Evaluation slideshow

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Magazine Cover

Questionnaire

The Illusion
Questionnaire (Please Circle)
Generally Information
Age: ..............................

Gender: Male Female

Occupation: ......................................

Questions based on the Teaser Trailer you have just seen
1a) How effective did you feel the nursery rhyme at the beginning of the trailer was in contributing to the tension built up?

Extermly effective Very effective Slightly effective Not effective

1b) Why ? ......................................................................................................................................................
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2) Do you think the shot of the bed cover peeling back was held for too long?

Yes No

3) Did you understand the story the titles were portraying?

Yes No

4) Did you feel teased enough with the way the twins were sharply edited in and out of shots, only allowing you to catch glimpses of them?

Yes Slightly No

5) Did you find all the “paranormal” activities that occurred throughout the teaser trailer believable? E.g. the door slamming, the pot falling off the cooker, the duvet, telly turning on of its own accord....

Yes Slightly No

6a) Did you think the transition from slow edits to fast pace edits was sufficient enough for a horror teaser trailer?

Yes No

6b) Why/why not ?
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7) As the pace and volume of the music begins to increase, did you feel it was reflecting the quick pace of edits?

Yes No

8) Did the shot in the bath create sense eeriness and keep you on edge?

Yes No

9) Did the teaser trailer engage your attention throughout?

Yes No

9b) Why not?
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10) Did you feel sufficiently teased by the teaser trailer without giving away too much information?

Yes No

12) What genre do you feel we have portrayed?

.............................................................................

13) Describe your favourite shot of the teaser trailer and explain why this is.
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14) Would you go watch this film if it was released in cinema?

Yes No

Social networking sites are very popular amongst young adults aged 16-24 years of age, which is our target audience. Therefore we used facebook as another source to gain feedback from viewers taking the form of both comments and likes. This feedback in turn will be incorporated into our evaluation, as all of the feedback received was positive and encouraging. The facebook page is a less traditional method, however we felt it fitting in promoting our film as it would reach a wider sampling frame then a questionnaire would. This made the feedback more representative and generalisable of our target audience. It is also one of the cheapest ways to promote a film - as facebook groups do not cost any money and there also viewable worldwide at anytime for prolonged periods of time.

The Illusion teaser Poster

When creating our teaser film poster we gained a great deal of inspiration from "The Amityvile Horror", combining both the house and the writing embedded upon the wall. The slogan is scratched into the wall as if evil was a part of the the house itself. The juxtaposition of the child like hand writing combined with brutal sadistic slogan "In order to survive, someone must take your place" creates a sense of unease for the viewer. However in order to create a slight twist, to bring originality to the poster we used the twins for a number of reasons. The reason we Incorporated the house was because it represents the origins of the paranormal presents and there are many connotations linked with the house that create a sense of horror. As an educated audience of horror the use of a house has connotations of safety, security and familiarity yet the layout of the house illustrated a doorway into the unknown and a presence of evil which the house possesses. This is emphasised further by the twins, and their subtle engagement to the viewer by being possessed on the left hand side of the poster. The blank expressions that appear upon their faces, create a sense of uneasy amongst the audience as it contrasts with the expected smiley,happy, bubbly child we see in our everyday lives. So it almost portrays a sense of death as they hold no life in their eyes. For the modern horror fanatic the twins should immediately represent something evil as it is one of the typical conventions of horror we see in such films as"The Shining". As the twins were our main focus of the promotional campaign, it was important for us to use them in our poster to allow the viewers to gain a sense of recognition as they are an established feature of our marketing campaign. However we decided to only give them a surface area of a quarter of the poster, to ensure there was still some mystery and to also live up to the title of creating an "Illusion".

The black surroundings on the poster connotes a typical convention used in horror movies as the sense of unknown can be more terrifying then of what is actually present, therefore an empty space is more scary because as viewers we are expecting something to fill it. The anticipation of what could be behind the darkness intrigues viewers to want to see the film. The point of view element from the surrounding darkness gives the viewer a sense of perspective as they feel that they are the ones watching the house, and are drawn in by looking at the door and the twins. This gives the viewer control over what they are witnessing yet they still feel a sense of vulnerability due to the darkness and the size of the house.

The certificate we gave to our film was an 18 and we believed the logo should be used on our poster in order to entice an audience who are willing to see the scariest of horrors. This is because we felt that an 18 movie is more successful as viewers assume that producers and directors have gone that one step further in order to terrify them to their wits end. Other genres of films tend not to include the certificate on their posters, yet for horrors this could be a crucial selling point as the viewers anticipate the higher the rating the more horrific the film. We also included a review from "Empire Magazine" as they are an established film critic, consequently receiving 5 stars from them would have more of an impact then that from "Heat Magazine".

The Illusion Teaser Trailer

Third Evaluation Of Second attempt of filming

 After editing the re-shoots of our shots we still felt like something was missing. After watching our teaser trailer several times, we came to the conclusion that the content of the shots was correct yet the variation of the editing didn't portray the genre sufficiently as we hadn't yet include a series of rapid transactions. So we have come up with the following ideas;

- Sound reflecting the pace of edits (as we felt the music didn't build up enough suspense, however we are going to put the extra sound over the nursery rhyme) 

- Editing needs to speed up and become quicker throughout the trailer, as currently a lot of the shots are held for too long therefore the audience is not teased enough.

