Film Company Logos

Magazine Comparisons

Poster Comparisons

Evaluation 2 (Annotated Video)

Please note this is an annotated video

The Deadpool Campaign: 
Holiday Specials;



TV Spots;



Teaser Trailer;



The Official Trailer;



Teaser Posters;

Official Posters;

 Social Media;

Evaluation 3

Evaluation 1

'Rapture' Trailer Final Product

Evaluation 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Draft trailer

Poster Final Product

Magazine Final Product

Magazine and Poster Drafts

Original Storyboards

Props and Costumes

Location Releases

Budgeting Sheet

'Rapture' Trailer Screenplay

Production Schedule

Shot List

Scouting Forms

Talent Release Forms

How our research impacted our ideas

Questionnaire Analysis

Risk Assessment

Individual & Group Idea

Red (Individual Idea)

After Abigail’s younger sister was brutally murdered 8 years ago she became socially reclusive. While in school she starts to notice the weird behavior of Madeline, a quiet and religious being who would chant bible verses under her breath on a regular basis.  Abigail befriends Madeline as she intrigues her, she starts to investigate her when she starts to suspect her of her sister’s murder and the people going missing in the town.  When Madeline notices that Abigail is investigating her she becomes agitated and more missing persons reports arise.  Abigail confronts Madeline and Madeline explains that believes she is the one true god and the biblical vigilante from the news, she offers Abigail to work with her and be one of ‘God’s disciples’ and when she declines Abigail dies in the fashion her sister did.

Rapture (Group idea)

Trauma-ridden Lucy moves to a small conservative village in hopes of starting fresh and making her life better. However shortly after settling into the area she notices how central the local church is to the residents. As an atheist Lucy soon finds herself cut off from the small society. Then when her closest friend goes missing Lucy finds support in the unlikeliest of allies, the local priest Mary. Her life just seems to get worse from there as she starts to unravel a series of disturbing events that seem to surround this priest. Real life recreations of gruesome biblical events start to happen and local 'sinners' start to be forced to repent. Lucy finds herself fearing for her life as the warped mind of Mary takes over, stopping at nothing until she gets what she wants.  Lucy later confronts Mary, who attacks her and in self defense Mary dies, as she dies however Lucy realizes that Mary was not insane but possessed.  The demon posses Lucy and the malicious cycle continues.

Trailer Analysis

American Horror Story: Coven (2013)

My first chosen trailer is ‘American Horror Story: Coven (2013)’, this is not a full length trailer as it’s a teaser trailer but still conveys a lot of horror conventions and attributes. The teaser is 30 seconds long which gives very limited time to portray the show as watchable and has no voice over, only music, by the choice of having no voice over this means the characters aren’t introduced by name or purpose and can only be seen. The teaser could’ve probably been improved if a voiced over was used, but the soundtrack (House of the Rising Sun – Lauren O’Connell) worked well with the setting to create an intriguing establishment of the show, the use of indie music makes the entrance of the characters melodic but the conventional imagery suggests otherwise with demonic symbols and imagery suggesting witchcraft and voodoo. Another element that was well portrayed to be considered is the establishing shots of a large house, gated, protected, with a large cult-like crowd walking in with people watching them from windows. The main thing that could’ve dramatically changed the trailer would’ve been the introduction of characters, though you do see the main characters entering the house, looking out of the house and standing high above the others, you learn next to nothing about them other than to interpret who they are by which they are seen doing. Although the teaser was shorter than most they displayed horror conventions quite quickly, the demonic symbolism insinuated a ‘Coven’ of witchcraft; the symbolism is shown on the ceiling of the house and the use of a man-bull opening its eyes. Another convention used was witchery itself as it shows woman floating outside the house, cats and black clothing. The trailer used music to establish the mood of the show by using the genre of indie music and the lyrics in the song chosen fit the plot very well about being ‘one of them’, the song chosen is quite slow but gives the trailer a modern sense. The trailer also stuck to the conventions of a trailer as it established the main placement of the TV series.

