Props List

Health & Safety Report

Evil Dead (2013) Trailer Review (Class)

Name of film : Evil Dead

Year released : 2013

Genre of trailer : Gory Horror

Your mark (after viewing) : 10/10

What happened in the trailer?

The establishing shot of the trailer shows the setting to be in a creepy forest with rain pouring down. We see a character sitting in a cabin in the woods opening a book which has scratched onto it “leave this book alone.” It cuts to a girl covered in blood running through the trees and explaining to another character that there is something in the woods. There is a lot of blood and gore as we see other characters being caught by this possessed girl. They realise it is the book that has bought evil to life and the evil is attached to one of the character’s soul so they have to kill her. It goes on to show the many gory attempts of killing her and getting rid of the evil but nothing appears to work. The trailer ends with the possessed character slicing her tongue open and her blood gushes into another character’s mouth.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
This trailer contained many clever and interesting aspects which could be included in my own trailer. For example, the narrative is very well established through enough dialogue along with inter-titles to set the plot. The font used is very suitable to the genre and is easy to read. It fulfils the need of being a redband trailer as it is full of gore and body horror. The special effects and sound effects are very believable along with having appropriate parallel music. It uses many generic conventions, the main ones being a creepy location and plenty of low key lighting, creating a suspenseful and creepy feel. The pacing of the shots is good as it allows the audience to be drawn into the story without relying on lengthy shots. Towards the end, the shots get quicker creating a more panicky, uncomfortable feel, conforming to the typical conventions of a horror trailer. Finally, it makes great references to the story of the original Evil Dead film from 1981 such as the reading of the book to bring out the evil and the eerie setting of the woods. This shows that the director respects the original film and wants to carry on the success of it.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccesful, and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?

There were very few aspects I found to be unsucessful in the Evil Dead trailer, nevertheless the main issue is that it will potentially alienate some audiences due to it being a red band trailer so does not appeal to the widest range of audiences possible.

What was the trailer's average score? Why did it receive that mark?
The trailer received an average score of 10 out of 10 from the class because it simply fulfilled the typical conventional structure of a horror trailer. It included many of the horror genre conventions including body horror, creepy location, low key lighting and a quick montage of shots towards the end. It also contained numerous close-ups, especially of the typical psycho/serial killer which in case was the possessed young woman.

 

 

Day Of The Dead (1985) Trailer Review (Class)

Name of film : Day Of The Dead

Year released : 1985

Genre of trailer : Gory Horror

Your mark (after viewing) : 2/10

What happened in the trailer?

The trailer begins with an audience sitting in a cinema watching Day Of The Dead (1985) on the screen. A descriptive voice over starts to play as we are launched straight into the movie by showing a deserted town with zombies aimlessly walking through. It shows characters in what looks to be an underground setting where they are saying that they are the minority and some of the very few survivors. It cuts back to the audience in the cinema and then back again to the trailer showing them trying to trick the zombies so the survivors could get away. It then cuts to the cinema again where we pan across the isle to see a zombie sitting watching the film eating popcorn. The rest of the audience are not phased at all by him whilst it cuts to the trailer showing a presumed scientist talking. As it cuts back to the cinema, it shows that all the audience had gone and the room is completely empty except for the zombie figure still sitting there. He looks around as the voice over says "the dead shall have their day, day of the dead" and the film title appears on the screen to finish the trailer.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?

I did not mark the trailer very highly, however it does set the narrative well and makes sure the viewing audience know exactly what to expect from the film. It accomplishes this by having a good continuity rate and also a descriptive voice over. Another good point is that it sells it well as a sequel to Dawn Of The Dead (1978). It mentions this and Night Of The Living Dead (1968) along with George A. Romero's name promoting the film further.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful, and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?

