Prezi analysis of poster

Prezi analysis of magazine cover

Evaluation screening

During class time, our trailer was watched and critically analysed by other class members to then give us feedback on what they liked and what they feel could be improved. This was done to enable as much feedback as possible for Evaluation 4.   

Evaluation 4

Evaluation 4 from Anna Blackman

Evaluation 3

Evaluation 3 from Anna Blackman

Evaluation 2

Evaluation 2 from Anna Blackman

Evaluation 1

A2 media evaluations from Anna Blackman

Final second year trailer (with annotations)

Delirium Annotations

Below are the annotations you can see in the video for Delirium.

We used these to analyse and evaluate our final product.

0.05

It zooms into the text with a handheld camera effect to create a sense of confusion and panic.

Blood droplets are superimposed onto the text to add an element of body horror.

0.09

Each of the slow montage shots fade to black to build suspense.

0.11-0.14

A match-on-action shot of the pill being passed to Cara and rolling it between her fingers creates a sinister atmosphere, along with the pill being slipped into the drink to ensure clarity of the storyline.

It also links to the current context of faulty drugs and legal highs being sold to teens.

The nail varnish is dark red which connoted danger and bloodshed, hinting at the narrative to come.

0.16

Close-up of Sophie’s face shows intent and helps the audience sympathise with Anna as a victim and protagonist.

0.27

An extreme close-up helps the audience relate to Anna and creates a claustrophobic effect.

This, coupled with Anna’s wandering eyes, creates unease for the audience.

0.31

We used low key lighting to make the shot more dramatic. We put a source of light in the corner which Anna reaches towards. This can connote to the audience that Anna wants to be good but is forced to turn evil. A handheld camera creates disorientation and panic.

0.33

We played on the feat of being trapped in this close-up shot which adds an element of danger. We also created a flashing effect to startle the audience.

0.41

We filmed a pan outside the hospital to establish a setting and diegesis for Anna to be dragged into. This clearly shows she is being taken to a psychiatric facility.

0.46

Anna dragged her hand along the wall to suggest resistance. We then added the nails sound effect on top of the extra-diegetic soundtrack.

1.05

We created a quick montage of all three main characters going insane in an enclosed location, proving that they are trapped. This also uses a collision cut from the slow montage at the beginning to this quick montage towards the end of the trailer. This transition is very conventional of trailers in general.

1.20

We included as many close-ups as possible to build suspense along with the parallel music. This also helps the audience feel sympathy for the female victims.

1.27

Due the trailer being primarily a psychological horror, we limited the amount of body horror which was shown. However, the throat slit by Sophie adds appeal to both men and women and clearly suggests the 18 certificate of the actual film.

Psychological horrors traditionally appeal to a slightly more female demographic, so we felt this would widen our appeal.

1.38

We superimposed the mask onto Anna’s head to create the antagonist “Delirium” and create the first of the two “jump scares” at the end of the trailer. A jump scare is conventional of all horror trailer finales.

1.44

We used a low angle shot of “Delirium” stabbing the camera which connotes that “Delirium” has power over the audience. This also makes the trailer more memorable and unique as it’s rare for a trailer to have two jump scares – especially so close together. This makes the second jump scare more effective as the audience will not expect it.

Practice first year trailer

In my first year of college, we were put into groups to re-create an already existing horror trailer to prepare us for our production of our own trailers in the next year. For this project, my group re-created the horror trailer for "Grave Encounters", 2011.

Delirium final magazine cover

Original photos (magazine)

Original photos (poster)

Final poster

Shooting schedule

Rough cut of second year trailer

History of horror

Feedback on rough cut trailer

As a group, we were asked to show our rough cut trailers to the rest of the class to gain feedback from each individual person.

Having completed our rough cut of our psychological/ gore horror trailer, we showed it to the rest of the class whilst they took down notes on what they liked about the trailer as addition to what they feel could be improved. After doing this, our trailer was re-played for second opinions and then the sheets were given to us. By doing this, I feel that my group now has a better understanding on the positive aspects and negative aspects that will help us to distinguish how to create the best trailer that we can for our final product. 

