Original Photos (Magazine)

Francesca Evaluation Screening and Feedback

Positive:
Good and realistic gore effects x9
Range of locations x8
Nice and effective intertitles x13
Clear narrative x8
Varied use of cinematography x8
Good music x11
Tense and builds suspense
Good use of lighting
Good acting
Realistic make-up effects (bruise) x2
Good use of dialogue
Club scene works well now x5
Editing was good


Negative:
Music could be more dramatic x9
Some shots were abit dark
Some dialogue too quiet x

Average score: 7.8 / 10

Francesca Final Trailer

Original Photos (Poster)

Final Poster

Final Magazine Cover

Horror Poster Analysis (3)

   This horror/ thriller mystery film was made in 2010. Its country of origin is the United States.
   The image is of a victim within the film, clearly in some sort of distress. The blurred and high tone image suggests a supernatural presence and hints the film could involve a supernatural force/ presence.
   The main colours on the poster are black, white and blue/green, which also supports the supernatural (almost sci-fi) sub-genre. The dominant black on the poster creates darkness around the victim and connotes danger. The black is seen surrounding the image, which symbolizes its being taken over. The black also shows the darkness in ways of fear and phobias. This is shown in the tagline: ‘fear lives in the dark’. There is less to be scared of in daylight, hence why the darkness is used dominantly.
   The font used for the word ‘vanishing’ is distorted and appears to be vanishing itself, this is again to connote the deep suffering of the women in the picture as well as the film’s narrative.
   The main target audience of this poster would be males as it follows the convention of a female in distress, however as with all psychological horrors a female audience could be attracted who identify with the main victim.

Horror Poster Analysis (2)

   This supernatural horror/thriller film was made in 2012. Its country of origin is the United States.
   The predominant picture is a controversial image because the young girl in the photo is both the victim and the villain in the film. She was an innocent girl, but was taken over by an ancient demon, which converted her into the demon/killer.       This is shown by the hand possessing her from the inside out. This is also supported by the tag line ‘darkness lives inside’.
   The colours of the image are pale and bland, creating a draining and lifeless look which, reflects the feelings of the girl. The title of the film (The Possession) is white which symbolizes the innocence the girl has taken away from her. The line through it represents it being gotten rid of. The date the film was released is in red to connote danger. The fonts used are jagged and rough, which induces the feelings within the film itself.
   By stating the film is based on a true story encourages the audience to watch it and find out what happens. An illusion of reality means the film will intrigue more audience members, rather than something obviously untrue.

Horror Poster Analysis (1)

This gory horror film was made in 2013. Its country of origin is the United States.
   The image on this film poster is the setting of the film, which is a cabin surrounded by woodland. The isolated area has connotations of a horror film and provokes a haunting vibe. As the main picture isn’t of the killer or victims, it encourages people to watch the film to find out more.
   The colour black conveys a dark and daunting atmosphere, which contrasts with the red, which symbolises danger and blood. Within a gory horror, a lot of blood is expected to be shed. The white tag line and information stand out against the black and draw the viewer in.
   The tagline suggests that the story is about a demon/creature waiting for its victims. The word ‘waiting’ proposes they are prepared and ready to attack.
   The font of the title of the film (Evil Dead) has sharp and clean-cut edges to enable it to stand out against the drama of the cabin. The Evil Dead font also has branches/twigs intruding in on it, which connotes the aggressiveness of the woodland surroundings.
   A male audience is the most common audience for horror films and the poster is attractive to male adults, due to the modern colours.

Choice of Trailer and Synopsis

Choice of trailer
The trailer for Francesca will be a highlights trailer. This type of trailer is used 90% of the time in real life. This is because it allows the producers to display all the best bits of their overall film in an effective way. Through quick montages; including slow and quick scenes, to present the narrative but keep it fast paced and exciting. This is shown in the trailers for Evil Dead (2013) and Pusher Trilogy (1996-2005), which always use slow to quick montages/ collision cutting to create a jump scare.

Synopsis (film)
   A young girl called Francesca was sexually abused by her father as a young teenager (14-15 years old). She continues to go to school and is picked on for being quiet and smart by the school boys. She later seeks revenge on her father and brutally kills him still at her young age.
   After this murder Francesca gets a thrill from the revenge she brought upon her father and continues this onto men that give unwanted sexual attention to her and other females.
   She does this by placing herself at pubs and night clubs in search of her next victim. One night she takes this too far and kills a married, decent man. This leaves the wife distraught and on a separate revenge mission to kill Francesca.
   At the end of the film Francesca is killed by the wife of the man she killed.

