Directors Commentary from Rosie Chatterjea on Vimeo.
To begin
with, me, Frankie and Alexia decided we would create a thriller as we had
experience in this genre, however this decision was altered when Gabby joined
our group. We put our ideas together to come up with something scarier and more
horror-like. With this in mind, we did some secondary research into conventions
of thrillers and horrors by looking at various trailers of these genres and
analysing them. I identified a variety of conventional techniques such as dark
colour schemes and isolated locations. By carrying out this research we were
able to apply some of the necessary conventions of a horror trailer to our own
production. This benefited us extremely as it allowed us to create a
professional looking trailer. Other primary research we did involved us handing
out a questionnaire to a number of people asking things regarding horror film.
By doing this we could identify who our target audience would be and what
things in particular they were looking for in a good and effective horror film,
for example we found that the majority of our sample would prefer a female
hero. This research made it easier for us to produce something successful and
worth watching as we could apply our findings to the trailer allowing us to
conform to conventions of real media products.
Ryall put forward the idea of the genre triangle which links together the institution, text and audience. Genre is important to the audience and industry as particular genre films for example horror, are reliant on the success of other horror films which make the money to produce more films of that genre. We used this theory when making our trailer as due to the success of prior horror films, audiences will want to view ours.
When researching into the conventions of a trailer we found that many follow the same pattern. These include; fast paced editing, intense music/sound effects, dark colours and more. I feel we were successful in using and achieving all of these conventions. We applied each of these to our own production as we felt they were the most effective in creating a scary and powerful film trailer. We varied between slow and fast paced editing in order to make the faster parts even more concentrated and frightening. In terms of colour we used a scheme of black and greys for the titles throughout the trailer. This created a more dark and dangerous quality throughout. We also used a range of sound effects like loud bangs to emphasise certain parts for example with the titles. We did this in order to conform to typical conventions of horror trailers. Other conventions we conformed to were the use of reflections, which has been seen in many horror films for example ‘Mirrors’. We did this when our villain was walking and her reflection was seen in a puddle. This was a decision we made on set last minute, but could be seen as a representation of the evil character’s problematic spiritual presence in Rosie’s life, a presence that has followed her since childhood.
Vladimir Propp said that all almost all narratives will include a series of character types. Our trailer involves traditional Proppian character types for example an antagonist who was Evylyn Crick and a protagonist who was Rosie. Although having an villainous character played by a woman challenges the conventions of women in real life, it is something that is often seen in horror films, for example ‘The woman in black’. We used a number of Barthes enigma codes in order to create mystery throughout the trailer by not revealing all the facts of the story. The aim of a trailer is to keep the audience guessing and wanting to find out more. We also included various binary oppositions, an idea put forward by Levi Strauss, for example good, which was represented by Rosie, and Evil represented by Evylyn. These character representations could also be seen as a binary opposition of human and supernatural, or sane and insane, all conventional of horror films.
When choosing people to act in our production we had to be sure that they would fulfil their roles correctly. I believe that all of our performers did an excellent job, particularly Layla who played ‘Evylyn Crick’. Even though she had less experience than the rest of the cast, we found that she settled well into her role and after going through costume, hair and makeup, she did a performance that thoroughly satisfied the whole group. When selecting our actors we took into consideration their acting history and ability before asking them to take part. Although this was an effective method for us this time, it may be more appropriate to hold auditions for our next production to compare a wider range of actors.
Over all we were successful in making our production conventional. According to our audience feedback, 100% could recognise that the trailer was advertising a horror film, showing that we followed genre conventions, and the majority said they would like to see this film if it were to be released. Our trailer is a very conventional horror trailer and will therefore attract and audience that enjoy viewing that kind of film.
Ryall put forward the idea of the genre triangle which links together the institution, text and audience. Genre is important to the audience and industry as particular genre films for example horror, are reliant on the success of other horror films which make the money to produce more films of that genre. We used this theory when making our trailer as due to the success of prior horror films, audiences will want to view ours.
When researching into the conventions of a trailer we found that many follow the same pattern. These include; fast paced editing, intense music/sound effects, dark colours and more. I feel we were successful in using and achieving all of these conventions. We applied each of these to our own production as we felt they were the most effective in creating a scary and powerful film trailer. We varied between slow and fast paced editing in order to make the faster parts even more concentrated and frightening. In terms of colour we used a scheme of black and greys for the titles throughout the trailer. This created a more dark and dangerous quality throughout. We also used a range of sound effects like loud bangs to emphasise certain parts for example with the titles. We did this in order to conform to typical conventions of horror trailers. Other conventions we conformed to were the use of reflections, which has been seen in many horror films for example ‘Mirrors’. We did this when our villain was walking and her reflection was seen in a puddle. This was a decision we made on set last minute, but could be seen as a representation of the evil character’s problematic spiritual presence in Rosie’s life, a presence that has followed her since childhood.
Vladimir Propp said that all almost all narratives will include a series of character types. Our trailer involves traditional Proppian character types for example an antagonist who was Evylyn Crick and a protagonist who was Rosie. Although having an villainous character played by a woman challenges the conventions of women in real life, it is something that is often seen in horror films, for example ‘The woman in black’. We used a number of Barthes enigma codes in order to create mystery throughout the trailer by not revealing all the facts of the story. The aim of a trailer is to keep the audience guessing and wanting to find out more. We also included various binary oppositions, an idea put forward by Levi Strauss, for example good, which was represented by Rosie, and Evil represented by Evylyn. These character representations could also be seen as a binary opposition of human and supernatural, or sane and insane, all conventional of horror films.
When choosing people to act in our production we had to be sure that they would fulfil their roles correctly. I believe that all of our performers did an excellent job, particularly Layla who played ‘Evylyn Crick’. Even though she had less experience than the rest of the cast, we found that she settled well into her role and after going through costume, hair and makeup, she did a performance that thoroughly satisfied the whole group. When selecting our actors we took into consideration their acting history and ability before asking them to take part. Although this was an effective method for us this time, it may be more appropriate to hold auditions for our next production to compare a wider range of actors.
Over all we were successful in making our production conventional. According to our audience feedback, 100% could recognise that the trailer was advertising a horror film, showing that we followed genre conventions, and the majority said they would like to see this film if it were to be released. Our trailer is a very conventional horror trailer and will therefore attract and audience that enjoy viewing that kind of film.
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