To begin with, when focusing on the positive aspects within our trailer, the majority agreed that our story line was unique and realistic whilst clearly illustrating it through the action. The music used within our trailer was described as appropriate and worked really well with the action whilst keeping the audience fixated onto the screen by "interesting" shots. Many people mentioned the gore effect towards the end with the throat slitting that was favourited by more than half of the class. This effect was said to have looked realistic and illustrated our gore theme well. Linking with this idea, the ending jump scare was said to be a really nice touch to the trailer and represents our other sub-genre: psychological. Other factors include how powerful the psychiatric shots were as addition to including many close ups that helped to create suspense and tension. The clothing throughout these shots (the straight jacket) was said to be imaginative and helped to portray the story line more clearly. To break the trailer up and keep the audience interested, the text in between that gave more information was said to be clever and the background of the text was said to link in with the trailer well. With the location being a psychiatric hospital, we used locations such as hospitals and toilets to be as accurate as possible and from the audiences responses, feel that we succeeded. 

When focusing on the negative aspects of our trailer that need to be improved upon, the whole class agreed that it was slightly too long, with the beginning sequence dragging on a little too much. As addition to this, people suggested including more jump scares, more transitions between shots, seeing more of the antagonist and more killing. As a mixed response, we received one comment that suggested that we included dialogue whereas multiple others said they liked the fact that there was no dialogue. 

On average, we received a score of 8, having been given one six, three sevens, six eights, two nines and two tens. 

In conclusion to our feedback, we will be shortening the trailer as a whole by making the introduction a lot quicker. In between text shots, we will be including fades to make the trailer run more smoothly and will be introducing more sinister shots. 

Delirium shot list

Solo trailer review - Tucker and Dale vs. evil (2011)

Tucker and Dale vs. evil, 2011, is a red band Canadian comedy horror directed by Eli Craig. 

What happened in the trailer? 
In the 2 and a half minute trailer, a montage of rhythmic short clips illustrates the hilarious unfortunate events that Tucker and Dale get themselves into when doing up their holiday home on vacation. The opening sequence to the trailer is an aerial shot of a group of friends driving to their destination; a typical convention in horror films.


To begin the trailer, the characters are established through point of view shots and close ups, representing each character as a stereotypical person. These stereotypes include; the sexualised, blonde female victim, the male hero, the final girl and the two psycho killers.

When the final girl stereotype is seen undressing to go skinny dipping, the two unfortunate characters seen as the psycho killers are coincidentally in a boat near by, portrayed as deviant men, spying on her. Seeing her fall into the water and knocking herself unconscious, the men save her from drowning but are only seen as kidnapping her from the eyes of her friends.

For the duration of the trailer, the events that occur are jaw dropping for the audience by the classic stereotypical horror conventions being played with and turned into a laughing stock by the overly anxious college kids that make the two softest characters appear like serial killers.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well? 
When focusing on the most inspiring features within the trailer that I feel I would like to include in my own would be; the blunt, dry humour, the music, the great use of cinematography, the awkward silences and the text font. 

If I were to create a comedy horror, I feel as if I would follow the dry humour techniques such as the awkward silences to give the audience time to reflect on the action on screen whilst still including humour. At the beginning of the trailer, the music playing is similar to those in conventional horror trailers, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. As the trailer goes on and Tucker and Dale's misfortunes begin, the music either stops or alters to contrapuntal music. Alternating the music meant that the trailer adjusted to the action on screen and worked well to evoke the appropriate emotions. 

 The font used at the end of the trailer to inform the audience with more information is a bold sans serif font written in red. Using this battered effect font connotes the horror genre whilst additionally using a colour such as red to connote danger, evil and death which are all themes of the film. 

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing? 
When focusing on the negative aspects within the trailer and features that I would choose not to include in my own, these include; the repetition of fade to blacks, the shortage of breaks for text and the fact that a lot of the best bits from the film have already been shown. 

The editing technique of fade to black is a popular transition in this trailer and due to being used a lot, I felt it slowed down the action. Due to this, I feel that in my trailer, I will take this into consideration and be diverse with the editing techniques and include multiple different effects. 

