horror trailer research

1. Research
Adam Lepard

2. Us-trailer 2019- Jordan Peele
• The main concept of the film shown in the trailer is how the family are under attack by evil doppelgangers of themselves and the use of costumes, acting and
effects are used perfectly as seen in the trailer to convincingly show that these characters are all sharing the same space and each have different personalities.
The trailer shows this in shots from a scene where the family are introduced to their evil doubles for the first time and we see how the doubles are similar yet
more aggressive in appearance due to their completely red clothing which is used to show them as threat and the way the doubles are acted quickly shows the
viewer that the clones have personalities that are over-exaggerations of the families dynamic, with the mother being controlling, the son being treated like a
pet, the daughter being a fast runner/achiever and the farther being silent. This use of acting and costume design clearly shows the audience that the copies are
a threat to the family without needing to explain their role in the film through dialogue, the viewer can clearly see their role as the antagonists of the film.
Although I’m not working with great actor I will still need to give my actors a detailed description of their characters actions, personalities and characteristics so
that I can get the best performances I can get the best performances I can for the trailer.
• The effects to show two characters played by the same actor in the same shot is convincing as there is no point in the trailer were you can question the editing
of the shot as there are no visible flaws in the image. Throughout the trailer we see the characters in various different locations with the mother being depicted
as the main character of the film as she has the most screen presence in the trailer however this also leads the viewer to speculate whether any of the other
characters survive in the film. The use of separate and varying locations throughout the trailer is used to intrigue the viewer as they would question how the
characters got to this point and this could convince them to watch the film to see how the story unfolds. I plan to film in various locations in order to show that
the film will take place in several environments as this would create intrigue and variation.
• Us trailer- The trailer uses a clever and interesting way of
conveying the horror elements of the film by dissecting and
reassembling the song “I got five on it” to give the song a theme
of horror. This works well with the trailer as we associate the
use of high pitched string instruments in this version of the
song with the moments of the trailer intended to frighten the
viewer. The main appeal in the use of sound design is how this
would draw in an audience from people who liked the song
originally and from people who saw the originality in this use of
music and horror. In my trailer I would like to try to deconstruct
music in the same way to create a disturbing tone for the
trailer.

3. Us-2019-Jordan Peele
• The posters for the film suit it’s themes and premise as symbolism is used in
several areas such as the white font that stands out from the dark red colour of the
background, the font splits into two which reflects the idea of the doppelgangers in
the film this is also seen in the pair of golden scissors that the character is holding
which symbolizes the two characters being forced together like how the two blades
in the scissors are forced joined. The type of shot used in the poster is a close up so
it’s telling the viewer to focus on the center where the character is holding their
weapon .The scissors can be seen as a more more detailed take on the murder
weapons of horror film villains such as Jason’s machete from Friday the 13th where
the killers trademark weapon is an important aspect in showing the danger of the
character, in Us the scissors are given meaning as they represent the motive of the
antagonist as they want to cut off the double that they are symbolically attached
to.
• Red outfit out the character implies that the character is dangerous while the
leather glove that the character wears also implies this it could also be taking
inspiration from the typical leather gloved killer like how I planned in my initial
plans. The golden scissors also stand out as they are are in center frame and their
bright colour draws attention to it and how the sharpness of the blade shows
dangerous intentions.
• In my trailer and poster design I could have the killer use a weapon that can
represent their motives or intentions, as this develops the killers phycology and
design. I also need to choose a font that can represent the themes of the film
which is mainly about the mystery of the missing people so I was thinking of
designing missing posters then cutting letters out of them to create a font that suits
the films plot.