Carrie (2013)

 My second trailer is ‘Carrie (2013)’, the trailer used the build up effect which makes the trailer more intense as it progresses, which captures the audiences attention very quickly but had a very slow start which made it less appealing to the viewer. I liked the use of inter-titles with the voice over together as they establish the plot and story quickly, the fading used on the inter-titles however make it less dramatic and softer than it should be for a horror movie trailer. I disliked the choice in music as it was very slow and when the scenes picked up in pace the music rarely did, it was harsher but did not fully make it as impactful as it could’ve been. I feel that the music would’ve made a dramatic change to the trailer if it has become faster as it would’ve been easier to watch and would’ve portrayed the movie as more of a horror than a romance. The trailer portrayed horror quite easily by showing Carrie covered in blood and her violent outbursts from the famous prom scene, to counter this it was showing her in a much more lit scene making her prom dress with relaxing music on in the background. It was evident that the trailer was for a horror because of the tension building short shots at the end, a common shot list used to introduce horror movies intentions and characters fates. In this trailer it uses most of its time to introduce the characters in depth, a typical convention for a full time trailer. By using most of the time to do this it helps to further the plot and understanding of the mindset Carrie has.

The Woman in Black (2012)

My third trailer is ‘The Woman in Black (2012)’, this trailer used creepy and high pitched music to create an atmosphere to fit the film, and the music included music box chimes and a spike towards the end when the pace built up.  The trailer also had a child voicing over while showing establishing shots and old fashioned toys.  As a result of the voice over and creepy music it was effectively able to catch your attention and make it memorable.  At the beginning of the trailer there is complete silence which is very uncomfortable for the viewer and because of the lack of character introduction Daniel Radcliffe’s character seemed out of place and wasn’t really explained, this made it very vague and this may make it confusing for the audience.  I feel the lack of information about the main character may have been a big mistake and could’ve made the trailer better in the long run.  The trailer portrayed the horror genre very well through conventions such as jump scares towards the end, a subtle hint at the supernatural and even including children.  The main conventions for the trailer would be the huge amount of establishing shots to set the scene for the movie, the spike in the music and the fast paced shots towards the end, by using these they have successfully established the trailer and the horror movie setting.

Audiences and institutions: The Woman in Black (Watkins, 2012)

Who do you think the primary and secondary audience is for The Woman in Black and why?

Based on the film age rating being a 12A in the UK, the primary audience for the film would be teenagers.  By being a 12A the film is available to the younger viewers of Harry Potter as a result of Daniel Radcliffe playing the main character and indicates that while it’s a horror movie anyone who is a teenager can buy/see this film.   The film itself being a horror movie makes teenagers – especially younger teenagers – more inclined to see the film.  The secondary audience would be young adults, so students and people under the age of 25 as it is proven that people in this age range are more likely to go to the cinema in their free time and again many of the viewers were the older generation of Harry Potter fans.

How was The Woman in Black marketed?

A large part of the marketing campaign was down to the exploitation of Daniel Radcliffe, he himself helped the campaign to go forward by having interviews, posting on social media and the largest addition was that he guided the Harry Potter fan base to the film.  Social media itself was a massive contribution towards the films success, as part of the marketing there were competitions to win merchandise, tickets to the west end show, film and the London Premiere.  The franchise had a very large campaign and a large success largely because of these factors.

Do you think the marketing materials for the film were appropriate and why?

The franchise’s marketing scheme was very large, the teaser trailers and the posters portrayed the film to be the horror sub-genre of paranormal. The teaser poster questions ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ reinforcing the paranormal sub-genre, the poster also shows a ghostly face behind the text.  On this poster it seems that Daniel Radcliffe is the main focus as an extreme close up shot of him covers half of the poster and this further markets the film to Teenagers and Harry Potter fans.  The official movie poster has very dark colours and the only real colour in the poster is a very icy blue, Daniel Radcliffe is once again present as the main focus of the poster again but you can now see his clothing as it’s a mid-shot and this helps to set the time of the movie if you haven’t seen the trailer.  The poster has many different conventions and helps to set the scene by showing certain tings such as the ‘Eel-marsh House’ where most of the movie is set in the background, a large Cross gravestone with a literal woman in black next to it are in the distance, reinforcing the supernatural horror.  The house is also shown to be in a very rural area with a lot of fog, most likely marsh land. This helps to give the audience understanding and therefore effectively making the marketing very appropriate for the film and the target audience. 

