Nightmare on Elm Street Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins by fading into the production titles and then into the scene of an abandoned industrial park of some sort. The sound of a heavy echoing drum accompanies the transition for dramatic effect, informing the viewer that this trailer is going to be serious and foreboding in its theme. There are straight cuts between landscape shots of the environment with a heavy sound of wind whistling, making it seem more barren and lifeless. You can hear a person’s panting coming into shot through the use of a sound bridge. Everything has a blue tint to add a more melancholic tone to the entire scene that plays out at the start of this trailer.

Eventually it cuts to a shot where the figure of a man runs into eyesight from behind some rubble, as if being chased as he looks behind him. His appearance is accompanied by quick beating of drums to add dramatic tension, and a choir singing in a minor key fades into earshot, giving that gothic sinister sound. Then as the cars appear another track adds to the music being upbeat drums that make the chase tense and fast paced. The shots quicken in pace slightly, ranging from looking at the man running up in a medium shot as it tracks to follow him, to a point of view shot from the cars which has been over cranked, as if this shot is an outer body experience of the person running as he realises his inevitable capture. Eventually the man reaches a warehouse and people stop their cars heavily, and a sound bridge occurs as one male shouts “Kruger! Come on out, you sick bastard!”. The shots become close ups of the opposing characters where the man chasing Kruger shouts “You open this door Kruger!”. This cuts to a reverse shot where Kruger is facing the door and replies “What do you think I did? I didn’t do anything!”. The dialogue adds tension and mystery as to the plot behind this scene and as tension continues to build the intrigue increases.

The shot cuts to the man throwing a Molotov cocktail into the warehouse, where an over cranked shot shows it breaking through the window and setting the entire place on fire. It cuts to a close-up of his feet to a medium shot of the character taking off his coat as the fire blazes around him. This shot has been over cranked to highlight the dramatic scenario, perhaps reflecting the characters view as he witnesses his own demise. It then cuts to him ripping off the coat to reveal a black and red striped sweater, a piece of iconography associated with the Nightmare on Elm Street brand.

This then eventually cuts to a black screen reading ‘From Executive Producer Michael Bay’ in sharp red serif font, with a slight texture of splattered blood around the text, highlighting the horror theme presented in this trailer. The sounds become reversed drums, giving an eerie element to the dramatic moment of silence as the tension drops for just a moment before beginning its steady climb back up to the crescendo at the end of the trailer. There are then fades to shots accompanied by the same reversed drum, but the transition out of the shots are cuts instead of fades. The first shot is that of three girls in classic looking dresses playing jump rope. However this has been over-cranked as well, adding an eerie tone to the imagery and contrasting elements between the innocence of children and then foreboding dynamic of the editing and sound. The shots start to revolve around the dialogue of a woman saying the words “I’ve been having these dreams about this man… and he’s burnt”. All the shots leading up to the extreme close-up of the distressed young woman contain a sound bridge of her saying this dialogue.

The trailer then cuts to a shot of a street sign post with the name ‘Elm Street’ on it, confirming the conjecture of the audience concerning the basis of the film. Eventually the shots then cut to the extreme close-up of the hand wearing the bladed gloves, running the edge of the blade against the metal tiles, creating menacing screeching sounds that plays to the conventions of a typical horror trailer, where the imagery is as menacing as the sound. This shot reveals the man wearing the bladed gloves moving closer to an innocent looking figure in the background, demonstrating the impending evil. In the background you can hear children singing a nursery rhyme like song with lyrics that relate to the approach of Freddy Kruger, the evil spirit of the man shown at the start of the trailer that kills teenagers and children in their dreams. All of the following images are surreal and sinister in their own way, from the children standing in a cage, to the shot of a boy naked in the freezing cold, to shot of a woman lying in a bath as the bladed gloves rise out of the water, moving towards her.

