Building The Website | Part 3 | Create

Due to time constraints, the website has been optimized for Google Chrome and Safari. This means that it will look at it’s best in this browser, and will not look as good in others.

I was going to insert the code that I had written for the page, along with a screenshot of what it produced, but it appears that WordPress didn’t like that idea, and decided that it break all the formatting on the post. So instead, I am just going to post a screenshot of the page as the different pieces of code are written.

When thinking about the website that I would have to make, I took into consideration what fonts would work (this is all detailed in the Deciding on Fonts post) The final font that we decided that we would us is called BloodFeast. We chose this because it looks fairly realistic, but still does not look childish or silly when on a horror product. I also had to think about the colour scheme, which was previously decided upon in the last post about the creation of the website. The colour scheme that was decided upon was Red, Black and White. The Black represents the dark theme within the narrative of the trailer, the Red showing the evil and bringing up iconography of devils and danger within the mind of the user, and finally the White is there to provide some contrast to the other two colours on the website. The colours that have been chosen for one of the products should be the same across the other two, this is to keep come continuity between them, this is also the same for things like the font(s) and the Tag Line of the film.

The first step in building the website is to add the background of the page, as this will be the area where all of the content will be located. But, because this is not a typical website design, I need to first create the menu, or rather location in which the menu will sit.

So, this is why I created a large rectangle on the left-hand side of the of the page, this will be to house the menu. It has been made to be wide enough to fit a fairly large menu inside. Obviously, the height of this section doesn’t matter because it is the full size of the Browser window, from top to bottom.

The background colour of the menu section will be the same colour as the rest of the page once it has been completed.

I’m not going to add the details of the website in these first stages, but instead I will create the basic layout of the page so I can get an idea of what needs to go where, and whether or not I will need to change the location of any of the elements. Once the design of the website is down, I will then begin to add in the details like the menu, the titles and the actual content.

After creating the area where the menu will sit, I will need to make the body section of the page. This is where all of the content for the website will appear, these are things like the plot, trailer, characters, etc. Because this is the area that is going to move when the users scrolls, I will need to position this absolutely. This means that it will remain on the place in the page at all times, they will be layered, starting with Section 1, below that Section 2 and so on.

The grey part is the section where all of the content will appear.

For now, this section has a grey colour. This isn’t the final colour that it will be, it’s only like that so I will be able to see the two separate sections (the menu and the body). If they where both the same colour, it would be very hard to see what I was working on.

Now that we have the body of the page, we can start to insert the individual sections. These sections will hold the information that will be displayed on the page, like the trailer and the plot. Because I need some contrast in colour in order to see what I am working on, I will be able to make these the actual colour that they need to be. Red and Black will provide a contrast to the grey colour fo the background.

The first section of the website has been added to the page.

Here we can see the first section of the website. In here, the trailer will appear, this is because we want it to be the first thing that the user sees upon entering the website. Both the area for the title, and the body are the correct colour that they should be.

Before I finish with this section, I need to see what the title is going to look like. Using Google Fonts, I found a font that looks great when used as a title because it is bold and easy to read, but won’t make the website look any less horror-like.

This is what the page looks like with the menu area and the first content section with a title.

Now that I have the title for the section, I need to add in the video. But because at the time that this website is being created, we haven’t finished the trailer, so for now, I will need to use a placeholder image. I have made sure that the image is of the same size as the YouTube player. So, I went into Photoshop and made a quick image that I will user here for the time being.

The temporary image has been added into the first section of the page.

I had to ensure that the ‘video’ was located in the very middle of the section (horizontally, not vertically) as to allow it to work well on different sized monitors and screens, and also so it still works regardless of whether or not the browser is zoomed when the user is viewing the website.

The first section has been finished and works. Now it is time to create the second group of sections. These next areas will be where the plot will go. Now, for the plot, we will need two different sections, one for the synopsis of the film, and the other two show the characters in the film.  So to start, I will create the synopsis section.

