Questionnaire - Vengeance

1 How old are you 14-17 18+

2 What is your favourite genre ?

3 From watching this trailer did you know it was a horror film ? why ?

4 Did you find the repeated shots of the 'bloody hands' and the 'blood dripping effective ?

5 Did you feel that the music fitted in well with the teaser trailer ? why ?

6 Did you feel that the music increased as the editing on screen got faster ?


7 Did the understand why the shots of the coin at the beginning and at the end were used ?

8 While the villan was walking under the tunnel, did you think the sound of the news report in the background was used cleverly ?

9 What was your favourite shot and why ?

10 Did you understand the titles and the messages they were conveying ?


11 Did you feel that the trailer left you wanting to see more ? why ?

12 What things could I have improved to make my trailer better ?

13 Do you think the shots used throughout the trailer engaged the audience ? why ?

My Teaser trailer - Vengeance

The teaser trailer starts of with the distribution name called ‘Vertigo Films’ commonly known as British independent distributors, which was exactly the type of film I created. Vertigo films are known for distributing British independent films such as’ London to Brighton’ and ‘its all gone Pete tong’. These films were created independently; similarly to how I created my film this was the main reason why chose this particular distributor to be included in my trailer and film. The first shot shown is a low angle of footsteps slowing waling in a room. While this shot is visible in the background a sound of a heartbeat is heard catching viewer’s attention to this particular shot. As this shot was almost shot on the ground, viewers are not shown the person, but rather his feet, which builds up some tension in the air. While the first shot is ending the music slowly fades in with the next series of quickly edited shots. These rapid shots include are a point of view shot of a victim breathing heavily whilst hiding in the cupboard, then the villain slowly walks past holding a visible butcher knife in his hand. The particular shot shows the difference in feelings example is the victim in the cupboard is frightened fro their life, while the villain is calm and collected like he has the situation under control. 

The next shot exposed to viewers was of an image of an ‘unknown’ caller on the screen of a phone. I used this shot as I felt it built suspense in the air as to whom the person calling and why it was significant at the beginning of the trailer. The shot after is a low angle shot of a stranger opening a box. Again this is held briefly roughly two seconds not to give away the identity of the person who is opening the box. Just before the face of the stranger is shown the audience are taken away abruptly to the following shot creating a growing suspense. This shot is a long shot which shows two policemen walking to their car leaving the crime seen then driving off. I added this shot into my trailer as I felt that raises many questions such as why is there a crime scene? Who got injured or dies? These types of questions are a vital aspect in created an effective teaser trailer, as audiences always want to find out the answers to these unanswered questions.

The first titles shown are the words ‘IT’S TIME’. As the title became noticeable the sound slowly increases building up to a climax. This title was chosen as it symbolizes to the audience that something quite significant is about to be shown, but rather it becomes an anti-climax is the image shown is a zoom-out shot of the forest, which I used to illustrate to viewers that the forest it a important factor of the trailer and also it is included to give audiences an extra insight to this particular setting. The trailer then cuts to a title with the words ‘EVERYTHING WILL BE REVEALED’. This title was shown to illustrate to audiences that they will be allowed to see the meanings and motives of the plot. Of course this is impossible to show given to time frame of a teaser trailer, but it does not stop audiences believing what they will see. The next shot gives viewers some insight in terms of the plot. A masked man rapidly gets closer to closer to the camera, while in sound in the background is a news report saying ‘A man arrested at a local hotel and charged with the death of three people. Viewers are given a clue that the man being talked about is the masked villain on the screen shown to them, although can not be 100% sure. 

Again viewers are taken away abruptly to more tiles this time showing the text ‘BEWARE OF WHO’S WATCHING YOU’. Straight after a shot of the villain wearing his mask can bee seen on the reflection of a knife. This was integrated into my trailer to throw viewers off track as they were expecting the villain to be closely observing his victims, but rather this shot show the villain being watched while he wears his mask. In that split second a spinning coin is shown to viewers. This was done to indicate to my audience that time is running out for the victims, although this may not be realised by viewers.

