Evaluation Part 1:

My trailer follows the genre conventions of a horror trailer, meaning the that ‘Captured’ will appeal to the correct target audience. This links with Thomas

Schatz’s importance of generic conventions theory set out in his book ‘Hollywood Genres’ (1981). My trailer fits the genre due to the conventions

included such as the pain and editing. It’s conventional in horror films to included collision cutting to connote suspense and create a scary

atmosphere, my trailer includes slow editing at the start then picking up again with the chase scenes. Also the cinematography is conventional

throughout the trailer as close ups have been used to how the emotion of the character in the film (in this case fear). Another horror convention

included in ‘Captured’ is the characters, young teenage victims, the most conventional character however, is the killer, his tall large stature is

conventional and shooting him from a low angle is conventional to represent his power and strength. Also, his back story of his daughter’s death and

wanting to get revenge is conventional for a motive to do what he is doing. Psychological horrors conventionally contain jump scares in the film, we also

included this in the trailer, by slowing the editing and music, then quickly adding loud music and a quick cut creates a jump scare when the killer stabs

towards the camera, which is typical of horror trailers.

These two stills below are from my trailer ‘Captured’ (left) and The Hills Have Eyes 2 2007(right) with shots are of the killer the shots are conventional to each other with slightly of centre frame and the only aspects in the foreground making them the main focal point of the images from the scene. The lighting from my still cannot be seen well however, the lighting is similar to the hills have eyes both contain a dark shadow over on half his face, this connotes his mind set and anger. The image on the right the character is bending over, however in the scene the shot is slightly from below him showing his power and strength. The conventional killer is male in horror films and shot from lower expressionist angles like the killer in my film. It creates a connotation of power of you and adds more fear to the character and his strength. Conventionally the killer’s face is either distorted and disfigured or wears a mask to cover his face. My film follows this convention as when the character is mourning over his daughter you can see his face only when he is angry and killing wears the mask conventional to the genre.

My trailer is a conventional trailer in many aspects, mainly the pacing and editing of my trailer, my trailer starts with back story of what is happening, a convention for a trailer. The use of collision cutting is typical for a horror trailer, starting slow to build suspense before the editing quicken to create panic and fear, slowing again to dull the atmosphere before finally picking up again to create a jump scare. This is a typical editing technique used in horror films and trailers. The music in my trailer fits with the editing starting slow before quickening and getting louder to draw the audience in and immerse. We used a variety of shots such as tracking shots, close ups, expressionist angles, over the shoulder and handheld shots. All of these shots are conventional, close ups are conventional to represent the emotion of the person on camera. We used handheld shots as this keeps the audience immersed in the film rather than using still shots all the time, while a point of view shot makes the audience feel part of the scene.

Form my research and horror films that I watched I was influenced by the films that stood out and ones that I enjoyed. For example I liked the film: ‘Let Me In’, directed by Matt Reeves. This film stood out to me due to the detailed back story and life of the characters. I feel that the more you know about the characters more of an emotional attachment towards them can be built, this makes the story more meaningful and powerful to the audience. So when creating my trailer I wanted to add a back story to killer and his motive in why he is doing what he does. By adding in my trailer him mourning over his dead child makes the audience pity him and somewhat justify what he is doing.

I would also say my trailer ‘Captured’ is also a slasher/action horror linking with the film The Hills Have Eyes directed by Wes Craven. The fast pacing and gore adds a strong horror aspect add engrosses the audience, I liked the effect this created on me and the audience when watching it. I wanted to add action scenes with fast pace editing, I did this be creating a long chase scene consisting of many different techniques when looking at cinematography such as POV shots, handheld tracking shots and long shots. I also liked the character, as in The Hills Have Eyes, as he is an iconic killer. I liked this character as you feel sorry for him and want him to good, due to what he has been through you pity him and what him to do good. I wanted to include that with my characters even though they are not the best or nicest character you still wish that they do good and stand by them. This links with Andrew Sarris ‘Auteur Theory’ saying that the best way to approach a film would be looking at the director or ‘auter’ and doing an in-depth analysis of their cinematic style.