The teaser trailer concentrates more on Daniel Radcliffe but gets the plot forward very quickly.  Most shots used in the teaser trailer are establishing shots and characters from a distance.  The teaser trailer helps to establish when and where the film is set in about one minute and 10 seconds, this helps the audience to recognise the advert and gain common knowledge of the film.  The official trailer uses establishing shots, close ups of creepy looking toys and full length shots of many different children which tells us when, where and the plot. The trailer still concentrates on Daniel Radcliffe at the end as it displays his name and no other actors/actresses so people were bound to read it and consider it more.  The movie’s marketing materials were definitely at the best they could’ve been and were appropriate because the portrayal was impeccable for what the movie was.  Some think the use of Daniel Radcliffe was overused but the scheme worked to help this movie become what it is, so overall it was marketed really well.

What kind of release did the film have?

The film has a very large release with a premiere in London; the film was released in February 2012 and on the opening weekend it made $20,874,072 in the USA then had a total gross of $54,322, 273 in the USA (April, 2012). This makes it the largest opening for a Hammer film in the US in history.  It had such a large release that it was the highest-grossing British horror film in 20 years.  The estimated budget for the film was 17million and quite obviously it surpassed it by a long run.

Why do you think the film was so successful?

I think the film was successful mainly because of Daniel Radcliffe’s advertising, his A-list appearance and the Harry Potter franchise that came with him.  Although, social media did have a large part to play in the advertisement and the competitions and merchandise did help to get a large target audience.  The last reason is that the movie had many typical horror movie conventions in the film, it was traditional in many ways and the way the marketing was pursued really helped to establish the horror in the movie and its intentions.

Horror and Representation

Who wrote about the ‘Final Girl’ in 1992?

The Final Girl was written by Carol Clover, the Damsel in Distress was the typical woman in films, and only a damsel to masculine rage but she argued that the final girl fought back and most likely lived.  Carol Clover released the book ‘Men, Women and Chainsaws’ which was written about the Final girl and the origins of the hit movie ‘Carrie.’  The three traits of the Final Girl are that she’s androgynous, she fights back and she’s a virgin, for instance Laurie Strode in Halloween has these traits.

Who wrote about existing research on women’s roles in media texts in 1983?

Jeremy Tunstall looked at a wide range of research that had been carried out on gender representation in the media, he came to the conclusion that the media emphasised four key roles woman played, the roles were domestic, sexual, consumer and marital.  In 1992 research showed that men outnumbered woman on the screens 2:1 and the only genre that showed an equal number of males and females was advertisements.  One of the main problems with the findings was that males were shown to have occupations in the media more than woman.  Reading suggests that Ripley (Alien) is more progressive than Lara Croft (TR) because of Lara Croft being sexualised.  He also wrote about the three C’s when discussing the portrayal of woman in some lifestyle magazines which are cooking, cleaning and caring.

Who Wrote ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’?

Laura Mulvey wrote ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ which was an essay about how commercial cinema puts the spectator into the position of an ‘appraising heterosexual male’ by using camera techniques such as POV, CU and reaction shots to encourage the audience to view woman as objects that are present to please the male audience and in the film.  Examples of the techniques were used in Cabin in the Woods in the cabin scene when Jules is sexualised due to alcohol and the Male Gaze.  In the 1980’s Cosmopolitan removed its male centrefold as woman thought it was more comical than sexy, this shows the difference of gender representation in the media.

The Representation of Women in Relation to The Cabin in the Woods (Goddard, 2012)

What were Jeremy Tunstall’s 4 character roles for women and do they apply to The Cabin in the Woods?

Jeremy Tunstall categorised females into 4 character types in the media; Domestic, Sexual, Consumer and Marital.

In ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ there are two lead female roles named Dana Polk and Jules Louden and two supporting female roles as Wendy Lin and Patience Buckner.

