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.

Filming Locations

For the trailer that Michael and I are going to be filming, we have chosen Hotham Park in Bognor Regis as the location in which we will shoot. We chose this because it has just the right amount of trees and wooded areas that will look good as the background for our trailer.

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We also liked one of the entrances to the park because it had an eerie feel to it. This might be a nice setting to feature in our trailer because it will be in fitting of what is typically expected in a horror trailer. Especially at dusk, this setting will look great!

If there is any part of the Park that doesn’t quite suit our needs for the trailer, there are plenty of other areas around the Park. The size of the location that we will be filming can be seen below.

 

As a filming location, I feel that this is very well suited to our needs, because it has a number of different locations that will be perfect for us.

 

Audience Research Write-Up

What do you want to read about?

• Introduction
• Question Analysis
• Focus Group
• Potential Improvements?
• Conclusion

Introduction

Michael and I have recently received the feedback from the survey that we posted online via FluidSurveys and various social media platforms. We used this research to gather information about what the target audience would be looking for in our final horror trailer.

In this post I will be analyzing the feedback that we received and deducing what we learned from them. The information will be shown via various different charts and graphs to make the data that we received more visually appealing.

We wanted the people that responded to the online survey to be between the ages of 15 and 18. We chose this because 15-18 are the age groups that typically watch horror films often, so would have a good idea of what would make a good horror trailer.

Question Analysis

From the research that we conducted, we discovered that the number of males who enjoy watching horror films is greater than the number of females who enjoy watching horror films. This is in keeping with the stereotype that males watch horror films more so than females. This is because males enjoy violent and/or gory films more than women, who would not be so inclined to watch a film of this type.

One of the questions that we asked via the audience research on FluidSurveys was “What is your age?” This question was asked because we wanted to find out which age group would be more than likely to watch or be most affected by our horror trailer. Below, there is a pie chart visually showing the results of this question.

Now that we know this information about our target audience, we will be able to create media products that will better appeal to the majority of the audience. This will make them feel more connected with the trailer and ancillaries because it will be able to better represent their personalities, views and opinions.

Another question that we posted on the online survey, was what style the audience would like the trailer to be. This is one of the most important questions in the survey because it gave us an insight into what the audience was expecting to see, or rather wanted to see in our trailer. This question would also have a major impact on how we decide to shoot the trailer and what styles to use within.

As you can see via the bar chart, we can see that the style that the target audience most wanted to see in our trailer was parodic. This was something that I didn’t really expect to see from this answers to this question. I understand that parodic films are popular, just look at the Scary Movie series, but I did not think that it was something that a large denomination of the target audience would want to see. The trailers for every film within the Scary Movie series are very parodic, this is how the audience is able to understand the type of film and whether or not they are going to find it scary, or if they are going to laugh.

Personally, in my opinion, we have two options when including parodic humor in our trailer. I feel that these two options are:

• A completely parodic trailer with large amount of this type of humor included.
• Absolutely no parodic humor at all in the trailer.

I think this because if you see a largely serious trailer with a small amounts of this type of humor thrown it, the trailer looses it’s message or ‘seriousness’ This is because this type of humor is very cheesy and will spoil the trailer of there is only some included.

Focus Group

I do have a separate post for the focus group that Michael and I conducted. But the overall response that we got from the people involved is that we would need to include a lot of dark colours as these are the typical colours that are used in horror trailers, websites and posters. Because these are so often used on products like ours, the audience will be able to recognize that the trailer, website or poster that they are viewing is for a horror product.  .

Potential Improvements?

There was an instance where we encountered some problems. This was because of the question “What do you do in your spare time” The answers to this question were not completely serious or truthful, and therefore does not contribute or help us with the audience research. If we were to do this again, I would like to take this question out because of the answers that we received, and also because it doesn’t really help us with the research anyway. Or, if we don’t remove the question, I feel another way around this would be to only allow them to tick an option. This would stop the answers from being unhelpful as they would have already been pre-determined.

