Research and planning: history of genre

As the genre of my trailer is horror I am looking more into the history of the genre. I am looking at the types of horror films that there are, for example refinement or parody. 

Horror films began in around 1890's, a very early example is Dracula which actually came out in 1897, these were rather typical and jumpy which was quite basic when scaring the audience. It then became more challenging to scare the audience so filmmakers had to try harder when writing their films. Another iconic horror film is The Shining which came out in 1980, so is much later than Dracula but is still vital when studying horrors. This film was inspirational to my group when creating our film because we are looking to make a traditional horror film rather than a parody. We took aspects from The Shining and refined them so that they were slightly different. 

Research and planning: weather checks for shooting

As we planned to go out today to take shots for our film posters and magazines, as well as some filming with the scenes with the villain. I decided to check the weather app on my phone, the weather is great for our atmosphere, slight rain and quite dark for the daytime with overcast.

Research and planning: mise-en-scene analysis

Again, mise-en-scene isn't my main role in the group but I would like to have a n understanding of the topic to have suggestions when it comes to it with our own trailer. From this trailer I can immediately tell that the outfits used are based on the setting. So the man is wearing a hiking outfit, which is quite obvious but effective. The children in the trailer who are portrayed as "bad" are dressed /  look different. Because although they're in the same place the children have cut faces, messy hair and dirty clothes as though these people won't help them for some reason. This is what I think throughout the trailer even when the people take the children in they are portrayed as animals.

Research and planning: editing analysis

Although editing is not my main role in creating our trailer I have decided to analyse editing in a trailer so that I have an understanding and have a feel for how it works. From this trailer I can tell that this kind of film starts quite basic just using straight cuts until it starts to go creepy and she gets grabbed in bed. from that point on we see a lot more slow cuts like fades, these cuts make the atmosphere a bit more eerie because we are expecting something to happen next.

Research and planning: voice over information

As a group we have decided to use a voice over in our trailer. We have decided to put it at the beginning of the trailer rather than the middle / end. We also decided that if we did it ourself it would probably sound cheap so we are asking somebody we know to get us our voice over done professionally, in the accent that you hear in a lot of trailers. Rather than explaining what's happening in the trailer like the one heard on my analysis of The Conjuring, we would rather say when the film is coming out and more about it rather than an explanation.

Research and planning: sound analysis 2

I decided to do two sound analysis' because it is my main role in the making of the trailer. This trailer is quite different from the first that I analysed. It starts with a voice over which is something that me and my group have already discussed and agreed we would like to use. We then hear non diegetic noises such as wind, and glass smashing which add effect to the atmosphere. As well as this we get diegetic noises such as the children screaming which makes you feel jumpy. The trailer also end with the voice over again, this is something that as a group needs discussing (where we will include our voice over).

Research and planning: sound analysis

I am analysing Annabelle in terms of sound because that is my role in the group, to make sound for the trailer. I notice from Annabelle that it starts off with a casual song that is quite slow. We then hear jumpy sounds when the people are in their house which makes you feel on edge. One thing I particularly like from the trailer is the thudding heartbeat that you can hear I think it adds a lot of effect. There are definitely some aspects of this trailer we could use in our own.