Prop Research

The most commonly used props in a horror movie seem to be masks and weapon-focused. A hockey mask or some form of face-covering is stereotypical of the genre, adding to the fear the antagonist instills to the audience as their identity is hidden, raising enigmas. Famous examples include Mike Myers from the Halloween film franchise and Hannibal Lecter.

               
The mask is an effective prop for this genre as part of every horror is the build-up to the antagonists reveal, showing them gradually to the audience to create suspense and tension. With the use of the mask the suspense of the film is not deflated as soon as the villain is revealed to the audience, as there are still questions raised surrounding the man behind the mask, what he really looks like and why he is after the protagonists rather than showing the full picture straight away. This is why we are thinking of using some form of face-covering in our trailer, as this will allow us to show off our villain without giving to much away and still giving the audience
questions.

Another key area for props in this genre is weapon-focused, normally what the antagonist uses to hunt down the protagonists. The most commonly used are knives (like Mike Myers, above), chainsaws (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and machetes (Friday the 13th), all weapons that would create a lot of blood and gore. This makes the antagonist a more credible threat and plays on audience fears of stabbing and obviously, dying.

Magazine Cover Analysis #2

This is a cover for film magazine Empire, which is a limited edition cover promoting the James Bond film, Skyfall. The cover itself is simplistic, drained of most colour and showing an image of James Bond in a smart suit, holding a gun. The cover acts as a pure character cover, that's main aim is to introduce the character to the audience and does this by giving Bond prominence in the poster, taking up most of the available space.  The image of Bond works to give the audience a clear idea of the characters personal traits. For example, the costume-work is used to show the sophisticated nature of the character, looking smart and perfectly clean whilst finding himself in a dangerous situation, which is highlighted by the prop of the gun which connotes action and violence (informing the audience of the genre). 

However, the character is also displayed as a dark and moody person, which is represented to the reader by the complete lack of colour surrounding the character as well as the lighting used, with half of his face in the shadows. This also carries connotations linking with the characters occupation (therefore giving audiences a better idea of the films plot), as being a spy would mean working in the shadows and remaining unseen all the time. The only colour that is used in the cover is reserved for the title of the magazine and a small print telling the reader that this is a limited edition cover, which are both shown in a gold colour, from which the reader can infer the character is used to the finer things in life with the colour of gold connoting wealth and riches.

  Locations are normally shown in poster and magazines covers to give the audience information about the film and to draw them in to want to see it, sometimes making the location one of the most prominent parts of the cover if it is one of the films main USP's. In this cover though it is the lack of information provided that would make the audience more intrigued. Instead the designer of the cover has opted for a plain white background in order to make the character stand out more. However, it is probably safe to assume that the audience of this magazine would be familiar with the Bond franchise and therefore more likely they would be familiar with the stereotypes of the typical Bond film, including the use of exotic locations. Here, none of the information regarding where the film is set is given, which would make audiences want to see the film even more. 

Magazine Cover Analysis #1

This is a  cover from Empire magazine that shows a still from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The image they have used is of one of the main dwarf characters, Thorin. The image itself works to make the character seem powerful, with it being taken from a slightly lower perspective than the characters height in order to make the audience "look up" to the character. The costume also emphasises this trait as the fur coat he is wearing makes him look bigger and more masculine, which are stereotypical traits of the archetypal action hero. There is also a lot of metal armour that the character is wearing, which also puts danger and war in the audiences mind and gives the character questions the audience will want the answer to.

 The layout of the cover is also interesting as the image comes before the magazine in that the name of the magazine is behind the characters head, making the film seem more important than the magazine itself, making audiences want to buy in order to see what makes this film so special. The falling snow that surrounds the character is made prominent to the reader as it suggests a cold atmosphere to the film, giving the audience a greater idea as to what the film will be like. This also gives the film stronger connections to the fantasy genre as opposed to the action genre, which audiences could be forgiven for misinterpreting as the films genre given the image of war and fighting that the armour would give across. This also helps in drawing in the key target audience of fantasy genre fans, particularly those unfamiliar with the Lord of the Rings franchise or those that simply do not know that this film serves as a prequel to that series.

 The font used for the film title is bold and typed in white in order to make it stand out. The boldness of the font has connotations of confidence and simplicity, as if the name itself should entice readers without the need for any extra editing to draw the readers attention. This gives the film an air of grandiose importance. To give the target audience extra incentive to buy the magazine "the ultimate issue" is written in bold capital letters which gives the audience the impression that there is something special about this particular issue which should make them want to buy it, even if they are not regular purchasers of the magazine.

In Bruges Poster Analysis

This is a poster for 2008 dark comedy In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes. The poster shows the 3 main characters looking at the camera holing guns and ice creams. This lets the audience know the film is a mixture of action and comedy with the juxtaposition of the guns danger and the ice creams light-heartedness. There is also a swan in the background which adds to this effect of light-hearted almost over-the-top comedy.

