Research - Poster Analysis

The Zodiac analysis

Colours

The main colours used are black and a dim yellow. The black can connote mystery and bring fear to the audience, since the darkness is covering half of the mans face we can't tell who he is, or see any emotions aside aggression shown through his eye. The dim yellow instantly reminds me of ancient times, which shows that the theme has a long past. (Zodiac signs have been around for a very long time.) This could also connote that the mans intentions are quite deep rooted, and been in his mind for a while as well. The one colour that really stands out is the blue of his eye. This gives the audience a very memorable trait of the murderer, which will probably be picked out and used to throw the audience off guard.

Symbols

The big symbolic icons in the poster are the eye and the zodiac signs trailing up the page. The eye looks directly at you, showing no fear. The killer is confident and sure of himself, not afraid to hide himself. The emotion held in his eye also says a lot to the viewer. It can show his aggression, the cold look has no soft caring feature in it. This will show in the film the killer will have no mercy, and most likely be smart to avoid capture. The zodiac signs also hold a lot to the film, obviously the first expectation is that they will be linked to how or why the murderer kills. The image spans his face, starting centrally by his nose, and circling out. This can show that his whole life, his whole being revolves around this ideal. What should be a sign of birth, is his decision on who he kills, becoming a contradiction for the original idea of the zodiac.

Pleasures

From the poster the audience will get the pleasures of promised mystery and suspense. With the poster not showing the whole of the killers face, they will be able to try and work out the mystery along with the main characters, allowing them to become absorbed in the film.

Tag line

"The most infamous serial killer of our time...is still out there" A gripping tag line, striking possible panic and fear into the viewers. The tag line will draw in their curiosity, "is this really a true story?" "If their still out there... what are they like?" these questions in particular will entice the audience to want to know more, and be playing in their mind the entire film. If they think he's still out there, the ending will inevitably be them not catching him. but, in that time, can they figure out who he is? Can they guess how he works, if it happened to them in real life, would they be smart enough to avoid him?

Main Task - Pitch and Feedback

This is the basis of my thriller plot so far;
The four main protagonists find themselves stranded in a near desolate village by the name of Havenheath. After hearing rumours about this place, the only female of the group, Kaira, heads off on her own in search of something interesting. (In her terms she means some sort of link to the unnatural beings, or abandoned house.)
Hans follows after her, not wanting to leave a lady on her own, and the other two men make their way to a near by bar.

As Kaira finds her way to an abandoned house, she coaxes Hans to go in with her, and goes off exploring the upstairs even though she's told against it. There she plays a trick on Hans, so their both alone upstairs. At this point strange noises can be heard from downstairs, causing both of them panic. To prove she's braver than Hans, Kaira makes her way downstairs to leave through the main door, finding weird scratches on the floor and the door to be tightly shut. The last we see of those two, is the image of a figure behind Kaira, which she acknowledges before the scene is cut.

In the meantime, Vulrich and M.M have made them selves comfortable in the bar, and Vulrich begins questioning Johan. Getting no response, and with Johan getting increasingly more paranoid, he goes to attack Vulrich with a broken bottle, being dragged over the bar by the blacksmith. This results in a minor bar fight, with M.M joining in by throwing his shot glass at the man, and diving in to restrain him and end the tiff. Even then, Johan seem's too terrified to answer any questions, only repeating a few things over and over. After the small fight, they then also realise that the other people that didn't react to the fight at all in the bar are all infact dead, and stuffed with straw and sawdust - adding to the confusion

Here I created a short video narrating the text that was on screen to the class which had a brief description about the film and the mystery in it.

From my pitch I got some positive feedback from the class. It appealed to them, further proving the target audience is older teens/young adults.

I was asked some questions on the characters, but wanted to keep that more of a mystery in the pitch to draw their curiosity in more.

They approved my tag line of “Don't let them hear you”, and were quite interested as to the types of shots, lighting and editing that would be included. I hadn't thought too much about shots yet, but I knew that i'd be making the shots dark and using a bit of cgi to create a creature for the finale.

From presenting my pitch I left knowing i'd have to find suitable actors, preferably ones with some experience, and suitable locations to make the film work.

