Cabin in the woods article, by Sean Richardson

These are a few points that I was able to gather from reading such article, I found these interesting looking at the different characters and what they ultimately brings to the movie.

• 'The opening sequence introduces five college 'types', including the archetypal Whore, Athkete, Fool, scholar and virgin'. Here the article explores and explain the different characters that are portrayed in Cabin in the woods. Such characters are conventional within horror films, supporting  Steve Neal (1980) argument 'genres are instances of repetition and differences'. 
• 'The characters leave the city for a weekend at the cabin in the woods, and the traditional backwoods verses city Levi Strauss binary oppositions are set up.' Here it hints the contrasting setting, I personally believe this subverts Cabin in the woods from any other horror films. It can therefore be argues that this is what made the movie as successful as it did, due to it being different and thus gaining a wide range of audience. 
• 'Horror films such as Evil Dead or Wrong Turn are referenced, with the dark wild backwoods holding the dual push and pull of primal evil verses wild abandon'. Again reinforcing Steve Neal genre. 

Promotion and Marketing... lesson learnt!

Today in our lesson, we were taught ways in which horror films and other genre of films are marketed. Due to the fact that many of us had forgotten about the importance of marketing and promotion, I personally felt it was very helpful, as we would need to conduct such research during our own trailers, posters and magazine covers. In the same way it was useful hearing and discussing, what ultimately attracts people to horror films, going hand in hand with the target audience that particular film aims to target.

Target audience for own trailer:

• Although we have not started our research into target audience for our production, I have already looked into the possible target audience for my trailer (will soon be posting my findings). Personally I want my trailer to target those from the age range 15 and upwards. 

What are the different ways I can promote and market my trailer?

• Interviews (whether is one to one or focus groups.)
• Merchandise e.g. mugs, tops, pens ect..
• Posters
• Soundtracks 
• Magazines 
• Harsh tags on social media such as 'Facebook' and 'Twitter'
• Private screening e.g. could show my trailer to audience, whilst collecting feedback afterwards (what was effective and what needs improvement).
• Cinema adverts (realistically, I'm not entirely sure if this would be possible).

Who / what is distributor?

• The company who own the film and loan it to the cinema to show for a period of time are called the distributors, due to the fact that they distribute the film around the country. 
• The distributors are keen for the film to be successful as possible so they create marketing campaign which aims to raise awareness, throughout the time creating interest. In this way the distributors stand the best chance of making a profit on the film.  

What makes people go and watch films? (This will be helpful when creating my own production, as I would be able to incorporate some on these examples- drawing in more audience in order for my trailer to be successful, as well as my poster and magazine cover). 

• Links to other films
• Word of mouth from peers who have seen it 
• Games which has been turned into films e.g. 'Silent Hill'
• Actors who are present in films
• Good story line
• Classification of age e.g. age range 
• Based on true events 
• Genre e.g. slasher 
• Fan made (fans on take on film) e.g. trailers, poster ect...
• Title (rather is grabbing or not)   

The importance of my trailer:

• Is powerful weapon in the marketing campaign (gives you a sense of whether my  production is going to be successful or not). 
• Posters are important in capturing the initial interest of the audience and drawing them into the your other products e.g. trailers. However they do not bring the excitement and atmosphere of the film in the same way as a trailer does.
• Trailer and sound together is 'larger than life' due to the advancement in technologies, bring audience a great deal of excitement.      
• The trailer stirs emotions and gives us a 'flavour' of the film that is impossible through still images alone.   

 

    

Cabin in the woods (2012)

Exploring Ferdinand Saussure media language, the Signified and Signified

The Facts in the Case of Mister Hollow trailer

First were my first reaction?

