For our ancillary text of the poster, we wanted something that would really drive home the genre and subject of our trailer. Therefore, we looked through the posters for some of the well known films in the horror genre.
We looked between two types of poster, cinematic and minimalistic.
We looked at the cinematic posters for horror trailers and found that they were often simplistic. They had the typical horror colour schemes of black, white and red, and used imagery of the antagonist to create mystery and tension. We also noticed that the simplicity worked well in focusing the eye on the subject of the poster, thus creating an effectively chilling piece.
However, we felt ourselves drawn to even more simplistic and minimalist design, as seen with the poster of 'The Babadook'. It creates mystery, making a possible viewer more interested in watching the film. We decided to follow this idea with our concept, keeping it simple and using the significant imagery of Slenderman to identify our film topic.
Storyboarding is one of the essential parts in developing and creating a film. To us, this was incredibly important as one of the conventions of horror films is to be fast paced and intense. We also want our piece to be aesthetically interesting, with one of our unique selling points being unusual shot angles. The structure of this is something we hope to follow closely but we are prepared to be lenient and make changes that may occur due to limitations, new ideas or changes that are unavoidable.
For the music of our trailer, we chose to create a soundtrack rather than try to find something copyright free. We looked at different pieces of film music from horrors:
What makes this soundtrack ideal for a horror film is that it plays on the link between music boxes and children. With the discordant music, it makes for a chilling piece. As the bass line comes in, the music picks up pace and creates the sense of a chase. The rising intonation in areas builds further tension and prepares the audience for something to happen.
As one of the most memorable pieces of film music, Jaws certainly builds tension. The use of low strings that pick up speed and the addition multiple layers creates a sense of something large and ominous approaching closer and closer to cause danger.
Another legendary piece of music, what makes the theme from Psycho so effective is the use of jarring, high-pitched strings. It is simple but creates an unnerving atmosphere and a fast, dramatic pace.
The theme from Halloween uses a simple, repetitive piano tune throughout with heavy bass and what sounds like a shaker to create a fast speed and dissonant melodies. If anything, the shaker sounds almost like a clock ticking, and some may feel therefore that it imitates a concept of time running out.
However, what was also noticeable was the lack of music in trailers.Instead, they employ the use of diegetic sound, single bass chords and sound effects to build the tension and set the pace. They are often timed to enter with cuts between scenes or moments where something dramatic occurs. Good examples of these effects can be seen in the trailers for The Forest, The Pyramid, and Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension:
For our company logo, we wanted something that would reflect our genre and company. We chose 'Trespass' to create a sense of venturing into the unknown and dangerous, thus reflecting our genre of horror. We felt that our logo should reflect this idea of trespassing, and so we experimented with the linked image of barbed wire. Again, imagery-wise, it brings up images of danger and violence. We eventually settled on the company name being wrapped up in barbed wire. We chose a monochromatic colour scheme of black and grey to imitate metal, and by keeping it neutral it keeps it harsh and chilling.
The camera we used for filming was a Panasonic Lumix GH2 with a 14-140mm lens. The camera is designed for filming long sessions in high quality, and the lens has a silent focus. However, while filming we discovered that automatic focus caused the camera to blur mid shot, and so we used the manual focus instead. This meant that every time we were about to film, we had to refocus.
We were left with crisp clips with high quality sound and could edit easily.
We used a Koenig KN-Tripod19 to steady the camera. It was lightweight, perfect for carrying through the forest, and had a spirit level so we could make sure that the shots were level and the camera was straight. It had a panning handle, making it easy to move the camera. We also used the tripod to help counterbalance some of the shaking that would have occurred during the filming of the running shots.
For the lighting, we used simple LED lights with a cool white colour as it helped to set the mood. Each light had 5 hours of battery and were rechargeable, as well as being designed to combat all weather. This made them perfect for filming and meant that any weather we faced would not have any effect.
As the lights were so strong, we used pieces of chiffon in various colours that would work with our genre. We felt that shades of blue with the coolness of the lights would create a chilling atmosphere and emphasise what the weather may be like. It also helped add mood lighting into scenes, such as in the party.
We used a RØDE VideoMic Directional On-Camera Microphone to improve sound quality when shooting. It also helped cut down wind noise, meaning that once again weather was not a problem.