The Plot section of the page.

By simply duplicating the code for the first section, changing the position to account for the height of both, and then changing the text in the title area, we have another empty section that we will be able to use for the plot.

The text has been added into the plot section.

I know that this section looks pretty bare, even with the plot added. This is because whilst making this, Michael and I have yet to agree on a description that we both think sums up the plot of the film. There is a high chance that this has been changed in the final version of the website. I’m thinking about putting the poster here, when it has been completed, to stop this section from looking too bare.

Now that the first section has been completed, I need to add in the section where the characters are shown. So, much like creating the previous section, I duplicate the code from the first, change the distance the section is from the top to account for both of the sections above. Now again, we have a new, blank section in which the character profiles will fit.

This is the section where the character profiles will appear.

Now that we have the black section for us to work in, we need to insert the images for the characters. Because I’m going to start with the images, I will get an idea for the size of the rest, and also understand the dimensions that I am going to have to enter.

The images of the characters have been added onto the page.

Because I have entered the two images, I can see the room that I have left to enter their descriptions to the right. But, before we do that, the images look slightly out-of-place on the page, more so the bottom one because we cannot see the edges of the image. So, here I will add borders to the images.

A border has been added to both of the images within the section.

Having a border around the images makes them both look better on the page, and also allow them to fit in with the colour scheme of the rest of the page. Having the same colour red across all of the sections on the website make it look far better than having many different colours or loads of different shades of red.

Currently, the user is unaware of which character is which, they have read the plot and known that they are named Ben and Callum, but which one is which? To answer this question, we are going to add their names above and to the right of the images. Then below this there will be a description of them.

The user is now able to see what the names of the characters are.

The fonts used for the names of the characters is the same font that is used for the titles of the different sections of the page. This keeps the continuity of the page in place, but also the font is easy to read and is too to messy.

Now after this, I will need to add the descriptions of the characters underneath their names. Again, this is going to be in the same font because having multiple fonts on a page looks terrible, messy and untidy. But this font really does look good on the page.

The text has been added into the page.

Currently, there is dummy text below the names of the characters. This is only to see what large amounts of this font looks like and whether or not it is easy to read. It will be changed in the final version of the website.

This fonts does look good when it is used for a larger amount of text, as opposed to just a title. This is because it both works with the style of the rest of the website, and also because it is clear and easy to read. Everything in this section of the website is laid out well and works with one another.

After creating this section, we need to create the behind the scenes sections. There are going to be two different sections here, just like the sections for the plot. One of them will be for images of the behind the scenes, and one for the video version including bloopers and any footage that we didn’t use. So just like before, we copy the code from the first section, change the various settings so it appears in the correct place and then we are ready to go.

Again the title of the section has been changed to show what this section is about.

Because this is a one page website, we have to display the images on the actual page, but doing that will make it look really untidy and messy. This is why we are going to use something called a Lightbox. A Lightbox allows the use to click on a smaller version of the image, then be able to see the full size version appear on the screen. The first step in this is to place the images on the page.

The images have been inserted onto the page, we now have to create the Lightbox using JavaScript

We want the images to appear over the rest of the content on the page, to give the illusion that the rest of the website has faded out, we are going to add a black mask over the page when an image has been selected.

This icon was clicked, and the full version has been opened up.

Because we want the user to be able to use the website effectively and easily, I am going to add buttons to the left and right of the image that will allow them to scroll through the images. Because of these new additions, the user will not have to keep clicking “Close” on the image and then open up another one that they want to look at.

Now that the “Prev” and “Next” buttons have been added, the user is able to cycle through the images.

This section of the website has been completed, tested, and finalized. It all works as it is supposed to. Now it is time to make the section for the Behind the Scenes: Video. This is the section where the video will appear, possibly edited into a new video. But for now, I am going to use the same video that has been used on the Trailer section of the website.

This will be the section where the Behind the Scenes Video will appear.

