Our media trailer was created to resemble or conform to other horror trailer conventions with the intent of demonstrating that our trailer itself is a horror. To demonstrate that our trailer shares these conventions, I compare some of the shots to several other horror trailers.
The first of these shots is a typical handheld shot. Though difficult to see, both screencaptures are taken from a handheld shot of a protagonist falling over. The darkness and unclear image conform to the horror conventions of being disoriented and demonstrating a sense of urgency to escape. The darkness represents solitude and loneliness, both of which are evident in these images that respectively contain only one person.
The second of these images includes some form of ritual-based figures. This resembles Jaques Levi-Strauss' binary oppositions, where safe, ultimately unhorrific things are considered scary. In this example, it is religion. The straw figure erected above ground in the Blair Witch trailer clearly in a forest setting represents the demise of the three students in the location they're in, and the monk in our trailer in a hole in the church wall also clearly represents this. The idea of levels (and height above people) establishes these figures' dominance even further, and their intimidation in their films.
This third of these interlinks with the first in that they are handheld shots of running away. There is a better example of this in our trailer where the camera is behind the runner such is the case in Blair Witch, however with the Youtube uploading issues our group was having, I could not screencapture it. In each of these shots, our figure is running in fear from a being we can't see. The darkness and sense of urgency is clearly addressed in an effective way. We can see they are running, but we do not know what from, which increases the mystery and intrigue to the trailers.
In addition to our "Blair Witch" resembling style, we also acknowledged in question 3 that people are fans of the "Saw" franchise, and so in several of our shots, we employ similar camerawork and mise-en-scene as seen in these trailers.
The former of these shots are both internal shots - The shot taken from saw includes a protagonist looking into a hole to find an object, and in our shot, the protagonist is looking through bushes to see our antagonist walking past. The minimalised screen size represents being trapped and confined, which is a common theme of horror films. In this respect, I feel that our image simply uses a similar style, and does not challenge or develop strongly.
The latter of these shots includes a protagonist shining a torch to look behind a camera whilst searching for something. Our shot also features this, as it demonstrates a kind of "We know that we're looking for something, but we do not know what" feel. I believe our shot challenges this one in that our mise-en-scene has a stronger symbolic resonance to the psychological effect which is demonstrated in the visually restricting colours and light, symbolising their emptiness of knowledge in what they are seeking.
In addition to these shots, our film loosely replicates "Wrong Turn" in terms of visual narrative.
In this shot, Bordwell and Thompson's causal relationship theory is demonstrated. The iconography of the church and the desaturated picture suggests the abandonment of the church. In this respect, our image challenges "Wrong Turn" in that our image demonstrates more of a link to the story, including a deeper historical background of the film's story and adds to the conventions of horror with the desaturated, implying abandoned, church in the background.
Finally, we used conventions and iconography evident in many other horror films, but for specific examples, I have taken screenshots from "The Strangers".
Intertitles are common in most horror trailers to create Bordwell and Thompson's theorised cause and effect links between shots in such a way where necessary parts of the plot are spelled out to the audience in a mysterious, not-all-revealing way so that they appeal. The dark background, once again, represents isolation and fear.
The second image is of nothing but the faceless antagonist nearing towards the protagonist, but in such a way where we are positioned as the hero ourselves, creating the illusion that the villain is coming towards us. This creates a first person effect to invoke fear into the audience. I think we challenge The Strangers here because our face is seen blurred out, most likely due to the disorientation of the protagonist. Additionally, we use the torch seen previously, suggesting that the Monk has already interacted with the characters, even if they are unaware of it, almost as if the Monk has stolen it from them, creating a sense of irony in that he found the helpless victim using his own objects.
Finally, the car is commonplace in horror movies as an attempt to escape to no avail, as demonstrated in The Strangers. As a result we challenge this by using the car as nothing but a mode of transport, whilst the audience may be expecting to see something happen to the characters.
Other examples of using, challenging and developing forms and conventions is evident in our trailer in these ways too;
Quick cuts demonstrate pace, rhythm and urgency in the trailer. This is used to create a glimpse of what the audience can expect to see in the film itself. Hopefully some of the shots are exciting and energetic enough to intrigue and interest them into watching it.
In a similar style, we spread the usage of a ouija board throughout the trailer as it spells "MONK", which comes together in the end of the trailer. This creates a "divide" in the trailer, segmenting action up slightly, making it easier to view. This builds up the villain a little more and suggests that the protagonists are aware of the history of a deceased monk. At the end, these letters are shown again in a sequence of quick shots to create urgency and almost construct a motif with the letters, though this is not overly common with many horror trailers.
Reaction shots without action shots invoke suspense and fear. I think we adhere to this very well in creating an interest in what the characters have seen. We are giving them the effect, but intentionally preventing the revealing of the cause, in making people want to find out what it is.
We also challenge sound by using only non-diegetic soundtrack, which builds to the tension and heightens suspense as it develops. The underlying monk chants offers insight into the setting and the story, whilst the pounding drums adds energy and pace to the trailer. The piano riff creates a theme throughout the trailer, and makes the audience make an association between the shots.
We challenge shot transitions in many instances using cuts to black rather than fading, dissolving, jump cutting or interitles. I feel that this creates a sense of hiding, intentionally withholding information and being trapped, which are all common themes and conventions in horror trailers.
Our faceless antagonist gives the audience a monstrous feel about him, as demonstrated in Friday 13th and Halloween. It creates mystery and anonymousity with the character, making him even more evil. The final shot does show his face, but underneath a blurred effect which almost makes us feel as though he is taunting us somewhat, which itself challenges the aforementioned films.
It was Levi-Strauss and Barthes who explored binary oppositions, not Derrida. Also I'm not sure that your film is as similar to the Blair Witch Project as you claim. That film was shot entirely in a fictionalised documentary mode whereas yours seems to go in and out of that mode. Otherwise you make some interesting observations. Make sure that in the final section you make it clear that you are now discussing the conventions of trailers as well as of the horror genre.
ReplyDelete