Ring Rosie uses various horror film conventions in its trailer such as low key lighting, over the shoulder shots, graphic text effects, and stereotypical character costumes. It also challenges some conventions by having two strong female leads facing zombies. The trailer creates tension through its quick editing, diverse shots, and unsettling music. It was influenced by the styles of Alfred Hitchcock, David Cronenberg, and George Romero through its shots, gore effects, and strong female presence. The trailer reflects recent zombie films and increased feminism in portraying women as capable leads.

1. Evaluation One
A2 MEDIA :POPPY ROSE

2. In what way does your trailer
use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?

3. Part 1
Our horror trailer fit the horror genre as it contained several conventions it needed to be a classed as a ‘horror’ trailer. Thomas
Schatz a well known theorist created the ‘genre theory’. The genre theory stated that the best way to analyse and evaluate films is
through genre. The use of genre theory gives realistic expectations into what a film is going to be about or aimed for. I think that
these conventions mentioned by Schatz in this theory are demonstrated in my own trailer Ring Rosie. The conventions we made
sure to include to perfect our own ‘auteur’ style like Schatz suggests includes low key lighting, over the shoulder shots and high
angle shots, graphic text effects and stereotypical horror themes. An example of the low key lighting convention is when the
audience sees Rosie in the woods looking around scared and frantic with zombies on the approach. I was proud of our mise-en-
scene, the graveyard and the woods scenery automatically gives the scene an eerie unsettling feel, this could be due to not being
able to see everything clearly therefore giving the audience the sense of expecting the unknown. Dark colours seen in the scene
connotes a negative feel, these are associated with horror films and the horror genre. For example comedies include bright
elevated ambient lighting which gives off a more positive feel to the film; a film that does this well is Step Brothers (2008). This
mimics a real life trailer that you would see in the media; it is shown here in Warm Bodies (2013).
Warm Bodies; illustrates how low
key lighting is used effectively in
horror films to convey certain feels
or themes.
Ring Rosie;
This clip
shows our
use of low
key lighting
to create
emotion.

4. Part 1 continued..
Another convention explored includes various shot types that are included specifically in horror films. One of the
most common shots is an over the shoulder shot. This is shown when Rosie’s friend gets bitten; this is effective
because it can create suspense in the scene, it can also create a sense of vulnerability because it can be used to show
characters emotions, show action happening and it can be used to create dramatic irony; all these uses help built
upon the plot line. The use of an over the shoulder shot is commonly used with either a slightly tilted high angle shot
or a very high angle shot. The use of these shots combined can help portray more vulnerability and innocence as they
are commonly used in scenes with women. They can also help the audience know who should have more power in
the scene, these shots automatically can show who is in control in the scene. This mimics a real life trailer in the
media; Girl House (2014). The horror genre and its conventions like to stick to stereotypical old-fashioned gender
roles.
This scene from Girl House
automatically implies that the
camera angle and shot
portray innocence and
vulnerability because all the
characters in the scene are
women.
Ring Rosie; this
shot helps create
tension because
our view is
blocked.

5. Part 1 continued…
Another convention explored includes stereotypical character costume choices. Horror films are notoriously known
for portraying a certain ‘image’ or ‘personality’ of a character through the choice of the clothing he or she wears. For
example normally a psycho killer is shown to be in some childish costume which normally reflects a childish state of
mind and the reason behind their killings. This is shown in Ring Rosie by having ‘Rosie’ wearing stereotypically
tomboy clothes consisting of; jeans, a hoodie and a beanie hat; with Rosie’s costume being very basic and practical
automatically portrays her to be the female ‘badass’. The use of Rosie’s friend having blonde hair and more feminine
clothes clearly shows how Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory ties in with Carol Clover’s basic horror conventions in
men and women. The use of the clothing to help the audience determined who plays what role in the film is very
effective because it quickly establishes a plot line, this element is key in an action horror. The use of stereotypical
costume choices is reflected in Zombeavers (2014) clearly showing which characters are more likely to be victimized
in the film by just showing the opening scene to the trailer.
Zombeavers; the
horror convention of
clothing choice is
expressed clearly in
this scene.
Ring Rosie; this image
clearly shows two
different female
clothing choices in the
style of a stereotypical
horror convention.

