I have chosen to do the genre Psychological Horror and I have analysied films that indicate psychology as this will specifically help me with creating my trailer more than a for example a ‘Slasher’ horror trailer would.
These types of films feature a disturbed individual whose mental problems unnerve and frighten audiences. The ‘psycho’ will appear like a ‘normal’ human-being, before revealing their monstrous and sadistic nature. There is less need for masses of death, violence and gore as they scare audiences by reminding them of reality. Psychological horrors give the impression that we may be living amongst danger.
As I’ve chosen this genre it would be easier to film because it involves less violence and gore. This could possibly mean that my film trailer would have more chance of appearing professional. Conventionally, there is a clever and complex storyline attached to psychological horrors and it would be intriguing to construct a plot so in-depth and intricate. However, it would be challenging in the sense of producing an authentic storyline for this genre. As I have been able to develop a good enough storyline around the idea of a psychological horror I have used certain trailers to help me understand how I can make this genre scary in a trailer.
What is a psychological horror?
Psychological horror is a sub-genre of horror fiction, film, and video games (as a narrative) which relies on the characters’ fears and emotional instability to build tension.
Donnie Darko (2002) Analysis:
The film is a massive inspiration for me The ideas of the hallucinations initiated further ideas and also the the horror posters and the different pictures involved in this film added to my palette of knowledge for my trailer too.
I will be analysing three different trailers that are similar to my ideas, this will be a part of my primary research as it will provide me with some inspiration for when I start shooting my own trailer.
Synopsis: A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident.
- Although Donnie Darko is not explicitly a horror film I feel as though it has been the most inspiration for my ideas other than the normal slasher horror films. The film does include elements of horror and it certainly scared me, but the reason for analysing this trailer because it holds a psychological element of the film therefore it is extremely relevant to the research for my horror trailer.
Analysis:
- Before the trailer starts a green screen picture comes and and says ‘Restricted’ and suggests that those who are under the age of 17 should be accompanied by an adult. immediately this green image implies that the content of the film is going to be scary/ grusome/ rude.
- As the trailer continues, the difference between the diagetic sound and non diagetic sound is apparent to me when. When Donnie has the hallucinations, the non-diagetic hallucinatory sounds highlight his psychosis even further. The diegetic sounds includes Donnie’s conversations with the characters who are also involved in the film. At the beginning, it shows that he is a normal/ perhaps stable teenager, even though he is not. As the trailer moves on, sounds are fitted over the top to signify the change in Donnie’s perception. The sound over the top of Donnie’s hallucinations really imply that something is going to happen. Obviously the audience do not understand or know what it is as the movie has to be watched however, when this is shown a psychological aspect of the film is certainly portrayed to the audience. The sounds as well as his psychosis increases the tension of whats to come next.
- After this bit of the trailer, we can see that when Donnie has his hallucinations he sees something wearing a mask named ‘Frank’, he is the villain in Donnie’s head and this is reinforced through the character wearing the mask; this is scary. Masks distort the wearer’s appearance, causing him to look strange and unusual. Most masks do not feature moving mouths, so when Frank speaks the sound appears to come out of nowhere putting the watcher in the same position as the character in the film.
Why are masks scary:
Maskaphobia is believed to be related to automatonophobia, or fear of humanoid figures . A precise cause has not been determined. Nonetheless, a common theory states that these phobias may be rooted in our expectations of human appearance and behavior.
The Mise-en scene used here is the costume, as we see the image of Frank, he is staring back at us, Frank is a representation of Donnie’s psychosis, as it shows the audience his hallucination, the lighting also used along with the prop of Franks mask. The lighting is dark showing that Frank is a dark concept and as a result triggering the audiences imagination. This is how props and lighting have been used to increase effect and tension; ultimately what the director wants to do to. This definitely suggests Donnie’s psychosis, once again reinforcing the psycho-horror element of the trailer.
- As the trailer ends it shows flashing images of him vs Franks; normal vs psychosis. A purple filter has been put over the top of the flashing images, purple symbolizes power. Purple is associated with , independence, creativity, mystery, and magic, all of this subconsciously understand his omniscience. The fact that a filter can really change how someone looks at something will really help me when I am conveying certain messages in my horror trailer. The camera angle in this scene is looking straight at Donnie Darko suggesting that he has a lot of power. This creates the atmosphere of suspense for the viewer making them want to watch on to find out what happens next.
The Fight Club (horror trailer)
Synopsis: An insomniac office worker looking for a way to change his life crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker and they form an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more..
