Scream trailer analysis

The Scream trailer begins with diagetic sound of a phone ringing with a close-up of a phone as a hand picks it up. A woman answers the phone with "hello" and a deep, creepy voice answers back, she then says "who is this" as the production company pans across the screen. It then cuts back to the scene with the voice saying "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours" this is followed by an establishing shot of a house, this is not used at the start of the scene to make the audience feel as if they were there with the girl. Diagetic sound is used well here with tense music and the sound of popcorn cooking, this has been made louder to create tension and add a countdown effect as the popcorn is slowly cooking the tension is building to a climax in the scene. She then says "I'm getting ready to watch a video" with which he replies " really, what?" she then says, as a close-up of the popcorn is used to bring the element of time into the foreground again, "just a scary movie". As she says this the music becomes more fast paced and tracking is used for the first time as she approaches the t.v. The man then says "You never told me your name" she then says "Why do you want to know?" with this the man's voice becomes angry as he says "because i wanna know who I'm looking at". As he says this the mood changes as the woman realises she shouldn't have answered the phone and now has a panicked look on her face, she looks around and as she does the music changes to just the noise of the wind whistling. The camera then zooms into her face and then there is a quick shot of glass breaking and a shot of her screaming whilst looking at a reflection in a window.

This is followed by a montage of police cars with a voice over saying "someone is playing a deadly game" with a shot of a hooded character jumping on the woman following. A computer screen is then shown with the writing "What seems to be the emergency" scrolling across the scene, this then fades out as the camera pans round a cameraman to show a reporter who's voice becomes the voice over. She says "It all began with a scream over 911", the music then begins again in its tense manner and a shot of another woman character with a man is shown. This then fades out to show another woman laying on a sofa and then cuts back to the computer screen with the writing "The killers in the house". The voice over then begins again with "someone whose sen too many scary movies" over the top of a policeman creeping round a house, a loud crash is then heard as we see the hooded character run through a doorway. The voice over then says "Now he's taking his love of fear" this is interrupted by a woman answering a phone laying on a sofa with the mans voice from the other phone call on the other end of the line. We see a close-up of her shocked face as she looks out of the window, the next shot is of her walking around her house on the phone, the voice over then continues with "One step too far" as the man on the phone asks her "Do you like scary movies?". She replies with "What's the point they're all the same, some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act" as she says this a shot of a girl opening a door is shown as a visual bridge between the phone call and real-life. She then continues with "Whose always running up the stairs scared" again a shot of the woman running up the stairs is used as a visual bridge, she carries on with "when she should be running out the door" again a shot of this is used.

The action then flashes to police running into a dark house, it then cuts to a man in front of a TV talking about "the rules of how to successfully survive a scary movie". This is intertextuality and is used very well in this trailer to make itself hyper-conscious. He continues with "number 1- You can never have sex" this is then coupled with a shot of two people having sex, this is used to attract a certain audience. "Number 2- Never ever ever under any circumstances say I'll be right back, because you wont be right back" a shot of a girl walking through a door with it closing behind her is shown over this to create tension. We then cut back to the room with the guy explaining the rules, when one of the guys there says "I'm going to get a beer, I'll be right back!" and everyone laughs. The voice over then begins again with "He didn't make the rules" this used over the top of a girl crying whilst on the phone with tense atmospheric music in the background. The next shot is of a man being arrested, with the shot then cutting to the man who was explaining the rules earlier who says "If they'd watch Prom Night they'd save time" another use of intertextuality. The camera is now following a woman who is running when the voice over says "He just kills by them" as he says this the woman turns round, with this the camera zooms into her face and then flashes to white. The next shot flashes in which is the killer chasing the same woman through a house, text then appears in black and white; this is important because it is the same colour as the killer's costume. The writing says "Don't answer the phone" and the voice over reads this out as well, the action then cuts to the woman from the beginning of the trailer screaming as the phone rings. The next text on screen says "Don't open the door" and an over-the-shoulder shot of a woman answering a door is used with a close-up of her face to show her screaming. The music is becoming fast-paced now and is building to a climax, the next text says "Don't try to hide" with a shot of a woman peering under a toilet door and then a close-up of the lock turning being used to emphasise the writing. The next shot is the killer jumping on the woman in the toilets and then titles appear with "From the first name in suspense" this then fades out in blood red then "Director We Craven" appears, the action then cuts back in with the man with the rules shouting "Everybody's a suspect!". We then see a montage of shots starting with a woman falling off a roof and a then a car driving towards a couple who have to jump out of the way. The titles then continue with "Comes the last word in fear" then a shot of a policeman holding a torch up to his face and saying to a woman "your not scared are you?". The film title then appears in blood red writing, "Scream"; this writing is a different colour to the rest of the trailer's titles to symbolise it is the main title.

This trailer is effective because it uses a lot of different techniques like pastiche and hyper-consciousness to make it stand out from the genre.

Production Photos

These are some photos we took when filming our teaser trailer.

Influences

Many films have influenced our choice of shots, film genre and storyline of our trailer. As our trailer is of the horror trailer, we watched many trailers, some which we have analysed. We decided on the horror genre as the trailers we watched made us feel that we could make a professional looking trailer. One of my favourite ones we looked at was The Strangers and included many quality moments. Firstly I like the way at the beginning it states the facts of the film and what it is based on. It sets up the trailer perfectly and spooks the audience straight away. Also the shot used in the living room where a masked man appears in the corner of the screen is terrifying and I would like to use one of those in our trailers.

Another trailer and film which influenced us was the Paranormal Activity trailer. As this film was created on a low budget and has been very successful we think this can

be an inspiration for us. The trailer is clever as it doesn't reveal too much of the storyline, but enough to make you want to see it. As the titles say experience the phenomenon it makes the people watching, want to be part of what these people are being terrified of.

The other trailer which has influenced me is the Inception teaser trailer. This is a really good teaser one because it reveals hardly anything but looks awesome. The music used is superb and the titles used are suitable and make the trailer flow. If we can include all th

ese aspects in our trailer it will be superb.

Filming

Yesterday we finally filmed some more of the trailer, despite the weather. We Filmed shots such as a P.O.V shot from someone hiding in a closet. Also tracking shots of people running up some stairs. Of course due to the weather we were unable to film outside. This is because as we have filmed some footage outside already and if we filmed in snowy conditions then it would look very unprofessional.