The next title shows the words ‘THERE’S ALWAYS A BEGINNING’. Viewers are thrown off-track as they were not expecting to see those titles in the middle of a teaser trailer. This particular title was included to help the audience understand how and why the villain becomes the villain. In that same second the never settling intense music I used reaches its climax as shot of a door is being kicked upon while the skull face mask is thrown at the faces of viewers. It was added to startle viewers while watching the trailer as I felt viewers would not be expecting a fast shot in that particular moment just after the titles appeared.

  Seconds later a series of repeated extremely quick shots are shown to viewers. This shot shows blood dripping form a knife onto the screen while a bloody hand is shown. I felt this was very important to include as the shot is at perfect pace with the music. In addition the blood dripping onto the screen creates a shock amongst audiences the blood in the faces of viewers leaving a vivid image in the viewer’s head of how gruesome blood can be when you can’t avoid it. The shots of the bloody hands were the focal aspect of that shot as the image of the hands was surrounded by darkness creating greater emphasise on the victims blood, leaving the more sensitive audiences to squeal. The next shot shown is of a mirror with the word ‘HELP’ written on it with blood. This was done to portray to the audience that there is no escape for victims and reinforces the power held by the villain as viewers are shown a victim’s sign for help go unnoticed.

The final title shows the text ‘AND AN END’ which I felt automatically signals to viewers that they will see the final slice of action. The final shots show the music suddenly; creating anticipation, while they are left staring at a black screen, then all of a sudden the mask villain appears from nowhere raising its knife towards the audience almost like they are the victim, which creates a sudden fright amongst audiences. This cliff-hanger was an effective way to end the action as I felt that it creates a desire for the audience to watch it the actual film. 

The final act of my teaser shows the earlier spinning coin come to an end. This coin was added at the end to signify that time has run out. The Film title Vengeance is finally shown at the end. The heart-beat sound is heard while the title is exposed to connote to viewers the tension is never ending until the last second. The title is written in red which has obvious connotations such as blood, fear which I intended to do, bringing back the traditional horror titles to life.

I felt that my trailer was effective in teasing my audience. The reasons are that it raised more questions than answering leaving most viewers in disarray. The plot of the trailer was not given away as from time to time a completely different shot would be shown to viewers throwing them off-track. Also the length of my teaser trailer was about a minute, which didn’t create boredom as it was short enough for viewers to become engaged without missing a second of it.

HALLOWEEN H20 TRAILER

While considering my trailer I looked at Halloween H20 trailer and found it very helpful. The shots used in this trailer include rapid editing which leave viewers disorientated. A particular shot in the Halloween H20 trailer I decided to incorporate in my trailer was the quickly-edited shot of the masked villan gradually getting closer to the camera. This leaves viewers raising questions such as Who is he ? I felt this shot was effective as it created suspense and tension as in a blink of an eye the villan moves about 20 metres forward. Although I used this praticular shot, I added a background news report to give viewers nsight to who this masked person may be.

Analysis of Scream 4 trailer

There are many teaser trailers that influenced my construction of my teaser trailer. Teaser trailer are constructed to leave audiences curious about the film, leading audience to become inquisitive about the film and therefore creating a desire to watch the actual film. Teaser trailers are normally about 1 minute long. The main two trailers that had similarities to my trailer were Halloween H20 and Scream 4. This is because the sub-genre slasher-horrors used in both these trailers are identical to my sub-genre. Furthermore the audiences for this particular type are genre is already implanted, and they expect certain features which I am hoping to show.

The trailer for scream 4 started off with the titles ‘DIMENSION FILMS’ with a phone call sound in the background, which automatically captures the viewers attention, as it raises the question to viewers ‘Who is that on the phone?’. This encouraged me to have a dramatic opening scene to engage viewers from the start - something which raises questions.

We see Neve Campbell who appeared in the original films, so we already know that the familiar faces are going to be appearing again, getting the audience excited for the film once more. We hear "Welcome home, Sidney" by that voice we could never forget. The famous white phone is the focus, with Sidney central to the screen, enhancing that fear once more as that is what we remember causes the fear. The music suddenly starts and fades quickly provoking a sense of shock as we're taken from the situation abruptly. This tells me that the use of music is of significance for the teaser trailer and must be carefully thought of to blend in with what we are seeing on screen.

