Final Product: Trailer

Filming: Problems and Resolutions

Obviously, during our process of making our media texts, we came across a range of problems that either delayed our schedule or slowed down our progress.

1. THE CAST:
The cast that we originally asked to help us were not always available and they ended up cancelling on us, this caused an issue because we had to go and find another actor/actress who were willing to be fully committed to our media productions. This also involved us re-filming a lot of our footage which was time consuming.

2. Time
Regarding the fact that media was a main priority, I must admit that our group got caught up in other subjects and social life. Exam season was around the corner which again delayed our progress, my group members attended work and also went away for weekends. Even though we missed a lot of our schedule time we still managed to pick up the pace and get straight back into what we wanted to do and kept it in the scheduled deadline.

3. The Day
Since we started filming around November, the day was short which limited our time for filming outside to get a natural ambient light. We would have to either leave school early or do it on the weekends. This problem occurred but we managed to get the outside shots earlier in the day.

4. The Equipment
Nothing worse than the camera running out of battery or even forgetting a certain prop. This did not occur much but it did delay on some of our filming days and limited our filming times. We managed to put this behind us and added more filming days.

5. The Software
ADOBE PREMIER PRO.
Adobe did not work out for me and my team mates, it was confusing and hard to deal with, our files got corrupted and messed up which meant we had to start all over again. Since I am rather computer savvy I have used other programs before and so I decided to change the program to "Sony Vegas" which I can personally say is so simple and easy to use.

6. Setting Availability
Filming in a member of our teams flat caused some issues. It was not always available which meant  we couldn't always film at certain times that we scheduled. No worries! we got passed this as managed to film allot during its availability by planning before what we wanted to film.

Audience Feedback on Storyboard and Mock-ups

Call-sheets for Trailer

For each day of shooting, we were required to create and distribute a call sheet to each of our actors to ensure that they were aware of the scenes being shot, the locations, the costume and make-up and other actors and crew present on the day. These also proved to be useful to Dania, Sonia and myself as it gave us a stronger idea of our restrictions for the day in regards to time and therefore focused us more on the task at hand. These sheets also aided our organisation and made the filming much easier as we knew who and what needed to be in the scene at all times.

List of scenes and shots

Scene 1: 

• News Report

Scene 2:

• Estabishing Shot of Hospital
• Hospital Hallway
• Hospital Room

Scene 3:

• Entering House
• Putting Clothes Away
• William In Hallway
• William/Ella Kitchen

Scene 4:

• Dining Room
• William/Ella/Logan Kitchen

Scene 5:

• Flashlight
• Ella Running
• Stairs
• William Knees
• Mary Disjointed

Scene 6:

• Bathroom Sting

Characters and Actors

Ella: Charleigh Kirby

William: Stephen Yu

Logan: Jacob 

Doctor: Mr. Urquhart

News Reporter: Nicolle Broderick

Flashback Daughter: Sophia Scott

Storyboard of Film Trailer

Trailer Script

Scene 1: Reporting on street

(Scene dissolves in from static. A reporter is on screen with a news report of a murder with banners detailing the report and box containing photos of murders. Diegetic sounds of the street are heard with a non-diegetic sound of police and ambulance sirens and a light chatter in the background.)

Reporter: We are live on the scene at a brutal attack in which a mother of 3 is alleged to have murdered her husband and children (camera pans to view of house) but leaving her youngest daughter as a sole survivor thanks to police intervention. (Pans to view of woman by car) Reports are coming in that the woman in question has no history of mental illness and the police are currently not aware of the cause of this vicious assault. (Woman is put in the car by “plain-clothes” police officer.)

Scene 2: Hospital

(Establishing shot of the hospital at a low angle. Scene cuts to a long 2 shot of a young woman and a doctor walking down a hospital hallway. The doctor is leading her and detailing the status of her mother’s case.)

Doctor: The discharge papers are almost finished; you just need to sign a form to assert that your mother will be staying with your family during her recuperation.

Ella: You really think that’ll help?

Doctor: Simply visiting over this past year has improved her recovery process, Mrs. Garcia. She’s no longer showing any signs of schizophrenia and we have no reason to keep her here any longer (they stop outside of the hospital door). She is cured. (Ella peeks around him into the door window) And here’s the copy of her medical history you requested (he hands over a file and she opens it but is interrupted) I think it’s time we tell her. (They enter.)

Scene 3: Hospital bedroom
(The camera tilts upwards to a long/medium shot behind the mother. She is facing a corner window on a rocking chair with a knitted blanket over her, slowly rocking. Ella walks up behind her.)

Ella: Mum? You’re gonna be coming home with me, okay? William and I are gonna take care of you for a while.

Scene 7: Kitchen
(Ella is doing the dishes as William comes in and grabs her attention. The camera is a medium long shot of the two.)
William: Ella, I’m telling you, there’s something wrong.