Dana represents the marital role as she is reserved and portrayed as innocent; throughout the film you see her shy away from Holden Mcrea and refuses to have sexual relations with him too quickly and he agrees.  The character of Jules Louden represents the sexual role as throughout the film you see her having sex, topless and acting generally open with her boyfriend, Curt Vaughan in contrast to Dana and Holden.  It is revealed in the film that Jules plays the part of the ‘whore’ and to play this part the government manipulated her by contaminating her blonde hair dye with toxins and chemicals to change her personality to that of the ‘whore’.  Later in the film they use more toxins to change her mind and have sex out in the open where she is beheaded as the first sacrifice.  It is also revealed that Dana is the ‘virgin’ sacrifice which backs her up as being the marital character type.  Although they do explain they work with what they got so its possible her character was altered by the government as Jules was.  Wendy Lin and Patience Buckner did not adhere to the 4 character types.

How is Dana typical of Clover’s ‘Final Girl’ theory?

Dana is typical to Clover’s theory as she was the ‘damsel in distress’ and gets saved by Marty.  Dana is typically androgynous; she wears trousers for the entire movie and is almost always covered up in comparison to Jules.  Her hair is ginger and not typically blonde like Jules, this may add to why she is timid as she isn’t a ‘dumb blonde’ and not influenced by hair dye toxins to be sexual.  Dana did show traits of the ‘empowered woman’ as she did fight back when attacked by the ‘Redneck Zombie Torture Family’ but was mostly a damsel in distress as she still died anyway.

Jules undergoes mental and physical transformations during the film, what are they and how do they cause her to become a horror archetype?

Jules undergoes mental transformations firstly because of her hair dye; her dye has chemicals that have seeped into her head causing her to act differently.  This intentionally happened to make her fit her role of the ‘whore’, as did the use of chemical fog to make her change her mind about having sex in the forest. Another factor added could also be the consumption of alcohol as it could’ve made it easier for the zombies to kill her because of delayed reaction time and less aware of her surroundings, possibly even making the fog and chemicals more active. Physically, she becomes more sexualised throughout the film using camera angles and suggestive movements.  The biggest impact physically though was definitely the fact she got her head chopped off.  She became a horror archetype as she became to typical dumb blonde and the first to die, the film was aware of character roles and she was moulded to fit hers.

Is Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory exemplified in the film and if so, how?

Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory is present throughout the film and mainly focused on Jules. Towards the beginning of the film in the cabin before the zombie family are summoned POV shots are directed at Jules from low angles, these shots at in the point of view of Marty and Kurt, this is assured through reaction shots.  This exemplifies the theory as it not only sexualises Jules and encourages the audience to view her as an object of male pleasure it also portrays the male characters as they have different reactions to her.  Jules is also intoxicated in this scene which explains her sexual behaviour and is later dared to make out with a wolf head – which she does – this is portrayed from a high angle, which implies the wolf’s POV and shows the reaction shots of the entire group.   Overall the theory is exemplified in the film a lot as the Male Gaze happens throughout the film but this was the most prominent scene.

In the film we, as an audience, are made to be voyeurs; when does this happen and why is it important in regards to representation of characters?

In the film, we are made to be voyeurs when Holden removes a disturbing painting from his room’s wall, only to reveal one sided mirror where he can see Dana getting changed.  He stares for maybe 10 seconds, indicating that he wants to look but he then bangs on the window to let her know he’s there, this shows how innocent and considerate his character is.  After this Dana is shown with Holden in his room looking through the window into her room and he offers to swap rooms with her if it’d made her more comfortable, to which she agrees. This shows that she’s very innocent and quite timid only around guys as earlier in the film she was seen in her underwear when around Jules, further reinforcing the virginal characteristic.  When Holden then moves his stuff into Dana’s old room he gets changed obviously thinking the window had been covered up, when Dana sees him.  She has the same reaction to stare for very little time but then quickly covers it up, showing how timid and guilty she felt.  Overall, the representation of characters in this scene sets the plot as it defines the character types of the virgin and the nerd, it also said that when the virgin is sexually tempted then the nerd becomes expendable and this reinforces that.