- We are going to in corporate a shot at the start of the teaser trailer at a much "slower" edit e.g. a child's swing slowly rocking - no sound apart from the creaking of the actually swing in order to create a sense of eeriness. 

As our teaser trailer is currently at 55 seconds we have the ability to include more shots, without removing any current ones. So we have decided to film a series of short "snappy" edits which will help to disorientate the viewer and tease them more. Here is a few examples of some of the edits we are going to film;

- hand grabbing a knife

- terrified facial expression

- blood dripping

- smashing of a plate/cup

- crying/whimpering

These shots will be used in order to show a variation of edits and to throw the viewer off. 

Comparsion between "The Film" and "Sight and Sound"

Magazine Front Covers Analysis:

Initial when looking at both magazine covers, my eyes are immediately drawn towards "Total Film". The main reasons behind this is due to the mass amount of bright colours they have used e.g. the bold red and yellow titles set upon a misty blue background. In contrast to this "Sight and Sound" have used very bland shades of browns and more pastel colours representing perhaps the type of reader. As these colours portray sophistication, power and show a type of elegance we would expect to in a more middle class/ educated audience. The main similarity that is consistent with both these magazines is that they have both positioned a female actress on their front cover, however the image they are illustrating through them are very different. For example "Jessica Alba" is situated on the front cover of "Total Film" taking up a very sexual stance, with an outfit that emphasises her femininity very much through the sexuality she is portraying. She is wearing red lipstick which co-insides with her red top, which helps to represent lust. Her eyes are slightly closed yet still directed at the reader, which helps to entice you as it creates a connection between both her and the audience. The titles positioned next her discuss the feature article this magazine contains and puts extra emphasis on her looks in a clever punt of "Jessica Alba fires up our RED HOT summer preview". The titles consistently change in colour, font and size which helps to keep the audience engaged. In contrast to this when analysing "Tilda Swinton" on the front cover of "Sight and Sound" she is not portrayed as a sex symbol. This is due to her being a lot more covered up, yet again wearing a more pastel purple silk top with a collection of peals around her neck. This helps to connote wealth and stature (age). The colours she is wearing are subdued - more "classy" especially compared with "Jessica Alba". She helps to significant culture, art and a more mature audience. Therefore this wouldn't be suitable for our promotional package for "The Illusion" as our target audience consists of those aged 16-24 years old. Yet more attention is drawn towards "Tilda Swinton" due to the lack of titles on her magazine cover, therefore making her one of the main focuses. This shows that "Sight and Sound" believe she is a well known actress who will appeal to an already established audience of hers. Yet when we compare this with "Total Film" magazine cover which contains so much information about what the issue entails, it doesn't matter if the feature article doesn't appeal to you as there is so much more to read. This is a very useful asset for us, as the actress' we will be using on our front cover will be young and upcoming, therefore may not be that well known. Also we have produced a blockbuster which would reach a wider more assessable relevant audience through "Total Film" unlike "Sight and Sound" who tend to focus more an independent creations.


Feature Articles Analysis:

When comparing the two different articles the substantial difference consists of the ratio of writing to text. As "Total film" has produced a double spread on "Street Dance 3D" with minimal writing, as the images take up over 3/4 of the page. This puts a huge emphasis on the still, and shows the importance of choosing the right image in order to gain access to right the audience. We are not expected to actually read the article, hence why there is such a limited space for text. Yet the language used is attempting to gain of focus by emphasising on the excellence of the dancing e.g. "Brilliantly fuses dance styles". The article does the mention the film will be shown in 3D, however doesn't concentrate on the process that had to be taken in order for this is occur. This makes the article accessible to "your everyday man" allowing a wider audience to be reached. In comparison to this "Sight and Sound" contains a lot more text, illustrating that they aim at a much more educated audience, concerned with the making of the films rather then who stars in it. This is all previously discussed in an analysis i have done on the feature article of "Gangsters Special".


Advertisement Analysis:

Again "Total Film" has become reliant upon the use of bright colours e.g. the bold yellows and red on the advertisement in order to engage its audience. I believe this a rather effective way of drawing the readers attention, and works very successful in this advertisement. As it then in turn draws emphasis on the price and affordability for well known films such as Avatar. The advertisement used is selling nine different films to the audience, again giving them a variety in choice allowing them to appeal to a much wider audience in comparison to "Sight and Sound". Who are advertising just two similar films, giving them half an A4 page each. They are independent films with a BFI logo situated on the advertisement to show this. Again this is appealing to an already established audience. Yet attention is drawn to three separate reviews the films as received, relying on exceptional reviews rather then the use of well known actors/directors.

Overall when discussing and comparing the two different magazines, "Total Film" is defiantly the most relevant one in order to promote/advertise our blockbuster.

Sight and Sound analysis (Magazine)

I decided to do a content analysis of the feature article - "Gangsters Special", in order to decide whether "Sight and Sound" would be an appropriate magazine to advertise our film "The Illusion".

