Monday, 22 December 2014
Prop List
This is a list of all of the props that we will need for our trailer.
- My car
- Knife
- Fake blood
- Chair
- Nightstand/beside cabinet with a drawer
- Books/things to hide the hair in the drawer
- Lamp to throw against the wall
- Rope to tie around my hands
- House (this is not really a prop but we need to find a non lived in house that we can use to film the majority of our trailer in)
- Sack/sheet to cover the body in the car
Choice of Trailer and Synopsis
Our group has decided to create a highlights trailer due to the narrative of our film. We feel that it would be more effective to create excitement by using multiple scenes from the film rather than concentrating on a particular scene because our target demographic would be more attracted to this. Also, we want to incorporate all the best parts of the film in order to intrigue our audience but we are conscious that we don’t want to give away any significant plot details that may ruin the film.
The slow, harmonising music begins on a black screen and the audience hears a voice over of Alex (Maria) which is reminiscent of the iconic parallel music shown in the opening credits of Halloween (1978) which can be heard above. After a short sentence of dialogue, the shots begin to appear at a slow pace. The slow montage begins with a romantic scene of Lee (Jordan) brushing his wife's hair and putting it in a plait for her before bed. Collision cutting is then used to show the couple arguing with each other before the husband storms out, slamming the door behind him which interconnects with her opening a drawer in her husbands office.
She picks up a single photo that she finds of her friend who is also blonde and the shot then fades to when the photo was taken. A series of photos are then taken from the point of view of an unknown person and shots are divided by the click of a camera. Quick flash of a blonde woman (Kelsey) tied to a chair and gagged struggling to break free. Home video of an intimate memory of the couple together having a picnic or something like that. Another flash shows the same women with her throat cut. The home video is now shown again but only lasts half the time as the horror becomes more frequent and the scene is cut off mid sentence to emphasise the broken relationship and black screen is shown.
The music picks up as the action builds with a fast montage of captured women with bags over their heads and a close up of a woman running away all with a grimy feel to it. The music then comes to a halt and there is an extreme close up of a woman's eyes and a muffled scream is heard as she is being cut with a knife however this is not shown because restricted narration is used for effectiveness. The next shot is of the main woman shaking her head and shouting aggressively and another fast montage begins to build pace and conflict is shown with her fighting for her life which climaxes with a final shot of a bloody knife falling to the floor.
The slow, harmonising music begins on a black screen and the audience hears a voice over of Alex (Maria) which is reminiscent of the iconic parallel music shown in the opening credits of Halloween (1978) which can be heard above. After a short sentence of dialogue, the shots begin to appear at a slow pace. The slow montage begins with a romantic scene of Lee (Jordan) brushing his wife's hair and putting it in a plait for her before bed. Collision cutting is then used to show the couple arguing with each other before the husband storms out, slamming the door behind him which interconnects with her opening a drawer in her husbands office.
She picks up a single photo that she finds of her friend who is also blonde and the shot then fades to when the photo was taken. A series of photos are then taken from the point of view of an unknown person and shots are divided by the click of a camera. Quick flash of a blonde woman (Kelsey) tied to a chair and gagged struggling to break free. Home video of an intimate memory of the couple together having a picnic or something like that. Another flash shows the same women with her throat cut. The home video is now shown again but only lasts half the time as the horror becomes more frequent and the scene is cut off mid sentence to emphasise the broken relationship and black screen is shown.
The music picks up as the action builds with a fast montage of captured women with bags over their heads and a close up of a woman running away all with a grimy feel to it. The music then comes to a halt and there is an extreme close up of a woman's eyes and a muffled scream is heard as she is being cut with a knife however this is not shown because restricted narration is used for effectiveness. The next shot is of the main woman shaking her head and shouting aggressively and another fast montage begins to build pace and conflict is shown with her fighting for her life which climaxes with a final shot of a bloody knife falling to the floor.
Types Of Trailer
A teaser/highlights trailer is a lot shorter than a theatrical trailer and is generally 60-90 seconds long. The main purpose of teaser trailers is to create excitement for the film and so they will contain the most exciting parts of a film in order to entice the audience, without giving away any significant plot details. These trailers will start circulation months before the film is released in order to create the initial buzz for the film. For example: Evil Dead (2013)
A scene trailer is longer than a teaser trailer, and will contain information about the plot details and develop the characters that are in the film, to an extent. The purpose of scene trailers is to keep up the hype before the film’s release and also appeal to a specific demographic. By releasing plot details, the distribution company are attracting an audience who may find the plot intriguing and therefore decide to go and see the film. These trailers are usually released 1-2 months before the actual films release and this ensures that the target demographic is aware of the release date of the film. For example: Cloverfield (2008)
A scene trailer is longer than a teaser trailer, and will contain information about the plot details and develop the characters that are in the film, to an extent. The purpose of scene trailers is to keep up the hype before the film’s release and also appeal to a specific demographic. By releasing plot details, the distribution company are attracting an audience who may find the plot intriguing and therefore decide to go and see the film. These trailers are usually released 1-2 months before the actual films release and this ensures that the target demographic is aware of the release date of the film. For example: Cloverfield (2008)
Sterotypical Fan
Name: Charley Peters
Student: Lowestoft Sixth Form College
Life Story: She is an only child who lives with her mum who is a single parent. She is at Lowestoft Sixth Form College studying politics, Law and English Literature. She has always been interested in what is going on around her and likes to solve problems. She is also a feminist and very involved in her local community, volunteering for local charities. She plans to continue her studies at University either studying Criminology or Politics.
Demographic Profile: D,
but aspires to have a career in politics working for the Green Party where she
can affect social change.
Age: 18
Race: English
Social Class: Working classGender: Female
Psychographic Profile: Mainstreamer but she’s also an individual aspirer.
