1) Green band rating card - with regards to horror trailers, it is highly conventional for them to commence with this card at the start to present to the audience the suitability of the film for different audiences. We decided to use this rating card at the start of our trailer to emphasize that it is advertising something rather explicit with regards to extreme violence.
2) Fade out/ black screen - Conventional horror trailers normally fade out into a black screen for 2-3 seconds after the opening rating card. This is normally done with transitional order or an immediate cut into a scene afterwards. We decided to use this particular convention at the start of our horror trailer. Following the rating card clip, we used a fade out to a blackout before our first real shot on the trailer. This was a good way of separating the rating card from the main part of the trailer itself and it also made our establishing shot of the young child on the swing in the park more highlighted. We have presented a recurring trend of black screens throughout the course of the trailer as we found that this is done in practically all horror trailers which we researched during the pre-production and planning stages.
3) Establishing shots - When looking at a series of horror trailers during the pre-production and planning stage, our group realized that a series of establishing shots had been used to make the audience become aware of where the horror is actually taking place. For certain parts of our trailer, we decided to challenge this convention and leave out the feature of an establishing shot as we thought the whole fear of the unknown would make it appear more creepy and it would create an enigma. We did this for the clips of the anonymous person reading the scroll to create a mystery location so that the audience would wonder if anything unexpected and jumpy is going to take place. For the woods setting however we used an establishing shot to show that the teenagers were entering into it. We did this because our horror trailer was based solely on the woods with a 'teddy bears picnic' theme; therefore it was one of the main parts of the narrative.
4) Woods location - Both our horror trailer the Cabin In The Woods trailer and House of Wax are set in a forest. We decided to use this particular setting as it is a convention of horror films for forests are generally viewed as places to get lost due to the lack in urban landmarks. The fact that the woods is such an isolated place, causes a feeling of solitariness; therefore one is more defenceless against any form of evil or threat. Although the vast majority of horror movies have the location of a woods at night-time to make the fear of the unknown more evident, we had ours in more of a sunset time setting which challenges the conventional horror movies. We wanted to do this so that it would emphasize a contrast from the fast shots of the person reading the scroll of paper as these shots were also very dark.
5) Close up shots - close up shots of character faces or certain objects are known to be one of the key concepts of horror trailers as they show to the audience the fear generated in character's faces as a cause of the killer. When only part of something is presented, it makes the audience want to see the full picture. It is a good way of keeping them interested to see what is going to be revealed. Within our horror trailer we have tried to follow this convention as much as possible with the use of close ups. We used some close ups of the final girl to present to the audience the fear on her face when obviously coming across the killer. We also used an extreme close up of the killer walking towards the camera which we did to make the audience feel intimidated and uneasy; the fact that he is staring directly into the lens reaches the audience at more of a personal level as it makes it appear as though he is communicating with them through sincere eye contact.
6) Introduction of protagonist character - We introduce the main protagonist character with a series of random shots, particularly close ups and one POV shot which is supposed to be from the killers perspective, of her looking extremely vulnerable and fearful. Our protagonist character is the 'final girl', and our portrayal of her in the horror trailer clearly follows conventional horror trailers as she is shown to be dressed quite masculine compared to the other characters in the trailer.
7) Introduction of the villain - the shot of Jake (killer) coming out from the bushes as though he had been following and watching the other characters portrays him as the villain. This is the first proper shot of the killer in the trailer. Although we aren't entirely sure that he is the killer at this stage, we are given quite a good clue, as his whole appearance due to his attire and the objects in his hands makes him seem quite deluded.
8) teenage characters- Generally, within the horror genre, teenage characters are portrayed to the audience as very disrespectful and reckless. They are also shown to drink a lot and be sex driven. These portrayed flaws of theirs gives them cause to be punished within the horror genre, and it is why these types of characters never make it out alive. Within our horror trailer, we have followed this convention of portraying the teenage characters as bad people, drinking in the woods.9) music and sound effects- Music is one of the key elements within a horror trailer. It has the power to manipulate the audiences emotions and create an atmosphere. Within our trailer, we have used music and sound which creates quite an eerie effect for the viewers. We haven't however been very good with changing the tempo and dynamics of the music and sound like most horror trailers do when it reaches the climax.