4. Suspiria-trailer 2018- Luca
GuadagninoI chose to look at Suspiria as I believe that the trailer used several interesting techniques to
get the viewer interested in the film as a horror concept and as a remake.
The film was shot in film which is meaningful as it’s trying to represent the time period of the
1970’s where films would be shot on film so the trailer looks authentic to the time period the
film imitating and the original film of Suspiria(1977) I decided to add a film grain to my trailer
for similar reason as I also wanted my film to feel like it’s clearly taking influence from the
original Suspiria without directly copying it’s colourful nightmarish style.
The composition and settings shown in the trailer are used to build a sense of tension and
atmosphere in shots which establish the dance academy and the Berlin wall as central settings
in the film. Some shots are focusing on disturbing imagery such as the metal hook which to a
kind of weapon used by the teachers of the dance school and imagery of demonic looking
hands hint at a supernatural element to the film. The use of dark imagery in a setting that
should be normal creates the impression that the teachers can’t be trusted and that there is a
dark mystery behind the school. The use of dark imagery which is reflected through the
setting would be a good way to create a sense of dread in the atmosphere of my trailer.
The acting in the trailer is used to show that the students at the academy are frightened and
disturbed by the thought that they could be pawns in a larger plan by the teachers this is done
convincingly through the characters acting as they cry and they use their voice to sound
venerable which makes the viewer invested in what the student saw to make them this
distraught. The use of colours in the trailer is useful for showing the stylistic elements in the
film and how it uses more natural lighting so it’s more surreal elements feel less natural and
the film feels like it’s telling it’s own story while touching on plot elements from the original.
I want my trailer to feel like it’s taking inspiration from films such as Suspiria yet bringing my
own originality a style to the film.
The costume design in the trailer works well to create
an unnerving atmosphere in the film as the designs
clearly differentiate the teachers from the students as
the students wear clothing for dance whereas the
teachers wear smart clothing that looks long and
flowing like a cloak. The dance performance clothes
for the students looks disturbing as it’s pattern looks
similar to a pentagram which relates to the
supernatural elements of the film with the teaches
being witches and the students dance seeming like
some kind of ritual. I need to make costume choices
in my trailer that relate to the personality of the
character such as dark and covering clothing for
mysterious/sinister characters or dull clothing for the
main character who feels threatened and depressed
by the disappearances going on around them.

5. Suspiria- 2018- Luca Guadagnino
• The film poster for Suspiria works well for conveying a sense of horror
and surrealism in the film. The poster uses a range of different font
choices for the title which implies that there could be weird/surreal
events in the film as the titles font seems disorganized. The font has a
colour scheme of red, orange, grey and black which suits the similar
colour design of the poster with the light background and the smear of
blood that goes from red to orang. This blood clearly displays the film as
horror themed as the black outlined eye emerging from the blood are
nightmarish imagery which suits the body horror of the film. The font
looks like it’s descending from left to right which can be seen as symbolic
as it could represent a characters decent from good to bad or from
realism into the surreal/horror.
• The eyes could be seen as a way of showing each of the actors in the
film however it could also be seen as a symbolic way of showing that the
characters cannot be trusted, eyes are something that people look at
when we want to know whether someone is lying which is something
that the poster could be focusing on as the film features characters who
are keeping secrets from others for their own personal gain.
• In my poster/cover design I will need to experiment with designs to
make sure that it suits themes of my film which I would feature in my
film (horror, mystery, missing people, cults/the supernatural). This would
be challenging as I would need to plan fonts that I would like to use, a
colour scheme that would fit the design of my trailer, symbolism or
references to the films that I could use and how this would all work
together to show themes of the film.

6. Uzumaki- manga 1999- Junji Ito
• The manga Uzumaki works well as a horror story as it’s concept
works well in it’s originality without ever feeling like it runs out of
ways to show uses of a spiral in horrifying ways. The book is focused
on the shape of a spiral and who this shape could be evil or a force
beyond our control, basically the main horror element of Uzumaki is
the concept of a spiral pattern and although this may seem like a
weird thing to show as a horror the reality that spirals can be found
in many things from snail shells and cloud formations to parts of the
human body such as the finger tips and the inside of your ear and
once we realize this that’s when the horror begins as we see how
Junji Ito can use body horror in various way to show how terrifying
he can make a pattern. The detail put into the designs in some pages
is enough to make the reader cringe and the absence of colour
makes the reader see the graphic gore of the horror in black and
white which in some ways adds to the stylistic elements of the
manga as we see disturbing disturbing detail in each pen stroke.
• The plot of Uzumaki interested me for my final project as it takes place in a
small town where strange incidents begin happening and slowly escalate in
horror which is similar in concept to my idea of disappearances seemingly
becoming more disturbing as time goes on. The spiral pattern in Uzumaki
represents curiosity evolving into obsession which is used effectively in the
story as it shows that the more the protagonist is involved in incidents
across their town the more horrifying the imagery will be as they are more
obsessed with the spiral. I wanted to have a similar incentive for the main
character in my horror trailer as I feel like I need a reason for the character
to keep delving into the horror of their situation I can do this by showing
that the main characters life is on the line or the lives of people close to
them are at risk unless they discover who’s taking people. Junji Ito uses the
layout of manga pages to scare the reader as he will draw a reaction shot of
a character before he shows the scary/detailed image which will normally
be on the next page so the reader must turn the page in order to see the
creature this is how tension is used in his manga to create build up and pay
off as the reader must make the decision to turn the page.