Favourite Horror Films: Evil Dead, Saw, The Amityville Horror, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Initial Idea for Trailer
Characters
Teenage girl- strong, wilful, badass
Man- father
Woman- mother
Little girl- cute, blonde
Little boy- sullen
‘Baddie’- never seen for long
Length
1 ½ - 2 minutes
Synopsis
The teenage girl is seen saying goodbye to her family in their house, they’re going away for a few days while she stays at home. The house that they’re staying in belonged to a relative that has recently passed away, and as they live the closest they’ve been given the task of clearing it out. The little boy clearly doesn’t want to go and wants to stay at home, but is pressured into leaving. The scene changes to night time, the girl is seen going up the stairs to her bedroom. In her bedroom, we see a lot of pictures covering her walls of her family and in photo frames. It is clear that her family mean a lot to her. Cuts to the sound of a doorbell, she goes downstairs to answer it but when she opens the door there is nobody there.
When she looks down at the floor, she sees a lot of photographs on the ground that are cut up. Scared, she tears up the stairs to her bedroom and sees that all the photos from her bedroom are missing so somebody has been in her house whilst she was alone and sleeping. This makes her angry because she thinks somebody is playing a sick joke on her. She rings her parents who don’t answer the phone and she begins to panic thinking that maybe the cut up photos mean that her family are in danger. The police refuse to help her as she has no proof that anything is wrong other than a bad feeling, so she decides to get in her car and try to find her family.
It’s raining heavily and as she’s driving down a long stretch of road she has to slam on her brakes because she sees her little brother standing in the middle of the road, however when she gets out of her car she can’t see anything around. She arrives at the house and sees that the front door is wide open. There’s a lot of flashing light effects and pounding music as she makes her way up the stairs with a baseball bat that she’s grabbed. She gets attacked by bats as she reaches the top of the stairs which compromises her vision and when she looks down, she sees her little brother lying on the wooden floorboards, dead. She shouts for the rest of her family and starts to run down the stairs when she hears a creak coming from downstairs. She hears screams coming from a basement and is crying now as she sees a dark lone figure standing at the open front door. The door slams and the camera goes black as you hear her scream.
When she looks down at the floor, she sees a lot of photographs on the ground that are cut up. Scared, she tears up the stairs to her bedroom and sees that all the photos from her bedroom are missing so somebody has been in her house whilst she was alone and sleeping. This makes her angry because she thinks somebody is playing a sick joke on her. She rings her parents who don’t answer the phone and she begins to panic thinking that maybe the cut up photos mean that her family are in danger. The police refuse to help her as she has no proof that anything is wrong other than a bad feeling, so she decides to get in her car and try to find her family.
It’s raining heavily and as she’s driving down a long stretch of road she has to slam on her brakes because she sees her little brother standing in the middle of the road, however when she gets out of her car she can’t see anything around. She arrives at the house and sees that the front door is wide open. There’s a lot of flashing light effects and pounding music as she makes her way up the stairs with a baseball bat that she’s grabbed. She gets attacked by bats as she reaches the top of the stairs which compromises her vision and when she looks down, she sees her little brother lying on the wooden floorboards, dead. She shouts for the rest of her family and starts to run down the stairs when she hears a creak coming from downstairs. She hears screams coming from a basement and is crying now as she sees a dark lone figure standing at the open front door. The door slams and the camera goes black as you hear her scream.
Class Research: Favourite Type of Horror
I was one of the three females in the class that voted for Action as my favourite sub-genre of Horror.
Types of Horror
These films use lots of gore in order to scare the audience,
scenes involving decapitation and bloody fights are common within this
sub-genre. Examples of good horror films with lots of body horror include the Saw
films, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hostel and the Final
Destination quadrilogy. Most recent horror films will not be straight body
horror any more but will rather combine it with another sub-genre. This is
because body horror doesn't have the same effect on audiences now that is used
to; we are more accustomed to seeing this type of thing on the news whereas in
the past people would have walked out of the cinema upon seeing gore.Action horror-
Action horrors are an increasingly common sub-genre of
horror. The fast editing used creates excitement for the audience and collision
cutting is also used in order to build the tension within the film and
intensify the action. Examples of action horror films are Dawn of the Dead
(2004), The Crazies, The Purge and Resident Evil.
Psychological horror-
Psychological horror films rely on collision cutting and
jump scares in order to make the film scary for the audience. A common theme
for psychological horrors is the supernatural, and a lot of them use a family
as the main characters of the film. This makes the films more appealing to a
mainstream audience for whom family is their main concern. Examples of
psychological horror films include The Uninvited, The Woman in Black,
The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity films.
For my film trailer I am mainly going to use the action
horror sub-genre. This is because it is my personal favourite type of
horror film, having appreciated films like Dawn of the Dead (2004). and
I think that I can use this in order to make an effective trailer. I feel I've watched enough action horrors to know what works and what doesn't. However I
will also be using elements of psychological horror conventions in order to
amplify key moments in the trailer, and this will maximise the “horrere”
(shuddering) effect.
Saturday, 20 December 2014
Trailer Analysis
Film: 30 Days of Night
Released: October 2007
Directed by: David Slade
The trailer for 30 Days of Night shows a small town above the Arctic Circle being terrorised by a group of vampires whilst they try to survive the month of never ending darkness.
Collision cutting is used immediately in this which sets the tone for a very jumpy action packed film, attracting fans of this action/horror sub-genre. The low-key lighting used throughout the trailer really highlights the isolation in the mise-en-scene whilst the setting emphasises the human instinct of being afraid of the dark, because that’s where the ‘monsters’ are. In this trailer, the ‘monsters’ are actually terrifying looking vampires and are portrayed as being fast moving monsters, which are archetypal due to modern action horrors such as Dawn of the Dead (2004).
Personally, I’d be interested to see a trailer for this film where the audience doesn’t actually see what the vampires look like, and are left to imagine it. I think that this technique would build the tension and encourage people to go and see the film, because you already see what they are capable of throughout the trailer. This could take some drama away from the film.