The pace gets faster after the shot of the young man saying “Don’t fall asleep”, where the cuts between shots become more frequent and the sound of the reversed drums get faster in tempo as well. You can also hear distorted eerie tones that seem to pulsate with the disturbing images as well. There’s a moment of silence before the shot of the boy’s head behind grabbed which has been heavily under-cranked to add to the fright as it happens quickly in an attempt to make the audience jump. From here onwards there’s a sound of reversed whooshing sound that happens every half second where the cuts match the onslaught of audio occurring, that seems similar to an exaggerated blink of an eye. The transitions between shots here are very fast fades to black, to seem like the images are pulsating out of the screen for impact, tension and distress.

Around the point where the young man shouts “wake-up!” continuously you can hear the rise and fall of violins being played in sharp minor tones to add confusion and even more tension. In the mise-en-scene, special effects are used to make the woman appear to be rising out of bed in mid-air, as even being attacked by a phantom of some sort. This confirms the paranormal element of the horror in this trailer as it cuts between the woman being attacked to the silhouette of Freddy Kruger approaching in what appears to be the same warehouse he died in, linking the start of the trailer with the rest. There’s a moment of silence before a loud scream (also playing to the convention of horror trailers) and the image of Kruger is shown, slashing at the screen, where special effects are used to make three slash marks glowing red appear and fade in the text ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ which is similar to the first text in its blood red serif titling, which also has a glowing red vertical directional blur that makes it appear that the text is full of an evil aura. After the only shot of the phantom Freddy Kruger before he attacks a defenceless woman, the same text is used to present the credits and date for the release of the movie, which slowly zooms into focus on the screen.

This trailer is an example of how an abridged scene can be used at the start of a trailer, to give it more of a teaser trailer feel, as the long scene doesn’t give away too much of the plot, but adds tension and intrigue, presenting a window into the narrative of the film.

Empire Magazine Analysis : Green Zone

Empire Magazine Analysis

Text Draft

First draft of what the text during the trailer will say near the end of the trailer as it reaches a crescendo, interspersed with shots that increase in thrill and suspense.

A house of unseen evil

Will seize two lives

And bury them.

Shotlist

1. Fade from black to production titles. The titles are de-saturated and grainy and occur as the sound track features the crackling of the vinyl record.
2. Reflective Media
3. Red moon Pictures
4. Long distance shot of Gramophone sitting on a small table at the end of a small hallway. The camera tracks forward slightly.
5. Extreme close-up of the Gramophone needle on the vinyl as the record turns. Sound bridge of cutlery sounds.
6. Shot above dinner table, Father is out of focus and close to the camera at close up distance, and the son is at medium shot distance at the other side of the table. The focus pulls from the son to the father as the father asks ‘What’s that?’ referring to the music. A quick flicker of the lights occurs in the background.
7. Reaction shot of the father mid-way through turning his head from the last shot and looking just above the viewpoint of the camera at close-up distance.
8. Aerial shot of the two characters at the table, with the light bulb in view, flickering out.
9. Quick shot of the son doing a similar thing to the dad before the room plunges into darkness as the lights finally go out.
10. Pitch Black. He tells his son to stay where he is. Sounds of the father moving through the kitchen e.g. footsteps and opening a draw as the father takes out the torch.
11. Low angle shot of the father as the torch turns on and illuminates the area slightly. He starts to lift the torch.
12. Medium shot of the father as he turns around to face the dining table and starts to point the torch towards the general of the camera.
13. Point of view shot where the torch is pointed directly at the son’s chair, which is now empty.
14. Close up of the father’s face, demonstrating his reaction. He starts to move out of shot as the shot fades to black and bridges sounds of footsteps on floorboards.
15. The father calls his son’s name, and this audio bridges over the next couple of shots. Fades from black to close up of his feet stepping across the floorboards. Fades back to black.
16. Fades from black to a shot of a door from within a dark room as the torch peers around the corner and gets pointed directly at the camera and causes a lens flare. Fades back to black.
17. Sound bridge of the words ‘Daddy, I’m scared’ transition into the shot. Fades from black to a medium shot of the dad’s back as he walks slowly down the hallway from low angle (almost point of view from the son). He steps into shot, his feet obscuring the view.
18. Medium close-up shot from behind the father as he turns around and starts to point the torch towards the direction of the camera / Medium close-up shot of the dad facing the camera. The Dad starts to turn and point the torch at the son, bringing some of the son’s silhouette into light.
19. Point of View shot of the father lifting the torch to his son’s face to reveal…wait for it…DEMON FACE! Orchestral swell and sharp dramatic audio.
20. Light falls and the screen goes pitch black and goes silent.

