THE TITLE OF THE FILM

The title of our film is ‘DEACTIVATE’. The reason we have called our film Deactivate is because first of all it is a short and snappy and therefore should stick in the viewers head and allow them to remember it. Also the reason behind the title Deactivate is the fact that it is psychological, it leads the viewers feeling ambiguous and wondering what has been deactivated and why. This links to the genre we have chosen which is psychological/slasher and conveys this clearly.

One of the main themes of our trailer is social media and Deactivate stands for a person being deactivated from the main characters Facebook and symbolically being deactivated from their lives completely. The title of our film appears in the middle of Abbie’s murder scene towards the end of the trailer. It appears very dramatically with a BOOM sound so that it sticks in the viewers minds. The reason we placed it towards the end of the trailer is so that there is more chance for the viewers to remember it because it will be one of the last things that they will see.

SETTING/LOCATION

The setting and location for our horror movie trailer is in a fairly normal atmosphere and is placed in an everyday environment. Most of the action and main scenes are filmed in a house. The opening scene is filmed in the main protagonists bedroom and the murder scenes are filmed in a bedroom and a dining room. We did this because one of the main genres of our film is psychological and we want people to picture in their minds the reality of these situations and focus on these situations as if it could also happen to them to (more realistic). In our trailer we used a couple of establishing shots of the house to show the whole setting to the audience so they can get a picture of the whole scene.

COSTUMES AND PROPS

The costumes for our characters is very normal and ‘stereotypical’ for teenagers. Due to the fact that the main protagonists within our film trailer are teenagers we wanted them to look like most of our audience (because the main audience for our film is teens to 20’s) so that the audience can relate to them. Being a psychological film trailer we want the characters to look as average as possible so that it can seem realistic. The general clothing would be jeans, t-shirt, baggy jumper, shorts etc. Some of the main props we used for our trailer was the year book and the knife. The reason that they year book is a significant prop is because the viewers will get the sense that this is one of the main aspects of the film and will leave them feeling confused and muddled about why the book is one of the main focuses. Also we included the knife with dripping blood on it in the last murder scene and is one of the final frames in our trailer. The reason for including the close-up shots of the knife is because another sub-genre of our film is slasher and we wanted to make this clear by using stock weapons which are a key aspect of slasher films. The knife represents that it was a violent murder and drags the viewers in to be terrified even more. We decided to have it as one of the final frames so that the image of the bloody knife sticks in the viewers head and will hopefully lead them to want to watch the whole film.

CAMERA WORK AND EDITING

We used a worms eye view camera shot to show the book falling off the shelf. The reason for this is to give the viewers another aspect of the book and to add some dimension to the trailer. It also adds a bit more shock to the viewers because it a fairly quick shot meaning that it slightly makes the viewer jump.

When our main protagonist, Cassie is reading the year book we used an over the shoulder camera shot so that the viewers can see the main character but also have a glimpse of what she is reading in the year book.

When we filmed Louis’ murder scene we decided to use a handheld camera style to give the shot a more eerie effect and to add suspense and terror to the scene and also to make it seem much more realistic. We used a still-shot of Louis through the bars just to get a slight glimpse of the normality of him (e.g.. Typical clothes and playing the x box) and to add to the suspense.

For Abbie’s murder scene, we used a slightly long distance, canted angle to film her running in through the doors. This gives us a view of the whole setting and adds some dimension to the trailer.

TITLE FONT AND STYLE

The type of font we decided to use for our title, is font that looks like an old-fashioned type-writer. The reason for using this is because we wanted the writing to look as if it has been typed by somebody to link with the whole social network/online theme. The text we used helps us to achieve that as it looks like the type of text some of us might use on the internet to talk to each other.

We also used a black background along with white writing. We feel that this leads our title to stand out and also adds to the horror theme (black being symbolic of danger, death, darkness.) The white writing appears very bright on the black background and therefore will catch the viewers attention and draw them in to the title hopefully leading it to stick in their heads.

STORY AND HOW THE OPENING SETS IT UP

The first few shots we used at the beginning of our trailer show the main character searching through her bookshelf for a book. We show a book falling off the shelf and the audience get a clear view of the words ‘year book’ written on the front cover. The book is also red, leading it to stand out but not only that, also connoting death, danger, jealousy and rage. The fact that we emphasize the words ‘year book’ expresses to the audience that this will be a major aspect of the story. A ‘year book’ represents the past and days back in school, the audience will kind of get the sense that the main character is going to focus on the year book and hopefully see this as a main horrific device for the story.

GENRE & HOW THE OPENING SUGGESTS IT

The opening of our horror movie trailer gives emphasis on the slasher/psychological genre of our film due to, first of all, one of the very first shots which is of the year book falling. This gives a sign of the psychological aspect of the trailer because it meddles with the viewers heads because they wonder why the year book is being used and they will feel fairly confused. Also at the beginning, we have a flashback of Cassie (one of our main protagonists) to when she was a little girl. This shot also adds to the suspense and psychological horror sub genre because the audience might start becoming a little bit terrified of what is going to happen, and terror is a major convention of a horror movie. Also the fact that Cassie is a typical teenage girl adds to the slasher sub genre of horror because Slasher films tend to have teenagers as the main characters. Finally, another shot we have in the opening of our trailer is of Cassie circling names of people that she wants to take revenge on. The audience will get the sense that something terrible is going to happen, furthermore feeling confused (psychological aspect).

HOW CHARACTERS ARE INTRODUCED

The main characters on our trailer are stereotypical teenagers, thus representing the slasher element of our trailer. The first of our characters to be introduced is Cassie (the main protagonist). The way in which she is introduced is by using a high angle birds eye shot of her. This shot allows the audience to see the whole of her and also see what she is doing (reading the year book) so that the viewers can begin to relate to the main character. The second character within our trailer is Louis, the macho, stereotypical ‘strong’ type of guy. We are introduced to him through the bars of his bedroom (with a handheld camera) while he is playing on his x box. This creates suspense for the audience and also allows the audience to recognise that Louis is a victim in this horror movie and that something is going to happen to him. The third of our characters to be introduced is Abbie who is also another victim within our trailer. The camera is at a canted angle giving a view of the whole of the setting. We see Abbie running in through the doors in a fast paced, scared manner. Therefore creating tension for the viewers and in anticipation of what is going to happen next. They also get a full view of the character allowing them to relate to her and also have a sense of her vulnerability, adding to the terrifying atmosphere.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

One of the main special effects we used is the distorted flashing throughout the flashback shot. The flashback is already quite frightening because of the seriousness of the little girls face and the emotions that are shown throughout, and adding in these special effects add s to the uncertainty and fear of this shot. It foreshadows what is going to happen and emphasises that it will be something bad because it’s as if the film is broken and old. Also, it may further puzzle the viewers even more because it may lead them to think that this distorted effect is on their own screen in which they are looking at, meaning that their head is being messed with (psychological aspect) and they will feel that something bad is going to happen to them. It draws them in and should lead them to want to watch the film in the cinema.