Film Trailer Institutional research

When we got into our group (May change later) we all decided to create a film trailer for an action horror film. The first thing decided to research was companies that have created very popular Action Horror films old and new. The first thing that I'm going to be researching are the institutions behind many popular horror films as they are the ones who create, distribute and publish them. The reason I'm researching them is because I would like to find out what type of film company would distribute our film and if they were mainstream or independent.

Renaissance Pictures

Renaissance pictures is an American film and TV production company created by director Sam Raimi who has produced many well known films such as The Grudge film trilogy (2004, 2006 and 2009). And arguably his most well known film series The Evil Dead series starting in 1981 with The Evil Dead and a currently airing TV show Ash vs Evil Dead (2015). The films are a fantastic example of the Action Horror films as they incorporate many conventions from the supernatural horror genre such as demonic possession seen when Cheryl is possessed and the necronomicon ex mortis (book of the dead) a key demonic item in The Evil Dead film franchise.

Ash Williams

The films also uses many conventions in the Action genre, this can be seen through the protagonist Ash Williams. This is because he shares many traits with Action film protagonists they are brave and fearless never backing down from a fight. He is never shown in a weak state (scared, powerless) however they do show him being injured but only to show him fight demons with these injuries to show how strong he really is. This can be seen when he had to cut his own hand of with a chainsaw to prevent being possessed only to then attach to the chainsaw to his arm to kill more demons. This makes him conform with the 1980's Action hero stereotype who is a fearless one man army who always prevails against the villains.

Renaissances pictures filmography
(click to expand)

Overall, this tells me that when creating our film trailers we should try to use a good variety of conventions of from both genres in our film that while unique to there respective genres work well together so that the audience will be more interested in seeing our film after viewing the trailer. Looking at Renaissances pictures I believe that they are a independent film company this is because looking at their Filmography many of their films were I either made for TV screenings or direct to video films whereas the few films that did make to cinemas either had mixed or negative views except for The Evil Dead film trilogy and Darkman (1990) however Darkman's sequels Darkman II: The Return of  Durant (1995) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996) were both straight to video releases and were received poorly. This tells me they are independent companies as a Mainstream company would have no issues getting their films into cinemas as they would have a much larger budget that they could use for distributing the film into cinemas.

Paramount Pictures

Paramount pictures is an conglomerate film company who have created many films since their beginnings in 1912. While they have made loads of iconic horror action films such as the Friday the 13th film series which is regarded as one of the greatest slasher films of all time. However, I'll be looking at one of their more recent horror films that they have created so that I can compare to a much older horror film such as The Evil Dead. The film I chosen is 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) a sequel to the 2008 film Cloverfield. Unlike the first film Cloverfield lane doesn't follow the found footage style of cinematography seen in the first film instead using more conventional forms of cinematography which was heavily criticised in the May 2016, Volume 26, Issue 5 of Sight & Sound magazines. This can be seen when critic Adam Nayman said the film had a 'lack of imagination' referring to the cinematography and the cop-out ending.

Howard Stambler

Comparing it to The Evil Dead we see a large amount of differences despite both being from the horror genre. Firstly, The Evil Dead is very similar to many horror films from the 1980's which can be seen through action hero styled protagonist and the excessive gore that was used to terrify audiences more. However, Cloverfield lane follows a fear of the unknown route as you never truly see the main antagonists (While Howard Stambler can be considered the main antagonist as he is around early in the film and dies close to the ending). But at the ending of the film when Michelle escapes the bunker it's revealed that the earth is being invaded by aliens presumably the same race as the one from the first film who attempt to kill her linking it to the original film. Also, another difference we see is the difference in the protagonist. As I mentioned earlier Ash Williams is a stereotypical 1980's action hero however Michelle is much more of a realistic character compared to Ash which can be seen throughout the film. For example when she wakes up in the bunker she looks out a window and notices Howard's truck she remembers that she was forced of the road by a truck because of this she desperately tries to escape the bunker. Now that type of scene would of been dramatically different if it happened in an 1980's horror film as she would of most likely still escaped but be killed by the aliens immediately afterwards to show the rest of the characters the real antagonist of the film.

After analysing both a Mainstream and Independent film company. I believe that it would be best if we used a mainstream film company as it would be less risky when creating the film as we would have a larger budget and because of this it would much easier distributing are film into cinemas so a larger audience would be able to see the film whereas if we used an independent film company while we may have more overall control of how the film is made much less people would see the film if it was only shown on TV or went directly to DVD. A mainstream film would also see much more advertisement in the media so that a larger audience go to see it upon its release.

BBFC logo and slogan

As we are doing an action horror film it's important to find out how they are rated before we create it as the rating of a film dramatically effects the audience who will be viewing the film upon its release. In England films and TV shows are rated by the BBFC (British Board of Film Certificates) their purpose is to accurately rate films so that they are suitable for audiences.