The article initially opens with a list of some of the typical conventions of crime we have expected to see in our gangster films since the 1930s e.g. "The tommy guns and roadsters are shiny as grand pianos...". Then explains how Michael Mann has adapted these features and how successful he believes his creation of "Public Enemies" has been. The article is very specific to showing the uniquness of director Michael Mann and the enthusiasm for digital camera work the cinematographer Danta Spinotti has. This demonstrates that this particular article is aimed at those who have an interest in the art side to the creations of films.

Throughout the article there are several references towards different gangster films across the ages, such as "Miller's Crossing", Bonnie and Clyde", "Miami Vice" and "Manhunter". Comparsions are consistenly made towards these films and the techniques that have been previously used e.g. "Nor indeed any return to the chessy folkloric melancholy of the Coen Brothers' Miller's Crossing (1990)." Yet for me these have no effective towards my perception of the film as i haven't even heard of most of the films mentioned. Again this emphasises the devtion expected towards the genre portraying the type of reader of the articles, as they are very specfic. This shows a more sophiscated type of reader who is not only interested in the big budget proudcts but also those produced independtly, and enjoy seeing the contrasts between and how the genre has devloped.

Therefore we feel "Sight and Sound" is targeted at more of a niche market due to the amount of teachnical lanague used and due to us producing a blockbuster we feel that "The Film" reaches a much larger audience. "Sight and Sound" articles go into a lot of depth about the making of the films, with text taking up a larger proportion of the page in comparsion to images. Showing a more of an experinced audience needed, however this is not the type of audience we wish to appeal to as it makes it too narrow and very specfific. This is one of the reasons we have decided not to use "Sight and Sound" for our magazine cover for ur promotional package.

Marketing Process

Our task was to create a promotional package for a film, and this consists of a film poster, teaser trailer and a magazine cover. We have to carefully consider when we are going to release each of the different elements and the reason behind our decision.

As a viewer of cinema I have generally noticed that the films poster has been released first - almost reflecting a teaser poster. So straight away interest in the film can occur, sometimes before filming has even commenced. For example if we look at films such as Harry Potter and James Bond, the films promotional posters were released around a year before we even seen a teaser trailer. As this creates hype about the film before we even know the contents of it. However we would not use this kind of strategy as films such as Harry Potter already have an established audience, so you could literally have a poster just containing one of the main characters and everyone already knows what's coming due to them already being so established. This is evident in the "Dark Night" (Batman)promotional posters, as seen in the image below this particular poster doesn't even contain any footage from the film. Yet was still very effective.

Batman was able to change their marketing campaign which was initially focused on Batman to being focused on The Joker, due to the film being a Blockbuster and distributed by Warner Bros they had the budget to allow this. In compassion to this our film "The illusion" will only have one promotional poster, two maximum. Our promotional poster will be the first of the three elements to be released, as a poster can attract a wider range audience. Due to them being situated in various different places e.g. bus shelters and billboards. Our promotional film poster is going to be released around 6 months before our magazine cover, this will help to establish the  unique look of the film and portray the genre. Posters are considered to be the most effective and cheapest way of advertising a film, hence why we are going to release this first. Posters will also be up for a longer period of time, and most people have a daily routine where they go up the same escalator wait at the same bus stop and pass the same billboard in the car everyday. Therefore by seeing the same poster everyday over a long duration of time will help to convey our film better. Posters can also convert to websites and to magazines, making them very versatile more likely be seen.

Next we are going to release our teaser trailer in order to reinforce interest for our target audience, as this way we will be gradually releasing more and more information. Helping to raise questions. Also the use of the twins again will be running throughout our campigane, with more glimpses of them appering across the teaser trailer. This will hopefully help to sustain those already established viewers from our teaser poster.

Finally in order to create maxium impact from our magzine cover, it will be realised around 4 months after the intial teaser trailer and actually in the month of when the film itself is going to be released in order to generate and sustain enough interest. As by this point our trailers will also have been realised and the posters would of been on advertisment over a long period of time, so our intial target audience should be "hooked" and antispating the realease with the magzine cover emphasising this exciting further and possibly drawing in even more viewers.

Second Evaluation of First attempt of filming

When discussing further the different shots we could include in our teaser trailer in order to make it scarier these are some of the ideas that we have come up with: 

1. Take out the shot of when the twins have dialogue, this is due to both Louise and I believing that the impact of the "dead" twins will have more of an effect if we don't hear them speaking. Therefore making them seem more paranormal and less of apart of the living world. (insert clip) 

2. In order to include more horrific shots we have drawn on the inspiration of the teaser trailer of "Paranormal activity", and want to incorporate a shot of the twins almost running straight at the camera. However we will have the shot very zoomed in, not allowing the audience to focus too much on their features still leaving room for questions. This particular shot is literally only going to last a fraction of a second and we are going to include it after the title "The Illusion". The reason we are going to position it here is because, once you have reached the title of the film the audience are left feeling at ease, so by including another horrific shot which is also unexpected hopefully will lead the viewers wanting more.

3. Another shot we would like to include will be of a window slamming shut, as the character Katie is attempting to open it. This is due to the success we believe the slamming of the door had. Yet this time when Katie will be banging on the window, unlike the scene with the door we will be able to see the horror on her face as the window is transparent. 

