A2 Media Coursework - Evaluation

2. This is a close up of Stephanie starting up the car. We found that this was a good
shot to use in the beginning of our film trailer, as it shows that the characters are
heading off somewhere in the car. This shot is just purely used to highlight the
importance of the car. We got inspiration for this shot by looking through the
different types of shots from the film trailer ‘The Cabin in the Woods’. We came
across this one (right) and decided that it would be a great idea for us to use a
similar shot. This was all to make our film trailer look as conventional as possible.

3. This is a two shot/mid shot. This shot was to show the characters driving in the middle
of nowhere as they are lost. The audience can see that Lauren is reading the map
and Stephanie is driving, showing that they have authority over the other
characters. We didn’t intend to, but it looks like we have subconsciously copied the
same type of shot used in the film trailer ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (right). We have
practically mirrored what they have done. As this shot has been used in a ‘real’
existing product, it makes our own film trailer seem more realistic and conventional.

4. This is a wide shot. In this shot we have all of the characters on screen and they
are being shown walking to their destination (in the woods). Lots of conventional
trailers have shots of characters going to their destination, e.g. ‘When a Stranger
Calls’ and also ‘Chernobyl Diaries’ (left). We thought that we should include a
similar shot to the one from ‘Chernobyl Diaries’, but instead of the characters
walking towards the camera, we had them walking away to show that they are
moving away from normality and heading somewhere ‘bad’. When we were
editing, we cut this shot up and joined them together to crate a jump cut, this was
to show the passing of time.

5. This is an establishing shot. An establishing shot is usually used for location shots. It
sets the scene and tends to be a wide shot allowing for most of the background to
be seen. Our establishing shot is the location in which the characters will be
situated (Remenham Woods). These type of shots are conventional to all
genres, this is why we made sure we used one so our film trailer would be
conventional. The image to the right is a still shot from the film trailer ‘Eden Lake’.
This was an inspirational shot from that trailer.

6. This is a master shot of all the characters, while Sarah talks, the others listen. From
what we know, a master shot is where all the characters are in view from the same
angle all the way through the scene. We thought it would be a great idea to show
all the characters happy at the beginning as it is conventional for the beginning of
a horror trailer. Our main inspiration for this shot was from the film trailer ‘Chernobyl
Diaries’. This still (right) shows what shot we got inspired by, as one of the characters
was talking to the rest and they were all in the shot together.

7. This is one of our inter-titles. As you can see the text is white on a black
background, which is conventional to most film trailers. The blacks main purpose is to
help the white stand out, but it also creates a ‘fear of the unknown’ as it is darkness.
The font we used for this inter-title was called ‘Freaky Typewriter’, a font which we
downloaded off of DaFont. We got our main idea for the font type when we looked
at the inter-title from the Paranormal Activity trailer (print screen right). We believe
we have followed the conventions of inter-titles in the horror genre very well, making
ours look very realistic.

8. This is a long shot of Stephanie when she is lost and looking for the others. A long shot
is when the subject is captured in full length. This helps to establish the characters,
and to also provide the audience with the most information. In this case, the long
shot is helping us to convey loneliness and vulnerability. We believe we have
conveyed this well as the character is shown on her own in the middle of the woods
with no other characters in sight. The still shot from the French film trailer ‘Ils’ (right) is
also a long shot. This is the one shot out of the whole trailer that we thought worked
really well and better than most of the others, so we decided to do a similar thing.

9. This is an ‘over the shoulder’ shot of Sarah talking to Stephanie. This shot is used in
many films and TV programmes. It is usually used to show the conversation between
two characters. We saw many shots like ours used in different film trailers. The
lighting in this shot was hard to do. As we knew we were going to film this particular
shot in the dark, we tried to find similar shots in the dark from many trailers. Here
(right) we have a still from ‘Chernobyl Diaries’. They have cleverly used a torch to
light up the characters faces, we used this as inspiration for our own film trailer so
we could try and follow the lighting conventions of the horror genre.

10. This is a close up of one of the characters screaming. This is when the frame is filled
with an object or a subject. It highlights importance, show details and allows the
audience to engage with intensity. This type of shot is commonly used within the
horror genre, so we made sure that we used them in our own production to make it
conventional. The still from the ‘Chernobyl Diaries’ trailer (right) shows a similar close
up to our own. This was because it was our main source of inspiration, and we think
that we have used it well.

11. This is an extreme close up of a characters (Lauren’s) face. An extreme close up is
when an object fills the frame unnaturally and appears to be larger than it is. This shot
draws attention and might connote stalking, fear or anxiety. This type of shot is very
conventional within the horror genre as it helps the audience to get close to the
characters fear, making them become aware and copy how they feel. The still from
insidious (right) is showing another extreme close up. This was where we got our main
inspiration for this shot. Following the horror genre conventions made sure we would
get the genre across to the audience.