Genre research

Psychological horror films differ from the traditional horror film, where the source of the fear is typically something material – such as creatures, monsters or aliens – as well as the splatter film, which derives its effects from gore and graphic violence, in that tension is built through atmosphere, eerie sounds and exploitation of the viewer's and the character's psychological fears. . Psychological horror aims to create discomfort by exposing common or universal psychological vulnerabilities and fears, such as the shadowy movements and creepy random noises.

Youtube Reseach

Today I spent time researching horror/thriller trailers on youtube.

Background music

The XX - Try

I'm not wanting to use the whole song though, I am wanting to repeat a certain part which is an eerie, spooky sound. That has bass added to it slowly after it has been repeated numerous amounts.

Setting of the trailer

I am thinking about using a promenade as my main area of shooting my film trailer. 
To compliment the horror/thriller genre I am going for I will be filming in the evening time to add a more eerie, mystical feel to the shots that are going to include the background which I will try and make empty to emphasise how alone the character is feeling at that moment in time. 

When on the promenade I am planning on including many full body shots of the actress, mis en scene will be made clear meaning the costume to show the type of personality behind the main character of the film. Along with this I am wanting to include extreme close ups and I want to get into the close up shot by tracking closer to the character in rapid movements back and forth. As it is a possession based horror movie I am going to use the fast movements to act as the behaviour of the spirits inside her.

Along with this I want small clips of the character in other areas such as school and her house. When the shot of her house is shown I want it to pan to the house next door to hint to the possible plot which is that the house next door were all murdered. 

Film trailer - Camera angle ideas

I want to use a my wide angle lens to do a 360 degree angle shot containing the full body of the actress during my opening scene to make it clear to the viewer who the main character of this movie is. In addition to that I want to use this feature as an opening scene to show the full mis en scene in the form of the actress' outfit and the setting in the background being clear due to the wide angle lens allowing a landscape shot whilst the main focus of the shot is the character.

Further into the trailer I want extreme close ups of the actress' eyes possibly including a macro focus of a tear, showing emotion visually rather than verbally.

Close ups of the necklace as the actress notices it and picks it up. I want this to be a close up because it is important for the narrative of the trailer. The necklace being the main reason for the film being a thriller/horror as it holds troubled spirits.

Over the shoulder shots will be used to show the character holding the necklace and investigating it to hint that something is not quite right. Plot hinting.

Style Models

          The Possession
  


The Haunting in Connecticut


  

Mis en scene ideas - Make up

I have picked these images because I will be using make up like this to make the actress look tired. These images have used brown tones, I will use that along with pinky colours around the bottom of the eye. I will also make the lips paler like this:

First Ideas for Film Trailer

My initial ideas have consisted of the genres; thriller and drama. I want to give off a dramatic yet eerie feeling behind the trailer. I was thinking the topic would be a trouble female teenager being possessed by a whole family that was murdered next to her first family home. As she is possessed by the family she can hear and feeling all their emotions and inner thoughts. This results in her being a troubled young person and lonely.

I was thinking to show the effects of hearing and seeings things having the camera doing fast/sharp movements to give a unsettled outlook to show how the main character is feeling at that moment in time and extreme close up shots of the actors/actresses to show the emotion behind the trailer to back up the drama genre. I want to include an extreme close up of tears on the face of the actress. To make it into a slight thriller I had the idea of filming it in the evening like when the sun is setting so it's not totally dark but yet it has a mysterious feel to the shots. I also want to have atmospherical music in the background with murmurs and voices in the background.

If the actress touches someone else one of the family members spirits will move onto the person touched and use that person as a host.


(or: found a mysterious item that holds the demons of a whole family)

The Brief I have Selected

A promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the film.
• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film.
• A poster for the film.

I will be doing a film magazine front cover and a poster featuring the film.