The document discusses various stock character types that are commonly found in horror films, including the wanderer, popular girl, final girl, and pandora. It analyzes how these character types are portrayed in the author's student horror film trailer, and how they adhere to or challenge the conventions typically associated with these characters. For example, the trailer includes a wanderer character named Brooklyn who displays curious and fearful behaviors consistent with the trope. The final girl, Jessica, is presented in a way that leaves her fate ambiguous, challenging the expectation that she survives in order to build suspense for the audience. Overall, the document examines how the trailer utilizes established horror film character archetypes.

1. Protagonist and Stock Characters in Horror Films

2. Propp’s Character Theory VS Burton’s Genre Theory (formula)
By following real media conventions, I have adapted
using the characters that are based from horror films.
From my studies that I have done, Propp’s character
theory also relates to my trailer as there are a range of
different character types needed to form the story.
However, horrors require different character types such
as wanderer and pandora which alter from a princess
and the hero but it still demonstrates that a formula is
needed in order to create a story. Therefore, my
characters are more based on Burton’s genre theory as
it mentions in the formula (see right)that horrors need a
protagonist and stock characters. This is more suitable
because it defines the genre by using specific character
types that the audience recognise from other horror
films.

3. The Wanderer
The wanderer is someone who travels aimlessly which can
be referred to itinerant people. They go from place to
place with no permanent home or are vagrant. The
wanderer is commonly a female who breaks off from the
group and goes off on her own. When she tries to find
help they usually end up getting killed. Also, due to their
curiosity by wandering around places, they are often the
first to get killed.
Brooklyn has the traits of a wonderer as she ventures to
go into the elevator alone and she is cautious of her
surroundings which presents the sense of fear and
mystery to what is going to happen. Similarly, this
matches the facial expressions of another wonderer,
Wade from ‘House of Wax’ (top right photo). Therefore,
by using facial expressions and the role of our character:
Brooklyn, make connections with other horrors by using
the same conventions.
Examples: Wade from House of Wax , Megan Helms from
Black Christmas
Wade from House of Wax
Brooklyn from Deadly Fears
(my trailer)
Megan Helms from Black
Christmas

4. The Popular Girl
The popular girl is the cool girl who everyone adores and
aspirers to be like. They are usually dating the most popular
boy in the school or the ‘jock.’ However, their status for being
very noticed makes them very vulnerable as they are often
killed near the start of the film. Most of these "popular girls"
get drunk, have sex which also is seen as conventional in teen
films.
We have presented the popular girl similarly to popular girls in
other slasher horrors by imitating the physical appearance by
having blond hair. Our character, Nicole is portrayed as
someone who talks in a ‘bitchy’ way towards her friends as
seen in the trailer when showing a viral Instagram video and
mocks the caption in the post which also is one of the
features that portray the popular girl character. We have
imitated this from real media products because we wanted
the audience to recognise the characters which inform them
on the genre, fulfilling the horror genre.
Examples of popular girls appear in : Cabin in the Woods
and Scream

5. The Final Girl
The final girl is a trope in horror films. They are often seen in slasher films. The
final girl is also referred as the last women alive that confronts the killer. As she
is the last victim, the audience follow her perspective of the story.
In my trailer, Jessica is the final girl. Although as defined from above stating
that the final girl is the survivor, our trailer challenges this convention. This is
because we wanted to create anticipation and excitement as part of our build
up for the audience to go and see the film. By providing suspense/cliff hanger
makes the audience want to know what will happen to the final girl. This is
therefore the function of horror trailers. If we decided not to challenge the
convention, there would be spoilers which fails to build curiosity to see the film
from the audience’s perspective. Therefore, we have challenged the
convention of the final girl by leaving a cliff hanger/suspense which is more
suitable for trailers rather than films. Films have a different approach to the
way characters are presented in trailers as trailers only give a small insight to
what the film is about whereas the film has the whole story about the
characters and therefore this is where we see if the final girl will be alive or not.
This also links to the narrative theory by Todorov which involves the stages of
the narrative but the new equilibrium is missing in the trailer as we intend to
build mystery and suspense if the final girl survives. Therefore, Todorov’s
theory Is for films rather than trailers too.
Examples: Halloween (Laurie Strode)
Friday the 13th (Alice Hardy)
Scream (Sidney Prescott)

6. Pandora
Pandora is someone who puts the group in great
danger and puts them at risk getting killed. They
provoke trouble and is often a trigger for bad
events in horror films. This also originates from
Greek mythology where the character comes from
‘Pandora’s Box.’ If the box was opened, it releases
hell on earth. They hide their true identity which
makes them unsusceptible so no one expects them
to be the killer. This gives the film a twist and
unpredictable ending.
Example: Orphan, Omen
In my trailer, we have followed the
conventions for having the pandora and using
their characteristics which make them who
they are. They are seen as dangerous and
harmful to others so we imitated their
behaviour from horror films such as Omen
(needle scene) to emphasise their brutality to
others and how horrific they can be. Also, our
killer has a mask which makes her secretive as
she protects her identity. This is a convention
that we have followed as it creates mystery to
who the person is behind the mask. This also is
an effective way to persuade people to watch
the film after seeing the trailer to know more
about the pandora character and her back
story in the film.