Progress

We have made substantial progress on our filming recently. We have filmed the establishing shot but may do it again just to make sure the lighting is perfect. As well as that we have done several shots of each of the rooms which will be used when the voices of the characters voices can be heard. Shots of the killer holding the knife is have been done using reflections and quick tracking shots.

We had planned to film more outside but due to unforeseen snow fall it was not possible. We'll try to film before Christmas if possible.

Sound, Dialogue and Lighting for our trailer : Research and Planning

For lighting
The lighting will mostly be focused on the object, so mainly dimmed frontlit lighting will be used. We could also use dimmed backlit lighting when portraying the villain, this will give a mysterious shadowy look for the villain, we may also use candal light to create a tense creepy atmosphere. For shots outside we can use a floodlight, a torch and natural light from the moon.


For sound
We will mainly be using non diegetic sound of glass smashing, a knife scraping against a wall and wind chimes to create an eerie atmosphere. General tense, eerie non diegetic sound will also be used to build up tension for the audience. Diegetic sound of the couple screaming, running and breathing heavily will be used.

Dialogue
In our trailer there is only going to be a small use of dialogue, there will be a little conversation between the couple before they are attacked. The other dialogue will be short sentences and words like "Run", "Hide" or "Look out."

Props we can use in the trailer : Research and Planning

The main prop in the film is going to be the villains weapon, deciding what the weapon would be was difficult as it needed to suit the costume of the villain. We eventually concluded that we should give the villain a knife as its main weapon. Here are some of the weapons we came up with.





An axe, we decided against it because its to gruesome, our villain is meant to torture rather than cutting people into bits.



A gun, we didn't want this because its to loud when fired, our villain is meant to be stealthy and make sure that neighbours don't become aware of the torturing.




A knife was perfect, it fitted all the needs of our villain character.



Other props that we are going to use will be, general house props such as table, chairs, a candle creating dimmed tense lighting, we will also use boxes as our couple have just moved to a new house.

What we have done so far : Research and Planning

To start we had to decide what genre trailer we wanted to do. To decide we looked at recent trailers for all genres, I then produced a mind map showing all the pro's and cons of each genre, after this we concluded that the horror genre would be best to do, as we had sufficient materials to make a good horror trailer.

As a group we then did research into the horror genre, coming up with ideas for location and a good storyboard. As we had location and shot choices decided we went out and did a bit of filming to see what it will look like, our results were good but we were still unsure on our script, so we filmed shots that had no dialogue.

We are still doing research into horror trailers, to come up a with a strong script that will suit our scenario.

Filming Issues

We came across a few issues when filming our trailer such as filming taking place on more than one camera and being different qualities and light being to dark when trying to edit the project. We have now rectified these problems and the project is now back on track.

Filming Issues

We came across a few issues when filming our trailer. We realised early on that light would play a major part in creating a believable trailer but the camera we were using was not very good in low light situations presenting us with a problem. We overcame this by filming slightly earlier in the day than we would've liked to so that the scenes were light enough to see the action but also dark enough to create an atmospheric shot. The next problem we came across was that the microphone we used did not work so shots had to be re-filmed in order to incorporate sound into our trailer. We have overcome both of these problems and have learned from this experience and in my opinion the trailer has benefited from this process.

Timline of our film - Research and Planning

This is our timeline of our process from the begining till the deadline of the film.

REC trailer

REC is a 2007 Spanish horror film co-directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film was released in Spain in November 2007

The trailer begins with the film companies logo FILMAX which isn't a well known film company. Straight away you can hear a radio of someone to do with the emergency services. At this point it is hard to say which emergency services it is. The first shot comes up and is an angled shot looking at two men walking through a door. It is dimly limiting the audience's view of the two characters. Accompanying this first shot is a loud bang which may of come from the two breaking through the door with some force. The Mise En Scene used, even in the first shot, is that the lighting is low and the sound of the radio suggests that something bad has happened and these men are going to investigate it. The angle of the camera is kept the same as the two men walk towards the camera, but as they come closer you can tell that they are firemen. As they reach the camera it reverts back to the normal angle. Heavy breathing can be heard with the continuous sound of the radio and someone speaking. A loud diegetic sound is then heard and both the characters look up. At this point the audience will want to know what that was and why they are there. It then cuts to a title with a clever VCR breaking up effect. Its a simple black background with writing saying the amount of calls which Spanish police had received ( 23 million calls ). It is then unclear whether the noise of someone dialling a number then hearing the ring is non diegetic or diegetic, but emphasises that the calls to the emergency services are clear.



It then cuts to the firemen again and it is clear that a handheld camera is being used to follow the men. This is used well because it makes the audience feel that they are there. A title with the same layout appears now focusing on the amount of calls the fire service have recieved and attended. Again it cuts to the men running up the stairs. Ringing noises can be heard and with the handheld camera used again it seems quite chaotic and that what there going towards could be very bad. The trailer continues in this trend and another title appears and says the amount of rescues. It then cuts to a high angle shot to show the vunerability of the men running up the stairs. They get to the top and stop breathing heavily and look scared at what is near them. A title appears and the camera reverts to being in front of the two men as they walk through a dark corridor. This is a clever shot as it shows the location and reveals the mens facial expressions. The last title appears Saying 5 unclassified cases have been looked into. The next shot in my opinion is the best and finishes the trailer on a high. Its an over the shoulder shot of both of the men. With torches the only way of seeing anything in front of them it is scary and gets even worse when you see the unknown being at the end. They flash there torch on it and it jumps out whilst screaming.

This trailer is good because it was made on a very low budget like ours but is still very freaky. The last shot was the best and if we can finish on a shot like this it would look very professional as well as scaring the audience senseless.

The use of costume in our trailer : Research and Planning

This is a midmap to show the costumes that our characters may wear.

Montage Ideas

We are going to have a montage in our teaser trailer and these are some of our ideas for it:

A chase scene - The main characters being chased by an unknown character with tracking and fast-paced music to create tension.

A hiding scene - The main characters are hiding from the unknown character and the tension is built though non-diagetic music and long takes as we watch the unknown character search for and potentially find the main characters.

An Attack scene - The main characters get attacked from the unknown character and we see extreme close-ups, short shots and hear terrifying music.