7. Uzumaki- manga 1999- Junji Ito
• For the front cover of Uzumaki the title is in bold capital
letters so it stands out against the background and although
the font choice doesn’t directly relate to the story the spiral
pattern behind it symbolizes that the main horror from this
story will be from the idea of a spiral. The red of the spiral
pattern makes it stand out from the monotone background
which gives the viewer the indication that the spiral is
important in this story while the red hints at the danger of
spiral. In my poster or cover design I want to use colour
theory to show danger/horror and using a design like the
spiral could also be a clever way of implying themes of the
film.
• The background is just a panel from the manga that’s been
inverted to look more fitting as the design of the cover and
although it shows a small look at the horror of the spiral by
showing it’s effect on peoples hair it also would’ve been nice
if there was an original design for the front cover that wasn’t
already in the manga. The tag line for the book is “spiral into
horror” which is effective in telling the reader the themes of
the manga as the line makes it sound like reading the book is
choosing to delve into the horror while also implying that the
evil in this story comes from the spiral. I could use a tag line
in my cover/poster however I also need to make sure I don’t
add too much detail to my design or it could very easily end
up looking messy or cramped so I need to develop the layout
of a cover/poster design.

8. Research Analysis• What common features do the researched products have?
• An element of originality in the design and acting of the antagonists in the film to differentiate the film from similar horror products.
This was seen in Us with the doppelgangers, Suspiria with the theme of dance to show horror and Uzumaki’s disturbing use of detail in
it’s shading and depiction of body horror.
• The films use music and sound design as a way to further develop the terrifying imagery, this is something that I would definitely need
to use in my trailer as I think that it makes the trailer more intense and definitely more appealing to fans of horror.
• The trailers use symbolism in some aspects such as the scissors in Us or the Hands in Suspiria this appeals to the viewer as it’s an
element of mystery that can be interpreted in various ways until the release of the film, a recent trend in YouTube channels is
discussing what certain things could happen in the film and what certain imagery shown in trailers could represent.
• Each cover/poster design has bold lettering, the font is normally used to represent themes or stylistic elements of the product. The
colour design is usually used to show colours related to horror such as red and black. Symbolism is often used to show horror elements
of the product or themes of the product.
• Tension is used in the trailers and the manga to get the viewers invested what will happen next this can be done by a build up of music,
a sequence of sound effects or reactions from characters to imply that the viewer will have a similar reaction to whatever they see.
• What aspects of the research will you include within your own production work?
• I what to include the use of music/ interesting sound effects in my trailer as this will effect the build up my trailer so it would interest
the viewer.
• I want to use dark imagery in my trailer however I would need to further plan this as body horror would require a lot of time, make up
techniques and relying on someone to help achieve this effect so for now I should think of ways to avoid showing this without losing a
sinister/disturbing atmosphere
• The trailers for Suspiria and Us use multiple different uses of camera angles and camera motions to show off the environment in
various spots. This is something I want to use in my trailer as I think it would give the trailer a creepy yet detailed atmosphere but I
would need to film in interesting ways or scenic areas.
• I can use colour design, font choices, symbolism and layout in my cover/poster design to create a simple or detailed design that
represents the themes of the film and implies the films genre.

9. Audience Research

10. Secondary Audience research
• The pie chart shows that more men than women
watch horror films by 10% which shows that I might
need to make the film appeal to men as they would
be more likely to watch a horror film, I think less
women watch horror as they could be put off by
the gore whereas men my go to see gore and to get
scared. I would like to make my horror film appeal
to both genders as I think that anyone should be
able to enjoy getting scared however I also want my
trailer to include some gore elements so this might
be seen as unappealing to a female audience.
• The bar charts show that the main age for people
to go and watch horror films is from 18-24 and I
think this is because a lot of horror films are an 18
age rating so a younger audience can’t watch the
films. I was planning for my trailer to be aimed at a
target audience of 18-24 year olds so these
statistics confirm that I was right about which
audience would go to see a horror film. I think that
I would need to confirm that my horror film would
be for an 18+ audience by having an age certificate
in the trailer and maybe a content warning if I do
end up using gore in the trailer. The trailer would
not be aimed at people 35+ as the statistics show
that this is where the audience drops for horror
films.

