Horror conventions used in my horror trailer.

Title of film – The first title we had come up with was ‘The New Girl’ as there was a new girl joining the college who was the main victim in the trailer. However over time we had come up with more ideas and decided to call our trailer ‘Deadline’ as it fit perfectly with the narrative of the horror trailer. It was placed in the centre as a checklist as it sets the narrative of a teachers requirements turning into a horror scene. The colour of the font is red symbolizing danger and blood. This helps to set the genre as horror/gore and also is important as it catches the audience’s attention telling them that it’s the final deadline symbolising that everyone is going to get killed. It is written in capital letters which makes the title effective as it makes it more static and sharp.

Setting and location – The type of locations we used was a class room where is known to be a safe place which sits with the period of equilibrium. This relates to Tadrov’s theory as the period of equilibrium sets the setting before the problem occurs as the classroom is seen as a safe place where help is accessible. It is purposely a mid shot to show the background of the books on the shelf’s etc show that it is a classroom. The second main setting during the moment and period of disequilibrium is an isolated setting in the forest at different times of day such as day time, evening and during the darkness. However, our first draft of our horror trailer only consisted of day time settings. So we went out of our own time to film in different times of the day such as evening and night time. This helped us relate to a horror genre and darkness is an important aspect.

Mise-en-scene/ Costume and props – Costumes used were smartly/casually dressed such as suits, blazers/smart coats to identify the characters play the role of college students. The first student who gets killed wears a white t-shirt which is then later filled with blood patches as she is killed. It was chosen to be a white t-shirt as blood will stand out on it more. This is done to set the genre of horror as it consists of blood and gore.

We had an idea to use a scarf in the trailer as a piece of evidence and placed it on a

bush as if it’s been caught on to it. This was used as in the trailer so the main character panics as it’s the missing girls scarf which will therefore automatically update the viewer on the moment of disequilibrium that something has happened and eventually starts to build up the suspension. A student identity card from the same college is also used as a piece of evidence and is dropped on the floor to create a sense of mystery which helps to identify that it is the students identity card confirming that it’s may possibly be hers.

A camera and a tripod are also used to show that media students are out there to film. We had then took the advantage to use the camera that the students were using left on recording which was a good idea as it had tuned to a point of view shot. As it is left recording, it had shown some scenes which seemed as if the audience is seeing it real life.

Camera work- In terms of camera angles and shots,

we had used point of view shots from the camera that was ‘accidently left recording’ and shots from the stalkers point of view. A Point of view shot is used to draw the audience into the film, to create the impression that you are the character in the film and make it more intense to watch. Also point of view shots from the ‘stalker’ who is the villain, is used in the trailer which is done to create the feeling that there is a stalker in the intention of killing everyone. In the trailer we had included some chase scenes which plays a big part in the genre or horror which helps to speed the pace of the

trailer which helps it to create intense suspension for the viewer. Also hand held shots were used in the trailer which made the scene look as if it was almost in the eyes of the students which makes the moment seem as if it’s in the eyes of the viewer.

Music and sound- I had came up with the idea to use news reports as a starting point into the trailer which almost helped to address the narrative. I had used YouTube to research news reports and then used a downloading application (YouTube converter) to download any specific ones I liked. Although this wasn’t my work, after downloading several bits and pieces I had used final cut pro to edit my own piece which I will explain later on in this evaluation when discussing the editing.

Also using a scream in the trailer is an important aspect of the horror genre as I symbolises fear and danger. As a group we had all taken turns to practice a scream to pick the best one. The best girly scream which we had used in the final trailer turned out to be a boy’s scream. This indicates that working as a team, really made us bring out the best in us and the unexpected.

Other sounds we thought would be ideal for a horror genre would be deep breaths and crying to create a sense of anxiety and isolation which I believe if essential to make a horror trailer successful.

Some sounds that were picked up unknowingly and unexpectedly were to be police sirens and a firework which almost sounded exactly like a gun shot. We had then decided to keep these sounds as a gunshot sound was to create the effects of shock and police sirens to represent danger and trouble.

Characters – In our practical, we had decided to mainly relate our narrative to a postmodern approach. The postmodernist point of view would say that this trailer knowing the rules break them down and does the unexpected in an unknowing way. We referred to props theory and related our characters to them.

Protagonist- Final girl = the hero/princessA young, intelligent, and respectful girl who is the main character, known as the Protagonist and the 'Final girl'. She is the leader in her media class who does literally everything. For her coursework, as a group they are asked to produce a horror trailer based on the ideas their teacher has shown them. She comes up with the idea of filming in the woods. As they set to film, a class mate sets off to find signal on her phone, during this moment there is a scream and comes to find out her class mate has been murdered. The 'new girl' acts as the hero and wants to save her. She tries to call for help but is convinced by the 'helper donor' to save herself first.

Teacher=Villain/dispatcherAn existing new media teacher joining a new school encouraging new media students to create a horror trailer as part of their coursework. He shows his students ideas as horror films but of the same stories and similar killings. He encourages his students to prepare a similar piece. He ends up being a real killer, an evil crazy stalker.

Student #1- Helper donor (geeky nice)An innocent geeky boy who is willing to succeed in school. An easy target to be teased on and bullied. He is a media student who is asked to make a horror trailer with the rest of his class. They go out to film their horror trailer, but one of his class mates get killed. He tries and wants to save her, but uses his common sense to save the people he can first. He is known as the helper donor.

Student #2- False hero (coward)A lazy, stupid, coward young boy, who doesn't know the definition of smart dress, is known as the false hero in the horror trailer. He is a media student asked to create a horror trailer with his class. His personality crashed with the rest of the class mates as he's not bothered and makes only little effort. After going out to film their horror trailer, a class mate is killed. Him as the 'false hero' panics and runs to save his life leaving the rest of the group worried and scared.

Student #3- Promiscuous girl that dies firstA young, slutty girl known as the promiscuous girl is also a media student set out to the woods with her group to make a horror trailer as part of their coursework. She is constantly using her phone to socialize and goes off deeper into the woods to find signal on her phone whilst the others set up the cameras and tripods, getting ready to film. She gets killed, and is the first to be murdered and left in the woods as her other class mates panic and try to save their own lives. She is the promiscuous girl that dies first.

Editing – During the editing, we had used an app on the Mac called final cut pro. This allowed us to edit any clips, sounds, music and add special effect such as tone cards etc. This gave me the privilege to create a piece of news reports containing ‘missing student’ information which I decided to add into the practical. I had cut pieces out of different clips and made my own. I had also created a newspaper article with real pictures and a story to go with it. Final cut pro taught us the skills of creating a horror trailer with knowledge from our research and allowing us to practice it through the application.

The tone cards used were as if it were a checklist. This was done to symbolise the setting of an educational environment but on the other hand, the tone cards also identify what aspects a horror genre needs which becomes true in the trailer. For example, scream, stalker, fear, isolation and blood are all relevant to make a horror trailer fit in the genre.