Shot Lists

Own trailer review 2: The Descent (2005)

  
What happened in the trailer? 
In the trailer a group of women go into a cavern for to explore it. They get trapped after a rockslide and have to navigate their way out, with the company of other cavern dwellers.
Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
The trailer uses a small amount of gore when the woman rises up out of the blood, but other than that none is used. I think it gets across the isolation of the situation and also the tension of the unknown.
Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful? And what would put off it's target audience?
I think that the trailer uses too much restricted narration. Not enough gore is shown, considering it is a gory 18 film. The fast montage of shots near the end would be good, but the shots are to dark, so hardly anything can be seen. I think that this trailer appeals to a different target audience than would actually enjoy the film.

Own trailer review 3: Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

 What happened in the trailer? 
A family moves into a new house in Connecticut and find that there is a locked room in the basement. Strange artifacts are found under the floors, and visions of ghosts are seen by various family members. The happenings get worse and the priest crashes, whilst seances are taking place at a table.
Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
I think that the film uses collision cutting to create jumps at suitable intervals. The shots are edited together so that they tell the story as best as possible. There is also an extreme use of collision cutting used at the end, where there is a fast montage of shots, an inter-title, then a very slow shot with a very loud sound. I aim to create a memorable ending in my trailer using collision cutting.
Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful? And what would put off it's target audience?
I thought that possibly the trailer tells too much of the narrative, and doesn't really leave anything to the imagination. I think that it would appeal to its target audience, but is maybe cloudy as to exactly what sort of horror this is.

Prop List

Health and Safety Report

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Shot analysis (1)

This shot is from the opening credits to Dawn of the Dead (2004).This shows a group of Islamic people praying in a temple.  Along with the shots of deaths and zombies that follow it, it connotes that this group of people is somehow responsible for the virus.

The rest of the opening credits show that the virus has spread from a middle-eastern country, and spread to the western civilisation. This relates back to the historical context of 2004 because 9/11 was only a few years previous so the USA was very paranoid over Middle-Eastern countries, as well as being in the Second Iraq War.

Over the opening credits plays Johnny Cash’s song  ‘The Man Comes Around’, which is essentially about the coming of the Armageddon, which certain religions believe is the end of the world caused by God. The group in the shot above are shown to have brought about the Armageddon themselves in the form of the zombie virus, and links the concept of a religious war to a zombie vs. human battle.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Shot analysis (2)

In this shot, the group have just run away from a group of zombies. Whilst running from the zombies it is very hectic and loud, and there are lots of shots, whereas when they get into the lift it is just one shot, and there is awkward contrapuntal mall music playing in the lift. This is an example of collision cutting, where we go from quick sequences of shots to a slow sequence and both emotions (first panic, then calm) are exaggerated by the length of shots.

In this shot we can also get a good idea of who all the characters are. On the far left we have Monica, who is an obvious female victim because she has blonde hair, large breasts and bright red lipstick on. Michael on the right who is a Male hero and Ana in the middle who is the ‘Final girl’. Ana is also dressed in an almost masculine sports t-shirt with her hair up, which heavily contrasts with Monica, who has her hair down, and is wearing what looks like a cheerleader’s top.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Shot analysis (3)

In this shot Glen has accidentally killed Monica with the chainsaw. We can see lots of blood coming from Monica. This is because body horror can make people feel uneasy, but because we have become desensitised we need to see more of it to make it have the same effect. Monica is at this point an incredibly stereotypical female victim. This is because she has all the characteristics that female victims for e.g blonde hair, large breasts, an annoying voice, and she also had sex with Steve beforehand.  The quick Montage of this scene also links to the institutional context at the time, due to the 9/11 plane crashes, making everybody manic and vigilant.

Glen also dies in this scene, which is a shock to the audience because he falls over and hits his head, which we don’t actually see, which is restricted narration. The quick montage of this scene links closely to the institutional context of action-horror films, in which audiences are desensitised to gore, perhaps due to more availability (DVD, Internet, TV etc.). This means that dramatic scenes need to happen more often in action horrors.  Another film that is a good example of trying to try to overpower the desensitized audience is Hostel, in which gory scenes happen frequently, even if they are restricted.

Class Trailer Review 1: The Toxic Avenger (1986)

The Toxic Avenger (1986) Score - 1/10

 
What happened in the trailer? 
In this trailer, a boy from high school is being picked on by other pupils. Consequently leading to him jumping out of a window and into a truck of toxic waste. The Waste mutates him and he gets revenge on all the guys from his school.  

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
The trailer showed a lot of action, and also showed that there will be quite a bit of gore. Its shows this by using restricted narration, just suggesting that something is going to happen, then cutting to something else.
Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful? And what would put off it's target audience?
I thought that the trailer showed way too much of the film. It is too long winded and needs to be a lot shorter, there are way too many highlights, negating the effects and purpose of a highlights trailer. Also the voice-over is very annoying, mainly due to the amount of times he says "Toxic Avenger". The action parts that it shows aren't as exciting once you've watched 2 minutes of the trailer.

Class Trailer Review 2: 30 Days of Night (2007)

30 Days of Night (2007) Action Horror     Score - 7/10

What happened in the trailer? 
The trailer starts with a woman in the kitchen and her partner watching TV, and something lunges through the window, dragging the woman outside and under a building. Other creatures are then shown attacking the village and people are shown trying to hide from them.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
The start of the trailer uses collision cutting from quiet to loud when the woman is washing up in the kitchen and the creature lunges through the window. This makes people jump because of the sudden change in sound. The trailer establishes a male hero, as well as a final girl. Low-key lighting is also used to hide the creatures and put them in silhouette when they are circling their victim. I would like to create a memorable killer, like the vampires in our trailer, so people are genuinely scared of it.
Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful? And what would put off it's target audience?
I think that the trailer shows too much of the vampires, because we would not be as shocked by what they looked like when we actually watched the film.

