Titles
Friday the 13thThe superstition surrounding this day may have arisen in the Middle Ages, "originating from the story of Jesus' last supper and crucifixion" in which there were 13 individuals present, the night before his death on Good Friday. Which may explain the red blood on the 13 on the title. The jagged lines also shows the audience that this day is a day of challenges, so to speak. The contrast of the black and white may also symbolize the comparison of life and death.The use of the knife in the title suggests a theme of violence within the movie and adds to the tension the blood creates. Going back to the blood, it does not cover the entirety of the number 13, which could suggests that despite this day being grimace their is always hope even in terrible situations that someone may survive.
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The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead is a very unique title. The bold capital letters of the title suggests how 'bold' as well as brave the characters in the show have to be to survive against the walkers; as if they are hopeful, hence the clear sky in the horizon. The birds in the title are crows and crows symbolize the unfortunate and outbreak of death. They also add to the feeling of a derelict setting as they are seen a lot in the show on the horizon. As contradicting as it sounds, they create a sense of peace in a scary, lonely world. As it is called 'The Walking Dead', it immediately makes the audience think of zombies, which is the genre of this show. Obviously the word dead in horror is quite cliche, however I believe the word has multiple meanings. One meaning could be that the zombies are undead creatures but not only that the zombies are only a fragment of the characters' loved ones, which could symbolise the loss and the memories of their normal lives are also 'dead'. There is a use of quite dark colours in the title, which may suggest a sense of feeling trapped and/or sad.
World War ZThe title of World War Z is also a very interesting title as you would not expect this film to be horror related at first from the title. However, the title would suggest otherwise if you dissect the features and look for less obvious connotations. The massive Z in between the title suggests that Z stands for the threat (Zombies); the size of the Z therefore could suggest how massive the threat is potentially. The threat is so dangerous to society, it is as bad as The World Wars in the 20th century. Hence why the 'World War' phrase is used as it can spark attention from the audience looking for plots that are threatening to everything that society has stood for, it also adds to the effect the threat has throughout the movie. The colour has a steel texture to it, suggesting that the characters will be in need of armour/ reinforcements to protect themselves from the threat. The letter O also looks like a ring which could symbolises the need for everyone to stick together in a time of need; as the ring symbolises traditionally relationships just like a wedding ring.
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A Nightmare on Elm Street
The crimson red colour in 'A Nightmare' obviously suggests the colour of blood, therefore suggesting the potential harm that someone could come to in the film physically and emotionally due to the continuous deaths of teenagers in this particular film, for example. The red text is also not separated but joined together; which could symbolises that there is ultimately one person at large responsible for all these deaths and that they are all 'connected'. The block red text could also represent a row of houses just like in a street, to show that the scale is massive despite it being only on this particular street. The fact that the white text is so much smaller than the red suggests that it isn't as significant. It being white may suggest a sense of hope in this traumatising experience, but with it being so much smaller than the blood red, this will tell you that there may not be much hope throughout the film. The font is something you would see in a stereotypical halloween movie, which links to the theme of horror and creates a scary atmosphere.
PsychoThe word 'Psycho' is a short but sweet title that creates a lot of suggestions and connotations, because of the representation of this word, the audience may have a few thoughts on what the movie may be about by just looking at it. The long letters could suggests a long suspenseful plot with lots of scares and jumps along the way, which could be at least one explanation for the gaps in between the individual letters. Ignoring the rips for a moment, the letters are also unconnected which could be a metaphor for the seclusion of the main protagonist and/or loneliness of the antagonist. This would further explain the contrast of the black and white colours, as the black background, which represents the evil in the story, is trying to infiltrate the defenses of the main character to try and scare the audience. This fulfills the meaning of the word 'Psycho'. The tears in the title may suggest a tear in the reality of the antagonists life, which is why he became a psychopath.