I unfortunately found many aspects of this trailer to be unsuccessful and off-putting. For example, it doesn't include enough gore in the trailer. Day Of The Dead is a gory horror film but you would not be able to establish this from this trailer. It portrays it to be more of a comedy horror, especially when the zombie is sitting in the cinema. There could have been some added gore when they are tricking the zombies and we see a number of zombie hands reaching towards a male character who turns and runs. Instead of him running we could see the zombies catch him and show some body horror of him being eaten for instance. This would then express the fact that it is a gory horror film and not for the faint hearted. The voice over is also very disappointing, it sounds cheesy and is used to describe too much of the film where images are perfectly capable. There is also no suspense throughout the whole trailer. We are shown the narrative from the beginning and are not led up to anything dramatic or suspenseful by the end. Alternatively, it is a steady journey through the film leading us gently through each piece of action with no jumps or unsuspected shots.

What was the trailer's average score? Why did it receive that mark?

The Day Of The Dead (1985) trailer received an average score of 2.5 from the class. This is because it simply didn't contain enough gore, lessening it's ability to actually sell it as a gory horror film. Even though it is only 1minute 56seconds long, I found it nearly boring. There were too many irrelevant shots that gave no advantage to the trailer and didn't help in promoting the film. Despite this, if you relate it to the historical context of the time, this would have probably been a good trailer as audience's were not hardened to blood and gore and horror in general like they are today so would enjoy it and find it scary and shocking.

Cloverfield (2008) Trailer Review (Class)

Name of film : Cloverfield

Year released : 2008

Genre of trailer : Hand-held action horror

Your mark (after viewing) : 8/10

What happened in the trailer?

This is a greenband scene trailer so we do not expect it to contain many, if any, gory, graphic features. We are first introduced to a scene in a skyline apartment where a group of people have thrown a surprise farewell party for their friend and main character, Rob. There is diegetic sound as they all shout "surprise" and continue to dance and express messages to Rob through the hand-held camera. There is a sudden shake and the lights go out momentarily along with sirens in the background. There is panic as the group head to the roof, only to find buildings exploding and things firing through the air causing destruction. We follow them out of their flat onto the street where many people are standing in wonder and shock of what is happening. The trailer ends with the Statue of Liberty's head flying towards them as we see it get struck down. There is diegetic screaming and hysteria as the credits appear on the screen to end.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?

Due to it being a scene trailer, the audience are thrown straight into the film and the action, captivating them from the first shot. We can quickly establish it is a hand-held camera trailer, indicating the whole film could be hand-held. By using this technique, it appears to be more realistic, thus more appealing to the viewing audience. The scene used is well chosen as it is memorable and interesting and is set in the instantly recognisable  city of New York; allowing it to be more relatable and relevant. The scene finishes on a big moment, with the iconic Statue of Liberty's head hurtling through the city destroying anything in its path. Having an epic ending to the trailer is something I would include in my own trailer; it simply leaves the audience shocked and wanting to see more, but more importantly it allows them to remember it after only watching it once.

 

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful, and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?

This scene trailer contained a lot of action and no horror. To gain a higher mark from myself, it needs to include a small amount of horror to fulfil it's hybrid genre of action and horror otherwise stereotypical fans of the genre could be put off by the trailer thinking it is purely an action filled film. To be specific, the trailer could have contained a bit of gore after the lights flicker out and panic arises. The balls of fire that strike the apartment could cause a character to be injured; showing body horror. This would then indicate that of blood and gore is included in the rest of the film, showing that it is indeed a horror film.
 

What was the trailer's average score in class? Why did it receive that mark?

Cloverfield (2008) trailer received an average score of 8 from the class. A scene trailer can work as long as the chosen scene is distinct and gives an enticing view into how the rest of the film could unfold. This trailer fulfilled this so this is why I think it achieved  a high average score. The trailer finishes with an open ending whereas a highlights trailer would normally end with a jump and a shot which could indicate the ending of the whole film. By leaving it open, it captivates the audience's attention, obligating them to be in wonder of how the plot could endeavour to unfold.  However, on the other hand, as it is a scene trailer, it only gives you a little insight into film in comparison to a highlights trailer where more of the film would be shown in short shots. This may encourage viewers to watch the film, although it could also discourage them too.

