Final Production Company Name

After considering all of the previous options, me and Ashleigh decided on the name 'Spectre House Productions'. As I mentioned, 'Spectre' is the French spelling of the word 'Spector', which is another word for ghost. We wish to use the location of Paris for some of our filming, so the French spelling of the title gives off a subtle French feel. As our trailer is based around the story of the ghost of a young girl, it links well to the connotations that we want to portray. We have not yet decided on how we want our ident to look, but we will develop some ideas and finalise one that we will use in our trailer.

Film Trailer Idea Synopsis

As I have previously mentioned, the trailer will be within the horror genre. After discussing possible plot ideas for our film trailer, we came up with a simple log line to sum up the story line. 

A girl moves to Paris, however the apartment she moves into is haunted by the previous owners young daughter who was killed - the girl has to figure out why she is haunting her and over come it.

We will later develop this idea, and will try to come up with ways of how to portray the main features of the plot within the trailer, in order for the story to completely make sense, from just 2 and a half minutes of film.

Product Company Name

After creating a mindmap, I have managed to narrow it down to a few names. I quite liked a few of the words on the mindmap, and I strung some together to come up with possible Production Company names;

Spectre House Productions/ Studios

The connotations of the word 'Specter' produce an image of a ghost like figure, ghosts being common features of horror films. I think that this would fit in well with the film genre that I hope to portray through my trailer. I also used the spelling 'Spectre', as this is the French spelling - we have had several ideas of shots in Paris, and so this could be relevant here.   

Locked Door Productions/ Studios 

I liked this name, as it produces connotations of mystery, as well as horror. Questions could be asked, such as what is behind the door? This could create an eerie feel to the name, as it could be something frightening (which would be appropriate, due to the fact that our trailer would be a horror).

Fatal Fear Productions/ Studios

This name came about as I linked the two words together through alliteration. The connotations of the words both fit in with the horror genre, and due to the fact that they both begin with an F, the name flows quite well. 'Fatal Fear' suggests that something is so frightening that it is deadly, which definitely links to horror.

Heartbeat Productions

I quite liked this name, as it is a bit more suggestive in the fact that it may not just link to the horror genre. The word 'heartbeat' may have connotations of love, but in more depth, it could link to the actual heart, which could link to blood (which is obviously linked to the horror genre). Another word for heartbeat is also pulse, and when frightened, the pulse (or heartbeat) is raised and made quicker. When analysed, the meaning behind this name is subtle, yet suggestive of the horror genre.

Black Raven Productions
This name could have several different meanings behind it. The word 'Raven' is associated with the bird, which has an ominous black body, and when in flight casts a dark silhouette in the sky. This connotation of darkness can be linked to the horror genre. Also, raven's are known to have powerful links with mythology across the wrold, throughout many different cultures. It's most famous reference is in Edgar Allen Poe's poem, 'The Raven', which although is not strongly linked with horror, within the poem, the raven (who is a key figure in the poem) is called a 'thing of evil', and so ravens are commonly used within horror films as symbols of death and evil.

Film Production Company Name Initial Ideas

I drew up a mind map of words associated with the horror film genre, to try to think of ideas for the name of our own film production company. 

Horror genre mood board

After looking at many horror film marketing campaigns, I decided to create a mood board of images that are typical of the horror genre. I included images that I thought may help me when creating my own trailer - stills from films such as the Swedish horror film 'Let the Right One In' (2008) and Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'  (1980) will provide me with visual inspiration. One still from the silent film 'Nosferatu' (1922) is probably one of the most recognisable images from horror film genre. I've also included some images from films that aren't from the horror genre, such as 'Amelie' (2001) and Ridley Scott's sci-fi film 'Blade Runner' (1982). The reason I did this was because in both of these films I like the use of lighting, cinematography and editing: in Amelie, the use of green filters and cantered angles gives it an eerie atmosphere (despite the fact that it is not a horror film) and in Blade Runner, blue filters and the use of bright white lighting gives it a feel of a horror film. I added images of posters (from films such as 'The Exorcist' (1973) and 'The Woman in Black' (2012) as the artwork/ photography caught my eye. 

The Woman in Black - Researching a full marketing campaign

On the 12th of March 2012, 'The Woman in Black', a horror film starring Daniel Radcliffe, was released in the UK. Focusing on the horror genre of film, I have decided to look further into its marketing campaign to help me when creating components of my own campaign. 

The first case of marketing for this film began with the showing of the first trailer, on the 10th of April 2011 at 'Kapow!' Comic Con in London. Due to the fact that many people who go to Comic Con are interested in films, and possibly even franchises like Harry Potter (which Daniel Radcliffe starred in), this may intrigue them. Later that year, in July 2011, another trailer was advertised before showings of the final film in the Harry Potter series, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2'. Again, with the finale of the series, 'The Woman in Black' may provide fans of Daniel Radcliffe to see him in a new film. This choice of advertisement means that a specific part of the target audience is addressed (which may result in more viewings when the film is released). One month later, on the 24th of August 2011, posters within the UK were released, and by the 14th of October the official UK trailer was released. Posters were displayed around the country from billboards to the sides of buses. The posters, with the blues and black colouring linked together with the trailers.

On the 14th of October 2012, Momentum pictures released an official International trailer, and even a new version of the already established book (which was written in 1983 by Susan Hill) was released with a brand new cover, featuring Daniel Radcliffe. Again, this attracts fans of Daniel Radcliffe and even Harry Potter fans.