11. Secondary Audience research
In this graph that measures the likelihood of
success in a horror in the types of horror films
from (1996-2016) which is helpful for showing
what types of horror films were popular in this
time period however I think that recently the
most profitable horror film has changed from a
found footage film to paranormal films
because of the success of horror franchises
such as The Conjuring where as found footage
films are less likely to succeed now as it’s
something that has been used to often as a
low budget way to gain a high profit which
audiences have realized, the illusion of reality
that these films are trying to use on the
audience has also gone because of this. I’m
mainly aiming to show that my horror film
would be focusing of the killer theme in the
trailer however I also want to have elements
that seem supernatural/surreal as this could
add a mysterious element to the trailer while
appealing to a larger horror audience
interested in supernatural horror. This graph
shows that the two themes that I chose for my
horror film would be likely to succeed in
gaining a profit however this also depends on
how well my trailer shows these themes so I
need to be able to incorporate these themes
into the trailer through imagery as I think the
audience would like the concept more if the
theme wasn’t entirely spelled out for them.

12. Secondary Audience researchThe total amount made by horror films in 2017 was about
$1billion which double the amount made in 2016 which shows
that the horror genre was more popular a year later and this is
mainly due to the films released in 2017 being remakes,
franchises or being stand out films of that year. IT gained the
most money as it gained popularity as remake of the original IT
and as it was a Stephan King story it meant that this attracted his
fans and horror fans, the premise of the film being a group of
young teenagers overcoming their fears also appealed to a
teenage audience as they may have been able to relate to the
age of the characters. Get Out got the the second Highest
amount of money from that years horror releases as the film has
deep political message about the state of racism in America
without losing it’s theme of horror this opened a lot of peoples
eyes and meant that the film got a lot of attraction and
controversy, the film also won an Oscar which is fairly rare for
horror films and would’ve given the film even more attention.
Other films such as Annabelle: Creation, Alien: Covenant, Jigsaw
and Rings are part of franchises which would of boosted their
popularity as audiences that enjoyed the previous film would
want to watch a newer release. As I've seen most of the films on
this list of the highest grossing horror films of 2017 I know that
the concept for my trailer is most similar to IT as the concept is
quite similar in how it presents a city where people are going
missing however I don’t want the serial killer in my trailer to be
as obviously supernatural as the selling point of IT is the
appearance of the clown whereas I want the selling point of my
trailer to be the mystery of who can and can’t be trusted,
because of this I want to make sure that my horror film villain
feels like something you would need to watch the film to
see/understand.

13. Primary Audience research
• I started my primary research by making
a survey aimed at people my age and
how they respond to common tropes
and themes in horror films so I could use
their results to shape my trailer to what
appeals to them as they are in my target
audience.
• The results from my first question shows
that the most popular trope in horror
films is emotional horror which is where
the horror effects the viewer
physiologically often staying with them
for a long time afterwards as the horror
has targeted their fears and emotions,
this is seen in films such as The Shining
Or Hereditary where the horror feels like
it’s targeting the audience just as much
as the characters, I like films like this as it
feels more genuine as horror and this
was the trope that I would want to
display most in my trailer and 5/12
people voted for this so just less than
half of the voters chose this option so I
really need to show this aspect in my
trailer to appeal to this audience.
• The option that wasn’t chosen at all was
social horror which is in films such as
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers or Get
Out. As this got the least votes I know
that it would be a bad idea to include this
in my trailer as it wouldn't appeal to my
target audience.