 

Choice Of Trailer

We have chosen to make a highlights trailer. Our reason for doing this is because we will be able to cover more of the narrative and also are able to get a better idea of what our film will be about. Plus, because our trailer is for a psychological horror, editing and montage will be an important factor to make it scary and suspensful, something best displayed in a highlights trailer. We chose not to do a scene trailer because there wouldn't be one scene from our movie that would get across the full narrative of our story well enough. Also a scene trailer would not allow us to include enough variety and scares to intrigue the audience, and make it memorable. As our film is a psychological horror we have chosen to do a greenband trailer. This is because we will not include much body horror. The film will be more appropriate for a wider audience, thus making it more marketable, as the trailer will be shown in more media.

Below is the trailer for Sinister (2012) which is a similar genre of horror to what we are planning ours to be. It is a highlights trailer so it helped us to watch it and discover aspects which we could include in our own.

Stereotypical Fan & Class Poll

Click on the link below the image to take you to Flickr where you can hover over the image and view the analysis.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94397512@N03/8592779582/

Below is the class horror poll that we conducted in October, 2012. It was carried out with 8 males and 9 females, and confirmed that females generally prefer psychological and action horrors, while males prefer gory horrors. The results were close, however, which suggests horror can appeal to both genders.

Psycho (1960) Third Image Analysis

This image from Psycho (1960) shows aspects of Hitchcock’s strange personality but also is a clear representation of Ed Gein, relating to the context of the time. This scene reveals that Norman is a voyeur and gets a thrill from watching Marion in her bedroom. This links into Laura Mulvey’s “Gaze Theory” which states that, in Hollywood films, women are shot in such a way to give pleasure to the male viewers. This is the first time in which Norman’s weird personality traits are exposed to us so the audience can now see a different side to him, suggesting he is not all that he seems. The low key lighting in this scene is juxtaposed with the bright lighting in Marion’s room, emphasising the dark desire Norman has for her. Hitchcock as a person was too a little strange, for example he once held a party where he dyed all the food blue then watched on and laughed at his guests through a two way mirror. Hitchcock is renowned for his use of voyeuristic characters in his films, such as Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt (1943) who was a voyeur and a serial killer.

 

Psycho (1960) Second Image Analysis

The bird’s eye view on this image creates a dramatic effect as the audience get to see the action from an unsettlingly odd angle. There is restricted narration used as we cannot see the character’s faces because Hitchcock didn’t want mother’s face to be revealed. This scene relies heavily on editing and cinematography, conforming to Hitchcock’s auteur style of well edited scenes. There is a medium close up of Arbogast’s face as he walks slowly up the stairs, almost a feeling of invasion of personal space. Seeing his strained facial expression also generates tension and uncertainty as to what he shall find. The camera follows him up to the landing, drawing us further into the scene as if it was a handheld camera, and then we see a bird’s eye view of mother waiting with a knife; depicting a phallic symbol as she foregoes to slash him to his death.

During this scene, Hitchcock uses collision cutting as it changes from a slow montage of Arbogast walking up the stairs, to a quick montage of him being stabbed. The camera continues to track him as he falls down the stairs with blood on his face. Mother rushes down after him and endures to repeatedly stab him again to make sure he dies. Again, we still do not see mother’s face but view the action from behind and see a close up of the knife as it is raised in the air to proceed to stab him. Restricted narration is also used here as we do not see the body of Arbogast but just hear him scream. This clever technique can sometimes be worse than actually seeing the violence as the audience are forced to imagine the gory details themselves. The Hays Code was still in place at the time Psycho was made, however Hitchcock pushed the boundaries and added body horror not only in this scene, but also in the infamous shower scene, helping to make the film a massive success.

 

 

Psycho (1960) First Image Analysis

This scene from Psycho (1960) illustrates how essential generic conventions are, as written in “Hollywood Genres” by film critic Thomas Schatz. This expressionist low angled shot of Norman shows his strength and dominance as the serial killer of the film. At this point, we have built up a sense of synthetic personalisation with Norman and feel sympathy for him as we discover his lonely world living with his mother and never exploring the world outside Bates Motel. His delicately spoken words draw us in and make us believe that everything about him is innocent. Marion had just hinted the idea of putting Norman’s mother into a mental institution. This ignites Norman to stand up and defend his mother and begins talking as if he knows exactly how it feels to be in a mental institution where they “clack their thick tongues and say ever so gently...” This suggests he has past experiences of this and makes the audience starts to feel slightly uncomfortable with the way he expresses his opinions on it.

