Broken Mind: Directors' Featurette

Evaluation Screening and Feedback for Broken Mind Trailer (Final Cut)

Scores: 5, 6, 6, 6, 6.5, 6.5, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8.5

Average Score: 7

Positive Feedback:
Music x 15
Good Intertitles x 14
Good, clear narrative x 14
Good use of cinematography x 5
Effects x 4
Editing x 3
Body horror x 1

Suggested Improvements:
More variety of location x 10
More body horror x 9
Improve lighting x 5
Narrative x 2
More death x 1

Side-By-Side Poster Analysis

My poster compares to this poster for The Possession (2012) in many ways, and the style in which it has been designed is very similar to mine. I chose to use black as it is a bold colour and also connotes darkness and death, which leads on to the tagline ‘the darkness comes to life’. I chose this as the tagline because it shows the general narrative of what actually happens in the film without giving too much away, because the dark parts of Leo’s (Oliver Butler) mind come to life in the form of demons. The actual shot of Leo is over-the-shoulder with half of his face showing. I chose to do this because it connotes schizophrenia and the idea of having two personalities. Also, it allowed the interesting effect of having a low opacity reflection. I was in two minds about this idea because I thought it could come across a bit cliché and obvious, but I now like the symbolism of it and I think it adds a different mood to the image. For the image, I wanted the colours to be quite faint and monochrome as the film isn’t bright and happy, and so I think this helps to promote the horror genre of the film. The brick wall as the background also brings interesting textures to the image rather than a plain wall. It also connotes a grittier, urban setting which is in keeping with the fact that Leo (Oliver Butler) is a police officer who has killed a suspect. I added a subtle gore effect (blood coming from his ear) to the image just to show the different horror sub-genres within the film, and I think it works quite well in that it doesn’t draw too much attention away from the psychological aspect but still adds a dash of realistic power. All of these conventions can be seen in this poster for The Possession (2012) which acted as my inspiration when creating this ancillary product.

Side-By-Side Magazine Cover Analysis

My magazine cover compares stylistically with this edition of Entertainment Weekly in many ways. The image I used for the cover is a mid-shot of the main character Leo looking serious and ‘broken’ in a sense because he has sadness in his eyes, which gives clues as to the film’s narrative. It is a typical image that would be seen on real-life magazines and it is similar to the horror magazine covers because of the low key lighting and plain black background. For the masthead, I used a simplistic sans serif font called ‘Verdana’ as it makes it stand out from the rest of the text even though it isn’t the largest text on the page. I also used white text consistently throughout the magazine cover as I felt it contrasted nicely with the black background and stands out well. The headline for the film ‘Broken Mind’ is the same font I used for the poster. This helps combine my promotional campaign together and I like that the text is also ‘broken’ as it isn’t in a straight line. I chose to use grey because both black and white didn’t work as the other colours on the page are black and white and I didn’t want there to be too much of a contrast. Beside the headline, I added a little description of the content relating to the film which says ‘Oliver Butler talks playing mental ex-cop in the new anticipated horror film ‘Broken Mind’.’ This was influenced by the front cover of an edition of ‘Entertainment Weekly’, and this is something they do consistently on most of their magazine covers. The style of the magazine cover is similar to that of popular film magazine ‘Empire’ which was my inspiration for this ancillary product.

Class Poster Idea

6 Panel Practice Storyboard

Prop List

Vodka Bottle
Mints
Plastic Gun
Duvet cover
Mirror
Sofa
Phone
Plastic Knife
Fake Blood
Latex

Stereotypical Horror Fan

Name: Liam

Gender: Male
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Likes: Indie Music, Horror films, tumblr, concerts and gigs, black, dark clothes
Dislikes: Children, sports, other people, romance, comedy
Background: Liam was brought up by his alcoholic mother after his father left them when Liam was just 4 years old. Liam has always struggled with making friends and prefers spending time alone in the dark watching scary horror films. He loves the horror genre because it goes against everything he hates- the mainstream. He has never had a girlfriend because he is too socially awkward and doesn’t believe in romance. He is currently in his final year at University in London studying music and hopes to become an indie singer/songwriter, but doesn’t want to become too famous. He also would love to experience the acting career but will only act in horror films. He also has a blog on which he posts film reviews and rants to his fans about the mainstream. His favourite horror films are Insidious, Psycho and Sinister.

Original Images (Magazine Cover)

Evaluation Question 4

Broken Mind Trailer (Final Cut)

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

3rd Poster Analysis- The Conjuring

This horror film poster is very creepy and gets your mind thinking about what is happening in the scene and what will happen in the movie itself. The word ‘Conjuring’ means the performance of tricks which are seemingly magical. For those with knowledge of what the word means, they will know to expect trickery in this film and will expect to see the typical horror film stunts such as doors mysteriously shutting by themselves, they will expect jump scares and ghost-like events. You are led to the assumption that the paranormal world will play a part in this film and there will be spirits or souls haunting the characters.

At the top of the poster is the text ‘From the director of Saw and Insidious’ which tells the viewer that this film will have similarities to the others by the same director. This proves the importance of “Auteur Theory” based on the concepts that ‘Andre Bazin’ came up with. For horror aficionados who have seen both highly successful horror films from the same director, they will know roughly how this director works and what to expect in their films.