Ella: Will, she’s just out of hospital. She’s just transitioning.

William: There’s transitioning and then there’s…her.

Ella: Just drop it. She was in there for 15 years after a psychotic break! She’s home and she’s cured. Leave it be. (Walks out).

William: I just… don’t trust her.

Scene 8: Dinner Table

Ella: Finish of your peas, Logan. No desert ‘til that plate’s clean. (Ella and William leave the table.)

(Mary stares at Logan until he looks up at her. She shakes then he eyes roll back in her head, before turning white. Logan screams and runs away from the table.)

Ella: Honey, what’s wrong?

Logan: Mum! Mum! Don’t make me- don’t make me-

Ella: Logan! What?

Logan: Mum…her eyes. (Ella and William exchange a worried look.)

Symbiotic Link

A symbiotic link needs to connect each product so that upon viewing, the audience immediately know which movie the product belongs to.  To achieve this, we will use the same tagline, main image of the antagonist, font, clothing and colour scheme across the entire package. The tagline, “She can’t be cured”, will feature towards the end of the trailer and the base of the movie poster, however it will not be featured on the magazine front cover as it is not a convention. The main image is of our antagonist wearing a Victorian-style white nightgown with a brown cardigan and this will feature throughout our products. Font and colour scheme will be the same in the trailer and poster only due to the fact that the magazines have their own colour scheme. The clothing would be the same throughout the production package that we will be creating; this is to represent her age and her ethereal like image.  In all three of the products the antagonist will always have backcombed, scruffy hair and white tinted eyes to create the possessed look. 

Practice Shots and Reconnaissance

  

   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Pitch of Film Narrative etc. and Analysis

Our pitch included every element of our promotional package. We mentioned the sub-genre our horror movie falls into, the target audience, inspiration from other directors and horror movies, the film title of our movie, the narrative of the movie and the trailer, locations we will use and costume and make-up featured in our movie. When explaining each of these topics, we discussed how they would be added to our promotional package, how we came up with them and also what we learnt from our target audience research.

 From the video that we have recorded of our pitch, you can see that there was a lot of detail within the powerpoint which therefore did not leave many reasons for questions or suggestions at the end of the presentation.

 These are some of the questions that were asked by our audience:

1. Who will play this part?
2. What is your poster going to look like?
3. How is the mother going to torment the family?
4. What type of special effects will you add?
5. Do you think people would want to see it?

Regarding these questions, we managed to successfully answer them to our full potential, which shows that we have planned our project thoroughly and we know exactly how we want our practical pieces to look.  The questions asked gave us reason to push further into our own ideas for inspiration on things that we had yet to plan out, such as the film poster, and gain their feedback on our ideas as they came to us. Overall, they enjoyed our pitch and reacted in a positive manner, offering useful questioning and advice which in turn allowed us to develop our work and made us all feel much more confident in our products. We will take into account all our feedback that we received from our pitch, and attempt to have their input within our promotional package.

Film Title Brainstorm

To begin these brainstorms, we first looked over various existing film titles and observed the conventions that they contain. The titles can be split into two halves; one word titles and two or more word titles, each excluding “the”. The titles with 2 or more words tend to be limited to four words, and in some cases five as with “Last House on the Left” and those with one word have a single striking adjective that resonates with the audience. Essentially, the aim is to have a title that the audience will remember whether that is through its brevity, or the foreshadowing of terror that it gives. Whilst looking into titles, it became apparent to us that we mainly wanted a single word title, but none that we looked at fit our project properly. It was evident that we needed two words to do the narrative justice. However, forming coherent and effective two word titles proved challenging as our expectations for this title grew higher. In the end, we came up with three 2 or more word titles that were to be considered for our project. Overall, we found that “Darkness Within” had a much scarier connotation, as “Demon Within” was too obvious and “Last One Standing” seemed far more suited to an action movie. “Darkness Within” also has the connotations with possession, and therefore fits in with our narrative much more effectively.

Ideas: Costume, Make-Up and Hair

Existing costume in horror:

 Slasher movies consist of very specific costume choices for example the antagonist usually wears a mask to hide his identity which delivers to the audience fear the unknown and to make the villain look demonic. Masks are also memorable, therefore the audience will feel haunted by them. To top of the mask the antagonist usually wears heavy black, dark clothing that just enhances the fear of the person, the colour of the costume are dull which reflects the horror genre and also makes them look more sinister.

The protagonist is usually female in horror movies, as well as most movie genres, as the audience are more likely to accept a female who is terrified and screaming as she battles against the antagonist, rather than a male. She usually wears sophisticated, unrevealing clothing which makes her stand out as the final girl, whilst her friends (the victims) tend to wear more provocative clothing like miniskirts and low cut tops which makes us think that they are an easy target for the antagonist. The protagonist generally tends to dress in a male fashion, but still maintaining her female qualities.  There clothing tends to be really plain and simple with dull colours as well which again reflects the horror genre.  