Synopsis (trailer)
   The opening shots to the trailer show Francesca’s father leaving a bedroom, doing his belt up, to delicately suggest sexual assault. It then continues to Francesca’s’ revenge on her father where she stabs him to death.
   The trailer then shows brief encounters with different men that have harassed her or other women, resulting in the death of the man. This is shown in alley ways, night clubs and a mystery ‘torture room’.
   Throughout the killings in the trailer, Francesca has frequent flash backs of what her father did to her, which is making her progressively emotionally unstable and causing her to self-harm and convince herself that she is bringing justice and helping the world. 
   The trailer ends with Francesca in a room with a man, who is struggling for his life and hints that he is going to be tortured.
        

Shot Lists for Francesca

Prop list

• Fake blood 
• Mirror door
• Fake knife/s
• Scissors
• Chair
• Rope/scarf
• Carrot
• Rabbit toy
• Drink/ glass

Focus Group Screening of Francesca and Feedback

Positive Feedback:
Music works well x8
The inter-titles are good and effective x14
Good variety of setting/ locations x10
Gore/ body horror was done really well x12
Good story line x6
Good use of angles
Easy to understand x4
Shots flow nicely
Good cinematography
Looked and seemed professional
Nice lighting in scenes

Negative Feedback:
Slow paced x9
Night club scene needs sorting- match lighting and music x13
Music doesn't fit the film x3
Narrative needs to be made more obvious x3
Needs to be more scary/ tense x2
Add a jump scare finish
Too long

Average score: 6.9 / 10

Francesca Rough Cut

Shooting Schedule

Scream magazine cover analysis

The masthead of this ‘Scream’ cover is in red writing, which connotes danger and blood, this is a crucial part of the magazine and the horror genre. The font captures the audience’s attention through the dripping blood, which reveals the magazine focuses on the deeper parts of the horror genre and the body horror. The mounting used for the cover lines supports this. A blood spattered wooden board is used to emphasise the body horror of the films advertised. The main image on the cover is taken from the trailer of the film. The picture uses chiaroscuro to make the image more dramatic and build the apprehension of the reader to then be encouraged to watch/read about the film. It also represents the 2 sides of the character photographed. The magazine includes a banner to draw immediate attention and inform the audience of the content in the magazine. The headline for ‘Evil Dead’ uses the same font that is used for the film and film poster. This is a good way to promote the film and bring recognition to them in more media sources. The text is bold and white to connote power and the purity that the eponymous “evil” has taken. The hand at the beginning suggests that the film is about zombies as well as the title of the film ‘Evil Dead’.

Fangoria magazine cover analysis

 

The masthead of the magazine uses typography well as it is bold and red which symbolises danger and blood. The ‘F’ and ‘A’ in the masthead have large fangs dropping down to connect to the image and represent the ‘Fang’ in Fangoria. The masthead is clearly trying to appeal to fans of gore. The cover photo is disturbing for the audience as the image directly addresses the audience with the profile/portrait shot. The distressed facial expression of the person photographed shows some sort of torment or anger is being kept within. This relates to ‘Martyrs’ narrative, which is about someone being tortured to the point of near-death to see “what is on the other side.” This is shown with the incisions in their shoulders and chest which could connote veins which are close to exploding. One of the person’s eyes is also glassed over which further illustrates the abnormality of the person. The grainy blue background adds to the unsettling feeling by the grittiness it contributes. The cover line to represent the film also directly addresses the audience through using the word ‘you’. The question of ‘Do you have the guts to watch?’ further challenges the reader and therefore would encourage them to watch the film. This has also used word play with ‘the guts to watch’ as the film clearly uses body horror as one of its main themes and conventions so they are also threatening the reader. The cover line ‘Death by orgasm’ would appeal to men and women by bringing in the connotations of sex and pleasure.