We know that Norman’s hobby is taxidermy which is why he has stuffed birds around the room. The expressionist low angle shot of the owl looking down on everything, represents it’s lifestyle as a bird of prey. This could imply an anthropomorphic idea of that Norman is too a predator hunting his prey. Norman refers to Marion as “eating like a bird” which gives clues to what Marion’s fate might come to be. Her last name is “Crane” which is also a bird of prey. Hitchcock purposely done this to link in with the bird theme and thus deepen the connection and fascination that Norman has with her. The low key lighting also creates shadows on the birds, emphasising its size and power whilst also emphasising the sinister, enclosed location.

 

Audience Research: Initial Class Poster

Plot details of your idea

Two teenagers, one male, one female are babysitting two young children, a girl and a boy. The young girl sees the “blank man” in her room so screams which causes the teenage girl to run upstairs. However, the teenagers cannot see this illusive “blank man.” There are strange happenings during the film and the teenage boy dies or disappears paranormally. The “blank man” appears in different situations luring children away. We don’t know his motive and we don’t see how he kills or even if he kills at all. The teenage girl survives, conforming to the genre checklist of being the final girl/heroine. The younger female child also survives, almost as if the “blank man” protects her. The trailer will end with the “blank man” and the young girl standing beside him looking up to him. We will see the parents as the final shot with the “blank man” standing in the woods with snow falling around him just staring into the house at the parents.

Positive responses from other class members

The class liked our tagline of “you can’t stop what you can’t see.” They also thought we had created a good “bad guy” of Slender as this is a well-known folktale so people could relate to it. They liked the idea that only the children can see the “blank man.”

Negative responses from other class members

Our peers suggested we should refine the middle of the plot to make it more interesting and to also add in some action. They also thought that the “blank man” needs a motive so this is something we will definitely consider.

How many voted that they would watch the film? Out of the five groups, where did you finish?

Out of 19 class members, 11 of them said they would watch our film, “Blank.” We finished fourth overall out of the five groups.

Are you happy with the score overall? Why/ why not? Do you think this idea is worth making for your real trailer?

We are fairly happy that 11 out of 19 class members said they would watch our film, however we would like to take on board their comments and see if we could get more people to feel they would like to watch it. We feel this is a good basis for our real film trailer as we mostly got a good response from other class members. Nevertheless, we will definitely look at their suggestions and try and change aspects to fulfil their ideas. Our trailer will hopefully then appeal to more of a wider audience. We will probably keep the idea of the “blank man” but with changes to the plot and include a motive for him.

Film Review - Silent Hill

Film title : Silent Hill

Year of production : 2005

Director : Christophe Gans

Genre : Action horror

Brief plot outline:

A desperate mother Rose, takes her adopted daughter Sharon, to the town of Silent Hill to try and cure her of her tortured nightmares. Little does Rose know that Silent Hill bears a terrible secret of an apocalyptic disaster that burnt down the town 30 years ago. Sharon disappears into the fog and on Rose's quest to get her back, she discovers deformed creatures who arise in the darkness who for some reason want nothing more than to kill her beloved daughter. Rose is determined to find out why but ends up delving deeper into the town's twin dimension, luring her further away from home than she'll ever realise.



Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why?

One scene which impressed me the most was where we first see the deformed creatures a few chapters in. Rose is desperately searching for her adopted daughter Sharon and ends up running into some sort of underground basement which is dark and creepy. The only light we have is from Rose's flickering lighter which maximises the tension as we cannot see any further than a few metres away from Rose. She comes to a wire fence and looks up and sees a blood dripping body with what appears to be a gas mask on. The camera pans up to a bird’s eye view to allow the audience to see an alien type creature creeping up behind her. Rose turns around and the creature begins to scream whilst flames are igniting it's body. There soon becomes a whole pack of them who chase her continuously. The camera cuts to a high angled shot where we see many more of these creatures streaming in from the outside. It then cuts back inside to Rose where we see her being caught by these creatures but all of a sudden they self-ignite and burn away into the air leaving ash falling all around her. This impressed me due to the good effects used to give the desired effect on the audience. It made me shudder as it's the first time we see the deformed, burning creatures.