 In supernatural horror movies, the costume tends to be very modern as it is a more modern sub-genre. In "Paranormal Activity", the characters all wear average, every day clothing similar to that which the audience may wear so as to make the "found footage" seem much more realistic and therefore more terrifying. The characters within the movie are generally dressed very casually, however when the antagonist takes human form, the costume changes generally to all white, but the white tends to be tainted, which perhaps blood.   The colours of the general characters in horrors are often dull and muted to create a dark, mysterious and unsettling mood. In movies such as "The Devil Inside", the antagonist is dressed in an old fashioned grey gown, which makes her look ghostly and dull, which reflects the fact that she is possessed.

Our ideas for costume:

 Our movie is a supernatural, based on a possession. Our costume ideas are similar to The Devil Inside, because we feel they created a frightening antagonist look. Our antagonist, Mary, for the majority of our trailer will be wearing a very Victorian white gown to make her seem ghostly and other worldly, along with an old, rag like cardigan on top that will add a human quality to her that reinforces that the antagonist is actually human, and actually the protagonist's mother, making her more scary. The white gown obviously ages her, but the main reason for the white gown is to make her seem pure and innocent which contrasts to the demon that has possessed her.  The rest of the family are a modern twenty first century family, therefore their costume within the trailer will be casual, everyday clothing, most likely winter clothing because weather patterns in horror movies tend to be dull and cold.

                       

Existing make-up in horror:

 Make-up in existing horror movies tends to be very basic for the general characters. The make-up is generally used to enhance their look for the camera, or to make them look older or younger. The antagonist usually has the most make up, to give them a distorted look, and to add flaws to their skins to add to the horror effect. Special effect make up is used in every horror movie, to create things such as cuts, bruises, scars, burns, blood etc. 

Our ideas for make-up:

 Our make-up techniques will include ageing our main actress, in order for her to look very worn out and old. Other make up techniques are very minor within our trailer. For the beginning of the trailer, three photos of the murdered victims will be shown, and we plan to use make up techniques such as gun shots or slit throats. The other characters will just have basic make up, to enhance their features and generally look good on the camera.

                     



Existing hair styles in horror:

Generally in horror movies, hair doesn't play a big part; this is because you can’t really do much about the hair. The protagonist has straight or wavy hair that is either tied up or if it is short it will rest on their shoulders.  This is because they want to create a plain look and so people don’t focus on the hair, they want to present a normal, everyday look. The antagonist usually has very scruffy thick hair; it is never groomed just to reflect the whole edgy side to them which again links with their overall look and the horror genre. In regards to hair colour, the main protagonist of horror movies tends to have brunette hair as brunettes are stereotypically smarter, and will therefore last until she is the "final girl". Darker hair also connotes a darker spirit, as those with blonde hair are seen as innocent and pure. Just as there are different connotation to hair colour, the state of the hair also says a lot about a character. Taking the two images above as examples, the image of Liv Tyler on the left shows her with well-groomed, straight hair, whereas the image of the antagonist in "The Devil Inside" has wild hair that is unkempt and straw like; the lifelessness of the characters hair often reflects the lifelessness of the characters soul. Drawing from this, we have decided to style our actress a hairstyle that is similar to that of the antagonist in "The Devil Inside".


Our ideas for hair styling:
We have decided to give our main antagonist a very rugged look, her hair would be a natural colour with streaks of grey. This is again to age our main actress and make her stand out from the main characters. The victims will have basic hair styles like pony tails or natural waves. We aim to have an actress with long hair which will allow us to use a range of hairstyles within the trailer for the protagonist. 

Film and Trailer Narrative

Film Narrative:

In November 1996, Mary Wilson murdered her family in their home. She killed her husband, son    and eldest daughter, but the only family member who was unharmed was her youngest, Ella Wilson. Mary was arrested and sentenced into a psychiatric unit, because doctors assumed she was schizophrenic. Ella was taken into the care of close family members, and fifteen years later is where the new story begins. Ella got happily married, and is now Ella Garcia. Ella married, William Garcia, and they had two children Logan and Layla. Ella has been visiting her mother for a year, who has made a significant recovery, which means that Mary can be released into her daughter's care. Mary's physical and mental state, are still tainted from her past, she may be recovered, but she is still not completely with us, mentally. Mary soon settles into her new family home, and the first person who notices that she is still not right is William. William then consults Ella about the strange things he has seen, and they both begin to realise that maybe Mary was never mentally ill. At a family dinner, Logan is sitting with Mary at the table, when she stares at him her eyes go completely white, and later on Logan is being tucked into bed, and demands that his Mum doesn't leave because he is scared of her eyes. William and Ella begin to research other illnesses that could be wrong with Mary, and begin to realise that it is not an illness, but she is possessed. Ella tries not to let this bother her, and she does not want to mention it to her children or her mother. As a result of this, Ella tells Logan and Layla to go spend time with their Grandma, and this is what triggers Ella to get help. During this time, Mary is playing with a jack in the box, singing pop goes the weasel, and when Ella walks in the room, the jack in the box pops out, and she screams "Your next". During the movie, Mary gets worse and the demon within her begins to focus on the family members through physical actions. The conclusion of the movie comes when the grandmother attacks the family and gets pushed out of the second storey window. As the family rush out of the house to see the body, they frantically call the police only to see that the body has disappeared. The film ends with a cut to Logan's face and his eyes are tinted white like the grandmothers had been.

