makes an audience excited to read on and look at the main cover line- ‘You and whose golden army? Hellboy 2, Guillermo del toro goes epic’. The other cover lines are white which implies they are not to do with the main image and main cover line, the reader will then choose to read them to get information on what else is in the magazine.

Total film has their masthead at the top of their front cover in big, bold white letters to stand out compared to their black background. They have the usual features of magazines which include the date, price and barcode. The main image takes up a big proportion of the page, covering all three thirds with the main characters from the film that the main cover line is stating. The main cover line is ‘Pirates 2 sets sail! Dead man’s chest’. The colours on the front covers are mains white, black and gold which suit the main cover line as gold implies treasure which fits in with a pirate based film. The cover line at the bottom of the page uses three statements that begin with the same word and end with an ‘!’, this makes the reader excited for what that cover line may be talking about with the sharpness and boldness of the text. All three characters are looking directing towards the camera which will make the audience be drawn to the magazine as people notice direct eye contact.

History of Horror

 

 

http://www.slideshare.net/MilliePont/history-of-horror-53840034

Halloween

In 1978, John Carpenter created iconic slasher movie- Halloween. The film is about a man who has escaped a mental institution who wants to return to the scene of his original crime in order to continue to his previous work. The film is a slasher horror which shows the murders of teenagers in a suburban area of America. The following questions demonstrate my understanding of the film.




How does the start exemplify a common technical code convention of the horror genre?

The beginning of the film has low key lighting with point of view camera shots which creates an eerie feeling as not all can be seen from the audience. This is parallel to the sound which is also very creepy and creates tension. The first scene also shows a little boy murdering his older sister which is abnormal and shows there is something wrong with him at such a young age- creating the start of a murderous horror film.


How does the setting fit with the horror genre?

It Halloween which is clearly a spooky time of the year which implies horror as well as coming with pumpkins and people dressed up. Secondly, it is set in a small, quiet town which is iconic at this time as it was the start of crimes happening in ‘your own back garden’. This sense of quiet and abandonment makes the film scarier as there is no one to help anyone.





What iconography of ‘innocence’ do we hear or see early on?

The little showed innocence at the beginning because he was at an innocent age which, usually, there is no evil or problems in such a little boy’s life. Secondly, he wore a clown mask which represents innocence as he saw it as a game of something to be laughed at. Further on the film, we see laurie’s innocence as she is only a young, virginal lady who was dedicated to her education. The theme of innocence was also demonstrated in the two young children, with one of them referring to Mike as ‘the bogey man’ rather than an actually person who could exist.


What was the main industry impact of Halloween?

Halloween was a very cheap film to make, had massive success and therefore made a very high profit. Other films followed in their footsteps in hope to also have good profit margins.


Name some ‘slasher’ films which followed on from Halloween:

Friday the 13th, Graduation Day, Happy Birthday to Me, Hell Night, The Prowler and The Slayer.





What are the four plot rules of ‘slasher’ films to
which Halloween began?

1. There is a traumatic event that creates a psychopathic killer

2. The killer returns to the scene of the event on a particular date with meaning

3. The killer stalks a group of teenagers to both sexes with some kind of weapon

4. There is a final girl who is often masculine/virginal who gets away of kills the killer.



Ways in which Laurie is androgynous:

1. Her dress sense is very covered up with little make up and a very ‘Tomboyish’ appearance.

2. Her voice is a lot deeper than the other girls which makes her more threatening

3. She is very intelligent and study based which wasn’t typical for girls in the 1970s

4. She isn’t reliant on a male character and holds herself very well

5. Her attitude within the film is very brave and protective towards others.


What does the extract mean by ‘A reactionary sexual agenda’?

They believe that ones who had sex in the film ended up dying because they had sex. They believe that horror films were there to stop the sexual revolution and to scare teens in to not having sex.


How does the director counter this suggestion and that Halloween has a reactionary sexual agenda?

Laurie didn’t have sex in the film and was still a virgin however, Mikes target was always her so her sexually experience had nothing to do with her survival. Carpenter states that she stayed alive because she wasn’t distracted like the others.


Why does Mike Myers kill his sister?

Many people believe this was because she was having sex and he was ‘copying’ the movement with an object that just happened to be a knife. However, when watching the film and listening to the doctor’s observations, it is clear to see it is just because he a bad person and there is evil in him.

Horror Genre