6. Part 1 continued….
Another convention explored includes graphics used in films and trailers. The use of specific fonts and effects in
trailers can automatically give a feel to a trailer without seeing any other content of it. This is shown in Ring Rosie at
the end when it shows the title and ‘coming soon’. I think that the font in films is very crucial because if it is a popular
film the font becomes associated with that in particular film. For example the large ‘boxy’ iconic sci-fi writing
included in all the Star Wars films. I think that using another different font helped make our trailer unique and helped
maybe a future audience associate that font with Ring Rosie. Also the use of the font and a fade in/fade out effect
helps it the name of the film with the audience as well as intriguing them with the effects used.
This is mimicked in Oculus (2013), it concludes the trailer with a font fade out with the name of the film, I think this
looks really effective and made me want to copy this look in my own trailer.
Oculus shows how minimalistic
font can look very trendy and
appealing by the use of
transitions.
Ring Rosie uses
transitions like
Oculus

7. Part 2
I believe the trailer fits the conventions of a horror trailer by; the use of colour, its unique selling point (USP), diverse camera shots,
speed of editing and the music.
The use of colour is linked to the conventions of a horror trailer because the main colours are dark greens, greys and overall dull
colours which automatically tells the audience that the genre of this trailer is horror. The dark colours act as pathetic fallacy for the
trailers genre. The only moment the colours in the trailer are more vibrant is at the beginning when all is 'okay‘ in an equilibrium
and the trailer is setting the scene.
The unique selling point to the trailer also makes it fit into a horror convention. I believe the use of two main female characters
facing something physical (facing zombies and saving themselves from them) makes the trailer very unique. By showing these two
characters to be badass shows a whole new league of feminism within horror films, whereas normally you see girls being victims
'Ring Rosie' shows the element of death as well as the 'fight'. This does however stray from the genre theory but I feel like the want
to live by the characters is our unique selling point.
The use of different diverse camera shots is also a stereotypical horror trailer convention as well as the quick use of editing in-
between these shots.

8. Part 2 continued..
The different amount of shots include; various close ups, a few extreme close-ups, long shots and the most common shot type; mid
shot. The use of all these diverse shots placed together in such a short amount of time gives the audience a feel to how intense
and action-packed the film would be. The use of all these shots I feel will intrigue the audience into being more excited about the
film. It also helps us fit our genre of an action-gore horror.
The speed of editing is crucial into making our trailer fit the horror conventions. The quick editing and flicking between helps us
effortlessly create a build of tension in the trailer, making the audience become more 'excited' to see the ending of the trailer.
The music in the trailer is specifically designed to give off an eerie atmosphere, the use of this all the way through even underneath
other sound effects is to make the trailer seem coherent. I think this is a good way of showing the conventions in a horror trailer as
they are designed to make you feel uneasy.
We worked on pacing by creating collision cutting throughout the trailer; these contrasts in quick to slow to quick and quiet to loud
allowed us to create a feel of suspense and shock effortlessly. The suspense and shock was heightened by the use of the droned
out creepy soundtrack that played the whole time in the background. The main scene that created the most suspense was the cut
of Rosie’s face looking very serious at the camera cutting back to action shots of zombies, this was very effective and I think it
worked really well in keeping the audience ‘tuned in’.
The end of the trailer which shows many zombies crowding round Rosie is effective because it creates suspense right before the
end of the trailer, this suspense would enable more people to go and watch it to see how it turns out. This cliff-hanger gives a
perfect end to the trailer.
We also created shock through sound effects, this was done by gunshots with no visible video, this helped because it was cut away
from the rest of the trailer therefore it was sudden change from action to silence. More sounds used include screams and shouting
of the name Rosie.