Trailer Narrative:

The trailer begins with an establishing shot that tilts upwards to a dominating view of a house with crime scene tape outside it. The scene cuts to a news report of a reporter outside of the house detailing how a mother tried to murder her entire family but was intervened before killing her youngest daughter, Ella. The woman, in question is led out of the house and into a police car and the camera follows the action as she drives away. The trailer then cuts to television static to show the transition between the news report and real life, and then 15 years later comes up. The daughter is being led through a hospital ward to her mother's room whilst being told of her mother's restored mental health. They look into the room as the doctor advises that she stay in her daughters care to aid her transition from the asylum. Ella takes her mother home to live with her and her family, and they are all in severe trouble because of it. Events begin to replay themselves and the family must fight to survive. 

Analyses of Horror Movie Trailer: The Devil Inside

Todorov’s narrative structure does not strictly apply to this trailer as the equilibrium is not of the average one that is seen. In “Devil Inside”, the equilibrium is that of a woman with a possessed mother, and the disruption is Isabella helping her.  The beginning of the trailer features a 911 phone call featuring “three people are dead” and “I killed them” in a creepy, disjointed tone, thus establishing the genre of horror and sets the dark tone of the trailer. Following this, piano music begins to sound as the narrative of the film is established in a conversation between a woman, who states herself as the obvious antagonist’s daughter, with a group of people, featuring a priest. This is the first signifier of a supernatural movie, as priests and religious imagery are a common convention, just as crucifixes are; these are shown throughout the hospital on various doors as well as carved upon the antagonist’s arms in both normal and inverted fashions. Clips of news reels are shown to add realism to the plot, and to add depth to what the character, Isabella, is saying and to show the audience what the antagonist looks like. Shots of police cars and medium shots of reporters reflect clearly the overlaying narrative that the mother committed a murder. As the mother turns and looks through the back of the police car window with lifeless eyes, the horrific nature of this woman is first shown. A photograph of Maria is shown with the camera zooming in upon her face, displaying clearly that this character plays an important role.

By dressing and looking like an average mother, realism is created for the audience; they can put themselves in Isabella’s shoes. Isabella then sets the scene of the trailer by telling us that her mother is in a hospital in Rome, long connotated with Christianity, religion and the Vatican, and states that it is her goal to save her mother. The term exorcism is said, linking in the religious imagery to the storyline that is featured throughout the trailer as iconography of the paranormal genre as the music begins to grow more tense. There is an establishing shot of a panning view of Vatican City, emphasising the heavy religious aspects within this movie and the fight between good and evil, before Isabella is seen walking through a bleak courtyard in warm, winter clothing in a low angle shot, meant to make a character look intimidating, but actually just portraying Isabella as a main character in the plot, just as the zooming in of the picture did for the mother. The setting is seen to be during winter, as it represents the death of nature, and within this film: the death of a soul.

Isabella is shown in a medium two shot with a doctor, as presumed by the white lab coat, in a blank, white hallway. The colour scheme not only represents a lack of life, but almost heavenly, as if her mother is already dead. Their reunion is paired with eerie music of violins, and by preceding this scene with CCTV style footage and providing a panic button; the feeling of danger is enhanced.  Whilst Isabella is dressed in normal, average clothing that the audience would recognise, the mother, Maria, in a zoomed in, over-the-shoulder long shot, is dressed in a hospital gown, cardigan and socks, contrasting Isabella and soon to become her key “look”, and is presented as dazed and confused, bringing forth connotations of mental asylums and illnesses. The bland colour scheme represents the theme of a lack of life that was previously hinted at through the weather. Her messy hair reflects her crazed state of mind, and her make-up is designed to make her look sallow, with sunken eyes like that of a dead body. This and the genre of supernatural is confirmed by the close up of crosses carved upon her arm and inner bottom lip, through special effects make-up, and her innocent, child like beckoning as the soundtrack goes silent before screaming. Eerie music begins again as the image then flickers, as if on CCTV and flashes in and out of black, featuring the antagonist screaming and gesticulating wildly.