Underneath this is the logo for the film itself, and it uses an ancient looking font which suggests that the storyline of this movie will refer back to past situations, which is then backed up by the sentence ‘based on the true case files of the Warrens’. This implies that the story is in fact true, which makes the experience of watching the movie much more powerful because these events genuinely happened to a family in the past. It also tells us that the film will be set in the past, and so this also adds to the overall terrifying experience of watching the film. ‘Based on a true story’ is one of the most iconic sentences used for advertising horror films because it forces the audience to accept seemingly unreal events as real, changing our perceptions of “normality”.

In the foreground of the actual image we can see a spooky looking tree with no leaves which is typically used in horror films to make the nature seem dead. The tree leans over the house in the background which clearly tells us that the tree is more important than the house in terms of what happened to the family and why it happened, but we are also given a preview of something that could be a main factor in the film. Tied to the tree is a noose which implies a suicide has taken place or is about to take place. Even though the noose is empty, on the ground is a shadow that looks like a dress with bare legs hanging out. This implies that the noose was used, and this cements the earlier implication that the paranormal world will play a big part in the film.

The house in the background informs us of the setting used in this film. It is a typical country house which obviously means this house is far away from civilisation which is massively typical for a horror film, and means that the family who occupy this house will be secluded from reality and will have to deal with the paranormal problems alone. The overall mood of the poster is quite chilling and we can quite clearly see that pathetic fallacy is being used a lot to show that a storm is coming and that the lives of this family are about to take a dramatic turn for the worse.

2nd Poster Analysis- Mama

This horror movie poster for Mama is very dark and spooky due to the low key lighting, and has quite a strong impact in my opinion. Also, the fact that half of the child’s face is hidden suggests that she has a darker and more mysterious side to her which is revealed to be true in the film. Another interpretation of the child is hiding half of her face behind the mother's arm implies that she feels safe and protected when with the mother, but she also has a sad look on her face which could suggest a turn of events in the film.

The overall mood of the image is strange and has a few different interpretations. At the top of the poster is the typical link to other creators of other horror films so the audience know roughly what to expect from the movie. Towards the bottom of the poster, in line with the text at the top of the poster, is the name of the movie ‘Mama’ and underneath this is the tagline ‘A mother’s love is forever’ which indicates to the audience that this film will involve a mother who will likely be participating in something dangerous to save her child, exaggerating on the theme of maternal love. Standing in the middle of the poster is the “mother” of the movie. Her skin is rough and off-colour and looks damaged and old. This could imply that the mother is not an ordinary person and has some sort of deadly backstory. The clothes that the mother is wearing are also damaged which matches with the body that she has. At the top of the image you can see that the mother's head is not in the image which could suggest that her face gives away her past and would tell us too much about her, which draws us in and makes us want to watch the film.

The shadowy figure of Mama in this poster resembles an old wooden shack. The textures merged together gives the illusion that the girl is peering around a wooden doorway which links to the location at the beginning of this film and also connotes the paranormal state of Mama. This fits the convention of mise-en-scene in horror films and how they are often set in enclosed and creepy locations.

1st Poster Analysis- Insidious

This horror movie poster is very chilling and really illuminates the meaning behind the film. This movie is called ‘Insidious’ and the title is shown quite clearly in the centre of the poster. The title has been rotated and is positioned vertically. This could suggest that the events in the film will not be as expected, and there will be numerous twists and turns. The word ‘Insidious’ means proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects which could be suggested to be a description of the child on the poster as he is growing slowly, but his growth in the film leads to have disastrous and terrifying consequences.

On the first look at this poster, you are drawn to the eyes of the young child standing and dominating the poster. His eyes are bright white compared to the general dull tones used on the rest of the poster. This connotes to horror fans that this child is possessed by some kind of demon in the film's narrative. If you look closely at his eyes, you will see that in his left eye it says ‘INSIDIOUS’ and in his right eye it says ‘IS’ which suggests that this boy is insidious, creating a chilling mood because it leaves the audience wondering what has happened to this seemingly innocent child who turns out to be a dangerous demon.

The child is standing upright with his arms positioned downwards beside his body.   His expressionless face also foreshadows the events of the film itself in that it shows you that he is not a human and doesn’t really have emotions. The fact that this young boy is in pyjamas enhances his apparent innocence and makes him seem like an ordinary boy when in fact, he is possessed by a demon.

The colour red is used quite a bit on this poster as this colour has connotations of danger and death, which are some of the main conventions expected in a horror film. The red is used on his pyjamas, which links the boy to danger and death. It is also used in the title which again is a link back to the main character, the child. In the background of this poster is a house with all the blinds and curtains closed. The mise-en-scene suggests that whoever occupies this house is trying to keep something out... perhaps the boy himself.  

Focus Group Screening and Feedback for Broken Mind Trailer (Rough Cut)

Scores:  3, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7

Average score: 5.2

Positive Feedback:
Good intertitles x 13
Good varied use of cinematography x 9
Jump scare was effective x 8
Good gore effects x 7
Loudness emphasises drama x 3
Intense x 3
Good use of fast paced montage x 2
Sound effects work well x 2
Good narrative x 2
Good editing x 2

Suggested Improvements:
Needs Music x 15
More backstory  x 12
Tidy some scenes up (editing) x 9
Less intertitles x 7
More variety in setting x 5
Too many screams x 2
Repetitive shots x 2
More dialogue

Broken Mind Trailer (Rough Cut)

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