Media evaluation analysis part 1
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This document provides an analysis of a horror film trailer titled "Lullaby" created by Alex Dalton. It discusses how the trailer uses genre conventions and techniques from psychological horror films to appeal to audiences. Specifically, it builds tension through a slow start that speeds up, uses jump scares, and restricted narration. The pacing and editing was inspired by films like Psycho and the work of Alfred Hitchcock. Overall, the analysis shows how the trailer effectively employs horror genre conventions and auteur techniques to attract audiences.
Media evaluation analysis part 1
- 1. HORROR TRAILERS EVALUATION ANALYSIS BY ALEX DALTON
- 2. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS? My trailer is based upon a psychological horror and fits into this through the numerous generic conventions I have used. Psychological horrors which have had a heavy influence on my work are „The Woman in Black‟ and also „Grave Encounters‟. This shows the importance of „Genre Theory‟ when creating a film text, and the main critic behind this concept is Thomas Schatz. In his book Hollywood Genres, he said that the easiest – and in his view, most powerful - way to analyse films was through genre. It is a clear way of promoting and selling films to an audience and giving them obvious expectations of stereotypical and successful formulaic elements and what to anticipate from a film. This helps filmmakers to understand their audiences and to know what is necessary in order to appeal to them. Genre cannot be replicated exactly each time as it would become boring, so Schatz explained there be enough variety in order to keep an audience‟s interest whilst keeping enough repetition so they are comforted by recognising features they know they appreciate. Schatz even recognised that most auteurs and directors (Wes Craven, Alfred Hitchcock, and George A Romero) “made their most successful films through the conventional form of genre” (Thomas Schatz, Hollywood Genres, 1981). Schatz‟s theory can first be illustrated through clear generic horror conventions that I found while studying „Psycho‟ (1960), „Dawn of the Dead‟ (1979) and „Dawn of the Dead‟ (2004) in class. From these, I compiled a checklist of primary horror conventions, which I then used within my horror trailer to appeal to fans of the genre.
- 3. CONTINUED… My trailer largely followed the forms of both horror films and horror trailers. A significant element to include when focusing on the horror genre is the pacing I used throughout the trailer. Pacing is a very important when considering how you are going to capture your audience‟s attention and then build to a dramatic denouement. It can be described as a long “collision cut” designed to maximise tension then shock. Like most horror trailers „Lullaby‟ starts with quite a slow beginning of a scene of Joe and Caitie‟s conflict then followed by Joe and Alex taking away Caitie‟s baby as well as Caitie committing suicide. This then speeds up as we begin to show scary highlights of the film with the majority consisting of Caitie tormenting both Alex and Joe after her death. She does this by moving furniture, pulling hair, dragging Joe up the stairs and making various mysterious appearances around the family home. Once this has reached its climax the audience are then presented with a couple of jump scares. This happens as Alex is looking in the mirror only to see a reflection of Caitie looking back at her and then at the very end a close up of Caitie‟s creepy face breathing heavily into a camera and rolling her eye balls. This technique is often used to shock an audience and adds the conventional ending. The transition from a slow pace up to a quicker pace helps to build suspense, grabbing the audience‟s attention and then shocking them at the end. This is a good example of montage, a technique which was inspired by Russian directors such as Sergei Eisenstein („Battleship Potemkin‟) and then perfected by Alfred Hitchcock. The elongated version of collision cutting can be seen in his film „Psycho‟ in the iconic shower scene. There is a low build up with Marion slowly destroying evidence then showering, before the sudden and shocking shower attack.
- 4. CONTINUED… Two specific trailers in which I drew inspiration from were „Cloverfield‟ and „Evil Dead‟. exciting. The highlights show a group of people arriving at an abandoned cabin inside the woods, unleashing a curse and them being tormented. This is shown by fast takes of people hiding, being chased through the woods, being possessed and being attacked. I also included other key techniques of horror films. Restricted narration can be seen within the trailer when Joe finds Caitie hanging however the audience does not see this leaving them imagining about what has happened. This technique can be seen to be used in the film „Blade Runner‟. In the image below Tyrell‟s eyeballs have been popped however we do not actually see this it is only suggested to us through the sounds we hear. Often it is expected that a trailer would include either a scene or – more often – highlights from the film. We decided that it would be beneficial for us to incorporate both of these types in order to present our trailer in the best way possible. The trailer for „Cloverfield‟ consists of a scene from the film showing us a house party being filmed by a handheld camera and the events taking place within the party. This focuses attention of the main dramatic point in the narrative but also helps to audience in establishing what the film is going to be about. However in the trailer for „Evil Dead‟ there is a consistent use of highlights throughout, something which appealed to us. It gave a punchy impact making the film come across as epic and a sweet childlike song is playing in the background. This feels rather unsettling adding to weirdness of the trailer and therefore making it more sinister. There was also contrapuntal music used within my trailer. As evil and twisted events are taking place in „Lullaby‟
- 5. … A real life example of contrapuntal music in a film is in „Reservoir Dogs‟ (right) It uses heavy black comedy as romantic music is playing but this has been accompanied by a harsh, violent scene of the policeman‟s ear being removed. This makes it seem unnatural and uncomfortable to watch. When I was creating our trailer it was important to consider which auteurs had influenced the style I used. Auteur Theory was established by Andrew Sarris who was a film critic best known for his essay Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962. This was an argument stating that the most successful approach to films was through pin pointing the key strategies they used to become successful. The main auteur who influenced me in the creation of our trailer was Alfred Hitchcock. This was because he had a heavy influence on the early beginnings of psychological horror and was also known as the „Master of Suspense‟. This can be seen through his films „North by Northwest‟ where he used montage in order to create tension and dragging it out to grab an audience‟s attention. In the crop duster scene there is a long build-up of slow montage before the attack from the plane which gradually speeds up into a quicker montage of Thornhill being shot at. „The Birds‟ also uses montage cleverly, such as in the final bird attack scene it uses slow montage then building up into quick montage causing panic and bombarding the viewer with images increasing your heart rate. As a fan of these types of psychological horrors, I preferred these more subtle techniques instead of gore. The skills which I tried to bring to the trailer like use of lighting and types of editing were very much influenced by the works of Alfred Hitchcock, because a horror trailer is essentially a slow to quick montage, and I feel „Lullaby‟ fits that pace and tone very well.