Evaluation Question 1

SECTION A: HOW DID YOUR HORROR TRAILER FIT THE HORROR
GENRE?
Thomas Schatz (Hollywood Genres, 1981) explains the importance of genre
in films as it gives audiences clear expectations of what appeals to them in
specific genres. Our trailer fits the horror genre as it contains gore effects
and contains quick montage which is meant to scare the audience which is
typical in a psychological horror film. We made sure that certain horror
conventions were included so that audiences know straight away which
genre our trailer is. The title of our trailer immediately establishes our
narrative contains the theme of possession is some sense as ‘the evil within’
describes something unnatural being inside someone.

GENRE?
Link to Don’t Be
Afraid Of The Dark
(2010) Trailer
To match specific horror conventions we duplicated ideas from certain horror
films such as Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark (2010) and The Hunger Games
(2012). From Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark we were able to gather ideas for the
jump scares and gore effects. The jump scare at the end of our trailer is similar
to the fast moving creatures shown in the film as they both have sharp teeth
and are dramatic in effect. We also replicated the idea of the evil creature
underneath the bedroom sheets. This relates to how children hide under the
sheets to feel safe, so it rips away our childhood security.

GENRE?
The final girl is the main character which is what happens in our trailer;
however we changed the idea by having her supposedly commit suicide at the
end through her possession. The use of low key lighting is significant
throughout the film as the creatures only come out at night. We used low key
lighting to create a greater effect as people are naturally more scared when we
can’t see what is in front of us. We used a variety of locations but the main
sequence in the film is in the eaves where it is an enclosed location. This
creates a sense of claustrophobia which makes it hard to escape from the
creature inside it with you. This is seen in Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark when
Sally is locked in the bathroom and is stuck in the bath as the creatures attack
her.

GENRE?
Link to The Hunger
Games (2012)
Trailer
The Hunger Games (2012) contextually has a feminist approach which we
tried to incorporate into our trailer by having a main female character, where
the audience can’t tell whether she is good or bad throughout, as she has
conflicting agendas. Our main character is being controlled by someone else
(her dead twin) as a possession such as Katniss being controlled by the
Capital, making both characters sympathetic to the audience. The violence in
the film predominately happens off-screen. The use of restricted narration
means that The Hunger Games gained a 12 certificate, which broadened its
appeal to a more mainstream audience. This is partly what we tried to achieve
in ours however it is more aimed at a psychological audience but could appeal
to a mainstream audience as well.

SECTION B: HOW DOES YOUR TRAILER FIT THE CONVENTIONS OF
HORROR TRAILERS?
Link to The Evil
Within Trailer
The main thing to focus on when making a horror trailer is making sure that
there is a good contrast of slow montage to quick montage. Initially, we
struggled with this in The Evil Within as our initial slow shots made the
beginning too boring. We improved this however by adding in a couple of
extra shots such as the dead twin lying on the floor in a pool of blood and the
dad on the phone with blood covered hands. These helped to establish the
plot of the film to make it more interesting and by starting with some gore
effects it keeps the audience on edge throughout. We also made sure that the
music throughout built tension, developing a contrast with our final quick
montage. Here, the music changed to match the tempo of the shots which
built towards the final jump scare. The lighting throughout our trailer is
mostly low key which adds eeriness to the trailer as a whole and this
conforms to horror conventions as people are – as the film title of one of our
main influences says - “afraid of the dark.”

SECTION B: HOW DID YOU USE INTER-TITLES, PACING, MUSIC,
EDITING TO CREATE SUSPENSE AND SHOCK?
In our trailer we used intertitles to create suspense throughout by making sure that
they explained the basics of the plot without revealing too much. One of the intertitles
we used says “When twins are connected” which doesn’t give away too much of the
narrative but makes it clear that the trailer is structured around identical twins so that
the audience doesn’t get too confused. The inter-titles also link the sections of clips
together which builds up the suspense to the final jump scare at the end. The editing
and music partners with the pacing as by editing the shots in a certain order allowed
the shock factor at the end and halfway through. The jump scare used in the middle of
the trailer is when the close-up of the demon’s face is shown after the lights have
flickered out. This creates tension for the rest of the trailer. The jump scare at the end
is when the demon’s face is shown again in full when the book is lowered, creating a
tense and shocking ending.