Then we cut to a side angle of Sidney with the husky voice stating "You're a survivor, aren't you Sidney?" - This gives us an indication of what the story will focus on, that being the killer will try to complete his murders by finally killing the last survivors, and maybe more!

Now we have flashes of the stars appearing in the film with "What good is it to be a survivor if everyone else around you is dead?" The images include Courtney Cox and David Arquette (originals to the previous). If with this voice over, he's suggesting everyone else around you is dead, maybe these members of the cast will get killed. This is a way to establish the faces in the movie, by having them central again and quite close up, and also makes us worry for the characters we love. This give me an idea that I should consider using a powerful voiceover to help illustrate the trailer to audiences.

We then have flashes of 6 more cast members - One pulling her top over her bra, 2 blondes sitting on a sofa and 2 brunettes screaming. Between each character shown there is a black out for about 1 second, which gives he audience an impression that something 'dark' is about to happen. This all falls in perfectly to the typical characteristics of a horror that's got a little bit of seduction in it. It makes the personalities weak, which doesn't cause so much distress when they're killed.

'One Film Redefined Fear' - These titles make you remember just how successful the films were when they were released, hyping the film once more. This shows the importance of titles and impact it could have. This particular type of title reinforces to viewers about the fear it includes. The titles overall take under 10% of the entire length of the trailer. I believe this is too little as titles should take about 10-15% in my opinion to give viewers more text to read and understand what may occur next.

With the scene of the boys talking about how horror has been reinvented in the media class, it's actually quite a clever little ploy to change the dynamics of the story. "Virgins can die" means that we're not going to be looking for the innocent one to survive, but will be expecting that anyone, good or bad, will die. This leaves you to think about every character and every action, making everyone a victim. That is a scary prospect.

We see the director's name Wes Craven. So to any horror fan this is very exciting, because this man knows how to make horrors that are the epitome of the genre. Also his name is seen in red, attaching his name with the obvious connotation of this colour, such as blood, romance. And then the titles appear saying "New generation of horror" encouraging that new looks at horror once more, making the story more intriguing. This title is clever as it raise questions as to how this film is a new generation of horror.

We're offered a mixture of images that are frightening to watch as they include death and creepy looking masks. There is also a handheld camera which could play a key feature as this way of recording a film seems to be quite successful at the minute (The Last Exorcism, Paranormal Activity). It offers realism and a sense of vulnerability because the view is so limited. And then there's the famous mask that's been used at every Halloween party since these films started in 1993. It's Cox this time that's in prime focus to be killed which gives you an exciting twist to the story.

We then hear the high school girls say "It's time for someone new to die" and the music gets dramatic. Who could this person be? Why is this so important? The enigma of the narrative leaves you guessing and anxious more.

The music begins to rise and is the classic type of deep sound that you associate with horror. With fast pace cutting which suddenly throws you into panic and screams that are the diegetic noise, this is never settling.

The final phase of the trailer is just the two blondes that say "There's something really scary about a guy with a knife that just... snaps" - It's said in a sexy manner, creating their weaker profile more and we cut to a scream and the title for the film appears. The shot straight after is of the masked villain's face appearing from nowhere. I believe this shot is effective and I will take it into account because it leaves audiences with a final fright, encouraging them to watch the film when it comes out. With the final girl dismissing a phone call saying "This is for you", it shows it's comic edge and leaves the audience excited and light hearted yet wanting more from the lack of dialogue, and intense themes running throughout the trailer.

In conclusion trailer scream 4 has many good points such as it raises questions which are vital in the creation of teaser trailers. Also the use of a strong voiceover is effective. Finally the use of sound at various moments of the trailer is well thought out as the tempo of the sound increases as the tension on screen rises. I will take inspiration from this trailer and I believe that this trailer will have an important significance on the trailer I will create, as my film is a slasher film.

Trip to the CLC centre

Recently our media class went to the CLC centre to learn how to use Photoshop. The trip was very helpful as it taught me how to change lights, colour and imagery using the software Photoshop. Through Photoshop I was able to construct my Ideal Poster for my film. The methods of using Photoshop were tricky at first, but through practise I gained an understanding and managed to create my poster effectively.

Planning for my magazine front cover

I drew this plan to give my an idea of what my magazine needs to include and what I would want it to look like