Daniel Radcliffe also appeared on around 10 magazine covers during the campaign and was even invited to be on both The Jonathan Ross Show and The Graham Norton Show (which was a first within the film industry).

As well as this, a national competition was held for people to submit their own original ghost stories, from the 31st of October. A video was filmed, featuring Daniel Radcliffe again requesting the entries, for which the prize was that the winning entry would be read out by him on the special features of the DVD when it was released. This competition promoted the film virally, and the competition was unique to this films advertising campaign, setting it apart from other films of its genre. 

The fact that Daniel Radcliffe endorsed this campaign would have increased the interest in the film as his fan base is quite large. However, apart from this, the synergy throughout the campaign allows the advertisements to be viewed by many different types of people, right across the country and internationally. The website and Facebook pages also added to the advertisements across the internet, and overall, the campaign reached a lot of different demographics.

Looking at the full marketing campaign for 'The Woman in Black' has been very useful. Due to the fact that we will be creating a trailer for a film that focuses on a similar storyline (and not a slasher horror etc), the campaign for this film may provide us with some inspiration. 

Little White Lies Magazine

As well as looking at Rue Morgue magazine, I decided to look at the British film magazine 'Little White Lies'. First issued in 2005, the magazine is relatively new, releasing issues (bi-monthly) featuring illustrations, writing and photography on cinema. The covers of each issue are beautifully designed, yet simplistic, and I hope to take inspiration from this. Below are some Little White Lies magazine covers. 

 'On The Road' issue, featuring Kristen Stewart, August/ September 2012 (most recent issue)

 'Where The Wild Things Are' issue, a collaboration with 'Huck' magazine, November/ December 2009

 'This Is England' issue, April/ May 2007

'The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou' issue, March/ April 2007 (1st issue)

There are several specific covers dedicated to films from the horror genre. Below are covers from two horror films, which I particularly like. 

 'Let The Right One In' issue, March/ April 2009

'Black Swan' issue, January/ February 2011

Maintaining synergy within Marketing Campaigns

When looking at marketing campaigns for films, we can see how each advertisement is linked through synergy. Previously, I have looked at the trailers and posters for both 'The Wolverine' and 'The Conjuring' and after analysing them, it has become very clear how the synergy between them connects the components in the campaign, allowing the audience to be able to view a certain image of the film, no matter what format the advertisement is that they are looking at.

Within the marketing campaign for The Wolverine, the synergy of the advertisements can be seen across several media platforms. The traditional aspects of a marketing campaign such as posters, magazine coverage and trailers are all used effectively in order to reach the largest amount of the public as possible. All of the components add together to create one big campaign which collectively advertise the film, and hopefully entice the audience to come and see the film.

Today, technology plays a part in the marketing of films, allowing trailers to be advertised and promoted to audiences right across the internet, not just on YouTube or the film website. For example, for The Wolverine campaign, trailers were released on YouTube, as well as on TV. Teaser trailers and the International trailer were released, as well as a 'Tweaser' - due to the diversity of technology, this 6 second trailer was created to be shown on the social networking site 'Vine' where people can upload and watch short video clips of 6 seconds or less (Tweet + Teaser = Tweaser). This means that the trailer could be viewed across several other viewing platforms, increasing publicity and the viewing numbers that the trailers received.

Also, several different types of posters were created. Printing advertisements in this format means that even the people who may not use the internet as much can be exposed to the marketing campaign for this film. From this we can see that the synergy of marketing today plays a huge role in making sure that marketing campaigns reach the widest audience - they hope to draw in a bigger audience for the film from this, hopefully enticing them to go and watch it in the cinema.

You're Next - Rue Morgue magazine cover analysis

After discovering Rue Morgue magazine, I decided to analyse one of their covers (this issue is from last month) which features a new horror film 'You're Next'. I could not find a magazine which featured The Conjuring, however, I like this cover and hope to take inspiration from this, and other Rue Morgue magazine covers when creating my own. Below is the cover that I have analysed. 

You're Next is a horror film, following a family who are attacked while on holiday by a gang of mystery killers. Here is the link for my analysis of the cover on flickr;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoeradford/9701938765/

Rue Morgue horror magazine - background information

Rue Morgue is a Canadian magazine based in Toronto, which takes it's name from Edgar Allen Poe's story 'Murders in the Rue Morgue'. Like Total Film, it was established in 1997, however, instead of just focusing on film, it is dedicated to the horror genre within the media, looking at films as well as books, comics, music, websites etc. Below is a short clip from YouTube, outlining the beginnings and development of the magazine. 

I decided to look at Rue Morgue to see the codes and conventions of a magazine focused entirely on the horror genre. Looking through the archives of covers on the magazines website (http://www.rue-morgue.com/) you can really see the development over the years, which has made it what it is today. Artistically, it has developed quite a lot, and below are some examples of issues over the past few years. 

I really like the use of artistic techniques and components of graphic design within the covers of this magazine, and I hope to use this as inspiration for my own cover.   

The Wolverine - Total film Wolverine issue analysis

As well as looking at the trailer and poster for the Wolverine film, I also looked at a magazine cover for 'Total Film', which was The Wolverine issue and featured the film on the front cover.

Here is the link to my analysis of the poster on Flickr;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoeradford/9699300273/in/photostream/

By looking at the codes, conventions and features of this magazine cover, it has allowed me to see how a large, high budget film would be promoted on the cover of a magazine. Obviously I will not be able to create something that looks like this, as the level of CGI is higher than I could achieve on photoshop with the images I will capture. This has provided me with research that I will use for my own - I will need to find magazines that are more independent, and that have a cover that I have the ability to create.