X
certificate

Before a film can be released for the film it must be rated which determines what age group can watch the film. In the UK films are rated by the BBFC, there are currently 7 different ratings that a film can be giving which can be changed over time such as the X certificate which was renamed to the 18 certificate in 1982 as the letter X had garnered a lewd reputation. The current BBFC ratings are as follows:

U: Rated U means Universal so the film is suitable for all ages these films are very popular with families as they can all go to a film that they will enjoy. A good majority of films that Disney release are rated U as they can then be enjoyed by a larger audience.

PG: PG means Parental Guidance this means that while the film can be viewed by all audiences parents may want to watch the film with or before their children to make sure their is nothing unsuitable for their kids in it. Many PG films are still made with children in mind these include Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone (2001), Frozen (2013) and surprisingly Jaws (1975).

12:  A 12 rating means that you must be 12 and no less to see the film this is the first proper rating which the audiences who can see the film as no one under 12 can see the film. These films also start ti include more mature themes which may include moderate violence, and very minor bad language. Films in this category include The Woman in Black (2012) and The Bourne Identity (2002).

12A: 12A ratings mean 12 Adult this means that people under the age of 12 can see the film however they must be accompanied by an adult before they can watch. Many films that are rated 12 are also rated 12A such as The Dark Knight (2008).

15: 15 rating means you must be 15 to see the film and it doesn't require you to have an adult accompanying you to the film. These films allow strong language and violence but also more controversial topics such as having the inclusion of racist/homophobic characters but not racial language. They also allow minor sex and nudity scenes and also sexual/sadistic threats. Films in this category include Insidious (2010), Logan (2017) and Alien: Covenant (2017).

18: 18 rating means that only people who are the age of 18 can see the films these films can include pretty much anything except for vast nudity and strong fetish material. Examples of rated 18 films are 300 (2006), Predator (1987) and John Wick (2014).

R18: Restricted 18 is the only thing above the 18 rating, it's straight up pornography as it includes the only things 18 can't such as vast nudity, strong fetish materials and all other things in the pornography industry.

Banned: While not technically a rating a banned film is not allowed to be distributed to the public by legal methods (cinema viewings, shop products) these are sometimes referred as Video Nasties but this is dependent on the type of content in the film. The contents of these films can vary ranging from hate crime to extreme sexual content (rape) a couple of example of banned films that are still banned to this day are Hidden Rage (1988), Hate Crime (2015) and the uncut version of Human Centipede 2 (2011) which had to be cut 32 times to make it an 18 rated film.

Looking at our idea I believe that the best rating for our film would either be rated 15 or 18. This is because both ratings allow strong language and violence which are conventions of the horror action. It also allows us to create a more serious tone for our film trailer which will attract a larger audience to our film. 

As we are creating a Horror Action film trailer I've decided to look at a variety of film trailers of that genre I will also look at film posters from Horror Action films as they share many conventions with film trailers.

Camp Crystal Lake

The first poster that I'll be analysing is for the film Friday the 13th (2009). The first thing that stands out to me first is Jason Voorhees the films antagonist with the title of the film in bold block capitals so that they stand out. This makes it so people can instantly recognise the iconic film franchise because of this more people will want to go and see the film as they are aware that it's an very popular series of film. Furthermore, the red font also shows that this is a horror film as the colour red connotes blood and death which are major conventions to the horror genre. Another key element to the poster is the tagline above Jason which reads 'WELCOME TO CRYSTAL LAKE' crystal lake referring to a key setting to the films. This is important because a tagline is a quick, catchy phrase that created buzz for the film and may cause the first wave of buzz as some posters come out before the teaser trailer for the film. Another thing that I noticed is that the dark greens and blues in the background make the red stand out much more which could suggest that the film contains lots of blood and gore. The background also appears to be in a forest most likely referring to camp crystal lake from the films.

The Nightmare Factory as shown in Freddy vs Jason (2003)
Notice how the dark red lighting make Freddy look like a
shadowy figure making him more ominous and demonic

Another Horror action film poster that I'll be analysing is for the film A Nightmare on Elm street (2010). Looking at this poster I can see that it shares any similarities with the Friday the 13th poster both posters have the films antagonist in the centre of the poster this one having Freddy Krueger, The titles are both in red, bold writing and a tagline conforming to key themes in the films as the phrase 'HE KNOWS WHERE YOU SLEEP' references how Freddy kills his victims in his sleep consequently leading them to die in real life. However this poster does have some differences, the most obvious one is that Freddy appears to be standing over his next victim I believe this because although the low key lighting hides Freddy's and his victim's face we can slightly see that her eyes are shut implying that she is sleeping. Also the entire poster has a reddish tint giving it a more demonic vibe. This may be reference to the Nightmare factory a recurring location in the films being the place Freddy kills most his victims. After looking at these two posters I believe that if we create a poster for our horror action film we have the the main antagonist in the centre of the poster with potential victims surrounding him, we will also make the films title stands out among the rest of the poster and so it empathises the themes of the film.