I have created a horror film trailer for a psychological
horror which covers the loss of innocence/ the evil within.
In our summer trailer we have touched on Todorov’s theory of
equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution by beginning the trailer with our
protagonist in her fairly sane, yet childlike state. We have presented this
character this way through the use of dolls, a child’s toy and an icon of the
horror films. We have created a transition to disequilibrium through shots of
her limited medication, which without, she is unable to keep ‘sane’, causing
her to behave abnormally, such as how she now freely damages the dolls, which
was she previously established to have a close connection to. We have not
included the film’s resolution in order to avoid giving away the ending, and to
intrigue the audience into seeing the film. We could have used this theory more
effectively by presenting more clips from the middle and closer to the end of
the story, as our trailer focuses on the start of the story, avoiding the main
action and suspense of the story. Trailers typically avoid plot heavyweight scenes, and focus on a montage of action throughout the whole film. The end of a film is also avoided to avoid spoilers, and retain the sense of mystery.
Another theory which applies to our trailer is Claude
Levi-Strauss’s theory of binary opposites. Although we have only introduced one
character, many binary opposites are established such as sane/insane, which can
be seen through our protagonist’s lack of medication, restricting her from
having control of her own body, resulting in another opposition: Good vs evil,
as while this character appears to be innocent at first, her lack of control causes
her to become her own antagonist as her inner evil is released. Binary opposition is an essential part of a film, as it allows for the viewer to distinguish the contrast between the protagonist's morals and intentions with the antagonist's. while our protagonist and antagonist share the same body, we seperated the two characters through changes to their appearance, and the agressive manner in which the antagonist treats the dolls, in comparison to the protagonist's playful behaviour. the antagonist also utilizes the knife which the protagonist ignores.
We have included Roland Barthes’ theory of enigma codes in
our trailer, through how we have avoided giving away key details about the
character’s backstory, as she is first introduced isolated in her room with her
dolls as a teenager, without any context to her childhood traumas. This could
leave the viewer wondering why she is living this unconventional lifestyle. Although
we have made the film’s disequilibrium apparent, (the lack of medication, and
calls for help) we have purposely avoided showing footage of the resolution. This
intrigues the audience, making them wonder what the outcome of the story will
be.
Although our trailer only focuses on one singular character,
Vladimir Propp’s theory that narratives focus on specific character types (archetypes)
is still present in our trailer, which tells us that while we are tackling a realistic everyday issue, our concept has still been adapted to suit a fictional horror story. in our character plays the role of
the victim, of her own mind/lack of control, as well as a protagonist as she
must fight against her own mind to free herself from evil. Yet she, or more
specifically her mind, plays the role of the antagonist, the evil side of our
innocent victim, which she must fight against to overcome.
Overall, I believe we have effectively implemented the
theories of narrative into our trailer, however, for our finalised trailers, my
aim is to present the film’s story more clearly, and focus on a much wider
range of scenes, rather than focusing exclusively on the beginning. I also aim
to make the distinction between binary opposites clearer, which may require a
larger range of actors.
