Trailer Analysis: Key Conventions

Friday the 13th (2009)

• dark lighting
• various screams
• music builds a crescendo, ending with a final scream
• audiences may see the ways victims are murdered, but the full extent of this is not revealed in the trailer
• red colouring
• film name is revealed at the end of the trailer

Carrie (2013)

• The woman singing in a childlike manner
• Various screams
• Captions are separated by clips, there are loud, startling noises when text appears
• Main character dialogue spoken over the top of clips
• Tension is built and not released
• 'Blood' dripping down the title (which appears at the end of the trailer)
• Deaths aren't revealed but the moment just before it is

I Spit On Your Grave (2010)

• Dark lighting
• Captions are broken up by clips
• Screaming
• Aspects of torturing shown, but deaths not revealed
• Key phrase that be comes representative of the film - "it's date night"

Film Distribution

Film Distribution is the business of launching and sustaining films in the marketplace.
Film Distributors do this by identifying the audience, considering why they'd go to see it, estimating the revenue potential across all formats of release, developing plans and partnerships helping to build awareness and interest of the film, aiming to convert as much interest as possible into cinema visits and persuading cinema operators  to play the film.
Reach relates film distribution as the distributor will identify the target audience - who the film speaks to the most, and whoever else might be attracted. From this they decide the marketability of the film and how it would be best to advertise the film and whether they need to go cross-media.
The objective of the marketing plan of a film is to create visibility, raise awareness and engage interest, cutting through the blizzard of competing messages. They do this through word of mouth, posters, trailers, through online and mobile and by using social media to their advantage. 
The distribution plan is developed through consultation with producers and/the studio. The most strategic decision a distributor makes are when and how to release a film in order to optimise it's chances. Market research may be conducted to probe an audiences reaction at pre-release screenings. Focus on the audience also needs to be considered, a detailed understanding informs the decisions on how and where a film is promoted. Other things that need to be considered include other competition  whether it is an event film, if there are any 'stars' within the cast, what certificate the film has and many other variables.
The difference between advertising, publicity and promotion is that advertising is paid and made by the people creating the film. Publicity is more about independently-written news items  that gives coverage of a certain film. Publicity also involves arranging media interviews with available members of the film's cast and the public are more likely to accept this editorial coverage of film more readily than paid-for adverts. Promotion is more about arranging partnerships to create displays for the film in places where conventional advertising can't reach, such as shops, restaurants or on packs. This also allows customers to interact with the film characters by collecting premium items or entering a competition.
Below, I have included images of posters for 'The Ring. On the left is the poster which I assume is the teaser poster as it doesn't give too much away and on the right is the main movie poster. 

  These are two trailers, also for 'The Ring'. I am assuming the top one is the teaser as it is shorter and contains shorter clips of the actual film, whereas the bottom one is longer.



On it's opening weekend, it was released in the UK, USA, Spain, Argentina, Italy and Egypt. Altogether it reached 2884 screens on the opening weekend. Distributors for theatrical release include Dreamworks Distribution(USA), Bombos filmai(Lithuania) and United International Pictures(Argentina, Switzerland  Germany, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands).

Audiences and Institutions within The Woman in Black (Watkins, 2012)

I think the primary audience for The Woman in Black was more young adults/teenagers. The secondary audience may have been older adults, or perhaps a more mature middle class. The film itself is a 12 which indicates that it is aiming for a younger audience. Daniel Radcliffe himself would provide an incentive for fans of Harry Potter to go and watch the film, and as he was a child star because of Harry Potter, this helps us to assume that a younger audience has been aimed at. 

