2. Genre is effectively a way of labelling films
with a ‘type’ which allows audiences to
easily navigate to which films they are likely
to enjoy, and dismiss ones that wouldn’t
appeal to them. Thomas Schatz wrote
about genres in his book Hollywood Genres
(1981) and argues ‘the best way to define
media texts as the audience is able to
expect different elements in each genre of
films.’
When you go to see a certain type of film,
you expect to see certain things. Genres
allow change within some limits so that
there is enough variety within the genre to
maintain interest and generate new ideas
so that fans of the genre are not watching
the same film over and over again, however
there are conventions that are consistent
throughout.
3. When it came to making my own trailer, it was
important to understand the conventions of that
particular genre so that I could produce something
new and refreshing but still appeal to fans of the
horror genre. Here are some horror conventions that
we used in our trailer.
• Collision cutting- This is a common device
used in horror films because it allows you to get
maximum impact out of your jump scares. An
example is in this scene from The Shining (1980)
when the slow montage is interrupted by flashes of
body horror.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbI7DmLCNI
• Psycho killer- This is a character type that
is used in horror films because it is a terrifying
concept to comprehend. Sometimes the killer is
somebody that you wouldn’t expect, such as Norman
Bates in Psycho (1960)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWHYmNrAFlI
4. • Creepy and enclosed locations- A darkly lit
house is popular in horror films because it’s a realistic,
familiar setting that can increase the horror of what happens.
In our own trailer, we used a house similar to the house
where Carrie lives in Carrie (2013) as our main setting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzse9z3rfKc
• Close ups- These are an essential convention of
horror films because it literally puts things right in front of you
and makes the audience feel uncomfortable. Close ups are
used in this scene of Child’s Play (1988) to really highlight
the victory of getting rid of Chucky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSH9SG55kBU
• Body horror- These are special effects that
really stick in the audiences brain so it is important to get it
right. The literal meaning of horror is “to shudder” and this is
what body horror, if done correctly, makes you do. This clip is
from Halloween (1978) and shows Michael killing his sister,
Judith. It’s effective because you see the stabbing through
the eyes of the mask and it isn’t until Judith is dead that you
see the blood. The second clip is from the 2007 remake of
the same film, where you see a lot more of the wound and
see the knife actually going into her stomach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPLS7cbB5UU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQjFtx6luC8
5. As with horror films, there are conventions that need to be
followed when making a horror trailer so that you don’t
disappoint fans of the genre. For example, if your trailer
advertises a film to be a certain way, you have to deliver on
that promise.
Keeping that in mind, I spent a lot of time thinking about what
the final film would be like if to ensure the trailer
complemented our central narrative. As an example of a
trailer that is completely different to its actual film, the trailer
for Drag Me to Hell (2009) makes the film look terrifying
whereas the actual film is much more comedic. I class this
as a form of false advertising, and I would be quite angry if I
paid money to watch this in the cinema expecting to see
what the trailer made me believe I was going to see, only to
be disappointed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZTybLlWKI
Another trailer which influenced my own is the You’re Next
(2013) trailer. I love the way that this trailer starts off slow
before transcending into the fast paced violent montages
and I wanted to recreate this sort of style in my own trailer.
The trailer also uses the trailer convention of intertitles to
help explain the plot to the audience which we have included
in our trailer, and I think that is something that really
emphasises the key points we need our audience to know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufUQWpEkbf0
6. I think the main auteur influence that I brought to the trailer
was using what scares me personally, such as jump scares
and collision cutting. I also find body horror and fake wounds
really interesting and wanted to include these in the trailer,
which therefore influenced how the plot developed.
I think what makes our trailer distinctive is the combination of
body horror with collision cutting and jump scare. The end
result of Cut is a fast paced action trailer that is exciting but
creepy at the same time. This is created by our use of editing
and manipulating the shots to convey a particular meaning.
The primary auteur that influenced our trailer was Alfred
Hitchcock, who directed Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963)
and a lot of other films. The article below demonstrates the
terror that he inflicted upon Tippi Hedren, the star of The
Birds, after letting unruly birds peck at her over a period of five
days whilst filming the final scene of the film, apparently
because she rejected his advances. This misogynistic
ideology of Hitchcock comes through in his films, for example
with Marion’s death in Psycho and it definitely impacted our
trailer with our use of close-ups and blonde, female victims.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-
entertainment/films/features/obsession-the-dark-side-of-
alfred-hitchcock-8431033.html
7. There is one incident that influenced the plot of
my horror trailer and therefore made my film
reflect its historical context. In Santa Barbara last
year, a 22 year old man shot and killed 7 people
in a drive by shooting. The day before this
happened; he posted a chilling video on social
media where he talked about being a superior
male, and getting his retribution for being a virgin
at 22 years old.
The idea of objectifying females and blaming
them for a males’ unhappiness is something that I
thought was an interesting idea to incorporate into
a horror film. This is a link to the article on the
incident which includes the 7 minute video.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-
2638049/7-dead-drive-shooting-near-UC-Santa-
Barbara.html
