I did numerous amounts of research and planning in order to make my trailer successful. I annotated various other horror film trailers and I looked at the codes and conventions that they used. I was also given new words that I could have incorporated in my evaluation. I looked at the horror trailer- Amityville. I had to describe what colours were used, what type of music they played, and how much narrative they put in the trailer. I sense that if I did not look at this trailer, that I would not have completed my task to make my own trailer as successfully as I have done..
In order to make my horror film trailer, I had to use Photoshop, so that I could make my images look frightening.
I also used a particular font which for me looked old fashioned. I chose this font as old fashioned fonts look daunting and creepy. I wanted the target audience to feel frightened whilst they were reading the narrative.
In the trailer, I used music to involve the audience. When I was stating the narrative, I used the slow, opera music. I put the slow music at the start as I feel it would not only let the audience read the narrative properly, but because I wanted to place the spookiest music at right at the star. So as soon as the trailer begins, the audience are scared by the type of music that I have chosen. In the middle, when most of the narrative is over, I suddenly use a faster sound. I wanted to do this as I feel it would of scared the audience. The audience don’t expect the music to come on. When they were watching it, they all jumped as if they didn’t know that it was going to happen. That was what my aim was. I feel that I chose and placed the music successfully.
People watch horror films so that they get an adrenaline rush. So that they can feel excited. They are curious about what will happen in the next scene. You could say that the people who watch horror film are like people who go to theme parks. They both want to get the same rush go through their body.
I wanted to catch the audiences attention and make them believe what they were seeing. I did this by talking to them. “Don’t forget.” This was at the end of the trailer and I feel by talking to the audience, it makes them feel involved and part of the trailer.
In most horror film trailers, the characters are from either different world, or have problems with themselves. In my trailer, I chose to have average teenagers. I did this because if I were to use characters which were problematic, it would have made the audience confused. They wouldn’t have understood the storyline as well as they did. I used normal teenage kids with no problems and no worries. I feel that this made the trailer more straight forward.
I don’t feel that the characters that I used adhered to the normal horror films. As I have stated, other horror films use characters that are abnormal, but my characters were perfectly normal teenagers. However, they do still fit in with the genre of a horror. The setting was in an old school which had been abandoned. This complied with the chosen genre as the fact that it was abandoned and that no one had been in there for years made it seem haunted and therefore scary enough for it to be in the classification of a horror film.
The name of the trailer was called Trapped. I think that this was a good name as it represented all of what the storyline was about. The main idea of the trailer was that there were a group of teenagers that went to go and trick or treat on Halloween night. Instead they went into an abandoned school to see what was in there. They ended up being locked in there and having no way out. They were also stuck in there with a previous student that went to the school who was possessed. The name, “Trapped,” I feel symbolize what all of the actual horror trailer is about- people getting trapped somewhere. I think that I chose the name wisely and it linked in with the genre of the film
A good horror film setting is somewhere where is disturbing, dark and unusual and somewhere that is mysterious. This is a good setting because if it includes all of these factors, then the audience will be scared as soon as they see the setting. My trailer was unusual and mysterious as it was an abandoned school.
Overall, I think that I have successfully completed what I was asked to do which was to construct a horror movie trailer and include all of the codes and conventions that are usually in a horror movie. I feel that the only thing that I could improve was how long the actual trailer was. When my fellow class mates were watching it, it seemed to go on forever. It seemed far too long and near the end, the audience seemed to lose their concentration. So I think that I could have made it a bit shorter. I have learned what exactly I need to put into a horror trailer. You have to decide on the type of font to use, what colours to use, what music to use and many other things. Before, I thought it was going to be easy but then I realised it was much harder. All in all, I feel very proud of my trailer and think I completed the task effectively.