 This continues until the series of shots ends with a close up of Isabella sobbing hysterically. Religion is then once more brought into the film with the reappearance of the priest from the beginning conversation who tells Isabella that she must watch an exorcism to gain understanding. The scene then cuts from a small, enclosed room with warm, peach coloured wallpaper and brick to a cold, blue tinted tracking shot of the three walking into a house. The house that they are welcomed into is very bland in colour that reflects the lifelessness of the human inside. The group are led downstairs in a high angle shot and through a series of hallways to where the victim lays, reflecting how deep down the possession can reach, and just how much protection the house owners need from the victim. A sheet is removed to see a long shot of a disfigured young woman on a hospital-like bed. The young woman is dressed in a seemingly innocent, white bed clothing, that is used to highlight the grotesque positioning of her limbs and that her innocence has been violated by the demons possessing her.

Her bones pop out of their sockets with amplified sound as the shot cuts to a shocked and terrified Isabella, before cutting to a priest turning on a machine of some sort and then flickering to an extreme close up of an eye, which when the scene cuts back to the priest by the machine, turns out to be from the camera the priest holds. The feature of science mixed with religion is unconventional to supernatural films, but by pushing the rules of conventions, the writers draw the audience further in. In a close up of the victim, Isabella’s name is mentioned in a hoarse, demonic voice, and from the subsequent reactions of Isabella, the priests and the victim, more intrigue is created in the audience. Multiple angles, including a bird’s eye and worm’s eye view, of the victim’s suddenly levitating body are shown with a stab of sound before the first strap is shown, “This January”, to increase the audience’s heart rate and to maintain their attention Distorted marks on this strap are reminiscent of the shape of crucifixes, emphasising the religious imagery once more. Close ups of the technology are used; however it is every day technology that the audience may have used at home. Four voices are heard on the recording, meaning that the antagonist is possessed by four spirits, deepening the plot further. A quick cut of a time-lapse of a church is shown with a stab of orchestral music, reminding the audience of the religious theme of the trailer.

A hospital room is shown as they work on the antagonist, where she yet again has a demonic fit. More conventions are shown by throwing a man against a wall with inhuman strength and singing a lullaby to her daughter over eerie music; a contrapuntal sound for this genre, and then holy water. “Between science and religion” is shown, reaching out to atheists, spiritualists, Christians and all faiths over a background with more defined inverted crosses; signs of the anti-Christ. The straps are also used to tie the shots together into a more cohesive narrative as well as increasing the fear in the audience. The quick-cut montage is then featured with the contrapuntal lullaby being sung over the top, with conventional images of possessed people hidden in the shadows behind a character before a strap, “between hope and fear”, a medium close up of a possessed man (the priest), the antagonist grabbing at someone in another demonic fit, before another strap, “No soul is safe”, and then another series of quick cuts; getting attacked in a car, running to a hospital room and the young possessed woman having demonic fits, and climbing the wall.

 

The quick cut montage is ended with Isabella leaning closely to her mother, telling the demons to let her mother go. They respond; “You’ll burn” with multi-layered voices, creating a demonic tone. A stab is then showed with the mother flying across the room, then screaming in a close up before a dimly lit, quick cut shot within a dark room of the young possessed woman grabbing for the camera, adding further realism. The fast paced nature of the quick-cut montage is to raise the audience’s heart rate and entice them to watch the movie, something this trailer does masterfully. It is through the range of sounds played over the shots of lullabies and eerie noises paired with the emphasised heavy breathing and screams of the clips that the audience is pulled in. As the title information plays, Maria is heard in a non-diegetic soundtrack, linking the end of the trailer back to the beginning. The editing for this trailer is effective as whilst is does stick to the convention of slowing increasing to the fast cut montage, there are instances where the trailer will slow down at seemingly random before a big scare in order to recapture the audience’s attention. The quick cuts and those that seem to flicker in the style of a VHS tape are conventional to this genre as it enhances the distorted, possessed feel of the narrative, and is used in congruence with the soundtrack and pace of the scenes.  This trailer is, overall, very effective in capturing and retaining the audience’s attention in a way that we hope to replicate within our trailer. We plan to take much inspiration from this text due to its successful execution. 

Analyses of Horror Movie Trailer: Drag Me To Hell

To produce a successful trailer, a practitioner must combine multiple elements and adhere to conventions. These elements are narrative, lighting, camera angles, editing and straps, mise-en-scene (costume, make-up, props etc.) and sound. When used together, these elements can either terrify an audience into watching a horror movie if used correctly or completely turn them off when not.

 Drag Me To Hell is an example of these elements coming together successfully as Sam Raimi has effectively used them to haunt and frighten the audience into watching his film. The story is of a young woman named Christine Brown who, in an attempt to gain value at the bank of which she is employed for a possible promotion, declines an extension on a mortgage for a decrepit old, eastern European woman. Seeking revenge for being shamed by Christine, the old woman, Mrs. Ganush, sets a curse upon her that, after three days, will send her to hell. The plot of the trailer follows that of the movie very closely, however the audience is shown just enough to tantalise and not to spoil. Trailers conventionally follow Todorov’s narrative structure to the third stage, equilibrium, disruption, then reaction and repair, as does Drag Me To Hell; the audience is shown the reaction and attempts at a repair, but as is conventional, they are not shown the new equilibrium or the repair coming to fruition.

