2. SECTION A: HOW DID YOUR HORROR TRAILER
FIT THE HORROR GENRE?
Our horror trailer fit the horror genre as it contained several conventions
needed to fit the form. Thomas Schatz (Hollywood Genres, 1981), the critic
behind the genre theory, said that including generic conventions into a
media product is more important than context or a specific auteur style.
Whilst making our trailer, we took this on board and made sure our trailer
was filled with conventions such as low key lighting, close-up camera
angles and a typical scary plot with an open ending so the audience is
unaware of what will happen in the movie. An example where we use low
key lighting is where the ghost character says at the end “I‟m back”, and
we chose to manipulate the lighting to enhance the darkness and scariness
of the scene, it is quite a powerful, threatening shot as she has returned to
seek revenge, so the darkness shows that she is relentless and won‟t hold
back. Also, it is a very typical convention to use darkness in horror trailers
and (as Schatz said of all genres), most horror trailers should contain
similar conventions so it is clear to the audience which genre the trailer is
suggesting. The darkness in the shot also relates quite a lot to the ghost
character. She had a miserable life and was slightly insane, she ended her
own life to seek revenge on the family. The darkness becomes almost a
form of pathetic fallacy, representing a night-time world of sadness and
death. To see another
trailer (Insidious)
which uses low key
lighting, click the
image to the right.
3. SECTION A: HOW DID YOUR HORROR TRAILER
FIT THE HORROR GENRE?
Another horror convention we used is close-up camera angles. These are vital
when it comes to horror films as they make the audience feel uncomfortable as if
the close up is invading the audiences personal space. We use several of these
throughout our trailer, but I believe the two with the most impact are the one
where the mother finds out the baby has been taken and it‟s an extreme close up
on her face and you can see tears in her eyes. This close up is used to show the
audience how devastated and unstable she is, and adds another dimension to
her reaction. We feel sympathy for her even though she has hit her husband, and
but as you see her eyes watery and vacant, this encourages the audience to feel
„close‟ to her, a typical effect of close ups. The second most powerful example of
a close-up is used for a different reason. The jump scare at the end of Lullaby
has the ghost start by looking up but then her eyes flicker down to the camera.
The close up on the jump scare at the end is used differently, it is used to scare
the audience and make them feel uncomfortable as the horrifying face is so
close to the camera. As well as feeling claustrophobic to the viewer, it almost
victimises the audience and threatens them directly: as if to say “you might be
next”. These two shots wouldn‟t be as successful without a close-up used, and
both horror films and trailer rely on powerful close-ups.
To see another
trailer (The Devil
Inside) which uses
close-ups, click
the image on the
right.
4. SECTION A: HOW DID YOUR HORROR TRAILER
FIT THE HORROR GENRE?
When it comes to horror endings, we could conventionally either do an
unhappy ending or an open ending. In a sense, both are included in our
trailer. The “ending” of the mother‟s life would be considered an unhappy
ending, however our trailer consciously doesn‟t give away what happens in
the film. This open ending structure is vital to teaser trailers. It forces
audience members to want to go to see it so they get the answers they
have after watching the trailer. Will the family survive? Or will they ward off
the ghost? The trailer‟s openness intentionally “teases” the full narrative.
In this trailer, quite a lot is given
away. The plot is very obvious
and when you’ve watched it you
feel satisfied with the storyline so
wouldn’t necessarily go to watch
it. Although it is a good,
interesting trailer and most likely
a good, interesting horror film, too
much is given away. To watch the
trailer click the image to the left.
However, in this trailer for Sinister you’re left
asking questions about what may happen. It
makes you want to go to watch the film to find
out the full storyline. This is something that
we wanted to achieve with our trailer. To
watch the trailer, click the image above.
5. SECTION B: HOW DOES YOUR TRAILER FIT THE
CONVENTIONS OF HORROR TRAILERS?
The main thing to get right when making a horror trailer I believe is pacing.
There needs to be the correct ratio between fast montage and slow
montage to create suspense and to impact the audience with lots of quick
shots to add to the fear. With Lullaby, we tried to create this by using quite
slow editing at the beginning so the audience can establish the storyline of
the abducted baby and suicide. However, by the end of the trailer with fast
montage of multiple scary shots and jump scares. At first we struggled with
the beginning section as the pace was too slow, but we did some re-shoots
and made it more visually interesting by using different camera angles
(particularly the low angle of Joe picking up the baby) and eerie “lullaby”
music.
In the trailer Mama, I think they have got really good
pacing levels. The beginning, like ours, is a lot of
establishing and slower paced shots. Towards the end
its aiming to scare the audience so uses more snappy,
quick shots. This is the kind of thing we aimed for in our
trailer.
To watch this trailer click the image to the left.
6. SECTION C: WHAT AUTEUR INFLUENCE DID YOU
BRING TO THE FILM
The horror aspect that interests me the most and I feel like I connect with is
psychological horror and I especially enjoy the work of auteur and “Master
of Suspense” Alfred Hitchcock. In his films (such as Psycho and North by
Northwest) I believe he creates suspense extremely well by the use of slow
montage then contrasts it (collision cutting) with a quick montage to
maximise shock. This is something I tried to recreate towards the end of
my horror trailer, using a quick sequence (emphasised with flashing dark
and light) to create a sense of panic.
The skills which I felt I delivered were the ability to act and a meticulously
detailed editing technique. Acting, to me, is something I love and value
very much, and although it isn‟t technically important for this project, I
wanted to achieve the best acting which I could to add to the realism of the
trailer. This is because I‟m a perfectionist when it comes to projects which I
care about, which explains the thorough editing process we went through
to achieve the overall trailer. These two specific objectives I wanted to
achieve are almost like my own person auteur style, with every film I make,
I‟d want to make sure the acting was top notch and it was sophisticatedly
edited just like Hitchcock‟s films. To see an
example of
Hitchcock’s
extremely talented
suspenseful
editing, click the
image to the right.