4. The final shot we would like to create is much like that seen in the teaser trailer of "Amytivile Horror". From the outside of the house we will have a low angle shot, with the lights flickering on and off with the digetic sound of a women screaming. The impact we expect this shot to have is to show the audience that it is the house that is causing all these unfortunate events and you just can't escape it's wrath. 

 Once again when going into shooting these shots we will be very organised and expect filming to run smoothly. (Fingers Crossed)

Analysis of "Hide and Seek" promotional poster

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This promotional film poster for hide and seek conveys many of the typical conventions of horror we expect to see through aspects of mise en scene. The reason i decided to focus on this poster is due to their synopsis again being very similar to ours.  As it contains a focus on a small girl and the event of moving into an unusal cheap house, which has its knock on effects.

My eyes are immedatly drawn to the illumanted window, which contains a silohutted figure. The harshness of the shadows on her face and body keep her presence mysterious, creating susispion amoungst the viewers of whos figure it is. They have also used a long shot when capturing this image, in order to show te interactiopn between the figure and the window. Windows and doors are a convention we expect to see in horros, as they can symbolise so many different actions. This particular image creates various emotions within the viewer, making them slightly unesay as we are not aware of what particular convention of windows is being used. As personally it culd show that the distorted figure is watching us through their transpraent window, which intially gives her control and domance over us. The text emphasises this point further "you can run, but you cant hide" and with the blackness surrounding the image really makes us feel trapped with no means of escape. AS for example if this poster was situated at a bus stop, then even when were not looking at the poster the figure will still be "looking" at us. Espically if this was of a night time, this could make the viewer feel very uncomfortable. Yet in contrast to this the image could portray the silehutted figure to be trapped, with the window being their means of escape. This in turn could invoke a response of sympathy for the figure. Finally the window could illistrat a means of protection for the figure, from what is outside which is where the viewer would be situated. Even though this image only takes up a small proportion of the poster, it is very effective!! As it leaves the viewer feeling puzzled ad confussed as to weather the figure is the villian or the hero. It also allows the viewer to decide for themselves what is actually occuring in the house, and when the producer allows this is happen can make a poster even scarier as we would tend to assume our own greatest fears. The orange and yellow coloyrs used to illumante the room, are the only source of light used on the poster. They help to represent hellish colours, showing an evil presence within the room. Almost as if the house could be in fire. As our teaser trailer is also based on the effect a paranormal house can have on a family, when crating our poster we are defonatly going to take into consideration the use of windows and doors.

The films slogan "you can run, but you can't hide" warps the innocence of a child like game, turning their purity into something sinister. THEIR FUN HAS TURNT INTO OUR FEAR! This particular slogan has been written in a childs hand writting, portraying their power over ours which is not expected in everyday society. As they are informing us of what we can do - run - and what we can't dot -hide. The colour of the writting is red, demonstarting blood which in turn can signify death and terrar. Once again the fact that it has been written by a child is reinforced as it seems to be done with a crayon. As this slogan is situated at the top of the poster taking up nearly a half of the poster, shows its importance. Again this is another thing we will have to taken into account when making our open poster.

Evaluation of first attempt of filming

On set while filming (Monday 6th December) we always felt that there was something missing, our understanding of a teaser trailer was to use quick edits from various parts of the film. However when attempting to do this too much of the plot of the film was illustrated and not enough scary bits were portrayed. Although we were very organised, as we manged to source a set of twins as well as finding an adequate location while gathering suitable props e.g boxes and candles. When filming we already had an established shot list which allowed the flow of filming to fun smoothly.  

 Once uploaded onto the computer we realised that some of our shots were held for too long and certain titles e.g "she only last 28 days" and "but how long will she last" were misleading. Therefore we decided to change the titles to make it more clear to the audience the message we were trying to get across, without giving too much of the plot away. Such films as "The Amityvile Horror" influenced our decision to use a wide range of titles in order to let speak for the film. The title of the film "The Illusion" when added into the film came across too 'bouncy' as it shot in and out of the screen, so in order  emphasis our genre  and create a more macabre effect we used a soft edge title.
Overall filming was successful , however we have made plans to re shoot certain scenes where the acting was poor as well as adding in additional more horrific scenes. 

Story Boards

"Fear, be my friend" - newspaper article by The Guardian 1999

When reading this particular article it has referenced greatly to what we are trying to achieve with our teaser trailer and the typical conventions of horror we have incorparatted. It intials open with the line "Like most 'horror' stories, mine is rooted in the ordinary-that is to say in the the banality of everyday life." This relates to the spynopsis of our film as we have created it to illistrate situations that most people will experince e.g. moving into a new house. Straight away this shows we are achieveing the interface between reality and unreality in order to "relate to an audience with a median age of 15-25". Like stated in the article our film is going to contain "the usual repertoire of symbols" e.g. children - little twin girls

The use of children in horrors

Above are shots of children that have been the protagonists in horror films such as ; "The Children", "The Ring" "The Shining" and "The Amtiyivile Horror".