The trailer begins with crane shot of a busy American highway to establish the scene as a normal, average day. The sun is shining, and natural lighting is used to make the scene immediately relatable to the audience. This relatable nature continues as a medium close up is shown of an average woman driving a car. 

With blonde hair, brown eyes, light make-up and a plain hair style, the woman, Christine, is instantly accessible to the audience as the women can place themselves in her shoes, and both genders can recognise her to be like someone they know. Whilst the scene set so far is typical, the overlaying non-diegetic soundtrack of creepy piano, lullaby-like, music adds a mysterious quality to the scene. The audience can instantly realise that this woman is important, and something bad is going to happen to her. As she calls after a man who the audience would presume is her superior, as he is wearing a suit and glasses; stereotypical for a managerial role, the audience see her costume that is as plain as her hair and make-up. The clothing is simple yet feminine, and whilst the gold necklace draws the male eye to her neckline and slightly unbuttoned blouse, it is not overtly sexual. This would be so in a slasher film, however as this movie is a supernatural, women are slightly less obviously sexualised. The setting of a bank adds to the realism of the scene as it is an every-day location, and the busy atmosphere enhances this.

As Christine and her manager talk about a promotion, the scene cuts to her looking forlornly at a desk before it cuts to the sign outside the empty cubicle. This not only tells the audience what it is that she is wanting for, but her gaze shows the audience that it is something that she wants desperately, and will perhaps do anything to get the role. When the scene cuts back to their conversation and the “new guy” is mentioned, the audience feel sympathetic to the main character and an emotional bond is created. By creating this bond between character and audience, when the supernatural happenings occur to the woman, the audience will be much more scared and afraid for Christine as they can identify with her. The message put across by her gazing at the empty desk is reinforced as she is told that the Stu is “not afraid to make tough decisions”, to which she replies “I’m perfectly capable of making the tough decisions.” This foreshadows the coming scenes and shows the audience that Christine feels like she needs to prove herself.

The scene cuts to institutional information, signifying that the previous clips were the introduction, and now the storyline is going to ‘hit its stride’. The diegetic dialogue is played over this institutional information, and it is clear that the voice belongs to an old woman. The audience are lured into a false sense of security by this as they would assume that the old woman would be of a stereotypical “Old Age Pensioner” look, and is therefore unsettled by the old woman put before them. With a shawl around her head and a disfigured eye, the audience will immediately assume that she is a gypsy, and her eastern European accent reinforces this however the natural and available lighting of the bank gives her a more human quality than in the rest of the trailer.

 She appeals to Christine, and the audience feel sympathetic towards her, again luring them into a false state of security. The non-diegetic orchestral music is quietened to a low hum of violins at this point to give focus to the dialogue, but to add an emotional depth to the scene. A close up of Christine is shown to see her reaction to Mrs Ganush, a sympathetic one, just as the audience would have. She agrees to help, and the non-diegetic music begins to tense as her boss tells her that it’s her decision to make as a point of view shot of the woman is shown from Christine’s perspective, showing that the old woman is causing a personal dilemma in her as she looks between both her and the manager. The audience at this point would recall back to the previous scene as they spoke about the assistant manager role as the manager says “It’s a tough decision. Your call.” The music tenses at this point as the camera pushes into Christine’s face, showing the conflict more vividly in her face. The audience can pre-empt that she is going to decline the extension due to the building of tension by the soundtrack and the need for a disruption in a film narrative.

Christine declines Mrs Ganush, as the audience would have expected, and the audience would feel very sympathetic towards her as she grovels to Christine. With everyone in the bank staring, the audience would feel second hand embarrassment for Christine and the emotional tie is strengthened further.  As the old woman cries and gropes at her, the music tenses, signalling a pivotal moment coming. The stab of sound after Mrs Ganush says “you shame me” indicates this as the scene cuts to black. Christine yelling for security shows that the old woman is in fact dangerous, and her tone of voice before the stab reinforces this. Her hissing voice is almost demonic and adds to the tension of the scene.

Christine’s shoes echo in the empty parking lot, a stereotypically dangerous place to be in horror movies. There is only available lighting from fluorescent bulbs above her, only radiating a dim light, giving a dark, foreboding tone to the scene, along with the lack of non-diegetic sound. The lack of other cars and her echoing footsteps show the audience that she is alone in a dangerous place, and the audience would be considering her to be a “stupid blonde” for going out alone after the old woman had acted in that manner. The diegetic sound of the car door is enhanced to add to the idea of solitude, and the twist and push in of the camera into a close up of her calm expression lulls the audience, yet also builds tension through lack of action; the audience are waiting for the jump.

