Cut (Rough Cut)

Side by Side Poster and Magazine

My trailer is aimed at an audience of young people aged 16-25 with the majority of the demographic being female. From my poster with the iconography of the knife, it is clear that there will be some violence in the film involving knives which would allow people who can’t stand body horror to make a conscious decision not to watch the film. We delivered the body horror in the trailer with quick shots which show the victims who are now dead.

There is a lot of red/blood shown throughout my ancillary products and trailer which shows the consistency we have ensured remains to ultimately attract our audience. I wanted my poster to make an initial statement which is then followed through by the content of the trailer.

Whilst the poster and trailer were designed to attract fans of the genre to watch the film, I wanted the magazine cover to attract educated film fans who would be interested to read about a young, new director who wants to promote the overall image of horror films and make horror a more respectable genre in the industry. However, so that it tied in with the trailer and poster I used the same iconic font and blood red so that it was clear what the film would be about. I think that my magazine cover is a mixture of conventions from magazines such as Total Film and Empire because it is down to earth and not condescending, but informative.

Side by Side Magazine Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rather than having an image of one of the main characters of the film, I decided to use an image of the director of the film. The reason for this choice was to try and raise the profile of the film as a ‘serious’ film, as horrors are sometimes seen as just being cheap pieces of cinema with no real thought. I wanted to show a respectable “auteur” figure who would be able to share some knowledge about the unseen side of the film, and allow the potential audience to see the work it takes to produce something like this.

The auteur on the front cover has the connotations of a hard worker. This will also amplify the idea that this film is the product of a lot of hard work from respectable looking people and not the creeps that you imagine having the ideas necessary to direct a horror film. By having the director wearing ordinary clothes on the front cover, it shows that horror is not some lower class strange thing that shouldn’t be taken seriously.

I wanted my magazine cover to look classy but still be affordable, which would attract an audience of aspirers, who want to be above who they currently are but also a mainstream audience. Film magazines usually display the newest/most popular films that they are writing about on the front cover because this will attract fans of those films to buy the magazine. I kept this in mind whilst making my magazine cover and made lots of those features on the front page, with a phrase above that sums it up.

The colour scheme of my front cover is grey, black and white tones which makes the red of ‘CUT’ stand out on the page and catch the reader’s attention which means that they will both buy the magazine and go and watch the film in the cinema.

Side by Side Poster

When creating my horror poster, I wanted to make sure that I followed the conventions of a horror poster so that my poster would fit within the genre. One convention I have followed is the use of low key lighting which is a common device used in horror films and therefore their posters because of the dark themes that are usually present. I also used the iconography of a phallic symbol in my poster with the weapon shown. This is similar to the Child’s Play 2 (1990) poster shown above, however this poster shows the villain holding the weapon whereas mine shows what appears to be the victim, as she is tied up. I used this image because I wanted the plot to be a little unclear which would attract my target demographic because I’ve subverted the convention of victims being weak, powerless females. The expressionist angle in the image also ensures that the focus is on the knife and only shows the lower half of the victims body so they don’t get to have a face.

Another convention of film posters that I have used is the layout, with the billing block at the bottom of the poster. I have also included a tagline on my poster, “Love Hurts” which hints at a relationship between the victim and the villain, however due to the image I have used I decided to have this tagline on the right hand side rather than at the top which is where it usually is.

The colour red is a convention of horror posters because it signifies blood and danger. The red is subtle in the poster for Child’s Play 2 with only the ‘2’ and parts of his clothing being the colour, whereas I have used the red as the predominant colour in my poster because I wanted the blood to be a main feature.

 

 

 

 

 

Original Image (Poster)

Magazine Cover

Original Image (Magazine Cover)

"CUT" Poster