Idea for our trailer

Me and Steph have agreed to make a trailer of similarity to 'Hatchet' (2006 film, Director/writer Adam Green)

Stars: Kane Hodder, Joel David Moore and Deon Richmond.

A motley crew of tourists embark on a boat ride of the haunted Louisiana bayous where they learn the terrifying tale of local legend "Victor Crowley"; a horribly disfigured man who was tragically and accidentally killed with a hatchet by the hands of his own father. But when the boat sinks and the ghost story turns out to be real, the group tries desperately to escape the swamp with their lives...and all of their pieces. - IMDB

We really like how the director summed up the film within the trailer without giving too much away. One of mine and Steph's favourite qualities within the trailer is the 'creepy' little girls voice doing the narration for the film, it sends shivers down my spine and give a good edge to the film. It gives the affect of a little children's story why shes saying it, and makes it even more interesting as you don't particularly know if its fake or reality.
We also like how it's a superstition based children story film, and the people who don't believe in it feels the full affect.


Trailer break down

 

Hatchet Trailer

 Creepy music

-          The music throughout the film has a sense of eeriness about it

-          It was created on the piano, and is quite slow and high pitched, this is normally associated with little girl’s nursery songs which emphasises that this could be considered as a folk lord horror film.

-          Since it is a film that fall in the category of horror, it is significant they used music such as this as it put the audience on edge and give them a sense of uncertainty. Otherwise it will not be completing its codes and conventions of a ‘proper’ horror film which is significant to make it successful.

Production company logo

-          Features the studio logo/productions before the actual trailer. They must be in some form of link with the genre otherwise why are they producing films like that? It’s like Disney making a film about the holocaust, it doesn’t link and the link is very strong because if you say it’s from the producers of a very successful film it’s going to have a better chance because the films fans will have trust in the new film and think if it’s from that particular production company then they will believe that is going to be good cause of past projects.

Fade in of a lake and a bunch of trees (woods)

-          Sets the scene from the very start, this is a shot of the lake from a distance picturing part of the lake as well. This is repeated many times throughout the trailer therefore showing it’s significances in the film. Also the shot is taking during the evening to give the eeriness of the film to put the audience on edge. 

Little girl’s narration voice

-          The narration is used to set out the story from the very start, it is used to entice the audience and leave them at a cling hanger making them want more, thus going to the cinema to watch the film isn’t self. 

When the girl mentions Victor Crawly – mug shots of him in black and white appear.

-          This is particularly significant as it enable us to have a glimpse at the so called ‘monster’ within the film and enable us to be able to identify who he is and whenever he may appear in the film when we see it in the future. Also it portrays him as a ‘convict’ and makes us believe he is the one in the wrong, however this could be very misleading and done on purpose to make us hate him and associate him with bad things happening when in the end he could be the victim. The black and white affect is very significant as we are able to tell how long ago the event was as we tend to have colour images for photos of convicts but by having them in black and white is shows that it was some time ago and also that it makes the shots increasingly scarier as we are able to see his flaws in more definition especially when there is a high brightness/contrast within the image itself.

Shot of victor in the house he lived in.

-          The house we see him in is a varied reflection of his day to day life. The house is a very traditional log house you would get in the wood, this also symbolises what the family is like, considering they live in the woods it indicates that they are very ‘out doory’ family. Since Victor Crawly was seen as ‘not normal’ the house tends to get destroyed because of ‘bullies’. Hence the shattered windows. If they are always getting smashed what is the point in replacing them. This may also symbolise their families life, because of victors ‘abnormality’ it may have caused issues within the family therefore they are a ‘shattered’ family, just like the windows. 

-          You are also unable to see his face, thus adding mystery to the film as you are uncertain if the person in the house is the same person who was in the mug shots. This is also significant as there is a strong link between the piece of film shown and what the narrator is saying about him being ‘hidden away’ 

 Shot of the moon reflected in the lake

-          This may suggest that Victor the main character only comes out at night, sort of like most ‘monsters’ do, this keeps in theme with the children stories and how most of them are created around mythical creatures.

-          The moon on changes to red instead of the natural reflection of the moon. This symbolises blood and horror which foreshadows what happens during the film.

Shot of someone lighting a rope –

-          Cut to someone lighting a rope, we are unable to see who lights it as they are wearing masks but we assume that they are children cause of the ominous laughing throughout.

Shot of something being set on fire at the house

-          This tells us how Victor Crawly died, and we are able to link fires with forest fires and the fact that the house is mainly wood we are then able to associate it with a flammable source. Thus we know what is about to happen within the film and know that the little boy is more than likely going to die.

Shots of the fire

-          Having a reparative shot  of the fire within the trailer is significant as it repeats the thought that there was a fire that killed the boy and then are able to link any form of symbolisation of fire with the death of victor crawly.  

Shot of someone picking up an axe – his dad

-          We only see a shot of a person picking up an axe from a cut down tree stump, we don’t know if it was one of the gang members or if it was someone’s attempt of saving Victor. We soon find out through the narration by the little girl that it was in fact Victors dad who is trying to have him. He uses the axe (hatchet)to take down the door, however he doesn’t realise that Victor was behind the door, so we find out that he didn’t die by the fire, but in fact by the hands of his father. It then cuts to a shot of the axe in the door with fire – hearing screaming

Fades to black for 4 seconds

-          We are not able to tell if the trailer is over or not and if the film is just about the death of Victor, using the black screen we are given a sense of unease as when we what horror films we automatically associate the black screen as a ploy to make us think it’s over however there is still a sense of uncertainty that something is going to jump out at us.

Shot of someone going through the woods – POV shot

-          With this we can tell that there is more to the film than just the death of victor, and that means that there is something behind/ linked to his death.

Someone with a shot gun screaming and looking terrified

-          This signifies to us that even people with guns are even scared of this ‘creature’ we are unable to tell if it’s victor or someone else.

-          We assume it is as we only have the back story of victor crawly and no one else.

Shot of the man getting dragged away

Group shot of the teenagers

A girl crying and pointing towards the house

Shot of the house with lightning and thunder

Returns back to the shot of the lake again

Turns to red – symbolising death and blood again

Fades to black for 9 seconds – hearing screaming over the top as non-diegetic sounds

Shot of a girl – ‘I want to go home’

Shot of someone running into ‘something’

Group of teenagers screaming

A man running away from a creature

Quick jumpy scenes between characters

The title of the film