Codes and Conventions - M3.

The codes and conventions of horror movies and how they're being used.

Major ways the advertising methods meet the codes and conventions of the horror genre:

During the many years of watching horror movies and my overall interest of horror movies, knowing and finding about more codes and conventions of horror movies wasn't too hard for me. This is how they have been used in the advertisements: 

A stereotypical setting for horror movies is usually somewhere secluded where no one can hear find them. This is because it allows the movie to show that the heroes have less hope of survival. The advertisements show that the setting of the movie is in an abandoned mental asylum, this is from the trailer and the reddit posts which mention this. This shows that the advertisements meet this convention of the horror genre.
Another convention of the horror genre is loss of power and therefore, loss of light. This is common in the horror genre because it means that it's harder to see. This makes the viewer try to look harder at the screen to see what's happening allowing jump scares to be more effective. This is used in the advertising as in the trailer, my character is shown walking down a dark corridor due to there being a loss of power. This means that the advertising meets the convention of a horror movie here too.

Another thing commonly seen in horror movies is the investigation of something. This is generally seen later in horror movies causing in the group of characters splitting up. This is shown perfectly by the movie, Cabin in The Woods which makes fun of all the horror stereotypes, codes and conventions all in one. In the movie, the character who is seen in the Insane Asylum at the beginning is investigating the place. This means that although he didn't investigate when there was a known presence, there's still a form of investigation which forces his friends to all head out and investigate his disappearance.


The Spotify advert includes Foley sounds. This was done by Tom Evans, Tom Hodgetts and myself all making sounds through a microphone to try and convey the conventions of horror movies by trying to create a sense of panic through these Foley sounds. This was good because it means that we can make these sounds without too much difficulty too. Horror movies are full of ominous sounds and panic, that's why this method fits perfectly into the codes of and conventions of the horror genre.

Minor ways the advertising meets the codes and conventions of the horror genre (Points that were used in the script for the pitch): 

Our advertising meets the codes and conventions of a horror movie because of the format of the advertising. The trailer will include snippets of the opening scene and other scenes, these are scenes full of darker colours as it gives a sense of mystery. It also allows the mood to be set. This is shown by how in movies such as Halloween, the movie is very dark and hard to see, this keeps the suspense high and makes the viewer want to see more.  This is what will happen to our movie just like our advertising for the trailer because it shows the viewers what they will get, the dark themes depict horror movies perfectly because it's what you'd expect from horror movies.

We met the codes and conventions of horror movies through the audio by having ominous sounds. This reels the user in because it makes them want to know what was happening. In the audio, there's foot steps, doors slamming and screaming. This would make a listener interested and therefore, want to find out more. Mystery is a large aspect to the horror genre because nothing is clear a large portion of the movies, such as: Who is the killer in scream, why does Jigsaw torture people, and what is leather faces mask made of. All of these become revealed later on just like our Spotify audio clip would.

For the twitter and Reddit, they would have creepy stories to try and reel in the user, they would feature rather horror based scenes such as something trying to be scary but also trying to be realistic.

Technical and Aesthetic Properties - D2.

This is about how the advertisements meet the client brief provided at the beginning.

The trailer:

The trailer uses a wide range of videos, this includes clips from the opening scene and interview-like scenes. The aim of the interview scenes was to make it seem like a documentary as there's people who survived in the real thing. But the movie isn't the same characters. I took inspiration of this from American Horror Story with season 6 Roanoke, where the story was told like it was a documentary instead of American Horror Story's traditional seasons. Therefore, the aim of this trailer was to present the movie as a documentary horror movie, as a result, people will see the movie as a real thing that had happened. This intertwines with the Reddit posts which would try to be realistic but have horror elements within them. This therefore, presents the movie not as a typical horror movie as the only big horror movies that have done similar things are: Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity as they all try to be real but also aren't.

The Spotify Adverts:

The Spotify advert is brief and contains no dialogue. I decided for it to be like this so that it's more ominous than a normal form of advertisement, it has no words, no people. Just screams, footsteps, a door slam and a quick ending saying "Do Not Trespass". The screams and the change with the footsteps gives the idea that desperation is happening within the advert, this means that someone is struggling. This brings in the psychological features of the client brief because the slow footsteps suggest peacefulness, these get fast meaning something is happening, panic. As a result, it brings in the horror features of fear. These Spotify adverts are left with barely any detail or information aurally, and no information visually. This means that viewers must rely on their hearing to understand what is happening. This leaves a more ominous feel to the movie and therefore, leaves the viewers to want to watch the movie to find out what is actually happening.

