Results of our questionnaire

Results of our questionaire

What gender would you prefer the protagonist to be?

What key conventions do you look for in a trailer?

What type of villain would you prefer to see in a horror movie?

What style of horror do you prefer?

What setting would you prefer to be used in a horror movie?

What features in a trailer attract you to a film?

From the questionnarie i have found that in the main, the people we asked, felt that a trailer should show the storyline clearly and introduce us to the characters. They also said that music is very important in a trailer as it helps to build up tension. They said that being made to ' jump out of their seats' is also a good feature as it makes them more likely to go and see the movie.


If you could name one thing that makes you want to watch a horror film, what would it be?

The people we asked almost all said that suspense is one of the key items in making them want to watch a horror and also that the film should be scary. I also found that they wanted the movie to have a good storyline and that the themes of the movies should be good. They also said that the movies should have a good trailer to intice them to see the movies in the first place.

Key conventions of the horror genre

The horror genre is a well known and widely watched genre; these genre's conventions can be catagorised into six main areas. The first area is setting, for a typical horror film like Halloween for example, the setting is a dark night, in 2 main houses, and the lights are mainly turned off in these houses. In this street it offers a sense of isolation, nowhere to turn, it’s like a secret inside this small community. Within the small town there is a empty house where there is a history, many horror films have a house or a town or a place where there is a history or a past. Within the dark house or dark places in horror films, this is good as people and zombies can hide in these places for example within wardrobes or attics. The time of day is a major factor in horror films as most of them are set at night time or the evening. The weather in horror films is mainly stormy or very windy, the thunder and lightning adds to the setting of the film and makes the scene more eerie and “scary”.

The next convention is technical code, which are all the cinematography, editing, sound, setting, characters and iconography of the film. Within horror films the camerawork is often “Expressive” rather that naturalistic so the camera is canted a lot and there are weird high and low angles, this is so that maybe we can see what the monster is hunter or what they are going to do next, this is shown at the start of Halloween when Michael Myers is creeping round the house, we are in the eyes of the killer, we can see what he’s looking at and what he’s going to do next. Extreme close up’s are used within the horror genre for identification values; this is done so we can indentify with the terror as we cannot see what is going on around them. The camera work often makes use of Point of view shots this can be with a steadicam, which is used to create terror as it makes it seem as if we are in the monsters eyes. The editing within a horror film creates unsettling jumps, this can create suspense and can be faster cuts when we can’t see a threat it creates a feeling of jumpiness and we think that something might be about to happen. Sound is very important within horror films as there are ambient sounds within the films for atmospheme, and footsteps and a heartbeat can be added in the sound mix, this helps us relate to the people within the film.

Iconography is the next convention within horror films, this can be through visual signifiers, within colours for example black is a colour which people can feel scared as it is the unknown, people get trapped in the darkness so black relates to this, red is another colour which can connote horror, it represents blood and death. Lighting within horror films can create shadows, which are normally seen round corners and under doors, they create the feeling of mystery, the natural light like sunlight and moonlight are also used a lot to create an unnatural feeling. The objects within the mise-en-scene are normally commoner objects like weapons or just household object like a lamp could be used for a weapon or icons of the supernatural; ghosts, crucifixes. The iconography of childhood innocence plays a part as in Halloween when we see that Michael Myers is just a young little innocent boy we don’t expect him to have killed his sister but when we see him with the knife in his hand dripping of blood, it makes us on edge.

The narrative structure is another convention of a horror film, this can be with the sub genre of the film, such as the slasher, because they are formulaic, such as childhood events can create a killer within the film then later when the child has grown up it has become a killer or a group of stupid teenagers such as in Eden Lake who are completely immoral with one female girl who survives to the end of the film this is known as the “Final Girl”.

The character types in the film is the next main horror film convention, as mentioned within narrative structure there is normally a “Final Girl” who survives throughout the film or nearly to the end of the film. There are also monsters with a hidden secret or a hidden plan within the horror genre, these monsters are normally made evil or psychotic by an earlier event within the film. There are also teenagers who are immoral and don’t really care about anything and have been brought up uncared for who go round killing people or get themselves killed in a stupid way. The police in horror films are normally seen to be stupid and unhelpful or are easily killed early on within the film.

The themes within the horror genre are a big convention within these films, there are normally binary oppositions i.e. natural VS. unnatural, good VS. evil. There is also the return of the repressed within horror films this is a Freudian term; where something bad that happens to someone earlier on in there life is repressed, but then is remembered or returns when something reminds them or what happened, then they act on this.

Teaser Trailer - horror

This teaser trailer to horror film "Hatchet" is very obvious on its genre. It is such a teaser for the film that it doesn't show any production values at all. Its a short clip thats mostly little sentences on the screen. The words are very creepy and eerie, it names the director in the text but doesn't let alot for the audiences imagination to reveal.