The styling for this video will be exactly the same as the styling that has been applied to the trailer of the website. Because of this, I am able to use the actual wrapper for this section. Which you can see below.

Here you can see that this video looks exactly the same as the one for the trailer.

Now that this section has been finished off, we can add the final part of the website, the reviews. Here, the user will see the various reviews that have been submitted from different magazines and websites. From doing research on other websites, they tend to include around 2 different reviews. I think this is to get the visiter to understand  that the reviewers like the film, but not bore or lose their attention at the same time. So, because of this, I will also include two separate reviews.

Just as before, I have included another section where the reviews will appear.

This is the section where the reviews of the film will appear.

I want the layout of this section to be similar to the characters section of the website. Meaning that the logo of the magazine or website will appear on the left of the screen, with the actual review to the right of it. I think that this is always one of the best ways to style something like this. I think this because the user is able to see a company that they are familiar with, then read what they have written.

I started creating this section by adding the images in first. I felt that this was a good way to do things because I would be able to get a good idea of the scale of the section.

I found two different logos that I could use for this, and I also changed the colours of them to make them more suitable to the colour scheme of the rest of the website.

I then wrote the two different reviews for the film. I tried to make them sound like something an actual reviewer would write, speaking about the cinematography and the actors.

The reviews section has been added into the website.

The next thing that I need to add onto the website is a way for the visitor to be able to find out about the people involved with the production of the film, namely the Director, Producer/Writer and the two actors. Because there is no way of doing this using just HTML and CSS without making it look messy or out-of-place on the website, I will need to use some more JavaScript in order to complete this.

I will complete this by adding sub-menu in the new section that I shall create for this purpose. This news section will be called Cast & Crew.

A new section has been added for the Cast & Crew

From this section, the user will be able to click on the one of the four names beneath the title to see information about the respective person. The information will be displayed dynamically below this menu. Using Ben’s content as example, I will start by displaying the image of the Cast or Crew member.

The image of actor Ben Haines has been added to the page.

This image will change based upon the name that the user has clicked. Now that the use is able to see an image of the person they selected, they are going to want to find out some more information about their selected Cast or Crew member. Taking this into consideration, I will add their name directly below the image of themselves, using the same font that has been used on the rest of the website.

Both image and name of the person can be seen.

Just the name and a photograph of the person isn’t enough to tell the user what their role was during the production of the film, so I will add another area below their name that will tell the user the role that their selected person played during the production.

Now the user is able to see an image, name and role of their selected person.

When looking at film websites that have a section like this, there will often be a short description of the person in question to give the user some more information about who they are looking at. Because we want our website to be an authentic looking as possible, I will include this also.

I will put the description of the person directly below the role of said person, which can be seen in the screenshot below.

Finally, the user is able to see a fair bit of information about the person that they selected.

This was the last section of the website that needed to be added, meaning that the main content areas of it are complete. But, there is still the menu that needs to be completed to actually allow the user to navigate the website.

As I mentioned right at the very start of this post, the menu will be housed in the left hand side of the website. Also the title of the website (Forest of the Unknown) and the Global Productions logo will appear in this section.

First, I will add the title of the website into this section to get an idea of the size and scale of the menu location. Using a different font to make the title stand out from the rest of the website, I went into Adobe Photoshop, made the title and saved it as an image. I then inserted it into the left-hand side of the website.

The title of the website has been added to the top of the page.

When thinking about the type of menu that should be used on the website, I thought that an expandable and collapsible one would best suit the needs and requirements of our website. This would be to cover all sections of the website, in the amount of space that is available on the website, while still having the font large enough to read.

When making the menu for the website, I wanted to keep the same colour scheme and use the same font that has been used on the rest of the website.

The main menu items have been added into the menu section of the website.

You can see that there are five different menu items in the menu, each of which link to the respective section of the website. But there is still no option for the other sections like the Behind the Scenes: Video or Cast & Crew.  This is where the sub-items will appear on the menu. There will be other options that will appear when certain other options are hovered over, creating the Drop-Down effect.