Overall, I thought that this was a really good trailer for the action sub-genre of horror because it sold what the movie is and therefore I would give it an 8/10. The fast paced editing highlights its high energy action scenes, which will attract the target audience of 18-30 year olds.
Released: October 2007
Directed by: David Slade
The trailer for 30 Days of Night shows a small town above the Arctic Circle being terrorised by a group of vampires whilst they try to survive the month of never ending darkness.
Collision cutting is used immediately in this which sets the tone for a very jumpy action packed film, attracting fans of this action/horror sub-genre. The low-key lighting used throughout the trailer really highlights the isolation in the mise-en-scene whilst the setting emphasises the human instinct of being afraid of the dark, because that’s where the ‘monsters’ are. In this trailer, the ‘monsters’ are actually terrifying looking vampires and are portrayed as being fast moving monsters, which are archetypal due to modern action horrors such as Dawn of the Dead (2004).
Personally, I’d be interested to see a trailer for this film where the audience doesn’t actually see what the vampires look like, and are left to imagine it. I think that this technique would build the tension and encourage people to go and see the film, because you already see what they are capable of throughout the trailer. This could take some drama away from the film.
Overall, I thought that this was a really good trailer for the action sub-genre of horror because it sold what the movie is and therefore I would give it an 8/10. The fast paced editing highlights its high energy action scenes, which will attract the target audience of 18-30 year olds.
Trailer Analysis
Film: Insidious 3
Released: June 2015
Directed by: Leigh Whannel
The trailer for Insidious 3 shows a girl returning from the hospital with broken bones after a car accident, and finding that her new house has strange activity going on in it.
What I like about this trailer is that it takes a long time to build up, and it could be a trailer for a romantic film because of the boy next door. The jump scare comes in at about 1 minute 20 seconds in a 2 minute trailer, and although you’re expecting something to happen the audience have become comfortable with the equilibrium which makes it more effective. After this is when it becomes clearly a horror movie, the extra-diegetic music is extremely creepy and the cinematography highlights the darkness in the mise-en-scene.
The inter titles saying things like “THE DARKEST CHAPTER” will appeal to fans of the other Insidious movies, as it hints this is going to be even more scary. The rest of the trailer makes you uncomfortable, and without giving away too much of the plot you know that this is going to be a frightening concept.
Although I thought it was effective, some Horror fans wouldn't like this trailer because it takes a long time to build up to the horror conventions. However, I would give this trailer a 9/10 because I think it successfully created a tense trailer that had you on edge, and provided all the frightening horror conventions in order to satisfy you that this film would be worth watching.
Released: June 2015
Directed by: Leigh Whannel
The trailer for Insidious 3 shows a girl returning from the hospital with broken bones after a car accident, and finding that her new house has strange activity going on in it.
What I like about this trailer is that it takes a long time to build up, and it could be a trailer for a romantic film because of the boy next door. The jump scare comes in at about 1 minute 20 seconds in a 2 minute trailer, and although you’re expecting something to happen the audience have become comfortable with the equilibrium which makes it more effective. After this is when it becomes clearly a horror movie, the extra-diegetic music is extremely creepy and the cinematography highlights the darkness in the mise-en-scene.
The inter titles saying things like “THE DARKEST CHAPTER” will appeal to fans of the other Insidious movies, as it hints this is going to be even more scary. The rest of the trailer makes you uncomfortable, and without giving away too much of the plot you know that this is going to be a frightening concept.
Although I thought it was effective, some Horror fans wouldn't like this trailer because it takes a long time to build up to the horror conventions. However, I would give this trailer a 9/10 because I think it successfully created a tense trailer that had you on edge, and provided all the frightening horror conventions in order to satisfy you that this film would be worth watching.
Trailer Analysis
Film: The Woman in Black: Angel of Death
Released: January 2015
Directed by: Tom Harper
The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (2015) is the sequel to The Woman in Black (2012) and I am going to be analysing the trailer for it. The trailer shows a group of people, including a number of orphaned children and their carers who are being evacuated to the British countryside in the outbreak of WWII. The house that they are taken to is Eel Marsh House, the same setting as the first film. As the children start go to go missing, one of the carers realises that something is wrong with this house.
This trailer is a little longer than most trailers at 2 minutes and 31 seconds long. This is because it takes a long time to build up the suspense which only makes the collision cutting more effective. For example, even though it is only a bird at the window, because it is so sudden it really makes you jump. The soundtrack for the trailer intensifies the creepiness, at the start it’s very simple piano music which then cuts to being purely a drumbeat which sounds like a heartbeat whilst there is dialogue going on. I think that this works well because the dialogue helps to set the tone of the film. The old gramophone music that then comes in is really effective because it could be diegetic music but the rest of the house is silent and it makes it really eerie.
Most people watching this trailer will have either seen The Woman in Black, or at least know the story which is why I think they can get away with showing her in the trailer as much as they do. If this was a one off movie and not a sequel, I think that they would’ve been more careful with what they showed so as not to give the major plot away.
After watching this trailer, my heart was beating really fast and I felt paranoid about walking round my house in the dark. I think that this shows that the trailer is effective as a horror trailer; it makes you shudder. I would give this trailer an 8.5/10 for effectiveness because of this
Released: January 2015
Directed by: Tom Harper
The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (2015) is the sequel to The Woman in Black (2012) and I am going to be analysing the trailer for it. The trailer shows a group of people, including a number of orphaned children and their carers who are being evacuated to the British countryside in the outbreak of WWII. The house that they are taken to is Eel Marsh House, the same setting as the first film. As the children start go to go missing, one of the carers realises that something is wrong with this house.
