The following are photos of the locations where we shot our horror trailer with reasons as to why we chose these locations. The filming of our trailer was in The Heathland School. We chose this because we wanted present a group of teenagers, entering an abandoned school. The photos are various locations of the school where we shot the footage for our horror trailer.
This is our mood board which was created to help me and my partner get an understanding of what we want the trailer of our film to be about. There are several pictures of dolls which was to convey the concept of fear to our audience. It becomes a symbol of terror in our trailer. There are several pictures of abandoned buildings which is to help my partner and I get an understanding on what kind of location is suitable for our horror trailer. There are many pictures of females covered in blood or wielding a weapon and this is to remind us on how to construct our antagonist of the film which is a ghost lady called Mara, who kills teenagers. There are gory blood pictures which is to help us understand the convention of slasher films which is intense gore.We have pictures of groups of teenagers which is a convention of slasher films and it is too highlight the heroes of our trailer.
My partner and I gathered forms from the people we cast in the trailer in order to obtain their permission to shoot our media trailer. We also had our location release form signed so that we were not in trouble for using locations without permission.
The character analysis gave a brief description of what kind of clothes the characters would wear. To further enhance my vision and understanding of what my characters would look like; I used a website called Polyvore which allows users to create mood boards of the kind of clothes my characters would wear.
https://www.polyvore.com/autumn_costume_ideas/set?id=232280134: The description for Autumn's clothes is that she wears slightly promiscuous revealing clothes yet still looks smart. With this in mind, I gathered that short t-shirts and shorts would be the perfect thing. I have chosen shirts with open collars and crop tops to reveal as much skin as possible to adhere to the male gaze. The same goes for the dresses and jeans for they accentuate the character's figure to appeal more to the male audience. The make-up is vibrant colours to show that the character cares for appearance. Her vanity is what leads her to her death. I have also included big black hoodies because I have noted that the promiscuous girl in horror movies (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D [2010], Cabin in the Woods [2012]) wears the male characters clothes after sexual intercourse thus the hoodies are in the mood board. The shoes are a mixture of smart and practical to show a bit of uniqueness but also stylish. The hair is chosen to be short and well groomed linking to how the character's vanity would lead to her demise.
https://www.polyvore.com/casper_costume_ideas/set?id=232280431: The description for Casper's costume is that he would wear sporty clothes to show tough masculinity. I chose plain shirts which are to relay his strength from underneath the material. Heavy jackets like leather and baseball jackets are presented to show his sportiness but once again masculinity as leather associates to strength. The shoes are boots because they are practical and there are sunglasses to show that he is a stylish person but not as vain as the promiscuous girl. More complacent and boastful.
https://www.polyvore.com/luna_costume_ideas/set?id=232501905: The description for her was she dressed smart and appropriately in comfortable clothing. I chose T-Shirts with popular brands because I wanted to give off the image that she is a nerdy girl. There are jumpers on the side because she covers herself more and is not overtly sexual like the promiscuous girl. She wears big baggy coats because once again she is not comfortable with body hugging clothes. Luna prefers comfort over style and would possibly wear no to light make-up. She wears boots and converses to be more practical in her surroundings and would have tied up hair along with light make up.
https://www.polyvore.com/mara_costume_ideas/set?id=232238370: For Mara, the costume was to look similar to Samara (The monster in The Ring 2002) Mara's backstory is that she is a Victorian woman. I looked online and found Victorian dresses of black and white. Black is because they symbolise evil and darkness whilst the white will contradict the image of purity and innocence. In addition to this, the white dress was iconic to symbolise the 'White Lady'. This is a female ghost that would appear after the loss of children or the betrayal of a husband. Using this myth, I was able to support the concept and reason as to why Mara exists.
https://www.polyvore.com/regan_costume_ideas/set?id=232280648: For Regan, he would dress in formal causal clothes. He is similar to Luna as he too wears sponsored clothes to represent his intelligence nerdiness. Practical shoes and comfortable jackets which give Regan a laid back look.