10) Binary Opposition - Another convention of the horror genre which I developed was the use of binary oppositions. We have portrayed the use of good vs. evil, quite clearly in the long shot where the killer walks up behind the teenage boy as he is sitting innocently playing on his mobile phone. We have portrayed the contrast in characters here through the height difference. As the innocent boy is sitting down and the killer is standing up, it makes the boy appear to the audience as the more vulnerable one out of the two. Also, the fact that this killer is walking up behind him, ready to hit him over the head with a bottle further emphasizes his power over the boy. The killer is shown as the evil, yet superior force. The boy's body language presents to the audience a sense of vulnerability and insecurity on his character.11) Final Girl - The 'final girl' theory, thought up by Carol Clover, appears to be one of the most conventional theories that is used within a horror movie in this day and age. We decided to include a final girl in our horror trailer who stereotypically becomes the last survivor. We thought this would be a perfect for our horror trailer seeing as we were basing it on a group of teenagers drinking and having sex. We could therefore show a clear comparison between these misbehaving teenagers and the sensible girl who doesn't get involved in what her friends get up to.
12) Fast Editing- Another convention is a fast editing pace which creates suspense for the audience. These fast editing clips normally show a trend in most horror trailers about three quarters of the way through for the climax and then it suddenly ends following this climax. We also used this in our trailer nearing the end as the audience wouldn't be able to stop on any one image, therefore the speed would get their heart racing. It is a good way of building up tension. Within our fast editing clips, we used a series of random shots which don't follow our story in the narrative order. This is a very recognizable convention within trailers and especially teaser trailers as they don't always show to the audience footage that will be appearing in the film.
13) Gore and Blood - The vast majority of horror trailers that we viewed in the planning stages included an element of gore and blood, due to the obvious associations of pain and fear. Our group decided to challenge this convention by including no gore elements within our horror trailer. We came to an agreement of making our trailer into a psychological horror trailer as, in our audience questionnaire, the vast majority of people admitted their biggest fear being the 'unknown'.
14) Lighting - We didn't really aim to follow any conventions of real life horror trailers to assist us with the different lighting in our own. For the first location of the child on the swing, we played with the black and white filters to make the clips appear more old to the audience so they would know it was set back in time. We also toned are images down so they were a lot darker which does in fact follow conventional horror pieces however we didn't take this idea from any particular horror trailer. It is normal for any horror trailer to include darkness as we immediately associate it with fear- the inability to see is cause for the victim to feel defenceless.
15) Production Company- In 99% of any type of film trailer, the production company will be mentioned at the start. One of the most famous production companies within the horror genre is 'Hammer Films' who were the most successful horror production company during the 'golden age' of horror'. After the downturn in horror film popularity they folded as a company but are now coming back with 'Let me In' being a successful new film by them. I believe the success of that film was due to the production company being popular, which demonstrates the impact that they have on a horror film. We have issued the name of a production company at the start of our trailer, just after the shots of the child on the swing.
16) Inter-titles - While researching a series of horror trailers, we found that the vast majority had the characters dialogue telling the story of the film to the audience. We decided to challenge this convention by using inter-titles throughout to tell the audience the narrative. We thought this visual aid would help to draw their attention in more and it also makes the genre of our film easy to distinguish from the start as these inter-titles describe the killer and his background. We also thought it would make it easier for the audience to understand and take notice of the narrative if it was in written text on the screen.
17) Title of film - Every trailer we looked at in the planning stages showed a trend of presenting the name of the film towards the end of the trailer as it is more likely that they will remember it and will therefore higher there changes of going to see it in the cinema. We therefore followed this convention as we wanted as many audience members to remember the name of the film. We put a clip of the film's name on its own so that it stood out and there would be nothing to distract from it.18) Length of trailer - our trailer overall is about one minute in length. We wanted to keep it as close to a minute as possible as we read in the pre-production and planning stages that conventional teaser trailers generally last between 30 and 90 seconds. As they are typically designed to 'tease' the audience but not tell; we thought that making it as short as possible while still giving sufficient clips and information to raise their awareness, would make it effectively 'tease' them.
19) Coming Soon - Most ordinary trailers include the exact release date of the film; however teaser trailers don't yet give the date away as they are generally released before the release date is defined so that they can give a small taste of the film to the audience. They therefore use the text 'coming soon' which is what we have decided to follow to emphasize the fact that our trailer is a teaser.20) Name of director - Director's names are normally used in the conventional horror trailer is they are well known and respected for previous works they have done. Within our trailer, we have challenged this as we haven't included the director's name; however this is still done in real life horror trailers if the director isn't known as he/she is normally used as an advertising technique.
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