Media Horror Trailer Evaluation – Part 1

In what ways does your trailer use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real-

life media products?

Through the use of multiple themes and conventions, our

trailer was easily suited to the horror genre. In terms of the

mise-en-scene we had the traditional gore elements and

make-up; for editing we had the cut-fast pace of an action

horror; and lastly, the storyline lent itself well to making it a

psychological thriller. As there were three of us in a group,

each wanting to conform to different types of horror, we used

a combination of all three. In general, we followed many of the

conventions applicable to this genre as laid out by Thomas

Schatz. The main change we made, however, was the cast of

characters. By using three female protagonists we challenged

gender stereotypes and opened up a new narrative element in

which there is no ‘male hero’.

We used the classic ‘zombie’ monster to keep a

component of traditional horror conventions, yet we

modernised it with the school/college setting and the

female survivors. We also included the main

attraction for most audiences: blood and gore.

Although it was included, it also wasn’t very explicit

or gave too much away for people to be deterred

from paying to see it in cinemas.

One of the more challenging aspects of filming was

the issue of lighting. As we only had access to a

location during daylight hours, most of the trailer is

set in the middle of the day. To overcome this

problem we had to change lighting and contrast in

after effects, in the hope of making it look more

appealingly scary, and to follow horror conventions.

For the gore elements we used traditional special

effects and make-up, altering nothing on the

computer except for the shot cuts and transitions.

Before starting filming we had been given the

tools and knowledge to know how to create

wounds and abnormalities found on characters in

most horror films. We used grenadine drink for

blood spit-takes, latex and tissue for scars, and

everyday make-up for the zombies’ faces.

The ordinary items of clothing we wore were there to prove the mundanity of everyday life

had been interrupted by the zombie attacks. In many ways, this follows a similar style to

‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004) where the characters are left to run from the situation in their

ordinary clothes.

To get a good understanding of the conventions of horror trailers, we watched and

reviewed six various trailers from films across all horror sub-genres and from different time

periods. In general, I found that the more modern and contemporary trailers used shorter

takes and more action for a faster pace. This built up the excitement of the trailer until it

reached its final climax at the end. Our trailer starts off very slow in the same style as a

psychological horror – an introduction to a zombie apocalypse – then, one character leaves

the room and everything starts to slowly progress into more of an action movie. As Ria and

Abbie’s characters also leave the room, we start to get a look at the gore aspect. Body

horror from Abbie’s neck bite and Ria’s baseball

bat attack are used to excite and entice the

audience without giving too much away. For the

most part, this opening to the trailer is like a short

scene. Then, we start cutting between Ria’s action

shots, and shots of my character trying to escape

the building, intercut with shots of a zombie

lurking around every corner.

Throughout the entire trailer, intertitles are used to explain the narrative and easily cut

between highlights without making them look disjointed.

In many real trailers, there are often reviews and star ratings to sell the film. These are

usually, however, only added in closer to the release date of a film. So, for this reason, all of

our intertitles are only there to build up the tension and give a background to the story.

These were the intertitles we used, all spread out throughout the trailer into 6 separate

edits:

“What would you do…to survive…the end of the world?”

“Get ready to fight…for your life.”

“Survivor”

Towards the final part of the trailer, after all the gore and action, there is a shock ending

where my character bursts into Ria’s hiding place, drooling blood and with a scar on my

face. We leave the audience with an inconclusive last shot of Ria coming towards the

camera with a baseball bat and a loud “bang” as it cuts to black.

For the main part, our group very much enjoyed the

screenings in class of both versions of Dawn of the Dead.

We took inspiration from auteur George A. Romero in doing

the classic zombie apocalypse. However, we added some of

our own unique twists to this. The main risk we took was

having a horror movie made entirely of female survivors.

Although this is sometimes found in psychological horrors

such as ‘Silent Hill’, ours was about showing that female

protagonists can fight just as well as any ‘male hero’.

However, we did keep to one horror convention in this case.

The group was made up of two girls with blonde hair, and

one with red. From studying other horror films, we realised

that females with dark / red / unconventional hair colours,

or who wear their hair up, are usually the ones to survive. Because of this, Ria became the

last-woman-standing at the end of the trailer.