On November 2nd, a group of friends: Autumn, Casper, Regan and Luna are travelling to Englefield House for a last camping trip before they all head off to university. Along the way, their car breaks down. Repair services won’t be able to reach them until the next morning and they all set up camp in an abandoned school. They all camp in a classroom and have enough food to last one night. Casper tells a scary story of a supposed legend of the Mara witch. Luna is scared but they all hear the sound of something cluttering. A presence is looming around in the school. Weird girl giggles and whispers echo in the school. Luna is nominated to find out what is going on she enters many different classrooms and the final classroom she goes in, she discovers a chair placed in the centre of the room with the back faced to her. She closes the door then suddenly opens it after feeling a suspicious entity. When she opens the door the chair is swivelling slowly to face towards her. A porcelain doll is sat in the lap of a girl who is sat in the chair, Luna stares in shock and steps closer to her. The friends hear a blood curling scream and rush over to the sound and to see what is going on. They find Luna dead on the floor with the doll by her hand. Autumn thinks Luna is trying to gain attention so she takes the doll while she was with Casper. Regan reluctantly follows and tries to ask them to leave but they do not listen. Mara watches and gets a flashback of her previous life. She was a simple woman, married to a black man however one day a group of women came to attack her because she was doing ‘witchcraft’. Her husband stepped in to protect her but they killed him and buried her with the corpse of her husband. After her flashback she sees a resemblance of her Husband in the way that Regan looks. She does whatever she can do to save Regan and kills Casper by tearing his heart out. Autumn and Regan are left and Autumn smashes the doll which causes Mara to appear and kill her. She turns to Regan and tries to convince him to stay. Regan, unsure of what to do decides to help reunite her with her husband by performing a séance. He reunites them and the sun rises as he goes back to the car alone and drives home to go to university.
We will use the same narrative structure as the beginning of the film except we will not add the middle and end because it would give away too much of the story. Also the trailer goes along with the narrative of the film because we want to entice the audience and surprise them when they least expect it. Intrigue will be created by hiding Mara’s face in the trailer so people do not know what she looks like and feel even more threatened. There will be shots with the doll in order to confuse and entice the audience into asking “why is there a doll around?” We will not include all parts of the narrative in the trailer as it will reveal too much to the audience. We will include the important parts of the narrative such as establishing where the scene takes place and the important characters. We will include one jump scare so audiences are interested in going to watch the film and exploring the narrative. When creating the trailer we will make sure that not too much information is told so that the audience wants to see more however not too little is shown. Just enough information will be displayed so that the audience understands what is going on.
Name: My Bloody Valentine 3D Date: 8th January 2009 Director: Patrick Lussier fairly well known director URL link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x81ujz_my-bloody-valentine-2009-trailer_shortfilms Length: 1:49 Genre & sub genre: Slasher horror movie Target Audience: 18+ and rated R for the gore in this film is difficult for younger audiences to witness. Narrative/plot: A miner is going round killing people during the holiday of Valentines Day. No one knows who the killer is and people are trying to save themselves from the miner. He goes after a group of four people, two guys and two girls.
There are a total of six characters:
The Miner
Axel Palmer (Kerr Smith)
Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles)
Sarah Palmer (Jamie King)
Megan (Megan Boone)
Irene (Betsy Rue)
The miner, Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), Sarah Palmer (Jamie King), Axel Palmer (Kerr Smith), Irene (Betsy Rue), Megan (Megan Boone).
Everyone apart from the miner, are protagonists and each one has a representation of their own. The miner is shown as the ultimate killer but without identity leading the audience to allude who is behind the miner's mask. This presents him as a mysterious and threatening because the audience The representation is created by his actions as he threatens people with a pickaxe and chases him down. This makes him an ulterior villain in the film. Tom Hanniger is shown briefly but only as the hero and makes sense of everything that is going on as well as investigating on who the real killer is. Sarah Palmer and Megan are shown the most and they are presented as weak and frightened as the run away from the miner and try to hide from him instead of defending themselves. They are victims along with Irene. Irene is shown as a naked woman trying to run away and defend herself but she also shows weakness. Axel is shown briefly whilst he is holding a gun out with Sarah behind him and this shows him taking on an active role and being the real hero. Overall there is more visuals on the killer and women and this connotes to the audience that women are the victims. The representation of men and women are unequal for men are presented as heroic and women are victimised.
Establishing wide shots is used in order for audiences to see where the film is set as well as being crucial to the audience for the wide shot shows a mine, which is an essential location that the film takes place in.