Conclusion

Overall, I think that the data that was collected from the research that we conducted was helpful because we’re able to see exactly what the target audience is expecting, and more importantly, wanting to see in our horror trailer. This will help us because we will be able to make the trailer appeal to them greatly,

This information will also be able to help us when deciding what things to include within the trailer, website and poster. This would include different font types, editing techniques, iconography and design styles. All of these things will allow us to create the best media products that we possibly can.

Genre Development | Part 5 | Parodic

Contents:

• Genre Development | Part 1 | Introduction
• Genre Development | Part 2 | Primitive
• Genre Development | Part 3 | Classical
• Genre Development | Part 4 | Revisionist
• Genre Development | Part 5 | Parodic
• Genre Development | Part 6 | An Overview

A Parodic film is one that completely changed the formula of what is expected from a horror film. If often combines elements from the horror genre with elements of highly satirized comedy. Also, rather than thinking up a completely original plot for a Parodic film, the makers will rip off parts from other well-known horror films.

One of the most famous series of Parodic Films is called Scary Movie. This series includes five seperate films, each parodying horror films. For example, Scary Movie 3 parodies horror films such as:

• The Ring
• The Others
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• And others

The spoof of the horror film The Ring that is featured in Scary Movie 3 can be seen below:

Other Parodic films include:

• Scary Movie
• Shaun of the Dead
• Fido
• Severance
• And others

Genre Development | Part 4 | Revisionist

Contents:

• Genre Development | Part 1 | Introduction
• Genre Development | Part 2 | Primitive
• Genre Development | Part 3 | Classical
• Genre Development | Part 4 | Revisionist
• Genre Development | Part 5 | Parodic.
• Genre Development | Part 6 | An Overview

These are the films that change-up what is typical expected of a horror film. Often, these films contain various elements of the original genre, but also add more into the mix. Creating what is known as the Revisionist type of film. Often, Revisionist films are often considered the ‘new-wave’ of the genre as they typically appeal to the younger denomination of people.

Some of the most well-know revisionist films include Insidious and Paranormal Activity, These are some of the most scary and creepiest horror films around today, as they feature ghosts, something that is completely unknown and alien to us. Below, is the trailer for the well know Revisionist horror film Evil Dead:

Revisionist films are often considered some of the most shocking films that have been made. Although, they often are thought of as being better than the Classical horror films, I don’t really think that they are. This is because they all pretty much follow the same story line as each other. They are typically about a family living in a haunted/possessed house.

Some more Revisionist horror films can be seen below.

• The Conjuring
• Sawney
• And others.

Genre Development | Part 3 | Classical

Contents:

• Genre Development | Part 1 | Introduction
• Genre Development | Part 2 | Primitive
• Genre Development | Part 3 | Classical
• Genre Development | Part 4 | Revisionist
• Genre Development | Part 5 | Parodic
• Genre Development | Part 6 | An Overview

Films that fall within the Classical category are the ones that are created when the genre is at its peak. This is when the genres characteristics have been fully defined, and when people know what to expect when they sit down to watch a horror film. There have been many films made during this era, with two of the most famous film makers being Alfred Hitchcock and George A. Romero.

Alfred Hitchcock is known as being the filmmaker that really understood the genre that he was working with and knew how to incite terror into his audience. One of the most famous of his films is the film Psycho, in which a secretary steals $40,00 from her employers client and ‘goes on-the-run’, ending up in a motel. A clip from the film can be seen below:

There have been other classical films that have been made over the years that have shocked and terrified its audiences. One such film, The Shining is infamous for just this reason.

It follows a family who are stranded in an isolated hotel for the winter, Where an evil presence influences the father to become insane and increasingly violent towards his wife and son. The most well-known clip of the film can be seen below:

Because this film is so infamous, it has influenced a number of other films and television shows to remake and parody the story line. One of these include the popular series The Simpsons. This version can be seen below:

There are some of the most well-known Classical horror films. The Classical type of horror films really connected the audience with the genre, scaring them more than they had ever been whilst watching a film.