Another scene which impressed me was in the scene in the church where Alessa is causing havoc and killing members of the cult with the barbed wire wrapped around her. It is so detailed and exposed and we see all the blood and gore in full. The special and after effects are very well disguised and this draws the audience in even more. The clip below shows this scene.

 How has watching the this film helped you understand this genre of film-making? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?

From watching this, I can tell that a lot of work has been put into the cinematography and editing to create the gory effects and make the alien type creatures look fairly realistic. This is primarily an action horror so many quick montage scenes are used to keep the audience pinned to the screen and feeling excited.

Mise-en-scene

There is body horror throughout the whole film. Particularly during the church scene when Alessa rises from the ground strapped to her bed with barbed wire wrapped around her and expanding out under her control. We see the leader of the cult get picked up and ripped in half by the wire, splaying her insides everywhere which we see in full view.

Restricted narration is used when Rose’s accompanying policewoman, Cybil, gets brutally beaten by two creatures. We see them repeatedly hit her with batons and we hear the thud when hitting her body and her groans of pain. However, she is actually off screen so we do not physically see the attack, but instead hear it through restricted narration. This creates an even more shocking scene as we are left to imagine the image of her being beaten.

The town, Silent Hill, where most of the film is set, is a creepy location in itself. This is due to the deserted feeling of it and the dark gloomy atmosphere along with the ash continuously falling.

There is low key lighting used throughout most of the whole film to give it an eerie, sinister feel.

Sound
There is parallel music used a lot throughout the film along with high pitched sound effects when the creatures are on screen.

Editing

There is use of collision cutting when Rose runs away from creature in masks near the beginning of the film. She runs all around the deserted school with strange extra diegetic sounds along with with the banging of doors and we hear her footsteps as she runs. There is then use of collision cutting when she enters one particular classroom. All the sound stops and it goes silent as she explores the room. This suggests that this room is of some significant importance as the silence indicates that there may be something that Rose should look for and it also makes the audience pay full attention to it.

Cinematography

There are many close ups of the creatures throughout the entirity of the film, this causes an uncomfortable feeling for the audience and creates drama.

There is a canted angle shot when the elevator is going down the shaft when Cybil is getting beaten up.

Characters & Representation

Psycho killer - This could be Alessa, however she cannot be fully blamed for the way she is. Also the creatures are very viscious killers.

Slow moving monster - Some of the creatures are slow moving.

Quick moving monster - Some of the other creatures are very quick moving.

Male hero -  Rose's husband could count as the male hero as he attempts to find them but unfortunately doesn't.

Female survivor/final girl - Cybil does well to survive the beatings but then gets burnt alive in the church. Rose survives all the way to the end and even finds her daughter so she could also be the final girl.

Themes

There is fear of death and violence throughout the whole film.

Lonliness/being trapped - Rose fears of Sharon being trapped alone so does her best to find her.

Narrative

Open ending -  The ending is fairly happy because they got back home until we realise they've gone back in a different time zone so will never be reunited with her husband therefore making it sad at the same time. We do not know what will happen after this regarding going back to their normal lives so this leaves it open for a sequel film. 

Ideologies
Feeling outside CDI - All the creatures are obviously outside of the CDI. Sharon/Aessa also are as they were previously one person but were split into two.

Sadism - The leader of the cult burns everyone who she thinks is a witch and has no hesitation of doing so as seen in the video clip below.

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? Why?

I would like to include the special effects in my own trailer as they really helped to determine the creatures as the evil characters that they are.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? Why?
The narrative wasn't ever so clear so for me I wouldn't produce a trailer with a similar storyline to this film as some parts were a bit unclear as to why they were happening.

What was the best aspect/most enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How?
The best moment in the film in my opinion was the ending as it was just so unexpected. I didn't fully understand it the first time I watched it so I re-watched to see any bits that I missed which helped me understand it better. We feel empathy for Rose and Sharon as we want them to find their husband and father respectively.

How does the film reflect its institutional or historical context?
Silent Hill reflects its institutional context as censorship has become a lot more relaxed over the years and this amount of body horrow would not have been allowed in the past. It is a "15" rated film but I feel it could easily pass as an "18" due to the sheer amount of blood and gore.