Analysis:
- Firstly I noticed that in a specific shot of Tyler in this scene, when he is asleep a black and white filter has been used, it then changes to a normal filter. The filters suggest that Tyler has two sides to his personality, the idea of a duality in character or personality reveals his psychotic tendencies, portraying to the audience that he is a danger as he is not completely himself all the time. This effect will be something that I will speculate on using in my horror trailer as it is a simple yet effective way of showing the audience that Josh has different personalities which reinforces the idea of it being a psychological horror trailer.
- The sound of the characters monologue almost reveals what goes on inside his head, later on scarier music is used over the clips chosen to portray the scary aspect of psychosis. The ring of the telephone signifies how the character has no control over what goes on his head, and as this is not possible, it implies that he is having and auditory hallucination. This had made me realise how important sound is, not just diegetic sound but non-diegetic sound too. This sound increases the atmospheric aspect of the trailer and leaves the audience intrigued into what is next to come. This gave me a few ideas for my trailer as its really important for me to show the psychosis of Josh (but not too much) as I need to be able to leave the audience wanting more. Curiosity is key. (Bathes enigma code)
- In this part of the trailer the camera angle is looking up to the character, showing his superiority, this increases the tension involved as it makes the audience feel on edge about the characters capabilities. I will also consider the different camera angles to use in my trailer.
Shutter Island
Synopsis: In 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding near-by.
Analysis:
- In this part of the trailer, the lighting it shining onto the character emphasising the characters omniscience. This increases the character likeability factor as the lighting is pointing down onto him making him look vulnerable and scared. As there is a low level of lighting projecting onto the character, this makes the character look mysterious… again reinforcing the idea of a psychological thriller, as it can emphasis the enigma codes within the film trailer, which makes the audience want to watch the actual film. It is a good strategy to lure the audience and one that I will experiment with in my own horror trailer.
- The setting of the horror film is based around a mental institute and therefore the use of characters and narrative and slow track editing of this psychotic woman reinforces the conventions of a psychological horror. This woman gives an insight into what the mental institute is like which foreshadows to how scary the actual horror film is going to be.
- Another convention of a psychological horror trailer through the use of editing. This trailer uses Bathes hermeneutic code is the use of flashback, this inevitably builds necessary tension and makes the audience question what is actually going to happen at the end of the film… therefore it subconsciously reals them in to make them watch the actual film. Th
- When authors employ flashback as a literary device, they break with the traditional, chronological storytelling narrative. Therefore, when the flashback is included, it will likely bring information that had not been produced previously. There will be new details and facts that may help tie in the events taking place as part of the plot.
- Flashbacks can be included as a break in the narrative, or blended within the story of the characters as it happens in the style known as “stream of consciousness”. In this type of story, the narrator is the main character, and is in constant analysis of a situation speaking from his or her own point of view and using first person.
- Flashbacks can also come as dreams and memories, thus manifesting to the main character subconsciously. Whichever way they occur, their purpose is to add information, clarify issues, and perhaps be the solution to the story’s problem or main dilemma. Flashbacks are predominately found in psychological horrors, therefore I will make sure that this will definitely be something that speculate on when creating and involved in the post-production stages of my horror trailer (the editing part)
- Further conventions are revealed in this physiological horror to dictate it being a horror genre is the use of props again, specifically; blood. As the trailer also shows the main character have flashbacks of a woman, this tells more about the narrative of the story and as a result definitely categories this trailer as a psychological horror. As one of the main conventions of a horror film is the use of blood because it implies death and killing, I will make sure that my own includes bloods it is one of the definite conventions that indicate to the audience that my trailer will be a horror. However, Shutter Island is a psychological horror and I noticed that the use of blood was not excessive and did not show explicit clips of a lot of blood therefore I will make sure that when I make my psychological horror trailer that I will not go over board with the blood.
- Further conventions of a horror trailer are revealed in this part as the use of props (mise-en-scene) are shown. This makes it more scary for the audience. In order for the audience to want to watch the actual film, shots of the props in the mental hospital will increase the chances of a bigger audience for the horror film. I will make sure that I take this into consideration for my horror trailer as these props definitely fit into the convention of a psychological horror trailer , thus this will help me when i create my own horror trailer. Other props were used in this horror trailer such as a pen an piece of paper, which the word ‘run’ written on it, this again is the use of Barthes hermeneutic code as it avoids revealing the truth of the story all at one time and instead drops little fact, therefore I will certainly make sure that I use this technique in my trailer as it will engage the audience even more for my actual horror film
Sarah A2 Media 