Class Trailer Review 4 "Grave Encounters"

Grave Encounters/ 2011/ Psychological Horror

Plot:

A camera crew lock themselves inside ‘the most haunted building in North America’ and they try and capture different paranormal sights on camera. After a while they realise that the building is actually haunted and one by one they all go missing until the last person is trapped in there forever.

What did you like about it?

I love horror films that try and document different mysterious events that go on through everyday life like Paranormal Activity and Sinister, and this is exactly what this film is about and you can see this clearly through the clever editing techniques of the trailer. When a lot of the footage is captured through a handheld camera, it makes the film look a lot more convincing and it tricks the audience into thinking that they’re actually in the film. I also liked the use of low key lighting in most of the night time shots as it adds mystery into the scene because you never know what could be hiding in the dark.

What didn’t you like about it?

I found the sound effects in this trailer to be a bit over the top and amateurish. It didn’t go well with what was happening on the screen and I felt like that ruined the trailer as it didn’t make me feel scared and I imagine a lot of people would think the same. Also, after watching the film, I know that at the start the camera team are trying to scare the audience on purpose but actually end up getting haunted themselves, but I don’t think the trailer portrayed that very well and it didn’t show the true context of the film.

My Score:

5

Class Score:

6

Class Trailer Review 3 "Evil Dead"

Evil Dead/ 2013/ Gory & Psychological Horror

Plot:

A group of 5 teenagers go to a cabin in the woods where they discover a haunted book which summons evil demons that live within the woods. All are killed until one is left to fight away the demons.

What did you like about it?

When the text comes up on the screen, it doesn’t all come up at once, but instead it goes in time with the sound effects which adds a dramatic effect to the whole trailer creating suspense. I also like how cross cutting is used between the creepy girl telling her friend that they need to leave and her trying to escape. This shows us a lot of the film without giving too much away but leaving the audience with a vague idea about what is going on. Finally, I found the scary voice the girl used very effective. It makes the audience feel very uneasy and literally makes them shudder which is the whole point of making a horror film.

What didn’t you like about it?

Because I’m not much of a gory horror fan, I found all the gore a bit over the top and unnecessary. This is just my opinion and I reckon a lot of people will disagree with me, especially if they’re gory horror fans. If it was me making this trailer, I would have used a more subtle approach to the gore and maybe focused more on the psychological side to the trailer.

My score:

8

Class score:

8

Class Trailer Review 2 "30 Days of Night"

30 Days of Night/ 2007/ Action Horror

Plot:

In Alaska, there is a certain time where there is no daylight for 30 days and it is constantly dark, this is when a group of vampires attack the villages to feed.

What did you like about it?

In most trailers, they start off slow and gradually build up the suspense, but this trailer did it the other way around. At the start there is a bit where a vampire jumps through a window, and through the use of collision cutting, it makes the audience jump which automatically gains their attention so they have their eyes fixed on the screen throughout the whole trailer. I really like how this was used as it is a good way to get across the nature of the film, and it all happened within the first 5 seconds. I also liked the text that was used in between shots. It got across the whole film without taking up too much time or using any dialogue.

What didn’t you like about it?

I didn’t like the editing techniques that were used because between every shot, there was a fade to black which made the trailer seem really long and it was quite hard to focus on the different shots as they were only on the screen for around a second so it all looked a bit messy. I also found that the different shots added together made the trailer rather boring and a lot of the shots were a bit unnecessary.

My Score:

5

Class Score:

7

Class Trailer Review 1: "Cloverfield"

Cloverfield/ 2008/ Action Horror

Plot:

A group of people throw a surprise party for someone in a New York apartment when they hear a loud bang outside and the floor moves. They go out to inspect and notice there is a large explosion in the distance so they all try and evacuate but when they get onto the road, objects start flying their way.

What did you like about it?

I like how the trailer doesn’t give away too much information. In a lot of horror trailers, like the conjuring for example, they include too much of the film and too many scary scenes so when you actually watch the film, you’ve already seen the scariest parts. When the explosion goes off in the trailer, it lets your mind wander as it could be a number of things like aliens, natural causes or terrorists. It makes the audience curious as to what is happening and therefore they will most likely want to see what happens in the film. I also really liked the dramatic irony- after you see the explosion and everyone running around panicking, it cuts back to one of the party-goers saying to the camera ‘it’s going to be a good night’. This gives the trailer a more comical feel.

What didn't you like about it?

The only thing I didn't like about this trailer was the use of a handheld camera. Some of the shots they did went really well with a handheld camera as it made you feel like you were there and were part of all the drama that was going on but at some points, especially when everyone was running around, it was a little bit over the top and made me feel a little dizzy.

My score:

9

Class score:

7.5/10

Dawn of the Dead 2004 Scene Analysis 4

 

 

 

 

 

This still shows Steve just after he was turned into a zombie. About 20 minutes before this happened; he was shown having sexual intercourse with Monica, who died moments before he was turned. A typical trait of male and female victims is to be quite promiscuous; this is because horror films like to tap into the nightmares of regular people. Common nightmares are: death, being trapped, torture, and sex. When horror films include any kind of sexual activity, they do it to represent the good and the evil, for example, a male or female hero is never normally shown to be partaking in sexual activity, this is to get the audience on their side as they’re not being arrogant or big headed. Whereas the victims/villains are often shown to be sexualised so the audience don’t take their sides.

Horror Sub-Genre Pie-Chart

6 Panel Practice Storyboards

"Hostel 2": Personal Film Review 2

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Scene Analysis 3

This still is from one of the last scenes in the film, where most of the characters get to escape from the zombies on a boat. Most of the shots in this scene involve this American flag, and this is all due to context. The flag on the boat represents all of America, and the zombies represent people from eastern countries. We see the characters escaping on the boat, connoting that although eastern countries can terrorise the west, America will always stick together, fight back and eventually win. This is a very socially sensitive subject and could come across as racism, but like all George Romero films, he likes to include hidden meanings that he feels very strongly about and clearly he found the need to include this, maybe to scare off terrorists, to make Americans feel safe or just to show off his beliefs.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Scene Analysis 2

This shot shows the moment Monica was killed. In the film, Monica is the typical female victim as she wears very girly clothes, she has long blonde hair and she has a very feminine attitude, unlike Ana. Before she is slaughtered to death, she has sexual intercourse which is another typical thing that the female victim does just before she gets killed. The body horror in this scene is a lot quicker and violent than it was in the original Dawn of the Dead as after nearly 30 years, it’s a lot harder to make the audience shudder as they’ve seen it all before so directors are constantly having to push boundaries to make the audience feel scared and uneasy.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Scene Analysis 1

This still is one of the images we see in the opening credits, showing a mosque with people praying. The song played along with the opening credits is man comes around by Johnny Cash which represents a biblical apocalypse. The song along with this image connotes that the Americans have a suspicion that it was religion that caused the outbreak of the zombie virus. At the time this film was made in 2004, America was very wary about terrorism as of the recent 9/11 attacks and you can see this in the context of the film. This film also has a close link with swine flu, as swine flu was still a high concern in the early 2000’s and many viewers found this film scarier as, even though it is completely fictional, it had a realistic element about it.

Prop List

Horror Trailer Mood Board

Class Poster Idea

 

This was our group’s original movie trailer idea. We decided to change our whole idea due to the bad feedback we got from our class. Changing the idea of our trailer gave us a better feedback from the class and they all seemed to like the new idea a lot better than the old one. Our old trailer was very similar to all the other trailers in the group and a lot like films that have already been made so we thought of a completely original trailer.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Scene Analysis 4

This still shows Stephen dead as a zombie. Just by looking at Stephen, he seems to contradict the stereotype of being the male victim as he fits into the category of male hero better due to the colour of his hair, his relationship with Francine and his good health. But after watching the film, there are a few different times when Stephen is shown to be the weakest character. For example when the gang stop to get fuel for the helicopter, Stephen tries to shoot an attacking zombie with a rifle but misses a few times. This is where Roger has to push him out of the way with his rifle and shoot the zombie himself. Both of the rifles are shown to be phallic symbols and Roger’s phallic symbol is a lot stronger than Stephen’s showing him to be the weaker character.

 

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Scene Analysis 3

This still shows an establishing shot of the mall that the characters choose to live in. Along with this shot, there is contrapuntal music that gives this scene a bit of a humorous but eerie side to it. Romero chose to use a shopping mall as the main location for this film as he tries to tackle the issue of consumerism and capitalism. Romero’s auteur style shows that in his film he brings aware different issues in the time the film was made e.g. Racism, Capitalism, and the Vietnam War. In this film he used the shops and the mall as a ‘safe base’ for the characters which eventually gets invaded, connoting that shops and shopping malls seem to be a good idea, but really they’re just a up and coming problem in America.

 

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Scene Analysis 2

This high angle expressionist shot of Francine and Stephen and their gloomy facial expressions shows the lack of power they have with not only the whole zombie situation but with their relationship. This still shows Francine and Stephen after just having sex. This is a stereotypical trait of a female victim as it shows their girly side which connotes weakness. Francine also has blonde hair which backs this point up but George Romero often goes against stereotypes and makes Francine the final girl, who would normally have dark hair. Romero’s auteur style often goes against stereotypes a lot, for example he made a black man the male hero and at the time the film was made, that was seen as outrageous.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Scene Analysis 1

This medium shot shows Peter holding a gun whilst shooting zombies to protect Roger. The low angle expressionist shot and the representation of the gun being a phallic symbol shows the audience the power Roger has and his strength that he uses to protect Peter. I chose to use this shot because I wanted to talk about Peter being a black male hero. Dawn of the Dead (DOTD) was made in 1978, when America had a lot of problems such as the Vietnam War, Watergate scandal and racism. Romero hates racism and sexism, which is why he chose to go against normal conventions and have a black male hero, and a female victim as the final girl. He uses political satire to attack American Cultural Dominant Ideologies and in this film, he attacks racism and capitalism. One way Romero challenges racism is when Peter is shown shooting a racist person which shows the audience his views in a less direct way.

Horror Poster Analysis 5: "Insidious"

Horror Poster Analysis 4: "The Woman In Black"

Stereotypical Fan: Female

Stereotypical Fan: Male

Psycho Scene Analysis 4

This still captures Hitchcock's auteur style really well. Hitchcock was a bit of an unusual auteur who liked young, blonde woman and in this you can see he victimizes Marion by having her stabbed to death whilst naked in the shower. This conforms to the stereotype of ditsy blonde females being a victim. In a lot of films, the stereotypical female victim is shown to have a sexual side (by having sexual relations with another character or acting in a provocative way). Hitchcock had Marion murdered whilst naked which backs up this stereotype.

Psycho Scene Analysis 3

This shot of Norman Bates is another low expressionist angle showing his dominating power of Marion. He has just discovered that his ‘mother’ has killed Marion as he had sexual thoughts towards her and his ‘mother’ got jealous. The most obvious thing in this still is the photo of the bird on the wall, this connotes Marion’s life as shortly after this shot, the photo of the bird is knocked off the wall which suggests death. Marion’s last name is also Crane which connotes that she is a representation of the photo on the wall. This is a slow montage after a very long tracking shot. Marion’s death and then this scene put together shows collision cutting which creates suspense for the audience.