Main Task - Character initial ideas

For my main task, i was inspired by the plot and character set up of a one off game i played with some friends. Usually, we meet up for D&D games, but for a difference one of the members, Rory, narrated a one off horror plot for us. From there, 4 main characters, and one main non player character were born. Kaira, Hans, Vulrich, 'Mystery Man' and Johan ('M.M' was his unofficial name, as the person controlling him couldn't think of a suitable name for the character.) Below i'll go into more detail about the characters personalities, theorists they link to, and other characters i feel could relate to them.

Kaira

Kaira is a very confident and headstrong young woman. She's brave and is used to taking care of herself. Originally, Kaira was a travelling entertainer, often switching groups as she pleased. At night though, she donned a unique disguise, and set off to rob any valuables the current settlement she was in may hold. In my mind, she often wears a rather nice, long red dress - to show off some sort of status, even if she doesn't actually posses those rights. She also has long dark hair and matching eyes. These appearance traits are often linked to sinful women who hold an air of mystery and are not always who they seem.

A character that i instantly thought fit with Kaira's personality was cat woman. The original version of her seen in Batman shows her as a sneaky, conniving and skilled woman. She's defiant, self reliant, and wont let a man push her around. Both women also hold some sort of conspiring alter ego as well, acting oblivious to these criminal acts when in their normal persona.

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Similarities can also be seen between Lara and Kaira. Not so much the occupation and environment, but the attitude of independence, and the love of thrills, adventure and action are certainty prominent. The appearance's also have some resemblance, especially with the hair length skin tone and physique.

Out of all the character theories i have studied, i'd say that Kaira fit's the role of the sorcerer from Campbell, Fletcher and Greenhill's theory. She fits role in the sense that her personality suggests she wouldn't participate in much friendly socialisation with most of the other characters. I would also argue that she could fit the dispatcher role from Propp's theory. She fits this role if you look at her character from the narrative. She goes off to find out about the creatures herself instead of wasting time looking for un-found information. Going from this view, she provides a lot of new information to the other characters concerning the mysteries they have yet to solve.

Hans

Hans is a determined, controlling man. He likes to take charge, and tries to focus on everyone sticking and working together. He has ridiculously high moral guides, and seems to become infuriated by anyone who thinks little of morals and basic human ethics. Hans in the original draft was an ex German doctor, who left where he was stationed and came to travelling afar. He wears a typical suit in relation to the time period. (Original plot based in medieval/Tudor/Victorian times) Often described as the same type of clothes a vicar would wear, but minus the white collar. He also has a small medical bag on hand at all times, with important herbs and instruments ready for action. His professional appearance shows his dedication and seriousness to his work, but also gives hints that he may be a little too serious and doesn't know when to calm it down or take a break.

I think the the theory that bests fits Hans is the role of the big man, seen in both Campbell and Bishop's theory. He tries to provide some law and order, and takes many conflictual issues upon himself to solve, but he's not looked to to do so. It's more the case that he acts like that, thought people would rather him leave their business alone or stop trying to take charge.

Mystery Man

This suitably unnamed character is exactly like one would expect. A mystery. His real name was never revealed, he's quiet and sticks to the background unless in times of need, where he'll come through with some sort of bold act - then quickly blend to the shadows once again. He wears a large, long black coat - keeping himself covered and preserving even more mystery. The only few times he spoke during the plot, the main thing he'd say is "It's not important." (In a deep, gruff tone.) This was usually used instead of answering questions that were directed at him. With the unwavering and unchanging tone, others quickly realised they wouldn't find out anything about him by asking questions. His true background though, shows he is a bounty hunter and seeks after the glorious rewards that follow the job. Being a bounty hunter, it becomes obvious why he'd want to be so mysterious and stay undetected by most people.

The first movie character to come to mind when thinking of M.M was of course Batman. The mysterious silent appearance, only appearing in the mid when needed before blending back in to the shadows. M.M wont have the same tech or power as Batman holds, but one big similarity is that the public will never know their true intention. Mixed views have been oppressed about batman, is he possibly the same as an Arkham inmate? is he really just a hero of justice? The view on their morals and ethics can seem a bit hazy depending from where you stand.

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I think this character is extremely interesting to look at in terms of theories. Depending at what light you look at him in, there are multiple ones that could be applied such as the following...
From Goffman's theory, M.M could fir in as the bit player. Though he's just as vital to the plot as the other 3 protagonists, he can be seen as a minor character, since he remains out of the spot light until his time. He also fits the criteria that you don't know anything about his background, and he remains shrouded in mystery.
From Propp's theory, M.M could fit a lot of the roles. In a sense, he could be seen as the helper, as though he doesn't make himself known very clearly, he does help when others are in need. (in accordance to the bar scene in the plot, he helps Vulrich out of a spot of bother.) He could also be seen as a hero in that sense as well, again not making himself boldly known, but showing heroic antics when needed. From his mystery and unknown intentions and details, he could be seen in a rather villainous light too. He does help Vulrich out in the plot at one point, but was it really such a heroic thing to do?