Music -

Fast-paced
Eerie
Wind chimes

Editing -

Fast-paced
Short shots
Fading

Sound -

Eerie sounds
Wind chimes
Non-diagetic sounds
Heavy breathing
Screams

Filming Choices

This is a mindmap to show our filming choices.

Analysis of the teaser trailer for the film THEM : Research and Planning

The scene begins with a mid shot of a woman sitting on a sofa relaxing whilst writing something down on a piece of paper. The room is dark and quiet, with the only light coming from s lamp. It then cuts to a close up of her making her notes, the telephone starts to ring against a silenced background, the woman walks towards the phone as a handheld camera follows her from behind. She answers “hello”, it then cuts to black with the caption, “Based on true events” appearing on the screen, with a weird non diegetic sound of someone tapping their feet very quickly. As the caption is disappearing the woman repeats “hello” on the phone, with no reply. The lack of sound and the prank call gives the trailer a creepy opening and also gives away the genre which is horror/thriller.

The following shot is a mid shot of someone walking across the camera, with it quickly cutting to a man turning around, jumping with fear. It then cuts to black again, but this time the caption, “Absolutely terrifying” appearing on the screen, with the weird non diegetic sound of someone tapping their feet being heard. There is still no non diegetic sound in the scene and the lighting is dimmed.

The next shot starts with a close up of the faces of a couple, their facial expressions implicating that they are scared, there is also diegetic sound of them breathing heavily , this maybe showing that they have been running. It then cuts to a mid shot of a white curtain with the camera zooming into it. There is another close up of the woman, then cutting to another mid shot of the man walking towards to curtain, cutting back to the curtain in between. The man slowly tries to open the curtain, when suddenly all the windows in the room burst open, there is diegetic sound of the windows smashing against the wall and non diegetic sound of someone making an eerie screaming sound. The man shouts “Hide” and the montage begins. A two shot of the couple running down the stairs in used, a tracking mid shot of the woman running through some plastic sheets and crawling quickly through a tunnel is used, an over the shoulder shot of a man trying to get into a locked room is shown, as he gets into the room there is a brief glimpse of the person they are running away from, who is wearing an all black tracksuit with a hood. The woman who is being victimised is wearing a white top, this shows the difference between the characters as black represents darkness, which represents evil. The white top the woman is wearing represents innocence, this being shown as she is victimised in her own home. Tense upbeat, non diegetic music is heard during the montage creating a tense atmosphere for the audience, as well as diegetic sound of the couple screaming and breathing heavily from all the running and hiding. Natural lighting from the moon light was used throughout the montage, apart from the last shot were there is lighting from lights turned on in the house. Fast paced editing is used through the montage creating and upbeat tension for the audience, this linking well with the upbeat non diegetic music.

The montage ends, as the next shot begins, there is a mid shot of the woman walking around looking very edgy, she walks past the hooded villain who is hiding behind a plastic sheet. The weird non diegetic sound of someone tapping their feet is once again heard, against a silent background. A close up of the woman turning around in fear is shown, showing that she is terrified. It then cuts to black once more, with the caption “You’ll never feel safe in your home again,” appearing on the screen. The final shot is a long shot of someone looking down a corridor through a whole in the door with no one down there, it then cuts to an extreme close up of the woman looking through the hole. A long metal pin strikes through the hole and whether or not it hit her is a mystery as the title “THEM” appears and the trailer ends.

In my opinion I think this is a very good trailer and particularly like how the lack of non diegetic sound creates a more tense atmosphere for the viewers.

Characters in the film : Research and Planning

Our basic storyline for our horror film is a couple moves to a newly bought house, which the woman doesn’t like. This causes a fall out between the couple and as they think they think the night couldn’t get any worse it does. They are not alone and are terrorised by a psychopathic killer.

So there are 3 main characters; the male partner, the female partner and the killer/villain.
We may use some transient characters that will play a very short part in the film, such as the neighbours welcoming the couple or a friend of the partner giving them a quick visit.

Analysis of shot chioces for film trailer : Research and Planning

In our film trailer we will, as every film maker does, is use a variety of shots. With every shot there being a meaning to it, so choosing the correct shot for the scene is critical. From the research I made of other horror film trailers, I came to a conclusion of what kinds of shots are vital to make a good horror trailer.

To start the trailer you have to let the viewing audience know where the film is going to be located. Location is crucial, as audiences can relate to remote locations that they would encounter on a daily basis. Films like Halloween and Strangers that have a normal family house as there main location would make the audience feel more scared because everyone spends most of their time at home. It makes the audience feel as the safest place they have, isn’t quite safe after all. The use of establishing shots or even maybe long shots can emphasise this.
The middle part of the trailer shows all the action that goes on in the film. As we are making a horror trailer, we will follow the traditional format of using high angle shots to show the victim or the inferior people and low angle shots to show the villain, as they are always causing trouble making them superior to its victim. Close ups will be used be show facial expressions of the victims. Two shots will be used to show the couple together. Over the shoulder, shot reverse shot will be used to show the conversation between the couple. Mid shots will probably be the main shot in the trailer, as it will be used the most, but knowing when to use it will be very important.

All horror film trailers have montage shots, this will show all the action parts of the film. Montage shots are used to create a tense atmosphere for the viewing audience, each shot in the montage will be very short, about 1 second each. It usually consists of victims running, hiding and screaming and general terrorising from the villain. So some shots that we will use are, close ups of the victim hiding and the fear in their eyes, mid shots or long shot of the victim running, extreme close ups of the villains weapon or body parts leaving the rest a mystery.
These are the shots that we are definitely going to use in our film trailer, but as our trailer develops our shots choices will develop, giving us even more variety.

House Of Wax

House of Wax was made in 2005 and was released on May 6th. It is a slasher film involving teenagers and starring the controversial Paris Hilton. It isn't classed as one of the best horror films but its trailer is well worth analysing as we could include many aspects from it in ours.