A cut and stab is used to Mrs Ganush raising what seems to be a cinder block and smashing Christine’s car window in.  As Christine cowers in fear from Mrs Ganush, the audience fear for her life as the orchestral music swells. When she is dragged from the car, her skirt is pulled up and her bare legs are shown in the process, sexualising Christine when she is vulnerable showing just how helpless she is, the quick cuts showing the frantic nature of the scene and reflecting a racing heartbeat. The low angle camera on Christine and the high angle on Mrs Ganush show a clear contrast in power between the two characters and shows that Christine is at her mercy. When Mrs Ganush steals the button, there is clear confusion written on her face that would reflect the audience, strengthening that bond between character and audience further, and as the old woman sets a curse on Christine, the stereotype of gypsies laying curses on well-meaning, innocent women is perpetuated.

 The close up of her yellowed, dirty teeth removes any remainders of the previous  misconception that she was a sweet old lady losing her house, and brings focus on the button, showing that it is a central part of the narrative. The high angle shot in combination with the backlighting of the fluorescent bulb gives Mrs Ganush a supernatural, powerful representation that reinforces the control she has over the situation and over Christine. The close up of her eyes is a slightly blurred point of view shot from Christine, possibly from the effects of the curse that shows a clear contrast between her good and bad eye, emphasising her disfigurement. A staple in her forehead is seen, relating back to the stationary that Christine was seen carrying to her car, and the bloodied eye shows defensive wounds made by Christine, highlighting the violence of the previous scene. A close up of the young woman’s face is shown and the old woman is seeming to have a drug-like effect on her as the camera shifts focus to create a “trippy” effect from Christine’s point of view, as if she is woozy. A more focused close up of Mrs Ganush’s eyes are shown, and sue to the better focus, her eyes seem darker, as is she has more power after cursing Christine, or that there are evil forces running through her. This is enhanced by the non-diegetic eerie noises being played as the younger woman looks up at her confused and seemingly weak. This weakness is reinforced as Mrs Ganush tells her “soon it will be you who comes begging to me.” The close up is almost like a tilt shift as the focus is altered on the lens. The cut to Christine’s eyes show the contrast between each of theirs and the confusion that clouds hers. Mrs Ganush’s voice is almost taunting towards her, adding to her evil image.

 There is the stab of sound on the strap that occurs on each one throughout this trailer. This strap features “From Sam Raimi” on top of a plain black ground with a spotlight at the centre that shifts towards the end of the short strap as the brass instruments of the non-diegetic orchestra music sound. This can be seen to reflect Christine as an average, pure, innocent woman being approached by darkness and shadow. By featuring a well known director, the audience will recognise the name and immediately become more attracted to the film as the y may have seen his other works. A male hand is seen lifting Christine’s as the scene cuts, and the darker complexion and beaded male jewellery would immediately signal to the audience that his hand belongs to a fortune teller, psychic or medium, as is stereotypical in all films; most characters with a darker complexion are wise, exotic people. A medium shot of Christine and the medium is seen, confirming the audience’s assumptions.

 Despite being dark from only using the available lighting from the lamps, the audience can make out the knick-knacks covered the man’s desk, the older books that litter the bookshelves and the worn furniture. These props would tell the audience that this man is the “helper” as seen by Propp’s character types. He will aid the main character in ridding herself of the curse. The small cloth covered table is stereotypical to psychics, and the light tone of the fabric is bold in the dark room, and highlights their joined hands. The close up of Rham’s face adds to the stereotype of a mystical exotic foreigner that knows more than a simple American with his beard, wild hair and dark eyes that make him seem dark and mysterious. There is once more a cut to Christine’s concerned and scared expression before he explains what he knows of the curse. As he does so, the scene cuts to a darkened street lit by available lighting of street lamps as the non-diegetic orchestral music begins to swell and create tension. The wind blowing leaves around suggests an invisible mystical force or some form of witchcraft, and the camera pushes in and lifts slowly before the scene cuts to Christine who, in a close up, turns her head sharply, as if she had heard a noise, and the scene cuts back to outside where the wind is picking up. The music tenses further and stabs as the gate is flung open by the wind and makes Christine jump, as seen in the following shot. The wind breaching the gate makes it seem as if there is no escape for Christine and the supernatural force is invading everything around her.

A tab of sound is heard and a strap shown displaying “Director of Spiderman”, reinforcing the fame of the director and ensuring that those who may not know him by name, would recognise him by his famous pieces of work. In this strap, unlike the last several, the font of the “I” drips down slightly, reminiscent of blood or connoting the curse that is running through her veins. The flicking pages of the books that follow after a cut show ages pages, signifying that the curse is of an older magic, making it scarier. There is an scary, unknown quality that comes with looking into history. With tales of witchcraft and curses in every nation’s history, the audience have been bred to fear such things. The flicking of pages stops on a page detailing the curse. Whilst in real life it would seem unlikely that the person you seek help from just so happens to have an old book on a curse from an eastern European woman, as it is a film, the audience accept an altered reality where such things can happen and they don’t question it. 