Initial Plot Synopsis

This is the plot synopsis I wrote whilst Josh and Tom focussed on analysis work. This plot synopsis will be used so that Josh can write the screenplay for the teaser trailer.

The story revolves around two characters, a father and a son. The father is the main character of the film and has recently lost his wife in a car accident. He decides to move away with his son to escape a setting that reminds them of a troubled past. They find a house in the country, remote from their usual urban surroundings. The father and son move in and try to adjust to a more solitary life when bizarre events start to occur.

The electricity power to the house frequently cuts out, but upon investigation of the fuse board, there never seems to be a problem. The gramophone of the house repeatedly switches itself on and starts to play old 40s records. At night, the father hears footsteps and doors opening and closing, and suspects that someone is tampering with the house. The father starts to question his son, asking him why he’s trying to cause trouble, as he is the only plausible suspect. The son denies all accusations concerning tampering with the house.

One day the father wakes up to find his son missing from the house. He starts to search the woods surrounding the house, shouting out his son’s name in an attempt to find him. Panic ensues, as there’s few signs or traces of his son in the woods, and he starts to get lost as he moves deeper into the forest. The father starts to see shadows moving across the scenery and hears menacing sounds. The father sees one silhouette standing still in the distance and as he starts to move towards it, the silhouette starts to run away. In a mad rush to catch the enigmatic figure the father stumbles across his son crouching in a forest alcove. The son won’t answer his father as his father asks him why he ran away. From here onwards the son seems to be afraid of his own father.

One night the power cuts out again whilst the two are eating dinner. The father tells his son not to move whilst he finds a torch. Upon returning to the dinner table his shines the torch light at his sons seat but his son is missing. The house starts to make menacing sounds again, and the father cautiously searches the premises. Entering the kitchen he finds all the draws open and several kitchen knives lying around the countertops. Moving over to the gramophone playing he stares at it to hear his son from behind him say ‘I’m scared’. The father quickly turns and shines the torch at his son to reveal the boy standing there with phantom/demon like features. Panicking, the dad drops the torch, scrambling to pick it back up and shines the torch back at his son standing right next to him now but now in a normal state. The lights flicker back on, but from here onwards the father starts to suspect that his son his possessed or evil.

The father visits the local church to consult a priest about his troubled thoughts. The priest, unaware that someone has moved into the community, asks where the two have moved in residence. After telling the priest what address they moved into, the priest starts to panic and orders him to leave his parish and never return to the village area again, and even to leave his son behind. From these words the father determines that his son is the problem, and not the house.

One night the son and father are in bed and the son, trying to get to sleep starts to get tormented by the house. Menacing voices tell him to ‘hide or kill’. Shadows start to creep up the wall of his bedroom and the window starts to open by itself as the voices get louder. Staring at the window petrified, the boy then glances back at his wall as he hears the sound of carving to see the word ‘Hide or Kill’ carved in large capitals on his bedroom wall. The boy jumps out of his bed and runs to his father’s room. He steadily opens the door, walks in and stands at the foot of his dad’s bed. He gets his dad to wake up by pushing at his ankles. The dad wakes up in a daze and turns on the lamp to see the walls of his room carved repeatedly with the words ‘I’ll bury you’. The father panics and yells at his son, screaming and cursing, telling him to get out. The son, frightened, runs out of the room and hides in the living room. The father grabs an axe from underneath his bed and creeps out of his room. He turns round the corner to see his son crouching in the corner. The father moves towards his son and sees him scared and nervous. The dad apologises and stretches out one hand to lift his son, but as the son looks up at the dad his face turns demon like once again. Panicking, the father swings his axe at his son, missing narrowly.