There are now Drop-Down sections on the menu.

The final part of the website creation is to add the Global Productions logo to the bottom of the menu area. This will appear so it is always displayed to the user of the website, along with the actual menu and the title of the website.

The menu section of the website has been completed.

The website has now been completed. The different sections and content of the website have been added in the main menu now allows the user to navigate their way around the website.

I feel that overall, the website achieves its goals and fulfils its purpose of informing the visitors about the plot of the film, and characters, and the various people who were involved in the production.

Poster Creation | Part 3 | Layout

When making the poster for the project, I tried to keep in mind the designs that I looked at when researching other posters. And also tried to conform to some of the codes and conventions that I saw used in these other posters. Obviously, these are:

• The dominant image being a character, or item, from the film
• The title of the film appearing on the poster
• The names of the actors appearing somewhere on the poster

Although there are more codes and conventions than this, these where the three that appeared on the majority, if not all, of the posters that I researched at the beginning of the project.

The first step when making this poster was to add the dominant image. For me, this is the best way to start because you are able to get a sense of the scale of the poster, and how the other elements should be positioned and sized in relation. As with almost all of the development of the poster, I did everything twice. This was to make sure that I had a look at different layouts for the poster, and chose the one which worked the best.

Here we can see that the dominant image has been added onto the page, and that it fits well without it having to be distorted or stretched. I think that this is a great image to use on the poster because it gives the impression that the character is all alone in the forest, as there is a large space next to the character. This sense of isolation is something that we wanted to include in our production, and is what the whole trailer revolves around. The green colour of the forest behind the character gives the setting an eerie feel to it, and more importantly adds to the impression that the character is all alone in the dark, dangerous woods.

This image works well as the dominant image because it allows for text to be layered over it, without the image becoming over shadowed or blocked.

Now that the dominant image has been added onto the poster, it is time to add the rest of the elements that will make up the final poster. So, the second thing that I added was the title of the film. I decided to add this in at this time because it will be one of the larger things that will be added, therefore allowing to see how much room I will have left to work with, and how much room there will be for the rest of the elements that are going to need to be added onto the poster.

As I have said, I added everything in twice to get two different designs for the poster. This allowed me to see which of the two designs will look best as the final poster for our production.

First Design – Title

The first version of the poster included the title being positioned at the top of the page. Personally, I feel that this doesn’t look good being positioned here because it is too small. The text cannot be made any larger here because it will begin to cover the characters face. Also, because the text is that small, it is being over shadowed by the dominant image some what.

Second Design – Title

This section version of the poster, I think, works far better. The title is now far larger than it was on the first design of the poster, making it more prominent on the page without it overshadowing the face of the character. Also, because the title is at the bottom of the page, it doesn’t take away from the feeling of isolation and danger on the poster.

I feel that the second design of the poster is the best because it keeps the top half of the poster clear, leaving the dark section visible, suggesting that the character is alone.

Now that the title has been added to both of the different designs, I decided to add the names of the actors in the film. There where Callum Henn and Benjamin Haines. As is generally known and accepted, the names of the actors appear at the top of the page. Whether it is a poster, DVD  or any other form of media, the general convention is that they appear at the top of the page.

I think that the names of the actors appearing at the top of the page works well. I feel this because, as with the title, it leaves the top half of the page relatively clear, and it still does not overshadow or cover the darkness next to the character on the poster.

I decided to insert the names in this order because I think the names of the actor should always appear over the actor. This way, it is a lot easier to tell who is who and make it easier to recognise the actors(s).

The next step that I did was to add in the Tag Line for the film. After spending a long time trying to think of one that would sum up the film, Michael and I decided upon “Tense? Nervous? You’ll remember this trip.”

The general convention  when adding in a Tag Line is that it should appear slightly apart from the title, or nowhere near it. But, because of the nature of the dominant image on this poster, I decided that it should appear quite near to the title. This was to not ‘clutter up’ the poster or make it look too messy and untidy.

