Priest: Director's Featurette

Priest: Final Cut

Priest: Evaluation Screening

Priest: Evaluation Cut

Evaluation part 4: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Evaluation part 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

What key aspects and conventions did you include in your poster?

 

My poster, on the left, features many conventions that put it into the horror genre. For example it features a psycho killer character holding their murder weapon of choice whilst standing in a creepy location which is another convention of the mise-en-scene. Although it’s still quite brightly lit compared to the Amityville Horror poster, my poster also features low key lighting with the Priest’s outfit and nearby gravestones being contrasted pitch black, to connote death and represent the link between death and that the Priest will kill. The poster also plays with themes of loneliness and isolation as the Priest is represented to be in a small and lonely graveyard by himself which has creepy connotations attached to it. This creepy connotation can be reinforced by the fact that the Priest has his back to the camera which hides his face and therefore also represents a lack of humanity as the audience isn’t able to connect with the character.

The coverlines for the poster are red which gives connotations of danger and threatening horror, and represents some main themes in the horror genre. The main title, ‘PRIEST’ is in white which connotes a degree of innocence that in turn represents the religion the Priest believes in. However this font also has a small red border surrounding it and connotes that despite the good intentions of the religion it can still be dangerous as it can have extremists that taint the religion and make it appear evil.

Conventionally, the billing block is put into the bottom third of the poster so not to draw the audience’s attention which allows them to focus on the main image and coverline that will sell the film too them and make them want to see it. Despite this the poster also has certain unconventional aspects. For example the framing on my poster shows the Priest on the left hand side of the frame whilst the right hand side if the frame is left empty to further connote themes of isolation and reinforce the representation of the film to be weird and put the audience on the edge of their seat and make them uncertain of what to expect.

 What key aspects and conventions did you include in your magazine cover?

My magazine cover, on the left, features many conventions that put it into the horror genre. For example it features the antagonist, a psycho killer character archetype, to be framed in a powerful position and shot from a low angle which reinforces the ideology that he uses his power in an evil way. My magazine cover also features low key lighting with a spot light on the antagonist’s face to connote how the Priest stands out against the dark with the light of religion and his cross, which is also illuminated. His clothing is black which blends in with the dark and represents him to be bad. However, the religious imagery is brightly coloured, thus reinforcing the ideology of the film that it’s not religion that’s bad but individual extremists. 

The magazine cover is also designed to be similar to a classy and stylish magazine, such as Sight and Sound and features many conventions of that genre of magazine. For example my magazine cover features a bold red font for the masthead to give connotations of horror, danger and fear which is also what a ‘jump scare’ is supposed to do to the audience. My cover also features lots of white coverlines, to appeal to the eye, and extra information about the articles as so to intrigue the audience and make them interested in picking the magazine up and wanting to read the content inside.

How do your ancillary products fit into the style of your trailer and what audience were you aiming for?

The magazine cover and movie poster fit into the style of the trailer as they all feature a variation of low key lighting or darkened backgrounds in order to make the Priest appear darker and “washed out” in the lighting, further connoting that the Priest is evil and surrounded by darkness to represent how he’s too extremist in his religious beliefs. All 3 also feature the Priest to be shot from a canted, or other, low expressionist angle to represent that he is slightly warped and is powerful in the way he manipulates his religion to kill those that go against it, even in the slightest way.

For my ancillary products I was aiming for a target audience that would match the age group of the trailer, which is 18+, as the age group is also at the centre for the main demographic of the psychological/action horror genre. Due to the age group being high it means that I’m not limited with the amount of horror conventions I can show in my work and examples of body horror, restricted narration and expressionist angles are used to represent the horror that will be present in the final film.

Screenshot from my trailer

My horror poster

My horror magazine cover

Evaluation part 3: How did use media technology in the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages?