Getting into terms with horror trailers: our take on making a horror trailer

I came up with the idea of practicing horror trailer before our actual project was to start, as I believed would benefit me in the long run when creating my own horror trailer. Due to the fact that I had never created a horror trailer before, I believed this would give me an experience of what its like to create one. However I couldn't do this on my own so I asked Chloe and Adelina if we could come together as a group and putting our ideas forward. One of the major reason as to why it would benefit us working in a group comes down to the fact, in our final project we would need work together as a group. By working in group will give us experience than thus if any problems that may occur, we would know how to overcome it and still make a successful horror production.  

Here we started to brainstorm what the narrative could include, whilst following the conventions of horror trailer/ film. As you can see, we chose to follow the norm of horror trailers, which is evident from the ingredients of horror films, such as the use of religion (however twisted- following the conventions), mask (as a way of villain hiding their identity, whilst creating suspense for its audience, as they are left guessing who the killer is), blood ect... Nevertheless we also wanted to subvert the conventions of horror films by ensuring at least one of protagonists is of ethnic minority background, as many horror films tend to kill ethnic minority characters first. In the same way, we wanted to portray the final girl to be masculine, as well as her being of an ethnic minority background, as a way of reinforcing our subversion, whilst making our product have a unique selling point.

Adding to this, we began to look at possible names for our horror poster, as a way of reinforcing our narrative, which again is conventional within horror films. These were the possible names we came up with: 'Guess who?', 'Hidden secrets', 'Who done it' ect.... As a way of making it easier for our group to pick the best name, we put this to a vote where we all decided it would be best if we were to go for 'Guess who', in hope to add suspense as a way of playing with the audience's mind as to who the possible killer could be. In addition due to it being a rhetorical question, creates a tense atmosphere, making it unclear as to who may possibly be the next victim (could create moral panic e.g. such 'Psycho' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre').  

This is our storyboard, outlining what each shot would be consisted of, here we have said how long each shot should be and the type of shot the frame would be. We done this, due to the fact that we wanted to have an idea as to how the shot would turn out once we actually put it into practice. By doing this made as think of each shot clearly, and how it relates to the narrative without giving too much away. With all of this said, when creating my own trailer, I would ensure that such storyboard is detailed e.g. date, location, as well as consisting of more shots.

Here we began to write and number our narrative, this came about due to the fact that we wanted the trailer to follow in a particular order, as we didn't want to cause confusion amongst our audience. In the same way, it also gave us an insight as to how the narrative could potentially be set out. Furthermore such method enabled as to created the storyboard as we were now sure of what each frame should consist of.. However when creating my own trailer, this would be typed up into a proper narrative, consisting of 150 words, where I would incorporate some form of a cliff hanger. I believe this is effective, as it draws the audience in further, desperate to know what will eventually happen.

This is the basic summary of our whole narrative, as a way of simplifying it for those who may want a little insight of the story. One of the main reason of its effectiveness comes down to the use of rhetorical question, in a sense breaking the fourth-wall, where the audience are also placed within the narrative. In addition the use of rhetorical question can create moral panic (amongst the audience), as it almost feels like a reality  they themselves also need to escape from. I personally believe this is effective, and would consider this in my own trailer

This are the character profiles, we wanted to use an ethnic minority protagonists, as they are often portrayed in horror films. This also reflects our aims, as we wanted to subvert certain representations, as a way of putting our own stump on it 'unique selling point', and potentially targeting a wide range of audience. Is evident throughout our character profiles that our aims are met, in terms of subverting the protagonists. 

What did I learn from this this?

• Greater care is needed when considering narrative, as it can easier cause confusion for both the characters (actors) and directors (us)
• Various location to bring the story alive, as well as making it interesting for our audience. 
• Find characters who are willing to stay behind after school in order for production to reach its ultimate success. Touching on from this, I have found it's a lot harder to find males who are willing to be in front of the camera. When creating my own production, I will ensure that I have back ups for characters in case any for whatever reason drops out.