In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

Trailer construction

What is a teaser trailer?

• A teaser trailer, or teaser is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming movie, game or television series. (Google define)

• A teaser trailer is a truncated version of a theatrical trailer intended to entice the audience about an upcoming movie and to begin hype on major films. (http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Teaser_trailer)

Research into conventions of trailers …

• In my research and planning I started by researching the typical conventions of horror films/trailers to enable me to generate some ideas of what needs to be included in my trailer. One key piece of information that I found when researching was - ‘Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres.’ This is what influenced my initial choice of creating a ‘supernatural horror’.

Research into conventions of trailers …

• I then went on to analyse lots of horror film trailers of films like ‘saw’ and ‘paranormal activity’. After looking at these in great detail I came up with a basic list of conventions of horror film trailers.

These were:-Lots of quick short clips and regular cuts-Scary music-Dark colors-Screaming/loud noises-Leave the audience in suspense-Play on viewers fears

Are these conventions apparent in my trailer?

- Lots of quick short clips and regular cuts

This clip of a ‘bloody hand print’ is where my set of ‘quick shots’ begins. However after looking at my trailer in great detail I do not think these shots are anywhere near as quick as they need to be. To get he effect I was after I feel like I needed lots more shots at a much quicker pace.

In comparison to my trailer, when looking at one of the trailers that I based mine on it is clear that the pace of these shots (towards the end) are a lot more effective. This convention is apparent at several stages of this trailer but it peaks towards the end of the trailer. This is effective because it comes after the build up of tension at the start and the middle of the trailer.

Are these conventions apparent in my trailer?

- Scary music- Screaming/loud noisesWhen researching the sound in other horror film trailers I tried to identify

what type of pace they went at and when this pace changed. I found that a lot of them began with some type of creepy music but at a slow pace – it seemed as if this was done to build up tension. Then when they trailer reached its peak in terms of intensity; the music matched this by getting louder and faster. As well as this, I found that the trailers often consisted of either bits of dialogue or screams.

Scary music continued

• ‘The strangers’ was one of the trailers that I researched. When analyzing the sound in this trailer the conventions become clear. The sound of the swing squeaking seems to be the part that is used to build up tension – and it works incredibly well. In my trailer I used a soundtrack that I found on ‘YouTube’ that I felt had the same affect in terms of the build up of tension. There is also a few seconds of silence in this trailer just before the pace begins to increase – initially I was going to have this same effect in my trailer but I didn’t think it fitted very well and so I removed it. Another convention within the scary music that can be seen in the trailer for ‘the strangers’ is the use of some kind of ‘creepy’ or ‘eary’ music. In some cases it is often the voices of children singing a nursery rhyme. This is what I was initially going to have but once I recorded the singing I decided it sounded better to have it in a slow deep voice to make the trailer creepy.

Are these conventions apparent in my trailer?

- Leaving the viewers in suspense- Playing on fearsIn my research, 2 key features of horror trailers were that they always left the

viewers in suspense and for the trailer to be extremely frightening it must play on common fears. The trailer for ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ is an example of how horror trailers often leave their audience in suspense. In this trailer, at the end, we see lots of short clips of the characters in trouble but we do not actually see any of them being killed/caught etc. This leaves the audience in suspense because it leaves them wanting to now what happens to the characters; if they stay alive etc.

This convention can be seen in my trailer at the end when you see the main character walking towards the camera in the dark with a candle, and the candle suddenly blows out. I think this is good because it is clear that something bad is going to happen but the audience do not know what this is and so it will leave them wanting to watch the film. However I do think I could have made this more effective by possibly adding a loud scream or a creepy laugh.

Are these conventions apparent in my trailer?

- Playing on fearsWhen considering why horror films/trailers are so frightening I discovered

that it is often because they are playing on peoples worst fears and so this leaves them putting themselves in the position of the characters; relating to the characters and imagining what it would be like if this happened to them. I think this is where my trailer could be made better. It is clear that the plot is to do with the supernatural but I do not think the trailer has enough shots that allow the audience to have the thoughts of ‘what if that was me’. After looking at my trailer several times I have realized that this is because I need more shots with the main character in and not just things happening that show there is some kind of supernatural thing there. On the plus side, two of the main shots in the trailer do show the main character and I think those two shots do work in terms of playing on the audiences fears.

Timing…

• A key feature of teaser trailers that distinguishes them from full length theatrical trailers is their length. Most theatrical trailers are just over 2 minutes compared to about 40 -70 seconds of a teaser trailer.

• My trailer fits this convention as it is 1 minute 5 seconds (65 seconds). I think this is a good length and am pleased that it fits the typical convention in terms of length.