Media Horror Trailer Evaluation – Part 4

What have you learnt from audience feedback?

Having made the first rough cut of our trailers, the group took part in a focus group with the rest of

the class in order to receive critical feedback. This session allowed us to see the trailer from an

outsider’s perspective and take any and all positive/negative feedback. After watching the trailer

through twice, the group wrote down comments and suggestions and we discussed it as a class.

Overall, our trailer received an initial average of 7.5/10 which we were moderately pleased with, as

we knew a lot of work needed to be done on it.

One of the things we really wanted to showcase was overt gore in minimal doses. In general, many

of the comments agreed that this was our best feature. There were also many compliments about

how the narrative was clear and concise. Many people also enjoyed the sound effects, many of

which were actually recorded live by the actors, not added in after effects. As for negative points,

the sound track was less well received and people commented that it didn’t build up enough. One of

the other big issues, which we also saw as an obstacle, was the aesthetics of the film being set in the

day. However, from our research, we knew that many of the other zombie films had plenty of

moments set in broad daylight (e.g. Shaun of the Dead and both Dawn of the Dead films). Although

this feedback was very helpful, we also had some other unedited shots we still had yet to include.

From the comments we were able to get a better idea of how to arrange the final piece. In terms of

final cuts, there is a 20 second difference between both trailers due to new shots, cutting old shots,

and rearranging scenes.

One of the first adjustments we made was to the soundtrack. We added even more gory noises for

the zombie attacks and changed the music in the background. After searching for the perfectly timed

piece, we managed to find a track which built the tension and also happened to exactly match most

of our shots, especially the final shot.

The next step was to adjust all of the footage to more of a low key lighting. To do this, we put down

some of the brightness and used more contrast. Although this didn’t make an enormous difference

to the narrative, it was beginning to look more like a professional trailer.

A big issue we had to overcome was one member of the

group being away for a large portion of the time. This

meant that the time between the first focus group and

the showing of our final trailer was used to film some last

minute additions. Because of this, many of those

particular shots looked slightly rushed and were not as

well planned as they should have been.

We also realised at one point that we had shot a long

tracking shot of Ria running down the corridor,

pretending to attack zombies as she went. Because we

had nothing for these shots, we used two other actors

from another group and managed to get some more

zombie attack footage to include.

Having made the changes, in general, I was particularly happy with the final outcome of our trailer

and definitely think it achieved a lot of what we set out to do. I liked that the film consisted of a

majority female cast, something not usually found in conventional horror movies. Our demographic

target audience was viewers between the ages of 15 and 35 belonging to the social class categories

between C1 and E. I still believe our film appeals to that group of viewers and that, because it is a

hybrid of all three horror types, could appeal to a mainstream audience too. Initially we said that

only hardcore horror fans would be interested in a film with such mixed genres. However, having

seen the final product, I do feel there is something for everyone.

The original statement for our audience psychographics looked like this:

“The audience we are aiming for consists of people who like to spend their money on the movie

business and entertainment in the form of cinema screenings, DVDs and merchandise. They will have

a more open-minded approach to gore, a less cynical view of psychological thrillers and will enjoy

fast-paced action scenes.”

Overall, I still think this is applicable and gives a good description of what we want our audience to

be.

Personally, my favourite aspect of the horror trailer was the body horror and gore aspects. Having

put a lot of time and effort into planning, buying, and creating these effects, many of the shocking

moments look more impressive on camera. We created fake wounds, applied zombie make-up, and

did multiple spit takes with grenadine. The hardest part to film was the head-bashing sequence

which took us several tries to eventually make look realistic. Because we used a melon to smash up,

this affected a lot of continuity for things such as Dave’s zombie outfit and the placement of the

zombie’s body on the ground. After all this, I think the end product of that particular scene works

well thanks to the editing.

I also feel that the editing throughout the whole thing worked very well. With so many shots, I felt

that there we kept to a consistent level of continuity throughout and all the highlights were placed

well within the trailer. One issue with the editing, however, came at the point of which Abbie is

supposed to be bitten in the neck by the zombie. Due to complications in filming, I felt this one cut

looked messy. This particular moment can be seen in the GIF attached.

Another aspect I was particularly proud of in our trailer was

the finalised versions of the opening and ending

sequences. Both of these parts, respectively, introduced

the narrative, and closed the trailer with a final shocking

moment. The opening shots work well due to their dip-to-

black edits and the following shot of Ria when she awakens

and sits up. The inspiration for this came from one shot in

particular, found in the film Freaky Friday (2003), in which a

character wakes up in bed and the camera follows her

movements.

The final sequence works just as well at closing the trailer

due to the body horror of the zombie make-up and blood

on both characters. It also ends with an unresolved

cliffhanger when Ria attacks the camera with the baseball

bat as a bang is heard, leaving the audience questioning

whether or not she actually killed the zombie.

Overall, I feel that through our use of unconventional characters, interesting cinematography, and

well-executed make-up effects, our final trailer was a success.