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The Woman in Black
This particular presentation of the title represents the genre very well. They have called this movie "The WOMAN in Black" because they want to emphasise the fact that the main antagonist is a woman. This goes against the stereotype of women being weak in horror movies because it gives her all the power over the other characters. Calling the film this will make it obvious to the audience that this is not like other horror films, and will draw them in and make them want to watch it.
Unlike the others the contrast of the colours black and white is a lot more faded and cloudy suggesting that throughout the film it will be incredibly difficult to pick out the supposed villain's true intentions for the main character. The use of the word black symbolises the woman's sadness and or mourning, and gives her an overall mysterious atmosphere. Putting the woman in black makes her seem a lot more menacing and threatening to our main protagonist.
Unlike the others the contrast of the colours black and white is a lot more faded and cloudy suggesting that throughout the film it will be incredibly difficult to pick out the supposed villain's true intentions for the main character. The use of the word black symbolises the woman's sadness and or mourning, and gives her an overall mysterious atmosphere. Putting the woman in black makes her seem a lot more menacing and threatening to our main protagonist.
Our Trailer
We decided to go for a simple title within our trailer, as it is at the end we didn't want it to take away from the rest of the content. We wanted to use the dark, blue themed background with the faint rain particles over it so that the white title would contrast that and be really clear to our audience.
We as Blood Shot Productions are also aware of other titles that are included in trailers, such as the release date and subtitles to catch the audience's interest when they watch them. However, ultimately the titles themselves we believe are more important, as the title itself will not necessarily try to convince you like the sub-title, but will catch the eye of the right audience and kickstart their imaginations into a world of horror. |
Taglines
Friday the 13th"On the thirteenth day, He will rise again"
The producers of 'Friday the 13th' have used the word 'thirteenth' again in the tagline because it links the storyline and the title together. Using the phrase 'He will rise again' with an ellipsis at the end creates tension for a consumer looking at the DVD cover/Poster because the sentence seems unfinished and they will wonder what is going to happen. The use of the word 'rise' may resemble a growth in the character's hatred and anger, and it will be obvious throughout the film that he has been waiting to exact his revenge. |
The Walking Dead
As "The Walking Dead" is a TV Show, There are multiple different taglines for each season. Here are two of them:
"Fight the Dead, Fear the Living"
This tagline is short and straight to the point. As it is for one season of the TV show, it needs to be as self-explanatory as possible. This was the first season in the show that the characters had a lot of trouble with the living as well as the dead, and this tagline links back to that with ease whilst also being simple and easy to understand. |
"Hunt or be Hunted"
This was the tagline for season 5, it explains the fight the characters have to go through and the courage they need to survive in their circumstances. |
A Nightmare on Elm Street"If Nancy doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all"
Showing a picture of Nancy and also mentioning she will be screaming in the tagline, makes the audience sympathise with her and wonder what is going to happen to her. The verb 'screaming' shows the amount of emotion that the character holds, and how it will be a distressing experience for her whether she wakes up or not. There is another version of this particular tagline which is: 'If you don't wake up screaming, you won't wake up at all.' The use of the personal pronoun 'you' in this version includes the audience in the horror, and will make the overall effect more threatening and menacing overall. |
The Woman in Black"Do you believe in ghosts?"
The use of a question in this tagline will make the audience feel more involved in the action, it will make them think more in depth about how they would react in the situation the characters are in. It is coming from the point of view of the character, he is asking the opinion of the other characters in the film, but also the opinion of the audience. The fact that it is quite a simple question means that he is hoping for a simple answer, however it will still get the audience thinking as to what is going to happen and how the 'ghosts' come into play. |
Our Trailer
"Fulfilling Gods Will"
We decided to use this tagline for our trailer because we feel it goes with the overall theme of the trailer really well, it explains the link between the religious aspect and the murders as well as explaining why the murders are happening in the first place. We changed our tagline a few times before deciding on this one, it started with "On a mission from God" and we also came up with others such as, "God made him do it." However, we felt that they either didn't fit the genre or didn't sound as though they would fit the age of the trailer that well. |
- SB