As a group we designed a questionnaire that we found was suitable for our horror trailer to find out what our target audience preferred in horror movies/trailers. We decided that our target audience ranged between teenagers and young adults. We gave out 16 questionnaires and posted it online but unfortunately no one answered the questionnaire online.
Here is the questionnaire and the results that we found out of 16 people...
1. How old are you? (Please circle the appropriate answer)
15-20 (15) 21-25 (0) 26-30 (0) 31+ (1)
2. Are you male or female?
Male (6) Female (10)
3. What do you personally find most scary in horror trailers/films?
Scary faces jumping out
When there is scary music
The suspense
Scary music and blood
Jumpy things
Everything!
The music and atmosphere
Shocking scenes, ghosts
CCTV and not really seeing what's going on
Gore
Dolls/Masks
Crazy ladies
Nothing really
The unknown
Paranormal, creepy dolls
Ghosts, clowns
4. In a horror trailer, do you prefer to be shown glimpses of the monster or not?
Yes (9) No (7)
5. Do you like scenes that make you jump?
Yes (11) No (5)
6. Do you find ghost children scary in horror trailers/films?
Yes (12) No (4)
7. Do you prefer psychological horror or horror with lots of gore?
Psychological horror (13) Lots of gore (3)
8. What settings do you find scare you the most? (Choose maximum of two)
Isolated, scary looking house (10)
The woods (3)
Graveyard (2)
Cellars/basements/attics (9)
Towns/cities (2)
9. Do you prefer a horror trailer/films to contain lots of action or lots of suspense?
Lots of action (7) Lots of suspense (9)
10. Does the concept of 'the return of the past' scare you? E.g. a ghost coming back to haunt people...
Yes (9) No (7)
11. Which do you find the most scarier: having more characters, or less?
More characters (4) Less characters (12)
12. Which shots do you find scarier in a horror trailer/films? (Please tick which one)
Close up (9)
Long shot (1)
Point of view shot (Looking through one of the characters eyes) (4)
Over the shoulder shot (1)
Extreme close up (2)
Friday, 25 November 2011
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Final Trailer Synopsis
As a group, we came up with a storyline that we find we will be able to do and make it a very effective and scary trailer, it is as follows:
In 1930 a woman, Cathryn Franks lived with her 10 year old daughter Helen Franks in an isolated house in the countryside. Helen was brutally abused by her mother and was locked in the cold and dark basement at night to sleep. Eventually, Helen was murdered by her mother in one of her common rages and Helen died with a vengeance, buried in the garden.
In 2011 when Cathryn and Helen hasd been completely forgotten, a woman called Sarah Biggens moved into the same house with her 10 year old daughter Cassie Biggens. Cassie's parents split when she was still a baby and her father; a very important buisness man still lives in the city. Sarah and Cassie share a very special bond and love each other with all of their hearts.
Once moving into the house all is well until Sarah starts hearing funny noises coming from the basement. When Sarah goes to the basement nothing is out of the ordinary and she finds some old photos of a moody looking woman and sometimes a little girl in the background of the photos. Sarah thinks nothing of it and carried on as if everything is normal until she notices Cassie spending a lot of her time in the basement. Things seem ever more strange when Cassie tells her of a new friend, Helen. Sarah implies that Helen is just an imaginary friend but Cassie seems certain that Helen is real and is upset that her mother is against her new friend.
Sarah starts noticing a difference in Cassie and is surprised when Cassie suddenly knows private stuff about her. More and more unexplainable events take place such as waking up to a young girl calling for her mum to let her out, coming from the basement but when she goes to look Cassie is safe and asleep in her bed. Sarah decides to look into the pictures she found in the basement and is devestated to find that the little girl is called Helen.
Cassie begins to avoid Sarah and eventually admits that she is scared in case her mother with start abusing her. Sarah tries to comfort Cassie by telling her she would never hurt her but Cassie replies that she knows it's just an act as Helen has told her.
Sarah becomes more and more distressed as things swirl out of control, so much that eventually Cassie turns petrified of Helen and begs her mother for help, telling her that Helen has turned against her and is trying to replace her so she gets the mother she never had. Helen becomes angry that Cassie has vetrayed her and her vengeance is let loose among the house in which Sarah and Cassie find themselves trapped in and Sarah knows that eventually she will have to go into the basement and stand up to this evil ghost.
In 1930 a woman, Cathryn Franks lived with her 10 year old daughter Helen Franks in an isolated house in the countryside. Helen was brutally abused by her mother and was locked in the cold and dark basement at night to sleep. Eventually, Helen was murdered by her mother in one of her common rages and Helen died with a vengeance, buried in the garden.
In 2011 when Cathryn and Helen hasd been completely forgotten, a woman called Sarah Biggens moved into the same house with her 10 year old daughter Cassie Biggens. Cassie's parents split when she was still a baby and her father; a very important buisness man still lives in the city. Sarah and Cassie share a very special bond and love each other with all of their hearts.
Once moving into the house all is well until Sarah starts hearing funny noises coming from the basement. When Sarah goes to the basement nothing is out of the ordinary and she finds some old photos of a moody looking woman and sometimes a little girl in the background of the photos. Sarah thinks nothing of it and carried on as if everything is normal until she notices Cassie spending a lot of her time in the basement. Things seem ever more strange when Cassie tells her of a new friend, Helen. Sarah implies that Helen is just an imaginary friend but Cassie seems certain that Helen is real and is upset that her mother is against her new friend.
Sarah starts noticing a difference in Cassie and is surprised when Cassie suddenly knows private stuff about her. More and more unexplainable events take place such as waking up to a young girl calling for her mum to let her out, coming from the basement but when she goes to look Cassie is safe and asleep in her bed. Sarah decides to look into the pictures she found in the basement and is devestated to find that the little girl is called Helen.