Empire magazine cover analysis

The typography of the masthead is successful with catching the readers’ eye, as it is bold and bright red, which connotes danger. The danger is also portrayed in the nefarious facial expression of Hannibal and also the red eye, which increases the danger and symbolises his evil personality. The main tagline of the magazine connects to the film with ‘what’s cooking?’, which has speech marks either side, explaining that Hannibal asks this. His quote unsettles the readers and encourages them to watch the film to know what is cooking. This theme is then reinforced by ‘Catering for cannibals’ which indicates the narrative of the film. The tagline underneath uses the pun ‘Gore blimey!’ this would attract to a male audience, as body horror is a genre mostly enjoyed by men. The second bullet point down has the question ‘Are you a psycho?’, this directly addresses the audience and would encourage the reader to buy the magazine to find out. The cover photo is grainy which adds a rough look and texture to make the magazine grittier, which symbolises the grim themes within the film. Half of Hannibal’s face is in darkness to make the image more mysterious and make the audience fear Hannibal.

Creep- film review

Director: Christopher Smith
Genre/s: Horror/ Thriller/ Mystery

Brief Plot Outline:
A women who fell asleep while waiting for the last train of the day, gets locked in overnight in the London Underground. She later discovers a deformed killer lives in the sewers below and she fights for her survival.

Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why?
The torture scene of Mandy impressed me because I feel the scene was set up really well, to make the audience feel uncomfortable. This was through the grubbiness and eeriness of the room it was set in. The low-key lighting and green tone to the room contributed to this feel and also the actions of Creep/ Craig is very unsettling. For example how he pretends to be a doctor; washing his hands, putting a surgeons coats on and gloves. The lack of conversation and music within the scene builds the tension and highlights the cries of Mandy and her desperation to live.

The scene where the people are trapped in the underwater cages also impressed me because the scene uses music and sound fx well to scare the audience and illustrated the convention of an enclosed location. The theme of being trapped and isolated is also displayed.



How has watching the film helped you understand this genre of filmmaking? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How? The convention of body horror is used throughout the film, this includes the scene of Mandys torture, although restricted narration is used, the imagery of the huge knife cutting out Mandys’ unborn child is accompanied by her blood then spraying onto his face.



Body horrors are also seen in the attack of Guy, the death of Craig/ Creep and in the dungeons where hostages were stabbed with a sharp pole like weapon to check if the were still alive. The majority of the film is shot beneath the London Underground, which supports the convention of horrors being set in creepy and enclosed locations.



The theme of threat to self is applicable for Kate, Jimmy, Mandy and George as they strive to escape the killings of Creep. The theme of loneliness is also portrayed in the film as Creep lives alone and is isolated from the real world. This is because Creep was a ‘test tube baby’, he was aborted and then jarred for the first part of his life which is why he is deformed. The ideology of sadism is exhibited in the scene of Mandy’s’ torture and throughout his killing spree, as he shows no remorse or mercy at all. The film has an unhappy ending as everyone dies except Kate and the next day the world goes on, in the underground as if nothing happened. This makes Kate the final girl, Kate contradicts conventions of a final girl as she is blonde and quite whiny and self-centred, however she was clever enough to survive. George is the archetypal male hero as he is strong, big and kind and protects Kate when she meets him. This is shown in a scene towards the end of the film where they have just ran away from Creep but George is freaking out and reveals where they are. Creep then kills George in the underground room while Kate escapes.



Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? Why?
In my trailer I would like to duplicate the use of limited main characters.  I liked the restricted number of main characters within the film because it therefore allows the audience to get to know them and understand the personalities of the characters and their part in the film.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? Why?
I would avoid the classic ‘blood trail’ in my trailer. This is a convention seen in many horror films and I would like to follow some conventions but not so much that it becomes repetitive and boring for horror film fans. This is seen in Creep when Mandy was taken, the blood trail hints that she has been injured/hurt in some way by Creep and then dragged away leaving the trail of blood.



What was the best aspect/ most enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How? I enjoyed the various scenes where Kate was exploring the underground because the use darker and low key lighting along with the overall colours of dark green, brown and red create an unsettling mood. Throughout her exploration she comes across some of Craig’s crimes but the scenes don’t overuse gore but still manage to disturb the audience. I could recreate this in my trailer with the torture scene end that is planned. By using a lack of body horror and restricted lighting I could emulate the scenes and the emotions of the audience.



How does the film reflect its institutional or historical context? Analyse two scenes/events that reflect the time, which the film was made. The scene where Creep cuts out Mandy’s unborn child connects to the current news debate in 2004. The ‘pro choice’ for abortion or ‘pro life’ against abortion debate. The news were complaining about abortion and this scene of the film portrays negative views towards abortion as Creep was a ‘test tube baby’ and is expressing his rage on others for being aborted.