It begins with the logos of the companies making the film accompanied by the non diegetic music. It sounds upbeat and music which would attract young people. The first shot is of the moon with clouds passing over it with the continued non diegetic music. It then cuts to a darkened scene and two cars are seen driving. You can only see the cars due to the headlights and you can straight away decide that they may be in the middle of no where. The scene cuts to inside the cars as they talk to each other about being lost and that they should set up camp. They use medium shots to show the conversation between the two. A title appears stating saying :' Six friends are lost '. This is a c title as this would be a horrible situation for many people therefore many people can relate to it. A slick sound effect is used to disturb the audience further. It cuts back to the cars and a character looks at the GPS system and says this place isn't on the Satellite navigation system. This shows that they are in a secluded area and this is again like many other horror trailers, clichéd which has been used over and over again. To make what the character said even more chilling, a title appears saying : In a place not on any map. This use of title is very good and we can learn from this. If we can devise a few quality titles and place them at correct time in the trailer, there effect could be brilliant.

The scene then changes to daytime and a long shot is used to show characters walking into a deserted town. Dialogue is used by one of the characters to describe that the town is deserted and no one is to be seen. The next shot is clever as it is a Point of view of someone looking out through a window. This is really where the audience can decide that this is a horror trailer as this is a genre indicator. The characters continue to walk through the town until they reach a museum named the House of Wax. Due to the name of the film the audience can decide that this museum is going to be a key location in the film. In every horror film the audience are always thinking don't go into that dark room or deserted museum and one of the characters even warns him before he enters.

Inside the museum the character is shown, using medium shots, to be astounded by the wax models inside. The shots fade out into blackness, then the next shot is shown. This is a clever transition as it disorientates the audience. Suddenley the Non diegetic music dies down and quietness is replaced making the audience expect to be made jump. The only noise you can hear is creaking of floorboards plus the shot is out of focus, so you can't see where the little lights are coming from. A girls voice says : I heard something and then a man is shown screaming and the non diegetic music returns much quicker and louder. Also the noise of a knife being pulled out from somewhere is heard followed by screams. It then cuts to shots of this girl breathing loudly and a light flashes across her face revealing tears. Another girl is then shown in the middle of the street currently in the dark. Then with loud screams everything around her lights up. The houses and the shops are all now alight and more screams can be heard.

Following this a montage of shots are used including someone falling through glass and a dirty looking hand holding a knife. We are looking to use a shot of someone holding a weapon and we may use a similar shot to this. People are chased and a wax models eyes move which looks very creepy. Also the killer is not shown properly and makes the audience guess what he looks like and why he is chasing these poor teenagers.

Right near the end of the trailer a horrific scene is shown. A title flashes up saying : There's a reason why they look so real. Then a man is shown chained up and about to be made into a wax model. This is very frightening and the music adds to the suspense. Then the name of the film comes up which is made of wax. By ending with that horrible scene it makes the audience want to see what is wrong with the people in that 'deserted' town.

The actors and actresses used were chosen for a reason. To reach out to the teenage audience the makers chose young people to play in the film so that the people watching can relate to it better and put themselves in there shoes. If we were making our trailer into a feature length film we would need to think very carefully about what kind of people we would choose. Overall what we can take from this trailer is the clever use of actors and the superb timing of the titles. We need to think what there going to say and when they're going to be used.

The Haunting In Connecticut

The Haunting in Connecticut is allegedly based on true events which took place in Connecticut and was released in 2009. It is based around a house which a family move into which has a disturbing past and chilling events occur.

The first shot is of the LIONSGATE logo and a birds eye view of a suburban looking area. Playing over the top is music which is uncomfartble to listen to and with a womens voice saying ' Why do bad things happen to good people' , the audience straight away can decide that this isn't going to be a happy, cheery film. Also most people can associate themselves as well as many people live in areas like the one which is being shown meaning it immediately reaches out to a large target audience. This continues as the scene cuts to shots of the houses in a moving car and the woman's voice talking about them being just a normal family. This is clever as many people can put themselves in her position again and that what is about to be shown could happen to anyone. The car the lady is driving in pulls up outside a house which you can just about see but is hidden really, by a man holding a SOLD sign. As we are thinking about using a SOLD sign in our film we could use the same kind of technique in our trailer. A title than flashes up saying : Based on true events. Now when people see horror films inside they believe that what there seeing is not real in any instance. However when people see horror films which are based around true events it becomes much more scary as what their watching could be real. So whenever you have a film based around true events its seen as much more released by the audience than other films which are more fantasy.

As soon as that tittle flashes up on the screen, the mood of the ambient sound changes. It becomes much more sinister. creating an eerie atmosphere. The title flashes out, replaced by a huge house. It looks like its a secluded house in the middle of nowhere, a clichéd location for a horror film. We are wanting to find a location similar to this house as it is a perfect scary house and would make our trailer look professional. It cuts to the women inside the house wondering why its so cheap to buy. This is shown through a two shot of her and a estate agent. The question used is clever as she is saying it to the man and the audience, making the people guess and why its so cheap. Some shots of the rest of her family are shown through low and high angle making them look strangely vulnerable. The estate agents voice is played over the top of these shots saying there is a history about the house, which sounds alarming to the audience. For a couple of shots the family are shown to be happy about moving into the house until the boy chooses the basement as his room. Again eerie non diegetic music is played as the boy tries to open a darkned set of doors which look spooky to the say the least.As his mum and him try to open the door the audience begin to assume what is behind there and why it is locked.

The scene then completely changes and a establishing shot of the house at night is used. The non diegetic music is stopped and instead there is an unnerving silence. Close ups are shown of the family members sleeping and looking innocent. The last family member being shown is the boy sleeping in the basement and he is not asleep, but is watching T.V. He switches it off and the screen shows the blind side of the camera. A person is shown and walks off and is a freaky moment. This is emphasised with the sound effect played over the top. Again the scene changes to daytime and the boy tries to open the door again but this time it burns his hand. At this point in the trailer the questions are mounting up inside the audiences head. Also the music has changed to a disturbing olden styled music. The characters on screen are shown looking through old photos of people which they found under the floorboards. Another horrifying shot is used as a person walks straight in front of the boy and then disappears into thin air. However this shot wouldn't be anywhere near as scary without the sound effect which accompanies the movement of person walking across the screen. The next shot is of the boy explaining that the person in the picture is the person who walked in front of him a few seconds ago. It changes to night again and a woman bites into an apple but weirdly as she removes it is seen as black and looks disgusting. The lady is horrified and opens the fridge to discover everything inside is dead and looks horrible. The sound effect again is beautifully used as it starts as soon as the fridge door is opened.