This trailer is a little longer than most trailers at 2 minutes and 31 seconds long. This is because it takes a long time to build up the suspense which only makes the collision cutting more effective. For example, even though it is only a bird at the window, because it is so sudden it really makes you jump. The soundtrack for the trailer intensifies the creepiness, at the start it’s very simple piano music which then cuts to being purely a drumbeat which sounds like a heartbeat whilst there is dialogue going on. I think that this works well because the dialogue helps to set the tone of the film. The old gramophone music that then comes in is really effective because it could be diegetic music but the rest of the house is silent and it makes it really eerie.
Most people watching this trailer will have either seen The Woman in Black, or at least know the story which is why I think they can get away with showing her in the trailer as much as they do. If this was a one off movie and not a sequel, I think that they would’ve been more careful with what they showed so as not to give the major plot away.
After watching this trailer, my heart was beating really fast and I felt paranoid about walking round my house in the dark. I think that this shows that the trailer is effective as a horror trailer; it makes you shudder. I would give this trailer an 8.5/10 for effectiveness because of this
Trailer Analysis
Film: Evil Dead
Released: April 2013
Directed by: Fede Alvarez
The remake of Evil Dead is about a group of friends who are staying in a cabin in the woods, and unknowingly summon evil spirits and become possessed by demons from the nearby woods. The trailer shows how the group of friends are trying to survive whilst being terrorised at the same time.
The red band trailer for the remake of Evil Dead (2013) is shocking, which makes it memorable for audiences. It is quickly edited in order to make the trailer exciting and collision cutting is used in order to emphasise the most shocking parts of the trailer, for example the vomiting scene. The trailer makes you wince which means that it is an effective trailer for the horror genre. They don’t use restricted narration like you’d expect them to do and you see the girl splitting her own tongue with a knife and then slamming her face into the other girl. The soundtrack in this trailer is also effective because the drum beat sounds like a heart and makes the audience nervous. The use of inter titles in the trailer fit perfectly with the music and helps to indicate what’s going on.
This is another trailer which sells you the actual movie, however it does also show you the best bits so after seeing the trailer you already know exactly what’s going to happen in the film.
The average score for this trailer was 8.6/10 because of the effective use of music and inter titles, and how it is genuinely scary and memorable.
Released: April 2013
Directed by: Fede Alvarez
The remake of Evil Dead is about a group of friends who are staying in a cabin in the woods, and unknowingly summon evil spirits and become possessed by demons from the nearby woods. The trailer shows how the group of friends are trying to survive whilst being terrorised at the same time.
The red band trailer for the remake of Evil Dead (2013) is shocking, which makes it memorable for audiences. It is quickly edited in order to make the trailer exciting and collision cutting is used in order to emphasise the most shocking parts of the trailer, for example the vomiting scene. The trailer makes you wince which means that it is an effective trailer for the horror genre. They don’t use restricted narration like you’d expect them to do and you see the girl splitting her own tongue with a knife and then slamming her face into the other girl. The soundtrack in this trailer is also effective because the drum beat sounds like a heart and makes the audience nervous. The use of inter titles in the trailer fit perfectly with the music and helps to indicate what’s going on.
This is another trailer which sells you the actual movie, however it does also show you the best bits so after seeing the trailer you already know exactly what’s going to happen in the film.
The average score for this trailer was 8.6/10 because of the effective use of music and inter titles, and how it is genuinely scary and memorable.
Trailer Analysis
Film: The Toxic Avenger
Release Date: April 1986
Directed by: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
The Toxic Avenger is about a geeky man who has been mercilessly bullied and falls into a vat of toxic waste. He turns into a superhero, and begins to save the town from any wrongdoers and becomes a vigilante and taking criminal punishment into his own hands.
I really didn't like this film trailer for The Toxic Avenger (1984). The first reason for this is that it is too long, which I think defeats the point of a trailer as the audience begins to switch off.. The second being that it gives too much of the film away, without even needing to watch the film you know exactly what the narrative is and you've also seen most of the more exciting bits of the film. It’s also really irritating how many times the film title is repeated throughout the trailer and becomes almost comical.
Although I really didn't like this trailer, it does sell the movie for its comedy/horror hybrid style, which means that the audience wouldn't have any surprises if they went to watch it. Some trailers make you think certain things about a film and then when you go to see the actual film, it’s completely different from how it was sold to you.
The average score for this trailer was 3.5/10 because of how long the trailer is and how much of the film it gives away which makes it ineffective as a trailer.
Release Date: April 1986
Directed by: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
The Toxic Avenger is about a geeky man who has been mercilessly bullied and falls into a vat of toxic waste. He turns into a superhero, and begins to save the town from any wrongdoers and becomes a vigilante and taking criminal punishment into his own hands.
I really didn't like this film trailer for The Toxic Avenger (1984). The first reason for this is that it is too long, which I think defeats the point of a trailer as the audience begins to switch off.. The second being that it gives too much of the film away, without even needing to watch the film you know exactly what the narrative is and you've also seen most of the more exciting bits of the film. It’s also really irritating how many times the film title is repeated throughout the trailer and becomes almost comical.
Although I really didn't like this trailer, it does sell the movie for its comedy/horror hybrid style, which means that the audience wouldn't have any surprises if they went to watch it. Some trailers make you think certain things about a film and then when you go to see the actual film, it’s completely different from how it was sold to you.
The average score for this trailer was 3.5/10 because of how long the trailer is and how much of the film it gives away which makes it ineffective as a trailer.
Trailer Analysis
Film: Cloverfield
Released: January 2008
Director: Matt Reeves
The trailer for Cloverfield starts with somebody filming a surprise leaving party for a co-worker who is moving away. Friends are wishing him well on camera and the general feel is like a home movie. Next, there is a loud groaning sound which causes everybody to go up to the roof to see if they can find out what it is happening. Suddenly, there are explosions and they are running down the stairs onto the street. The view from the street is chaos with lots of people all trying to find out what is going on whilst running away from explosions. The trailer ends with the head of the Statue of Liberty landing in the middle of the street, setting the film in New York.
