For our media coursework, we had to work in groups to think
of a horror film plot and make a trailer for it. Individually we had to also
make a poster and a magazine cover for our product. We especially liked the
Woman in Black trailer and Ouija trailer as inspiration for our own trailer.
This screenshot of
the woman in black trailer is near to the beginning and just before there are
scenes of a creepy house and marsh. Then while this scene is playing and for
most of the rest of the trailer, there is a voiceover which doesn’t reveal too
much, but also explains the main basis for the plot of the film. After the
beginning fist shot in our trailer, we too used a voiceover as in the feedback
sessions, people said that our storyline was clear so we added the voiceover to
make it easier for people to understand.
Our
other inspiration was Ouija. At the beginning of the trailer there is a shot
reverse shot of two characters talking, and we like this way of showing a
conversation between two people and being able to get both of their expressions
in. While in the Ouija trailer you can hear them talking and in ours you can’t,
we still decided to use the shot type as inspiration.
Another aspect of some trailers
we liked, were the blank screens in between scenes that showed text which
further helped the audience to understand that plot as you can see above in our
trailer and a screenshot from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
This next screenshot is a little
blurry as it is more of an action shot, but I really liked it when you have a
character running away in terror/fear as it adds to the atmosphere of the film
and helps you feel for that character more. I also liked the way in The Blair
Witch Project the girl is actually screaming which obviously suggests she is in
some sort of trouble. So we added the shot of our character running away from
her murderer and we used a wide angle shot because it lets the audience see
more of where our character is.
Trailers are a key part of
advertising your media product. If you were to just simple make a poster or
advertise in a magazine, you aren’t just limiting the amount of people you
reach, but you aren’t really engaging with them in the same way a trailer does.
The problem with posters is that you can only fit so much onto the page and you
can exactly write up a synopsis about the film to put on the poster as posters
are meant to be eye-catching and shouldn’t require that much thought. Whereas
trailers allow you to fit more information and in a more interactive way
because the audience can actually see what your film is and what it’s about; it
is made to capture the audience even more than the poster and entice them more
to want to come and see the film.
Horror films generally include
screaming, creepy sounds/music and dark and light contrasting scenes. They
could also include shot types such as low angle shots on the antagonist to show
power over their victims and wide angle shots to set the scene. With a lot of
horror films, sexual scenes go hand-in-hand with the gruesome scenes, which may
be part of getting a wider demographic in to watch the film.
Typical settings
for horror films include forests/woods/marshes/deserts- any place where the
victim is even more vulnerable due to little or no contact with the outside
world or just the fact that they can’t escape. Horror films also tend to prey
on people’s fears; ‘Buried’ is a film where a man is trapped in a box
underground and (spoiler) ends up being buried alive after authorities fail to
find him in time. So, you could say that film preys on the fear of being buried
alive or claustrophobia. Films like Saw and Texas Chainsaw Massacre prey on
people’s fear of being abducted; in a place they aren’t familiar with, unable
to contact the outside world and being tortured and chased. There are so many
fears out there; I think it would be possible to make a horror film based on
pretty much any fear. In a way I feel this is why they are so successful-
people are always going to have fears and I think there is a part of us that
likes being scared, especially as we know that we can walk away at the end of
it.
I think it is important to follow
the conventions of horror films, but if you never try anything new, if you
never push the boundaries, they will get boring and predictable and people will
lose interest over time. However, if you completely change the conventions of
horror films in one go, people probably won’t accept it and it probably
wouldn’t be received very well.
The start of our trailer is
accompanied by soft, cheerful music because we wanted to create a contrast
between then and now. There is a voiceover at the beginning which explains more
of the plot than dialogue alone would have, yet dialogue is used when necessary
to further the plot.
I am happy with how our trailer
turned out, but I’m not sure on some aspects. For example, sometimes the music
stops suddenly where it could have been faded out and I don’t think it is that
‘scary’. There is one point towards the end where the music is building and
then suddenly a shot comes in and interferes with the atmosphere. I think the
tension could have been built up more and maybe a few shots were a little too
long, but I’m glad we sorted out the order of shots better as before the order
didn’t make as much sense. I like the end shot as it brings back the scary
atmosphere and I like the sudden ‘boom’ sound which gives you a little jump. So
whereas it might not be as professional, I think it does follow the conventions
of a typical horror trailer however I think maybe there could have been some
darker shots as horror films set in the day don’t tend to be as scary really.