When we reminisce about the memories we have gained from our childhood, it represents nothing more than innocence in its purest form. Innocence itself is representative of "good" and "goodness", therefore in combining said "goodness" with a recognised aspect of evil and/or paranormal activity, a disturbance is created within the minds of the audience. Children used in horror films simply corrupts the conventional idea we have of them which is what makes them so terrifying in this altered form. Conceptions of possessed and troubled children have been a massive influence on our teaser trailer, therefore we are going to incorporate twin girls in order to appeal to an audience which is drawn towards the psychological aspect of the horror genre, for example the appearance of the dead twin girls in "The Shining".

As audience sophistication has grown, our obsession with the innocence of children and the masochistic fears we have of the undead has also developed. Our greatest fear has become that of a helpless child, an unnatural fear which goes against the general perceptions held by society. Childlike voices and nursery rhymes reproduced in a sinister voice create a sense of unease and juxtaposition because that which we expect to be a happy situation, suddenly confronts a fear of the unknown. As a result of this during our teaser trailer, we are going to introduce this concept by playing "Ring a ring a roises" in a creepy childish voice.

Below is a short video of Louise Millar my filming partner explaining along a side the our "dead twins" why little girls scare her so much;

Iconic playground games we associate with little children have also become the source of our fears as well ; for example the film "Hide and Seek" puts emphasis on the game of "Hide and Seek" between a spilt personality father and his daughter. We have even built on the idea of horror being a game. This is portrayed in films such as SAW and Scream. Were in order to survive in real life you must survive the game. SAW takes the idea of children's vulnerability even further, by having their villain take the form a clown. Once again the terror he creates in the movie plays on the definition of what we expect a clown to be, much like the theory of an empty frame being more horrific of that filled with what we expect. Below is the teaser trailer of SAW, where the idea of a game is emphasised through using titles to explain the rules.

Children tend to send formidable chills down our spines, and this is illustrated through the countless amount of films that contain children as the main source of evil. This is why we have chosen to use children in our teaser trailer, and play on the idea of their vulnerability. The reason I believe children are portrayed as horrific characters in films, is due to them having uncontrollable power over adults which they cease to obtain in the real world. So by turning the authority we expect adults to have on "it's head" like this is truly frightening.

Analysis of year 13s work

We watched six productions of teaser trailers by the previous year 13 group, as part of our research and planning. These teaser trailers have both influenced our decision making in what too include, yet also what not to do.

When watching "Judas kiss" it was filmed more in the style of an opening sequence rather than a trailer. So initially it doesn't seem to for fill the the brief of creating a teaser trailer, yet still did include some of the typical conventions we expect to see.  The reason I would say this is because there was no insight into the plot or characters ( what the film would be about ) and instead just seemed to be shots in chronological order as they would be illustrated in a film. A teaser trailer should contain lots of quick glimpses from different segments of the film, rather then what seemed to be portrayed as an opening sequence. The same location is used throughout and and the "characters" costumes don't seem to change either. This is huge factor that will have to be taken into consideration when producing our teaser trailer. Due to the majority of our film being located inside a house, in order to create an effective variety of shots wardrobe will be very important !! However there is still several positives gained from their teaser trailers. As they most effectively teased the audience through the titles such as, "be prepared to be betrayed" and "you have to go back to the start". This shows how successful text can be when contributing to the building suspense amongst the audience, and leaving them wanting to know more. "Judas kiss" also keeps the audience engaged by using a point of view shot, which actively involves viewers in the trailer. Therefore we are going to attempt to incorporate a point of view shot as well. This will also help to add the range of shot we shall use. The sound track used helps to convey the genre and reflects the images on the screen, as the fast paced music is parallel to the pace at which the tracking shot was moving.  However overall I would say this particular teaser trailer does not fulfil the underlying principle of a teaser trailer - leave you asking questions. Yet you are left confused, because you have no questions due to knowing too little about the film e.g. we are not given any characters , therefore can not question the purpose/motive.  Even though "judas kiss" doesn't stick to the typical conventions of a teaser trailer,it is said you can "play" with the conventions in the brief. 

"Finding him" was the name of another teaser trailer we watched by the year 13 group. This particular teaser trailer did attempt to address some of the typical conventions of a teaser trailer, yet was not consistent throughout. For example there was glimpses of fast paced editing shots, which helps to engage the audience as they are given so much information to process at one time, therefore helps to then sustain a sense of suspense. Although in contrast to this many of the many of the shots are held for too long e.g. the shot of the main protagonist in the mirror. Which then lowers the suspense previously built. So for this I would suggest possibly starting off/finishing with the longer held shots and have the rapid paced transactions in the middle. I will take this into consideration when story boarding and working out timings. However they used their music very effectively, as when the fast paced editing did occur the music reflected this as well. Emphasising the significances of the shots. Generally this teaser trailer was too long and was illustrated as more of a trailer. This was due to too much information being given away, especially through the titles. As we already known she may be saved and by whom. So this doesn't really leave us asking questions, which again is one of the main aims of a teaser trailer. 

The final teaser trailer I am going to discuss is called 'meow meow".  With my main critic for them being it felt more like a music video rather than a teaser trailer. This was due to there being no real story line/plot portrayed, yet just what seemed like how a bunch of teenagers would react to the music being played. However their was a good variation of shots, with effective editing and camera work. This helps to demonstrate a more professional technique. 