First Design – Tag Line

I think that the Tag Line appearing here on the poster really doesn’t look good. I think this because the text is very nearly overlapping the face of the character on the poster, but it cannot be any smaller because it wouldn’t be readable on the poster. I also think that the Tag Line should not be bigger than the title. I feel that doing this would overshadow the title and therefore make it not as noticeable.

Second Design – Tag Line

I feel that this position of the Tag Line works far better than the previous version. I think this because of a number of reasons. The first of which being the fact that the text is large enough to read on the page, as it has not been made smaller to fit in the gap at the top of the poster. Also, the text is now not larger than the title of the film. This is good because it does not overshadow the title, and it therefore remains eye-catching on the page. As well as these things, the text is now no longer in the dark section of the poster. This is something that works well because it does not cover the darkness, and therefore does not ruin the illusion that the characters is all alone and isolated in this forest.

Every poster that I looked at for research included the logo, or at least the name, of the production company and/or any others involved. Because of this I spent the time to create a logo for our production company, something that everyone in the class has now done, Global Productions.

Another thing that almost all movie posters include is the logo or name of the production company who made the film. This is so the people who look at the poster known who made the film. Because this is something that real movie posters use, I have added two logos onto our posters; the one for Global Productions and another company’s logo that I made for this purpose.

I decided at this point to use the second design as the poster as the final version. I made this decision because the second design worked far better, and all of the elements fit better and more effectively on the page.

The logos have been added to the bottom of the page to make the most of the space that was available on the page without using the black section at the top, and therefore taking away from the isolated and eerie feeling of the poster.

I decided to add this part of the poster first so I would be able to see how much room was left on the poster to add the credits in. Also, on real movie posters there will be a chunk of text, usually centrally aligned, showing the various people and companies who were involved in the production of the film. Because we want to have the most realistic poster that we can, I went into Adobe Photoshop and created credits like this to be inserted in the bottom of the poster. This, therefore makes the poster look more realistic, as though it were a real poster.

Now that this final element has been added onto the poster, it has been completed. This is the final design of the poster that we will be using as the ‘official’ one. I think that this poster looks professional and authentic because it both follows and subverts most, if not all, of the general conventions that are seen in horror posters.

Building The Website | Part 1 | Idea

One of the ancillary products that we have to create is a website homepage for the trailer. This will be what a user will see upon entering the website. I feel that this is going to be the part of the project that I’m going to enjoy the most.

There are a few steps that one has to undertake when creating a website. The first of these steps is Wireframing. This is where you plan out the layout of the website on paper (and remake it on Photoshop if it’s too messy) to get a sense of where everything is going to be positioned on the page.

Then the next step is to create mock-ups of the site using Adobe Photoshop  or a similar product to see exactly what the website it going to look like once it has been built. Some changes may occur from the original Wireframe, or even from the finished product.

After this, you actually have to build the website using Adobe Dreamweaver or another product. Personally I prefer Notepad++ because it is simple and easy to use, and to be honest, Dreamweaver is a bit over-kill for what we need.

In these posts, I will be detailing how I have made the website, from the designs on paper, to the mock-ups then finally onto building the website. So, please use the Contents section at the top of this post to be taken to the respective posts.

Building The Website | Part 2 | Design

Designing the website on paper is key to creating a great looking and appealing website that the user is going to enjoy visiting. This is why I spent the time wireframing the website using pen and paper before moving into InDesign, then ultimately into Dreamweaver or Notepad++.

It’s also important to receive feedback on both the wireframe and the mock-up of the website before spending the time actually creating it. This is to ensure that the best possible design is achieved, that will make the user feel at ease and welcomed, but also feel immersed.

Because of these reasons, I have created more than one layout for the website and asked people from the target audience to provide feedback, and inform me of what they think about the design and whether or not they would change or re-arrange anything.

