Audio

To help add a more surreal effect to my film trailer, I am going to make use parts of the song "Slip To The Void" by Alter Bridge.



The first part I will be using is from 0:00 to 0:10, which is a very dark snippet of the song. I am using this part of the song as it will help add a dark feeling to the parts of my film trailer when the characters first realise there is something wrong, for example, when the characters discover a severed leg and are scared and confused. The next part of the song I will use is from 1:32 to 1:36. I will use this bit of the song when the killer in my film trailer strikes, or when the tempo of the film trailer picks up.

Media Text Analysis 3 - Eight Legged Freaks

Eight Legged Freaks is a comedy horror film, so i expect to see aspects of both horror films and comedy films. The first scene in the trailer pictures a normal lifestyle, which is a convention of most horror films. We then see a woman walking down into a cellar with a torch, which suggests to the audience that something bad is going to happen, as cellars are a convention of horror films. We then get the first view of the antagonists when the a giant spider comes out and kills a dog. A dog got killed people seem to feel more emotion for a defenceless animal than a person. This sets the character for the spiders as the antagonists. Furthermore, there is a voice over which suggests to the audience that only one person actually knows what is causing all these killings, indicating to the audience that he is possibly the main protagonist. In between the Emus getting killed the is flash effects to indicate to the audience that it is happening really fast. When the spider reviles its self in the caravan there is a police car in the background, this suggests that the police can't even stop the spiders, emphasising the power.

Now the first spider is reveled, the camera then cuts to a medium shot on a hole in a wall and then several giant spiders come out. This indicates to the audience that there are going to be more than 1 spider terrorising the characters in the film. We then see the spiders in several normal, every day places indicating to the audience that the spiders can be anywhere. We also see a point of view shot which seems like the audience is seeing the view of one of the spiders. Furthermore, to add humor to the trailer, an inter textual link referring to "Spiderman" is used. Also, we see a clip of a male getting spun up in web which has been sped up. Web is an icon of spiders, furthermore, since the clip has had the speed increased it adds to more tension and fear to the trailer, as it makes it seem the "Spider Apocalypse" is happening fast.

Once again, the spiders show their place above the authority when a giant spider jumps on top of a typical police car, showing to the audience that they are more powerful than the authority. Also, more humor is added when the policeman shoots the spider and it's blood dribbles down his face. This would also disgust the audience keeping the tone of the film still serious. The first of the captions appear, and they are in a green glowing font. Green is usually associated with "mutants" which is very suitable since the main theme of the film is giant mutant spiders.

Furthermore, the audience sees a scene of 3 teenagers dressed in typical teenage attire talking and laughing. This suggests to the audience that everything could be seemingly okay. This is disturbed by one of the teenagers getting jumped on by a spider. This would cause the audience to jump, which is an icon of the horror film genre. The film is then described as "the biggest, nastiest, mutant spider movie of all time." Describing the film as this would invite the audience to go see the film and to put their opinion forward. Also, Montage editing is used as a scene transaction showing lots of different pictures of spiders, further suggesting that the spider's are fast. The name of the film comes up on screen in large, red, bold font. The colour red is an indication of danger, as well as the bold font emphasising that point. Next, we see a giant spider webbing up 2 people which loud rock music in the background, the spider then gets shot and the music stops. This indicates to the audience that the threat issued by the spider has now gone.

Ideas that I have took from this film trailer is to use a point of view shot to represent the antagonist. As well as using a form of montage editing to help quicken the pace of the trailer.

Media Text Analysis 2 - The Grudge 2

The trailer begins with a medium close up shot of a woman in a car driving in Japan. The voice over reviles why the woman is Japan due to her sister being in the hospital. It then cuts to a shot of black hair flowing reveling the writer and the studio who created the film. The hair is related to one of the main antagonists of the film, and since we do not see the full face of her it still remains a mystery to the audience. Furthermore, the font of the writing is in red, red being the colour of danger and blood, which relates to the horror movie genre. The camera then cuts to a slow close up a woman strapped to a hospital bed. A jump cut is used of one of the antagonists eyes paired with a very loud screaming sound. This is used to disturb the audience and create a high feel of horror. The hospital lights then begin to flicker to further unsettle the audience. The camera continues to zoom in then fades once again the the hair flowing across the screen to the same red font. The fade suggests that maybe the woman in the hospital bed was or is one of the antagonists victims.

A flash back to the prequel of the movie is then shown to set the scene for the movie to the audience and a whispered voice over saying "don't go in that house" is used to indicate to the audience that the house is going to be the main place of the events in the film, as well as to unsettle them. It then once again cuts to the hair flowing across the screen, without the fade.

It then cuts to a seemingly first person view behind some things in the house to make it seem as if someone was watching the woman walking, then we see a head float by the screen to unsettle the audience as it is confirmed that someone is indeed watching her. A voice over then accrues while the screen is black to add mystery to who is talking. A long shot of the antagonist is used with flickering lights, which suggests that the woman is very disorientated and isn't sure what she is seeing. It then cuts to a scene of a woman rubbing her face, just to have the antagonist grab her face, the camera then flashes to black and back again to further indicate disorientation.

