DVD Case Research

I have a few initial ideas for my DVD case after completing my film synopsis. I have decided to research more the one idea for my DVD case due to my coursework being at an early stage and the synopsis and plot of the film having the possibility of changing through time, especially through the time of writing my story board for the trailer.

Idea #1: My first initial idea is to create a DVD case which includes a young female child zombie including the tag line 'our future generation'. The reason I think this would be so effective is because young female children are often connoted to the horror genre as they are seen as scary and creepy if used in the correct way (the model having the correct make-up, facial expression, etc.). Additionally, the tag line would relate to the visual image as well as relating to a phrase used by a general audience and therefore, they could recognise this. Some famous young female children actress I will use for inspiration for this style are: Isabelle Fuhrman (The Orphan directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, released 2009), Jodelle Ferland (Silent Hill, directed by Christopher Gans, released in 2006), Linda Blair (The Exorcist, directed by William Friedking, released in 1973).

Idea #2: My second idea is to focus on an extreme close up of a character's face with blood shot red eyes; this commutating evil and the mutation from human to zombie which relates to my film. The reason I think this would be so effective is because close up visual images of a characters face for a film poster (especially young women's faces) is a well-known and well used film poster image, especially films in the horror and thriller genre and therefore, is stereotypically associated with the genre of my film. Additionally, the massive use of this idea would mean that my target audience could relate to this film poster and know instantly what the genre of the film is because of their previous experience with this image.

Idea #3: My third idea is to focus on the actual zombie horror element of the film and include this on the front cover, doing so by including a scary creepy looking mutated zombie hand. The reason I think this would be so effective is because it gives the audience a slight insight into what to expect from the film, if the hand is editing to look scary enough like these DVD cases above, as it gives the audience the knowledge of how in depth the mutation in this film actually is. As well as the body language just a hand can send across to the audience, the grabbing motion relating to other zombie films and what codes and conventions the audience can expect to see from a zombie film which they would want to see.

Idea #4: My fourth idea is to focus the audience's attention on the military theme included in the film as well as the zombie horror element and use characters dressed in military army wear, holding military weapons like guns and grenades as well as a group of characters dressed as zombies in ratting torn clothes and pale bloody covered faces. I think this would be so effective because this bring the thriller and action sub genres into the horror genre and therefore, would attract a larger audience. Additionally, the use of a female character on the DVD case ranges again the audience of this film as this goes against gender stereotypes and therefore, attracts a larger female audience.