When initially deciding on the plot for our horror trailer we decided we wanted to follow a structuralist template; having an equilibrium and moment of disequilibrium. Using Todorov's theory of narrative, we had a basic outline of how the narrative within our trailer would be constructed. We looked at other horror trailers which had a similar plot to our own eg Prom Night and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and we soon realised they were quote structuralist in the way they were out together, using all the paradigms of a horror through setting, editing and mise-en-scene. This therefore confirmed to our group that in order to make a successful, professional horror trailer we would choose to follow the structuralist template, like the real media products we researched with similar plots to "Obsession".
When deciding on the characters, and how we wanted to portray them, we were looking at Propp's theory of characters, Clover's final girl theory and different feminist opinions. We also researched similar media products and how they portrayed their characters. As we had already decided on a structuralist layout, we felt this should also carry over into our portrayal of the characters. So when casting for the victims we decided through mise-en-scene to portray her sexual, blond and flirtatious. This would be conforming to the conventions set by real media products, because through research we realised the promiscuous female character wad often the first to be killed and stereotypically she was unintelligent and unable to defend herself. We decided in this case to challenge and slightly subvert the typical portrayal, and convey her as a more respectable individual, who fights back and attempts to escape. We felt that we didn't want our trailer to conform to the stereotypical connotations that are immediately assumed about a blond, promiscuous woman within a horror film. We did however follow the normal portrayal of the killer as seen in the majority of horror films. We made him dress in black, concealed identity, calm and eerie movements to create a mystery surrounding his identity. We felt this made him more intimidating as he appeared as something supernatural or otherworldly and therefore capable of causing more harm.
The mise-en-scene within our trailer tended to be conventional. We wanted to use all the normal paradigms displayed normally in horror trailers eg knife, isolated area and blood. We decided to use a knife as the main weapon as we felt it was more intimidating and scary in comparison to a gun as it is a recognisable household object for all members of the audience and therefore makes the plot more realistic to the viewer and as a result is more scary. Our group believed this would reinforce to the audience that our trailer was a horror as these are all objects they associate with the genre.
In terms if editing we really wanted to create a calm tone at the beginning period of equilibrium which we could then juxtapose with the frantic chaos in the period of disequilibrium. This was a technique we saw in "Prom Night" , which began leading the audience to believe it was a teen drama/ romantic comedy, similarly Texas chainsaw massacre begins with a relaxing car journey with calm music and serene surroundings and we felt it.was really dramatic and was something we wanted to emulate in our trailer.
In order to create the desired effect at the period of.equilibrium we used a lot of fade in and fade out to make transactions between shoots. This meant that the editing remained continuous and wasn't jarring at all. This made the period of equilibrium significantly different to the second half of the trailer and we really liked the very calm and flowing quality the transitions added to the trailer.
In order to make our trailer appear as professional as possible we followed the normal conventions of having tone cards at the within the trailer or to clarify narrative or create tone. We also had two cards at the end of the trailer stating producers and directors, a mini credits. Although this was optional, we felt that having it there made our trailer look more realistic and professional. We also created this by having production logos at the beginning of the trailer.
Overall we wanted out trailer to be shot in the dark. Our group felt it would create the eerie tone we desired, although this proved harder with regards to lighting. However we felt it was something which enhanced the trailer in the end as the minimal lighting was something we had seen a lot of in other horror trailers.
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