EVALUATION: PART 1

By Cara Watling

MEDIA EVALUATION PART 1:Q. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

When making a horror trailer it is important to choose a specific genre (my group picked the sub-genre of “psychological horror”) and provide in the trailer what fans of the chosen genre would expect/ typical horror conventions. A great deal of our inspiration came from studying Psycho (1960) in class and decoding the generic features of psychological horrors. This refers back to the power of Thomas Schatz’s “Genre Theory” where he says that fans of a particular genre of film expect and enjoy particular films with the typical horror conventions of that genre. We hoped that by meeting these generic expectations, we would create a successful film.

To keep to the psychological horror genre in my group’s trailer we ensured that we had several typical horror conventions. The first we decided on was the use of a creepy/enclosed location (a mental institution) which emphasizes the theme of loneliness and the fear of being trapped. In Psycho (1960) this is portrayed using the enclosed location of the Bates Motel and the house which makes Norman isolated in his madness and his victims. We showed this in the psychiatric shots with most of the trailer being filmed in the same room.

Dawn of the Dead (the original and remake) are also based in the enclosed location of the mall which quickly becomes a prison for the main characters. This proved to me that enclosed location is very important in a psychological horror film. There are also lots of close ups of the three main characters shot from a variety of expressionist angles. We shot from high angles with the three main characters after they take the drug to create sympathy and suggest that they are victimised by the drug. We also mixed in a few canted angle shots to emphasize their madness and to further unsettle the audience.

At the beginning of the trailer we start the basic narrative with a slow montage which is collision cut to a quick montage of the girls descending into madness. The most famous cut from a slow to a quick scene is, once again, in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) before and then during the shower scene. Collision cutting is also used at the end of the trailer for the jump scare. Throughout the trailer there is parallel music flowing in the background. All of these features are used in psychological horror trailers. A good example of this is the famous shower scene when Marion is stabbed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0LLaybEuzA – The Purge (2013)

The pacing used in our trailer is typical to most horror trailers I have reviewed on my blog so far; it begins with a slow montage of the girls taking the drug which is collision cut to a quick montage of the aftermath finishing with another slow montage to then contrast with the jump scare after the title is shown. Without a jump scare trailers can seem incomplete/disappointing e.g. The Grudge (2004) which builds suspense using a slow montage of the main character being watched in the shower and by using climatic music but then cuts to the title with no jump scare. These collision cuts and contrasts of pace and volume in my trailer create growing suspense and shock for the audience which hopefully ensures that it is memorable. Like The Purge (2013) trailer, we chose to alternate between quick and slow montages and focused on the action rather than the gore. For example, in Delirium, we see Sophie’s throat slit but not too much blood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj88_yqlFMA – The Grudge (2004)

Another important aspect when understanding and researching real horror film products is the influence of auteurs and “Auteur Theory” by Andrew Sarris, as written in his work Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962. This theory says that auteurs are more influential in a film to audiences than genre theory. I was particularly influenced by the auteur James Wan when I was making the trailer and tried to show this influence in the final cut. I did this by playing with the contrast in the psychiatric/crazy shots in the middle of the trailer making them darker, more dramatic and, by doing this, a yellow/dirty tinge. This is similar to what James Wan has done in his films Insidious (2010) and The Conjuring (2013) by creating a bleached effect in certain shots. This can be seen in the spirit world sequences in Insidious and while the washing is being hung up in The Conjuring (2013).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLDkbzIO8KA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAwg2UW0Se8 I also attempted to turn Anna’s eyes black in one set of shots

but unfortunately this could not be done effectively due to the limitations of After Effects. However, the extreme close-up and sinister sound effect does achieve an eerier and claustrophobic feel.

When it comes down to my own auteur influence and research being represented in Delirium, I personally like the pace of action horrors like 30 Days of Night (2007), so after the rough cut had been shown I edited the shots to make them shorter and with a quicker pace overall. The flashing psychiatric shots, which intercut between the two characters being driven insane, were also influenced by this film (when the vampires attack the town) as it is incredibly quick during action sequences creating a ‘flashing’ effect that alarms the viewer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npxvpFAEQX4 I think feminism has played a role in our trailer as our group is all

girls and this made us resistant to having a male hero and the stereotypical female victim. We wanted our characters to be slightly different from the female characters you often see in horror films eg the female characters in Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and Cabin Fever (2002). These female stereotypes are mainly due to the ‘Male Gaze’ (theorist Laura Mulvey) as horror films mainly have male directors and producers. This is a result of appeasing the Male-dominated Cultural Dominant Ideology.