In conclusion by watching the year 13s work allowed me to recognise some of the typical mistakes made when attempting to create a teaser trailer. However they did also show the significance that music and titles can have upon the effect of a trailer, and these are massive factors that will have to be taken into consideration. 

  

Analysis of Amityville Horror Teaser Trailer

Trailers and teaser trailers are perhaps as the most powerful aspect of a marketing campaign, used in order to advertise a future film that will be realised. They are created in order to create curiosity amongst the audience, and leave them asking questions. Generally we are given no distinctive plot or characters, yet left to make our own interpretations of the visuals or text. Therefore teaser trailers are usually very short in lengthen lasting between 30 - 60 seconds, containing very little footage from the film. It builds upon the fact that more information about the film is up coming soon and in the nearby future, as a result the teaser trailer should attempt to add to the build-up of the film. This are in order to create desire to seek out further information. A teaser trailer should aim to leave the audience wanting to see more. Consequently in order for us to make a successful teaser trailer we had to watch and analyse other successful teaser trailers.

We decided to study the teaser trailer of Amityville Horror as it has many similarities to the plot we have created; therefore this would allow us to draw inspiration for our own teaser trailer.

This particular teaser trailer initially opens with the distributor of the film – Dimensions Films. Straight away this illustrates to the audience the type of genre the film may be, as Dimensions Films is known for producing horror movies such as “Halloween” and “Scream”. This is an important part of a teaser trailer as by portraying the genre of the film from the start, already helps to entice an already established audience.

When deciding on who will be the distributor of our film we will have to take into consideration things like previous films distributed before deciding upon our choice of distributor. We are then given 9 seconds of staring at a black blank screen which is interspersed with the sound of gun shots, this primarily helps to build tension and suspense amongst the audience as we are confused about the damage that these gun shots are causing therefore feel slightly wary of what the opening visual shot will be. Due to teaser trailers being relatively short in duration “The Amityville Horror” uses 10% of their production time showing a blank screen. I consider this is be a good use of time, as immediately we are asking questions. In addition due to the extent of time we are given to concentrate on a black screen, it leads us to make assumptions about what we expect to come next. This engages the audience with the teaser trailer.

We are then thrown off track with the next series of transitions, as we expect to encounter something which will “horrify” us yet instead we are presented with a medium tracking shot of an interview. The medium shot allows us to see the body language of the police officer, who seems uneasy and bewildered as he stutters the line “I’ve never seen anything like it.” This almost informs the audience of the way they are meant to react to the sequence and leaves us questioning: “what is it he’s seen?” This is one of the main aspects a teaser trailer should try to achieve, leave the audience asking questions and “The Amityville Horror” has done this from the outset. So for my teaser trailer I am going to try and incorporate this idea of leaving the audience wanting to know more. The scene open and closes with a disorientating black and white fuzzy screen as if we are watching it through a television set, this also suggests that there may be a paranormal presence. This comes from typical conventions of horror as it is well known when there is a super natural presence television sets tend to go blank or fuzzy and lights will flicker on and off. Our growing audience sophistication helps us to decode these messages easily. This helps to suggest what the sub-genre of the film may be – Physiological horror. We are then presented with our first titles reading “Based on a true story”. The writing takes up a very small proportion of the frame, yet stands out due to it being white contrasting with the jet black background. The font of writing seems to demonstrate an old type writer which we would relate with police offers/detective notes. This adds emphasis to the previous frame, building on our knowledge of the film yet not quite knowing what knowledge we are actually building on as we don’t know what has taken place. “Based on a true story” also makes the future realised film seem more horrendous as it has taken place amongst the society we live in. This shows the importance of the titles and the kind of impact they can have on an audience, and it is vital to choose the right piece of text to use as those which both scare and raise questions amongst the audience.

We are then given a series of black and white images of newspaper clippings combined with an interview being undertaken, describing the incident that has occurred. This is the first real insight we have got into the basis of the film, as the newspaper headlines consist of words such as “murder” and “Family slain”. This was a huge inspiration into the planning of our teaser trailer, as due to ours being based on two friends moving into a new house where previous murders have taken place much like “The Amityville Horror” we are going to use newspaper clippings as well. The trailer also inspired our idea of how to establish another typical convention of horror into our film – Haunted houses. The rapid transitions of shots unsettles the audience, as the flashing images briefly appearing on the screen doesn’t allow the viewer to fully understand what they are reading. This where the non- digetic voice over of one the characters proves significant, as his blunt explanation of the incident helps to bring the audience up to speed. Yet the unravelling of the previous question of “what has happened?” has now lead to “why has this happened?”, so this particular teaser trailer is effectively achieving its aim of leaving the audience wanting to know more constantly raising questions.

The next frame consist of another title, following the same traits as the previous one yet this time the information provided includes a date and a address. Once more we are given another set of rapid transitions of flashing images across the screen, which disorientates the viewer as there is so much information to take in within the time period. The newspaper headlines fade in and out, with an image of a man appearing across the screen several times. So another question has arisen within these frames of “Who is he?”. It is evident that we could come to the conclusion that he is the man who has committed the murders, yet nothing is for definite. The sharp screeching noises that intersperse with the frames create a sense of unease for the audience. Almost as if it is the sound of a blade being sharpened. The tension is further built by the note holding of a low key instrument, which is the background noise for another set of titles stating “One year later”. We expect to then see some kind of tragedy revealed across our screen, yet are met by the sound of children’s laughter and a happy family atmosphere. This allows the audience to relax, nonetheless we are still wary of what may occur. These particular frames are shot in the form of a homemade video, really emphasizing the excitement of the family to move into their new house. However we are not given the chance to smile at the families encounters, as a black and white tracking shot zooming out from the house once again creates that sense of anxiousness. This helps to set the scene we have anticipated from the start, as a thunder storm arises; followers of horror well and truly know this means something horrific is about to begin.