Summarise the way woman are represented in The Cabin in the Woods.  Are they objectified and there to provide satisfaction for heterosexual males and/or do they fulfil another role/purpose?

In The Cabin in the Woods the woman characters are provided to be sacrifices for the ancient ones in the plot, although due to the narrative in the film Jules is objectified by the males in the group as she is the ‘whore’ in the sacrifice.  Dana is never objectified by a man throughout the film as she is the virgin and androgynous.  I believe that Jules is only objectified in the film because of the narrative of the film and as a result dies early on in the film because of her role within the sacrifices.  Dana’s purpose was to stay alive throughout the film and to choose the way in which the group would die, although she only lives as long as she does because of the narrative.

Audiences and Institutions

What is meant by the term film distribution?

Film distribution is a term commonly used for making a movie viewable for the audience, including distribution to the public through cinemas, movies and television.

What does a film distributor do?

The distributor develops the release strategy of the film, this is where, what time of year would be more beneficial (e.g. holidays, seasons etc) and the release date.  The distributor also controls the delivery of the master print of the finished film to cinemas and stores.  The distributor will also present the film to film exhibitors and negotiates bilateral agreements to show the film in cinemas.  They also create a marketing campaign to create a ‘buzz’ for the audience and the launch of the film in advance, this also sets a target for the future release.

How does reach relate to film distribution?

The total reach of the film would be how many people have viewed clips, videos, how it’s advertised and who’s talking about it.  Although reach could also be new techniques aimed at new audiences to entice them to view the film, new distribution platforms e.g. YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix.

What is meant by the distribution plan?

The distribution plan is put into place to get your product or service through various channels of distribution and to the ultimate purchaser – how and where the consumers buys your product.

What is meant by the marketing plan?

A marketing plan is an overall blueprint with outlines an organisations marketing outcomes and efforts.

What is the difference between advertising, publicity and promotion?

Advertising is the production of advertisements of commercial products while promotion is publicising a product to increase the awareness of the public and increase sales.  Advertising and promotional work goes hand in hand as the advertisement is promoted to the public in order to create a ‘buzz’ for the film release.  To add to this publicity is giving out information about the product for advertisement and promotional purposes; all go hand in hand but play different roles in the media and help to give attention of said product.

Evil Dead (2013)

Evil Dead (2013) was distributed by TriStar Pictures and produced by Ghost House Pictures and FilmDistrict.  On its opening weekend the film brought in $26mil and was a box office success.  Overall the film brought in $54mil domestically and $43mil internationally, making the worldwide total $97mil. A huge profit was made as the original budget was $17mil.

Teaser Posters



Official Poster

Teaser Trailer

Offical Trailer

History Of Horror

History Of Horror

Horror history pdf from ellx0tt

Narrative Structure in relation to Halloween (1978) and The Crazies (2010)

The term Classical Hollywood Narrative means a structured beginning, middle and the end of a film; this is Todorov’s equilibrium theory.  The theory entails the start of the film being the initial equilibrium which then becomes the disequilibrium when the plot is disturbed, the film would then create a new equilibrium when the equilibrium is restored and a happy ending would follow.  This theory is very important when understanding media texts as most genres of films follow the theory, however horror as a genre typically doesn’t follow the theory as the ending is most likely not to be happy.  Halloween and The Crazies do not follow the CHN as the equilibrium is never in place to be broken; the starting scene in Halloween is a murder scene therefore the theory does not exist within the movie while the start of The Crazies shows the town on fire as the opening scene.  Both also end badly with Michael Myers getting away in Halloween and the government following David and Judy in The Crazies. 

Vladimir Propp’s character theory included 8 character types; they were decided after Propp examined 100’d of folk tales to compare structures.  He concluded that the character structures included the villain(s), the hero, the donor, the helper, the princess, her father, the dispatcher and the false hero.  The theory helps us to understand media texts very well but frequently one or two characters may not be present in films. When the film features a ‘hero’ this automatically means there will be a villain and a princess so it helps to give context to films inadvertently to viewers.  In Halloween character types used is the villain, the hero, the princess and the helper, by only featuring 4 of the 8 character types this shows that horror movies may not adhere to Propp’s theory as The Crazies also doesn’t follow the theory.