Design 1: 

The first layout that I created was pretty much what is expected to be seen on a website. The title and menu appearing at the top, with the main feature below, more content below that, then the footer. Personally, I think that this is one of the most effective layouts because it immediately shows the user exactly what they came to see, the trailer.

Below, I have posted an image of the Wireframe along with the mock-up that I created to get an idea of the layout:

This is the conventional design for a website, all very linear and un-complex. This shows all of the information on the page as layers. The top layer being the header, then the trailer, after this the reviews and then finally the footer. The user would be able to relate to this because that would be used to seeing on other websites. However, I feel that it doesn’t feel enough like a horror website. I also think that the footer is a bit too big and vulgar, the red line above the footer is too big and doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the page.

This website has a navigation menu that involves taking the user to different pages of the website. If the users internet isn’t that good, this might take a long time to achieve, and they might become annoyed or bored and leave.

As well as that, the page doesn’t have any meaningful content on it other than the trailer and the reviews. It doesn’t show the user the characters in the film, nor does it show them the plot or any images relating to the film. This is something that would dramatically decrease the value of the website to the advertising of the film.

Design 2: 

This is a type of layout that is not typically seen on a website for a film. But, this is a good things because the conventions are being subverted, making the website more memorable to the user. As is the same with the first design, the trailer that we make will also appear at the top of the website, drawing the users attention immediately to it.

Again, as before, I have created an initial Wireframe for the website, along with the Mock-ups which I have posted below:

Rather than having a linear page like the one above, I have instead for a design that involves the user scrolling down the page to discover the content and information about the film. There is a very simple colour scheme on this website, there are three colours used here. Black, Red and White. These colours allow the user to easily see the content on the page without having to strain their eyes too much. This differs from the top design because there is only one shade of red (#660000 incase you’re interested) whereas on the first design there were multiple reds, overpowering the rest of the page.

Another thing tha this website has that the other doesn’t is a fixed menu. The menu on the left of the page will not move, it will always be fixed to the position that it is in. So, instead of the whole website moving as the user scrolls, only the content section on the left will move. This creates the feeling that the user is on a ‘dynamic’ website. Rather than linking to other pages within the website, the menu items will rather link to sections of the webpage. This will dramatically reduce the load time for users who’s internet is not great or slow.

The menus for both of the website designs are the same, all be it in different styles. These menu items are

• Home
• Story
• Team
• Trailer
• Reviews

There is a potential for these to change as the project progresses because there may be more content that we create that there is currently no option in the menu for. There may also be the potential for items to be removed from the menu if we don’t create the content needed.

I asked for feedback on both of the designs, and the large majority of the people questioned said they prefered the second design to the first one. But one of the criticisms that I received was that the logo was not on the second design, and also that the text within the menu was too large. When building the website, I will be sure to keep this in mind.

Please use the menu at the top of this post to be taken to the next part of the creation process, or to back to the first post, if you would like.

Poster Creation | Part 2 | Drafting

I have now hit the next stage of development for the poster and I am now up to the stage of combining all of my ideas for the poster and coming up with quick drats for the poster/ancilliary work.

The first idea was the picture that I was going to use and this has been decided by me and Sam and we chose a picture of our actor, Callum Henn, looking behind him and looking as if he has just seen the horrific creature which may have taken the life of his best friend. The lighting of the picture is very important because it means that you can really see the expression of the victim and you can establish the level of fear that running through his veins.

The pink lines are colums that are there as placeholders for text/images

I think that the location is a very good and secluded place as well. This is the perfect location for this because the secludedness of the area is ideal for a horror film because it means that help is going to be very miniscule and as a result something terrible is bound to happen to the victims of the forest.

This is the first stage of the creation for the poster, we had included other images as a replacement to see what they would look like but we believe that this picture is the right one for the job in hand.

The next part of the creation that I had done was to include the logo of our film company and thinking of taglines is a common convention of most poster posters and we want to make sure that we follow these conventions and carry them over onto our own ancilliary work. This is the dominant image that we have chosen for the moment but we are still currently experimenting with different close ups on photoshop but I will be showing and evidencing this very soon.