The Woman in Black was marketed in a variety of ways and over a large range of media. There was the teaser campaign, which consisted of a poster, a small trailer, a Halloween competition and Daniel Radcliffe creating podcasts on YouTube where he was trying to attract audiences to help break free of his Harry Potter tag. As these were all done before the release of the film,  The main campaign had a poster with more detail(rather than half of Radcliffe's head and a face coming through the wall), a longer trailer, radio adverts, social media campaigns, advertising in magazines and on websites. It's social media campaigns stretched across Facebook and twitter, giving a way for fans/people who wanted to see the film a way to stay updated.  A range of magazines and websites featured

adverts/articles with Radcliffe in, promoting the film. Concerning magazines and websites, it was stretched over a large span on different genres to attract a wide audience. For example, there was an article about it on 'Den of Geek!', but then there was also an article done on 'Glamour' magazine. As many of these were published online, it would suggest that the main target audience are those of the 'technological' generation, as those who belong to it supposedly search the internet, going from one link to another without really thinking about it. They also adverts on the bus shelters and on the side of buildings so when people were out and about they would still see the ad, meaning that both old and young people would see it. Within the radio adverts, there are quotes from people who have just seen the film. One of these says to take someone with you. This kind of enforces the idea of it being a horror/thriller as it makes it seem like it's too scary to watch alone. It's also a bit of subliminal messaging in my opinion as if you do end up taking someone with you, that means more money for the production companies.

I think the marketing materials for the film were maybe a bit extreme, but given as it was one of Hammer Film Production's 'comeback' films, it was probably because they wanted it to do well, as to get the companies name back out there. The way it was marketed over a range of genres was a good idea to attract a variety of people to see the film.
The film had a big release. Over 2,200 cinemas showed it in the UK and USA. 
The production budget of The Woman in Black was around $17,000,000 and made over $25,000,000 on it's first weekend. 
I think the film was successful due to it's large range of marketing strategies. The large span of genres it was advertised over made it accessible to more people, therefore gaining more interest. Another reason was probably due to it's 12A rating. This and the fact that it was released a week(?) before the English half term meant that a younger audience would be able to see it and probably would go to see it as a means of entertaining themselves and as a way of being with their friends over the holidays. 

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

Jeremy Tunstall's 4 character roles for woman are domestic, marital, consumer andsexual. In The Cabin in the Woods, the character Jules fits the 'sexual' category, as she makes out with a stuffed wolf's head. Non of the other character types suggested by Tunstall seem to apply.
Dana is pretty typical of Clover's 'Final girl' theory. She manages to survive till the end of the film by fighting back and by being rescued a few times by other characters. Another aspect of the final girl theory that backs up the idea of Dana being the final girl is her gender fluidity. Dana is an androgynous name, her dress sense is quite tomboy-ish(especially if compared to Jules). She also tries to take her textbooks with her to the cabin, in case she 'gets bored', suggesting that she is quite academic. Another reason she falls into 'final girl' is because throughout the course of the film, she does not have sex, although, she is not virginal as we are told near the end of the film. She is not the slutty, drunk one, nor the one taking drugs. However, in this film, Marty manages to survive mainly because he has been smoking weed, leaving him unaffected by the chemicals and pheromones that have been released into the environment by those controlling the situation.
Jules' is turned into a horror archetype through physical and mental transformations. The very first transformation we are subject to is her dying her hair blonde. The blonde dye had been treated by the Chem Department, in the underground facility, with a slow acting toxin that retards cognitive ability. She had also been sprayed with a pheromone mist during her stay in the cabin. This ended with her becoming more 'sexualised' than before, as shown when Marty dares her to make out with the wolf's head. She quite happily walks up to it, flirts with it and then passionately makes out with it, which surprises everyone else. 
Mulvey's male gaze theory is exemplified throughout the film in a variety of ways. The main character that is subject to this is Jules, after she becomes 'The Whore'. This is shown through her dancing by the fireplace, the camera slowly goes from her feet, up to her legs and focuses on her bottom for quite a while. Another example is during the scene with Dana and Holden, when they first go into their rooms. Holden takes a painting down because he does not like it, to discover a one-way window into Dana's room. He starts to watch her for a little while, the camera focusing on her getting undressed, but then regains his morality and bangs on the wall to get her to stop. Another example of male gaze involving Jules includes the point where her and Curt are about to have sex in the forest. The camera focuses on them, and to enforce this idea of male gaze in a very self-aware way, the two technicians are staring at the screen intently while this is happening.
As I have mentioned before, there is a point within the film where a one way mirror is discovered. This pretty much represents the idea of voyeurism through POV, however, Holden is too gentlemanly to watch without stopping Dana. This backs up the idea of him being a 'scholar' character with him being respectful towards women. The reverse of this also happens, with Dana watching Holden undress, and then covering up the window. This may be to represent the idea that women also get pleasure from watching people. During the film, we are made to be watching the technicians watching the college students. At one point, the technicians say something along the lines of 'We need them to have sex to get the viewings up'. This gives the impression that people would watch things for to get pleasure out of it. I think this could also be a slight dig towards the general public, suggesting that many of us will watch things more willingly if there is some sort of nudity. 