Medium close ups with just the head and shoulders give us a clear image on the character's emotions, especially when they are scared. Shallow focus is used in order for us to focus specifically on the hand and it informs the audience that a ruthless murder has happened.
High angle shots are used so the protagonists feel smaller compared to the antagonist and high canted angles are used on him to make him look bigger and more intimidating.
A two shot is used in so characters can engage in the same scene with each other but it also adds a horror element. Sarah Palmer is facing the camera directly yet what she doesn't know is that the miner is standing behind her. Audiences see this and would feel threatened as they know the miner is behind Sarah and she doesn't know making it obvious that her life is in danger.
POV shots are used in order for the viewers to immerse themselves into the shoes of the miner.
The pace of the trailer is builds up to a fast pace which helps to intensify the fear within audiences for it makes it difficult for them to piece together the logic of the film and in turn it makes the audiences more intrigued on the plotline of the film and how the many scenes within the trailer all fit to create a flowing plotline. There is no music in the trailer which allows the narrative to be conveyed to the audience clearly and it does not distract the audience. Although there are many sound effects like the sounds of the pickaxe being slashed or thrown, screams and things exploding. The sound effects help the audience to feel threatened and scared but it also helps to convince the audience of the horror as well as making the actions of the film more realistic.
There are two voiceovers in the film - one is of a female who is giving a news report and providing audiences with a few details: "This is the most horrific event, this town has ever seen. Authorities are calling this: The Valentine's Day massacre." Here audiences get three pieces of information:
It takes place in February as Valentines Day is dated 14 Feb and this is an iconic holiday to celebrate love
Location is in a town as the report informs audiences that the horror is in a secluded town and this amplifies the horror for there is no one coming to help the doomed town
It is scary because massacre is a word to describe a number of murders and this shows the audience that there is a murderer around the town
The second voiceover is a deep male voice which persuades audiences to watch the film:
"In the town of Harmony, something un-explainable is happening. This January, prepare to witness the most frightening 3D motion picture event to tear through the screen: My Bloody Valentine 3D. Nothing says date movie like a 3D ride to hell."
The deep voice is rather authoritative and it is male because audiences feel compelled to listen to as it informs the audience the name of the town and what is happening. It also tries to sell the horror by emphasising the 3D and how frightening the film is.
Animation was used when advertising the 3D element in the film. Special effects were used to show the fire and to animate the miner shining his light and tossing his pickaxe at the audience and this would cause the audience to want to go watch the 3D movie for it will help immerse the audience into the film and make them more interested in the film because the 3D helps to make them a part of the film. The company shown is Lionsgate which is known for making films like The Hunger Games quadrilogy, The Saw movies and American Psycho. Lionsgate is its own company and owns various subsidiaries.
The intertile is as followed: THIS JANUARY, PREPARE TO WITNESS THE 3D MOTION PICTURE EVENT: MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D. These titles try to persuade audiences on the film by being bold and loud. It directly addresses audiences and convinces them to watch the film. The credits in the end provide vital information like the cast, the production crew, director and producer as well as the production company and a website. The trailer does not provide an date for the film but rather says that the film is COMING SOON which causes the audience to wait until they can find out the release date.
Many things were used in order to keep the hype for the film like fade-to-blacks, fade-to-whites, jump cuts and flashes. Fade to blacks are used on order to make the flow of the film easier to watch and it slows the pace of the film so audiences do not anticipate the fast paced moments but to also allow them enough time to process the visuals and information on screen. Fade-to-whites were also used for the same reason yet it also distracts the viewer and making them aware of what is to come. Jumpcuts were used to create a fast pace and build up anticipation yet it also kept the viewer in mystery for it would briefly show one scene and jump to the next thus making the viewer more interested in the film but also giving the viewer a bit of a mystery to solve. Finally flashes were used due to the similar reasons of jumpcuts yet it would distract the viewer even more and obscure the plot from them building up anticipation.
Most of the dialogue is screaming but there are pieces of dialogue like the scene when Sarah Palmer (Jamie King) yells out in the supermarket: "Hello!?" This is a common cliche in horror films as it reminds the audience that there is a killer around the protagonists which foreshadows a possible murder. Audiences would feel threatened and intimidated as well as intrigued by how the protagonist will be. The opening dialogue is: "What did you see down there?" "Something was following us." This makes the audience alert, aware and threatened by an unsee-able threat.
