The trailer:

The poster:

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The magazine cover:

Part (a) deals with how the three products would be released in the overall timeline of the release of the film.

Part (b) looks at what common elements the three products share, and what links them together and shows that they are linked.

Part (c) is an examination of how the three products reach and address the audience. It also contains my conclusions for this question.

To tackle this question, I interviewed members of my target audience (teenagers and young adults) answering questions on my trailer, poster and magazine cover.

Here are Eden and Laura being interviewed about my trailer and poster respectively:

I also asked two Italian exchange students, Alice and Mary-Caterina, to review my trailer. These were their comments:

At AS level I posted polls during my construction stages, but found that they got a poor response, in that very few people answered them. Therefore I didn’t use polls this year, and instead would ask classmates and friends for their opinions and impressions of my projects as I constructed them. This informal feedback was very useful in gauging how good my decisions had been, and helped me make better decisions later.

The audience feedback showed me very clearly which elements of the trailer were successful. The music was particularly noted, as was the psychological theme, which also seemed to work well in terms of making people want to see the film. It also showed me that in a horror trailer, audiences look for something that thrills them and catches their interest (e.g. a character, a theme, a sense of mystery, etc). This was shown through the interviewee’s acknowledgement that not much of the plot was revealed, but they felt that this created a sense of mystery. They also noticed the elements of childish subversion (e.g. the music-box music and the references to Little Red Riding Hood) which seemed to catch their interest, which suggests that this is why they found the trailer effective.

Following this, there is another music cue – a wailing guitar sound. The sound is sharp, would work well with a quick motion-type shot, and connotes a siren (which would equal danger). The clip I used with this sound cue was a circle-pan of the girl. At normal speed the camera was shaky and jerky. However, after I sped it up to 250% its normal rate, the jerkiness was much more pronounced, making a very good effect. The circling motion of the footage fits with the ‘wailing’ sound cue very well, and the jerky motion continues the theme of disorientation and abnormality.

I also added the next title – ‘but you can’t hide’. Here it is so far:

Next I added another circle pan clip after the ‘But you can’t hide’ title:

I also cleaned up the cut in the audio during the ‘You can run’ title. It’s still a little rough, but I’m still happier with it. I also added the final few titles, including the ‘Welcome To The Playhouse’ and ‘Coming Soon’ ones.

The ‘Welcome To The Playhouse’ text was taken from the poster, and is the same design. I wanted to create a similarity between them, and make the ‘Welcome To The Playhouse’ text a type of logo for the film. The ‘Coming Soon’ text was also taken from the poster, and the ‘Skillfull Productions’ logos were those also used in the Trial Trailer.

I’m almost close to finnishing; here it is at the moment:

Finally, I faded out the music at the end of the trailer. This version is now posted separately, as it is the final version of my trailer. (Posted here.)

I began to change the volume of the harp music at the beginning – it now begins quite quiet, before getting a little louder at the beginning of the first title, and louder again when the title cuts back to footage of her in the playground.

I also cut the ‘Noir’ music (used in the Trial Trailer/stairs section), so the first note is missing. This creates a darker atmosphere to the music, while still retaining the childlike creepiness that I want from the music. The music was also slowed to 90% its normal rate, which lowers the pitch and makes the music match the flow of the footage (especially the girl going up the stairs) better.

Also, I have changed the third title from ‘there is always someone there’ to a repeat of the first title, ‘we are never truly alone’. I did this as a link back to the previous two titles. I felt that with the change of music halfway through, the trailer would feel like it was in two distinct parts. By reiterating the first title, it joins the two sections together.

Here is the current version:

After the footage of the girl walking along the hall, there is a low beat in the music. I used this as a cue to cut off the clip, leaving a black screen. This creates the sensation that she has somehow disappeared, and gives very strong omens of death and destrction, partly through her red jacket (as red has connotations of danger and blood), and partly through the black screen it cuts to (which has connotation of death).

The red jacket also alludes to the 1973 horror ‘Don’t Look Now’, but my primary use of it is the connotations of danger and blood. Red also connotes passion, and the two girls’ red jacket and lipstick (in the conversation footage) shows that they are passionate and full of life, also referring to their obvious youth (which is further shown by their school uniforms and ties). The colour theme of red around the two girls is continued in the red bricks (seen through the window behind them) and the red flags by their heads. The white walls in the scene also suggest their purity, another reference to their youth.

Next, I used the change in music (the techno, metallic, pulsing sound) as another cue, this time to change to another title. The music change compliments the sinister content of the title (the emphasis on ‘friend or foe’, the first direct mention of a villain or predator of some sort).

The next cue from the music comes straight after, with a heavy beat (similar to a gong?) – here I used the footage of the girl looking round sharply, again so that the music could compliment the footage. I kept the clip short so that it appears particularly sudden, and surprises the viewer.

Here is the new trailer using these changes:

From here, the music and footage from the Trial Trailer begins, with the titles changed. However, the end of the Trial Trailer has been cut off. The next step is continue the trailer on from here.

I also added the a sound loop of the first few sections of “Rabbit Foot” by Florence and the Machine. The loop contains a harp, and gives the impression that the trailer is being watched through some kind of drug haze. This, coupled with the sound of the children, is disorientating for the viewer.

In conventional trailers, the opening of the trailer would establish normality. However, the use of the two confusing sounds strongly connotes that things are not normal, or that something is already unusual/wrong.