We looked into the conventions of a slasher horror movie and we saw how they followed or challenged conventions. From analysing these films, we gained a greater understanding of what it means to create a slasher horror film.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/h2/
Halloween (the remake)
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/fridaythe13th
Friday the 13th (the remake)
Additionally, to further my understanding of slasher horror films, I analysed Nightmare on Elm Street in detail.
From my research I also found definitions of slasher horror. Although the definition varies as it depends on who you ask, there are specific traits that links to the genre. Mostly, there is a past involved which is the reason to why the person has become a killer. One thing that separates slasher horrors from thrillers and murder mysteries is the level of violence. Slasher horrors minimise the plot and character development in favour of violence and horror being portrayed. The plots are in fact created by giving the audience the experience of watching the killer's murders. Violent and graphic deaths are valued to hold the audience's interest.
Nightmare on Elm Street
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/newline/anightmareonelmstreet/
As the trailer begins, the first thing we see is the production logo - 'NEW LINE CINEMA', a Time Warner Company. From the production logo alone, the audience can assume that this trailer will be of the highest standard as Time Warner is an extremely prestigious film company. Whilst creating our own production logo we took these elements into consideration and produced our logo so that it would appear sophisticated and trustworthy to our audience. We also used the convention of having our trailer opening with an image of our production logo; Filmworks.
The establishing shot sets the scene for the trailer. It depicts a deserted wasteland, employing a mid shot of the side of a building. This gave me an idea in thinking that the establishing shot should not show the killer just yet but set the scene so the audience get a feel for how the film will be.
*PICTURE OF MY ESTABLISHING SHOT*
As the trailer continues, it shows a variety of rapid location shots which then introduces a white middle aged man running through these deserted streets. We are then shown an angry mob following him and soon set a house on fire with him inside it. The audience do not know why they are chasing him or why they wish to kill him, creating a sense of enigma for the audience which is already engaging them, in the film, a typical convention of the slasher horror genre. Unlike our teaser, this trailer shows more than one victim and how and when they are murdered. We decided to challenge this convention as we felt that holding back that information from the audience would make them want to find out more. The eerie and childlike music and the use of 'evil children' suggest that the killer is seeking revenge from something that happened to him as a child. However, this sort of music wouldn't apply to my horror, in fact I chose to put a heartbeat going through and change the tempo.
The speed of the trailer, like most slasher horrors is quite rapid and only shows the killer from behind. However we are introduced to his murder weapon; his razor sharp claws.I challenged conventions a bit by shooting some of the shots from the killer's point of view. The trailer ends with a close up of a woman screaming then cuts to the titles, which our covered in blood. I took inspiration from the use of red in the title to signify someone has died in my ending of the trailer which I thought would go well with the title 'Game Over.
A Nightmare On Elm Street Title Ending
Game Over Title Ending
The trailer ends on a shot of Kruger stroking his latest victims face with his claws. He whispers "don't worry about it. This wont hurt one little bit." This is an extremely dramatic ending and leaves the audience desperately wanting to find out more about the movie. I thought about using something like this to conclude the trailer and leave the audience hanging. I then decided to add a dramatic knife falling scene which has a crashing sound as it lands. This scene is saturated in red depicting the bloody death of his victims and leaves you wanting more as it ends abruptly. The Game Over Title then slowly turns Red and looks as if its dripping with blood.