A few more freaky shots are shown one in particular a shadow of an unknown person reaching down to the boy sleeping in the basement. This shot is even more scary because the light used is a flickering candle. The audience are then told that the house was once used for a meeting place to contact the dead. This in itself is a freaky topic and will disturb many people watching. A priest then enters the scene and states that there is something in the house. A slow montage of shots are used showing people being terrorized and freaked out. The priest then states that the mysterious people causing these actions want the boy sleeping in the basement. The non diegetic music picks up pace and so does the speed of the transitions of shots. A shot which I like and think we could use is the shot of an axe breaking through a door and the lady screaming her head off. This would scare our audience and will be a a good clichéd horror convention to portray. The last 5 seconds include a large amount of shots all blending into one. Just from the montage of shots the trailer is chilling and makes people watching want to find out many answers to the questions stated in the trailer.

Many conventions used in this trailer are ones we can use in ours. The use of scary sound effects as something freaky on screen happens is the main aspect of this trailer which I would like to use in ours.

A nightmare on Elm Street trailer analysis : Research and Planning

The trailer begins with a few long shots establishing a scrap yard. There’s a foggy background to the establishing shots giving the scene a mystic look. As the establishing shots are shown there is diegetic sound of a man breathing heavily. As the scene continues we realise that the heavy breathing is from a man running away from cars chasing him, tense non diegetic sound is added to the scene as the chase gets tenser the rhythm beat is increased, this giving a tense action atmosphere to the trailer straight away. Normal paced editing is used for this scene.

The following shot is of the man being chased entering an abandoned building and locking the door behind him. It then cuts to a mid shot of the people coming out of the cars and following the man to the building. The people are wearing casual clothes and are middle aged this could indicate that they are parents, chasing the man for reasons we don’t know yet. A man at the front of the group holding a hockey stick in his hand shouts, “Krueger, come out you sick bastard!” From this we realise that the man being chased is called Krueger and the hockey stick indicating that the parents are clearly upset with something and that the scene is going to get violent. The upbeat music is still continued and the editing is still normal paced.
The following shot is a close up of Krueger holding the door knob so no-one can enter, his facial expressions showing he is scared. He then replies, “What do you think I’ve done, I haven’t done anything.” The upbeat music suddenly stops after the shot replaced by diegetic sound of a man lighting a petrol can and throwing it in the abandoned building that Krueger is hiding in.
The next few shots are mid shots of Krueger catching fire. Diegetic sound is still used but this time of Krueger’s cries and screams burning alive. Whilst he is on fire he takes of his coat to stop the fire, he is wearing a red and black striped jumper underneath which the camera focuses on. The scene cuts back and forth between Krueger burning and close ups of the facial expressions of the parents. The facial expressions showing they feel bad listening to Krueger burning alive and probably regret the decision they made in fury. The lighting in the building was back lit by the flames of the fire, the back lit lighting creates a shadowy figure, which builds up more suspense for the audience. The final shot of the scene is the building blowing up with Krueger inside. This opening scene to the trailer indicates that the film is definitely not going to be a romantic or comedy, as it has an action packed opening. Romantic or comedies usually have calm relaxed openings with soft music to flow with it.

The scene then fades to black, non diegetic sound of a single drum beat is played as the producers name appears on screen in a red font with a black background, the red font maybe symbolising blood, maybe indicate the horror genre. It then fades to black again but this time 3 young girls playing in a park is shown synchronised with the non diegetic sound of the single drum beat. The next few shots are the same, in terms of the editing fading to black after every shot and a single drum beat during each shot. The final shot of that particular scene is a mid shot of a women talking about having nightmares. As the next shot begins non diegetic sound changes to young girls singing a nursery rhyme type of song, this making it uncomfortable for the audience, as they are singing in a slow rhythm with a high pitched voice, creating an eerie atmosphere. As the song is playing there is a mid shot of a man, there is dimmed back lit lighting in the building creating a mysterious shadowy figure similar to the one we saw of Krueger earlier, this shot in particular makes the link between the mysterious shadowy character and Krueger.

The next few shots are establishing shots of Elm Street. The non diegetic sound of the young girls singing is stoped for a split second, replaced by diegetic sound of someone with a metal claw scratching against metal pipes whilst tailgating a woman, as the pipes are being scratched we identify that the person doing that is wearing a red and black jumper. It is also in the same location as the one we saw the mysterious shadowy figure. The audience will suddenly realise that the shadowy figure is Krueger himself coming back to haunt the street. A quick close up shot of the woman waking up screaming from a nightmare is shown, with the eerie non diegetic sound of the girls singing continuing.
The following shot is a mid shot of two young girls about the age of 7 locked up in a cage, this shot making the audience even more uncomfortable with what’s going on, as young girls are not locked up in cages. It then cuts to a close up of a woman sleeping whilst taking a bath, with the same metal claw we saw in the trailer previously appearing from the water. She suddenly wakes up from the nightmare and the claw disappears. This along with the other woman waking up from her nightmare indicates to the audience that they are having the same nightmares with the same person in it and as we have established it Krueger. The next shot is a high angle shot a man shouting “Don’t fall asleep” to a woman, she then tortures herself to stop herself falling asleep, this just proving that something weird is happening in their dreams.

All the next shots are montage shots, showing people running, hiding, screaming and being taunted by Krueger in their nightmares, mid shots of the freaky shadowy figure of Krueger appearing every few shots during the montage. Fast paced editing is used for the montage, as the montage is quick shots of random clips from the entire film, having montage shots is to build up tension for the audience viewing the trailer. After the montage we can come to a conclusion that the genre is definitely a horror/thriller.

The final shot starts with a high angle over the shoulder shot of a blonde woman crawling away from the Krueger who says, “There’s nothing to worry about, this wont hurt one bit.” A quick low angle glimpse of the Krueger is shown scratching the blonde woman with his metal claw. The shot ends with a scream by the woman and the words “Don’t fall asleep” appearing on screen. The quick shot we see of the Krueger shows he has a burnt face which tells the audience that it’s definitely Krueger, as we saw him burning to death earlier in the trailer. For most of the trailer natural lighting is used, as the villain appears in nightmares the main source of light in the trailer is the moonlight.