Vulrich

Vulrich is a tough and would seem to be a determined man. In reality, he's rather dense, and for that reason tends to not back down or give up easily. Previously working as a blacksmith, he carries scraps of metal and a hammer around with him. (Carrying a potentially dangerous weapon around with him casually also shows his dimmer points, as he never see's it as being a threat.) To suit his occupation, his outfit would fit accordingly, and he'd have a rather muscular physique. I imagine him being a bit shorter than the other men, just as his do things now, think later attitude reminds me of that of a Dwarfs.

As stated above, his personality does remind me of a dwarf, so a near perfect media example would be Gimli from Lord of the Rings. He's not the smartest around, and seems to have a prominent attitude to just crushing things rather than thinking logically, or at all about them.

Another character i think fits Vulrich quite well is Danny Butterman from Hot Fuzz. Of course the occupation, the sweet and kind personality and the cowardice doesn't show in Vulrich. Danny came to mind while trying to think of another character with a suitably low sense of wisdom, as both are rather slow on the uptake, don't take hints very well, and will jump into doing things before really giving it any thought.

Johan

Johan is the bar owner in Havenheath. At first glance, he'd appear quite normal. But after hearing him, it's evident he's a paranoid schizophrenic, terrified by whatever it is that haunts the village. He prefers the quiet and unnerving lifestyle, becoming extremely high strung whenever anyone mentions 'them'. He also has a few dark secrets that he keeps displayed around the main bar room. His attire consists of a barman outfit, and i can't imagine it being a very well kept or posh one at that.

Thriller production

A2 Main project

We've been given the task to create a 5 minute thriller production. We'll have to create not only the short film, but 2 articles to go along side it. I.e poster, radio trailer or magazine article.
A podcast evaluation must also be completed at the end of the project, included on the blog with all other pre-production, production and post production work.

Evaluation

I think the combination of my poster and preliminary task are quite an effective combinations. The poster, which is usually released far before the production, includes an image of Kim running from something. This brings up quite a few questions for the audience such as; why is she running? What or who is she running from? What significance does the knife have?
The poster is also set during the ordeal that Kim went through, while the production is post-traumatic experience. This allows the production to nicely follow on from the poster, answering a few of the questions, and still leaving a bit of mystery for the audience. 
From audience feedback i've learnt that the production didn't turn out as badly as i first thought. I also got good feedback from the performance my leading actress did, so i'm glad i picked the right girl for the part. 
To improve for my main task i'll be doing a lot mroe research and looking into getting a lot mroe props. I'll also get an equaly large range of camera shots and angles so i can put together the best and most effective combination. The one thing i may have trouble with is allocating actors. Using Hattie was a great choice, since she seemedf to be able to relate with Kims character in a way, but i'm worried that finding suitable actors that can relate to my main tasks set of characters may hinder the performace a bit. 
My targets for my main are to put a lot of thought into the characters, like my teacher said, it's a lot easier to write for a character you know inside and out. I'll write up as much as i can for them, so me and the actors can get their personality down to a T. (This way, if the actors know what the characters like and the feel using certain adlib or body languag, i'd be more than happy for them to contribute that.) 

Poster Analysis

I created this in Corel Photopaint using a combination of the text tool, masking and inverting, and layers so the images took on the form of the title of the production. 
I used the font 'impact', as the name holds some purpose for Kim in the production. She has had a great impact from the horrific event, and that in toll will have a great impact on her future. I used the steeltongs font to create the writing for the bottom of the poster. 
For the images used, i chose a close up of Kim's eyes to portray a sense of fear and desperation and a questioning sense. What's she looking back at?  Why does she appear to be isolated? What significance does the knife near her hold? 
I included the knife in that position by masking it, as it's ahead of Kim in the image, it's almost as if she's running towards her future. Her future ultimately being taking up that very knife and hunting down the murderer who robbed her of her closest friends. 
At the top i also included small logos for 6V4 productions and Arkham studios, the two named in the text at the bottom, to give the poster a bit more realism.