The father continues to hunt his son in the house with his axe whilst his son tries to find a means to escape. The sun currently sees his father as a terrible haunting figure as he chases him relentlessly until the boy is crawling on all fours outside the entrance of the house. Just as the father is about to take a swing and kills his son, the priest arrives just in time and shoots the father with a hunting rifle. The priest then takes the boy and puts him in his car to drive away from the house. The son looks out the back windscreen to watch the house disappear over the horizon. The priest tells the boy it will all be alright now, as the son sits forward and looks up at the priest with the same demon features.

Star Trek Teaser Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins with the production titles accompanied by a rather ominous low pitch sound that is hard to identify. There is the sound of a man attempting to light a welder although this is not apparent until the first shot which shows a welder lighting up and the sparks flying onto the face of a man who is unknown wearing glasses. There is then another shot of a different man removing his glasses he looks tired and sweaty this suggest he has been working hard all day. The screen then fades to black and the sound of a man most likely in a mission control centre saying ‘thirty seconds and counting’ this is linked to the launch of a spaceship into space and the countdown before the launch. This noise is heard during a black screen there is then a succession of shots, which show different people performing construction a large structure.

During an intermission between these shots the text ‘the Future begins ’ is shown this is the same in most teaser trailers, which have text intermittent between shots. It is not apparent as to what the structure is. This is accompanied with the sound of welding and other construction noises and famous quotes which are related to space missions that have happened in the past for example ‘the eagle has landed’ which is famous from the first moon landing. And also ‘one small step for man one giant leap for mankind’. It then cuts to a shot of the bottom of the ship and you can see construction happening all over the ship showing it is still under construction.

There is then a crane shot showing the bow of the ship through some scaffolding on the bow of the ship is the name ‘enterprise’ which is the name of the starship in the first star trek shows and films and so from this point it is apparent what the film is. As this is happening there is also the famous soundtrack form the original show which will be know by any original star trek fans. As this music begins you also hear Leonard Nimoy say the infamous words ’space the final frontier’. The music then crescendos and the screen fades to black . Then the famous symbol from the original star trek appears on the screen. The icon is an everlasting symbol of star trek and is so recognizable that the production did not feel the need to put the title of the film in the trailer.It then fades back to black and the words ‘under construction’ appear on the screen this is a play on the theme of the trailer which shows the starship enterprise under construction. It then shows a date and title. The trailer then ends the trailer only has roughly 15 shots In it which is like most teaser trailers.

This analysis was written by Tom Bowman.

2012 Teaser Trailer

The trailer begins with the production titles Columbia. Accompanying the production titles is eerie sounding background music. We then see the first shot of the Himalayan Mountains where we hear a loud drumming noise at a constant tempo in the background along with the eerie music. The next shot shows a monk running up a mountain towards the temple > The next shows the monk running towards the temple from a different more close up angel the drumming noise is joined by the sound of a bell chiming the two sounds are out of sync so one drum goes and then the bell goes. The next shot shows the monk bursting through ht doors of the temple there is a sense of urgency in the trailer. It then cuts to a shot of another monk sounding the bell that we hear earlier in the trailer however this bell is out of sync with the others making three separate background drumming noises one after the other constantly repeating. You can also see flags in the background that are blowing violently showing there is a lot of wind this is a symbol of things to come.