When this shot is combined with the following set of titles “They only lasted 28days”, and the parallel sounds of a heart beat the audience are kept on the edge of their seats. Once again the teaser trailer then has a series of glimpses of the unfortunate events that lie ahead for the characters. Most of the shots take the form of close ups, allowing us to see the expression of suffering and anguish on their faces. This portrays the terror we are about to see, and almost shows us the way we are suppose to react towards the film. Once again a piercing sound which I perceive to be the sound of women’s screams is played in the background, making the audience feel uncomfortable. The final shot is of the house itself, which I think is significant as it’s almost showing the audience that the house is the cause for the murders and you just can’t escape its fate. As the house fades out the title of film appears across the screen, as well as its “release date” – “Coming Soon”. Even down to the last shot The Amityville Horror leaves you asking questions, as we are not given a specific release date. These ideas will be incorporated into our teaser trailer, as the main purpose of a teaser trailer is to leave us wanting more.

Over all I believe The Amityville Horror will be a massive influence to our own teaser trailer, as it has very similar traits to our film therefore has allowed us to build on our previous ideas further. This particular teaser trailer also shows the importance that sound, mise en scene and titles can have upon an audience.

Sub-Genres of horror

There are various different sub genres of horror with the main ones consisting of slasher, thriller/supernatural and monster horror. When deciding on which sub genre of horror we was going to portray, we watched several different films showing the development of horror throughout the 20th century. Where technology was limited e.g. in early films such as Nosferatu, leaving very little room for the spectacular effects we expect today. Yet as the sophiscation of the audience grew and the demand for horrors did as well, they started to become more and more terrifying inflecting of the concept that we all deliberate when watching horrors - knowing we should look away but still wanting to see. It wasn't until this development that horror got taken more seriously.


Slasher horrors are possibly the most well known type of horror, and this often attempts to entertain the audience rather than to horrify them completely and generally involves a masked villain killing off the characters one by one e.g. "Halloween" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". ( As seen in the image of Mike Myers to the right ). A slasher movie is a lot more gory and bloody compared to the other sub genres.

Thriller/supernatural horrors are focused more on the unknown, and can be suggested as more of a psychological horror. It keeps you on the edge of your seat more frequently as it works by creating tension and suspense normally though a build up of unfortunate events. Thriller films can illustrate a more realistic type of horror, as they tend to play on the traits of people e.g. including innocent little girls in a sequence., as seen in "The Shinning". This is due to us knowing zombies don't exist, where as murders are a frequent occurring thing in society.

Monster horror is the more obvious form of horror, where you have a noticeable villain generally from the initial opening sequence. They tend to take shape in the figure of well-known monsters such as Dracula or zombies, this is evident in films such as "Nosforatu" and "Night of the Living dead".

In order to decide on the type of horror I was going to use for my teaser trailer, I watched a diverse amount of horrors. The case studies I am going to discuss include "Nosforatu", "Night of the Living dead" and "The Shinning". When evaluating them I am deciding on which I find most horrific and why this is.

The film "Noferatu" was made in 1922 and showed how important emphasis on music and lightening-shadowing was, due to it being a silent black and white movie. Therefore sound was used in order to create suspense, by using low key organ sounds which may represent funeral music. In early films make up was a crucial part of Mise En Scene, which is evident with the character of Nosferatu, whose black outfit contrasted with his white face. This creates a sense of the living dead amongst the audience. “Nosferatu” attempts to create a psychological horror and uses words on screen in order to generate a sense of tension for the viewers. The writing is in scripted across the screen in a font that looks like those you might find in old spells, creating a mysterious vision for viewers allowing them to produce their own interpretation of the style of writing. The opening sequence gives us a “definition” of Nosferatu, connoting what the film will be about. This is one of the typical conventions of a fictional horror where the “monster” is introduced to us from the off, making the film less scary as we already know what is meant to horrify us. Nosferatu does include many of the typical conventions of horror we expect to see. Yet it seems to be the longest chase scene ever made - boat vs man. This doesn’t particularly keep me engaged, as I constantly need a rapid transaction of frames to occur in order to keep me on the edge of my seat. Therefore the use of editing helps to increase the sense of horror.