Binary opposition are sets of opposite values, a deeper arrangement of themes. Claude Levi-Strauss’ theory was that all films had binary oppositions such as good vs. evil.  I think binary oppositions are important for understanding media texts as they outline the genre and expectations of the film.  In Halloween binary oppositions include good vs. evil, innocent vs. guilty, alert vs. distraction, past vs. present and sane vs. insane.

Bordwell and Thompson defined narrative as “A chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space” this means that the narrative’s events cause effects throughout the time and space of the film.  The theory is very useful as the majority of films will have effects of consequences throughout the film.  In Halloween Laurie approached the Myers house and put the key under the door mat, she is seen by Michael Myers and he begins to follow her.  Another event which causes a chain of events is Michael seeing his sister and her boyfriend engage in sexual activities, he then murders her and starts a chain of murders.  The first event which we know happened throughout the film but do not see is the psychiatrist studying Michael for a large number of years, then coming to a conclusion he is inherently evil. The second event could be the escape of prisoners or how they escaped.

The Crazies Questions

Full Movie Analysis

Let Me In (2010)

‘Let Me In’ (2010) is a supernatural horror film about the tragic life of a vampire, as this is a supernatural film the audience would suspect some kind of supernatural being or entity – this is portrayed by the vampire called ‘Abby’.  The movie was heavily based off of a Swedish film and the audience who had seen that film may have a general idea of the movie plot, while others would generalise it to be a vampire movie about a 12 year old girl meeting a young human boy. 

The film followed the traditional narrative structure, firstly by establishing the norm in the plot and setting – this being Abby moving into a new neighbourhood with her ‘father’ and meeting Oskar the boy who lives next door who gets bullied at school.  The rising action being Oskar and his bully having an argument at school, the bully then gets physical; this creates an antagonist in the film.  The climax of the film for Abby is her ‘Father’s’ death being explained (you saw him die at the beginning of the film), this means that she now lives alone and there is no one to look after her or provide for her.  Oskar’s climax however comes into place after Abby told him to fight back to the bully and when he does he hits him over the head with a large stick and cuts his ear open while the class are playing hockey on a frozen lake.  The falling action being the bully and his friends locking the teacher out of the school while the class are swimming and they try to drown Oskar, at this point Abby should’ve left as she claimed to be too dangerous but still she comes to the rescue – killing the bullies in the pool they planned to drown the protagonist in.  Finally the resolution is Oskar leaving with Abby and essentially becoming her new keeper to help her feed – the movie ends on a good note and also follows Tzvetan Todorov’s media theory of differing equilibrium. 

The setting of the film is a snowbound apartment complex, this links into the film quite thoroughly as Abby doesn’t get cold, therefore she never wears shoes even when it’s snowing outside to emphasise this fact.  The snow relates into many themes – such as the ice hockey scene later in the movie which was a crucial part, body frozen in the lake and the meeting point being the docile playground blanketed in snow – the amount of snow explain the reasoning no other children would be around.   Other than the setting I believe that the snow had more reasoning such as the cold weather and dark colouring implying the loneliness of Oskar and Abby and enforcing the horror genre of the film. 

The iconography in the film varies, such as the lighting being very dim and almost always ambient or natural, implying a darker theme within the film and almost as if there’s a secret being sealed in the film.  This also enforces the genre very well.  The main props used also vary, such as the large stick Oskar used to hit his bully, a record player, fake blood and Abby’s crate of memories – photos, puzzles etc.  To enforce the genre the movie includes a lot of red and black, to show the evil and darkness and the blood in the film.  Abby is almost always wearing a dark hood at the beginning of the movie – implying she’s hiding something dark, again never wearing shoes.  Later into the movie she is seen wearing a white dress – this is controversial as she is ‘evil’ but later stains the white dress with blood, showing that evil overrules the innocence of childhood.  Oskar however is almost always in a jumper – emphasising the cold weather and how Abby doesn’t feel it at all, if he is not he is wearing a big puffy jacket.  He is also wearing darker colours – such as blue or grey; this shows how lonely he is and how sad his life is.  The actors are very fitting for the film, the caretaker of Abby being an old man, Oskar being a 12 year old boy who is very small for his age and Abby who is also 12 in body form.  By being played by an innocent appearing actress the role of Abby is reinforced and shows the tragic life of being a vampire, helping to make the audience root for Abby as much as they would for Oskar.  The make-up is also a big part of the film as Abby’s eyes change colour when she turns into a vampire, also the fake blood on her face and on the victim’s bodies helps to reinforce the horror genre. 