14. Primary Audience research
• I asked this question mainly because I
wanted to see how my audience
responded to horror films. 3 people said
that they hardly ever/never get scared
by horror which is slightly concerning to
me as that ¼ of the target audience who
aren’t easily scarred by horror which is
bad as the main point of horror film is to
scare the audience. So I am aiming for a
more atmospheric trailer such as Suspiria
2018 I don’t want to need to use jump
scares as a cheap way of keeping the
viewer invested but I may need to now
that my target audience is shown to be
more resilient to horror. I doubt that I’ll
change the atmospheric element of my
trailer to please this audience though
because if they are hardly ever scared by
horror I doubt that adding jump scares to
my trailer would change their
perspective of horror.

15. Primary Audience research
• I decided to ask this question as I thought
that what would put my audience off of
my film would be the most important
aspect of my trailer as this could be the
difference between my audience loving
or hating my trailer. The most voted
answers were for jump scares and bad
acting which tells me that my thoughts on
choosing atmosphere over startling the
viewer with scary moments would be the
right way to attract my audience as it
would be more appealing in terms of
horror to viewers in my age category. To
avoid bad acting in my trailer I will need
to restrain the use of my actors as I need
to work with reliable people who can
follow instructions and act fairly well as if
I overuse actors in the trailer it could
come across as bad acting which was
equally disliked by my target audience.
• The least voted for was disturbing
imagery which is helpful for me as it tells
me that if I use disturbing imagery in my
trailer it won’t be too likely to upset the
viewers so it would probably be safe to
use in my trailer.

16. Primary Audience research
• I chose to ask this question mainly
because I wanted to see who wouldn’t
want to watch horror films at night.
Normally people watch horror at night as
the darkness helps with the atmosphere
of the film to make it more scary. Using
this logic it’s possible that half of the
voters watch horror films in the day time
so they are less likely to get scared. I
wanted to have both daytime and night
time footage in my trailer so the second
thing I wanted to learn for this question
was weather the audience would mind
watching a horror film if it had scary
moments in the daytime, as ½ the voters
would chose to watch a horror film in the
daytime I don’t think they would mind
daytime shots in my trailer. This wouldn't
be the first time a horror film used
daytime to subvert audience expectations
and scare them as it’s used in films such as
The Wicker Man and Midsommar(2019).

17. Primary Audience research
• I asked this question as I wanted
to know whether my audience
would want to watch a horror
film in a group of friends as I
wanted to know if I should make
the trailer seem like it’s
targeting people personally to
scare them or something that
could be feared by most people
as it would be difficult to do
both. As most people voted for
watching with watching a film
with friends so I will try to
appeal to this audience by
without losing style or
personality as for a group of
people I would need to give
them something to talk about by
making the trailer look more
entertaining.

18. Primary Audience research
• Although I had a fairly small
audience that voted in my survey
there was an equal amount of
males and females that voted in
my survey which shows that both
audiences had interesting views
on tropes and themes in horror
and how they watch horror. All of
the responses in my survey have
helped me realize what I can
change from my initial plans to
appeal to my target audience
however if I were to do another
survey I would ask about what
scares my audience and whether
they prefer supernatural horror to
realistic horror as I feel like
including elements of both in my
trailer to increase the element of
mystery.

19. Primary Audience
research
I interviewed a friend who is the same age as the target
audience that I want my trailer to appeal to. I was
interested in the results of this as I wanted to do
multiple interviews to see how people become invested
in horror films and how they might not want to see one.
In the interview Oliver mentioned how what makes
serial killers scary is the way the dead bodies are
presented and how this links into my trailer idea is how
there are no bodies which would hopefully create a
sense of mystery as to where they go. I asked about
how they liked trailers in terms of information it gives
and Oliver explained how he liked trailers which give an
example of its story without spoiling what direction it
goes in by remaining mysterious, this was exactly what I
wanted to show in my trailer. Most of Oliver's answers
were things that I wanted to hear as it linked to how I
would present my ideas however Oliver’s fear of
jumpscares didn’t appeal to my thoughts on how I would
present my trailer as I wanted my trailer to represent a
more emotional atmospheric horror rather than the
reactionary horror usually found in jumpscares.

20. Primary Audience research
Nathan has a much similar taste in horror films to me and most of his
responses to my questions were practically how I would have responded.
Nathan said that what makes a serial killer scary to him was “the ability to
act normal publicly and manipulate those around them and not have the
slightest bit of empathy to those they kill” I found this interesting as it was
the exact way that I wanted the killer to interact in my story, as someone
who blends in. although Nathan further explains his responses more than
the others I interviewed, he shared similar responses with the others.
Everyone wanted a trailer that gives a small amount of information in the
film yet spoils nothing, wanted a simple poster design that conveyed the
themes of the film and preferred a realistic film all of the points I have taken
into consideration and I will change my plans due to these results.