Cassie begins to avoid Sarah and eventually admits that she is scared in case her mother with start abusing her. Sarah tries to comfort Cassie by telling her she would never hurt her but Cassie replies that she knows it's just an act as Helen has told her.
Sarah becomes more and more distressed as things swirl out of control, so much that eventually Cassie turns petrified of Helen and begs her mother for help, telling her that Helen has turned against her and is trying to replace her so she gets the mother she never had. Helen becomes angry that Cassie has vetrayed her and her vengeance is let loose among the house in which Sarah and Cassie find themselves trapped in and Sarah knows that eventually she will have to go into the basement and stand up to this evil ghost.
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Mood Board
My mood board contains a few images of children that are either dead or zombiefied. The scariest horror for me is when a child is used as the villain and that is what I wish to use in my trailer. Dolls scare me as well as I think they represent the same scary sort of innocence that a child does in a horror movie. Also, I think ghosts or zombies that come across as 'demented' are very scary as well so I have included some 'demented' looking people in my mood board. Dark, isolated, haunted houses really scare me in horror movies and so do the woods at night time so I have included an image of these in my mood board as well.
Monday, 14 November 2011
Existing Horror Trailers
The one particular horror convention that I personally find the most scariest is children. The fact that a child is supposed to come across as innocent, in a horror movie you know that this fact immediately changes. All of the existing trailers that I have chosen to look at include children or some form of innocence.
"The Unborn" immediately strikes me as a scary trailer. At the beginning you can hear a child's voice coming from a baby monitor and to me a child's voice that has been distorted in some way definitely brings a scary feeling to the trailer. It is obvious from start to end who is the main protagonist and like most horror movies the protagonist is female. Throughout the trailer we continuously see glimpses of a little boy who has been made to look ghostly and from this the audience knows that he is the main villain of the film. A clear storyline has been shown through the trailer showing glimpses of some of the action scenes without letting the audience know the final outcome. Towards the end of the trailer the speed picks up and shorter clips are used showing fast action clips and reaction shots so that at the end the audience is left feeling unsatisfied and wanting to see the whole film.
"Orphan" isn't the typical sort of horror movie that I would call 'scary'. There are no ghosts or poltergeists etc. involved which I find are the most scary sort of horrors, but there is still a child being used who is obviously shown through the trailer to be the main villain of the film. At the beginning of the trailer there is a positive feeling and all seems well and when we first see the 'orphan' she is shown as well behaved, very polite, well dressed and completely innocent. This is how I would like my trailer to start, with a happy and positive feeling and then gradually turning monstrous and scary, just as in the trailer for "Orphan".
"Dead Silence" doesn't include any children in the trailer but it does include a lot of dolls which I personally find really scary in a horror movie. The scary things about dolls is that their facial expressions never change and that really freaks me out in horror movies because you know they are going to do something sooner or later. Another thing that I like about this film is that their is a ritual of 'ripping out peoples tongues' once they are murdered which makes things even scarier when the villain has a sort of tradition. Also, there is a song or a rhyme about the villain 'Mary Shaw' which makes things even more scary.
"The Unborn" immediately strikes me as a scary trailer. At the beginning you can hear a child's voice coming from a baby monitor and to me a child's voice that has been distorted in some way definitely brings a scary feeling to the trailer. It is obvious from start to end who is the main protagonist and like most horror movies the protagonist is female. Throughout the trailer we continuously see glimpses of a little boy who has been made to look ghostly and from this the audience knows that he is the main villain of the film. A clear storyline has been shown through the trailer showing glimpses of some of the action scenes without letting the audience know the final outcome. Towards the end of the trailer the speed picks up and shorter clips are used showing fast action clips and reaction shots so that at the end the audience is left feeling unsatisfied and wanting to see the whole film.
"Orphan" isn't the typical sort of horror movie that I would call 'scary'. There are no ghosts or poltergeists etc. involved which I find are the most scary sort of horrors, but there is still a child being used who is obviously shown through the trailer to be the main villain of the film. At the beginning of the trailer there is a positive feeling and all seems well and when we first see the 'orphan' she is shown as well behaved, very polite, well dressed and completely innocent. This is how I would like my trailer to start, with a happy and positive feeling and then gradually turning monstrous and scary, just as in the trailer for "Orphan".
"Dead Silence" doesn't include any children in the trailer but it does include a lot of dolls which I personally find really scary in a horror movie. The scary things about dolls is that their facial expressions never change and that really freaks me out in horror movies because you know they are going to do something sooner or later. Another thing that I like about this film is that their is a ritual of 'ripping out peoples tongues' once they are murdered which makes things even scarier when the villain has a sort of tradition. Also, there is a song or a rhyme about the villain 'Mary Shaw' which makes things even more scary.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Horror Conventions
This is the trailer for 'The Ring' 2002. I have never seen the film before but the trailer includes a variety of the common conventions of horror. The film consumes of a 'scary' video tape being played and the people who have watched it will die seven days later. As usual in horror movies a young child is brought into the situation and has watched the movie adding a bigger threat to the movie as a child is seen as helpless. To make things seem even more helpless, like most horror movies the protagonist is a young woman who seems even more scared than the child. The house in which the woman and child live in seems like an isolated place surrounded by countryside which is common in horror movies as this offers more opportunities for a sense of isolation and excludes the feeling of safety from those living around. In some scenes of the trailer the only colours that really stand out are red and black which are very common colours in horror movies as they are obvious connotations of things such as darkness, evil, blood and danger etc.
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