Horror Trailer

As a part of my Advanced Media Studies I was required to produce a practical work which demonstrates how I have developed my creative and technological capabilities. I was asked to produce a horror movie trailer along with a poster and magazine front cover. The difference in these three types of media texts is that they differ in conventions, structures and layouts. A poster should be a visual persuasion to watch the film which means that it should look very interesting and effective whereas a magazine front cover would focus on the actors and will have a completely different layout.

I decided to work in a group with two other media students because while talking about our horror movie preferences and experiences I realized that our ideas and preferences are quite similar. We wanted our film to be more scary and brutal compared to psychological trailers such as Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch. Some people might find psychological trailers very scary and spooky, however they don't quite work for me as I am a person who prefers to be exposed to more dramatic and drastic features of horror such as blood, fast tempo music and dynamic storyline. My team mates share my ideas which helped us get along and respect each other. Furthermore, I was happy to work with another girl and a boy because Alex's opinion an preferences reflected those of the male audience of horror movies. By considering both genres preferences we made sure that our film was not directed to female audience only.

We were all aware of the importance of planning and we spent a lot of time on creating a detailed storyboard and planning schedule. We wanted to make sure that our time was effectively managed so we created our own day to day plan. We included an extra week of contingency time to make sure that we did not run out of time at the end of the project.

We begun by watching different horror movies both in class and at home. Some of the film I have watched are: Blair Witch, The Shinning, Let the right one in, Eden Lake, Saw 1,2,3,4,7, The unborn, The thing, Halloween and 28 days of Night. I wrote a couple of essays on different films, about media aspects such as horror connotations, the audience theory and narrative structures. You can see some example of relevant Essays below.

How does the “Blair Witch Project” subvert and/ or conform to the codes and conventions of the horror genre?

Horror films intend to elicit emotions of fear, horror and terror from its audience. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, supernatural powers or mental instability. The horror film Blair Witch projects uses many techniques to conform to the typical codes and conventions of the horror genre. In addition some of its features challenge and subvert the genre of horror and make the film so successful and innovative.

In order to explore the ways in which BWP conforms and subverts to the horror genre it is important to identify the main conventions of the genre. Horror films are usually set in an isolated place where escape is hardly possible. This creates negative atmosphere and builds up tension as the viewer expects something bad to happen. Movies usually contain shocking elements such as the use of blood, deformities, violence and outrageous engaging narrative. Modern horror films are associated with professional special visual effects and non-digetic dramatic music.

The narrative of BWP is very simple and unusual. Although, most of its features tend to conform to the conventions of horror, some elements are used to subvert the genre of horror as some of features are atypical for the genre. The story is about three students who want to explore the Blair witch myth. They go to the woods and are unsurprisingly haunted by a witch. Nothing so far seems to challenge the codes used in horror films as the students go to an isolated place and are haunted by supernatural powers which is very typical for the genre. However a main technique used to challenge the genre of horror is that the viewer is tricked that the film is actually the footage produced by the students themselves. This is unusual as it makes the BWP’s narrative so realistic and original. Another element that subverts the horror genre is that the open lines in the film tell us how the film is going to end. This is so untypical for horror movies as they usually rely on the imagination and negative expectations experiences by the viewer. The open lines are very important for the film to appear like a documentary as the viewer has to know that the film is presented as the footage made by the missing students. However, the fact that the story is organised in a constructive format decreases realism as it suggests that the footage is professionally post-edited.

Some narrative structures are very typical for the horror genre. An example is when the students start to argue with each other. This creates a conflict that symbolises our society as all people tend to fall apart and isolate themselves in a presence of a stressor. Instead of helping and supporting each other, the characters reinforce conflict in order to transfer their anger and anxiety to a physical state. This materialisation of anger helps them because it is a lot more stressful to fear and oppose the unknown. Conflict between protagonists is used in many horror films to create tension and suspense.

Furthermore, a very typical convention of the genre is something positive to happen right before the main negative climax. For example, the viewer expects the climax to occur in night 6 as all characters are disintegrated and scared. Still night 6 is very positive and nothing bad happens. However in the morning the characters wake up to find out that their friend- Josh is missing. This use of a positive scene-setting is incredibly effective as the audience is absolutely shocked when they find out that Josh is missing.

A number of camera and sound techniques are used to subvert the codes and conventions of horror movies. The footage is filmed in an amateurish and unusual way. It mainly consists of two-shots as the third character is always behind the camera, this adds to the realism. There are a lot of extreme close-ups which are used to add emotion and engage the viewer. An example of such a shot is when Heather is in the dark and talks to the camera. All of the scenes in the Blair Witch Project are filmed as ‘Point of view shots’, this subverts the genre as we don’t expect the use of this technique in horror movies. Also, the camera is always moving and unstable which conforms to documentary instead of horror and creates tension as the viewer can not clearly see or hear. The transition between colourful and black and white screen setting is skilfully used to suggest realism and confuse the viewer.

Another important technique used to subvert the genre of horror is the slow paste of the story. Most horror films are associated with multiple quick cuts, tension building music and fast changing stories. However in the BWP everything happens so easily and slowly. This creates paradox between horror genre and slowly progressing story.

Sound is very important in horror films, because it gets the
audiences imagination going. The lack of non-digetic sound brings out unusualness, because there is always creepy dramatic music in scary films. However music is replaced with a dialogue which seems natural and unscripted. The use of swearing in The Blair Witch project also brings out the events and makes the audience think it’s really happening. These digetic sound techniques are uncommonly used in horror films. However it works perfectly for the BWP as the viewer witnesses everything the students hear or see.

The marketing strategies and techniques used in BWP is what makes the film so successful and subverts the codes and conventions of a typical horror movie. The film has created its own myth about the Blair witch using its website, advertising posters and DVD features. For example there is a whole page on the website dedicated to the myth of Blair witch. The wage includes ancient drawings, iconography of the subjects presented in the film, maps and pictures. These features of the film make it so different from all typical horror productions. The BWP had an excellent PR and marketing and all people knew about the film and its myth. What make it so successful is that people actually believed the documentary filming and thought the myth was real and the students had really disappeared in the woods. The location of the film became so famous. Many tourists wanted to visit the forest and tried to find the iconic haunted house. This led to the development of a second part of the film about tourists exploring the myth of the witch. The BWP is one of the most realistic horror movies, which is mainly due to its clever marketing strategies.