Influences

Nightmare on Elm Street: the reason for this film being one of our influences is the focus of the narrative; this is because of the concept that Freddie Krueger (killer) established the slaying of his victims in their dreams, making him a dangerous figment of the imagination, which is what we will incorporate into our trailer.

Friday the 13^th:  This is one of our influences because of the idea that the killer is concealed by a mask and this dehumanises his character, which makes the film more intense because he is practically blank. This makes the film scarier for audiences because the less they know about the killer, the scarier he will appear.

Slender man: Slender man became one of our influences because of his appearance, being very blank and simple, which appealed to the concept of ‘less is more’. This is why our killer will be wearing a suit with his gas mask in order to prevent him from standing out too much and being excessively gruesome.

As you can see, this is what my group and I have decided to use for the costume of the killer within our horror trailer. The concept was that the killer would be from the early 20th century, taking the form of someone who was involved in the first or second world war. The large trench coat gives a very intimidating feeling because it is large and covers most of the persons body, making it appear he is very concealed and this can be a scary feature for a killer because the less the audience know, the more intrigued they are to figure out who it is. The gas mask reflects the time period in which the killer comes from. It could possibly be ironic of the fact it is helping him breathe but he is trying to kill people and stop them breathing. The colour white is an important feature of the mask because it emphasizes that the killer is a complete blank and mysterious, leaving the audience curious as to what he may look like; there is no indication of his facial features, which effectively de-humanises him.

Horror trailer marking and analysis from agingerfreak

The mise-en-scene focuses on the narrative of the film by connoting scenes that are included within the film, which are set within the living environments of the band and crew and also the stage of a live performance. Many of the scenes present a behidn the scenes concept of their lives with comic moments and every day occurances in their career. The mention of the mixture between the documentary and the live performance offers the audience an insight into what can be expected. The non diagetic sound is taken from the documentary as it is a song written by the band, which also gives the audience a preview of what they might hear and a sense of familiarity from what they might have heard before. A lot of diagetic sounds like the band yelling and laughing suggests that there is a comical side to this documentary, which could intrigue the audience further.

The mise-en-scene is based in the suburban streets of America, following the stalking of teenagers by a mute serial killer that escaped from a mental institution. The event is based on the night of Halloween, which insinuates the killer as a real life 'boogeyman'. The majority of the film is set at night, in order to build suspense, but also the lighting mostly avoids showing the face of the killer until the end of the film in order to dismiss any features of the killer to suggest that he isn't human, but merely a shape. In terms of cinematography, there are a lot of close ups of the victims to allow the audience to observe their reactions to each event. The non diagetic track playing over the trailer is a simple ostinato on a piano, yet manages to be the largest contribution to the fear factor of this film, which was also stated by producers of the film. The editing of the shots brings together a chase scene that uses a series of cuts straight from the victim to the shape, each time of the shape getting closer before the trailer finishes, leaving the audience on a cliffhanger.

The mise-en-scene embarks upon not only advertising the film, but brings the narrative from the original film and sequel that helps link together the entire trilogy. The clips from the previous two films remind the audience of the context of 'rules' within the films, and how they help the killers motive make sense. By incorporating the two previous films, it allows a new audience to seek the other two films and this expands their advertising and profit. The cinematography incorporates several close ups of characters in order to accentuate their fear and pain that derive from the killer. In particular, when all of the female characters are shown in a panning extreme close up while they are screaming informs the audience of what they intend to expect from the characters responses to the killer. The non diagetic sound presents the tracks used in the actual film, which can bring a sense of familiarity for the audiences who have seen the previous films. 'Anyone including the main character can die', which is a clip taken from the trailer an anticipating insight into the new danger that is developing in this film. Existing fans of the film saga will take this to be a very interesting point because since the 'rules' have changed, it creates a new plot twist to keep them intrigued. The montage of the female characters screaming has been edited with fast cuts, which manage to build up the suspense.