HORROR TRAILER MARKING AND ANALYSIS

By Sarah, Ryan, Reece

Shaun Liddle

His brief was to create a horror theatrical trailer.

The magazine cover presents an appropriate colour scheme that is conventional for a horror genre.

The image is focused well in front of the masthead and very graphic, making it a key focus for the entire presentation.

Shaun Liddle – Video Trailer The font used for the

text cards is good in terms of colour, how-ever the style is some-what poor and gives the trailer a tacky image.

For improvement, a font that isn’t in italics and is more neat would be appropriate for a trailer.

Mise-en-scene

The costumes are very basic and conventional of what teenagers would wear today and this allows the characters to be stereotyped.

In terms of the killer, the costume is cleverly designed, with graphic make up to show blood and tearing of the clothes to indicate something that is other-worldly.

Most shots are in daylight, however some shots are done in a dark setting and I think the lighting could have been experimented with to improve the quality of the shot.

Cinematography

The use of the camera edging around the characters and onto a shot of the lake was good because it foreshadows for the audience the significance of the lake to the story.

Some scenes are not shot on a tripod, for example, the close up of the text message makes it noticeable to the audience that the camera is handheld because it is shaking.

However, there are some good close ups of significant features within the scene.

Sound

The non-diegetic sound is a soft rock track, which isn’t something that would be used in a horror trailer and this took away the suspense of the story.

There were some good use of sound effects at the end of the trailer, the heavy breathing and the scream helped build tension before the credits appeared, leaving the audience on edge.

There is no dialogue within the trailer, giving no indication of the storyline, making it confusing for the audience.

Editing

The biggest downfall of this trailer is the editing of the shots because they fade into each other, which makes it lack on a professional standard.

The shots are edited together in a scattered way so the story is in chunks rather than having a smooth flow.

Overall Marks and Level

I think for this horror trailer, I would award it a Level 2 because they have stuck to the task with a variety of shots and have paid close attention to the mise-en-scene. In order to get a higher level, the editing of the shots should have been dealt with more professionally because they looked rushed.

Despite it is only a level 2, I would give this horror trailer 10 marks because it does look like it was produced at a basic level.

Olivia Dixon

The colour scheme and layout of this magazine cover is of excellent quality because the colours adapt well to the horror genre.

The image of the colour gives a powerful presence, making the audience on edge and a sneak peak of what to expect if they watch the film.

Cinematography

There are a range of different shots that add variety to the trailer.

For example the close up of the victim against the fence builds suspense and fear for the audience because this makes the camera act like the killer.

The night-time shots provide a range of different locations for variety.

Sound

The non-diegetic sound used in the trailer is a track, which fits well to the horror genre and is what kind of music is expected to be in a horror trailer.

Improvements

It is somewhat unrealistic. Not many conventions of a horror

trailer have been used.

Overall Mark and Level

This horror trailer would probably achieve a level 3 because it provides a good use of mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing skills.

In terms of marks, this trailer would achieve 13-14 marks because it is solid and with some minor improvements, could move up to a level 4.