In The Cabin in the Woods, women are represented in a few ways. Jules is represented as the slutty blonde, providing the satisfaction towards heterosexual males. Dana is represented as the more 'pure' academic, although we know she is not virginal. However, we could also say that she is also there to provide satisfaction towards the male audience due to the one-way mirror scene and perhaps the scene where her and Holden are making out on the couch(although she does state that she doesn't feel comfortable going 'further'). Wendy Lin, one of the technician's from the Chem Department, is represented as quite moany and could be seen as being a 'consumer' based on Jeremy Tunstall's theory. I think this because she doesn't seem to agree with the ritual but still places bets on what monster she thinks the group will choose to release. She also joins in with the drinking although she states that she wasn't doing it to celebrate. The other female character is 'The Director'. She is the one who controls the facility responsible for the keeping of The Ancient Ones. We do not get much about her, but with the meta-fictional nature of the film, her title may imply how she is not unlike the director of a horror film with the Ancient Ones as the horror fans and audience.

Narrative Theory in Relation to Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) and The Crazies (Eisner, 2010)

Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)

Halloween does not follow Todorov's theory, as the story does not start with a state of equilibrium. It starts off with Mike killing his sister which isn't a state of normality and then after 15 years, escapes from the mental facility he was in. However, after these events, the rest of the film seems to follow a classic narrative structure, as Laurie and her friends are in a state of normality that slowly gets turned upside down as each of them are killed off. Although, there is no 'new equilibrium' as Micheal manages to somehow still escapes from being taken back to the institute, even after several attempts have been made to kill him.

There are a few of Propp's character types used within Halloween, however, not all of them are fulfilled and some have been merged together. The Villain is pretty obvious, Mike Myers. Our 'final girl', Laurie, is both the hero and a victim. Dr Loomis could be seen as both the donor and the helper, as he constantly warns everyone of Myers' evilness, and he also helps out Laurie towards the end and ultimately saves her from being killed. We could also argue that Loomis fits into the hero category because of this. Character types missing from Halloween are 'the princess', 'her father', 'the dispatcher' and 'the false hero'. No-one is sought after, apart from Myers', but he doesn't really fit into the princess category as he is the villain himself, and therefore is not the object of the villains schemes. As there is no one who fits into the princess category, there can' t really be a 'father'. There isn't a dispatcher, as Laurie pretty much has this whole situation forced upon her suddenly. Her space is being invaded by a killer and it's simply a choice between being killed or staying alive. 
Levi-Stratuss' idea of binary opposition comes into play within Halloween. There is a definite line between good and evil, with Mike being the evil, and Laurie being the good aspect. The contrast between them heightens this opposition. There could also be the divide between virginity and non-virginity, as the promiscuous teenagers all die, where as Laurie, who is still a virgin, and the children do not die. The good/bad idea could also reflect the opposition between light and dark. Myers' tends to stay in the shadows/dark places, where as Laurie is normally shown either in daylight or in places where at least one source of artificial light is present, reinforcing this idea of good vs evil.  
The film starts on Halloween night in 1963, and then jumps to October 30th 1978. This 15 year time gap is not shown to us, but as Bordwell and Thompson's theory explains, we know that it happens due to events in the film and what characters (predominantly Loomis) say. We are also unaware of how exactly Myers' managed to escape from the asylum building, but we know he does, as we see him driving away. Cause and effect is shown as Myers' sees his sister having sex, imitates this on his sister using a knife, kills his sister, his parents find him and then he is sent to a mental institute. Another example of cause and effect is Laurie going up to the Myers' house and putting the keys there. If Myers' stalked/targeted her just because of this reason then that event of Laurie simply putting the keys down sparked off a whole whirlwind of other events to happen, that may not have done otherwise.