Class Trailer Review 3: Evil Dead (2013)

Evil Dead (2013) - Gory Action Horror     Score 10/10 

What happened in the Trailer?
In this trailer 4 teenagers go to a cabin in the forest to have a holiday, when one of them finds the book of the dead (The Necronomicon) and reads one of the incantations, summoning evil spirits which consequently start killing and possessing the teenagers.
Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
I thought that the trailer used the most memorable parts from the original Evil Dead and turned them even more gruesome, which makes old fans want to see the remake. It uses parallel music very well, timing the music to the actions. I would like to include the level of gore that this trailer uses, especially the slicing of the tongue at the end.
I also think that the trailer establishes the character stereotypes well, as we can work out who the male hero is, as well as the female victim and the final girl.
Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful, and would put off it's target audience how is it disappointing?
I did not think that there was anything wrong with the trailer, apart from maybe showing a little too much gore, because we will end up not being shocked by it if it is seen again.

Favourite Image analysis

I chose the film Underworld for my shot analysis because my favourite genre of horror is action-horror.

In the above shot the main character Selene ( a Vampire )is shooting some Lycans (Werewolves ) to protect a human called Michael that has just been bitten by a Lycan. Selene falls in love with Michael and she takes a vow to protect him from both her kind and the Lycans. Selene is the stereotypical ‘final girl’ because she has dark short hair, a proportionate figure, and also two phallic pistols in her hands. This shows that she is very dominant, which is also reinforced by the leather clothing, which makes her appear as a dominatrix. This also shows that Selene is outside of her contextual CDI, because she is going against what her own kind believe in, as well as betraying her own kinds traditions.

From this I want to create a memorable character, and villain. This is because I think that some people can relate to how these characters feel.

Film Review 1: Silent Hill (2006) Directed by Christopher Gans

Silent Hill is a film based on an old video-game from the 90's. It revolves around an old abandoned mining town called 'Silent Hill', which got burnt down after a mining accident. The population of the town were reported missing and Silent Hill was abandoned. The film begins with a girl who has dreams of the town. Her mother takes her to Silent Hill, to stop her from having the dreams. Consequently they are in a car crash, and becomes stuck in Silent Hill. Every night an air raid siren blares out, as a warning to tell people that the darkness is coming.

My first favourite scene is when Cybil and Rose are running to the church to seek refuge from the darkness. Their friend Anna is waiting on the stairs for them. “The Darkness” comes and Cybil and rose enter the church, and turn around to see 'Pyramid Head' ripping the skin off Anna's Body. There is also a low angle shot of pyramid head standing on the stairs to show that he has the power in this and to make him seem more evil. I liked this scene a lot because of the shock factor. As the film is only a 15 I was not expecting that amount of gore in a film, which made the effect better. The mise-en-scene is powerful in this scene because the church is very gothic and has an inverted cross on it. I also liked the swarm of dark-coloured bugs that creep through the walls and that follow pyramid head about because they connote death and evil.

My other favourite scene is the scene right near the very end, where the burnt Dark Alessa rises from the factory pit in the church on her bed, on a sea of barbed wire, with which she uses to massacre numerous amounts of people, and ultimately the witch hunter Christabella. Also the scene starts with very slow shots and is very quiet, but when Dark Alessa rises there is an extreme close up of her face and she opens her eyes. This then goes to very quick shots of the barbed wire killing everybody which is collision cutting. I like this scene because the CGI is very well done, and the concept of a bed-ridden killer that uses her mind to control barbed wire is very disturbing.

Watching Silent Hill has made me understand more about the sci-fi fantasy horror genre. Silent Hill uses typical horror conventions such as body horror, creepy locations and slow moving monsters. The themes of Silent Hill are the fear of loss of family and of death. We know this because Rose is trying to find her daughter to make sure she is safe. Rose is a prime example of a typical female hero or 'Final Girl'. She is persistent, tough, and has a sort of tomboyish look that you get with most female horror heroines. The other main convention that is used is the open ending. The ending that we are given is not definite, we have to decide what we think has happened.

In my trailer I would like to include the levels of gore that was depicted in some of the Silent Hill scenes, as well as creating an original creepy monster. Things I would not like to include that Silent Hill did are things such as having nearly a complete female cast and having a cheesy motivator (Such as mother has to find daughter).

The pyramid head on the steps scene is related very much to the institutional context of the film. the film Hostel was released in 2005, which sparked a massive response in censorship critics, with people saying that it is too disgusting to even be an 18, so Silent Hill were able to get away with more body horror in their scenes and keep it a 15 certificated film. In the aforementioned pyramid head scene, the film turns into more of an action horror, because the shots are very fast. This is because modern day audiences don’t have a very long attention span, so short shots are used. When pyramid head rips off Anna’s skin the gore is only shown briefly on the screen.

This is because modern audiences have become desensitised, so it takes more to shock them. Therefore when Anna is ripped apart, it is really the first part of gore in the film, and it is very extreme, so this makes it have more of an impact. In comparison to Dawn of the Dead (1979) which has lots of gore on screen for long periods of time. Also, the scene at the very end where Cybil is burnt and Dark Alessa kills everybody also relates to the same thing.