1. What Yasmin wants:
- thriller with elements of horror
- girl involved in cult, uncover bigger secret
- target audience between 15-25
- psychological thriller with elements of horror
- incorporate ideas to create a storyline using conventions of
supernatural/religious/satanic/cult subgenres of horror
- conflict is internal (psychological thriller)
- themes: death, reality, perception, identity, existence, secrets, suspense/tension, life and
death situations
- trailer will highlight the hybrid genre by showing conventions of horror and psychological
thriller; create a scare factor
What Yasmin found:
- target audience are mainly female (60%) and 90% are under 20
- horror is the favourite genre and psychological/thriller is third
- what attracts to this genre?: gory, on edge, suspense, the unknown, intense, twist in
story, music and sound effects, spooky atmosphere, jump scares, tension, performances
in the trailer are solid.
- key selling points: actors/directors, narrative/plotline, enigma codes & genre
- to establish genre: fast-paced (thriller), fades to black & intertitles (horror)
- HATES - doesn’t showcase blood which highlights mainly the thriller genre over horror
- Shutter Island - fast paced and non linear editing
- Woman in Black - essence of community isolates protagonist, old house conventions,
focus on children attaches an older audience
What Rhi wants:
- horror film trailer: satanic, supernatural or slasher (initial ideas)
- psychological thriller/horror
- girl involved in a cult
- target audience 15-25, both genders - hybrid genre attracts more people
What Rhi found:
- audiences are mainly between the ages of 15-21 and the majority were female
- horror and thriller were some of the favourite genres and people were attracted by the
tension, suspense and enigma in the trailers
- settings in 3 films in codal analysis are all dark and dingy; graveyards connote death;
metallic and gunshot sound effects = violence, death and sinning; all trailers have a
supernatural element and end in disruption; on screen text shows names and release
date
Stuff to use in the trailer:
- All three use fade to black; horror convention of white costume to connote innocence;
early disequilibrium, community acts as an auxiliary antagonist in 2/3
- white costume, conventionally used in horror to connote innocene/vulernability
- eerie setting through dark themes, eg woods = isolation
- imagery that sets the tone/elements
- audience invest in characters through psychological effect of the film
- close ups of facial expression gives away narrative without need for dialogue