The screen then fades to black and the text ‘how would the governments of our planet’ it then cuts to another shot of the monk banging the bell and in the background the shot of a mountain, which could be Mount Everest. The screen then cuts to black again and the text ‘prepare six billion people’ appears this is linked to the text seen earlier. This is like the other trailers we have analysed where text is put into the trailer intermittent with shots from the film. The text is normally put in to explain a little more about the trailer. There are more background sounds of about five different drums all out of sync joined by the sound of a symbol at fast pace slowly getting louder and faster building up to a crescendo. There is another shot of the priest from a different angle banging the bell. We have not been shown any other parts of the film and are not sure about what is happening. It then cuts to another piece of text saying ‘the end of the world?’ this piece of text has a question mark on the end symbolising the end of the sentence that has been shown. The music at this point is hectic with lost so different sounds playing it is hard to identify what sounds there are.

There is then a shot of the mountain being covered in water this is showing the end of the world as we can only guess that the entire planet is covered in water. The water is filling over the mountains showing that nothing to tall will stand in its way we then see another shot of the monk looking onto the distance it is obvious he has seen his impending death. The next shot show the temple bathed in water and completely destroyed the music then crescendos and stops as the screen cuts to black again. The text ‘they wouldn’t’ then appears on screen implying that the government’s would not warn the public and it would be a disaster of biblical proportions. There is then a large drum sound and the title 2012 appears on the screen it then fades out and the text ‘find out the truth appears’ the trailer is playing on the concept that the governments of the world would perform a cover-up if they knew that the end of the world was coming.

This analysis was written by Tom Bowman

Audience Research

In the commercial world of Film making it is important to know your target audience. The reason why it is so important to know the target audience is because it will help when deciding what content is to be included. For example, an older audience may prefer a different editing style to a younger audience. This means that there must be a certain understanding of your target audience i.e. what film genres they like, type of filming style, editing style etc. This understanding will ultimately mean a better revenue than if you came up with a story and tried to advertise without any knowledge of your target audience.

Tom researched into Horror audiences and concluded that the target audience for most contemporary horror films is roughly aged between 18 - 24. He used the following graph below, sourced from the 'national metro', to come to this conclusion:
As seen on the graph, 48% of horror film consumers are aged between 18 - 24. If this age group was ignored when producing and advertising a horror film a massive amount of revenue could be lost unless it was gained from the other age groups. This is highly unlikely, though, since there is a significant age gap between all of them.

We were then left with the decision of whether to go for a specific target audience or a more broad target audience. One of the advantages of having a more specific target audience is that it can be more tailor made. This means that filmmakers and marketing directors do not have to worry about appealing to a wider group of tastes. However, one of the disadvantages of having a smaller target audience is that you may not make as much money as you would if you had a bigger audience to appeal to. An example of a film that primarily appealed to a small audience was 'Tormented'. This film, released in Britain May 2009, was aimed at teens and only grossed, according to 'the numbers', $ 452,479. This is a small amount compared to some horrors which went for a wider audience such as 'The Amityville Horror' which grossed $ 108,047,131. This is considerably more than than 'Tormented' which could be attributed to the fact that 'The Amityville Horror' appealed to a much larger audience. However, it has to be noted that this was not the only factor causing 'The Amityville Horror' to gross more. 'The Amityville Horror' had a bigger budget and, as such, a higher production value. It also had more money spent on its advertising ($35,000,000). Furthermore, American films are generally more successful than British films clearly demonstrated by 'Tormented' not getting an American release. Nevertheless, even British horror films like '28 Days Later', which grossed $82,719,885, with a larger target audience tend to be more successful.

Finally we decided to have an audience falling within the 15-24 age category because this age bracket are the most frequent horror film viewers. This means that we will be aiming to get a 15 certificate so we can have mature themes included.

Amityville Horror Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins by using the diegetic sound of gunshots to establish its threatening atmosphere. The screen remains black and the audience is focused upon these menacing sounds creating a sense of curiosity on the viewer’s behalf. The trailer is then kicked to life by the sound of a television switching on accompanied by a quick distortion on screen; this makes the events appear factual because its being presented as a television broadcast. The grainy black and white picture also establishes the time period of the events in addition to accentuating the sinister feel of the trailer because of the harsh contrast between the blacks and whites.