The Reddit Posts: 

The Reddit posts that have been created would contain what has been witnessed in the Mental Asylum, this allows awareness to be created towards mental health and this has been done from research, over time I have been doing research on Mental Asylums and mental health to see what should be put onto these posts. This gives me a feel of what should be shown in the movie too and therefore, allows the part of the client brief on mental health to be targeted. The first post that has already been done follows the main characters giving updates as he enters the asylum. For most social media platforms, this can be seen as a flaw because the characters is updating the story over time. Although, on Reddit, you can edit posts and therefore, the edits can happen infinitely. This allows a more realistic story to unfold. I believe that uploading this post and updating it for the edits, should also be as time happens in the story. This also adds to the realism and gives a more authentic feel to the story and advertising method.

The Poster:

The poster is intended to give the viewers the idea of what to expect of the movie without spoiling anything. Dark colours were used in the poster that was used to represent a horror movie and give in to the stereotype of horror movies having dark themes and colours. Posters are used to attempt to convey messages. Posters that we use will include characters and items within the movie. This is one of the most frequently used methods of advertising along with trailers. As a result, I believe that this poster should be very simple because posters are overused. This also means that posters shouldn't be heavily used in the advertising because commonly used methods of advertising feels repetitive over time and something different allows the movie to catch the attention of other audiences.

Conclusion:

In conclusion I believe that the advertising methods meets the client brief as horror and psychological themes have been targeted, mental health has also been targeted and due to mental health being common for teenagers and young adults, it therefore, advertises to them perfectly. Due to the advertisements being different to stereotypical movie adverts such as the Spotify advert and the Reddit advert, the advertising method will get more attention and will be able to attract a broader range of audiences. This is good because the more audiences this can reach, the more likely the movie will be noticed and seen by our target audience. Teenagers and young adults are always on social media, so once this is spread by a small group of people, it will spread increasingly in a short period of time.

Created Media Components - P4.

Trailer

The following post is the first trailer that was created. This includes pieces of the horror movie opening and also pieces of an interview with survivors. This was done by myself, Tom Evans and Tom Hodgetts. Due to myself being a character in the opening I decided to be the interviewer on this so that there's no evidence that I'm two characters. I decided for it to be short so that people don't skip it and so that it's simple.

Spotify Advert

This next form of advertisement is a Spotify advert, here I got Tom Evans and Tom Hodgetts to join me on making some simple sounds, these being screams, foot steps, and a door slam. The harder part to this was filming the foot steps because the microphone picked up the fabric on the floor as long as the feet hitting the floor so I had to edit two pieces together to get a pace on the foot steps from fast to slow.

Reddit

The following is a story that I will post onto r/Creepypasta to get the movie noticed on Reddit. Like shown on the pitch, we will use other Reddit subreddits such as: r/LifeOfNorman (Make a story about an average guy, at the end his life changes when he comes to the asylum), r/ExplainLikeImFive (A simple explanation of the movie) and r/FanTheories (Fan theories of the movie that will start by us, hopefully continued by fans). A final subreddit that I found is r/DarkNorman (Dark stories of r/LifeOfNorman, this may be a better version for us). This range of subreddits and stories makes advertising easier because there's many more audiences that can be advertised towards.

Story for r/Creepypasta:
8:45
Hello, I am a journalist and I live an average life. Every day is the same, but this one day... This day is different. Today I am going to go to the Abandoned Mental Asylum by the far side of town. No one has been there since 1945... this place hasn't been touched since the war... this makes me think about the dastardly things that have taken place during the wars and what has been covered up. Therefore, I think it's time to find out more. Today all these secrets will be uncovered and there will be nothing left unknown.

12:00
Now's the time to find out what's happening at the Asylum. I'll keep you all updated as to what's happening when I arrive and while I'm there.

12:30
This place is freezing, I'm not too sure why but it's feels as though someone is watching me...

12:33 I'm hearing whispers down this corridor, I'm going to go investigate, I'll keep you all updated...

Poster

The poster was something that we created a long time ago. The poster is intended to be simplistic without giving any details away. There is also a plan to make more posters that can hint about what happens in the movie. Hints allow people to use r/FanTheories for the Reddit to try and make theories about the ideas.