9. Part 2 continued…
After studying many films and trailers in our research I had seen two trailers that I wanted to mimic the style of and the effects they had used.
These trailers were the Resident Evil trailers and Godzilla. The first trailer Resident Evil includes a main female character in all the trailers of this
film series. I wanted to include something like this in my trailer because I felt that it went against basic horror conventions but still felt like it was in
the horror genre. This was created by making our main character Rosie alike a main male lead character as much as possible to make it feel more
realistic.
The second trailer that I had looked at was Godzilla. This included fast paced collision cutting towards the end of the trailer. I thought that this
worked really well in the trailer as it created tension and suspense; we have tried to recreate this style by cutting and sticking loads of clips
together that vary drastically but also fit in well with the narrative. I thought this worked really well in our trailer.
Resident Evil – Afterlife (2010) Godzilla (2014)

10. Part 3
When making the trailer we didn’t use one specific auteur for out influences, we used little ‘snippets’ from all the ones we studied this
includes; Alfred Hitchcock, David Cronenberg and George A. Romero.
Alfred Hitchcock influenced us by his unusual use of the themes violence and murder. By making a action gore horror we decided that the
way we framed shots would mimic how he did as he framed shots to manipulate the audiences feelings to maximise emotions such as fear,
anxiety and empathy. Hitchcock also used specific shots to emphasize details of the scene. We have shown this in an over the shoulder
shot of Rosie’s best friend being bitten in the neck. This was done to emphasize the body horror used and make it more shocking to the
audience when they watched it.
David Cronenberg was another auteur we studied. Cronenberg includes dark backgrounds, references to flesh and the same location for
many of his films (Canada). We have included all three of these styles in our own trailer; by using dark backgrounds throughout, including
body horror that featured the ‘ripping’ of flesh and the same location throughout. This is effective because it helps the trailer ‘flow’ if its
shot in the same location, the trailer then coherent.
George Romero had a specific style in his works; zombie films. We decided to mimic Romero’s auteur style this includes using strong female
characters. A strong female presence is shown in Romero’s ‘Hungry Wives’ (1972) which follows an unhappy suburban housewife Joan and
her journey into witchcraft magic. We have included a strong female character in our own trailer; this is effective because we are going
against stereotypical horror characters and we are making our trailer more interesting to all audiences.
I think what makes our trailer distinctive is firstly, the gore effects used. We thought we would be adventurous in the types of effects used.
The ones that were featured in our trailer was a gore covered eye, a large neck bite, sound wounds on the face and some large cuts on the
arms and shoulders. I think this makes our trailer distinctive because we have tried to go over the top with our effects rather than just
placing small wounds in obvious places we have tried to explore with effects and how they would best look on camera.

11. Part 3 continued…
Another feature that I feel makes our trailer distinctive is the use of sound effects. We decided to include various
different sound effects including, a repeated gunshot sound, a zombie 'grumbling' noise and a repetition of the name
‘Rosie' being shouted. I feel these sound effects made our trailer very distinctive because they were created by
ourselves and edited to be the sound we wanted instead of taking them from somewhere else. The sounds being
distinctive makes the trailer very distinctive and different as we made the sound effect of the zombie noises based on
how we thought zombies would sound rather than how they are shown on every horror movie.
I think that Ring Rosie reflected its historical content very well. In recent years many films containing zombies and
zombie apocalypses have become popular such as Zombieland (2009), the series of The Walking Dead (started in
2010) and Dead Snow (2009). Also including two lead female roles will also reflect its historical context as feminism
and the use of it in films has increased dramatically over the years. This is reflected in other similar films such as
Resident Evil (2012) and Day of the Dead (2008); which show women as more ‘badass’ and shows them as having
more power just like we have shown Rosie.