Ancillary Text - Website

My first ancillary text is a website, created using wix.com, for the band whose music I have created a music video for. You can see it here.
The initial homepage has a slideshow of the band during the different albums they have made, so the audience can view their progress throughout their career and perhaps recognize them from certain albums. Below that is a title declaring my music video, which will prompt my audience to scroll down and see the linked Youtube video. Below that is a button which links to their album on iTunes.

Alongside their logo and band title at the top of the page is a bar to show various other pages that can be accessed. 'Meet The Band' will take them to a page where photos of the four band members (whose outfits correspond with the album that I've used in my video) and quotes can be found. The quotes inform the audience about what each band member is like.

The next tab is a gallery of photos of the band throughout the years to show how they and their music has changed and developed. You can click to enlarge each one.

Under 'More' is the sub tab 'What's Happening Now?' which will take the viewer to a quick paragraph and collection of photos of what each band member is doing after the split of My Chemical Romance. There are then links to each of the member's new work, along with links to their social networking sites to make it easy for the audience to discover more if they're interested.

I Never Told You - 1st Rendering!

Below is the first cut of my music video, I Never Told You What I Do For A Living.

The middle is currently missing, but the beginning and end are in place. I'm planning on adding titles to the speech scenes, because what they say is relevant to the plot. I'd also like to add a colour treatment to make the atmosphere gloomier to match the sinister story line. Overall, I'm progressing at a good rate!

Product Research - Deadpool Movie Trailer

As the new Deadpool movie trailer came out on August 4th, I thought I would write a quick analysis looking at the first minute.

The very opening shot is a fade-in to a medium close-up on a man and a women embracing, both of which have red eyes to indicate that they have been crying. The first line the audience hears confirms this. As the woman says "I love you, Wade Wilson. We can fight this." the camera shot jump cuts to a close up of them holding hands. This displays their close relationship, but the opening line and slow build of dramatic music implies there is something seriously wrong.

However, Wade's reply is darkly humourous and laced with sarcasm. This gives an insight into his character. It also shows an x-ray of the problems he's joking about, giving the audience an insight into the severity.

The intense music, combined with the narrative, and short clips of Wilson's backstory creates tension and excitement- the audience want to know the outcome of all these experiments.

It's obvious that the treatment Wilson gets is painful- one scientist who helps with the procedure says "One thing that never survives this place is a sense of humour." Wilson retaliates to this with some insulting comparisons to celebrities, which earns him a punch. This shows that he might be a bit too laid back for his own good, and that it will put him in trouble if he isn't careful.

At fifty seconds the atmosphere quickly changes. The Marvel logo flashes up and rap music starts. Initially the audience believe this is a non-diegetic soundtrack to set the mood again, but when the scene opens with a close-up on a radio with a sticker saying "Wade" in red crayon it is revealed that it's something that Wilson is listening to and muttering along to as he draws. His drawing is done in crayon, like the label of his radio, and in a very cartoon-y style. It's a scribbled doodle of Deadpool shooting a bad guy in the head, who is saying "Ouchie!" This makes it obvious that Wilson has a child-like mind and sense of humour sometimes.

Tertiary Research - The Horror Genre

I looked around on the internet and came across this case study, which proved useful to me as it is all about how the horror genre has developed, and why audiences love it so.

History

The horror genre started in literature, with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). However, from the 1930s to the 1970s horror films and novels were extremely unpopular due to them often being cheaply made. This changed in the 1960s with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho- a movie to actually get a review and one of the first horror films to be taken seriously. A little later two other horror films were released that were also accepted by mainstream audiences. These were Jaws (Directed by Steven Spielberg, 1975), and The Exorcist (Directed by William Friedkin, 1973).

As well as film, horror literature has also proved to be a big hit. Novelists such as Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Stephen King are among the most popular horror writers of today.

Codes & Conventions
The codes and conventions of horror are used in two ways. Firstly, as a way for an audience to recognise the genre. This is often what spurs the audience to buy the book/watch the film in the first place.

Secondly, for media producers to know what their audience is looking for, and to then supply them with that and make their piece a hit. An example of this is the Star-Wars/Space genre, which was quickly used by producers to combine with the horror genre and revive it.

Some examples of codes and conventions in horror are:

• A secluded location - The woods, a summer camp, a house in the middle of nowhere- a place where the characters have no one around to help them.
• Characters who forget about threat - If there is a curse or threat, the characters often seem to conveniently forget about it.
• Power cuts - At the height of tension the power goes out! No lights, no phones, no internet.
• Victim hides in front of a window or door - A very common and easy scare. The victim cowers against a door or window, only to have the killer break through and grab them a moment later.
• A stormy night - Very effective in terms of setting an atmosphere. This technique has been used since the days of Victorian horror.

Representation
Early horror films were a male-dominated genre. Women played the part of the victim and/or the object of desire. Many critics believe the horror genre is extremely misogynistic because even today there are still many horror films that follow this stereotype. As well as this, it is often found that sexually active "bad girls" are the ones to get murdered, while the pure "good girls" are the ones who are spared or rescued.

There has been some progress, however. Films such as Alien feature female leads, but it's interesting to note that these characters are masculinised- one of the most common lines a female lead says to a male is to "Man up".