This trailer is very effective in building suspense and leaving the audience with lots of questions. The handheld camera throughout the trailer gives you the impression that the film will be like this throughout, but this doesn't compromise the skill that the trailer is shot with. By using collision cutting, the trailer changes from being comfortable viewing of a leaving party too suddenly, something is happening and along with the characters, the audience are trying to work out what it is that has happened.
I found this trailer really interesting and I thought that it worked really well as a scene trailer because the plot isn't given away at all but there’s just enough action to make you excited to see the film. However, some people think that doing a scene trailer is too risky because it has to be a really good scene from the film in order to entice the audience in the same way a teaser trailer would. Also, the trailer doesn't really sell the horror genre because it features very few horror conventions other than editing and cinematography techniques.
The average score for this trailer was 8/10 because the building of tension and collision cutting used in the trailer was really effective and makes you want to watch the film to find out what it is that has happened.
Released: January 2008
Director: Matt Reeves
The trailer for Cloverfield starts with somebody filming a surprise leaving party for a co-worker who is moving away. Friends are wishing him well on camera and the general feel is like a home movie. Next, there is a loud groaning sound which causes everybody to go up to the roof to see if they can find out what it is happening. Suddenly, there are explosions and they are running down the stairs onto the street. The view from the street is chaos with lots of people all trying to find out what is going on whilst running away from explosions. The trailer ends with the head of the Statue of Liberty landing in the middle of the street, setting the film in New York.
This trailer is very effective in building suspense and leaving the audience with lots of questions. The handheld camera throughout the trailer gives you the impression that the film will be like this throughout, but this doesn't compromise the skill that the trailer is shot with. By using collision cutting, the trailer changes from being comfortable viewing of a leaving party too suddenly, something is happening and along with the characters, the audience are trying to work out what it is that has happened.
I found this trailer really interesting and I thought that it worked really well as a scene trailer because the plot isn't given away at all but there’s just enough action to make you excited to see the film. However, some people think that doing a scene trailer is too risky because it has to be a really good scene from the film in order to entice the audience in the same way a teaser trailer would. Also, the trailer doesn't really sell the horror genre because it features very few horror conventions other than editing and cinematography techniques.
The average score for this trailer was 8/10 because the building of tension and collision cutting used in the trailer was really effective and makes you want to watch the film to find out what it is that has happened.
Friday, 19 December 2014
'The Amityville Horror' (2005) Film Review
The Amityville Horror (2005) was the remake of the popular 1979 film of the same name, supposedly based on the true events of a house in Amityville, Long Island, New York. The remake was directed by Andrew Douglas, a british director who has recently directed the dark thriller uwantme2killhim?
A family move into a house where a horrible murder happened a year previously. For the 28 days that they’re in the house, terror ensues…
I think that The Amityville Horror is a good all round horror film, it’s rated a 15 by the BBFC which means that it’s not too extreme, but it’s enough to have the desired effect. For
example, when Michael wakes up in the middle of the night needing the bathroom,
the slow editing really builds the tension and then the zombie looking monster
that appears next to him really emphasises the tension and cultural dominant
ideology of being afraid to get out of bed in the middle of the night, because
of what could be in the dark. This
is the first horror film I ever watched when I was 11 and I think that this is
why the film is so memorable to me. I remember being so terrified by the film
that I was too scared to go to the bathroom by myself and could barely sleep
for weeks, even now I avoid getting out of bed in the dark if I can help it. Now
looking back on it, the terror is a result of the suspense that the film builds
up with the slow editing throughout.
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In my own trailer, I'd like to use the idea of people acting differently to how you expect them to. For example, George is such a family man and yet he also tries to murder the rest of the characters. Although this is due to his possession, I think that the confliction that Kathy faces with needing to protect herself and her children from him but still loving him and staying loyal to him is an interesting concept to explore within a horror film. I think that the conventional family setting in the film is something I will use in my own trailer because my audience will relate to the terror of your family being under threat. However, I would avoid using the supernatural and possession in my own trailer because I want it to be that the villain of the film is fully in control of himself and knows what he’s doing. I think that this will be effective because it will really establish who the audience are rooting for in the film and avoid any conflicting views of characters.
Propp’s archetypal character functions establish Kathy as
the final girl in the film, she manages to get both of her children away from
George in his possessed state. Due to Kathy's mental fortitude nobody actually
dies in the film. She is strong and smart and this challenges stereotypes of
blonde women which makes her a progressive character.
Gore is one of the most common horror techniques that is repeatedly used because of the reactions it gets. In this film, there are a number of scenes which involve blood although I wouldn't say that this is a particularly gory film especially. One of the notable gory scenes is when George hears the dog snarling in the boat shed but his paranoia causes him to think that it's something more sinister, so he attacks the dog with an axe and kills him. We see the blood splatter and hear squishing sounds before seeing the bloody dog laying on the floor.
Another horror convention in the film is the use of the
creepy location. The house is stereotypical for a horror film with it being so
large and overpowering in its location. In The Amityville Horror, it is the house that seems to possess both Ronnie and George, and therefore it is essential that the house has a suitable look and style and this particular house is similar to those in other horror films such as Paranormal Activity (2007), Insidious (2010) and The Grudge (2004). The house makes Ronnie and George both want to kill their family's at 3:15am which is a subject that will make the audience uncomfortable. I also think that the repetitive references to the time 3:15am is effective because it makes that time of night seem daunting and will stick in the audiences brains.
The extreme close ups in the film are another example of horror conventions used within The Amityville Horror. They are effective within a film because it can be unsettling to see something so close. One example of an extreme close up within the film is in this clip when the nail is seen being hammered into the wall, which could perhaps symbolise the violence that is to come.
