WARNING THIS IS SCARY STUFF!

YOUR TASK:

REVIEW the effectiveness of trailers in appealing to an audience

The Horror Film Genre has key elements that help it manipulate its audience into feeling fear, and they utilise these in their trailers.   How effectively does The Ring / Dawn of the Dead trailer use film techniques to appeal to a particular audience?

 

What are Horror Films?

• Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers.
• Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain.
• Early horror movies are largely based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

How do they work?

• Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a energizing experience.
• Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, and finally loss of identity.

What are the key elements of a Horror Film?

• Isolate the hero – make them completely separated from their normal physical and mental well being.

• Desperation – the hero needs to make a desperate run for it, heading into more danger

• The lost cause – where the evil is becoming triumphant, the hero is backed up against a wall with nowhere to turn but to face the dangers.  The hero is forced to delve deeper into the mystery, thus putting themselves in more danger in order to find a solution to the evil.

• The final act – the hero does not die, but will suffer for their decisions early on. People they love will die, and they will be forever altered, sometimes linked to the evil they seek to defeat…

YOU NEED TO EVALUATE HOW WELL THE TRAILER SHOWS THESE KEY ELEMENTS, AS WELL AS DICUSSING HOW THE FILM TECHNIQUES MANIPULATES OUR EMOTIONS – fear, terror, anxiety, tension

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Other things to talk about:

We SHOULD see the following typical Visual Representations:

• Icons within the genre – things that we recognise as typical horror elements. Characters that transcend their films and become ‘Horror’.

• Stereotypes – typical representations of villain (eg: zombie), hero ….

• Film techniques used to create a response in the audience

All elements combined within the trailer will adhere to the horror genre. We need to evaluate how effectively it does this …..

LET’S TRY THIS ONE:

STEP 1: Understanding your response

1. How did you feel watching the trailer?
2. What things made you feel this way? Explain
3. Are there any specific film techniques being used in this trailer?

STEP 2: Breaking down the elements

• Did the trailer fit the rules of the Horror Genre? How?
• The trailers need to suggest to the audience the films will be everything they expect of the horror genre. This will persuade them to see it.
• Fill out the following table and see if this trailer follows the conventions of Horror:

Rule	Trailer
Isolate the hero – make them completely separated from their normal physical and mental well being.
Desperation – the hero needs to make a desperate run for it, heading into more danger
The lost cause – where the evil is becoming triumphant, the hero is backed up against a wall with nowhere to turn but to face the dangers.  The hero is forced to delve deeper into the mystery, thus putting themselves in more danger in order to find a solution to the evil.
The final act – the hero does not die, but will suffer for their decisions early on. People they love will die, and they will be forever altered, sometimes linked to the evil they seek to defeat…

STEP 3: Jigsaw Activity – becoming an expert on one film technique

• In groups of 3, you will be allocated a film technique to focus on.
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• You will need to present your analysis to the class, discussing how this technique aids in achieving the trailers purpose
• You will also need to link it to the elements of Horror and creating meaning (living up to their expectations)
• You will also need to discuss how it creates a response in the audience (emotional response)
• Jigsaw Horror Trailer Activity Worksheet

When writing Your Review

HINTS:

Remember to Review the effectiveness of these techniques, use words like: The director chooses to use ………….. in this way because

• It has a powerful effect in …..
• It enhances the meaning of ……
• It highlights the message of ……
• It brilliantly ……
• It effectively portrays ……
• It is successful in revealing the meaning of ………………….

Look at how your Table builds your paragraph:

Technique	Evidence	Effect – how does this make us feel/shape meaning?
The Colour red is used as a powerful technique in the video clip.	We see Proof in the hospital bed, covered in red blood. Eminem is outside, with his shirt also covered in blood.	Red effectively symbolises the dangerous outcome of the rap wars, and the innocent blood spilt because of the unnecessary hate. The director brilliantly brings his message across.

The Colour red is used as a powerful technique in the video clip. We see Proof in the hospital bed, covered in red blood. Eminem is outside, with his shirt also covered in blood. Red effectively symbolises the dangerous outcome of the rap wars, and the innocent blood spilt because of the unnecessary hate. The director brilliantly brings his message across.

Technical Language we Need to use:

CONTRAST

JUXTAPOSITON

TONE

SOUND – DIEGETIC OR NON DIEGETIC

CAMERA MOVEMENTS: PANNING – TRACKING

COLOUR HUES

LIGHTING: ILLUMINATION

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

CAMERA SHOTS: CLOSE – MEDIUM – LONG

TRANSITIONS – EDITING – MONTAGE – FADE-IN /OUT

YOUR TURN:

• Use the scaffold to help write your response: Analysing a Trailer Scaffold