The editing is quick with the sound of razors on violins prompting a numerous amount of cuts. A lot of information is transmitted in this opening sequence. There are close-ups of newspaper headlines, one reading ‘possessed’.

There are also interviews with police officers who narrate the action which is happening on screen giving the details of the horrific events “I have never seen anything like that…” The non-diegetic sound of a low pitch instrument (most possibly a drum or a bass guitar) accompanies the diegetic sound casting and continuing the overall ominous tone. Throughout this sequence, and the trailer, the text fades onto the screen almost like it is slowly condensing giving the trailer another depth of tone; a cold and eerie one.

The purpose of this opening sequence is to establish the threat before introducing the helpless to it.

Once a familiar style title, which helps the continuity of the piece, informs the audience that the ‘Luta Family’ has moved into the house we are presented with a home video of the Luta family moving in. The smaller square aspect ratio of the film and the sound of active film reels once again emphasize the time period that the piece is set in.

This would be a happy and perhaps comfortable sequence for the audience if it were not for the distortion made to the sound of laughing children. It makes it a more disturbing experience because the symbol for innocence, children, have been made into an unsettling reflection upon the house. This sequence serves to set up the family whilst foreshadowing their sinister fate.

After seeing the home video we enter the final part of the trailer. This is characterized by the mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. For example, the sound of lighting and screaming is mixed with the amplifying sound of violins. It is interesting to note that nature (explicably weather) is used to reflect the atmosphere and emotions of the characters (pathetic fallacy). In the home video the weather was calm and sunny (almost representing the calm before the storm). The use of quick cuts, usually in time with flashes of lighting, quickens the pace of the trailer intensifying the threat through the action taking place on screen. We see a variety of frightening images, for example: arms appearing out of a bath, strange pale eyes, a face of what would seem a dead man etc.

What is a Teaser Trailer?

This analysis was made by Joshua Reeves

AKM Music for Copyright Free Music

AKM Music

For my animatic the music I used consisted of the music by the Ink Spots and some music that I made on Garageband, a program that comes with every Apple Macintosh system to create music by mixing copyright free tracks with the ability to make your own music electronically. This worked efficiently enough for just the animatic, however, I wasn’t completely pleased with the outcome, as Garageband didn’t supply all the things I needed to create a convincing horror track full of sinister tones and sharp audio. For instance, it wasn’t really possible to create the eerie backwards drums effective I wanted, nor was it possible to create the manic arrangement of shrill violins rising to a crescendo. As a result I went scouting for copyright free music tracks, and they would be able to supply the sound I wanted which I could use in my project without the risk of crossing copyright laws.

I came across a site named AKM music. This is the first thing you’ll read on its homepage:

‘Welcome to AKM MUSIC: the UK’s number one producer of high quality Copyright Free Music / Royalty Free Music.

Our music is sold and used worldwide as producers in the media industry see the benefits of using pre-cleared Copyright Free Music / Royalty Free Music in their productions.

Our simple no restriction licence allows you to use the music on all commercial projects and the music can be purchased as CDs, CD Roms or MP3 instant downloads.’

Furthermore it continues to say:
‘We believe that our Royalty Free Music library has grown into one of the finest in the UK on the strength of the music we produce. Over the last 15 years we have maintained such a high standard because of the quality of composers we invite to be part of our library. We only accept composers with a proven track record in producing music for media and who can deliver top quality productions.’

The site delivers what it promises as it has a wide range of track collections, from theatrical scores, to romance and comedies, to thrillers and horrors, to sound effects to urban fusion, orchestral symphonies and rock and roll ballads. Also compared to any other site I found, the site offers the most reasonable prices for the tracks, as with any other site if I wanted to get music that was completely copyright free and not just copyright owned for a year or so, it would occasionally cost in the region of £500.