The film is targeted for young adults and late teens as most of the characters in the film are teenagers. This is because the audiences could relate to the characters in the film and some of the situations they may have come across in real life.

In my opinion I think this trailer is very effective and as this is a remake off the older one the way they have put more shots of Freddy Krueger and fans will acknowledge this and go watch it.

Thinking about target audience

When making any film, the makers will have to decide on who their target audience are. Usually big film companies will want the widest range of audience to boost their chances of making huge amounts of money. To entice their audiences they use and include certain aspects in the trailer, posters, adverts and commercial material. At the moment we are planning our trailer and we will need to think about what strategys to use to make sure we reach our target audience.

Our target audience will be couples and young people age 15+. We are choosing to aim for people 15+ plus because if couples see that the film is a 12 rating then they may think that it may not be scary and could be a bit childish. Below is the characteristics of a film with a 15 rating:

Characteristics

Theme: No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.

Language: There may be lots of use of strong language; the strongest terms are only rarely acceptable. Continued aggressive use of strong language and sexual abuse is unacceptable.

Nudity: There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex: Sexual activity and nudity may be shown but without strong detail. The depiction of casual sex should be handled with care. There may be occasional strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.

Violence: Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain, and of injuries. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.

Imitable techniques: Dangerous combat techniques such as ear claps, head-butts and blows to the neck are unlikely to be acceptable. There may be no emphasis on the use of easily accessible lethal weapons (in particular, knives).

Horror: Sustained or detailed infliction of pain or injury is unacceptable.

Drugs: Drug taking may be shown but clear instructive detail is unacceptable. The film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug use.

I found this information among many websites including the BBFC guidelines.

We could place the film under the 12 rating bracket but we believe that by placing it under 15 couples and teenagers will be able to relate to it much more. As we aim to use typical clichéd horror techniques in our trailer we believe it will be better, if, we were going to rate this film, that it would be a 15. Our target audience will be couples and the younger generation. This is because the main characters are young and are a couple so people will be able to put themselves in the characters shoes.

Friday The 13th

Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that consists of twelve slasher films, a television show, novels, comic books, and tie-in merchandise. The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character of Jason Voorhees, who drowned at Camp Crystal Lake as a boy due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" and is the setting for a series of mass murders. Jason is featured in all of the films, either as the killer or the motivation for the killings. I will focus on analyzing the most recent Friday The 13th which was released on 13th February 2009.

Friday The 13th has a cult following and it is sure to make money just because of its predecessors. Due to the development of special effects and filming techniques, this film was eagerly awaited. It begins with the non diegetic sound over the top of establishing shots of the lake which fade out. People may recognize that the shots are of Camp Crystal Lake which sets up the trailer straight away. This establishing shot is a key one and we need one similar so it'll start the trailer off well and set up the location superbly. It then cuts to inside the woods with a tracking shot of a girl and boy walking towards something. With the music over the top the audience can expect something may be about to go wrong. An over the shoulder shot is used and it then moves to what the couple were looking at. The sign to Camp Crystal Lake is shown being lit by a torch which in itself is a bit scary. Fans of the previous fans will be excited by this and can begin to look for the iconic Jason X. After this shot it moves inside the camp and a few long shots are shown of shacks and accommodations. They all look untouched and most normal people would not approach them. However sticking to the horror conventions, the couple investigate, being shown through medium and close ups of the two.


At this point of the trailer the audience may be expecting that their going to jump at any second. This is a good strategy for a horror film as this makes me nervous and make them want to see the film when it is released. As they enter a room the male speaks about this room being slept in and as he does a medium shot of the bed is shown and it is clear to the audience that something is going to happen as the curtain is blowing in the wind. The two are then shown walking into a room with candles. The non diegetic music used at this point continues to create a chilling atmosphere. A long shot is used showing the two starring at a door. The girl is holding onto the man looking scared. He raises the torch at the door and it cuts to an extreme close up. This is a clever shot as you can see a shadow walk across the other side of the door. As you see the shadow pass under the door a nice sound effect of a 'Swoosh' is played which will make people watching jump.

The rest of the trailer is now going to take a much faster pace with the music following the same trend. A mixture of medium, close ups, cut aways and point of views shots are used for the montage that follows. With the girl screaming and the man running away everything seems a panic. A sequence of shots near the end of the montage is when the man is being dragged down a whole in the floor. First they use a low angle shot looking up at the girl showing she has the power to help this man. Also the two shot used shows the woman's distress at the situation and the peril this man could be about to get into. It finishes with a high angle shot looking at the man with a blood stained face. They have used it handheld it as which disorientates the viewer and makes them feel that they could be there watching this trouble unfold. The title comes up with a flickering effect with the number 13 in red colour and the rest of the title in white. We aim to use animation in our trailer but may not have the software to fulfil our ambition. The very last shot is of the woman crawling backwards on the floor screaming as, for the first time, see Jason running at her with a weapon. This important because this is the only time they reveal Jason and for many people he makes the film scary. In our trailer we are unclear on to whether reveal the killer or not. The last shot is also key because we are looking into the possibility of having a last shot similar to this. We we look at other trailers and see how they've done it.

Paranormal Activity Analysis

The teaser trailer begins with a group of people on screen with the title written over the top saying ‘In sep 2009 a screening was held in Hollywood, CA’ Its shown as if it’s a hand held camera. This then goes onto inside the cinema; again it’s shown handheld making it look like a home video. Paramount is shown as if you were at the back of the cinema with the audience in the foreground in front of you. This makes you feel like you are in the cinema with them about to witness what they are about to see. Again this shot is used showing the actual film, it flashes back to the audience in night vision to see what there reaction was.

The shots then sequence between the shots inside the house, the audience watching and the clip still being shown and the other being the audience’s reaction. When the audience are shown screaming this gives the impression that it really is terrifying making the people that are horror fanatics, want to go and see the film. It also shows couples in screening together with there arms round each other giving the impression that couples can go see this because it’s the norm to do.

Titles come up from newspapers and magazines saying quotes on what they thought about the film. Good quotes incise people to want to view the film. This switches between shots from the film and quotes. The non diagetic music over the top is at the passé of a heart making it feel nerve-racking it also is very eerie making it feel more terrifying.