The extreme close ups in the film are another example of horror conventions used within The Amityville Horror. They are effective within a film because it can be unsettling to see something so close. One example of an extreme close up within the film is in this clip when the nail is seen being hammered into the wall, which could perhaps symbolise the violence that is to come.
Another scene that I enjoyed was when Kathy arrives home to find that her daughter, Chelsea is standing on the roof of the house because her 'imaginary friend' told her that if she stepped off the roof, she'd be able to see her daddy again (who is dead). I thought this scene was really effective because I can imagine this would be every parent's worst nightmare, and it does nearly end badly. The fast paced editing in this scene really heightens the panic that the audience feel and the scene provides a disruption to the equilibrium of the film, as per Todorov's Classic Hollywood Narrative.
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My least favourite moment in the film is when a sub-plot is introduced with the history of the house and the torture chambers in the basement. The reason I didn't like it is because I think it detracts from the main plot and loses the audiences attention. This encourages me to keep my plot line simple in order to maintain the same level of fear throughout. Also, because I’m only making a trailer and not a whole film it’s important that I make maximum impact and I think complicated plots will only confuse the audience and lose effectiveness..jpg){kind=link}
Overall, I think that The Amityville Horror is a horror film which has enough horror conventions in it to be unsettling and even jumpy at times, but isn't so scary that it's no longer enjoyable.
'Tucker and Dale vs. Evil' (2010) Review
Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a 2010 Canadian comedy horror film, directed by Eli Craig.
The film starts with a short scene of handheld camera following a women as they walk through a house, the women walks through a door and gets knocked over by a man out of frame and we can see that the man holding the camera is running away before getting caught by the man who also hurt the woman. The clip ends with a close up of this man with half of his face dripping with blood and a creepy grin. By starting the film this way, Craig attracts the audience by using a conventional horror setting that they will immediately recognise as being a threat. From here there is the title screen. The majority of the title is in big white writing, however ‘evil’ is written in red to connote danger. The screen is also splattered in blood which hints that there is going to be body horror in the film. The mood of the film completely changes after this however as there is a long shot of a car driving down a long road in the middle of the day with extra diegetic music which is upbeat and happy. The college kids that are in the car are another horror convention, and the two men who pass them in their truck (who we later find out of be Tucker and Dale) are portrayed to be the threat of the film by the college kids, and the parallel music reinforces this idea.
Throughout this film, Tucker and Dale are repeatedly misunderstood to be evil serial killers when all they want to do is renovate their vacation home. This misunderstanding leads to the comedy elements in the film, for example when Tucker aggravates some bees he waves around his chainsaw which the college kids interpret as psychopathic. Dale is portrayed as being innocent and considerate, for example when Allison takes off her clothes he covers his eyes instead of watching her, even though he is attracted to her. Laura Mulvey’s theory of the “male gaze” is used in this scene to make the audience attracted to Allison, but Dale’s kindly actions subvert this theory.Tucker and Dale rescue Allison when she falls and hits her head and throughout the film, they are trying to return her to her friends safely whilst her friends are plotting to rescue her from her ‘psychopathic captors’. Another misinterpretation in the film is Dale saying that he “beat the crap out of her” in earshot of the teenagers. Whilst they think that he’s talking literally, he’s actually talking about beating her in a board game.
A lot of the film are slow montages, relying on the music to build up the tension. The gore in the film doesn’t start until 30 minutes in when one of the teenagers runs at Dale with a large stick, trips and impales himself on it whilst another teenager runs and jumps head first into the wood chipper that Tucker is near. Blood spurts everywhere and covers Tucker in it, which makes him look responsible for the death. They know how guilty they will look to the police even though they believe that it’s a suicide pact which is causing the college kids to die horrible deaths. By now the audience knows that it’s not Tucker and Dale who are the threats and they are actually the male heroes of the film, and attention shifts to one of the teenagers, Chad who is the archetypal psychotic killer. Chad seems to be thriving on the deaths and is angry that the others wanted to get the police to help them. He is also controlling and arrogant, and low angle shots make him seem powerful. He also threatens Allison by holding an axe up to her throat and shouting “Are you falling in love with him?”. The film also has a few flashbacks to 20 years ago, the Memorial Day Massacre in the same woods when psycho killers attacked a group of teenagers, brutally killing them. Including this in the film has the effect of reinforcing the conventional elements of horror that are in the film, such as the body horror . The film ends with the vacation home being set on fire and Chad getting burnt, a close up on his face alarms us and reveals him to be the man from the clip at the start of the film. He also kidnaps Allison, and ties her up before Dale rescues her after battling with Chad using chainsaws and crowbars. Rescuing Allison identifies Dale as the hero of the film. With the horror over, the film finishes with an emotional talk between Tucker and Dale which leads to Dale finally asking Allison out.
In my own trailer, I’d like to include the conventional horror setting of the cabin in the woods. This is because I think audiences immediately recognise this and the familiarity of the setting will also attract the audience that I want to. However, I would avoid using the irony and comedy in the film for my own trailer because I think it would be very difficult to get it right and I don’t want my trailer to look cheesy and ineffective.
Tucker and Dale vs Evil took three years to make before it was released in January 2010. I think that the film reflects its historical context because of the number of massacres in recent years, such as the Capitol Hill massacre in Seattle and the Shedden massacre in Ontario. In the last 20 years, massacres have increased in number and have involved places where you’re supposed to be safe such as schools, or leisure activities such as camping which is used in Tucker and Dale. The film also demonstrates societies views of hillbillies and their involvement in horror films such as The Hills Have Eyes (1977).
I think that the comedy in Tucker and Dale vs Evil works well because it takes a well known horror plot line of teenagers camping in the woods and getting terrorised and breaks it down so that they’re actually the threat to themselves. The film can be compared to the likes of the Blair Witch Project (1999) or Cabin in the Woods (2012) where groups of teenagers are actually terrorised in this kind of setting, although they don’t involve any psycho killers. I think there is a subtle message in Tucker and Dale vs Evil that the horror culture is brainwashing us into assuming the worst of situations and as a result, the worst of the people around us.
