Our Finished Film Trailer

This is our completed Horror movie trailer. We Have used a variety of different shot types to ensure that the trailer remains interesting throughout, so that the viewer's attention is held. The trailer opens with an establishing shot, showing all of the characters that will feature in the film, the content of the shot makes it apparent to the audience that the story involves a trip of some sort. A series of shots follow showing the group travlling to their destination. The shots were set up so that the two main characters, Grace and Jon, stand out as being key. Jon is driving the car in the shots and two shots feature just him, suggesting to the audience that he may play an important role. We positioned Grace in the middle of the car shot of the girls, again to show that she is a key character. There is then a shot that pans from the moving car to a sign that reads 'STRICTLY NO EXIT'. This sign is symbolic of danger and an indication of what is to come. This idea came from the analysis of the 'Eden Lake' trailer. Following this are the camping shots. This sequence of shots begins with a high-angled shot of the entire group, that pans up as the characters walk off into the woods. This not only establishes the new location but is also representative of the group entering a dangerous situation. This shot then cross-dissolves into a shot of the group camping. A mid-shot of just Grace and Jon talking follows, again suggesting to the audience that they are the main characters. There is then a short shot-reverse-shot sequence that shows Grace and Jon having a conversation, where Grace rejects Jon as he tells her he 'likes' her. At this point the music changes, increasing in intensity, as this is the point at which the story begins to move into a state of disequilibrium. Originally, we had the dialogue of the conversation audible as we believed that what takes place is significant. However, we decided to mute the dialogue as the body language and gesture of Grace pushing Jon was enough on its own to tell the story. The long pause and over-the-shoulder shot that ends the sequence also suggests that what has just happened is significant. The next shot fades onto the screen to show that time has passed. The dialogue signifies the turning point in trailer, where the story really starts to unfold and the real mysteries begin. It is known that if the audience are intrigued by unanswered questions then they are more likely to go and see the film that the trailer is promoting. There is then a flash of Jon's (the antagonist) eyes that fits in time with the sound crash that is present. We achieved this by using the razor tool to split the shot and add a 'fade to white' transition. There is then a caption that appears reading, 'who can you really trust?'. This, along with the previous extreme close-up of Jon's eyes, suggests to the audience that Jon may be responsible for the disappearance of them both. The music changes and increases in tempo as we see shots of Grace alone in the woods. Here we have used 2 long shots at different distances to show that Grace is alone and to also portray her as inferior and weak/out of control. There is then a shot framed in the same way as the earlier group shot, again showing how she has been taken from a safe group situation into danger. The final shot in the sequences is shot as being from the antagonist's point of view, as he follows Grace. This helps to build tension. At the end of the shot Grace turns to face the camera, as there is a crash in sound. This is very effective and also helps to bridge this sequence and the next. There is a very brief moment of silence before a new section of music begins, this time much faster in tempo. As the new section of music begins, so does the final sequence of shots. This sequence is the falling action and has been cut together quickly, meaning that the fast tempo music accompanies it well. The short, varied shots help suggest to the viewer that the film is packed full of action. The variety of shot types used make the sequence interesting. One of my favourite shots is the shot of grace hiding with blood on her neck. I think that Grace's acting skills have allowed her to portray fear and panic really well here. I also really like the jump cuts of Jon as he moves from tree to tree. However, my overall favourite has to be the shot of Grace getting dragged, screaming, away from the camera. I think thats this shot ends the sequence dramatically. The film title then appears - which is conventional of a horror trailer. In any trailer the film title will appear at the end so that the viewer is more likely to remember it. To close the trailer there are 2 final shots of a blood stained knife, suggesting that ultimately someone will die, the audience will want to watch the film to find out who! Throughout the trailer we used captions to help 'tell the story'. All captions are in the same font and all increase in size. I believe that this helps the trailer to flow. The production company name and film title also grow in size. I think that our trailer follows many conventions. For example, we have included the production company name at the beginning and the film title at the end, and have also closed the trailer with cast/crew names and a film website. As well as the above conventional traits, our trailer also follows Freytag's pyramid theory and I believe that the overall representation is also typical of a horror.