Logo Research

Although I posted the work about constructing the logo before I posted this, I started working on this long before I completed the logo.

Most logos for companies involved in the production of films often feature the name of the company (as most other logos do) and a dominant image to represent the company in some way. Whether it represents the name of the company, what the company does or the location(s) that the company operates from. I tried to keep this in mind when creating the logo for the fictitious company that would be producing our trailer and ancillaries.

The first logo that I looked at when carrying out this research was the Warner Brothers logo. I looked at this because it is one of the most famous logos, due to the fact that this company has made many different films, television programmes and other media products. Because of this, this logo has become one of the most recognisable and well-known logos of all time.

If we look at this logo, we can see that the initials of the company are in the center of, what looks like, a shield. This is in keeping with a lot of the other logos of major media companies. Not necessarily the shield, but having something that represents the name of the company or what the company does.

I would like to have our logo looking something like this because I like the fact that it is almost rounded, and does not include any straight line. I have always liked logos to look like this.

Metro Goldwyn Mayer or MGM have a very different style of logo compared to the rest. They haven’t decided to use a completely digital images, but have instead favoured the idea of having a live lion feature in theirs. This is something that is not often seen in a logo, a real photograph, let alone a photograph of a lion.

As is the same with the Warner Brothers logo, MGM use a moving version at the start of their films. I feel that this looks a lot better than a static version, on a film at least. This is something that I would like to do, but will more than likely be unable to.

 

Another thing that is not typically seen in a logo for a production company is an image from one of their films. Amblin Entertainment was the company that created the classic film E.T. One of the most famous scenes in this film is when a boy is riding a bike with E.T in the basket.

I like that they have done this because it allows the viewer to instantly know one of the films that this company has created. Because Amblin is one of the lesser known production company, this is very helpful.

Deciding on Fonts

I have been looking at different fonts that we could use for our various media products. I have used the website CoolText to research the fonts. I predominately spent most of the time in the Horror category of fonts, this is because the fonts here most suit our genre. However, I did look into some of the other categories to ensure that I was looking at all the fonts that could potentially feature on our products.

There are a number of fonts on this website that I like, and think would suit our media products, some more so than others. In this post, I will show you the different fonts that were considered for our products.

We had to understand that the font we chose will more than likely feature on all three of our media products, so it’s important that a suitable font is chosen, that will look good across all three of the products.

The first font that I looked at was called Crazy Killer. I think that this font will work on all three of the products because it is what is typically expected from a horror font, and will not overpower other elements on the products. This font also looks like it has been scratched into the page, suggesting that it was created by someone who is mental.

The next font that I liked the look of was called Jack the Ripper, this is because it looks like it as been written in blood on a wall, hence the slight drips. This is very fitting for our media product. I think that this is one of my favourite fonts, and would like to use it at some point, even if not for the media project.

I found a font named IsleOfTheDead. This is a good font because it is easy to read. A lot of the fonts that I have come across when searching I haven’t been able to read because they are too scruffy. Crazy Killer was borderline this, but not quite. The only problem with this font is that looks a bit to childish, and would not look too good as a predominant font on a website or trailer. To me, this font would be see on an invitation to a child’s Halloween party.

This font is called Blood Feast. I like this font because of the blood drips, it really fits in with the theme and genre of our products. However, as with the previous fonts, I feel that it looks too childish. I think that this type of font would look good on our products, if it didn’t look as childish.

Because the previous font looked too childish for our purposes, I found a similar font called Blood of Dracula. I like this font because it looks far less childish than the Blood Feast font, and also because it has a very Gothic Feel. This is something that I think is very fitting with the genre that we are working with, and also because it will look good in almost any environment, whether it is a trailer, website or poster.

