TRAILER

1. Q.1) In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. - They both have a young face that portray youth and purity. This is effective because physically they portray young girls. And young girls are not normally linked with bad negativity such as murder. TRAILER • My research first started when I looked into psychological horror-films such as the Orphan and noticed a high correlation of a “demented” character in psychological movies such as The Orphan. Someone that brought disequilibrium to a positive scenario. This was my main focus whilst working on this project, therefore we developed the conventions of an antagonist, like most psychological films. Our antagonist The orphan’s antagonist

3. MISE EN SCENE • Examples of psychological horror were portrayed through the character’s clothing and the use of different props that we used. The four girls are all dressed casually because we wanted the antagonist to be portrayed as a part of the group, which follows the plot of being portrayed “normal”, as a part of the crowd so when she starts acting strange, and weird events start occurring, the audience can really notice the sharp change of personality. • However, the only difference in costume is that the antagonist is always dressed in black to portray mystery, and anger in that person. • Also, when I shot the first scene of the girls going hiking, they are all carrying backpacks and wearing real hiking boots. This is a general convention of a movie trailer of any genre we used to create a sense of realism. This is supported by the surface naturalism theory which suggests that it is important to ‘get the details right’ or ‘making it look real’; this is an example of trailer conventions that we used.

4. Also we took inspiration from the movie “the frozen” and developed the idea of locating in a woodland area. In that specific scene we wanted to bring across the idea of the character’s helplessness, therefore we located one of the scenes in a forest to portray helpless they were surrounded by a massive forest. Maze- difficult to find your way around Easily able to get lost Portrays danger Dark/creepy Home of “deadly” animals - This brings off the idea of “mysterious creatures living within the forests.

5. Shots • During the production of the film, as Anusha and I shot and directed it. We both watched through trailers and found that a lot of movies such as Frozen used P.O.V to portray the scenario through the reader’s eyes. The effect of this shot is that it makes the trailer more personal. We decided to add that type of shot so the audience felt like they were there with the character in the trailer. (0.46) (0.44) The character shining the light into the forest In our trailer, Nicole (Anusha’s) footsteps whilst running in panic.

6. Shots • Tracking shots were also used in our trailer, taking inspiration from the trailer of “The Frozen”. This shot is very effective because it shows characters in action. It gives the audience a detailed tour of the situation so they could feel like they were in the moment. (0.11) The Frozen (0.38) Flat 193

7. We also used the idea of combining different types of shots together. Real conventions of trailers have combining long shot, close up shots, high angles, low angles and tracking shots in order to make the video flow. I developed this idea whilst I filmed the start of our trailer, by shooting my scenes from different angles. I was especially proud of the beginning of the trailer that I shot because it continuously flows and you can really feel like you are there with the character because you can see the shot in every different angle. Side medium shot Medium long shot Tracking low shot

8. Sound • We used conventions of real life media products such as the sound to set the scene. Specific examples such as violin instrumentals which is very popular within the genre; this gives a creepy atmosphere to the trailer. Audience’s watch trailers to escape from reality, therefore the use of eeiry, almost “demented” music greatly emphasizes psychological horror. This is supported by _________ theory. This same type of music was also used in Insidious. An example of a famous movie trailer (INSIDIOUS) that has used violin music:

9. Another convention we used was the voice of a female laughing. Human sound is very popular within psychological horror trailers because human voice is realistic which makes everything spookier, therefore I used the same technique. Also, we developed human sound whilst creating the trailer. • Moreover, another convention was the use of ambiance noises such as the door bell to compliment the situation of the video, using every day relatable sounds to make the movie real to life. • During the scene of myself shutting the door to get away from “Elizabeth” the mysterious flatmate. I added an over voice of myself panting which I created on “garage” an application on my MacBook. This is a technique I developed from typical psychological horror trailers such as “The Frozen.” (click on the button to hear)

10. What did we challenge in our product? • There was two things we challenged in our trailer. • Firstly, we challenged the structure of our trailer. Normal horror trailer tends to point out the disequilibrium of the film from the beginning of the trailer. This helps the audience easily understand the storyline, however we wanted to challenge the structure because the main idea of a trailer is for it to be a teaser. To show parts of the movie that will tempt the audience, and make them return to watch the movie. Therefore we challenged that typical structure and portrayed the equilibrium at the beginning, and the disequilibrium in the middle, and finally the after affects of the problem. • The most difficult part was finding a way to make both sections flow but to have an alarming stop in the middle that is unexpected for the reader because they feel peaceful watching the beginning.

11. We realised that it would be very effective if the equilibrium getting broken was portrayed in the trailer therefore we had the idea of creating a calm opening in the beginning of the trailer leading up to fast cut shots of the “demented character” causing problems and chaos. Equilibrium Problem Disequilibrium

12. Another reason for creating a trailer showing shots of the four girl’s good times together in the beginning is because it is going to make the audience feel a sense of positive pleasure- portraying peace at the beginning, following with an unexpected ending of disaster which will play with the audience’s emotions. Hopefully making them feel uneasy and puzzled. • This leaves the viewers wanting to watch the movie in order find out all the answers. Such as “why this mysterious girl has come to these innocent girls?” And “what are her intentions?” This was the main forms and conventions of a real media product I wanted to focus on, and I think my group and I were very successful in doing so. I WONDER WHO WILL GET KILLED FIRST? I WONDER IF THE MYSTERIOUS GIRL GETS KILLED? WHO IS SHE? WHY?

13. Secondly, we challenged the use of characters. Typically in psychological horror trailers and movies have the weakest character as physically being blonde- which is said to portray a low level of intelligence , weak and of a small frame. There is also a stereotype of Asian's being the last one left, as they are the “smartest”. However, throughout the trailer Jade (me) was portrayed as the weakest character. I wanted to challenge this convention because I don’t particularly believe that the “small and blonde” representation of a person technically means that they are weak. Weak Beautiful- getting lured in by men Blonde hair- low level of intelligence