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The film starts with a short scene of handheld camera following a women as they walk through a house, the women walks through a door and gets knocked over by a man out of frame and we can see that the man holding the camera is running away before getting caught by the man who also hurt the woman. The clip ends with a close up of this man with half of his face dripping with blood and a creepy grin. By starting the film this way, Craig attracts the audience by using a conventional horror setting that they will immediately recognise as being a threat. From here there is the title screen. The majority of the title is in big white writing, however ‘evil’ is written in red to connote danger. The screen is also splattered in blood which hints that there is going to be body horror in the film. The mood of the film completely changes after this however as there is a long shot of a car driving down a long road in the middle of the day with extra diegetic music which is upbeat and happy. The college kids that are in the car are another horror convention, and the two men who pass them in their truck (who we later find out of be Tucker and Dale) are portrayed to be the threat of the film by the college kids, and the parallel music reinforces this idea.
Throughout this film, Tucker and Dale are repeatedly misunderstood to be evil serial killers when all they want to do is renovate their vacation home. This misunderstanding leads to the comedy elements in the film, for example when Tucker aggravates some bees he waves around his chainsaw which the college kids interpret as psychopathic. Dale is portrayed as being innocent and considerate, for example when Allison takes off her clothes he covers his eyes instead of watching her, even though he is attracted to her. Laura Mulvey’s theory of the “male gaze” is used in this scene to make the audience attracted to Allison, but Dale’s kindly actions subvert this theory.Tucker and Dale rescue Allison when she falls and hits her head and throughout the film, they are trying to return her to her friends safely whilst her friends are plotting to rescue her from her ‘psychopathic captors’. Another misinterpretation in the film is Dale saying that he “beat the crap out of her” in earshot of the teenagers. Whilst they think that he’s talking literally, he’s actually talking about beating her in a board game.A lot of the film are slow montages, relying on the music to build up the tension. The gore in the film doesn’t start until 30 minutes in when one of the teenagers runs at Dale with a large stick, trips and impales himself on it whilst another teenager runs and jumps head first into the wood chipper that Tucker is near. Blood spurts everywhere and covers Tucker in it, which makes him look responsible for the death. They know how guilty they will look to the police even though they believe that it’s a suicide pact which is causing the college kids to die horrible deaths. By now the audience knows that it’s not Tucker and Dale who are the threats and they are actually the male heroes of the film, and attention shifts to one of the teenagers, Chad who is the archetypal psychotic killer. Chad seems to be thriving on the deaths and is angry that the others wanted to get the police to help them. He is also controlling and arrogant, and low angle shots make him seem powerful. He also threatens Allison by holding an axe up to her throat and shouting “Are you falling in love with him?”. The film also has a few flashbacks to 20 years ago, the Memorial Day Massacre in the same woods when psycho killers attacked a group of teenagers, brutally killing them. Including this in the film has the effect of reinforcing the conventional elements of horror that are in the film, such as the body horror . The film ends with the vacation home being set on fire and Chad getting burnt, a close up on his face alarms us and reveals him to be the man from the clip at the start of the film. He also kidnaps Allison, and ties her up before Dale rescues her after battling with Chad using chainsaws and crowbars. Rescuing Allison identifies Dale as the hero of the film. With the horror over, the film finishes with an emotional talk between Tucker and Dale which leads to Dale finally asking Allison out.
In my own trailer, I’d like to include the conventional horror setting of the cabin in the woods. This is because I think audiences immediately recognise this and the familiarity of the setting will also attract the audience that I want to. However, I would avoid using the irony and comedy in the film for my own trailer because I think it would be very difficult to get it right and I don’t want my trailer to look cheesy and ineffective.
Tucker and Dale vs Evil took three years to make before it was released in January 2010. I think that the film reflects its historical context because of the number of massacres in recent years, such as the Capitol Hill massacre in Seattle and the Shedden massacre in Ontario. In the last 20 years, massacres have increased in number and have involved places where you’re supposed to be safe such as schools, or leisure activities such as camping which is used in Tucker and Dale. The film also demonstrates societies views of hillbillies and their involvement in horror films such as The Hills Have Eyes (1977).
I think that the comedy in Tucker and Dale vs Evil works well because it takes a well known horror plot line of teenagers camping in the woods and getting terrorised and breaks it down so that they’re actually the threat to themselves. The film can be compared to the likes of the Blair Witch Project (1999) or Cabin in the Woods (2012) where groups of teenagers are actually terrorised in this kind of setting, although they don’t involve any psycho killers. I think there is a subtle message in Tucker and Dale vs Evil that the horror culture is brainwashing us into assuming the worst of situations and as a result, the worst of the people around us.
'The Crazies' (2010) Image Analysis
This is an image from The Crazies (2010) directed by
Breck Eisner, which is a remake of the 1973 film of the same name directed by
George Romero. David is seen as being the protective male over Judy but Judy
and Becca’s linked arms show their fear and vulnerability. This is also indicated
in what they are wearing; the hospital clothes make them look ill and needing
care. This also challenges Laura Mulvey’s theory of the “Male Gaze,” the female
characters’ sexuality is not being centralised in this film which means that
the audience take them seriously as individuals.
David's and Russell’s code of dress are uniforms which
identify David as the sheriff and Russell as his deputy which reinforces their
power within the scene and makes them heroes according to Propp’s character
functions. The smoke in the scene emphasises the mystery through the use of
pathetic fallacy, because at this point in the film the characters don’t know
that it is the water that is contaminated and causing the townspeople to go
‘crazy’.
The debris everywhere connotes how everything is falling
apart; a small town where everybody knows everybody has been corrupted and now
nobody can be trusted. The sign in the background casts a light over the
characters which show them clearly even though it is night time, which suggests
that they are all good people who deserve to live through the film.