I found the horror soundtrack on the website, sampled it and felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate for our trailer, and so I suggested it to both Tom and Josh for use in our trailer. http://www.akmmusic.co.uk/musicdetails.php?transactioncurrency=GBP&s=0&id=501

The Horror soundtrack cost us £40 in total to purchase, as it was £34 for the CD and around £8 for the delivery. Below is a copy of the e-mail received by AKM music after placing my order:

Thank you for your order just placed via our web site www.akmmusic.co.uk

Name : Jacob Merrick-Wolf

Transaction Reference Number : ********

Transaction Date : 2010-02-24

Transaction Time : 18:45:59

Transaction Amount : 40.96

Please keep this email for your reference

CD ORDERS

If you have purchased a CD or CDs an email will be sent to your email address detailing delivery times.

TRACK DOWNLOADS : After submitting your order you would have been taken to a page informing you that your transaction was successful. On this page your track selection would be available for you to instantly download by right clicking and saving the file onto your computer. The track selection is always in a blue font. If you have failed to do this, don't worry , simply send us an email with your transaction number and we can send your track by email .If you experience any other problems please email akm@akmmusic.co.uk or call 01926 864068 You are registered to use the music on your productions from the time of purchase. A receipt will be sent to your email address or despatched with your goods.

Thank you for your order

Best Regards

AKM Music

After the track arrived we place dthe music tracks on our music library as mp3s for use in our trailer. Eventually Josh used the muic from track 2 ‘The End’ where there are many sharp crescendo’s as well as dark sinister tones that aren’t too stereotypical and have the feel of a haunted house film that has a psychological element to the paranormal activity. Rather than something like Ghostbusters.

Choosing the Song : Ink Spots - Maybe

We wanted to include a song in our trailer that would add to the overall quality of the soundtrack and give the trailer more authenticity as a professional looking and sounding production. In our mise-en-scene we knew that we could include a gramophone that belonged to an old house, and so we had to think of a song that would sound old and creepy which could be used for the teaser trailer production that plays as both diegetic and non diegetic sound. It's tempo and rhythm also needed to match the pace of the scene as it builds tension.

I suggested that we used a song by the old 40s group The Ink Spots called 'Maybe', which would play as a song from the microphone and echo throughout the house and be used as iconography for the production. There's a couple of advantages towards using old music like this, being that firstly it works well with the conventions of a horror movie where a sense of history and ageing in a house gives it a scarier dynamic. In a more practical sense, we were allowed to use the song because its over 50 years old meaning that its copyright now belongs to the public and so it was viable for use in our non-profitable project. The song itself also has the potential to be very creepy, containing minor tones and when applied to a sinister situation it brings out the foreboding element in it to a unsettling degree. The song's pace is also very slow, meaning that it was perfect for a teaser trailer where we wanted to use a single abridged scene, rather than a bunch of fast paced cuts.

Josh even went on to examine the lyrics more closely, and found that the song applies to our story synopsis very well, making it perfect for use in our teaser trailer.

Name Ideas for the Magazine

An important part of producing the magazine is the brand name, as some words can be alot more eye-catching than others, and some words carry a lot more connotation with them, so its important to make sure that we come up with an idea that has ll the right connotations, being cinematography, theatre, films, horrors and exclusivity.

We wanted to think of an name that had the same impact as other popular film magazine brands like Empire magazine and Total Film.

The name ideas that we came up with for the magazine are:
Icon

Ambient

Shutter

Aperture

Motion

Focus

Rushes

Action

Out of those listed above the favourite given from informal audience feedback were Icon, Motion and Focus. Amongst the team we decided that Motion was the best out of the three, as Motion defined the point of cinema and film, where as Icon could be quite ambiguous and for the font we wanted to use (Telegraphico) Focus as a title looks too similar to the production titles of Focus Media. Motion was also around the right number of characters to make a fair spread and size in dimensions across the top of the page of the front cover.