CREATING SYMBIOSIS

How symbiosis will be utilized to appeal to the needs and

desires of a target audience

THE TA

For ‘The Basement’, the results of the

questionnaire and the focus group have been

especially helpful in allowing me to maintain

an effective symbiosis across my promotional

package, specific to my target audience’s

exact needs.

THE QUESTIONNAIRE

In regards to the results of the questionnaire, I was able to gain a basic idea of

what the audience would expect across my poster, front cover, and trailer.

Many highlighted the idea of the imagery shown on the poster and front cover

‘coming to life’ when applied to the trailer, and this immediately told me that I

had to include the shots used within these within the trailer itself i.e the face

pushing through the wall will be shown in motion through practical effects in

the trailer. This concept of breathing life into an already dynamic and visceral

image can be seen through the poster and trailer of ‘The Conjuring’ – the fact

that they are essentially continuations of each other makes the chances of the

film being remembered much higher, creating a larger audience.

THE FOCUS GROUP

With the focus group, the 8 participants’ feedback and ideas really allowed me to develop

and alter my three pieces of media symbiotically in ways I would not have thought before.

Hannah, in particular, stated that she preferred the content of older horror films but the

style and composition of more modern ones – and this idea has stuck with me throughout

the whole planning process. It has allowed me to develop a particular style recurrent across

all three pieces of media, but one that may be more prominent within the trailer especially.

Essentially, what I want to emulate is the fact that, although the story is unconventional and

more character-driven, the visuals and focus on old-fashioned scares will allude more to the

expressionist foreign horrors of the 1970s and ‘80s, such as Suspiria and Repulsion. This

will be able to be seen in my focus being directed towards creating an unforgettable,

visceral, bold image on the front cover and poster, while placing greater emphasis on using

atmospheric music and visuals to tell the story rather than the characters in the trailer.

THE FOCUS GROUP

Many participants expressed excitement at the concept of the devil in the basement but were sceptical when I told them it would be a CGI creation. Upon talking to these participants off the record, all seem to prefer a much more practical effects-based antagonist, with Darryl citing ‘Alien’ as a particular profound film for this reason. I happened to agree, and this made me re-evaluate not just the approach I was taking to the various antagonists, but how I would design and construct the entirety of my promotional package – I wanted a noticeable lack of special effects or digital enhancement to be prominent across all three pieces of media. With the poster, I achieved this by melting black crayons over a white piece of paper and superimposing it onto a picture of me crouching down underneath another wall, and with the trailer, I have decided to use no CGI or special effects and construct all the scares myself in the moment. The video shown above is an inspiration in how to work on a low budget and still create an effective horror.

SYMBIOSIS: THE SPECIFICS

Poster and magazine images will be seen in motion on the trailer.

Faded grey and vibrant blue colour scheme will be maintained

across all pieces of media.

Same fonts used in straps on trailer as slogan on poster. Film title

will retain the same colour and font also.

The concept of the devil being shown only in silhouette will be the

focal point across all three pieces of media.

The symbolism of drips/dripping (no matter what form of liquid it

takes) will be seen across all three pieces of media, symbolising the

slow degradation of sanity and the corruption of goodness.