There are three USP's to the film and this is what convinces audiences to go see the film: Slasher, 3D and Jensen Ackles. My Bloody Valentine is a slasher film full of blood and gore which is something that audiences are excited by as it is somewhat normal for audiences to be masochists. The film is in 3D which is a huge sell for it really immerses audiences into the film and it makes them feel as though they are in the film. It makes the film stand out and to really capture the horror of the film. Finally the actor Jensen Ackles, is famous for playing the character Dean Winchester in the TV Show Supernatural. Since Jensen Ackles would have a big fanbase then, it would engage more audiences to see the actor Jensen Ackles in other material i.e. My Bloody Valentine.
The costumes the characters are wearing are modern average clothes like jeans and t-shirts and this allows the audience to understand that the movie is set in a modern time allowing audiences to understand the film. Sets were mostly natural as it gives the horror more realism and it helps to make the narrative convincing for the audience. There is more low key lighting as it immerses the audience into a scary mood as well as providing an element of mystery for it masks the horror from the audience and makes them more interested in the film. Colours that are prominent are reds which has a combined connotation of love and danger. For red to feature constantly in a horror film with a mixture of danger and love draws the audience into the film as well as conveying the narrative rather effectively. A lot of make up would have been used in order to show fake blood and bruises because it is a to ensure the actors performing are safe from danger so having make up of fake bruises will help keep the actors safe from danger as well as portraying pain.
Most of the text is in san serif because it helps to convey the message of the text more effectively but also to look informal as though it is trying to engage with you. The Lionsgate logo is very different as it usually has a white background with white clouds while the font style is monochromatic and a navy colour but the logo in the trailer is slightly dirty and the clouds are coloured a deep red which is similar to blood. This implies to the audience that the trailer they are about to watch is rather scary and quite bloody. It links to the theme of the film once again selling the fact that this is a horror movie trailer.
The other fonts are san serif bold and coloured red with black splodges to signify that the film is a horror slasher film.
The trailer for My Bloody Valentine is very conventional as it uses many factors like jumpcuts, cut off sound, fade-to-blacks, voiceovers, crescendo of sound, 3 part arc. The trailer uses jumpcuts and fade-to-blacks in order to give audiences a brief glimpse into what the film is about as well as mixing up the plot. The crescendo of sound helps to build tension within the scene to which the viewer anticipates and makes audiences thoroughly interested and persuades them into watching the film. Vocieovers are in the trailer in order to provide the audience with a brief exposition of the story. The 3 part arc ensures the trailer has a structure as it follows Todorov's narrative in that there is a little equilibrium in the beginning and then there is a disruption of the equilibrium. Although the trailer does not show the solution, it does show the exciting parts of the trailer which then keeps the viewer interested.
The pickaxe is a slightly tall with a long curved metal blade and this connotes to mining but in the case of this film, it is presented as a weapon and this makes the audience aware of the danger and feel threatened by the miner. There are symbols and hearts which connote to love and Valentines Day and this reminds audiences that the film takes place in the popular holiday which creates irony for the audience because love is thought to be happy and peaceful rather than violent and angry. There is a miner mask which has a small pipe from the mouth attaching to something else. However it connotes to mining, WW2 and in the case of the film, a mask to hide from as it keeps the audience in a mystery.
After looking at this trailer, I found that following the conventions definitely helps to make a very popular trailer because when watching the trailer, it portrayed the narrative very clearly as well as keeping mystery. The trailer definitely showed the genre effectively and constantly persuaded me to go watch the film and so the use of conventions really helps to sell the film audiences.
Name: It Release: 8th September 2017 Director: Andrés Muschietti who has directed another horror movie called Mama which released in 2013 and this was a commercial and critical success as well. Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnCdOQsX5kc Length: 2.26 Genre: Drama/Horror Target audience: Stephen King enthusiasts, horror cinephiles who are between the ages of 15 - 40 because these are the ages that would remember the original Pennywise in 1990, however it would also introduce younger people into a new kind of horror. Plot: Children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine. A group of neighbourhood team up to fight against Pennywise, an evil clown whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.
