Mood Board

This mood board was compiled to illustrate the types of horror themes our group will aim to encapsulate in our teaser trailer. For instance, on the right hand corner of the mood board you will see the grim reaper next to a schoolgirl, there characters are included within our narrative and we aim to replicate similar costumers. Secondly, the mood board also includes many aspects of horror they we will also utilise and exploit for our teaser trailer. For instance, the element of darkness and dim lighting is heavily emphasise in most of the pictures on the mood board, this therefore indicates that dark lighting is conventional for horror films and in order for our teaser trailer to look authentic and realistic, we will also have to implement dim lighting. The mood board overall will give our group a source to refer back to in terms of visualising , filming and ensuring our teaser trailer abides by the genre of horror, a range of pictures taken from horror films will provide us first hand information on what our teaser trailer should include. This includes mise en scene and certain camera angles that have been used. For instance, the mood-board includes several closeups of characters which may have been done for dramatic effect but also to convey close detail. 

Teaser Trailer - Audience Feedback

To gain feedback on my teaser trailer, i showed the trailer to my target audience of 15/20 year olds to see what they thought of it. I then asked them two specific questions in order to found out whether my teaser trailer fulfilled its purpose as a horror teaser. These questions include:

What genre was the trailer?

Did it follow codes and conventions of horror and did this scare you?

Here are some pictures of the feedback process that was carried out by me:

Firstly, upon asking the group the first question ( What genre was the trailer?), they all thought the teaser was a trailer for a horror movie. I asked this question to find out whether my teaser trailer is reflective of the correct genre. The response from the teenagers therefore indicated that my groups teaser trailer was effective as it was easily identified as a horror teaser. Furthermore, my target audience thought it was a horror due to the nature of our teaser trailer. For instance, they commented that the continuous dark /dim light shots exemplified that it was part of the horror genre as constant darkness made them feel uncertain and quite anxious. Secondly, they also said the teaser trailer didn't include any aspects of other genres such as action, romance, etc. Therefore they assumed it was a horror as it stood out from other genres. Thirdly, they thought it was a horror due to the storyline of the film, they said they saw a shot within our trailer that illustrated that a local student was murdered, this dark aspect of the narrative therefore conveyed to my target audience that our trailer was horror as this type of story suits the genre the most.

Secondly, i asked my target audience whether my teaser trailer included the codes and conventions of horror. They commented on many aspects of our teaser. Firstly, the teenagers said the re-occurrence of darkness within the trailer followed codes and conventions as darkness is an important theme within horror films as it is used to inject fear into the audience because viewers will be afraid of what they cant see on screen. Secondly, after giving the teenagers examples of codes and conventions, they commented that our teaser trailer included a female victim, therefore it abides by conventions as horror films utilise female victims as they are depicted as weak and vulnerable. The teenagers also commented that the background music within our trailer was tense as it reached several crescendos, they said this was a code that our trailer had abided by as the music reinforced and intensified the visuals on screen, therefore the target audience felt nervous and panicky from the background music. In our teaser trailer, we also included a jump scare, the teenagers said this was also another convention as they said jump scares are common within the horror films that they have watched previously. Overall, my target audience felt that we had abided by many codes and convention of horror which was positive feedback as it informed me that my teaser trailer was reflective of the correct genre but also used the conventions of real life horror films.

Overall, the feedback from my target audience of 15/20 year olds that i asked was very positive as it indicated that my teaser trailer was efficient as the young teenagers easily identified it to be a horror film. Also, my target audience commented that our trailer used many codes and conventions of horror , this was very important for our target market to comment on as our teaser trailer would have to be effective with its use of codes and conventions of real life media products which would contribute significantly to the effectiveness of my overall marketing campaign.

Official Teaser Trailer

Official Teaser Trailer - Draft

The first draft of the trailer is available to watch via embed code. You can also follow the link below to watch on YouTube:

Behind The Scenes

Editing Log - Day 4

Day 4 was our last day of editing for our teaser trailer. This day consisted of polishing up our current teaser trailer edit by making any significant final adjustments or changes. In addition, to help with this, our teacher had arranged a professional editor to come into our lesson for one day to look at our classes teaser trailers. Upon looking at our own teaser trailer, the editor had given us constructive feedback that was extremely useful as this information came first hand from a reliable source. Also, due to his experience, we trusted his opinion of our teaser trailer and made the changes he had suggested. For example, he gave us the idea to consider using black and white colour contrasting for the shots of our teaser trailer which would significantly make up for the lack of quality and visual grain. Also, within our teaser trailer, we had a few close up shots near to the end, the editor however thought that these close up shots almost de-heightened the suspense and action we had originally built upon. Therefore, we decided to the replace these close ups with more segments of action to ensure the tension of our teaser trailer reaches its climax. The editor really aided with our ability to create an effective horror trailer. Without our teacher arranging this for us, we would not be able to make accurate corrective alterations to our project. The last day of editing was conducted with the main focus of adding the final touches to our teaser trailer. This included watching it several times as a group to ensure every member is in agreement about how our trailer should look like. Day 4 had definitely been a significantly editing day for our group as we had made many beneficial changes to our trailer edit to make it look more representative of the horror genre which is an essential aspect of our overall marketing campaign.

Down below is a video of our 4th day editing:

Editing Log - Day 3

Editing Log - Day 2

The first day of editing importantly included choosing the shots that we were going to use for our teaser trailer. However, the second day of editing included putting these shots into our editing software which was Sony Vegas Pro. After importing these shots into the software, we put these shots in an specific order that would suit our teaser trailer the most. We cut some of these shots to ensure that each segment of our teaser trailer is shown for a period of 1 - 3 seconds. This therefore will reinforce our trailer to be a teaser trailer as our shots wouldn't reveal to much of the plot but would show viewers enough to attract them to our film. In addition, we had also added sound effects to our trailer, this include eerie intense music that would enhance our shots to make them look and sound more realistic, sound effects were imperative as they would fortify the shots which would emphasise the dramatic sinister undertone included within our teaser trailer. Furthermore, we had also added visual effects to our shots to intensify the supernatural and horrific element of our teaser trailer. Overall, our second day of editing had been very effective as we managed to make a rough edit of our trailer, also we were able to compare and contrast different shots and effects as a group to come with important decisions, this was extremely imperative for our group as we would have to be in an agreement in regards to how our teaser trailer looks and sounds like.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Behind The Scenes

Editing Log - Day 1

The first day of editing consisted mostly of looking through all the different shots we had taken during production and deciding which ones to use. This was important as the shots we would decide to use will be shown in our official teaser trailer, therefore we had to choose the most effective and high quality shots. Furthermore, after choosing the shots we were going to use, as a group, we discussed whether some shots should be retaken to ensure quality is at its maximum. Furthermore, we created a short rough edit with some of our shots to envision our trailer. We then showed our rough edit to our teacher who had given us some feedback on how to improve our teaser trailer as a whole. For instance, she gave us the idea on other shots we could include within our editing which furthermore contributed to shaping our teaser trailer. On the first day of editing, we had all edited for a period of thirty minutes each over a period of 2 hours. Editing as a group was really useful as it enabled constructive arguments and conversations to take place which would overall contribute to group agreements. Editing on the first day had gone smoothly as all group members were starting to get familiar with the editing software which is Sony Vegas Pro but editing as a unit was also enjoyable.

Behind The Scenes