The music is a soft slow piano throughout the trailer, it has soft quiet voices in the background, saying little phrases that sound like they come from a little girl.

Teaser Trailer - horror

This is the teaser trailer for the horror film "House of Fears". The trailer indicates that the film being advertised is a horror as before any clips there is some text on the screen, so it lets the audience guess. The trailer doesn't make it look like there was a big budget spend on the film because it looks the the whole location for the film is just at one place - a haunted house. Within the trailer there was no recognisable stars or a directors name.

The target audience for this film would have to be a horror film fanatic or someone that enjoys watching them, as it looks like a typical horror film with older teenages. The music is creepy and dramatic it has a eerie turn to it with sudden burst of loudness to it. There are screams throughout the trailer and people shouting and talking to each other but no distinct voice over.

Teaser Trailer

This is the teaser trailer for Clash of the Titans. From the trailer i can see that it is an action/war film. Within the trailier it is very fast moving, but it doesn't include the name of the director within it. The budget must have been high for this film as there is alot of special effects used within the trailer. The cast of the film features some well-known faces, such as Pete Postlethwaite.
The teaser trailer is very fast moving and includes clips of fighting and violence, but also of mythical creatures including giant scorpians and large flying creatures. This could capture an audience that isn't that into war films. There is also a clip of a woman dangling from a high edge, this could be a sign of romance within, again capturing the female audience to watch this film.

Throughout the teaser trailer there is no voice over apart from an actor within the film saying "One day somebody's going to have to make a stand, one day somebody's going to say enough" this sentence is just enough for the audience to want to know what happens in the rest of the film. It's spoken by Peter Postlethwaite, as he is a well-known actor, people may link him with a series of good films. The background music for the trailer is like a soundtrack and has an electric guitar with drums playing in it, the music builds up tension within the clip and is very dramatic.

Teaser Trailers

This trailer is for New Moon it is second in the Twilight saga, it is from a romance novel. The first film 'Twilight' was a supernatural film but had romance and action within it. The second film also has action and romance involved within it.

From this teaser trailer viewers can see that this film has the stars from the first film in it. Including Robert Pattinson who has become famous from the forth Harry Potter film (playing Cedric Diggory). This trailer looks like the film has gone all out with alot of well-known faces. The budget must be high as there has been so much advertisement of the film on TV and so much publicity of the actors doing many interviews. The trailer is seen to have special effects as a muscly young man transforms into a wolf. Which seems a part of the action sequence within the film.

The major aspect that will capture the target audience is the fact that it is a sequel to the first film "Twilight". The music within the trailer starts with quiet violins and symbols, with the actors voices over the top as clips from the film are shown, then the music turns dark and dramatic and the voices pace changes from this it connotes tension, that somethings going to happen, unexpected.

Teaser Trailer

The genre of this film is sci-fi film, it's a sequel to the other Alien vs. Predator films so it already has a high target audience that will be interested with seeing the next film of the saga. The production values of this film include a high budget, this is because of the special effects that go into the film with the fighting, the cost of the costumes and the stars.

The music of this teaser trailer is slow to start with but then has loud electric guitar with drums music with fast clips of the "Alien" and also the "predator". There is no voice over for this trailer, it's just the sounds of the 'Monster's' voices and also when they are battling it out and other sounds that sound like that both sides are getting ready for battle.

Film "The Shining"

Whether or not the narrative ideas of Vladimir Propp work in relation to 'The Shining'

With the film "The Shining" compared to Propps narrative, I didn't think that the film fit into the narrative. Within the narrative Propp mentions eight speres of action; but the film that we studied doesn't really fit into this well, there is a villain which is a mixture between a few people, i think that the false hero is the chef, this is because he is communicating telepathically with Danny and he knows that something isn't right, therefore he goes to the hotel, the viewers think that he can save Wendy and Danny against Jack but then he doesn't make it and jack gets to him. There's a helper who fits in to be Tony (the voice in Dannys mouth). In a way the princess is Wendy even though she isn't glamourous, she just tries her best to save the day, so she is also the hero as she manages to get out and run away.
Within the development of the plot, Propps structure doesn't fit completely, yet it fits within the "Preparation" stage, this is because at the start of the film, bjack leaves home to visit the hotel and with Propps narrative structure it states that a member of the family leaves home. There are a few other pieces of the film that fit in with the structure, but mainly the film doesn't fit Propps narrative structure exactly.


The villian - Jack
The Donor - THe Chef
The helper - The Chef/Tony
The princess - Wendy
The dispatcher - Grady
The hero - Wendy
The false hero - The Chef