Another title sequence is it saying ‘Experience it for yourself’. This shows as if its actually talking to you making you want to be apart of this. At the end of the sequence it has paranormal activity in big bold letters which is flickering. Again this effect was used in the other clips so hopefully we can use this in our film. It shows as if a light/television is flickering on and off and somehow this relates to horror films.

Analyzing Signs trailer

Signs was released in 2002 starring Mel Gibson and is based around the idea of aliens coming to earth. It was a big hit and is classed as on the best horror/sci fi films there is. I'm going to look at the trailer to see if there are any horror conventions or useful shots we could use for our trailer.

Starting off the trailer is the non diegetic sound which immediately makes the person watching feel nervous at what is going to happen. For our trailer if we could use similar music then it would have the same effect. Several shots of fields with crop signs are shown and its easy to realise this trailer could be something to do with aliens. It then cuts to a title which says ' a message'. With the non diegetic music in the background it creates a tense atmosphere. A medium low angle shot is used to show the main character , Mel Gibson. Another low angle shot is used showing a dog barking and looking in distress. This shows to the audience that something has made these two things unhappy and they'd want to know what that is. Another title comes up now stating : ' a warning'. This is straight away followed by A young boy twisting Mel Gibson's head towards something. By using this shot it makes the audience want to know what the warning is and what he is being made to look at. More shots are used with titles squeezed in between for maximum effect.

The way the trailer is made is very clever as it puts thoughts into the audiences minds and they will then want to find out the answers. It doesn't show any actual aliens, just the crop signs. Also with the scary location mixed in with the chilling music it can make the audience feel uncomfortable viewing it.

The trailer continues to have titles flashing up with other shots of this scary looking field. This will appeal to a wide range of audience as many people can put themselves in these peoples position. As there is Mel Gibson starring as the main character this will make ladies want to see this more. Taking every into acount we can use a few key aspects of this trailer. If we can find some music similar to the one used in this trailer then it will create a frightening atmosphere and make our trailer a much better one. Also the creating this trailer found a balance between showing titles and footage from the film. Using titles just the right amount will be perfect for our trailer.

The fourth kind analysis

The fourth kind

The trailer begins with a faded in camera. The music is deep showing a horror sense. It then continues with a girl with her face being blurred out. You can work out the main girls features being a brunette and quite young. A voice comes on saying ‘would you tell the camera your name’. There is a long shot of a couple talking over a desk. The shot of the girl flickers showing that it could be shown on television or it’s an added horror effect. In this trailer as well as the trailer that I previously analysed vision, it shows a television flickering. This is postmodern as a flickering television is represented as a horror genre effect. This is postmodern due to it being intertextulaity from one to the other film.

It then continues to the girl speaking to the camera. This makes the film self aware of its self making it again postmodern by having a hyper conscious audience. The girl talks about the film saying how the film is being filmed and that it’s disturbing. By talking to the audience directly it can give an insight to what is coming up.

A universal picture then comes up, showing it is being made by this company. In our film we should look at having this because it may make it look more realistic. It also shows that we have really studied film trailers and how they come together. It then continues with another called gold circle.

It fades in to Alaska; you know this by having the words on the screen. By having this it gives a name to the place and you understand the location. It then goes to a little cabin with a women talking to a man. It then goes to a frame of it being filmed by a video camera (having date and time on screen and faded). It continues with several other people women and men all talking about something them have seen. The woman who is interviewing seems to be some sort of councillor or detective trying to find out what this thing is. By flicking from two different films being the normal film and then the video camera effect it gives a sense of being watched by something, this gives it a suspenseful edge.

The next shots are again of a man seeing this thing switching between both shots. It also flickers between a clock and a tape running. By having this you can tell by the intensity of quick shots it’s defiantly on the edge of suspence. It maintains the quick shot effects; they do this to show lots of action in the film. Again the clock comes up relating to time.

It carries on with lots of scary shots showing the impact in the film. The titles on the screen being the first kind, the second kind, third and forth kind represent firstly the title of the film and also, gives the trailer a want to see what happens next feel. The screaming, shouting and mysterious noises all connect with a horror genre.

Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire we asked people to fill out for us so that we could find other peoples opinions on trailers and the horror genre. Together we chose questions which we thought would give us the best feedback possible. With the results we hope to get a better idea of what people like to see in trailers and what they like about the horror genre We will put up the results to show what people thought about it.

Locations

This is spider diagram showing the different locations we could use. It shows the pros and cons of each location.

Do our poll ! - Research and Planning

Villians What type of villian do find most scary Ghost Monster Vampire Man Women Other view results

Nightmare On Elm Street Anaylsis

This film is the most recent remake of the the classic horror film from 1984 which is released on the 7th of May 2010. Nightmare On Elm Street is classed as one of the best horrors to be ever made, and director Samuel Bayer wants our generation to be horrified by the iconic Freddy Krueger.

The trailer begins with New line cinema logo which fades out. The use of non diegetic noise immediately shows to the audience that its a horror/thriller. It then flashes in shots of a run down warehouse in low light. For our trailer if we could find the ideal time to film our location with the right light it would be perfect. This however is difficult because to get the lighting to look superb is very difficult. A few more shots of this dire looking area follow until we see a person running away from two cars. The non diegetic music picks up pace as low angle shots show the man looking distressed and fearing for his life. The music is superb at this point enticing the audience, as the man rushes into a dilapidated building. People are shown exiting the car through a medium shot and one man is holding a baseball bat. At this point, due to the audience not knowing the identity of fleeing man, they may feel sorry for him. People who have seen the original will recognize that the man hiding is evil once the man holding the baseball bat shouts the name ' Krueger '. The angry crowd chuck a molotov cocktail through a window and the non diegetic music gets louder as Krueger burns.

