Conventions:
Teenagers are popular in horror films as they serve to make the film
realistic and engaging for the horror audiences who are predominately young
people. The immaturity and extremity of emotions portrayed are convincing thus
providing platforms for postmodern films such as ‘Attack the Block’ to be made.
Plot lines have always focused on young people with famous slasher films such
as Scream, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween being prime examples.
Taking this into consideration, our group decided to revolve our trailer around
five teenagers: Nina, Tatum, Buffy Kirby and Thomas.
Screaming is an expression of shock and fear hence we have incorporated this
into our trailer. Screaming is a depiction of the horror that the character is
experiencing and this is dispersed through to the audience who are shown a
vulnerable and helpless victim.
Knives are a good horror weapon as they allow intimate contact and cause a
slow and painful death. The majority of our respondents thought that knives
were most effective horror weapons consequently our group decided to use them
in our trailer. According to Freud’s sadism theory, the knife serves as a
misogynistic tool when being used against women and this fits our trailer which
has mainly female characters.
Blood is a vital in slasher films to illustrate the extent of the
villain’s ruthless quest to inflict pain onto his/her weak victims. By
depicting bloodshed and gore, the slasher film subgenre achieves its purpose of
representing a dramatic and extreme bloodbath playing on the fears of
audiences.
Masked figure conform to the Structuralist prop paradigms and not knowing the
identity of the person behind the mask unsettles the audience. The mask allows
the audience to undertake a journey to find out who is behind the mask and this
adds mystery conforms to Barthes pleasure of text theory. Our group decided to use
the mask paradigm due to its popularity after films like Scream, Friday the 13th
and Halloween.
Chase scenes add a thrill and excitement which heightens the experience of a
watching a horror film. Used in probably all horror films, they serve to build
up tension and bring the masochistic viewers to the edge of their seats not
knowing whether the victim, usually Clover’s ‘Final Girl’, will triumph or
concede defeat to the villain, usually the sadistic voyeur. Our reason for
including a chase sequence was to highlight the power difference between the
villain and the victim- who despite running as fast as she can, will ultimately
be caught by the villain.
Bathroom scenes or scenes where the victim physically lays exposed to the sadistic
voyeurs is something which our group found effective after seeing the classic
bathroom scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’. The idea of subverting an
everyday activity of a tranquil and peaceful bath into a horrific and fatal
experience highlights the merciless nature of our victim accurately thus we
decided to include this in our trailer.
Darkness is imperative in horror films to create fear of the unknown and
startle the audiences when the unexpected happens. Accordingly, all of our
scenes are set in darkness to highlight the metaphorical darkness the
characters have been plunged into.
“Names are boundary markers of individual identity” as critic Parker has
said emphasizing the significance of the names of characters. As a result of
this, our group decided to name our characters based on the denotation of the
specific names
The name Nina was our
first choice for our final girl but as horror film protagonists usually have an
asexual name, we decided to change it to --------- Clover’s ‘Final Girl’ theory argued that
asexual names were used due to the masculine personality trait adopted by the
girl in her final confrontation with the villain.
The name Tatum was
chosen to represent a promiscuous girl who is always prevalent in horror films.
This character always dies due to her engagement in sexual activities as Clover
suggests which is why our group decided to show her death in the bath scene
where she lays physically exposed.
Kirby is short for Kimberly and
the nick name reduces her significance highlighting that she is one of the less
important characters who dies early on in the trailer.
Buffy’s name suggests the stereotypical blonde girl who is first to
confront the villain. Conforming to the typical representation of blondes in
horror films, due to her own mistake, she decides to remain in the dance studio
alone and creates the perfect scenario for the villain to enter and commit his
first killing
The boyfriend character is seen
in most horror films either protecting the final girl and dying nobly during
the course; or assisting the villain in his quest to avenge the final girl. Thomas
is a popular everyday name and is relatable to audiences.
We looked at Propp’s character types and
used them to create the characters in our trailer.
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