The character types vary, the protagonist is Oskar (Princess), while his bullies are the antagonists (villains), and Abby’s caretaker was the donor who would provide for her and also the father and the dispatcher.  In Vladimir Propp’s theory Abby would be the hero, as she later saves Oskar.  The false hero would probably be Oskar as many would assume he helps Abby but it is in fact the other way round.  The use of Vladimir Propp’s theory shows that most stories have a specific role system. 

The binary opposition in this film is good vs. evil, which is traditional in the horror genre, this also links into Claude Levi-Strauss/ Roland Barthes’ theory of narrative structure.  This can be applied to most horror films as it also covers known/unknown and normal/strange. 

Gender representation is prominent in this film; the protagonist Oskar is protected and weak.  Stereotypically a male would be stronger, this challenges gender roles intensely.  Abby’s role within the film is strange as she is perfectly capable of defending herself and others but instead has carers who kill for her and risk their lives on a daily basis to protect her.  This doesn’t directly challenge gender roles but typically does go against them.  As she is very young that could explain why she would need a carer and can not look after herself as she never grew up properly and always had sympathy from others.  Her carer is typically expressing gender roles, he is the one who kills, defends the child and shows bravery, he in no way challenging society’s gender roles.  Other characters who do not challenge gender roles are the bullies who are all male and a lot taller, males typically would be bullies in the eyes of society and are seen as ‘manly and strong’.  Oskar’s mother challenged the gender roles as she is a known alcoholic when woman are typically polite and quiet. 

The narrative places the audience on the side of Abby and Oskar, the empathy of the tragic life of a vampire and her age/ innocence makes it easy to love her character.  Oskar on the other hand is rooted for throughout the film as you want him to stick up to bullies and stand up for himself. 

Horror Genre Chart

Halloween, John Carpenter (1978)

Magazine Analyses

Empire Front Cover Analysis

‘Empire’ is a very well known blockbuster magazine which has featured many different films and celebrities.  As this is a blockbuster magazine the magazine could include many horror films but what grabbed my attention was the ‘Iron Man 3’ cover because of the many conventions and effects. By using the character of Iron Man this creates a USP (unique selling point) because of the large franchise and marvel fan base.  Iron man (Robert Downey Jr.) is the focal point on the page and is making direct eye contact and the image is at eye-level.  This helps to catch the audience and include them in the magazine.

The pose of the actor is almost heroic and he is holding the famous Iron Man mask, the mask has a scratch down the front which implies something that happens in the movie and the suit itself its very messed up and has scuff marks all over it. Throughout the image you can see pieces of burnt paper which implies a battle which anticipates a great film; this also fits with the colour scheme that was clearly adopted by Iron Man’s suit which explains the use of red, white and gold on the text throughout the cover.  This has been used to emphasise the new film release and to imprint the brand into the readers mind. The bold writing shows the seriousness of the movies and its release.  Also the background of the image is the sky, a variation of clouds and dark blues which implies a storm or smoke – this fits the paper in the air.

 It is clear that the magazine reviews films as the cover lines features key words such as ‘previews’ and ‘episodes’.  Empire is very traditional in the sense they have used red and gold to glorify superheroes.  

Fangoria Front cover analysis

Fangoria’s franchise is quite large and their magazine is specifically horror orientated.  The readership is obviously varied because of the different films featured on the cover from different generations.  The main image is titled ‘The Descent’ which is fairly new and the page also includes The Omen (1976) and Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King which started in 2006.  Also, because of the variation in audience the magazine can use the newer films as the main cover line and image more often while others may not be able to do this.  When compared to other magazines such as ‘Scream’ this shows a difference in choice as ‘Scream’ mainly features more of the older generations work while Fangoria is the opposite. 