21. Subject Research
• The horror in my trailer will come from the concept of a serial killer who blends in with the rest of society
in terms of appearance and public behavior as the this makes the viewer question their surroundings and
how they see the world around them. Although this concept sounds scary I loosely based this idea on the
reality that people like this can and have existed. The main example of this would obviously be Ted Bundy
as he was made infamous for the disturbing way he seemed to be a completely normal person who was
described as charismatic yet he used his charm to exploit his victims. After researching Ted Bundy I further
developed the idea that the true horror of serial killers comes from how they are dangerous and broken
people yet they won’t stand out from a crowd and will use their good quality's or put on an act to deceive
their target, I found this disturbing as it made me question how I could trust anyone as lot’s of people
probably keep their thoughts to themselves or put on a front when talking to different people so killers
such as Ted Bundy are similar in a dark way. I want the killer/kidnapper in my trailer to seem more like a
danger to the main character without having to actually attack the character and I think that the thought
of there being a definite threat somewhere in a normal crowd or even in somebody you know would be
more appropriate for the mystery and horror of my concept.

22. Subject Research
• I wanted to research psychology for my trailer as I think that my concept is based on the psychology
of trust and how people react to disappearances although I’m only making a poster and trailer this
paranoia would be something that I want to include in my trailer and is a large aspect of my
concept. I looked into how paranoia has taken place throughout history and I found that the Salem
witch trails of 1692 were interesting as the paranoia was focused on people who were likely
innocent of any crime and unfairly judging them and punishing them with death, this is a disturbing
example of how a community can turn on itself for the most simple of reasons. In japan in the late
90’s to early 2000’s cases of an urban legend killer the Kuchisake Onna(the slit mouthed woman)
became so frequent that children needed to be escorted from their schools back to their homes
and this shows how the main basis for paranoia is fear. A recent event that shows how fear creates
and drives paranoia is the clown sightings in 2017 which stemmed from from prank videos and due
to social medias involvement this quickly became a reality where clown sightings seemed to be
taking place everywhere with people dressing up to scare and terrorize others however with
paranoia and fear there is real danger and murders did take place with people dressed as clowns
being the killers who used the paranoia to intimidate their victims and this only made the threat of
paranoia more real. The point I’m trying to make with this explanation of paranoia is that it fits into
the theme I'm using of psychological and mystery elements in horror. I think that paranoia is under
used a devise to show fear in a community.

23. Subject Research
• I wanted to research how missing persons cases are handled in the
UK as missing people are one of the most important aspects of my
idea as this is the source of key elements such as the mystery and
paranoia. I began searching on missingpeople.org.uk where it gave
a list of what the police will do in the case of a missing person and I
learnt various things such as how missing peoples medical history
are searched. The website gave information on who would be
questioned about a disappearance e.g. family, friends and
colleagues. Land and air search parties would be formed to search
for the missing person. Although I wouldn’t be able to include this
in my trailer it has given me a better sense of realism for how a
missing persons case would be approached. After this research I
have had an idea to include a shot of people discussing the
disappearances either on a podcast or online to further develop
how people would react to an unusual series of disappearances and
the paranoia and madness it could cause in a community.

24. Practical Research

25. Practical Research
Shoulder Rig Steadicam
Positives • The shots can be
more still as the
one filming is more
likely to have
control of the
cameras
movement
• Easy to set up
• Lightweight
• portable
• Easy to use for long periods of time as
the heaviness is spread out from the
weights to the vest the steadicam
attaches to
• The footage is steady when walking
around
• The steadiness allows you to walk
around without worrying too much
about how your steps could effect
your shot
Negatives • It’s visible when
the person filming
is stepping as the
camera moves up
and down which
makes the image
less steady
• Puts strain on the
arms
• Difficult to carry
round for long
• Takes a long time to set up and
balance correctly
• It’s not very portable
• Once balanced the camera can’t be
used
• The footage can end up looking
wobbly and on focused if the
steadicam is off balence
I worked with another student to see how the quality of a shot
could change depending on how it was filmed. So we filmed
the same shot with it being filmed on a shoulder rig and a
steadicam. We did this at the same time to see which one
looked more smooth in a tracking shot of the actor where we
filmed them while we walked.

