Deconstruction: Halloween

We deconstructed the trailer of halloween in order to see how other horror movies are shown in trailers, to give us ideas of how to go about our trailer, 'Coulrophobia'

Title Development

We originally decided to name our film 'Dead End', this was because the location we have chosen to base our trailer in is at a dead end of a road and we thought this would be a relevant title because it gives the impression that there is no escape. The word 'dead' also has the connotations of the film including themes of violence and murder. However, when we thought about this in more depth, we decided that the name was not clear enough and wanted a name that directly related to our film idea of clowns.

Therefore we did our research on clowns for our main character and found that 'Coulrophobia' was the name given to people with a phobia of clowns. This name we felt was much more appropriate as it directly relates to the content of our trailer as the audience will know instantly what our film is about.

Inspiration: The Strangers

THE STRANGERS

The masks make the characters scarier as they are anonymous; this creates fear within the audience as the identities are unknown.

We were inspired by this as we want the killer in our film to be unknown and therefore will disguise him as a clown; we have chosen a clown as it is a common fear for many people.

Lighting

The beginning of The Strangers is happy, with candle lit lighting and a romantic atmosphere.

This influenced our decisions as we want to start our trailer with a happy, party atmosphere, to do this we will use high lighting and strobe lighting to get the ‘party’ effect.

The film then turns scary, with low lighting and masked characters appearing in the background, unknown to the people in the film.

For our film we want the clown to appear in the background, unbeknown to the characters in the film to create fear within the audience. We will also use low lighting as this creates mystery and fear as its dark and can’t see everything in the shot.

We may include 'inspired by true events' like this film has in our film trailer as this makes the audience more scared as they realise it could happen to them and creates more fear.

Clown Analysis

This piece of research looks at one particular clown costume and how it could be considered scary and/or threatening. It also looks at coulrophobia, the fear of clowns, and what people find scary about clowns, and famous films that include a masked killer, which we hope to include in our teaser trailer.

Research into masks

We have decided that we will most likely have a masked killer in our teaser trailer so we researched into why masks are effective in horror movies.

Scream

• A mask covers up the attacker and makes them anonymous and mysterious
• A mask makes people unable to tell if the person who is attacking them is known or a stranger - most people would say that being killed by a complete stranger scarier than being killed by someone you know
• By the killer wearing a mask, the audience is dragged into the film as they want to know who or what is behind it
• A mask can also symbolize extra power or superhuman powers. For example, Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th was bought back from the dead by his hockey mask in Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI
• A mask hides the characters real self, "putting on a mask". It also hides any expression or pain on the characters face which could create more fear in the audience and makes them seem almost superhuman

Most popular villains in masks:

• Leatherface ('The Texas Chainsaw Massacre') - mask made of human skin   
• Michael Myers ('Halloween') - pale, plain mask
• Jigsaw ('Saw') - clownlike mask

Leatherface - 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

Jigsaw - 'Saw'

                                                                   




                                                      

Narrative Theory

Narrative Theory is, in media terms, the organisation given to a series of facts. 
It is important because, without this coherence, the audience would become confused. Narrative theory helps the director control how the audience feels.

There are seven different theories that we have looked at:

ARISTOTLE
Narrative should be created within a 'unity' of time, place and action. This theory no longer applies to modern day media as progression in technology means that we can look back in time during a film or trailer. 

FREYTAG'S DRAMATIC STRUCTURE
Freytag's theory is divided into five different parts:

• Exposition
• Rising action
• Climax
• Falling action and denouement/catastrophe/resolution

Audiences tend to feel unsatisfied when a story does not have a conclusion (e.g. ending on a cliffhanger). The film clip is from Inception which ends on a cliffhanger ending as the audience does not know whether Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio's character) is dreaming as the shot cuts to black before you see whether his totem stops spinning.

BARTHES' ENIGMA CODE

Barthes' theory says that all narratives share the same structural features that are brought together in different ways.
Although individual narratives differ, they have a limited number of organisational structures that affect how we read texts. These are called 'Narrative/Enigma Codes'. He says that is always more than one way to interpret a text.

The Enigma Code is a theory that suggests that telelvision, film, posters etc make the audience question something and draws them in. For example, a murder mystery will not reveal the face of a murderer until the end of the movie or program. The movie, Scream, does this. As the killer is masked, however the audience finds out who it is at the end of the film. 

SYD FIELD'S THREE ACT PLOT STRUCTURE

Syd Field, author of Screenplay and The Screen Writer's Workbook, has outlined a paradigm that most screenplays follow. A paradigm is a conceptual scheme. This paradigm is the structure that holds screenplays together. According to Field, screenplays follow a three-act structure, meaning the standard screenplay can be divided into three parts: Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution.
Act I comprises the first quarter of the screenplay. (For a two hour movie, Act I would last approximately 30 minutes.)
Act II comprises the next two quarters of the film. (For a two hour movie, Act II would last approximately 60 minutes.)
Act III comprises the final quarter of the film. (For a two hour movie, Act III would be the final 30 minutes.)

The "Plot Point"--According to Field, the three acts are separated by two plot points. A plot point, often called a reversal, is an event that thrusts the plot in a new direction, leading into a new act of the screenplay. Later screenplay gurus have built on Field's theory by stating that Plot Point #1, which leads into Act II, is the moment when the hero takes on the problem.

LEVI-STRAUSS - BINARY OPPOSITION

Narrative tension is based on opposition or conflict. This can be as simple be as simple as two characters fighting, but more often it is an ideological level for example, in Western films the cowboys and indians both represent different sides.









TODOROV'S THEORY
Todorov's theory says that all narratives have a basic structure. 

This theory is the simplest form of narrative.  It is sometimes referred to as the 'Classic' or 'Hollywood' narrative.

VLADIMIR PROPP

Vladimir Propp proposed that characters take on the role of narrative 'spheres of action' or functions.
Some of the characters that he said that are in all narratives are:

• Hero
• Heroine
• Villain
• Mentor
• Sidekick

Clown Research #2

This piece of research shows different clowns from various horror movies. We looked at examples of clowns and how they are portrayed across the media.