As we began scouting different sub genres and alternative storylines, we had to consider how we can use camera movement and locations to help emphasize a particular genre. Typical conventions of the psycological horror films relate to the use of music, plot and the lack of light.
Teaser Trailers follow many typical conventions. Many use rapid cuts between shots and underlying music to set a particular mood or tone which can sometimes carry on throughout the shots that are shown. Typically, a teaser trailer is no more than 1 minute long; this can vary between 30 seconds to a minute and a half. Studying existing teaser trailers is crucial as it means we can use particular clips and conventions that appeal to audiences and can work in our favour for us to re-create.
Psychological Horror Teaser Trailer Conventions Analysis
Home Video supplies many different effects when using a camera to initiate a particular feeling. Paranormal Activity 3's use of a handheld camera works perfectly to its advantage. The fuzzy feedback and distorted imagery that the camera can supply helps to initiate a sense of danger or sinister happening that builds suspense and uncertainty as a viewer.
The laughter of the young children over the top of the more horrifying flashbacks from previous films help supply context whilst also juxtaposing the idea that the good times were always masked by bad throughout these young girls lives. Rapid cuts and slow motion also work perfectly alongside the footage and help to suppliment and evoke a sense of psychological contortion and helplessness; as if the impending doom is not yet known to the girls in the shot.
Here the camera gives the sense that its malfunctioning or recieving some sort of interfierence. The shot becomes blurred and the sound begins to muffle and becomes scratchy and almost unrecogisable as that particular characters voice. This sense of interfierence allows the audience to make the assumptions that 'something is coming' or that something may happen to the young girl. Due to the context of the flashbacks in between these shots from the previous 2 Paranormal Activity films, we as the audience already know what happens to them and what it is that they go through at this stage of their lives.
As the teaser trailer begins, this interfierence between camera and the shot is used to its maximum. It evokes fear and helps to dramatise the clip to make it seem more sinister and juxtapose the clips that follow. The use of scratchy sound FX and temprimental equipment helps to acknowledge that when this happens on camera, the scenes to follow arent going to be very friendly and help to encourage the fear in its audience to help grab and enable the viewers attention. This technique therefore works as a hook to make the viewer want to see what happens next.
Paranormal Activity has always had mixed reviews and has been considered as one of the most contraversial horror films in terms of its reaction from its audiences. However, the films capture vulnerable people in normal everyday surroundings which help you to relate to them as people. This 3rd installment helps add to the ever lasting battle between this 'demon' and the characters themselves. Whilst it progresses, the 3rd film is representing their earlier years; where it all began. This, again, helps to add to the psychological conventions of the films as they are presented to us in the incorrect order of the stage of their lives and the order in which things occured. Therefore, it seems clear that the films are subconsiously presented in a distorted manner to emphasize the conventions of psychotic and schizophrenic uncertainty.
Paranormal Activity Teaser Trailer: Final Cut clip
The penultimate clip to the teaser trailer is the sinister of them all as you actually see a small snippet of the outline of something that was in the room with the young girls and obviously feeds off of the darkness in the house. In the 2 previous Paranormal Activity films, actually seeing the 'demon' never happened. As the audience, this small clip makes the entire teaser trailer fulfil its purpose. The mise-en scene fulfils all the typical conventions on a horror teaser and also helps to set the scene and tone for the entire film. This small clip is a slice of the action and leaves its audience wanting more; therefore working as a cliffhanger.
No comments:
Post a Comment