Film Opinions

Like in my previous post regarding target audience research I intended to include a female opinion in this which proved valuable in terms of hearing a different view point however in the end everyone very much liked the film adn the girls opinion was very positive and were somewhat similiar to the others statements which could indicate that our assumptions regarding what a female audience would want in a horror film were spot on or that it sometimes doesn't matter about male or female when it comes to certain genres.

None the less the initial draft of the film proved a success with very little needing to be changed in terms with what was shot rather a more thourghough editing revision so that certain scenes don@t look as chopy and try and extend certain scenes to include more of the other actors screen time, no matter how small.

Poster Comments

The designing of the final poster proved to be alot more challenging than first expected, however despite a lack of experience in using photoshop from anyone in the group research was performed enthusiastically so that the actual creation could be done alot easier and stick to the genre specific design methods.

After researchinjg the types of posters used for these films it become clear that they rely alot more on a central dominating image with things like titles and comments surrouding it with an index and age rating at the bottom to let the public know who its suited for and who was involved in its creation.

Intial designs stuck to the rules by creating a central image being a noose with the actual cursed DVD placed in the center of the rope with a red highlight behind to enhance the eerie feel of the whole film. Photoshop prved very useful and not as complicated for what was needed and through the manipulation of layers proved quite simple since it only involved taking images and placing them on top of eachother and then making adjustments accordingly.

However sticking too closely to the rules made the poster appear too minimalistic and uninteresting even when the title and comments were added, this required alot more thought into the actual layout of the various layers and the adding of some more comments, awards and a taster phrase that suited the film to go along side the title so that the films plot and message are made clearer in the design.

But in terms of colour and images used these stuck more solidly to the rules using a black background and very darkly lighted images that help enhance the titles and comments for the audience to be able to read while still not being too distracted enough to understand what the images mean.

In the end it all came down to this final design which will be used as the final copy with afew more comments added with the central image being stretched to make it more apparent, the use of comments makes it look more like a more low budget film sicne bloackbusters don't have to use their posters to adevertise their films as much since people will here about them some other way hwoever low budget posters tend to include alot more comments to sell the film more .

After the audience research it was made clear that people expect this film to succeed more in the film festival scene which imspired the idea to put the film festivals rating onto the poster so that the audience know that despite it being a low budget, short film it has been watched and rated highly by a varied public audience and thus has alot going for it in terms of audience satisfaction.

Questionnaire Results

Heres an example from 3 different types of people who answered the questionnaire as honestly as they can; these represent the different types of pople from those who only watch blockbusters to those who are die hard films fans and something inbetween to add a none biased point of view to the results.


Rachal Mills - Casual Film Goer















Rachel appear to enjoy the mainstream comedy style films as oppossed to the low budget psycho thrillers and seems to have almost no interest in the genre as a whole but none the less displayed that in terms of grabbing an audience it will be difficult to compete with the higher end films especially of the comedy genre since these people prefer a lighter and hsppy style film which is something this film cannot be cataered towards. However by putting in a hidden message i.e. don't drink and drive or don't rely too hard on thye media, it maybe possible to at least interest these people since the actual film while it appears dark carries an important message that all should here no matter the films content.


Kieron Tonge - Avid Film Goer
































Kieron Tonge is a more co0mmited film goer when compared to Rachel in that he likes the action genere which can be placed in many sub-categories such as; drama, thriller, horror and if done correctly musicals.

Even though psychological films aren't his genre of choice Kieron still displays an idea of how such films would be expected to be advertised, distributed and exhibited i.e. use of trailers to begin some advertising followed by a genuinly interesting storyline and plot to drive the film forward which gives credit to the idea of mixed realities and plot twists. He even gives ideas on the type of music and atmosphere that need to be set in order to make the film more appealing i.e. mood elavating, orchestral piece folowed by some intense dialogue, and disturbed characters to really push the films plot forward and make it so the audience understands the type of film they are watching.


Nicola Hamblett - Avante Garde Film Goer


















Nicolla so far has been the most helpful since not only does she appear to like the psychological genre as a whole she seems so have some idea as to how those types of film should be displayed to an audiencea and what she personally expects from them in terms of audience satisfaction.

Kieron and Nicolla agree on the types of music being very dramatic and tension building and they also agree on how it should be distributed, mainly through film festivals and the internet. Nicolla believes the film should leave a sense of uneasiness after the film ahs finished which means there shouldn't be a happy ending but rather a sense of unease over how the film ended and what its message its trying to get across. Furthermore questiones should arise as the film progresses that immerse the audience in the film but still allow them to understand whats going on, however all must be revealed at the end which makes snese because if the films meant to deliver a warning it should be made clear what that warning is.

Titles are important to show whos involved but must be kept short at the beginning since the number of people involved can to overly long but due to it being a short/low budget film it maybe possible to include everyone but add in some imagery and effects to make it more interesting.

Ultimatelty its agreed that the storyline and plot will be the key driving force behind the films success which calls for a complex story with a twist but not overly complicated that it goes over the audiences heads, also to involve tension building atmospheric effects and music that heighten the feeling of unease which all is brought together in the end where everything is revealed and the audience is left with a sense of unease yet enlightenment to try and take the message the film brings.

Comments on the making of the Radio trailer

First, We also used a Zoom hand recorder to capture the Narrators voice for the radio trailer. This was done in a quiet room and allowed us to record good quality sound quickly and easily. Another advantage using this was

We edited the radio trailer on a Piece of software called garage band which is a simple piece of sound editing software which allows users to record sounds and put them together.  We had some problems with importing sounds that we wanted from our films to the radio trailer on garage band.

This was found to be due to the sound on the film to be a different format to the sounds that would accepted on garage band. We solved this problem by exporting the sounds from the film through quicktime conversion on to a different file, and importing the new file on to garage band.

Once we had all the sounds on, the software allowed us to alter various things about the recordings such as the volumes in different locations on the sound because was wanted the music in the background to be quieter when the narrator was talking or when there was some sound from the film. We could also alter the placement of the sound and with the volume altering time line, we could also fade the music out at the end to smooth the transition in to the last sound bite from the film.

As a result, the zoom mic and Garage band allowed us to make an effective radio trailer that works well with the film and it's genre.

Voice Over Script

Derek-My Name is Derek Smith and I'm a film Reviewer. Not Professionally.
- I guess this is my Bible where I keep all of my ratings and thoughts. Its getting quite long now
-I usually buy 2 to 3 DVDs after work, helps to break up the rest of my day
-I guess you could say I rely on these DVDs to get through the week. A fun substitute for reality
-At work the call me the video kid, but only behind my back.

radio- Today the body of Lisa McManus has been found, the office employee is believed to have hung herself under suspicious circumstances but the police are yet to-

Derek- Hmm, I don't remember buying any DVDs today.
-I must have bought it with the camera and forgotten about it
-Ben was acting weird today, I guess it could be nothing

-come on! Hurry!

-Something very weird is going on today.
-Zero? That can't be right.

Finished radio trailer

Radio Trailer- Final Draft

Film-Sound bite from the film of the DVD tray opening and a DVD dropping in the tray

Narrator- An Inverted Pictures Production

Derek - My name is Derek and I'm a film reviewer (Voice from the movie)

Narrator- based on a short story by Irvine Welsh

Film- sound bite from the radio report

Narrator- Directed by and starring Alexander Martin

Derek- I don't Remember buying any DVDs today

Narrator- and Ben Baranski

Ben- you dropped on of your DVDs

Narrator- Snuff, coming soon to film 4

Derek- Something very, very wierd is going on here