After the birth of Krueger has happend the title of the director ' Michael Bay ' appears in typical horror styled writing. The next shot is one you wouldn't expect to see in a horror trailer and is unsettling with three girls happily skipping. A girls voice is played over the top as she describes how a man is coming to her in her dreams. The music used in the background makes people watching feel uneasy and if we could find music like this for our trailer then it would sound really professional. The iconic Elm Street sign post is shown and people who watched the first one can begin to compare. Following the next shot is one of my favoruite shots of the whole trailer. It is a scary looking house with shadows on it and is the estabslihing shot that would be ideal for our teaser trailer. Also with the ambient sound of children singing it makes people watching feel very uncomfortable. The sound then cuts out completely and loudly cuts back in with Freddy scarping his claw like hand down the wall. This is something we can use for our film with the music cutting to silence and then something jumping out. Following this shot is quick montages of scared looking teenagers and a typical horror scene , being a funeral. Throughout the trailer it shows Freddy in dark shadows and this is what we plan to do with our killer. The end 20 seconds are are immense and the quality of the montage of shots mixed with the non diegetic music make it a real trailer which will stick in your mind. Finally the title flashes up with a neat effect with the slogan DON'T FALL ASLEEP plus date following. We can gather many ideas from watching this trailer as it is one of the best horror trailers in recent times. It gives glimpses of the killer, the storyline and who some of the characters enticing the audience to go and see it. At the same time it doesn't reveal too much making it a perfect teaser trailer.

I can apply theories and conventions of Postmodernism here as well. According to Bauldrillard's theory, nothing is an original and everything is a copy of something. This is quite clearly a copy of the original and not a brand new idea. Also the way Freddy haunts the children in their dreams supports another idea of Bauldrillard as he states that the blur between what is reality and what is not is increasing. With Freddy killing kids, whilst there not in the real world is very postmodern. Finally right at the end of the trailer Freddy is threatening a young blonde girl. This is a typical scene in any horror and can be seen as a pastiche as every horror film needs an attractive young girl being terrorized.

Postmodern Horror Film Scream

Scream a postmodern horror film

Analysing the screams trailer shows many reasons for it to be postmodern. The first point that stands out most to me is the fact that it has the rules on how to survive a scary movie. This contradicts its self by doing exactly what it’s saying. For example answering the phone and opening the door with the bad guy at the end of the line/door.
Scary movie has many intertexuality relations just in the trailer. For example the police referring to the bill and the scary masked character you can relate to from films such as a nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween. Scream has been referred to as many things; a parody is one of the most common. Critics have described it as a parody, but is this a correct application of the word. Is Scream a parody of previous horror films? People say this film is the same as every other horror film ‘Some killer that chases a blonde girl and she falls over while running away.’
However I think that Scream is a pastiche because it uses moments to scary rather than for humour.
The character shown as Drew Barrymore is represented as the one who gets killed because she has blonde hair, ditsy and the male attraction to the film.

Mindmap to show pro's and cons of different genre's : Research and Planning

This is a midmap of the pro's and cons of every genre of film. I have done this to show what genre films would be easy to make and which ones are difficult.

Bar chart on Favourite Horror film

This is a bar chart on films they most prefer. This again was a poll on 70 people.
Data shows that a Nightmare on elm street was the best horror film

I chose to do this because we as a group wanted to find out what storyline appealed most to teenagers realting to other films already made.

Pie Chart

I did a poll to see what people most prefered for genre of film . This is what they came up with. I did this poll with 70 people

Showing that horror film was most prefered im glad we chose this to do.
I chose this topic because we wanted to find out what genre best appeals to teenagers of our age. We decided upon teens being the target audience because we can obviously relate to them the most.

Analysis of Vision

Analysis of Vision

Vision is a 2009 film directed by Jamie Hooper and stars Axelle Carolyn. I choose this trailer because I think it has a lot to say about even though there are no actual clips from the film.

It begins with a disconnected signal from a television. It then has a distorted mini second flash of an image. All you can see is red and can’t picture anything. This distorted picture continues whilst zooming into the picture. This then moves up and down the screen emphasising trying to get a signal. It also has a clicking sounds again emphasising trying to get a signal. It comes up with a vivid image of the director’s name with blood splattered against it. It then comes up with a shaky image of a dark shadow. It continuous with more flicker images.

After this it has a title sequence: ‘Once you press play, there’s no escape, you can only witness’ this has a blood splatter on each. This shows the film will be gory, have murders and probably lots of violence. It then has VISION upon the screen moving towards you. It flickers giving a representation of a light bulb breaking representing darkness.

You can relate this to films like the ring; this may use intertextuality throughout the film also borrowing from other films. I liked this teaser trailer because it didn’t give anything away so this made me want to watch it.
However it would be nice for some more information on the film.

Costume Ideas

Ideas for our costumes

The strangers analysis

The Strangers is a 2008 American suspense and horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino, and starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. The film revolves around a couple in a house that are being terrorized by 3 masked people. The film was marketed as an inspired true story.

The teaser trailer that I have analysed begins with clicking through a film slide. The clicking sound is made ambient so you get the feel of someone showing it to you. The film consists of family homes and has peaceful, old fashion music in the background. Under the pictures are words explaning why people buy there homes. As the slides go on the pictures become more violent and mysterious, the music changes to something more horrifying. Under the pictures it says: 'some people choose there homes for a completely different reason'. The picture then flickers into an actual shot. This shows that this is the house it is focusing on.

The sound is creepy (wind breeze) and goes into a long shot of a man lighting a candle. The man is wearing a suit so this gives the impression he is important or his job is. He lights a candle making the room slightly brighter. The room is dark and mysterious. It then changes between shots of a women and then back to them both together. It keeps flicking between different angles of this. The room is still very dark. You then hear a very loud knock on the door. By the way they react you know now that this is not going to be a pleasant person. This is a key giveaway of what genre the film is - Horror. It flashes to the woman standing next to the door “Hello” she says. She says this in a worried tone. You then hear something say “You’re going to die”. This is in a creepy tone.

After this it flashes to something dark across the screen, you see and hear the women screen. As it did in the beginning of the film it comes up with the film slide effect, going through them quickly with a deep dark tone upon these images. It then holds on a blurry image of a person/object. You don’t really understand what it actually is. It continues with this effect then every few frames it will pause on a shot. E.g. Knife. It also screams throughout this. You can see a masked character in some of these frames but it never comes completely clear. The end picture is a clear image of 3 masked people with the couple sitting.

It finishes with the title ‘The strangers’. It has a yellow, brown effect in the background, this shows it’s a dark murky place. It then has a black screen with the writing ‘Inspired by true events’. This makes the audience relate to the characters.
It then goes back to a film clip sequence with the girl crawling on the floor trying to get away. It then fades out.

I choose this trailer because in our film we are doing a horror film with a home alone effect. This is a good relation to our film.