Choice of trailer and synopsis

Captured: Trailer 

Our trailer will be a psychological horror. The first scene will be the stereotypical group of teenagers finding the camera in the woods. We will use an over the shoulder shot to show them watching the footage on the found camera. Also a close up to show the emotion of the teenagers of the horrific footage they have seen. By slowing zooming into the camera when using the over the shoulder shot it will represent that the next scene is of the footage they have seen. The footage seen on the camera will be of a family playing maybe using a few establishing shots to show the location where the children are playing (two young children, 8 and 9 years old and a father) this will than cut to the children hanging on a tree dead. The pace of the trailer will pick up by using a quick montage of the teenagers running and mentally breaking down with the image of the children hanging running through their heads.  By using hand held camera shots it will create a feel of panic for the audience watching. The pace will then slow down again showing the tile of the film, CAPTURED, then cutting to a shot of the father pulling a mask over his crying face. Another title of the film release will be shown before using another hand held POV shot of a panicking girl stumbling across a dead body before a jump scare, close up of the killer’s masked face.    

Captured: Film Narrative: 

A father kills his young children by hanging them whilst filming it, however this psychologically damages the man and turns him insane. Wanting to destroy the footage he travels to a wooded area and throws the camera away.  This is then discovered by teenagers camping for the night. After some time has passed the father becomes paranoid someone may find the footage. He backtracks to the woods to find it but finds it in the children’s possession. Slowly he hunts down and kills the children/ witnesses to his own children’s murders before then capturing the final girl. He locks her away but she gets free. She waits for him to return and then slowly beats him down with the original camera. She then exits.  

Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

In this scene from Dawn of the Dead (2004) Ana is seen next to the American flag next to her, representing the good American spirit, as she is the one saving people and a survivor. Also this scene is at the end when they think they have survived, so the flag is there to represent freedom. When looking at the juxtaposition and composition the flag is framed ion the right hand side which h is a positive view with her centre frame. Other films roughly at the same time have the same context The hills have eyes also uses the USA flag o represent freedom.  Due to the context of USA in 2004 having problems in the middle east, patriotism was on a high. The weather in the scene uses pathetic fallacy because the sun rising behind them connotes happiness and peace.  Also the light behind her head may also be a halo effect symbolising her good willingness to help people. The characters also link with the original George A. Romero version's auteur influence, due to the characters not following the generically conventional. Ana is blonde, attractive (linking with male gaze theory),  young and having sex which is common theme of the final girl, conventionally she should die, however she is a survivor on the boat.

Mood Board

1. The first image is of Michael Myers from the halloween franchise. He is the typical psycho serial killer. I have included this image as our main villain will be masked in the few scenes his face is shown. We will therefore need a mask that is instantly impacting, and still can’t decide between a basic one such as this or a clown face etc that may add more depth to the character.

2. I have included an image from A Cabin In The Woods to help show our ideal location. We are hoping to shoot in the woods and near old buildings, in isolated locations away from people. This is similar to the cabin in the woods and is one of our inspirations as the isilation and unfamiliar settings will help to unsettle our target audience.

3. The third image is from Blair Witch Project. We have included this imag mainly as refrence to the camera angles. We ar hoping to feature the hand held shaky cam quite a lot, alongside other angles. We hope this will add an air of confussion and dissamay that will, at certain momments, help to build tension as our audience struggle to see the outcome. 

4. This is an image from Stephen King’s It. We have used this image as not only are we once again looking at the mask possibilities but this movie deals heavily with psychological horror, something we are keen to explore in our trailer, alongside their well timed jump scares. and building of suspense. This is once agin echoed in king of the ants where the film explores hallucinations and how the strange scenraios are used well to scare the audience. 

5. The is an image from Let Me In. This movie deals with how innocence can be exploited through mind games. The main charcter controls men by making them fall in love with her. We have used this as inspiration as we hope to use children in our trailer to shock the audience and in turn appeal to parents who enjoy horrors at the horror itself will strike closer to home. 

6. This is our final image. It is of The Woman in Black. We have taken inspiration from this in the form of the fear of the unknown. Our own villain will appear very little and we are more interested in exploiting the fear of his presence rather than possible body horror, so as to in keep with our psychological horror narrative. We are also keen to look at their jump scare momments as they are welll timed and more often than not, catches the audience of guard through stange ways. we wish to replicate this to it full horrific potential.



2nd Personal Film Review

film title:  The birds 

Year of production: 1963

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

The film is set in San Francisco, where a socialite pursues a potential boyfriend. When birds suddenly begin to attack and kill people with increasing numbers and viciousness.

The first scene which impressed my the most is when Melanie Daniel is sailing across the bay. This is the most impressive scene due to the mise-en-scene of the back drop painted by Albert Whitlock. Also the cinematography of a wide shot and low key lighting (generic conventions) gives the scene a feel of isolation. The second scene that impressed me was Lidia finding the dead man.The silence and no use of sound makes the scene tense. By using a tracking shot, however slower than her walking, with low key lighting give the scene a feel of suspense. The quick cutting from props, of dead birds, back to her face shows her emotion and fear. The close up of the man with no eyes (body horror) also adds the fear and horror. 

The Birds has helped me understand the genre using a genre checklist and seeing what elements are within the film for example fast moving monsters (the birds). Many aspects of mise-en-scene are seen creepy location (Mitch’s house), body horror, the man with no eyes and low key lighting to create the scary atmosphere. The characters are also conventional, male hero (Mitch), female victim (Melanie). The cinematography used where point of view, this is used when Lidia is looking around the room of the dead attacked man., there are also many close ups in the scene as well both conventional shots for the genre. A common theme is sex and the taboo, this is seen with in the Birds, as Mitch and Melanie have sex out of word lock, which in the time of the film was a big taboo. 

Aspects of the Bird that i would consider using in my trailer would be the small amount of body horror, however when it is used its effective and not over the top. I would also use the use of sound too add fear at let the cinematography lead the emotions. I would do this by using quick montages, collision cutting and close ups. I would avoid the amount dialogue used due to me making trailer and will not excite and draw people to watch my film. The most enjoyable part of the films was the attacks, the loud sound of the birds added fear and panic which i will be able to recreate this in my trailer i will be making. 

You can see Alfred Hitchcock’s after style and personal feelings in the Birds from the sound/no sound he uses. ‘the silent pictures were the purest form of cinema’ is a quote by Alfred Hitchcock. You can tell he believes this as he represents this in his movies. Three scenes that you can see/heat his after influence are the attack on the man, when Mitch’s mum runs away also the final scene when he is getting in the car and the small piece of sound used is louder to add fear and suspense. Finally the last scene when they're hiding in the house from the birds.