Question 3

"Hammer" is an film production company based in England, which specializes in gothic horror films. The company is a subsidiary of "Exclusive Media"

The Reptile

Here is an example of how Hammer distributes their media. "The Reptile" is a gothic horror film released in 1966

Taking to account the time which this film was written for, this trailer would have been quite gripping. A number of the "buzz words" mentioned such as 'new' and 'suspense' would be enough to draw in an audience. However, looking at the trailer now, it seems to tell the entire plot in the trailer, and pretty much defeats the object of watching the movie. Whilst it would be appealing, it is disappointing that there appears they have used the best parts of the movie to advertise it, leaving nothing but scene fillers and vain prose

The above poster was used to advertise the film. This poster is outdated in terms of appeal to this generation, however, it demonstrates key aspects of a poster. The designer uses dark and sinister colour combinations, possibly focussing on venomous colour schemes, whilst also using the key elements/scenes of the film to appeal to their intended audience

Wake Wood

"Wake Wood" is horror film made by Hammer (and Fantastic Films) in 2011, and distributed by Vertigo

This trailer is a very effective example. The use of shot types, particularly LS, sets the scene for the movie, and combined with the soundtrack, creates the atmosphere the audience would expect for the remainder of the movie. The general plot of the movie is made apparent, but unlike "The Reptile", leaves gaps in the audiences knowledge; gaps that can be filled by watching the films. The captivating nature of the trailer makes it a very effective form of distribution. Despite the companies being independent, the quality of the trailer is quite high. This could very well be because of the collaboration of resources and expertise


The poster (below) is a bit different. Whilst it develops a great level of intrigue, due to the vagueness of the poster, and the fact it gives nothing away, it may confuse the audience in terms of what genre to expect, e.g. it could very well be a Fantasy film. However, in looking closer at the image, the blood gives the audience an expectation of horror. It looks very professional, and could very easily compete with the bigger companies in the industry

'Fantastic Films' is a production company based in Dublin, initially set up in 2000 to create shorts and establish relationships with emerging talent

Outcast
'Outcast' is regarded as a 'supernatural thriller' film, produced by Fantastic Films. The movie was made in 2010

The clip below is the trailer for this film. The trailer is relatively good quality, and is quite captivating. Like the Wake Wood trailer, the trailer established the key themes of the film, and makes the characters roles very clear. Toward the end, it uses very fast paced cuts, and a high tempo soundtrack. However, from the perspective of the films reviews, the trailer gives away all the good parts of the movie, and the plot development of the film itself is quite poor. The trailer does not evidence this, but instead gives the impression that the film will be as gripping as the trailer. This tells me the trailer is very good, especially if it can outdo the film itself

Personally, I feel this poster's amazing. It is very captivating, and pleasing to the eye. The colour scheme suits the movie perfectly, and the professionalism of it is astounding. Despite this, the tag line is a disappointing factor, in that it blend into the rest of the poster TOO well. "Beware the beast within" should be a more primary factor to the poster, but instead appears as a part of the background imagery. This poster would be very effective in distributing the film, and gives the impression that the film is very gripping - even if it really is not

Wilderness
'Wilderness is a British/Irish horror film, made in 2006 by a consortium of independents, but credited by Fantastic Films

The trailer (below) mirrors the film brilliantly. It is captivating, and intriguing, but does not give the best parts of the movie away. It is criticised for telling too much of the story, but it does not give away the key scenes. The trailer is quite low quality, and indicates maybe a smaller budget than that of larger production companies. This is also evidenced in the poster, which is quite simple in design. Despite being simple, both are effective in attracting their audience, and create a great deal of intrigue








'Lionsgate' is a major media institution, particularly a producer of films. It is an American based company, head quartered in Santa Monica (California). It is noted as the second most profitable studio in the industry

Hunger Games is a 2012 production, made up of Science fiction, Action and drama genre conventions. The budget for Wilderness was (roughly) $6 million. The budget for Hunger Games is $78 million, with it Box Officing at 572 million
The difference in budgets is evident in how the film is distributed. The quality of the Hunger Games trailer is vastly greater than that of its counterparts. The content also shows a distinct difference in budget
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNxb28j5C1w&ob=av3e
The embed was disabled for this trailer
It is notable that Hunger Games was advertised on the front page of YouTube. In order to find the trailers for the previous movies cited, one would have to type the name into the search bar. With Hunger Games however, the trailer that advertises the movie, is advertised to you. This would be because Lionsgate has far more money to advertise the film, and can utilise more expensive forms of advertising, such as the front page of YouTube

Immediately a difference in the quality of the poster is noted. The poster unlike it's counterparts, used the rule of thirds to focus the audiences attention on the intensity of the characters eyes. I commented earlier on the tagline for "Outcast", which I felt was blended too well into the background of the poster. This poster shows how the tagline should have been. The tagline is clear, and can be recognised separately to the rest of the poster.



What I have noticed about these posters, is that they do not differ in quality. The poster for Outcast was immense, and appears to have the same level of expertise as Saw 3D. However, what separates them, is the  techniques used. The major companies use their tag lines much better than the independent films, and have somewhat perfected making more, by making less. The Saw 3D poster leaves so much to the imagination, and does not give away any aspect of the storyline. The Last Exorcism does the same, having the key element of the film on the poster, and nothing more. This gives the audience a clear idea of what to expect, but leaves such vast gaps in their knowledge


Bearing in mind that we are College students, where only one of us has a job -_-, there is no way we can obtain a budget of millions. So instead, we have to consider different ways of distribution. posters may still be effective, but we will have to very cleverly manipulate them so they can compete. Chances are we will have to utilise film festivals, such as Bang Film Festival, or Mayhem Film Festival. 
Mayhem Film Festival (Nottingham)




Bang Short Film Festival (Nottingham)

YouTube would also be a useful form of distribution. Think about it, if even Justin Bieber can get famous from YouTube, it cannot be that hard can it?
arget

Like, totally our film :O


Social Networks would also be useful, particularly because of our target audience, and their avid nature on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter






The release of a film is imperative to securing a strong financial turnover on the film, and obtaining the right audience. An example of this is releasing a horror movie either during Halloween, or on Friday 13th, where people are already in the mood to be scared (God only knows why). It would also be quite wise to screen the movie when your target audience can get to watch it, eg. screening a movie targeted at teenagers during the summer holidays. DVD Release Dates are quite dependent on the films success at the cinemas, but usually around 4 months after it is taken out of the big screens. Since we are targeting a horror film at teenagers, I think it would be wise to screen during the summer holidays. Convenient, because there's a Friday 13th in July :D
Cinema Release Date - Friday 13th July 2012
DVD Release Date - Wednesday 31st October 2012 (Orange Wednesdays)



The release date we eventually settled with, was the 14th July 2012; a point where many students are either on study leave or in their summer holidays. We used the typewriter font, so it would correspond with the typewriter used in our opening sequence, the fact that the main character is a freelance writer, and the tagline also. The font is quite cohesive with the context of our film. We used the stained paper also to be cohesive with our plot, and then the addition of black ink splatters and red blood splashes, which immediately indicate that the movie is a horror. This ensures that we are appealing to our audience, and not misleading people into expecting a drama; they KNOW it's a horror movie
Since we are a low budget company, chances are this poster will appear in schools and colleges (with permission of course), and maybe scattered around Nottingham and Derby (nearby areas to the Film Festivals)