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Choice of Trailer & Synopsis

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) Trailer:

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) Trailer:

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 which can be heard above. of  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 womans 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.

Class Research: Favourite Type of Horror

This was our class' favourite sub-genre of horror. The most popular was Psychological Horrors which had half of the votes at 54% which was dominated by the female gender containing 8 out of the 14 votes. The least popular was females who liked gory horrors which only had two votes coming out a mere 8%. My favourite horror is psychological horrors due to the fact that I think the story lines behold more meaning and depth allowing them to really get into your head, i think they are the most effective.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2013) Trailer Anlaysis

Name of Film: Texas Chain Massacre

Year Released: 2013

Genre of Trailer: Horror/ Thriller

My Mark after viewing: 6/10

A group of friends go to one of their recently passed grandmother's house only to find that the house possesses a pyscho killer, which results in them fighting for their lives. 

There were many aspects of the trailer that I thought were successful. One of those was the clever use of parallel music at the beginning of the trailer, it set a tone for the trailer, it was country and western linking to the context of the location, also the lyrics stated "the beast in me", linking heavily to the villain. The inter titles were also used very well throughout the trailer they created references to the original films, allowing the audience to be able to relate to this trailer, a film that horror fans would of most likely seen. Grimy feel was also very clear throughout the trailer, making the audience feel uncomfortable due to the dirty and dull state that the mise en scene has. The muffled machinery sounds began to build tension almost acting like a heartbeat that is coming closer and closer, until you come to a piece of action, this worked well with the music that complimented it, it added to the editing and cinematography. There was an open ending to the trailer creating intrigue for the audience, making them want to go to see the film.

On the other hand, I thought as a whole that the trailer lacked flow. It took a long time to get started and it didn’t really go anywhere, you were almost waiting for something to happen and when it did it was too much and lasted too long. It was a poor use of collision cutting because it made the slow and quick editing pretty ineffective. There also was not a lot of narrative, throughout it just seemed like a killer hunting the group of friends down, no twists or turns. The trailer also focuses too much on one girl although she may be the protagonist it still does not include the characters around her enough.

I gave this trailer a 6/10 because I thought it was a good trailer, the mise en scene was done very well, the sound FX and context were also done very tastefully but as a whole the editing let it down, there needed to be better montage as it comes across ineffective to the audience.

Scream 4 (2011) Trailer Analysis

Name of Film: Scream 4
Year Released: 2011
Genre of Trailer: Horror/ Mystery
My Mark after viewing: 7/10

A psycho killer is on the loose that wears a ghost mask but worse than ever, it's back but killing in different ways, ways that his victims won't expect. A group of teenagers story trying to avoid the killer.

There are lots of aspects throughout this trailer that I think are successful. One of those being, the heightened sounds, they are very loud and hold a lot of emphasis making the trailer a lot jumpier as it is intended to give the audience a jump scare. The colours of the shots also seems that they have a heightened contrast the they seem more vivid and apparent compared to what it would be in real life, this makes the colours more extreme connoting to a more intense atmosphere. Some shots have overlapping dialogue that seems as if they are commentating the narrative, which makes the trailer make sense a follow a rhythm allowing for a better understanding for the audience. There is a clever use of manipulating typography at the end of the trailer where the base tail of the 4 turns harsh and sharp replicating the killer's weapon which is a large knife (phallic symbol). The pacing of the trailer is also very well done, it uses collision cutting to create an emotional effect, making the slow editing more intense and the quick editing more panicked. 

On the other hand, I think that there are a few aspects that could be improved. In some places the dialogue seems a bit amateur, it doesn't add to the suspense, if anything it takes away from the trailer as it is almost comical. The screaming and screeching sounds also begin to lose their effectiveness after a while because they are too frequent, almost after every piece of action their is some sort of loud sound, so in the end you don't really notice them. The case is the same with the amount of shots and action in the trailer, it is too frequent which doesn't allow for enough suspense, which make the trailer as a whole a lot better. The last thing is that we know too much about the killer, it basically explains everything he does, leaving nothing up to the imagination which is a lot of the time more horrifying.

The score I gave this was 7/10, it was good trailer that showed some very good horror conventions with clever editing and cinematography but lacked that suspense and composure with the trailer to truly make it great.