CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

 In Charlotte, the main social group represented is the modern teenager. Our characters are around 18 and in many ways are stereotypical rule-breaking miscreants. Emily, the central figure, is the bravest of them all and represented as nerdily knowledgeable about ghost-hunting, driving the others’ motivation. As a strong female, she subverts the stereotype of the weak damsel in distress. The boys also subvert the stereotype of intrepid leading men, being very unsure of following Emily. We chose not to show their lives outside of the night presented in our film as we wanted the motivation to like the characters to come straight from how they react to danger. I used stereotypes such as the Last Girl trope by Carol Clover to allow the audience familiarity. However, I used anti-stereotypes in many of the features in Emily, Jack and Gibby’s personalities. In horror, many characters seem one-dimensional; we challenge this with our multi-faceted, nuanced characters. Online film reviews reflect my own findings in my audience questionnaire responses that many people’s complaints about horror characters are that gender behaviours were very set in stone so we took some more sensitive traits and put the boys into the weaker status to create audience empathy.

Some issues in our film relate to the paranormal: Emily comes face-to-face with a demon in disguise and this is presented as a deceptive plot. While Emily is stronger than the average female in the horror genre, we decided not to show the actual meeting, instead introducing it from the boys’ discovery of Emily’s possessed body. We also looked at issues like the consequences of actions as Emily dies from her reckless actions, and this was something that we felt is not addressed in many horror movies. Instead the genre veers towards the characters dying because they were simply in the wrong place. Teen psychologists, such as Professor Tanya Byron, write about the teenage brain and its development, suggesting that reckless behaviours and a sense of invincibility is a normal part of growing up; the sense of adventure that Emily and her friends manifest is easily recognisable behaviour for our target audience and goes some way towards explaining why this film genre is a teen favourite.

My promo pack branding largely uses the same colour palette of black and gold. Horror trailers and posters often appear very dark so I wanted to connote that our film belongs to the horror genre. We also decided that, because our main ghost is royal, the colour gold would show the audience the significance of Charlotte’s character status. These font colours are used across the poster and website to give a sense of coherence. The tagline “She’ll be Waiting” is featured on the website and the poster prominently. Both the poster and the website feature action shots of running, and the main image of Emily’s possessed body outside the Belvedere. Our company ident for ACT Productions uses a glitch effect as this features heavily in our trailer. This matches the neon style colours and distorted effect on the poster. Our social media, linked on the poster and website, all features simplistic black backgrounds with clues about the film written in white lettering. We felt this would create a sense of mystery which is important to the horror genre. At the moment our social media does not feature any behind the scenes shots or images from the film itself as we want to build up tension gradually. We will introduce clips from the trailer in time, but taking inspiration from The Blair Witch Project, we will introduce the cast after the release, as this also makes audiences feel more attached to the characters.

My poster clearly belongs in the paranormal horror genre as its colour palette is dark and the only colour used is to outline the objects in the poster. Emily’s possessed body is the centre of visual interest which shows the audience a big moment that the trailer leads up to. This warns the audience of danger whilst also intriguing the audience as to why her body is there. The film title is in a gold, regal font which attracts the audience. The tagline also brings attention as it references Charlotte herself with ‘She’ll be waiting.’ Our star talent is in the same font at the top and the essential information such as release date are clearly shown under the title.

At the centre of my promo pack are my trailers. My trailers are very fastpaced to show the audience the dangers within the story, which conform to horror tropes. My trailer introduces all three teenagers, Emily, Gibby and Jack, showing the boys after the events of the night as opposed to the last footage of Emily taken. My audience are able to catch glimpses of their personalities but ultimately will be hooked in as the trailer uses mystery to surround the characters. The sounds and dialogue build to a climax, with lines such as ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ warning the audience of what might happen. The trailer format for horror films can vary massively so ours mimics The Blair Witch Project with minimal intertitles to make the audience feel unsettled about whether the film events actually happened.

My website immediately grabs attention with footage of someone running as well as the film title. As the audience scrolls down, the images move with the scroll, making the audience feel they are being watched. The main colour palette is black and gold like the poster which shows the horror genre. The synopsis is a small scroll down, making it very accessible and the tabs on the top bar make it very easy to navigate the website, The gallery shows small clips from the trailer and the meet the cast has clear photos with a small resume for each cast member. The social media is accessible from every page, and the blog style portion boasts of small reviews and accolades. These are local to our area and build up the credentials for Charlotte as it shows audiences that the film is critically acclaimed and high quality.

I focused on the found footage subgenre in horror, in particular The Blair Witch Project trailer. I liked the fastpaced action style the trailer utilised and have tried to emulate this in my own trailer. At first I used a portrait orientation to create the found footage style but this did not work so I refilmed a lot of my work. By explaining the three main characters' objective, and hinting at a grisly end for Emily, this created an enigma and sense of mystery that a good horror trailer would use. By making the main characters teenagers it appeals to our target audience of teens as they see themselves. The poster and website both use stills from the trailers in order to create a cohesive brand. Both trailers use the same music and voice-overs, as well as most clips, with each trailer containing a few different clips to keep the audience hooked. 

My poster shows a pivotal moment in the story, to hook the audience as they will wonder what has happened and what will happen. The poster, website and trailers are all dark with pops of gold to show a cohesive but dark colour palette. Emily is located right in the centre of the shot and I utilised the art of perspective to draw an audience to Emily.

My website links to reviews of the film, as well as our social media. We used instagram and twitter as this is where the majority of our target audience are located. My trailers and poster feature on the website to allow the audience to view the entire promotional package in one location.