1. Evaluation part 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products

2. Our horror trailer was in keeping with many of the traditional horror
conventions. Using genre theory (a theory celebrated by Thomas Schatz in
his 1981 book Hollywood Genres) we decided that it was important to
stick to the forms and conventions of the horror genre in the attempt of
successfully displaying our product. This meant we kept matching our
target audience’s clear expectations as well as helping us as the film makers
understand what was needed to appeal to our target market. Key
conventions of a psychological horror film include collision cutting to
create tension, isolated locations and expressionist angles. The Woman In
Black (2012) was particularly useful in portraying these conventions as part
of the sub-genre, as it was purely in the psychological horror sub-genre
there was a distinct lack of body horror, enabling me to focus fully on the
main conventions.

3. In our trailer we used themes
such as loneliness and isolation,
separating our characters and
showing them getting
increasingly apprehensive to
communicate the idea that if
anything happened to them
they would be alone. This was
very reminiscent of the build-up
in The Blair Witch Project
(1999) and draws in an
audience of
mainstream/reformer teenagers
who enjoy psychological
horrors. We continued the
parallels with The Blair Witch
Project (1999) with our choice
of setting and location, using a
variety of barren locations as
well as forests to communicate
the feeling of entrapment.

4. We also kept to the conventions of real-life horrors in our style of
characters. The Hanging Tree clearly features representations of the
final girl, female victim, male hero and a psycho killer. By
conforming to these stereotypes the audience was able to quickly
establish a relationship with the characters. This means that the
audience feels at ease with the characters without needing a long
introduction to their character profile or personality. Our psycho
killer – the “hanged woman” - also portrayed the ideology of sadism,
wanting to inflict pain purely for the sake of inflicting pain. This
is similar to the sadistic serial killer Dr. Decker from
Nightbreed (1990) who kills his victims for the sheer delight of
watching them be in pain. While this could be discredited
looking at the killer’s flashback sequence suggesting that this
could be revenge, I feel that because there is no link between the
psycho killer and her new victims it can be assumed that she has
found a taste for pain that she is now trying to inflict upon others.

5. By adding in a flashback sequence
we not only broke up the story
telling aspect of our trailer but we
also added suspense as the
audience found out about the
killer. This section also created
interest in the pacing of our trailer
as it as it was the beginning of our
collision cutting section, as well as
the true start point of the story.
This is in comparison to Nightmare
on Elm Street (1984), where flash
backs are used to establish Freddy
Krueger’s back story as a child killer
who was burned to death.

6. In our editing and cinematography we also
followed the conventional horror conventions,
starting with a slow montage building up
tension and giving backstory. This pacing was
also vital in constructing an effective version
of a real life trailer, reminiscent of trailers like
The Amityville Horror (2009). After the slow
build-up in The Hanging Tree, we go into a
series of collision cuts between close-ups and
long shots to emphasize the collision between
the slow and quick montages. This sense of
pace was established when watching trailers
like 30 Days of Night (2007); we felt that this
lulled the watcher into a feeling of security
before taking them out of their comfort zone
with a quick sequence of the vampire’s attack.
Our final montage was equally as quick and
was comprised of around 11 shots at under a
shot per second, we felt that this would not
only disorientate the viewer but also gave a
sense of the drama and excitement that would
have featured in the full film. We chose to end
on the shot of the ‘hanging woman’, acting as
a type of jump scare while also trying to
establish an iconic antagonist similar to
Freddy Krueger and others.

7. I think that my auteur style was slightly
influenced by Tim Burton (an auteur in
his own right) in particular his film
Sleepy Hollow (1999). This was mainly
due to the fact that it was the first horror
film I watched, I feel that this influence
can be seen in particular in the sequence
where ‘Nicole’ is covered in blood. In
this sequence the blood appears to be
quite fake, this is similar to the blood in
Burton’s films that is used to contrast
with his used of muted greys on the
actor’s faces. This Sweeney Todd (2007)
appearance is particularly visible in the
ending of the trailer where the girl is
covered with bright blood, as well as in
flashback scene with the “hanged
woman” being killed. We found that we
liked this style of body horror as it
detached the audience from the brutality
just enough to remain graphic, while still
keeping a low age certificate.

8. I think that my individual auteur influence
can also be seen in the shooting and the
editing of both the flashback scene and the
falling scene. I think that my style here is
quite artistic and pretty, it isn’t something
that you would think to be part of a horror
film. I think that my auteur style is likely to
appeal to a female audience. I think that this
is particularly interesting as the female
perspective is rarely shown in horror films,
with male directors being more prominent,
despite around 50% of their audiences being
female. Saying this, there are horror films
directed by women that have gone on to do
well. Mary Harron’s American Psycho
(featuring Christian Bale) grossed around
£20,412,802.9 worldwide according to
boxofficemojo.com. And as far back as the
1950s, Ida Lupino directed The Hitch Hiker,
the first noir/horror to be directed by a
woman. This suggests that while being a
female horror director is unusual it is not
unheard of , and is certainly not a bad thing.