Insidious Film Poster Analysis

Insidious was made by the makers of Paranormal Activity and Saw. Referring to this on the poster draws an audience in as they already know it will be a good film as it is made by the people who have already produced two good selling films.

The title of the film stands out clearly as it is mostly in a strong white colour against a dark background. The style of the title is also unique as part of the title is red. The connotations of red are danger and blood. This suggests to the audience that the film has a dangerous dark side to it. The word Insidious means 'Intended to entrap' which gives a clue to what the film is about.

The main image on this poster is a sinister looking boy in front of an old big house. The big old house in the background is a typical convention of a horror film.  The sinister looking boy goes against the average codes and conventions of a young boy as young boys are perceived as being ‘good’. This could relate to Claude’s theory of binary oppositions as the boy is opposite to normal boys. This could draw an audience to the film as the audience want to know why he’s different.

The main image has a short depth of field as the boy is in focus and the house is out of focus. This gives a subtle hint to what the film is about. The main focus of the poster is the boy and not the house, which is unusual for a horror film as most of them take place in a big old house. This will draw in a bigger audience as they will believe it is different to other horror films they have seen.

Most of the main images colours are all drained. This gives the film poster a dark and eerie feeling. The boy’s pyjamas are red which suggests danger towards the boy. Also, because the image is of the boy in his pyjamas, the audience may think, ‘why he is in his pyjamas, is there something wrong with him?’ this gets the audience thinking and encourages them to watch the film as they want to find out why. Having a dull main image makes the title of the film stand out. 

Also, inside the boys eye, the word insidious is written there. This could suggest to the audience that something supernatural is wrong with the boy. I think this will draw an audience as I find films with supernatural children is are scary as it is opposite to what they are perceived to be. 

The tagline ‘It’s not the house that’s haunted’, is a quote from the film and the teaser trailer. This tagline encourages people to see the film as they want to know what haunted if the house isn’t. This relates to Barthes Enigma theory as the audience want to solve the mystery of the film and therefore will watch it.

Having the actors and actresses names on the film poster also attracts an audience. This attracts an audience because if someone is a big fan of Patrick Wilson, then they may decide to watch this film as he is one of the main actors in Insidious.

There is a billing block at the bottom of the poster. A billing block is a condensed block of writing that contains, companies, directors and other cast members and crew. This will attract the target audience as they may realise their favourite actor or director starred or directed the film. This will encourage them to watch the film as they are interested in their work. 

There are also the film institutions at the bottom of the poster. These are the company's logos that created Insidious. These help identify what genre the film is as most film companies stick to a certain genre, for example, Working Title productions tend to make romantic comedies.



Paranormal Activity Film Poster Analysis

Paranormal Activty is based on a true story. The main image of the poster establishes that the film takes place in a house and is filmed by a home camera. This will attract an audience because the paranormal activity happening in the house will seem more realistic as it is filmed with an ordinary camera where there can be no major editing involved. In the image itself, you can see the woman pointing to something that the audience can not see. This relates to Barthe's theory as the audience will want to know What is she pointing at? and therefore will watch the film to find out.

The title of the film stands out really well as text is in red upon a black background. The colours red and black are very popular when making horror film posters because of the connotations of the two colours. This is what identifes this film poster as being a horror.

Out of the other two film posters that I have analysed, this poster has a web address on it to support the film. This is to widen the fan base and to get more people interested in watching the film. Also, this film poster doesn't have a billing block on it showing who's in the film or who produced it. This suggests to me that the makers of the poster have done this on purpose. I think this has been done to make the film more realistic, because if the film starred a major actor, it wouldn't seem as realistic because it is based on a true story. Also, because the film is suppose to be like a home video, it was unneccassary to include the producers or directors name on it.

Treatment

The name of my film is called Hemlock. I have chosen this name as my film is related to the hemlock stone. My film is about a sixteen year old girl called Anna who wants to fit in with the rest of her friends. Anna has just turned sixteen. Anna's friend Anya, tells Anna about a girl 100 years ago who just turned sixteen. The story that is told is about a girl who just after her sixteenth birthday, visited the ancient Hemlock stone out of peer pressure. No one knows what happened to her after that day. Anna doesn't believe Anya's story as she is always doing practical jokes on her. Anya dares Anna to visit the Hemlock stone tonight. Anna is reluctant to go but gets peer pressured in to going. Anya and Anna visit the stone but nothing happens. The day after, Anna and Anya both experience supernatural occurrences. Anya confronts Anna about the occurrences but disbelieves her as she thinks it's Anya trying to play another practical joke. The next day, Anya confronts Anna again with research about the Hemlock stone confirming that the story could possibly be true. As Anna wants to fit in and no longer wants to be the shy and timid one, visits the Hemlock stone again, but this time, it was a lot different to their first visit...