Firstly, the most prominent placement on this magazine is the main image.  This image is of a mutated human/monster that in the movie changes after being stuck in a cave for a long amount of time and almost evolves to survive, hence the name of the movie being ‘The Descent’.  This is probably why they have used low key lighting to capture the movie more, also this creates a creepier atmosphere because the facial features are not prominent.  By using low key lighting this also links into the horror factor of the magazine as it’s a very typical move for one of this genre.  The shot type of this image is a medium shot, but shows enough to get the audience interested.  To the right of this image is a small cover line in orange that’s meant to go with the colouring of the image and to the left is the main cover line which says ‘The Descent’ diagonally, this is in white and is outlined by red to make a contrast and to pronounce the horror origins of the movie. The blood spatters onto the text to create more of an effect, and by making the text glow in red and white it stand out a lot more than it usually would.  

Fangoria magazine has a repetitive layout, with the rule of thirds being diagonal and the main image taking up two thirds.  Because of the layout there is a ‘Z pattern’ on the cover, firstly is the masthead which is large, bold and red and white.  This creates a three dimensional look as the white outlines the thick red text, also the masthead doesn’t follow the conventions as the masthead is placed in the centre of the top of the page and not to the left hand side.  Secondly your eyes travel to the main image, then to the main cover line, then to the film strip to the left side.  The film strip has a blue outline and a lime green inside, this is the holder for images and cover lines.  This is an effective way to keep the page organised and also indicates that the magazine reviews films.  Overall, the magazine is traditional and its origins are clear and the magazine clearly shows its intentions and genre.

Scream Magazine Cover Analysis

‘Scream’ is a large and specifically horror orientated magazine which portrays new and old movies.  This magazine is orientated to horror movie watchers who are most likely unfazed or enjoy the creepiness of the movies/franchises. 

The first thing that is prominent is Michael Myers, the psychopath/protagonist of the hit movie series ‘Halloween’.  This automatically makes the long lasting fan base of the movies purchase/read the magazine.  By using Michael’s iconic mask to hide his eyes it implies direct eye contact, this adding to the creepy factor.  This is the main image and also creates the USP (Unique selling point) as it’s so popular and far into the future.  This is explained when it said ‘We take a look back’, which also implies that the readership is a variety of ages because of the other films featured on the cover such as The Shining (1980) and Saw 3D (2010), this expands the readership and generations who would be interested.  There is no need for a full body shot of Michael as he is known to lurk in the movies, by using such a dark background the image contrast with the main headline ’Halloween’ which is bold and well known to many people.  By using low key lighting they create a mysterious image, this is commonly used in horror films to capture the creepiness and create suspenseful imagery.  

Scream Magazine typically has a set layout, the main image taking up two thirds of the page diagonally and the other third has a film strip with images and cover lines – normally a movie title with a subtitle about the article.  Towards the bottom the page are cover lines and teasers – this makes the audience want it even more as it has small previews.  The masthead is conventional, starting from the left hand side and leaving space for prices/issue/dates next to it.  The masthead is quite large and in a bold font, the font itself has a dripping effect to replicate blood and this also helps to give it a vintage effect because of the unrealistic blood spatter and bright red colouring, this also fits the horror criteria because it’s known to be associated with the genre.  All text is bold; this fits the genre because it needs to stand out against the contrasting images.  The main colour scheme is red, orange, black and white, these are all the typical ‘horror’ colours that are used in general and fit well together to create contrast and a ‘Z pattern’.  Firstly you will look at the masthead, then the main image, the main cover line and then to the film strip in the left hand corner, this effectively creating the ‘Z pattern’.  The movie strip to the left hand side helps to communicate to the audience that the magazine reviews film, it also helps to fit images onto the cover without random placement, this creating a constant and relevant way to put forward other cover lines and images. 

Overall the magazine is traditional to its horror origins and successfully indicates its genre and purpose.