As a rule our trailer followed the typical conventions of a horror genre, but we also challenged these by using a female protagonist. We would liken our trailer to films such as Friday the 13th or Sorority Row as they include a psychological twist which we wanted to feature in our trailer.We used the conventions of titles including our production company and most of our transitions followed the conventional pattern of either fades to black or white. However our trailer used black and white which is unconventional. We used it to show action that happened in the past and differentiate this with the present. We also sped up and slowed down a few scenes to create tension, which is stereotypical of horror film trailers but not necessarily all. We have also used a darker setting and several possible villains to create a sense of disorientation, both of which are stereotypical to the genre we tried to portray, psychological thriller.
We have used conventions of all trailers such as fades to black/white between shots, titles including the generic black and red colour scheme and darker settings for films of a horror genre. We followed the repetoire of elements set up by Branston and Stafford, we looked at stereotypical horror settings such as forests and lakes, used darker lighting to create a sense of danger and carried through 2 iconic images of a black hood, linking to death and the lake representing both danger and safety thus giving a false sense of security. We also used red herring effect to create confusion, conforming to another convention of psychological thrillers.
In our trailer we used 3 possible villains, 2 of our potential villains are female also conforming to conventions of this genre as it allows blurring of the boundaries between monster and victim. However this then challenges general horror stereotypes of a male killer and female victim. We again, challenge this with the boy being our original victim. Our villain has a tipping point in their life causing them to act this way - another convention of psychological thrillers.
An audience would be able to view our trailer in a cinema before the main feature, on a DVD, on television and online. We would do this as we would be trying to reach as large an audience as possible by addressing them over a variety of media platforms and digital technologies as our target audience will mostly be technophiles. They could either consume our trailer passively, by paying to watch another film on DVD or Cinema and experiencing it before the main viewing or actively searching for it through our website or another such as YouTube. In my opinion our trailer is successful as it follows a number of conventions of real media texts and establishes itself as having a specific genre, yet I feel that the quality of some of our shots could have been improved. I feel the trailer is good at showing narrative and character roles, yet leaving enough code of enigma, but some of the shots we used could be longer or of better quality. We could have as well have used a larger variety of transitions.
Target Audience
Our target audience consists of males and females, aged between 15-24. We have identified this within the name of the film using a more complex, mature word with another word inside to address younger and older audience members. On top of this, we used adult themes such as murder/revenge yet the release date allows younger audience members to view our film as it is in the summer holidays. Our trailer appeals to our target audience by representing them through actors/actresses and using themes that could interest them such as not just the genre specific ones mentioned, but also friendship, family relationships and parties. They can relate to the scenes including camping, parties and relationships which then allows us to introduce the theme of danger in a known place - where you least expect it.
Within our trailer, we used costumes and props to construct the representation of our main characters, for example, Sarah is dressed as a "normal" teenager would yet when she is killing she dresses more threateningly in a black hood which obscures her face. Also, the mother wears an apron and stands next to the prop of a sink in a kitchen, this helps to make it more believable as she is taking part in activities a mother would. On top of this, we used settings such as the school too emphasise the age of the characters.
Audience Feedback
Our film genre was easily recognisable to our focus group, as we have used many codes and conventions for example, darker settings, shadows, stereotypical themes such as death, vulnerability and fear as seen in our close ups of characters faces used to show emotion. And all of them could decipher the basic plot of the boy drowning, the characters returning to the lake and the killings, yet there was some disagreement around who the killer was, showing that we managed to leave some code of enigma in our trailer. They also understood the separation between the past and present due to the use of black and white and titles. Within, the discussion after viewing our trailer, the group could already name characters and established the relationships between Sarah, her mother and the boy who drowned. They recognised the victims due to the high-angle shots making them appear vulnerable, however only one member could correctly name the killer.
Our focus group agreed that our settings were appropriate for our narrative, especially the lake as it is also doubles as an iconic image within our trailer. They all thought that this and the forest were conventionally appropriate for our genre. They all thought that the music we used linked well with our shots, it is low-paced and speeds up to create tension, and the drum beat used symbolises a heartbeat highlighting fear. To emphasise the fear in our victims, we included diegetic sounds of screaming and heavy breathing as well.