The narrative is shown through small clips and narration:
This image shows the group of kids trying to understand who Pennywise is and why is he being a threat.
The threat and murderer that is Pennywise, an evil clown who in this shot is being terrifying.
There are a total of nine characters: One antagonist and eight protagonists. The antagonist, Pennywise is not shown obviously to the camera and uses the symbol of a balloon to symbolise that he targets children. The children are presented as victims through their facial expressions whilst Pennywise is evil for the smile is shaped curving upward yet the eyes are narrowed creating a contrasting contradictory facial expression causing audiences to feel uncomfortable and afraid what the character is trying to portray.
Most of the shots are wide and medium shots in order to help communicate the basic narrative and establish the setting, without giving the ending away. The only time there are close ups is to convey the character's emotion of fear and establish the fear that Pennywise is showing.
CLOSE UPS:
MEDIUM WIDE SHOTS:
The pace at the beginning is rather light hearted and slow as we see a little boy, Georgie in a yellow raincoat going out to play with a boat his brother, Bill lovingly made for him. Then the pace starts to go unsteady when Pennywise pops up in the sewer and the narration is giving a brief overview of the story. The pace then quickens when they are looking at the photos of Pennywise. After that the pace once again goes uneven and slightly fast when it goes through multiple cut scenes of the film before it then cuts to Bill and Georgie. Georgie asks Bill to come with him before repeating the question rather maliciously and the pace drops before quickening when Pennywise is running towards Bill.
The sound in the beginning is a soft piano that tries to keep the mood of the trailer light hearted and innocent. This eases the audience and settles them for a simple trailer before suddenly cutting to when Georgie bumps his head. The music changes tone and is rather deeper throughout the entire clip. The pitches vary. There is a cut to black when an eerie child whispers saying "We all float down here" and it then switches to a normal pace and pitch. Each time someone says something, a strange clown-like sound plays. The sound intensifies when the projector camera clicks and goes to the next picture, the camera flicking through the pictures grows in sound before cutting to silence and slow clicks between the scenes. During the fast pace moment, there is a clown laugh running through the jumpcuts between different scenes of the film. Once again there is silence before there is a clown scream and once again silence.
There is narration which is brief and only provides the audience exposition as to what is going on. It helps to provide the audience an understanding to what the plot is as well as providing extra detail: "Derry's not like any other town I've been in. People die or disappear six times the national average ... and that's just grown ups. Kids are worse. Way, way worse." This gives the information that it is in a town called Derry. A town where a lot of people go missing, especially children and to the audience it provides information that this is a mystery to be solved.
Special effects have been used for the boat, balloon and Pennywise. The boat and balloon would need special effects because they are inanimate objects and move on their own but for the purpose of the narrative for they move in a particular orchestrated way in order to illicit suspicion and fear, they need special effects in order to move that way and convey a scary emotion. Pennywise would need special effects in order for it to do its scary acts like the scene at the end where it starts to run fast and scream.
The companies shown are Warner Bros. and New Line Cinemas which are both owned by the oligopoly Time Warner. Warner Bros. is a big oligopoly itself as it is one of the six companies that dominate the film business. It mentions: "From Stephen King's terrifying novel" and this ultimately informs the reader that the film was adapted from a book and by the word "terrifying" it entails that the book has had success which is why it is getting an on screen adaptation.
The intertitles and credits are as followed:
This tagline invites the viewer to ponder on their fear and see if they can face their worst fear by watching this film because clowns are a popular phobia that people have and so the film uses clowns as a symbol of fear. As well as this, it informs audiences that the film will release on the 8th of September leaving people to wait for the upcoming film to satiate their interest for the horror film. The font is a bold verdana font as it shows a rather strong masculine message and it makes the movie look more intense and realistic.
The trailer uses a lot of jump cuts and fade to blacks and the reason for this is because trailers are straight to the point and they need to keep the viewer interested as long as possible in the short amount of time. The jump cuts quicken the pace of the trailer and also keep the viewer interested for a while. It gives the viewer a sneak peek of the film while the fade to blacks leave the viewer in suspense on the edge of their seat to the point where they have to go see the movie to match up what they saw within the trailer to the film.
