Initial Research and Deconstructions from Horror Trailers

Codes & Conventions of horror film teaser trailers

• The trailers often give high insight into location, as it is of high importance in the genre
• There are frequent jumps, aimed to create viewer interest and the need to want to see more, yet the large amounts of narrative are still hidden 
• They are often darkly lit, this is linked to the genre  
• Set in their subgenre, in the horror trailers we watched we found it was easy to predict the subgenre of the film just from the trailer , through use of character, scenery and dialogue 
• Dialogue is emphasised to give importance, both to storyline and to character
• Contemporary films play on contemporary fears, such as the idea that you aren’t safe anywhere, and that modern technology, behaviours and events can be harmful.

How have the codes & conventions of horror films changed over time?

• Conventions constantly change in certain genres, and in a lot of horror films they base themselves on current trends within the media.- for instance
• zombie movies during the time of communism
• torture films during a war filled with kidnappings and torture to people.
• Roman Polanski’s wife murdered – blood on walls –introduction of blood on walls in films

They seem to adapt to cultural changes and can introduce new types of horror depending on scenarios and also fear within people and places.

 Deconstructions

Quarantine:

As a group, we looked into a number of films, and all decided that we liked 'Quaratine' in particular its use of handheld camera work to make the audience feel as if they are in the situation themself.

The trailer uses font on the screen to set the date and location, although this appears more likely to be part of a thriller trailer the texts increases the idea of the documentary which is the sub-genre of the horror, by doing this is increases the realism and therefore the fear in the eyes of the audience.

  Although little of the plot is given away, the main protagonist is shown and gives speech, this sets her apart and creates the idea of importance surrounding her character. Within the trailer there are strong horror elements but they only feature briefly as to not give too much away.

Wolfman (remake):
This film is focused around the gothic horror genre and therefore features typical settings like graveyards. Also , like quarantine the trailer is mostly darkly lit, this darkness is familiarised with evolutionary fears. This is a perfect fear for a werewolf:
as man evolves in wolf, he is feared.

In horrors which are based upon mythical creatures there is often a high amount of computer editing technology, which although impractical for us to fully recreate does give us an insight into what can or cannot be done, also tricks as to how things can be recreated

The Final Destination:
Most horror films, except period ones, are in touch with current trends, the protagonists are up to date and the storyline is set around modern interests, this can be seen in final destination.

 More modern films also like to play on the idea that everyday situations are dangerous and therefore you are never safe, such as dying in a carwash in final destination, this unsettles the audience as they are able to see themselves in the situations.

What are the benefits & constraints of choosing the horror genre?
 
Benefits:
We can use light to our advantage in most cases, by only showing parts of the werewolf due to dark lighting, the rest of the wolf body can be implyed and not actually shown. Natural lighting and daylight as seen last year in our media opening can work just as well as darkness and extra lighting.

Also as we thought about handheld camera idea, pitch black would be necessary to get the night mood to work. So we could use pitch black to our advantage.

Very low budget, and can be made without spending any money at all, and we found this last year.

So much to work with as far as edits and sounds go. Horror you can use so much variety of sound effects , or minimal dialogue – and it still have the impact and be scary.