Having no breaks during the trailer for text means that more footage from the film has to be shown. Showing all of the funny scenes  from the film means that when watching the film, lots of the more funny scenes have already been seen and will be less funny when watching. If I were to do this in my trailer, I will make sure that I keep a lot of the best scenes until the film and not give everything away. 

Personal rating? Why did i give that mark?
Personally, I would rate this trailer a 9/10 due to the intelligence that has gone into the cinematography, the editing, the music, the awkward silences and the general narrative of the trailer. 

Solo trailer review - The Collection (2012)

The Collection, 2012, is a green band action thriller/ horror directed by the American screenplay writer and director “Marcus Dunstan”.



What happened in the trailer?
In the 2 minute 15 trailer, an action pact narrative is explored through short clips, telling the story through a linear plot of a hotel that has been used as a place to hold hundreds of people hostage. Similar to the Saw trilogy, a masked figure kidnaps these people and attempts to torture them. Beginning the trailer with a group of people walking down into a dark alleyway to what they think is a night club; a similar frightening looking male opens the steel door with a controlled button. A quick paced montage shows the hundreds of people filling the night club in the strobe lights, exaggerating the pace and rhythm of the music. The assumed protagonist is seen walking into a thin low wire that triggers a machine to shut all doors and lock every person inside. Another quick paced montage illustrates the sharp spikes and blades as addition to the masked figure walking into shot.

To slow down the fast paced action and to give the audience a chance to evaluate what has gone on in the previous shot, a news headline is shown on a crackling TV as addition to showing the audience close friends and relatives of some of the individuals been kidnapped talking about how much they’re missed.

During slow montages of the people being tortured inside the hotel, small bits of text appears stating “only one survivor”, “only one chance”, “to escape pure evil”. At the end of the trailer, second long flickers of light appear on screen showing a male walking into a room. As each flicker appears on screen, the tension builds up until the masked serial killer walks into shot as a jump scare.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
As a starting point, I feel that the masked serial killer was effective and due to not being able to see the killer, the audience are unfamiliar as to what he looks like, meaning that this is left for their imaginations. 

Only seeing the killer a few times meant that when we did, it was more frightening and tense. I feel that in my trailer, I will be including a masked killer and will additionally only show the killer vaguely to let the audience of my trailer use their imaginations. At the end of the trailer, text appeared stating “The new face of American horror”. I feel that this statement is strong in the sense of representing a face that is said to be remembered by the audience.

The second aspect of the trailer I found clever was the use of the Kuleshov effect. At the beginning of the video, as mentioned, the group of people stand in front of a steel door, waiting for it to open. Behind them, a male pushes a button on a control and the camera cuts back to the door opening. Small aspects of this effect made the cinematography more interesting and more atmospheric due to not seeing every single action. I will be including this effect into my own trailer as addition to restricted narration that I also found added tension.

Towards the end of the trailer, the rhythm of the action was parallel to a heartbeat pumping. Doing this made the suspense build up and for the audience to acknowledge that something was about to happen to destroy the slow paced rhythm. As proved, at the end of the trailer, a small jump scare happens when flickers of light match the heart beat rhythm. I will be including a jump scare at the end of my trailer in a similar way and due to this rhythm, have had ideas about including a sound track similar to this. 

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?
When focusing on aspects of the trailer that I felt were disappointing, I felt these were; the jump scare at the end, the jump scare half way through and the constant fade to blacks.

Both jump scares in the trailer were unsuccessful in the sense of personally making me jump. By making the jump scares quiet and slow paced, I was prepared for the scare and could then prepare myself. If I were to add jump scares into my trailer, I will make sure that the audience will not see it coming.

The fade to black effect is great itself, however I felt that it was over used and made the transitions appear slightly dull and uninteresting. If the effect was used less and others were also used, I feel that it would have been more effective and so feel I will attempt to do this in my trailer. 

Personal rating? Why did i give that mark?
As an overall rating, I would personally give the trailer an 8 out of 10 due to being action pact, visually eye catching, having a fantastic use of cinematography, using great montages and for the great rhythm. I haven’t given the trailer full marks due to the jump scares not being frightening enough and the repetition of the fade to black editing.