The first lines of the trailer are:
"There you go, she's all ready captain." "Thanks Bill." This establishes to the audience that these two children are close brothers and they love each other but it changes as it foreshadows a later event.
The next few lines all talk about the clown:
"I saw something ... there was this..." "Clown ... yeah I saw him too." This cut off a sentence is a technique to show the fear the children have and it informs them and the audience that the threat is a clown. It also shows how the kids are all having the same fear and in that they will join together to go against the fear. The next line:
"Look ... it's connected by the sewers. That's where IT lives." This informs the audience that the threat can go anywhere and is easily trackable. Before it then switches to screams and shout. There is one line which Georgie asks his brother Bill:
"Bill, if you'll come with me, you'll float too. - you'll float too. - (snigger) you'll float too. -you'll float too. - YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!" This repeated line signifies to the audience that there is something wrong with Georgie or better yet that this is not Georgie but the clown, Pennywise because the beginning lines show a adorable sweet interaction between Georgie and Bill so this end scene shows that it is not Georgie that is talking top Bill because the repeated line creates tension and drama in order to fuel more fear into Bill and the audience before there is a clown scream to confirm our suspicion that Pennywise has done something to Georgie.
There are a total of three USPs which are: "From Stephen King's terrifying novel", Pennywise and Finn Wolfhard. If it's adapted from a book, it already gains an audience as many people are familiar with Stephen King's work and so having it adapted from a book of a notable horror novellist. Pennywise is a notable character as he was previously adapted for a drama miniseries and the character was played by actor Tim Curry who is well known for playing Dr, Frank'n'Furter in The Rocky Horror Pictureshow. It is a remake of the original drama series and it brings audiences to the film so they can differentiate the quality from the 1990 version and the 2017 version. Finally Finn Wolfhard is a actor who is shown below:
Finn Wolfhard
He is well known in the hit Netflix series, Stranger Things and this series was critically acclaimed as well as the actors. Having an actor like Finn Wolfhard lifts the status of the film and gains a wider audience.
The costumes in the film, are somewhat old and this suggests to the audience that the film is set in the 80s because this was a time when children would go out and play together, riding bicycles with one another. The sets are mostly natural and in either houses or sewers in order to show a contrast of horror and reality. The colours are mostly bright when with the kids but the colours become dull when Pennywise is near showing that Pennywise is a threat and should not be preferred. Most of the lighting is natural high key lighting in order to break the convention that horror is in the dark as there is a show of Pennywise in the day time and it conveys to the audience that Pennywise is a monster that can haunt you anytime of the day.
The trailer follows most of the stereotypical conventions in which there are jumpcuts between scenes and fades to black. It does not give much a away but gives just enough information for the audience to understand the basic plot and it definitely does not give the ending away. It has the sounds of screaming and it uses fear in a rather clever way to show that this is a horror film.
In conclusion I found that this trailer is a perfect example of a horror trailer as it uses various tools in order to gain a wider audience which worked well as it was the most viewed video within a 24 hour time space and so using a well known book helps to gain a wider audience.
https://www.polyvore.com/luna_costume_ideas/set?id=232501905: The description for her was she dressed smart and appropriately in comfortable clothing. I chose T-Shirts with popular brands because I wanted to give off the image that she is a nerdy girl. There are jumpers on the side because she covers herself more and is not overtly sexual like the promiscuous girl. She wears big baggy coats because once again she is not comfortable with body hugging clothes. Luna prefers comfort over style and would possibly wear no to light make-up. She wears boots and converses to be more practical in her surroundings and would have tied up hair along with light make up.
There are three USP's to the film and this is what convinces audiences to go see the film: Slasher, 3D and Jensen Ackles. My Bloody Valentine is a slasher film full of blood and gore which is something that audiences are excited by as it is somewhat normal for audiences to be masochists. The film is in 3D which is a huge sell for it really immerses audiences into the film and it makes them feel as though they are in the film. It makes the film stand out and to really capture the horror of the film. Finally the actor Jensen Ackles, is famous for playing the character Dean Winchester in the TV Show Supernatural. Since Jensen Ackles would have a big fanbase then, it would engage more audiences to see the actor Jensen Ackles in other material i.e. My Bloody Valentine.