The Crazies (Eisner, 2010)
As with Halloween, The Crazies also doesn't follow the CHN. The film starts off with us being shown the town after the virus has torn it apart. After this shot of destruction and fire, we are then taken back 2 days prior, where nothing has yet happened and there is a sense of normality. 
In terms of character types, I think there are about 5. The 'zombies' are the villains although the people who made the biological weapon in the first place could also be seen as being the bad guys, although it is not necessarily their fault the virus got released in the first place. Russel could fall into two of the character types. Through out most of the film he helps David, saving him and his wife at least 3 times. However, through no fault of his own, Russel becomes the false hero towards the end of the film due to becoming infected. He turns a gun on David and Judy, kills a guy that David was trying to question and wastes ammo for no reason. Right towards the very end of the film, he manages to redeem himself by sacrificing his doomed life to help David and Judy escape from the town. The hero in this film is David and Judy could be seen as the princess, as they get separated because Judy is pregnant, running a fever. He then sneaks back to go and rescue her. 
Examples of binary opposition could include safe/unsafe, light/dark, infected/non-infected, violent/calm and innocence/corruption. Safe and unsafe comes to play with the start of the film, where we are shown the destruction, and then the closeness of the town from just a few days earlier with a scene of the baseball game. Violent and Calm links in with Infected and non-infected, as the infected people seemed to quickly turn quite violent and didn't really seem to think their decisions through very much, where as the non-infected seemed calmer and less rash in their actions. In the scene where Judy goes into the room that would have been her baby's room, we are shown an aspect of innocence, which is then corrupted by the appearance of Rory's infected wife and son who are out for revenge.
There are 3 distinctions of time within a film. These are screen duration, plot duration and story duration. Screen duration of this film is 101 minutes, plot duration is about 2 days and story duration is at least a couple of months.
Two examples of events that cause later evens but occur before the film starts are Judy becoming pregnant, as it makes David even more inclined to return for her, and the plane crashing into the swamp, ultimately infecting the towns water supply.
Events that happen in a different time and space to the ones we are shown include Russel trying to get away and escape the town and the guy in the mortuary being attacked and getting his eyes and mouth sewn up. We know that Russel tried to get away as we see his truck where it got spiked along the road when him, Judy and David are looking for another car after the previous one got blown up at the car-wash, and he also mentions it earlier.

Horror Through the Decades

Roots in Classic Literature

The term horror fist came into play with Horrace Walpole's 1764 novel 'The Castle of Otranto', which was full of the supernatural and melodrama. This started a craze of 'Gothic' writing. The first great horror classic, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, was written in the romantic poetry movement. Edgar Allen Poe was also one of the big horror/Gothic authors within this time.

1920's - Silent Horror

The first horrors were surreal and disturbing, reflecting the suffering of German audiences in the time of economic consequences of the the war.
Key films from this era include Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and The Golem 

1930's - Monsters and Mad Scientists

Horror of the 1930's was the first introduction of sound within a moving image, adding extra dimension to terror.
At this time, it provided an escape from those suffering in The Great Depression. The stories from this era are exotic fairy tales, still getting their inspiration from the literary classics of the 19th century.
Notable films are Dracula(which was a breakthrough for the actor, Bela Lugosi.), King Kong and Frankenstein(breakthrough for Boris Karloff).

 1940's - The Primal Animal Within

Wartime horror was an American creation, purely created to amuse a domestic audience. American's looked at themselves as being 'Safe' but they were unable to keep themselves totally separate from their basic European roots. Horrors from this era dealt with roots peeking through in the form of the primal animal within emerging. The use of the wolf iconography was related to Hitler and his obsession with wolves.
Werewolf of London, The Wolf Man and Cat People are the main films from this era.