• The way in which it started hinted that it would be of the horror genre right from the beginning, I believe this gives the audience a hint of what's in store for them, for me due to me personally being scared of horror movies, I was on the edge of my seat. Nevertheless I was scared as to what will happen next as the atmospheric tempo increased dramatically.With all of that being said is without a doubt, this is not the conventional horror trailer as there are not words used or even an action, it all consists of still images. On the other hand one could also argue that this is conventional due to certain conventions being followed, which can be seen with religious reference, atmospheric music with a sense of who done it. It is thus safe to say such trailer mostly agrees with Tzventan Todorov, who stated that a 'new genre is always the transformation of one or several old genres'. 

Most effective?

• The whispering which is used, makes it more menacing, creating suspense leading one wanting to know what will happen next or, who is creating such horrific and terrifying sound.This is perhaps something that I could personally used in my trailer due to the effectiveness of it, is also something simple to use and yet creates great result. 
• Non diegetic sound links to set of images that's shown, here we learn that a child has disappeared. This leaves the audience guessing whilst trying to make a link as to could the disguised whispering at the start be the 'disappeared child', coming back for revenge?
• Here is presented that anyone could be the child kidnapper, as everyone is treated and viewed as a suspect from the parents(this can be seen with what seems to be witchcraft symbols or them as a tattoo) to the priest (often those that are presented in horror films as 'holy' are often those you need to watch out for, thus no surprise that the priest is also viewed as a suspect). 
• The theme was constant throughout, for example they didn't change the way in which the story was told, as they used images throughout. 

Least effective?

• The story can get confusing at times, due to the vast amount of people who are portrayed as villains.
• It can also be argued as being too slow, the way in which it starts throughout is slower than the conventional horror films, making its audience lose interest. 
• No real answers are given to the audience again making them more confused, and thus more likely to lose their attention or patience. 
• The fact that there's no moving action or speech (use of only still images), some audience may find it boring as they're not often seeing such way of presenting a horror trailer. 
• I will be ensuring that for my own trailer, to avoid using such techniques (listed above as least effective). 

Overall it was a good trailer and thus would recommend it. 

Locations of possible settings?

These are a few locations, that I came across whilst looking at settings that may fit in with our horror trailers. Although I took these in the daylight, one can get a sense of how the locations may fit with the horror genre is darken, or were to film at night. However not all of these images came out with the best quality due to the fact that I took this on my mobile phone, however when it comes to actually creating the trailer along with the horror poster, I would be using professional 'SLR' camera. I will be looking for more locations, so keep out for that.

Barthes' Enigma Code Theory

Enigma Code Theory, part 5 by Priscilla Amponsah on GoAnimate
What could the enigma code theory be? A mystery or unclear narrative such as the ending. Enigma code theory part 2 by Priscilla Amponsah on GoAnimate
Roland Barthes: Published in 1970s (S/Z), is analysis of a short story by Balzac. Barthes goes through the story denoting where and how different codes of meaning function. Barthes argues in 'S/Z' that every narrative is interwoven with multiple codes. Enigma code theory, part 3 by Priscilla Amponsah on GoAnimate
Types of codes: Hermenutic code: story not fully explained, full truth avoided, keeps audience guessing till final scene when all is revealed. Proairetic code: action/event that indicates something else is going to happen. By witnessing this, audience can say what character will do/ what will happen next. Enigma code theory, part 4 by Priscilla Amponsah on GoAnimate
The Enigma Code: A theory that suggests a text (whether that be TV, film, poster ect..) portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose questions and, as such, become intrigued in the piece. For instance, as murder mystery until the end, of the story, which poses the question 'Who is the murderer? Enigma Code Theory, part 5 by Priscilla Amponsah on GoAnimate
Thematisation: what in the narrative is an enigma? Formulation: of the enigma. Promise of an answer: of the enigma. Fraud:circumvention of the true answer. Equivocation: mixture of fraud and truth. Blocking: the enigma cannot be solved. Suspended answer: stopping the answering after having begun. Partial answer: some facts of the truth are revealed. Disclosure of the truth: final reveal of the truth.