Everyone who attended our focus group said that our trailer was effective and that they would watch our film if it was in the cinema, the two most prominent emotions that they felt while watching our trailer were anxiety, due to the suspense-filled music and editing, and fear. As well as this, they were able to easily identify characters' names and relationships leading us to believe they were very interested in the trailer. I feel our trailer was very informative about our film as the group had a lot to say on their questions and most of the answers were what we wanted.
Theories and Themes
In our trailer, we have followed Todorov's theory of narrative through to both the 2nd and 3rd stage in each storyline. The equilibrium is shown in the shots of the girls talking in school, the disruption then comes with the hooded figure killing, but also, the equilibrium is of the boy and his sister by the lake, this is then disrupted by the boy drowning,the killing then becomes the attempt to reinstate the equilibrium as it is an act of revenge. Vladmir Propp's theory of character functions can also be applied, the boy being the original victim. There is no exact hero, donor or dispatcher. One of our potential villains is also the sister of the boy who drowns so could possible be considered the princess. When looking at Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposite we can see past/present, life/death, power/weakness, freedom/suffocation and the 2 sides of a split personality. In terms of 'feminism' we have chosen to show our female characters as subjects rather than objects in the 'Male Glance'. 2 of our villains are female giving women the overall power.
The key themes in our trailer include:
-Death
-Revenge
-Split personality
-Asphyxiation
-Loss of innocence
-Mental battles
-Control(loss of)
-Power over weakness
-Revenge
-Split personality
-Asphyxiation
-Loss of innocence
-Mental battles
-Control(loss of)
-Power over weakness
The themes of the split personality and mental battles allow us to bring in Charles Derry's theory of a psychological thriller being "the horror of the mind".
My Other Promotional Devices
My poster helps to promote the film by using an image of one of our main characters. The gaze is directly at the audience allowing them to be addressed. I have then layered an image of water over this introducing a main theme within the film. I used the name of the film, conventionally, and used different colours within the font to highlight the word 'hate', a genre specific theme. The information for producers, music, actors, director, release date and website are all included in the billing block. My film magazine front cover uses words like 'PLUS!' and exclamation marks to catch the reader's attention. I have made the biggest thing on my magazine cover, the film name, drawing people towards it. I have used nearly the same image as on my poster to again address the audience and create a sense of uniformity within my portfolio. The phrase "SUMMERS BIGGEST SPINE TINGLER!" is across the image to promote the film. It contains alliteration and a well-known phrase to attract the audience. The word 'BIGGEST' then makes the film seem like it would be good to watch.
The 3 texts I have constructed work well together as they have a sense of uniformity due to the similar imagery throughout such as the black hood and the water, which then generate interest through giving the audience ideas about the film. As well as this, have used a colour scheme of red, white and black which is specific to the horror genre, and continuous throughout the titles in the trailer, my magazine front cover colour scheme and the font on my poster. The information included also match up, this contains the stars names, which could make the audience more likely to see the film becoming a USP(unique selling point) and the release date, telling the audience when they can view our film.
Technologies
Me and my group used a number of technologies while producing our promotional portfolios, including the internet, where we researched our chosen genre using Wikipedia and search engines such as Google, we also used YouTube to watch and take ideas from other trailers. We downloaded the music we used online and regularly updated our process using Blogspot.
The images I used on my front cover and poster were captured using my own digital camera and then edited using Photoshop and Paintshop Pro. I used Photoshop to layer my image of water onto my image of our character then lowered the opacity of it to create the effect of a reflection, I then used Paintshop pro to edit the shadowing, creating a darker, more eerie image, and size.
The editing software I used for my magazine front cover and poster was Adobe InDesign, this allowed me to layer images together and put in fonts of different colours and angles.
Any filming we needed to do was done using a video camera and a tripod, the tripod allowed us to keep a steady shot and vary our angle. We edited our shots in Adobe Premier Elements, which gave us the opportunity to cut footage, write titles and introduce transitions and filters such as black and white or sepia.