SECTION B: HOW DID YOU USE INTER-TITLES, PACING, MUSIC,
EDITING TO CREATE SUSPENSE AND SHOCK?
Given that we were creating a PG trailer for a psychological horror, we had to avoid
using lots of body horror and rely on clever montage effects to attract our target
audience to The Evil Within. The use of music (which was intentionally slowed down
slightly from a copyright-free source) helped build tension throughout as it is quite an
eerie soundtrack. Our use of sound effects such as the door slamming shut and the
lights flickering, added as an overlay, makes certain parts throughout unexpected
which would scare the audience and keep them on edge.

SECTION B: WHAT TRAILERS DID YOU SEE AND WANT TO
RECREATE THE STYLE OF?
Link to Evil Dead
(2013) Trailer
The Evil Dead (2013) trailer contains a style of montage that includes the main
character speaking in a scared whisper stating that something wants to kill the men
looking after her. Different camera positions are used each time the girl is shown,
gradually getting closer to her face to make it more dramatic. I replicated both of
these elements in the trailer cutting between a long shot of the girl whispering to the
father “she’s still here,” to a close–up of them when she says “with us”.

Link to The
Conjuring (2013)
Trailer
The Conjuring (2013) trailer includes a scene where the main woman is looking in a
mirror in-front of a girl, looking over her shoulder in a panic but when she looks back
at the mirror and lowers it a possessed face is seen close-up to the camera. This
exact sequence is what I have used as the end sequence to the trailer as it includes a
jump scare to impress the audience. The only difference to my trailer compared to the
original is the fact that I have used a magazine to cover the camera instead of using a
mirror.

Link to Orphan
(2009) Trailer
Another trailer I looked at for inspiration was Orphan (2009). This is because it
uses a young girl as the main villain in the film which matches the synopsis of
my trailer, with the twist that the father is the one that started the events in
motion. The use of children or teenagers as the villain and the victim creates a
more sympathetic reaction from the audience while making the film scarier as
we don’t imagine children doing these sort of things.

Link to The Woman
In Black (2012)
Trailer
The Woman In Black (2012) trailer matches the genre of horror that I decided to
create which makes this a perfect trailer to recreate an aspect from. A moment I
directly recreated was when the man in standing in the window and the hand
print appears building up the tension for the “Woman in Black” to slowly appear
behind him. To adapt this I used a low angle shot to show the possessed figure,
with her hand on the window, shot from outside. As with all of my recreations,
this shot creates a generic but powerful horror feel.
Trailer
scene
Close-
up

SECTION C: WHAT AUTEUR INFLUENCE DID YOU BRING TO YOUR
TRAILER?
The horror aspect that interests me the most is psychological horror and the
auteur that influenced me the most is Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock creates
suspense really well in his films through the use of montage. This is what Andrew
Sarris suggests in his “Auteur Theory” as he reviews the ‘style’ director’s use
throughout their films which makes them an auteur. Hitchcock’s use of montage is
one of the reasons that make him an auteur and this style is what I tried to
recreate in my trailer by using quick montage to increase the pace towards the
end of our trailer for The Evil Within.

SECTION C: WHAT AUTEUR INFLUENCE DID YOU BRING TO YOUR
TRAILER?
Our use of editing creates a unique factor to the trailer as the effects on the jump
scares are edited, instead of filmed using make-up, which makes the scene more
effective and heightens the scare factor. The music isn’t the traditional horror
music used in other trailers as it has more of a fairy-tale quality to it but is still
eerie enough to create suspense. The shots are also made to a good quality which
is similar to Hitchcock’s style as all the shots are positioned at the correct angle
to maximise its effect, such as when the main character is in the eaves and the
lights flicker on and off. The shots are positioned so that every one of her
reactions are different when the light turns back on. This creates suspense for the
jump scare straight after it. To reflect its institutional context and real life context
our trailer includes a strong female character who is the main focus in the trailer.

Evaluation Question 1

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Evaluation Question 1