 With the details of the curse revealed to the audience, the trailer begins to present the effects of the curse by using a canted camera angle to reflect the main character’s fractured state of mind. The shadow on the curtain is a convention of older horror films seen primarily in the 1940’s, that used suggestion to create fear. The suggestion however is more blatant than subtle in this trailer as the audience is shown a demon-like shadow paired with a beastly cry, then a quick cut of the creature at the kitchen window before it cuts back to a quick shot of Christine turning away with a gasp.  

With a short, slow paced tracking shot, beginning to circle the couple in bed, making it seem as if the camera is a point of view shot from a demonic predator. The strap of “And the Evil Dead Trilogy” slows down the pace for a moment to keep the audience on their feet, with eerie noises overlaying the soundtrack of orchestral music and the narration from the  donor continues over this as the soundtrack begins to rise in volume. There is a close up of a fly to ensure that the audience know where to focus on in the forthcoming scene, leaving the couple in the blurred background in the transition from deep to shallow focus. A close up of Christine’s mouth follows, once more to show clearly where the audience’s attention should be as the fly lands on her lip. 

By cutting to Christine talking to the donor, the tension of the scene is raised by introducing a new scene that continues with the narrative, to create dramatic tension by pausing the action yet continuing the fast pace and tense music. The medium-close-up shot of Christine with a person hidden in the foreground shows the character as desperate, therefore increasing the pressure. Christine’s headband in addition to the bright, yellow lighting makes her seem innocent, however the dark tone of her clothing makes it seem as if she is going to a funeral, perhaps her own. The scene cuts once more and the fly enters her mouth as the orchestral soundtrack reaches a crescendo as she flies upright in bed. With the windows in the bedroom open, the audience would wonder at this point whether it was a dream, or whether it was in fact reality and the fly had flown in. The stabs of the brass instruments before the cut increase the heart rate of the audience before it cuts to black. 

The short silence before the donor says "To burn in hell" emphasises the sentence, and the fade in of images from a seemingly ancient text of demons also serves the same purpose. The camera zooms in on Christine’s terrified face with dark, almost pitch black eyes before the fade to a pan across the book. The fade to a following shot of Christine going back to sleep is to slow the scene down and to show deep contrast that in turn accentuates the grotesque horror of the old woman lying beside her. The demonic noise as the old woman roars at Christine is a sharp stab that makes the audience jump just as they were lulled into a false sense of security.

A quick cut to a strap is shown with a quick fade in of the text "This May", which features more distortion on the font showing the transition through the trailer, and how the film is getting more intense. This strap features more brass music to maintain the level of tension and to retain the audience as it cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the young couple as the narrative says "It's coming for me" before a shadow of hands creeps across the bare floorboards as a non-diegetic demonic groan sounds. The bare floorboards represent bare bones in this section, and just as the demon's shadow encroaches and takes over the floor boards, it will take over her too, to her very core.

By using a well known actor, Justin Long, along side a non-well known actor, Alison Lohman, the movie both fits the convention of horror using unknown actors, but also appeals to a wider audience who may be fans of Justin Long and will therefore see it even if they don't like horror films. Clay Dalton, Long, is shown as a sweet and caring boyfriend to Christine over a series of fast cuts. By doing this, it is clear the Clay is only a sub-plot, and not the main storyline. The low angles show him as  vulnerable and confused, not stereotypically associated with males in film, however within this plot, the main female character doesn't need to be saved by a man, as in other genres, as she needs to be preyed upon by the supernatural being for the entertainment of the audience. The low angle shot of Christine followed by the high angle of the skyline with the continued imagery of the hands reinforces this. By cutting back to Clay telling Christine "There is nothing coming for you", the audience immediately know that there is, and that it is coming soon; the denying acts as foreshadowing. 

The strap of institutional information that follows is quick in both length of clip and action of fading to reflect the pace of the trailer with a slight stab in orchestral music to reflect the tension.  There is then a conventional seance, that is common in supernatural films, around a circular table with a geometric design set out by the floor tiles in a similar shape of a pentagram below them, a shape long connotated with the devil. They hold hands and chant, surrounded by candles, as the darkness seems to surround them through key lighting that focuses on the characters' faces only. The pan of the seance members make it seem as if they are being watched, and the cut to a high angle shot of a shaking chandelier makes it seem as if an evil spirit is with them. The donor is then showed again as the trailer begins to come to it's climax so as to tie the story lines further together and entice the audience. 

The distortion on this strap on the stab is reminiscent of wings on the P and T, however due to their colour and the tone of the trailer, they are more likely to be demon wings, or a fallen angels. A fast whip pan moves through the characters as a chanting chorus swells with the orchestra, representing the rising tension as the climax approaches. 

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