26. Practical Research: comparing a
shoulder mount to a steadicam
• we began testing the shoulder mount and the steadicam as we wanted to find out what would be
better to film a long take where the camera follows the character for a scene. We started by setting up
the equipment for both cameras which was quickly done for the shoulder mount as all we needed to do
was attach the camera to it however for the steadicam we needed to attach the balance to the vest and
the camera to the balance then we needed to balance the camera and this took much longer, this made
the shoulder mount much more practical to set up as it was quick and easy.
• Me and the second student I filmed with decided that the best way to compare how the equipment
helped film was to film the same shot at the same time and decide which was more smooth when
putting the two videos next to each other. After filming and comparing the results we discovered that
the shoulder mount was less smooth as it would move up and down whenever I walked holding the
camera. The steadicam wasn’t much better as even though it’s footage was smooth the camera kept
slightly swaying while filming so we decided that it would be better film with the shoulder mounts in
our finished projects as the steadicams results weren't worth the wait to prepare it.

27. Practical Research
• My goal when adding a film grain to the
footage I wanted to see whether the
inclusion of this would give the image
more style and judge how this work in
my horror themed trailer. Comparing
how the footage looks with and without
the grain is interesting as the grain has
both positive and negative effects. The
grain reduces the colours on the screen
as it makes the light shades brighter and
the dark shades darker which makes the
image look weird as it looks less
colourful and poor quality. I used a
35mm film grain for this experiment so I
will try experimenting with a different
grain to see whether it looks more
effective.
The grain I used here doesn’t suit a horror theme as it
is only noticeable because of how it makes the shot
look over exposed. I want to use a film grain that looks
both subtle and disturbing and I think that this grain
well in being subtle however it doesn’t look as creepy
as I would want it to be.

28. Practical Research
• I started looking for more free downloadable film grains other than the 35mm grain that I
used in my previous experiment however this was very difficult as the grain that I chose
seemed like the only free grain that I could find. I eventually went back to my initial
experiment with film grain realised that I could change the colour effects on the grain to
make it seem more similar to the look I had in mind. I gave the image a warmer colour and
lowered the exposure and this gave the footage a subtle orange tint especially in sunlight,
this made the video look older which was my main goal when testing the grain so I achieved
my target when working with the grain. Testing how I can change the colour of the grain
helped me realise how I can effect the overall aesthetic of my trailer to look like it’s imitating
an older period.
• I split the footage in two with the right side
having a grain and the left side having no grain.
After changing the colour of the grain it
became more clear that I could use the grain
to improve the style of my trailer as the effects
made the grain more obvious and intentional.

29. Practical Research
• I wanted to work on my colour grading skills as I felt like in my previous video
projects such as my Irn Bru advertisement and my music video the grading looked
too obvious as my colour effects stood out too much as it felt distracting and took
away from the style of my videos so I was determined to make the grading in my
trailer look more stylised without looking over the top.
• I used an LUD called McKinnon 75 on the video to begin with as it made the image
look slightly darker which gave the video a horror tone as it’s darker colours suited
the usual stylistic elements of oppressive shades such as dark blues and blacks.
• I used colour effects to slightly alter the overall look of the image. I increased the
shadows and lowered the temperature and tint of the video, this brought out the
colours in the image while darkening it, this further improved the horror aesthetic.

30. Bibliography

31. Bibliography
1. Adam Lepard (2019) Survey Monkey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/zMvNxjLhkYoGCl1DlveEb_2BsV
HfdG3_2BW6UsZDHLigvE4_3D?tab_clicked=1 (conducted on 4th April
2019)
2. Nicholson, Oliver. (2019) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on 11th
April 2019)
3. Haapoja, M. (March 7 2018)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg87adla1wQ
4. Peele, J. (2018) Us Trailer
5. Guadagnino, L. Suspiria Trailer
6. Ito, j. (1999) Uzumaki
7. Andrew Spohn. (2012). A Short History of American Paranoia: Timeline.
Available: https://sites.google.com/site/americanpoliticalparanoia/a-short-
history-of-american-paronoia-timeline. Last accessed 20th Apr 2019.