The costume-work consists of dark clothing for all 3 characters reflecting the mood of the film. It can also be inferred from the way the main character is wrapping his arms around himself and by the big jackets they are all wearing that the film is set in a cold location, which the film has highlighted by naming Bruges in the title of the film (along with "It's in Belgium" written underneath). It also looks like there is light snow on the ground in the poster, reinforcing this to the audience. They may have chosen to do this because it is one of the films main USP's, with most other action films conventionally set in warm exotic locations. This is also shown by the city buildings in the background which also work to give the audience an idea of what Bruges is like.

The title itself is written in large pink text and placed in the middle of the poster, which works to make the title stand out to the audience and stand out from the rest of the poster. The tagline for the film is "shoot first, sightsee later," which further combines the elements of action and comedy to make it clear to the audience what the films genre is. This tagline is written in a white text and placed in front of the main characters black coat in order to make this stand out as well, showing its importance. The 3 main actors names are also shown and made to stand out in the top left hand corner of the poster by separating it from the rest of the text. This would have been done to make audiences aware of who is starring in the film as they are big name actors who the filmmakers will want to show off in order to draw in audiences.

The Bourne Supremacy Poster Analysis

This is a poster for the 2004 action spy sequel The Bourne Supremacy,starring Matt Damon. The poster shows the lead character aiming with a sniper rifle with an exotic location shown behind him. The main purpose of this poster is to show off the actor to the audience, with Matt Damon being a big name in the action film genre with many fans, so simply showing him to be a part of the film will get a lot of people on board and wanting to see the film. This is why this is emphasised with "Matt Damon is Jason Bourne" written above the title, which also lets people know the main character. 

The second main part of this poster would be the sniper rifle being held by the main character as the appearance of a weapon is an obvious link to the action genre, therefore uninformed audience members know what to expect from the film. The gun also makes the main character seem more powerful and a bigger threat, making the audience want to see what violence he gets involved in in the film. This also raises questions as to who he is pointing the gun at and for people who are unfamiliar with the franchise, whether he is protagonist or antagonist. 

The tagline of the film is written in large writing at the top of the poster and made to stand out. "They should have left him alone," makes the audience question who "they" are as well as letting them know they can expect the character to be involved in conflict with other people, letting them know more of the films plot. The exotic location shown behind the character seems to show a European location such as Germany or Italy, which subverts the usual stereotype of mainstream action films being set in America. The poster works to make this obvious to the audience as the unusual location also acts as the films USP.

Bond Poster Analysis #2

This is the poster for 1995 James Bond film Golden-eye, starring Pierce Brosnan. The poster shows Bond pointing a gun towards the audience, with 2 women either side of him in revealing dresses. There is also a shot of Bond running away from an explosion with helicopters and jets behind him.

The poster lets the audience know straight away that it is a Bond film by having the 007 logo in a large gold font right in the centre of the poster. This lets the audience know straight away exactly what genre the film is and what franchise it belongs to. The gold colour used for the logo also links with the title. Bond is made to look like a typical action hero by the gun he is holding as well as the cold expression on his face. The 2 women are used to connote sex and romance which are clear stereotypes of any action film but are also specifically showing the audience who the "Bond girls" are for this entry in the franchise.

The title of the film is also made prominent on the poster so the audience knows what the film is called and is also a very interesting name that will have the audience wondering what it means. The part of the poster that shows Bond running away from the explosion also works to entice audience members into seeing the film as the explosion lets the audience know to expect large action set-pieces from this film, drawing in fans of that genre. The helicopters and planes are also stereotypical parts of chase scenes in action films so the audience knows to expect a chase scene in this film.

The Next 3 Days Poster Analysis

This is a poster for the 2010 thriller The Next Three Days starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. The poster shows the main character looking contemplative with a still from the film shown inside his head. The character is shown in grey with not a lot of colour featuring on the poster, giving the audience the impression that the film will have a dark moody atmosphere which conforms with the archetypal thriller film. This also helps the release date stand out as the colour of the text is red, making sure the audience notices this important piece of information. The other key pieces of text that are made to stand out is the title and the films lead actor, both standing out by the size of the font used and both being made noticeable in order to entice the audience into seeing the film.

Russell Crowe is a well-known highly rated actor that would make fans of his want to see the film which is why the poster wants to make his name stand out in order to show off the films lead actor. The title is also important to make stand out as it raises enigmas for the audience. People will want to know why the film has been called The Next Three Days, what needs to happen in the next three days? The poster also features a tagline of "what if you had 72 hours to save everything you live for?," which also asks questions of the audience and lets them know a little more about the films plot in order to draw them in.

The still from the film that is used shows a man (presumably the lead character) and a woman running down an empty train platform with a bag. This serves to let the audience know the film has action in it and will help to make more audience members want to see the film if they enjoy action films. It also raises more questions for the audience as they will want to see the film to know who or what these people are running from. The bag the man is holding is also an interesting prop that also raises questions as to its contents as if you are running away from someone/something you would only be carrying absolute essentials or something of importance. Therefore the audience will want to know what is in the bag.

The last key piece of information the audience can infer from the poster is that the film is set in America, like most mainstream films nowadays. This can be read from the train station the man and woman are running through with the train clearly part of the American subway rather than a UK or European train. Most films with a big budget are set in America as they can afford to film there and this also carries an air of importance to the film that you would not get if it were set in a smaller country such as France (although Pour Elle, the film The Next 3 Days was based off of, was set in France) or England.