My teaser trailer will be recognisable to the audience as a horror film as it contains the typical codes and conventions of a horror film. My film will contain typical horror film settings like the woods.

My plot relates to Todorov's theory as the equilibrium is Georgia turning sixteen and everything is how it should be. The disequilibrium is Anya's story and the supernatural occurrences. The recognition of the problem is the research that Anya finds. The resolution of the plot will not be discovered in my teaser trailer as it will also follow Barthe's Enigma code of displaying a puzzle to the audience which will want to find the answer to. It will also follow Levi-Strauss's theory of binary oppositions. The binary oppositions in my plot are normal vs supernatural. This will attract an audience as people like to see conflict between different people.

Paranormal Activity Teaser Trailer

Paranormal Activity is an American, supernatural horror film which is based on true events. Paranormal Activity was written and directed by Oren Peli. The teaser trailer that I have analysed lasts for 1 minute and 2 seconds. As there is no longer a teaser trailer for the first paranormal activity, I will analyse the second one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2IvQBO1jiQ&feature=relmfu

As Paranormal Activity is based on true events, the film was filmed by using home video cameras that were set about the house. Having the film filmed on home video cameras, gives the film more tension as it makes it look more realistic. However, even though this is a good technique, I will not use it as I want to include a variety of different camera shots and angles in my teaser trailer.

The beginning of the trailer starts by showing the reaction of the audience when watching the first Paranormal Activity. This attracts the audiences attention as it shows people jumping and screaming in the audience. There is text on the screen which says 'last year you demanded it' this also attracts the audiences attention as it is relating itself to the audience.

After, more text appears on the screen which says 'but that was just the beginning.' This reveals to the audience that there is more to the film to what they have previously watched. This is a good technique to engage an audience because the audience will want to know what happens next in the story.

This is an establishing shot which reveals to the audience the setting of the film. From watching the first Paranormal Activity, the audience will know at this point that this is a different house to the one that was filmed in the first Paranormal Activity. This will get the audience thinking and asking questions like; 'if it's not the house that was haunted, then what/who is?' this will attract an audience as they will want to know the answer to this question.

As the home video camera is placed at the top corner of the room, the angle of the camera is pointing downwards. This makes the characters in the film look more vulnerable than they really are as they look smaller. It also creates tension as it gives you a feeling of the characters being watched and you start  to feel scared for them.

Unlike the other two trailers that I have analysed, the film institution is at the end of the trailer rather than the start of it. This reveals to the audience that they don't need to show off who has produced the film as they the film will already be a big hit.

Chernobyl Diaries Teaser Trailer Analysis

Chernobyl Diaries is an American horror film which is based on the true story of the disaster that happened in Chernobyl. Chernobyl Diaries was co-produced and directed by Bradley Parker and Oren Peli, who has also directed many other well known horror films. The teaser trailer that I will be analysing for Chernobyl Diaries lasts for 59 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tGyn9AeKOc


Chernobyl Diaries teaser trailer starts off with the film institutions which have contributed in producing the film. Warner Brothers pictures and Alcon entertainment are the film institutions for Chernobyl Diaries. Showing the film institutions at the beginning of a trailer is effective to the audience as they will know the film has been produced by a well known film institution which has already produced award winning films. This will attract an audience as they will most likely will know that the film will be as good as others that the film institutions have already produced.

As the film is based on a true event, this will attract an audience as they know what they will be watching has some truth to it which gives the film more tension and a sense of danger.

After the film institutions have been displayed, background information from the narrative of the film is given (there was an explosion). This engages an audience as some information is given so the audience will want to find out what happens next. This teaser trailer follows Todorov's theory of a disruption disturbing the equilibrium. It also follows Barthe's Enigma theory as the audience is displayed with a puzzle 'What happened after the explosion?' this attracts an audience as they will want to know the answer to that question and will therefore want to watch the film.