Montage editing is then used with a voice over of a woman whispering to suggest the the audience that she is the main victim of all these small scenes. The string music then picks up again to further unsettle the audience. Also, strobe lighting effects are used to try and disorientate the audience to create more mystery. Also, a shot of a man in a dark room is used, and the room is red, once again the colour of fear and blood. Also, ambient sounds of screaming in the distance are used to induce fear into the audience. The sound of a door creaking indicates to the audience that someone is going to be behind that door, but it doesn't always have to be bad. But in this case it was. Also, the use of long black hair throughout the trailer suggests to the audience that the protagonists are becoming entangled in the situation they're in.

One thing that i will use from this trailer in my own is the use of first person shots to create tension and fear for the audience, as well as possibly incorporating some strobe lighting effects.

Codes and Conventions of Horror Films

With each genre of movie comes several different conventions which help clearly indicate to the audience that the film is that genre. Normally these differences are very distinct and noticeable, several sometimes exclusive to that genre.

The genre I am choosing is horror, yet there are many more out there to choose from. The genre of horror is rather straight forward using the typical antagonist, protagonist rules. The antagonist in horror films can come in many different forms, for example maxed serial killers, demons, monsters and sometimes the antagonist doesn’t even have to be a living being, for example wide spread disease. Typically in horror films the main antagonist will be someone young, about the age 18, and more often that not a woman. This helps indicate the weak state of the protagonist as the protagonist is usually the one being hunted down by the antagonist. Furthermore, horror films also have predictable shooting locations, for example a run-down old house or a forest.

Other conventions of horror films also exist, such as shock scenes, violent deaths, dark or shadowy lighting, Isolated locations, disruption of the norm and also a sub-plot of a male and female relationship. Shock scenes and violent deaths are two of the main conventions, as they are the conventions that actually strike the horror into the audience. Shock scenes are normally used in an attempt to make the audience jump. An example of a shock scene is a girl is walking through a house, there is quiet if no music and then something or someone jumps out normally with the music picking up. Violent deaths are used to strike disgust into the audience and violent deaths usually follow shock scenes, as demonstrated in this video.




Isolated locations indicate to the audience that the person in this location has no way of escaping, for example, in the film The Hills Have Eyes (2006) when the protagonist is locked in a box with severed body parts. Not only would this make the character feel isolated but also the audience, if the shot is taken within the isolated area with the character.

Disruption of the norm is the thing that shakes up the film, for example this could be an alien landing on earth, or a serial killer escaping the police. The male and female relationship sub-plot adds more than just senseless violence to the horror film. It gives the audience a reason to get attached to the characters due to the emotional attatchment between the two characters.

On most occasions the main characters are teenaged people, primarily in serial killer films. This is because this indicates that they are young and weak, or the underdogs. For example, Scream (1996) where the main character is 17 years old and still in education.

Media Text Analysis 1 - The Texas Chainsaw Massicre

The first thing I notice about this trailer is that all the main protagonists in the trailer are dressed normal. This represents that before the disequilibrium happens, everything was reasonably normal and easily related to real life. Furthermore, the ambient music also creates a sence of norm and calmness, soon to be broken. Also, one of the girls in the car are wearing a cowboy hat, and the movie is set in the south of the USA, and cowboy hats are a national icon of states such as Texas. There are several other icons of southern USA such as the dusty roads and the mini-van that the cast are driving in.

As the antagonists are introduced, a girl sees a figure run. Typically the strong male character calls out the figure in an act of heroism, which is one of the conventions of a horror film. Also, the music change from nice clam, abstract music swiftly changes into tense string music, suggesting to the audience that there is is something wrong. Furthermore, every so often the camera cuts back to a girl claiming "We're all gonna die" which helps indicate to the audience that the characters know something is wrong and that they fear it. In addition, throughout the trailer it shows scenes of the characters in distressing situations, then an old fashion camera flash happens. This makes it seem like the characters are a memory suggesting that in the film they will see their demise.

The font used to introduce the writer also fits the era where the film is set, as it looks like the font has been typed on a typewriter. Also, as the writers name is on the screen, it cuts to a black screen and we hear a your female scream "somebody help me." This helps add mystery to the trailer as the audience doesn't know what the girl wants help from, due to the black screen. After the scream we hear foot steps as well as chains, which is one of the only hints in the trailer as to who the antagonist actually is. Suddenly it cuts to a shot of a girl screaming with the sound of a chainsaw, which confirms to the audience that the film is a horror and will contain plenty of blood and gore. As well as the string music picking up to further add a tense feel to the trailer. Also, a high angle shot coming out of a cellar is used, and a man shuts on cellar door on the camera. This would've been used as a first person shot to suggest that the man was locking someone, or something, into the cellar.

A further hint as to who the killer is reveled as there is a long shot showing the killer walking towards the camera while in a shroud of shadows. This helps add further mystery to the film trailer. Furthermore, as the trailer progresses the lighting on the set seems to be getting darker and darker suggesting the tone of the film is also getting darker and darker. One more hint as to who the killer is is used when we see a high angle shot of the killer closing a sliding door. The high angle shot suggests the the killer is more powerful that the rest of the protagonists. The trailer then suddenly cuts to black, still with the ambient string music in the background and the name of the film appears in a shadow dropping font. The shadow dropping suggests that in the movie shadows could play a key roll.

Some ideas i could take from this trailer is to use the shadows plenty to add a sence of unknown, as this will add one key convention of horror movies to my trailer, as well as adding much more dramatic effect. Also, this trailer has influenced me to give the beggining of my trailer a sence of norm, and not just dive right into the action.