1950's - Mutants and Aliens

Films from this time reflected a fear of technology, mainly the fear of an atom bomb. Films of this time also got relegated to the B-movie category, as studios were too busy incorporating colour and trying to meet the challenge that TV posed. Main audiences were teenagers, flocking to drive-ins. These films however, did not care much about character development or plot integrity, but more about the thrills created.
Key Films - Mutant Madness, The Wasp Woman, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein

1960/70's - Ghosts, Zombies, Satanism and Your Family 

This era reflects the grim outlook many people had. One consistent fear was the fear of children and childbirth, enforcing that children can be unwanted and spooky. It was also the time where the idea that evil, which was at first though to be more other-worldly, can also be closer to home than first thought. Zombie films reflected the 'apathy' of humans, just shuffling around with no real purpose or motive other than to consume.
Key films - Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, The Exorcist. 

Hammer Horror 

Founded in 1934, producing films between 1955 and 1979. They achieved considerable success in h 60's thanks to a formula of melodramatic story-telling, scantily clad women, graphic violence and solid craftmanship. What they did essentially was take old Universal films and remade them with a touch of erotica. The films, now seeming tame in our time, they did deal with some serious topics and also proved that horror could be aimed at an adult audience and still get a profit. Attempts in the 2000's were made to bring Hammer back.

1980's - Slasher Movies/Video Nasties

This is in the time were special visual effects caught up with the gore imagined by horror film fans. Advances in animatronics and liquid and foam latex meant the human frame could be distorted in new proportions. This is also the time were many films were banned for being too graphic, sending the trade underground as the titles banned were still available in the USA.

Notable films - Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead

Gorenography

These films didn't really have much of a decent plot line, but focused on mainly an abductor having total dominance over their victim, controlling their pain which is normally worse than death. Newspaper reports about detainees experiencing torture and cruelty at the hands of the US army is thought to be one of the main inspirations for these films. The idea is that the threat comes from forces prepared to play dirty, that the politeness of the Cold War has been forgotten and that torture is another technique to be utilised than to abhorred.
Famous films - Saw, Hostel and 1408.

Horror Genre Conventions

Settings

• Small communities/isolated places (often rural/suburban)
• Places with a 'past'
  
  
  
• Homes with various levels (Cellars, Attics) Offering places for the past and secrets to be hidden.
• Night time
• Religious/medical institutions
• Places that offer different cultures/traditions.

Technical Code

• Camera more expressive than other genres, often disorientated.
• ECU on victim shows the audience terror, and gets the threat out of the the frame. Monster ECUs = invasion of personal space
• POV shooting(hand-held, subjective or steadicam) places audience in monster's eyes. Raises issues of audience identification.
• Editing can help create unsettling jumps. Pace may be increased to create jumpiness, and slowed down to create suspense.

                            

Iconography

• Visual signifiers of genre (colours red and black) are apparent.
• Lighting non-naturalistic. Often from unexpected angles to create unfamiliar shadows.
• Commoner objects such as weapons, blood, masks, supernatural icons and religious items.
• Iconography of childhood/innocence - children's songs, dolls etc.
  

Narrative Structure

• Classic Hollywood narrative structure. May be false closures or real closure that is left ambiguous, either to enable a sequel or suggest mythic quality of monster. 
• Clear unambiguous hero = problematic in horrors. Main protag is victim/hero, rather than simplistic hero. 
• Narratives of sub-genres are very formulaic. 
• Binary opposition works v. well in horror, helping to develop a sinister atmosphere through a reliance on awareness of existence of opposite terms to innocence(for example).

Character Types

• Main Protagonist, often victim/hero
• Monster with hidden secret/psychotic
• Stupid/'Immoral' teens to kill off
• 'Normal' law enforcers who don't help
• Scientists who do silly things/go power crazy
• Non-believers

Themes

• Binary Opposition
• Return of the repressed
• Hidden Evil
• Science gone loco
• Other side of death