From the start of the trailer and to about 25 seconds in to it, a non-diegetic ambient sound of a warning siren is heard. This catches the audiences attention as the warning sign is well known to everybody and means danger and evacuation. This makes the genre of the film noticeable to the audience. The warning siren also adds to the narrative of the film as the audience will know that there was some sort of evacuation. It also adds tension to the teaser trailer as a feeling of panic goes through you when you hear the siren.

This birds eye view shot establishes the setting of the film. This shot shows the audience that the film took place in some form of large work place. This reveals to the audience that a lot of people were involved in the nuclear explosion and that there were numerous fatalities.

This is another over the shoulder establishing shot which takes place shortly after the first establishing shot. This shot reveals more to the audience the location of the film and a hint to the narrative.

Dialogue from one of the characters also drops a hint to the narrative of the film. The character says; 'this place was abandoned over night, they had no time to take anything.' This dialogue gets the audience asking questions like; 'why was it abandoned over night?' This also follows Barthe's Enigma theory as the audience want to find out more. 

Text is then displayed on the screen shortly after the establishing shots. The text reveals that the creator of this film, has also produced another big hit film. This suggests to the audience that Chernobyl Diaries will also be another big hit film and will want to watch it.

This shot shows a man at the bottom of the stairs behind the woman. This is dramatic irony as the woman doesn't know the man is there but the audience does. Dramatic irony is very effective as it gets the audience feeling tense as they are scared for the woman. It also gets them asking more questions like 'What's going to happen to the woman?' When creating my teaser trailer, I will try and include dramatic irony as it is a very effective of engaging an audience.

Throughout the whole teaser trailer, the colouring is very drained. This reveals that the film has a dark side to it and will attract an audience that are interested in dark scary films. 

Media Theories

There are three media theorists that each have an individual theory about different texts (TV/film/poster etc.) They all have a set of ideas which they believe makes the audience become interested in a certain text. These three theorists are Barthe, Todorov and Claude Levi Strauss.

Barthes theory is called 'Barthes Enigma Code'. Barthes argued that different texts present a puzzle for the audience which has to be solved by the end of the text. A trailer or poster for a film displaying a puzzle to be solved draws an audience in as they want to find out the answer to the puzzle. This is why film trailers don't show the ending to a film, as there is no point watching a film if you already know the ending to it. For example, if you're watching a murder mystery, the murderer isn't revealed until the end so the audience will stay interested and think 'Who's the murderer?'.

Todorov's theory is about how a story evolves and ends. He believes that there are five different stages to a story. These stages are equilibrium, disruption, recognition, climax, resolution and back to equilibrium. The equilibrium stage is the beginning of the story when everything is normal. This changes when there is a disruption/disequilibrium (someone is murdered). The next stage is the recognition, this is when the realisation of the murdered rises. There is then a climax where something gets in the way of solving the problem. This is then followed by the resolution when the murder is solved. The last stage returns back to the equilibrium. Even though everything is back to normal, it is still not the same as someone has been killed and is no longer there.

Claude Levi-Strauss' theory is called binary oppositions. Levi-Strauss believed that every film have binary oppositions, for example; good vs bad, male vs female and love vs hate etc. These binary oppositions creates conflict in the story which make it become interesting. This is why an audience is attracted to a film as they like to seek other people's drama as they are not experiencing any in their lives.

My Favourite Genre of Film

Horror is my favourite genre of film because throughout the whole film, you get an adrenaline rush because of the intensity of the film. They also take you away from the norm a most events that happen in horror films don't tend to happen in day to day life, and we enjoy watching surreal events as it's different from what we usually see.

One of my favourite horror films is Paranormal Activity. This is one of my favourites as it contains supernatural events that wouldn't happen to anyone else. Also, Paranormal Activity goes further than any other supernatural films, it has a storyline to it. Other horror films don't usually have a good storyline to back up the supernatural events. Paranormal Activity also has follow on films to it which explain the story even further. My scariest part I found in this film was when the chandelier banged against the ceiling. I thought this was the scariest part because the audience don't know it's the chandelier. It was also filmed using a normal hand camera so you know it hasn't been edited which makes the film feel more real. It also makes you relate to it more because you feel like you're there because it's filmed like a home made video.