'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Image Analysis
One of the
final shots in the film is the one shown in the image above; the final
survivors have made it to the docks and onto the boat and are sailing away. The
lighting is bright and connotes the new start that they are making for
themselves. Ana is shown in a medium shot because the audience are drawn to the
emotion on her face; she has to leave Michael behind knowing that he’s
infected, and the audience identify with her feeling of loss for the male hero
who has sacrificed his life to help save her.
Todorov’s
"classical Hollywood narrative structure" suggests that this is the
new equilibrium and leaves the film with an open ending. Throughout the final
scene, the American flag is visible which connotes that despite the many
adversities, America will always triumph. This subliminal message is also used
in other American horror films such as The Hills have Eyes (2006) which
suggests that this is a dominant idea in their culture which they show
through their films.
Ana is the final girl of the film which challenges horror conventions since she is blonde. Stereotypically, due to her blonde hair, she should have been one of the victims in the film to die. The slow montage of this scene emphasises the ending to make the audience think about all the characters who died in the film. Michael shoots himself before he can turn into a zombie, although we don’t see this as the restricted narrative technique is used to create emotional effect and force us to imagine his demise.
'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Image Analysis
This image
shows Kenneth and Andre standing in a bathroom in the mall, low key lighting is
used to show the intense nature of the conversation. Kenneth identifies himself
as a hero throughout the film according to Propp’s character functions, because
he is the strongest male but he also shows his caring nature because he clearly
cares a lot about Andy. I think that this scene is shot with the mirror in view
because it creates a sense of opposites, which is what Kenneth and Andre are to
each other. Kenneth is a police officer, whilst Andre openly admits having made
mistakes in his life which hints at past crimes but wants to turn his life
around for the sake of his unborn baby. The fact he is also in an interracial
relationship with Luda is also positive and forward thinking, but the
forthright and respectable (policeman) Kenneth is clearly the archetypal male
hero. Their opposing personalities are also shown through their code of dress;
they are both wearing tank tops but Kenneth’s is white and Andre’s is black
which connotes his darker side.
'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Image Analysis
This image
is from the opening sequence of Dawn of the Dead. The extra-diegetic
music featured during the sequence is a song by Johnny Cash, ‘When The Man
Comes Around’. The song makes numerous biblical references and is ultimately
about Judgement Day, this shows that the apocalypse in the film is seen as
being a punishment as such.
The title
sequence features many images such as this one, with a recurring theme of the
Islamic religion. The purpose of this is to play on the cultural dominant
ideology using the context of terrorism in 2004. 9/11 was only three years
prior to this film’s release and therefore is fresh in the minds of the
audience, using Janet Staiger’s audience theory this helps us understand more
about the film. The cinematography in this image is a high angle shot which
makes the people praying look inferior compared to the strong and powerful
America. Dawn of the Dead (1979) Image Analysis
This image is from the scene where Roger has to save Flyboy from the zombies because Flyboy keeps missing the shots. The code of expression on Flyboy’s face shows his disappointment that he had to be helped, because he wanted to be the male hero.
George Romero subverts stereotypes by making Flyboy incapable of shooting, and Roger is the one who always has to intervene. The audience would expect Flyboy to be the male protagonist and male hero of the film, but Romero doesn’t let this happen. Reversing character stereotypes is something that Romero has done in a few of his films which emphasises his auteur style; for example, Bub in Day of the Dead (1985) is a zombie that the audience relates to and likes which is the opposite of what you'd expect.
Although Roger is smaller, he is more masculine than Flyboy and this is shown in the way that he is holding the phallic symbols. Roger is calm and focused whereas Flyboy has his gun haphazardly to the side and out of frame. His weakness if reiterated by the fact that Flyboy is standing behind Roger and therefore seems weaker.
Dawn of the Dead (1979) Image Analysis
In this sequence from Dawn of the Dead (1979), the characters are enjoying the perks of being alone in the mall surrounded by products. In this particular image, Peter and Fly-boy are taking money from a security office, even though the money is useless now in the apocalypse state that the world is in.
The high angle shot suggests that even though they seem to be having a good time from their code of expressions, they are actually weak and vulnerable. It could also suggest that the auteur George Romero is portraying his own negative feelings about consumerism in this scene through the high angle that creates a sub-narrative which is an example of Andrew Sarris’s auteur theory as discussed in his 1962 essay, "Notes on the Auteur Theory" because Romero's own beliefs are influencing his work.
During the 1970’s was when consumerism really peaked in America and it was when the huge shopping malls such as the one in this film were built. George Romero refers closely to the context at this time in order to create a sub-narrative that patronises the heavy consumerism. This is something that Romero did in a lot of his films; for example, in Night of the Living Dead (1968), Romero challenged the racism that was going on during this time by having a black central protagonist.
Dawn of the Dead (1979) Image Analysis
This image is from the ending credits of Dawn of the Dead when the zombies are left wandering through the mall. This is another high angle shot which focuses on two levels of the mall and suggests that Romero wants us to think about how vast these places are.
I think in this scene, Romero is using the zombies as a metaphor for how he feels about consumerism; that people don’t even think about what they’re doing anymore because it’s just instinct. This is also discussed in the script of the film; Stephen asks why the zombies keep coming to the mall to which Peter replies “Memory? Instinct? This was an important place in their lives.” Romero wanted the audience to take away a subliminal message from the film; that there are more important things going on than shopping... and that people shouldn't become consumerist "zombies."
In 1979 when this film was released, this message about consumerism would have been really powerful to the audience because the malls were still a new phenomenon and people were still wary of them. Janet Staiger wrote about the importance of understanding context in her book "Understanding Films", for example the remake of Dawn of the Dead in 2004 didn't pursue the criticism of the malls as shown in the original, because for the audience it wouldn't have had any relevance as they're completely used to the malls.
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