I should say that the example text that I have used to display each of the fonts might not be the actual name of our trailer when we create the final versions. I used this text because it is represents the plot of our trailer, not because it is the actual name that we have decided upon.

After showing Michael this post and both of us looking through the fonts, we have decided that we are going to use the BloodFeast font. We decided thins because it looks pretty good when used on the poster and the website. I know I said that it looked “too childish” when I analysed it, but when it is used with other elements on a page, it really doesn’t.

Research into Potential Audience

I have been looking into the likes and dislikes, interests and personalities of the potential audience for our horror trailer and ancillaries.

I should start by saying that the target audience for the horror trailer will be people over the age of 18, as this is the age group that would be able to watch it.

The audience would more than likely like to eat sugary foods and drink. I think that this would be because most people who would watch films would more than likely watch them with their friends in the cinema or at home. They would probably eat the food unconsciously, without knowing.

 

 

 

 

More than likely, people who will be the target audience of our horror trailer will also be familiar with other famous films. Seeing that a film has been produced by the same person or company as another famous film, will make them interested in it.

 

 

 

I don’t think that there is a standard set of clothing that is worn by the people who enjoy watching horror films. This is because a lot of people are now into these films and want to watch them.

 

 

 

 

 

I would think that the audience that would want to watch our horror film would be people who just want to watch horror films. Although there is a history of people who enjoy watching horror films having mental illnesses. but this is only a small minority of people.

 

 

 

The people who enjoy watching horror films are typically into listening heavy or loud music like Dubstep or rock. But although this is typically accepted, it is not always the convention. Just because enjoy watching a certain type of film, doesn’t mean that they are going to listen to the same type of music. 

 

 

 

Watching a certain type of film will often influence the type of games that they play, that is if they play games. Because of the often violent nature of most horror films, the audience would more than likely play violent video games like the popular Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty series.

Character Profiles

Michael and I have chosen two actors to appear in our trailer. These two people are Ben Haines and Callum Henn. The reason that we asked these two people to appear is because that have been friends for a long time, and therefore have good chemistry together.

Ben is a Drama Student, so he is confident in front of a camera and is willing to act, and perform the script that we have written. Ben will be playing the role of one of the victims that are being chased by the antagonist through the woods. He suits the stereotype of the typical age of characters that appear in horror films. Due to the fact that he is of the stereotypical age, and that he has a background in Drama and acting, he will be a great addition to the team on this project

The character Ben will be playing is one that is advenrous. He is the one who wants them to go to the woods in the film, and pressures other people to do what he wants. This character wants people to like him, therefore he is willing to dangerous or scary things in order to gain the respect of others.

Callum is the second person we chose to cast in our horror trailer. We have done this, because like ben, he is also of the stereotypical age that is often seen in horror films. Callum has really good charisma and is also good in front of a camera.

Callum will be playing the role of the friend that is almost forced along with Ben into the woods. This is the more sensible of the two characters, this is shown through his reluctance to go into the woods with his friend. There is almost one character like this in horror films, and so often they are the characters that survive, or are still alive near the end of the film. There is no acception for this in our trailer.

Both of these characters would have the same Ideology as each other, as would most people of the same age as the two characters. I also think that both of the characters have conformed to the general Stereotypes that are held by the majority of the public about teenagers.

When creating these characters, I have tried to give them as many elements of Realism as I could. I have tried to make the way that they act and the things that they say similar to that of a real person in the situation that they are faced with.

Because Callum and Ben have been friends for a long time, they have developed a chemistry and work well together. They will both be able to play off of each other, and help each other if one isn’t sure about what they have to do when they are acting.

Props

We are going to need two things that will be incorperated into the final trailer, the website and the poster that we are going to make. One of these things is a prop, whilst the other is technically special effects. These two things are:

• Rubber Knife
• Fake Blood

These things will allow us to make the trailer look more authentic, and allow it to connect with the audience a lot more, than if we didn’t use anything else to enhance the products that we make.

The image of the Rubber Knife that we will be using on our products can be seen below.