“Night of the Living Dead” (1968) is a low budget production, that portrays a typical zombie film which includes trapped characters attempting to escape. The blatant use of zombie characters making continuous counts of attack upon members of the public, makes the film become a slightly predictably “hammer horror”. This is due to lots of physical violence occurring throughout the duration of the film, which does encourage me to look away yet not because I’m scared but due to the gory images then tend to churn my stomach. However suspense is still slightly produced as death steers closer panic builds among the characters and arguments take over. As their bonds begin to break, panic ensues in the audience as when characters patience is tested this leads to a rising level of tension for the audience. Typical characters are demonstrated in this film i.e. the damsel in distress being guided by the strong male protagonist. Horrors are meant to engage with our nightmares, tap into the unknown. Even though “Night of the Living Dead” may meet this specification for certain viewers, for me it just seems unrealistic. Due to it being considerably too gory and based upon fictional monsters, which we know don’t exist and cannot literally harm us.

“The Shining” (1980) builds on our race’s obsession with horror by using a very closely connected family unit which eventually spilt as the film progresses. The reason the film verges on the side of a more "scary" horror for me is due to it being a normal guy that slowly cracks, which is evident amongst our everyday lives. Making you leave the cinema more wary and questioning everybody’s actions, looking for a reason to be able to connect them to the tragedy Johnny suffers. Horrors should create a sense of fear among the audience, knowing you shouldn’t look but wanting to see. For me this is illustrated when Danny continuously cycles down the corridors at a fast pace always turning corners. So we are expecting something to happen, however more often than not an empty frame can be more terrifying then that filled with what we expect. As once Johnny is seen on the screen we feel at rest, however the noise that’s never what we expect allows the audiences mind to wonder questioning why we thought it was what it’s not. This is known as the “Bomb Theory”, where the bomb just never seems to go off at the moment you expect it to. This allows a greater connection to be made between the audience and the characters because we feel empathy for them; as we believe we know more than them. Yet “The Shining” plants ideas into our minds and always seem to lead us in the wrong direction which makes the expected then unexpected. On several occasions we are forced to look at characters frightened faces, making us uncomfortable. Once again creating suspense as when we are concentrating on a still shot over a period of time, we expect in return a quick change in transactions with a loud noise in order to make us jump. Horror films incorporate our fears into visuals, building an adrenalin rush and this is most present in quick paced chase scenes which tend to disorientate the viewer. As Danny runs through the maze this heightens the sense of tension, as we feel as if he is trapped due to the tall hedges towering over him. Making him look vulnerable and timid. This is where “The Shining” really made my heart beat as the continuous use of flickering shots from point of view shots, to ones of Danny’s face and even of his feet running made me feel very uneasy. Once again because we are awaiting for the expected shot that never seems to occur.

Overall I would say its the more psycological horrors that venture into the possible that disturb me. As there is always the slight possibility of it happening to YOU !! Therefore I am going to use the sub genre of the psychological horror in my teaser trailer, instead of monsters.

Synopsis of teaser trailer - The Illision

The opening sequence consists of Katie Mill and Eva Townsmen moving into their new home as they adventure into their first year of University. They believe they have found a bargain price for their new home, yet they don’t realise why this is. When an already very curious and weary Eva snoops around their recent investment, she stubbles across countless newspaper clippings and photos discovering the tragedy that had previously occurred in the house. A “posed” Mother of twin daughters had brutally murdered them due to mysterious voices she heard proclaiming “Kill them! Kill them, before their kill you and your husband. We’ve heard them talk about you at night, under their covers, where no one can see.” As Eva discovers more and more about this unfortunate family, she attempts to bring this horrific blood bath to Katie’s attention. Katie encounters these newspaper articles but thinks nothing of it, unlike an anxious Eva who’s keen to find out more.
As Eva begins to research further into the history of the family, paranoia begins to kick in. When attempting to sleep at night she hears hushed whispers and soft slow chants of familiar nursery rhymes. A frighten Eva approaches Katie explaining the worries she has, yet a cynical Katie once again thinks nothing of it and takes advantage of the situation by playing practical jokes on her new roommate. Katie fed up of Eva’s fears decides to spend a few days away from the house with her boyfriend, leaving Eva all alone in their new isolated home. Eva still unable to sleep continuously hears the chants, which start to become louder and more realistic. Eva’s obsession with the death of the twins starts to become a lot more visual. With her catching glimpses of them darting around the house, Katie returns with sympathy for Eva emphasising its all in her head and its just homesickness. Eva overcomes her fears of the new house and enjoys her time at University, while Katie suddenly has vicious thoughts about violently hurting those who are close to her. A thought to be encounter of the twins, leaves Katie having a fit on her bedroom floor with Eva arriving to conduct a last ditch resuscitation to save Katie’s life. Just when the girls believe things couldn’t get any worst, a demented Katie begins to hear the same voice the Mother did all those years ago. Committing untold crimes including killing Eva’s cat and hanging it off the living room chandelier for Eva to find.
A desperate Eva feels past presents are still around the house with unfinished business. With no one to turn to who will believe Eva’s story, she finds comfort in the arms of Robert Fogarty. The father of the murdered twins, who now lives in a remote cottage far from civilisation due to the experience. He informs Eva that if she wishes to save her own life, another must take her place. A reluctant Eva desires not to put such fate upon another person, so takes her own life as a consequence. A revived and startled Katie attempts to carry on with her life in morning. Katie still reluctant to believe the house had any effect on Eva’s outcome, request that her boyfriend Stewart moves in with her permanently. As Katie carries out her first year in University all seems normal, until those hushed whispered and violent thoughts once again start to dictate Katie’s life.